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

At the moment when Konrad Curze was about to speak again, the door finally opened with a heavy rumble of mechanical operation, successfully choking back the words that were about to come out of his mouth. Robert Guilliman, who led people in aggressively, took a quick look at the furnishings and confirmed that Fujimaru Ritsuka was fine, and then began to scold Curze harshly - which of course caused some chaos including physical conflict.

All in all, these things are not that important in comparison. What is important is that Conrad Kurtz finally failed to successfully ask the question he wanted to ask the most:

How on earth was he supposed to deal with all the unconditional love his offspring projected upon him?

Meow (six o'clock)

I still wrote it in a forced way. In fact, what Guda wanted to express to Coze was "To bear the disgrace of the country is to be the master of the country; to bear the misfortune of the country is to be the king of the world." I know my expression is very lame...

At this point I began to hate Guda for being Japanese, preventing me from quoting the Tao Te Ching directly (crying).

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 145 Emperor! You plotted against me!

Kellya, who was not taken to Galatan Star Fortress, was walking inside Storm's Edge, holding the robe she had just put on.

Although the disinfection procedure must also be carried out after returning, the Storm Edge has a significant advantage over the Emperor's Fantasy: it is smaller. Even if you take into account the almost alien internal structure that is too large compared to the volume of the entire ship from the outside, it is still overwhelmingly smaller than the Emperor's Fantasy.

Small means that the area to be disinfected is smaller, and it also means that the Storm's Edge is less noticeable. While the engineering equipment, servitors, technical priests, and even the Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus were focused on the Emperor's Dream and quarreled over various strange issues, the work on the Storm's Edge was successfully completed within two days, led by Asclepius and Arjuna.

All in all, the Storm Boundary has now returned to the atrium of the Tyros Cathedral cleanly. Apart from the more noticeable smell of disinfectant, there is no particular change worth mentioning - or perhaps some "changes worth mentioning" occurred in places that Kellya was not aware of, so she could not point out these parts.

Without mentioning those things that didn't exist, now, Kaelia was going to put the robe that she hadn't worn for a long time back in the closet, put away the Sky Eagle Pendant with a protective force field, and finally return to the room assigned to her to have a good rest. In the meeting not long ago, because the really impactful part was aimed at Fujimaru Ritsuka, it was not particularly exhausting for her - but she still stood there for two hours, so rest was still necessary.

If she had learned anything in the process, it seemed that she hadn't. Apart from being frightened by the Inquisitor at the beginning and by the inexplicable crows and the angry Imperial Regent at the end, she didn't seem to have gained anything from this meeting.

When Fujimaru Ritsuka brought her here, he told her to "feel the atmosphere of this formal occasion", but she was not sure whether she felt the atmosphere that Fujimaru Ritsuka wanted her to feel from this "formal occasion". She also tried hard to understand the main topics of the meeting, but the purely technical things were still too difficult for her, an unregistered psychic who had not even entered the door.

Not knowing how well she had done today was really tormenting this teenager who was caught between the two situations: "not a complete child, but not an independent adult either." Kellya sighed and walked to the storage room with her clothes in her arms, thinking on the way: At least she could still do this job well.

There were no people in the Storm's Edge right now - meaning, no Somni, no Curze and his Night Lords, and no Fujimaru Ritsuka. There was no "living person" that could be seen, but the corridor was not completely empty. As a psyker who had awakened her abilities, even though most of her abilities were temporarily sealed, Kaelia's inspiration was still slightly stronger than that of ordinary people. This allowed her to often feel something in the corridor that was formless but did exist passing by. Sometimes, such things would turn into a vague humanoid shadow, and at this time they could affect objects in reality.

Fujimaru Ritsuka once told her that this was normal. These spirits were basically similar to Asclepius (she only knew this one heroic spirit at the time), and if she just lived normally on the ship, she wouldn't have to do anything to get along with them. But for something that her senses couldn't accurately perceive, Kylia still instinctively felt a little scared.

And for some reason, these invisible spirits seem to be more active today than usual.

Compared to the wandering spirits and shadow servants, it was obviously Fujimaru Ritsuka's bedroom guards that made Kaelia feel more relaxed. Even though they would peek around corners and suddenly pop up to scare people, their cute appearance on average was already a big win.

But today, Kellya felt something was wrong: even though she had only lived on the ship for a few days, she could see that several living dolls, led by Xiao Ku, were walking in the corridor as if looking for something. This was obviously an unusual sight.

"What are you looking for?" She couldn't help but ask the dolls as she passed by. She wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help - after all, she was obviously at an advantage in terms of size. But Xiao Ku just waved the small gun in his hand, which was about the size of a dinner fork, and said rudely: "You have nothing to do here, go back to your room and lock the door!"

After all, Xiao Ku had served as the ship's voice navigation for a while when Kaelia first came aboard, and the latter had become more or less accustomed to the former's habit of speaking in a bad mood. She gathered the robe in her arms and simply squatted down on the spot: "Did something happen that I don't know about?"

"Something strange has sneaked into the ship. If you don't make trouble, you're helping!" The little doll looked furious, and immediately began to poke Kelly's calf with the round tip of the gun in his hand. "Don't just stand there, go back to your room!"

The tip of the doll's gun wouldn't hurt anyone, but it was a hard little stick after all, and when Xiao Ku used it in such a ruthless way to stab Kaelia's calf, it was also painful. The girl stood up from where she was, somewhat reluctantly, and promised the other party that she would return to her room as soon as she put the borrowed clothes back in place.

Although she gave a good assurance, Xiao Ku was still not reassured and sent Wei from the team to follow her until Kellya returned to her room and locked her door from the inside.

Unlike Xiaoku, who looks like a hunter from a wild area, Weihe looks like an ordinary and cute doll in fancy clothes, except that his facial features are not made and the skin part is a bit strangely black. Perhaps because he has no mouth, Wei never speaks. Now he just floats quietly beside Kaelia and moves with her.

There shouldn't be anything worth mentioning about this trip, but when Caillia passed by a lounge, she suddenly wanted to go in for a quick tour. Not for anything else, but because there was a statue of the Emperor in this lounge. As the child of Parmenio and a basically devout member of the state religion, Caillia would tend to pray to the statue of the Emperor for peace of mind when she encountered some difficult and complicated problems that she found difficult to deal with.

That's what she thought, and that's what she said to Wei. Perhaps because she thought there wouldn't be any threat from Chaos enemies in the room where the Emperor's Shrine was, Wei didn't object very strongly. Before reaching the storage room, the two of them pushed open the door of the lounge together -

A raven with five eyes on its head quietly perched on the back of a chair facing the Emperor's shrine. After hearing the sound of the mechanical door sliding open, He turned around and happened to meet the eyes of Kellya and Wei who came in.

Something that shouldn't have appeared appeared in the lounge on the Storm's Edge. Kellya immediately understood what the Doll Squad and the overly active spirits on the ship were looking for. This room was indeed a little dark - no one could have imagined that a strange warp creature that had sneaked onto the ship would dare to run in front of the Emperor, and nothing would happen to it.

Wei obviously didn't react and just floated quietly in the air.

In addition to coming face to face with the raven that had just escaped from the meeting, another thing that made Kaelia feel overwhelmed was that after seeing them, the raven had no intention of leaving, and even stopped where it was, without even spreading its wings. He might have something to rely on, and Kaelia had no idea what it was, but in a flash, she came up with a plan that she didn't know if it would work.

Young people who lack experience often don't think too much before doing things. Kellya pretended to be nothing and walked into the lounge, all the way to the Emperor's Shrine, as if she didn't see the raven on the back of the chair at all, pretending to pray. Wei couldn't speak, so he could only follow her hesitantly - but the raven remained in place, motionless, except for continuing to salute them.

She had no idea about this matter, but somehow, after ignoring the raven, she actually managed to get to His side without alerting it. She turned to face the shrine and adjusted the position of the robe in her hand. Before she actually knelt down, she suddenly turned around and spread the fabric in her hand, trying to block the raven's escape route with the wide cloth, so as to catch Him - without a doubt, she failed at the last step.

Although the whole plan went very smoothly until the cloth was unfolded, the reaction of mortals was still too slow for even a little bit of the Primarch. Raven managed to escape from the spot before the robe completely covered him, but this also made him realize that his psychic stealth had somehow lost its effect here. He immediately prepared to fly out of the room and play another round of hide-and-seek with everyone on the ship, but -

The mechanically controlled door had been closed. While Kellya was trying to catch the raven with her robe, Wei turned around decisively and froze the closed door tightly with his cold breath.

Realizing that something was wrong, Raven then tried to escape into the Warp, but just as His stealth inexplicably failed in this room, His attempt to get this part of Himself to pass through the veil also ended in failure.

"Don't run! We won't hurt you, but there are some things you need to explain!" Kellya, who had not yet had time to start learning the history of the empire and was not fully aware of what the name "Corvos Corax" meant, swung the robe in her hand that was temporarily used as a capture prop and said so to the raven.

As Wei, who could also fly in the air, began to close in, the raven, Corax, realized that he seemed to have been tricked by his father, who had psychic powers and hid in a statue but did not respond at all.

Meow (peaceful)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 146 Stealing Fruits from Ultramar

In the mess in Conrad Coates' cell, only Ritsuka Fujimaru could yawn without any psychological burden: the blanket was warm, the bed was soft, and she was really sleepy.

At this time, the Master of Chaldea still didn't know what she would face after returning to Storm's Edge. She could still face the storm between the two primarchs, one loyal and one traitor, without any concern for her, and silently shouted as she gradually fell on the bed, "I want to get off work."

She is a mortal and a patient who has not yet recovered from her injuries. After going through such an experience that even the regent of the empire could not help but feel exhausted, it is understandable that her physical strength could not hold on, right?

In short, even if the sky fell, Guilliman would support it. She closed her eyes without any psychological burden. When she opened them again, she found that she had been sent to a room in the Glory of Macragge along with her blanket and wheelchair.

"How long have I slept?" She emerged from the blanket, looked around, and after confirming that there was no one else, she quietly asked the air in the room. Following this question, Arjuna appeared very naturally out of thin air, approaching the coffee table next to the sofa, and answered: "About an hour and a half. During this time, the Imperial Regent Robert Guilliman was settling some 'personal grudges' with the Primarch of the Night Lords. By the way, the Regent still wants to talk to you alone."

"I see you still have some prejudice against Conrad." There were only his own heroic spirits here, so Fujimaru Ritsuka's words immediately became casual. "Although if you fight with him, I will definitely side with you, but I still hope that the two of you don't fight."

Arjuna picked up a fruit that looked like an apple but had a slightly pink skin from the fruit bowl on the coffee table. He looked at it carefully, then took out a fruit knife that was obviously produced by the Empire from somewhere and began to peel it. "Any servant who knows the relevant background will inevitably have a prejudice against him. I can guarantee that I will not take the initiative to provoke a conflict, but..."

"I understand." Fujimaru Ritsuka's response was ruthless. "If you feel that he is causing trouble for you, just fight back. Sometimes he does seem to be asking for trouble."

She paused for a moment, then added, "And I guess we'll have to kick him off the Storm's Edge pretty soon."

Bringing eighty Night Lords and bringing five thousand Night Lords are obviously two different concepts. The former can be automatically understood by the Imperials they meet as "Fujimaru Ritsuka secretly raised some Chaos Warbands as thugs with the authority of the Inquisitor", while the latter is obviously just short of "I want to rebel" written on his face.

Moreover, when the Emperor first assigned the corresponding expeditionary mission to Konrad Curze, he intended to assign them "a standard Codex-level force", but judging from the number of Night Lords left now, the mission goal has been achieved five times and there is still a detour - not to mention that there are more than 14,000 gene seeds that can be used. If Fujimaru Ritsuka opened his mouth and claimed the ownership of these gene seeds first, then in the eyes of the loyalists of the Empire, this would be extremely "intolerable".

The allocation, management, monitoring and distribution of the remaining 5,000 people and gene-seed, as well as the haphazardly assembled fleet used by the Night Lords when they arrived at the outer reaches of the galaxy, had obviously been taken over by Robert Guilliman, who could not tolerate any unfinished work. Besides, the Imperial Regent was talking to Curze. She didn't believe that the former would not mention this issue. Based on this, Fujimaru Ritsuka was naturally happy to be free and was willing to say yes to the results of the last two.

But if Guilliman really decides to detain these five thousand Night Lords... this will really make the food costly for the Five Hundred Worlds.

Fujimaru Ritsuka threw these unfounded speculations out of his mind and did not speak of them. Arjuna did not comment on this inference, but he was obviously happy about it.

During this conversation, he had already started to cut the peeled fruit into small pieces and piled them on a small silver plate. But when he finally cut them, he and Fujimaru Ritsuka discovered that this fruit that looked like an apple actually had no core. It seemed that except for the decorative stem, the entire fruit was edible.

The originally serious topic was immediately derailed by the strange structure of the imperial fruit. The two ancients studied this variety that was obviously genetically optimized and bred for human consumption, but of course they found nothing except "it looks like an apple, but tastes like a crisp peach."

But anyway, the two of them didn't really want to figure out anything. Fujimaru Ritsuka was handed a small fork, and Arjuna took the fruit knife in his hand. The two of them just ate the cut pieces of... let's call it "apple peach" in about five minutes. After all this was over, Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly realized: "We ate other people's fruit without consent, isn't it bad?"

As a "divine hero", Arjuna obviously had no such concerns. After simply cleaning the table, he said as a matter of course: "The fruit plate in the reception room is for guests to eat."

"You make a lot of sense, but..." At this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who recalled the more than 1,300 pieces of imperial standard court etiquette (simplified version) taught by Tarvitz, felt guilty. But she had obviously lost the time to cover up the scene. At this moment, even mortal ears could clearly hear the special noise coming from the corridor when the armor of destiny was working.

The team behind the Imperial Regent who came in was further streamlined: the Nova Marines Chapter Master was missing, the Imperial Guards did not follow, and the Director of the Diglis Think Tank was nowhere to be found. His position was filled by another Ultramarines Chapter Recorder who appeared in the Psionic Council - Fujimaru Ritsuka. Her knowledge of Imperial Heraldry was actually just so-so, and it was an extraordinary performance for her to see this step.

There were very few people coming in, specifically, only the Regent himself and a think tank registrar. It was unknown whether this saved Fujimaru Ritsuka's life or made things worse. Because when Guilliman entered the room, he obviously saw the remaining fruit peels on the separate plate, and raised his eyebrows: "You seem to be living a comfortable life."

Fujimaru Ritsuka shrank back in embarrassment, but then she mustered up a bit of courage and said, "I'm hungry! And the fruit plate in the reception room is for people to eat!"

Guilliman shook his head in amusement and anger. Apparently, neither of them considered the other an outsider. Given the high position of the Imperial Regent and the power that Fujimaru Ritsuka possessed, this should have been a very strange thing, but it happened.

"This is not an ordinary 'reception room'." The Imperial Regent changed the subject nonchalantly. "I will use this place when I have questions that I don't want others to hear. I have always wanted to ignore this issue - completely out of some inappropriate preferences of my own, but everything that has happened recently has increasingly highlighted the importance of this issue."

While he was saying this, he also signaled the record officer beside him to sit on a chair specially made for Astartes. Fujimaru Ritsuka realized the seriousness of the next topic and straightened his back which was originally leaning on the wheelchair: "I would like to hear the details. I will tell you everything I know."

"Please wait a moment. Not all the people I want to participate in the discussion are here yet. I hope I can listen to opinions from many sides at once." Guilliman said, "I think he should be here soon."

As if in response to his words, after a polite knock, the door of the room opened again - to the surprise of everyone present, the visitor was an Eldar prophet guarded by four warriors wearing spirit bone masks and fully armed.

"Let me introduce you, this is Illian Natas. The prophet from the Ark of Urthwe." Guilliman said this to everyone in the room who were surprised as the door closed.

Meow (six o'clock)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 147 I'm not sleepy if you ask this

The Natas prophet saluted the people in the room with a dance-like movement. If a human were to do this movement, it would undoubtedly look very funny. But all the Eldar are born dancers or actors, so the same movement performed by the Natas prophet looks very elegant.

"Lord Roboute Guilliman," he greeted. "And - I did not expect to see you here, Favorite of the Throne."

The second half of his words were obviously directed at Fujimaru Ritsuka. Guilliman therefore noticed that when the Eldar prophet stepped through the threshold, the girl who had been sitting in the wheelchair with her back straight changed her expression in an instant, and she was obviously in a certain... "pre-war state".

After making sure that no one wanted to take over the conversation for her, Fujimaru Ritsuka spoke with a subtle sense of satisfaction: "Forgive my slowness, Prophet Natas. It took me a moment to realize that you were calling me - after all, the last time I met your people, I was apparently called the 'Source of Disaster', 'Destroyer', or some other similar title."

——The Eldar assassination team she encountered on Jestal was not an isolated case. Although she had survived all these similar encounters without any danger (so she suspected that the ones who decided to assassinate her were just some insignificant small arks), it was enough to consume almost all of her good feelings towards this race.

This accusation did not embarrass Prophet Natas, or perhaps he was embarrassed, but no one present could see it. The Prophet simply replied calmly: "It seems that you have met some of my unfriendly people. However, just as there can be sunshine and dark clouds in the same sky, I must let you know that not all of us see you as a threat. At least, on behalf of the Death Army, I declare that we are willing to regard you as an ally."

Wow, that's so flattering.

Fujimaru Ritsuka thought so, but she didn't say it out loud, and even had an impeccable polite smile on her face. She could certainly continue to press on, but she knew that her position here was ultimately a guest, and guests should not drag the host's topic away at will. This exchange of one or two sentences was enough for Guilliman to understand her position, so she stepped down and said, "Thank you and the forces you represent. At least in the great cause of jointly fighting against Chaos, we are all obliged."

This is the truth, but there is still some room for maneuver: Fujimaru Ritsuka seems to have recognized the identity of "ally of the Death Army", but there is not a single word about the relevant content in the whole sentence. The prophet Natus obviously realized this, and he wanted to continue to say something to make amends, but Guilliman was faster than him:

"Open the secret compartment." The Imperial Regent did not speak to anyone present, but he did attract the attention of everyone in the room. As he spoke, a mechanical humming sound came from the seemingly ordinary antique display cabinet against the wall, and a hidden drawer emerged from the space between the frames that should have been empty. Guilliman took out a flat box from it, opened it, and placed it on the coffee table in the center of the room, showing it to everyone.

The blue light of a stasis field appeared in the box, and below the blue light was an old book that was obviously quite old. It had been carefully bound, but on the leather cover, which was already tattered by the power of time, the title of the book was written in sharp Gothic script: "The Words of the Emperor".

"...The core scriptures of the state religion?" asked the Space Marine think tank.

Guilliman simply confirmed this, and Fujimaru Ritsuka added, "It should be a unique copy of the early version. Otherwise, I can't think of any reason why the Regent would put it in the stasis field."

Guilliman, who had changed from "Mr. Robert" to "Lord Regent" in front of the Eldar, glanced at the little girl in the wheelchair without leaving a trace, and agreed with this: "I asked someone to do a material identification and psychic scan. It was probably printed about 8,000 years ago."

"It's been almost a thousand years since the Great Rebellion," Fujimaru Ritsuka commented. "Although it is also of great reference value, I'm afraid it can't be considered a 'first edition'."

Out of curiosity, after consulting Guilliman, the Librarian disabled the stasis field in the box, carefully lifted the book out of it, and attempted to read the first page.

"It's a little difficult," he commented. "It's Gothic, but it's a very old way of writing."

Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to have no interest in this at all, and did not even try to move her wheelchair to get closer to the think tank. But she still recited in a pronunciation and tone that was from ten thousand years ago: "'Rejoice, because I have brought you the gospel of light - God walks among us.'"

Then she immediately switched back to the more common accent of the era and continued, "I can't recite more. It might not be polite to our Eldar friends."

The prophet Natas did indeed "slide" back a little when she began to recite the first two sentences of the "Divine Word". It can be seen that he was obviously not very happy about this, but he still maintained basic restraint and was able to express his "thank you for your understanding" very politely to Fujimaru Ritsuka.

Guilliman was a little surprised by this scene, but he didn't show it because of his politician's qualities. But his think tank obviously sensed something in Fujimaru Ritsuka's two "recitations". He pulled his eyes away from the ancient book and stared at this seemingly ordinary girl with a little suspicion: "What did you just do?"

"I recited the original text of the first edition of the Words of the Emperor in the 'correct' accent. Of course, I also used a little magic trick." Fujimaru Ritsuka said calmly, "You must have discovered that I am not a psyker, but through this method, I can also directly guide the Emperor's psionic power to kill enemies from Chaos. As far as I know, there are only two cases in the entire galaxy that can achieve a similar effect with such a simple method, which is why Prophet Natus is a little nervous about this."

The Librarian was obviously more interested in this topic, but before he could organize his words to continue asking questions, Guilliman's voice sounded first: "Have you read the first edition?"

"To be exact, it's 'carried over'." Fujimaru Ritsuka showed a look of disgust, "That's really annoying, but I can't help it. I rely on this to make a living."

Guilliman's expression was complicated and difficult to read: "Then you also know who is the author of the first edition of the Sacred Words?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded, and just before he was about to answer, he stopped and turned his head towards the other two people in the room.

The think tank was somewhat puzzled: "Author? What's wrong with this person?"

“My brother Aurelion Lorgar wrote that,” Guilliman replied.

This answer obviously stunned the Librarian: "What? The traitor Primarch?"

"Yes." Guilliman's voice was tinged with bitterness. "I have wondered lately if it was the Emperor's own rejection of Lorgar's faith that led my brother to seek other gods who were more accepting of such things."

At this time, Fujimaru Ritsuka showed a complex expression of "I have something to say, but I shouldn't say it in this situation, so I shut up." The think tank who was caught in the middle looked around and asked in a deliberately controlled and emotionless tone: "So, I am the last person in this room who knows about this?"

The Eldar prophet nodded slightly with pride: "Then my tribe knows the identity of the author."

"Don't worry too much. After all, this is a 'top secret' that will never be made public in the empire." Fujimaru Ritsuka comforted him. "Imagine if this news spreads everywhere--"

"——That will lead to disastrous consequences. The orthodoxy of the state religion will undoubtedly be shaken, and its impact is immeasurable." She didn't need to finish the rest. As a descendant of the Ultramarines, the think tank had enough knowledge to automatically complete the possible developments. He suddenly realized the weight of the facts here, and the shabby little book in his hand suddenly became as heavy as a thousand pounds.

He held the book in his hand in bewilderment and looked at his genetic father: "Why? Why did you suddenly bring up this topic?"

"Because since my return, many things have shaken my previous beliefs." Guilliman's eyes swept over the other people in the room one by one, "I hope to discuss a question with you: 'What is the nature of divine existence?'"

He paused for a moment, then continued to explain his problem:

"In other words, what exactly is 'God'?"

Meow (no more).

To be honest, I didn’t quite understand the timeline of the original work. Theoretically, in the book “God’s Plague”, they interrogated T the Great Demon (Nine Famous Truths.jpg) and then went to Guilliman’s study to discuss this issue, but when did this scene happen... (confused)