How can a retired savior be considered retired if he drops to 40,000?

"It seems that simple opposition cannot convince you, Sevitarion." She said calmly, "It doesn't matter. The Nightfall is very large, and it will take Shen a while to complete the mission. We can talk now."

She looked at Sevatar standing in front of her for a few seconds, and suddenly asked an irrelevant question: "Do you remember what you were doing before you joined the Legion?"

This question was obviously beyond Sevatar's expectations. He hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to ask something in return, but finally answered: "At that time, I lived in the lower nest of Quintus, and was one of the countless gangsters who joined the gang. I did some stupid things such as stealing, robbing, and showing off my power. I also killed people. Just like any Nostramo who had all his limbs and a little ability."

He paused, then added: "You've always known this."

"Yes, I know." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "I also know that you are now a Space Marine of the Empire, the captain of the First Company of the Night Lords, and one of my most capable brothers. The Black Armored Guards standing beside you now, your fellow brothers, more than four-fifths of them have had similar early experiences to you, and they are now also glorious warriors and law enforcers worthy of respect."

"...This is only because you specially organized a large number of Nostramo soldiers for this operation, otherwise the proportion would not be so high."

"But the point is not the proportion, but 'there are such people, and there are quite a few of them'. Moreover, the Terrans in the Legion were not originally noble people with both virtue and morality." Fujimaru Ritsuka's calm tone did not reveal any emotion. "You know, Sevitarion, I have always hoped that you can remember what you were like before you joined the Legion, when you were still an ordinary person. This is not only to remind you that you were not born as a super soldier in armor, but also to allow you to look back when you need to, and see your origin and the traces of your journey."

"…Forgive my ignorance, I do not understand, Primarch."

"Well, strictly speaking, this is a very broad philosophical question... Let's just talk about the part related to the topic for now: Let me ask you, Sevitarion, if you could go back in time and tell the gangster you about your current situation, do you think you would believe it at that time?"

“… I think that’s a meaningless assumption.”

"Don't be so nervous, just treat it as a casual chat and tell us what you think of your first reaction."

Sevatar was already getting impatient with this series of irrelevant conversations, but because he was facing his Primarch, he chose to hide his impatience. Konrad Curze could see this. Firstly, it was because he was also familiar with some of the subtle body movements of Yago Sevatarion (the captain of the First Company he knew well), and secondly, he was also beginning to feel impatient about it.

It was a pity that he had no right to interfere in this illusion. He could only watch as Sevatar took a deep breath and continued to answer: "I won't believe it. I will give a solid straight punch to the face of anyone who dares to make fun of me like this, and tell him to go sell his fantastic fairy tales somewhere else."

It's hard to say whether it was because of Sevatar's wording or because he got a satisfactory result, but Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled faintly at his answer: "Look, you know it yourself. Because of the journey you have taken over the years, you have undergone earth-shaking changes that you yourself would not believe. I guess some people standing around you now would have similar feelings if they looked back. Do you want to confirm it?"

"No, Primarch, I believe you are right." Sevatar's agreement came without hesitation.

He probably guessed what the Primarch wanted to illustrate with this example.

This is an indisputable reality, so Sevatar does not intend to make a meaningless struggle on this issue, but to attack from another angle: "But you also know that these changes are due to an opportunity with only a very low probability. The vast majority of Nostramo people will not encounter such an opportunity, and those who encounter it are not all... worthy."

"However, you cannot deny that, given such an opportunity, some people can still transform for the better." Fujimaru Ritsuka pointed out, "I hope that Nostramo can provide everyone with an equal opportunity for such transformation, and for this reason I have established order and laws. I admit that I was too naive to believe that most people would yearn for light in the eternal night and would change for the better under the order... This has caused me to fail several times. But as long as this possibility still exists, I will not completely give up this planet."

Perhaps humans are attracted to light, but those on Nostramo are not. This made Conrad Curz almost laugh out loud. For those insects that were born in the night and died in the night, light is like a deadly poison that eats away at their bones. If you give them light, they will not be grateful. They will only try their best to block the light again, so that the environment will return to the darkness that they are more familiar with, more adapted to, and more fond of, deceiving themselves that everything is no different from before, and then continue to live a life of drunkenness and dream. No matter how you try, you will find that they have amazing brains and adaptability in this matter, just like a virus that is difficult to kill. The only way to end this is to destroy the entire planet.

Just as Conrad Curze once did, the Night Haunter was so certain that Nostramo had no future in his eyes.

Then he quickly realized that Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had failed several times on this issue, still didn't think so.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 4 Veto

"You are doing something impossible, Primarch." Sevatar's voice echoed in the bridge again, "I don't intend to say too much about this, but I still stick to my original point of view."

"There are so many things in the world that were thought to be impossible, and I've accomplished more than just this one 'impossible thing'." Fujimaru Ritsuka had already set up a foreshadowing for this kind of doubt, "Don't let your thinking be trapped by common sense. When you were on Nostramo, didn't you still think that you couldn't become the person you are today?"

Sevatar was stuck on his previous statement, but Astarte's quick thinking made him find a new direction of attack in an instant: "Nostramo has brought too many problems. To the Legion, she can almost be said to be a negative asset. For the sake of expedition efficiency, it is wise to 'deal' with her as soon as possible."

At this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka revealed a strange sadness: "That would be too pitiful."

She didn't say what she meant by pitiful, nor did she give others a chance to ask further questions. After a brief pause, she started talking again with a firm determination: "But you are right, Sevitarion. Nostramo is an asset of the Legion. When she has problems, it should be solved in the Legion's way - I should have done so long ago."

She paced restlessly in the tiny space in the center of the venue, whispering in a light and fast Nostramo dialect: "I have been away for too long, and as you often complain, I have been too kind. I am afraid that the fools on earth have long forgotten that I was not elected by appeasement, lobbying, or lenient laws. Pure high-pressure rule will cause backlash, but policies that seem reasonable in other worlds now will only make the short-sighted nobles forget their reasons. They must be reminded that I am also a Nostramo... No, or just the entire class..."

An anxious atmosphere began to dissipate with the soft hissing sound of the Nostramo language. It seemed that in just one breath, Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly showed some abnormal nervousness: some muscles were abnormally spasming, tearing her face and reason, and her frowning brows showed anxiety, irritability and anger from unknown sources. She turned her back to the majority of the crowd again, trying not to let the children of midnight see her miserable state of being tortured by the sudden symptoms, straightened her body, and grabbed a railing at hand.

This may seem a little strange, but Conrad Curz knew what was going on from the first moment. After all, his entire life had been tortured and manipulated by this uncontrollable curse:

An omen. No reason, no hint, just a bare, all-too-real omen that nearly overwhelmed the Primarch.

This interested Conrad Curz. In fact, everything he had seen on the ship so far interested him. Even though he clearly hated some of what he saw and sneered at the rest, he still had to admit that he was very interested in what would happen next. He still remembered why he came here in the first place: he wanted to know where he had lost.

From the moment he arrived on the Nightfall, he began to observe and collect all kinds of intelligence. Conrad Curz has always been very perceptive, so this kind of thing is not difficult for him. He and Fujimaru Ritsuka are not familiar with each other. They only talked to each other a few words at the beginning of this trial, but now, he has roughly pieced together an image of Fujimaru Ritsuka from the Nightfall itself and everything that happened just now - so far, he does not think that the other party has any decisive special features.

Then it could only be this. Conrad Curz stared closely at Fujimaru Ritsuka during her prophetic attack, carefully analyzing every spasm of her body and every whisper she uttered in her delirium.

How would she deal with this bewitching curse?

Konrad Curze was really curious about this, but this struggle in the consciousness of others could not be seen from the surface. Even though he was a Primarch, in the current situation, he could only see the familiar silence among the children of midnight, smell the worry and uneasiness slowly drifting out of this silence, and found that Sigismund quietly moved himself between his "Primarch" and other legion soldiers, watching Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was holding the railing, slowly kneeling on the platform under the torture of the prophecy.

——Yes, she had been standing on a small, movable platform from the beginning, so there was a guardrail beside her. Otherwise, with her pathetic height of only five feet two inches, she would have been buried among a group of Astartes and no one could see her. In fact, when she slowly knelt down in the torture of the prophecy, this scene had already come true.

But this ridiculous scene did not last long. One minute and twenty-four seconds later, a trembling sigh from Fujimaru Ritsuka broke the uncomfortable silence in the bridge.

"How long will it be this time?" She let go of the poor railing that had been deformed by the power that did not belong to her but to the Primarch, and asked weakly into the air. Immediately afterwards, Sigismund reported the exact time behind her.

"But I feel like at least three hours have passed." Fujimaru Ritsuka said with a wry smile.

Some mortal servants who were wandering around gathered around, carrying towels and warm water to help the sweaty commander of the Eighth Legion to tidy up his appearance. At the same time, a subtle doubt flashed through Konrad Curze's mind: this symptom was too mild compared to his own attack.

When he was struggling with those terrible hallucinations that predicted the future, he always had to clear the room of everyone except himself, and then spend hours floating in those crazy scenes. When he finally woke up, he always found that the surroundings were messed up by him unconsciously like a typhoon passing through - this is why he had to be alone during the attack. Not only did the Primarch's self-esteem require him to do so, but also because otherwise, he would become a murderer without knowing it.

And similar things did happen, and that may have been the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Conrad Curze forced his wandering thoughts back to the matter at hand. He didn't know whether the emperor who constructed this illusion had whistled against the mortal girl, or whether she herself had some special skills to deal with prophetic illusions. Before he could figure out the reason for this problem that was obviously not enough clues, the servants had dispersed, and Fujimaru Ritsuka stood up again, almost recovering from those cruel prophecies.

"What did you see this time?" Sigismund asked quietly.

This is not surprising, Konrad Coates thought grimly. People who cannot see the future usually have some unrealistic fantasies about the future. In the past, every time he broke free from those desperate and terrifying illusions, his Sevatar also liked to ask him similar questions.

"Same old." Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to be used to being asked similar questions after each attack. She might even have answered the same questions many times. "The destruction of Nostramo, the galaxy in flames, and...some things that are blasphemous just to say them out loud. Nothing new."

Perhaps at other times, the son of midnight would have grasped some other key words from Fujimaru Ritsuka's vague summary, but at this moment, Sevatar just whispered the least important phrase: "You saw the destruction of Nostramo."

"It's not the first time." Fujimaru Ritsuka admitted frankly, "But that's something that might happen in the future. Right now, Nostramo is fine."

"But your predictions are always accurate, no matter how bad they are." Sevatar wore a helmet throughout the conversation, but Conrad Curze could still smell some resolute despair from him that was tried hard to hide. "If Nostramo is destined to be destroyed, then why not let us sinners judge this planet that continues to breed sin."

"Ah... this is why Shen is my ceremonial officer, Sigismund is my executioner, and you can only be my first captain, Sevitarion." Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed softly, "Sometimes you are a little too... result-oriented."

At that moment, Conrad Curze was sure that Sevatar's intention to show off was faster than his brain and controlled his mouth: "But you said you liked this about me six Terran standard days ago."

"That's a euphemism! And don't take my words out of context!" The commander of the Eighth Legion slammed the railing at hand in a threatening manner, but the crazy and reproachful tone in her tone made the whole atmosphere less serious. "You are the kind of person who 'will work towards a result without hesitation when you see it'. This is of course good in normal times. You can make a clear-headed judgment on the current situation and then find a suitable way to deal with it - but the results you can foresee on your own are within your reach. Prophecy is not like that! The 'result' in the prophecy may happen tomorrow, or it may happen a thousand years later, or it may not happen at all. No one can say for sure!"

...Not necessarily.

For a moment, Konrad Curze wanted to refute this based on his own personal experience, but in the next moment, he felt that Fujimaru Ritsuka was not wrong. The illusions that poured into his mind against his will were indeed unreasonable. Sometimes he could see many different possibilities - although he always chose to believe the worst one, and even after the Emperor pointed this out, he refused to admit that this was a mistake.

"But, Primarch, if we could have known the outcome in advance—"

"Even if I know the future outcome, it won't matter! I'm still living in the present like the rest of you!" Fujimaru Ritsuka finally began to get a little impatient. "We have to eat one bite at a time, walk one step at a time, and live our lives one day at a time. It doesn't mean that just because I foresee the destruction of Nostramo, we can jump directly to the moment of her destruction - and you are not allowed to bring up the jokes about wartime food supplies or troop carriers in this topic!"

Conrad Curze spent a moment complaining that Ritsuka Fujimaru's final addition ruined the serious atmosphere of the entire segment, until he noticed that Sevatar really acted like he had something to say but was blocked.

"In some languages ​​of ancient Terra, 'future' can be directly written as 'not yet come', and things that 'have not yet come' obviously should not squeeze out the urgent things to be solved in the 'present' and become the highest priority at present, because it is with the accumulation of every bit of the 'present' that humans can reach the 'future'." Fujimaru Ritsuka's words were full of strong conviction. "To put it simply, my creed is: it is more important to live every day down to earth than to worry about things that have not yet appeared. And when it comes to the handling of Nostramo, please understand it as 'even if this planet is blown to pieces tomorrow due to some force majeure, I will try to make it better at least a little bit today'. Have I successfully expressed my attitude?"

Her tone was not very strong, and could even be called polite, but Sevatar did flinch at the statement. The captain of the Night Lords' first company clearly expressed his obedience with body language, and at the same time, Sigismund stepped forward, and his step forward was frozen in mid-air -

——The time in the illusion freezes here, everything is silent, and all the "data" make way for their real owners.

Conrad Curz, the master of the realm, speaks here:

"Mortal thoughts."

He commented on Fujimaru Ritsuka's solemn statement of creed, and the latter smiled at him in return.

"I am just a mortal."

She spoke softly in a calm, cool, yet slightly proud tone.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 5 Conversation

"Maybe so." Conrad Kurtz showed a strangely ambiguous attitude towards the reality of this physical level.

"You are trying to blur the objective facts." Fujimaru Ritsuka crossed his arms, raised his head and looked at him fearlessly. "Although from my personal perspective, I don't really care about how others see me, but in view of some other actual objective circumstances, I think I'd better emphasize: I am an ordinary human being who is average in all aspects. In your context, I am undoubtedly a 'mortal'."

Conrad Curz wanted to refute, after all, this "mortal"'s overly eventful life had just made him stumble three times. He had already prepared many sarcasms and rebuttals, and at least three hundred examples to prove it, but he didn't need any foresight to know that if he wanted to start a debate with the other party on this topic, their conversation would become endless.

So he simply didn't respond to it and just complained softly about the subject he wanted to discuss: "I wanted to find an answer, but my father, who likes hints and metaphors too much, just threw me and my problem into such a scene."

Fujimaru Ritsuka followed his lead and didn't dwell on the previous topic. He followed his meaning and asked, "So did you find the answer in this scene?"

"No." Conrad Curze's tone was a little irritated. "Your legion is very different from mine. The people I was familiar with have also become a little different under your command, but I didn't see anything decisive."

"Something decisive? What do you mean?"

"The reason that made Nostramo a better place. The reason that made you decide not to judge this den of evil. The reason that kept you sane as you faced the foreseeable future."

After he finished speaking, Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged in frustration.

"First of all, I didn't make Nostramo better." She was obviously unhappy about this, but she still stepped down from the small platform, got out of the wall of Astartes that was too tall for her, and walked towards the huge floor-to-ceiling window on the edge of the bridge. "This domain is built on you. So even in orbit, you should be able to directly 'inspect' everything on the surface of Nostramo - no matter how hard I try, the crime rate in the city just keeps going up and down, and it's obviously been a relatively... ugly period recently."

Conrad Curze followed her footsteps and looked down at the eternally dark planet from the Nightfall in the void. Time in the illusion was frozen, but as Fujimaru Ritsuka said, as long as he had this thought, everything that had happened on Nostramo in the near future would automatically unfold before his eyes.

This felt a bit strange. A large amount of information poured into the mind of the real Primarch, forming an illusion similar to the prophecies he was used to, but gentler and more controllable. If the feeling of those prophecies squeezing into Konrad Curze's mind was like pouring water into a boiling oil pan, then these "what happened" scenes were like dripping water into a sink. It cannot be said that there was no impact on the mind when it happened, but in the eyes of Konrad Curze, who was used to the former, it was easy and pleasant to ignore this vague touch.

The Primarch's brain began to interpret the images in a rare and comfortable working environment. He saw every conspiracy, every violence, every theft, and every killing in Nostramo. He saw the workers who died numbly in the slums, the clerks who were in a state of panic in the market, the sheriffs who tried in vain to maintain order but were overwhelmed by the mob, and the nobles who drank the wine brewed by sin on the gorgeous dance floor of the Upper Nest.

He saw Nostramo. A person who was slightly different from the original in details, but in essence, he was still the familiar Nostramo in the mire, full of evil, and hopeless.

"I've tried several times, but she always turns back to this." Fujimaru Ritsuka stood beside him, circling the only planet dotted with lights in the dark sky in front of them with his fingers meaninglessly. "If judged by the standards of the Primarch, I am undoubtedly a great failure. I can't even ensure the long-term stability of my own 'home planet'. It's not that no one has said that this is not my problem, but..."

"I understand." To her surprise, Conrad Curze's voice was filled with a sense of relief. "Nostramo is just like that... it's hard to carve a rotten wood."

"Well... it's not that absolute. At least that's what I think." Fujimaru Ritsuka said slowly, "That's why I still have hope for this planet: I've seen worse and more hopeless ones. Unlike the British Lostbelt, the Nostramo people are still human after all, and the chronic illness of Nostramo is mostly due to the harsh environment rather than human nature. As long as this overly negative environmental problem can be corrected... Queen Morgan can make such a Britain into a fairy-tale country, so the reason why Nostramo has not made any progress is probably because I haven't worked hard enough or haven't found the right method."

Normally, Conrad Kurtz would have freely expressed his views on the topic of “human nature.” But he extracted key words that surprised him even more from these few short sentences:

"British Lostbelt?" Is there any place more hopeless than Nostramo?

Fujimaru Ritsuka looked up at him in confusion: "To put it simply, it is a country built by fairies that is doomed to perish - haven't you seen it in my fantasy?"

Konrad Curze wanted to say no. The farthest he had ever been was when he arrived at the Temple of Time, but he had to return home in defeat because of King Solomon's 72 Demon Pillars. But his pride as a Primarch forced him to tightly shut his lips, and with a little anger, he suddenly turned his head and stared at the Star of Sin in the distance again.

Perhaps he should have asked in detail, but he didn't. He just couldn't construct a proper image from that simple sentence. Maybe it was because he didn't think there was any place more sick than Nostramo.

Fujimaru Ritsuka may have realized something, but she just pretended nothing happened and continued to chatter around him about some insignificant topics, mostly about her next plan for Nostramo, while Conrad Curze allowed himself to immerse himself in endless thoughts. Although it was easy for the Primarch to do two things at the same time, he did listen to those governance methods that were still too lenient in his opinion, such as "Military control under the premise of direct control of the Eighth Legion", "Purge of the Upper Nest Nobility", "How to maintain basic education and medical operations", and "How to select a new governor", but he was really reluctant to give even the most basic response to them. Fortunately, the person who was speaking seemed to just want to pour out these words, and did not mean to ask him for a response or seek advice, so this enthusiastic one-sided speech still successfully came to an end.

"...Anyway, if this trick doesn't work, I'll really have to seriously consider a plan for population cleansing." Fujimaru Ritsuka concluded sadly, "Sometimes I really feel like Sisyphus, but being able to predict the future is a good thing at a time like this. At least I roughly know that no matter good or bad, this thing will always have an end."

"So you actually believe in that future," Konrad Curze said, somewhat puzzled. "Nostramo will one day be torn apart by orbital bombardment and cease to exist."

Hearing the emotion in the sentence, Fujimaru Ritsuka also became puzzled: "Isn't this strange? Don't you also firmly believe that the bad future you saw in the illusion will definitely come to pass?"

"After hearing your big talk about 'keeping your feet on the ground', I thought you would forget about it and just focus on the things at hand."

"... Compared to you real Primarchs, I may be short-sighted, but that's no reason for you to beat around the bush and call me stupid." Fujimaru Ritsuka complained angrily, "Does your strategy for dealing with the prophecy seem wise?"

This sentence may have indeed caused bad luck. Before any sound could be heard, the surrounding atmosphere seemed to be covered with a layer of blood and blood with murderous intent. In this atmosphere, Conrad Curz grinned softly, and the Nostramo language sounded like a poisonous snake in his mouth: "I don't deserve it, but please don't hesitate to teach me - if you really have something to say to teach me a lesson."

The wrath of a Primarch is hard to bear, even if it is only the invisible part. In this frozen illusion, the air and light seemed to be distorted by Konrad Curze's anger, but Fujimaru Ritsuka remained calm and fearless as if nothing had happened, and continued his topic:

"It's not a lesson. What can an ordinary person like me teach you? I just use my methodology to understand and deal with the future I see... But have you ever thought about how this 'prophecy' works in essence?"

Conrad Kurtz was stunned by the question. Throughout his life, he had indeed never thought about this question. For him, prophecy was an instinct that existed in his nature - just like breathing was a human instinct, a gift that humans were born with, but most humans would not bother to study why breathing could keep them alive. This curse that had entangled Conrad Kurtz throughout his life was something similar to him.

Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't wait for the other party's response and continued on his own: "For me, this is an 'abnormal' function that was given to me after birth, so I studied it. As for the conclusion, the essence of this 'prophecy' is a kind of fitting deduction of the big data of the subspace. After calculation in this black box of the Primarch-level brain, it outputs a kind of 'predicted future vision' with the most likely result. Although the world here is different from the one I was originally in, the boundary between 'prediction' and 'measurement' is very vague... But in short, all the conclusions it outputs are based on the intelligence data collected by your psychic essence unconsciously connecting with the subspace. This is absolutely correct."

Conrad Kurtz understood what she was saying, but he didn't understand how it related to their current topic: "...So what? What does it matter if you know this?"

"This shows that this seemingly extremely accurate prophecy may also be interfered with. Although from the perspective of actual use, this possibility is very small, there is indeed a possibility that the output result is wrong because the original data is contaminated. In addition, it provides an unverified idea that if the reality is interfered with in a way that cannot produce a projection in the subspace, the prophecy may be changed..."

Under Conrad Coates's gaze, Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice gradually lowered guiltily, and finally he sighed resignedly:

"Okay, I admit that knowing this mechanism is completely useless in actual use. After all, you don't need to know how bolt rounds are produced to fire a bolt gun. But this does prove that this prophecy is not completely flawless! At least when facing those bad omens, there is still hope of struggling!"

Conrad Coates almost laughed at this overly naive assumption: "Have you ever succeeded in your struggle?"

"... Could you please stop bringing up this irrelevant topic, Mr. Conrad?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka showed some anger and frustration:

"This illusion is completely set up in the subspace. Where can I find something or a method to test the 'non-existent subspace projection'?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 6 Future

"So you just wasted your time doing something completely meaningless."

Perhaps because Fujimaru Ritsuka had made some progress on this issue, Conrad Coates's anger subsided a little, but he still sneered sharply with a dark and gloomy mood: "A traveler heading in the wrong direction will never reach the right destination, not to mention that you are heading into a certain dead end. I don't see the point of wasting your energy on these 'unnecessary things'."