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

"——I think he does mean that. Sevatar thinks he wants to find a chance to assassinate you and then push this girl to your position." Jeanne Alter, who had laughed enough and returned to the room in spirit form, said sarcastically, "Sevatar has been watching him 24 hours a day. The Inquisitor has not had a proper sleep since he got on board, and has been conducting various exploration attempts everywhere. It is obvious that he wants to turn the entire Storm's Edge upside down as soon as possible."

"He's an Inquisitor, that's what he does. If he can really find a chance to kill me on the Storm's Edge, then the Empire has hope for revival with such a talent." Faced with this obvious complaint, Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't care. "If he wants to check, just open the database to him. Use the previous sailing records and incident reports of the Storm's Edge to delay him for a while, and then make a judgment after he finishes reading them."

Jeanne Alter shrugged, saying that she would talk to Sevatar about this issue, and then she transformed into a spirit and left again. After venting her emotions, Kaelia looked at this scene with red eyes and asked in frustration:

"Why do others listen to my sister?"

Meow (six o'clock)

Confession: I really want to write some extra stories about the original body of Guda NL.

I have borrowed a lot of money for extra stories, but they all ended up going bad because I couldn't find the right time to insert them... (Very sad seal)

I really want to write without thinking and insert it into the text without thinking... (The seal is crying)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 169 Women's Sleepover (Part )

"That's because the Master is doing something important and right!" Abigail dragged the quilt to Kelly's side, trying to cover her up to keep her "warmer." "Everyone should do the right thing. If it's important, you have to be more serious about it."

Kelly looked back at the little girl kneeling on the bed in confusion, not sure why she would take the initiative to answer this question. But at this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice sounded beside her:

"This is a very complicated question, and it can't be explained in a few words." She showed a somewhat embarrassed expression on her face, "Well... at the beginning, it was forced by the situation. When I first embarked on the journey, my performance was even worse than yours. But do I really have to start from such a long time ago? If so, wouldn't it become me telling you two a bedtime story?"

"Want to hear it!"

"Please spare me, Abi, you already know the general idea."

"But what the Master said is different!"

"...But I didn't do anything in the previous war." Kylia's somewhat dejected voice interrupted the lively argument between the other two, "Sister, it's impossible for you to perform worse than 'did nothing'."

She thought that Fujimaru Ritsuka's previous words were just to comfort her, but she didn't expect that after hearing these words, Fujimaru Ritsuka laughed instead: "Why do you think you didn't do anything? I heard Sister Iolanthe say that before I came to this planet, you had already purified the wells in the city of Tyros, repelled the war engine of the Lord of Plague, and expelled the little demons, right?"

Kellya opened her eyes wide: "But that's not--"

"Do you think it was right for the Emperor to do that?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked with a smile, "But you must understand that without you, the Emperor would not be able to project his power beyond the veil to the city of Tyros that needs his help."

"But we are not just 'field workers'..."

"Indeed, it is important to correctly understand your own position." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "But what I mean is that we should not put ourselves too high, nor too low. It is more important to learn to examine ourselves properly. We are not 'God', but without us, 'God' can't really come to the stage where he is needed. Although we do some unremarkable work, it does not mean that they are not important - the same is true for many things."

Kelly showed a thoughtful expression, and a little nervously grabbed the quilt that Abigail had put on her shoulders. Abigail realized that the other two were talking about something more important, and although she showed a little unhappy look at the long-winded "truths", she still did not make trouble, but just hugged her pillow and crawled to Fujimaru Ritsuka to lean against him.

After a few seconds, Kaylia asked in an uncertain tone: "So, other people will listen to my sister because of this 'importance'?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged: "What do you think?"

Kellya wanted to answer immediately, but she paused before she could speak. After spending another two seconds thinking, her tone was still full of uncertainty: "It seems... not like that?"

"No, it's like this. You think there's a problem because the word 'importance' itself is too general and covers a wide range of situations." Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone was very light. "The most obvious one is, remember Somni? He only acts with me because I am so 'important' that the Emperor even ordered him to assist me. If this crucial point is removed, I'm afraid no one except the Emperor himself can command him now."

"...but he is only one person." Kellya seemed a little uneasy about what she was going to say next. "Although I also believe that everyone should follow the teachings of the Emperor, I don't think those Night Lords..."

"Well, they are renegade Astartes after all. They really won't listen to the Emperor and separated from the Imperium a long time ago." Fujimaru Ritsuka agreed with this very heretical statement in religious terms without a care, "But they will listen to their gene-father. In the eyes of most of them, my 'importance' lies in the fact that their Primarch will listen to me most of the time."

"Eh?" Although she had met him before and knew that Konrad Curze, the traitorous Primarch, also had a seat on the ship, she was still not fully aware of this and was stunned. However, Fujimaru Ritsuka did not stop his discussion:

"As for why the Primarch of the Night Lords listened to me, the story is very complicated, but to sum it up simply, it can be roughly understood that he wanted to atone for the mistakes he had made, and the Emperor designated me as a witness to this process - without me, his "atonement" would be out of the question. To him, this is my "importance"."

"Ok?"

"As for Inquisitor Hastings, my 'importance' is reflected in the previously demonstrated point that 'the Night Lords will listen to me'. After all, he is too close to us. If he cannot even provide the minimum cooperation, the ten black-armored guards specially left on the ship will definitely be able to make his death painful and undignified, and also meaningless. For him, I think he is more worried about the 'meaningless' part."

Kellya seemed completely confused by this structure of links within links.

"Look, I told you this isn't something that can be explained in a few words." Fujimaru Ritsuka laughed. "In short, if you want people to obey your orders, one of the prerequisites is to make them realize your 'importance' - when you met Judge Hastings today, didn't he emphasize his identity as a 'Judge'?"

"..." Even though she grew up in Ultramar and had a stable living environment, she had no extra fear of the title of "Inquisitor". After spending most of the day with the other party, Kellya showed obvious fear at this moment, "But that's the 'Throne Envoy'..."

"What's there to be afraid of? I'm the Emperor's personal envoy to the throne." Fujimaru Ritsuka said nonchalantly, "I even dare to compete with the Regent of the Empire for the length of my title, and you're not that afraid of me."

Kellya shuddered: "But - but you didn't say -"

"——That's the reason. I didn't say that." Fujimaru Ritsuka patted Kellya's shoulder comfortingly. "My importance on this ship no longer needs a specific position or a long title to be reflected, but Inquisitor Hastings has just come on board. Although he joined as your teacher in name, everyone on the ship knows that he was captured as a prisoner. If I hadn't interrupted, he would have died now. Of course, he had to seize the power of 'Special Envoy of the Throne' given to him by the Emperor and repeatedly emphasize his importance."

Even the kind of death that "died everywhere". Fujimaru Ritsuka wanted to say this, but considering that the person she was talking to was not another Night Lord, she regretfully swallowed this hellish joke. However, after hearing this, Kaelia thought for a while and showed a hesitant expression:

"Why do you say that? Judge Hastings sounds a bit pitiful..."

"That guy is just a coward!" Abigail answered angrily, "He's like a cat thrown into an unfamiliar environment. He will provoke anything he thinks he can beat. Abigail won't bother with him. Just leave him there and ignore him!"

"It's amazing that Abi can see this, and the way he handled it is also mature." Fujimaru Ritsuka took the opportunity to praise the little girl next to him, who chuckled a little embarrassedly.

"But then again, there is a saying that goes, 'There must be something hateful about a pitiful person,' and the same is true in reverse." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned back to Kylia again, "Although you may have begun to find Inquisitor Hastings annoying, he can indeed teach you something that I cannot. I am not excusing him, but he has indeed served the Empire in this position for nearly 120 Terran years. During this period, he must have summed up many lessons that an Inquisitor must know. Even if you only learn the basics, the benefit to you in performing your duties as the leader of Chaldea in the future will be immeasurable."

The last sentence made Kellya feel uneasy instinctively, but she was only a teenager after all, at an age where the future mattered more than the past, so she naturally subconsciously pushed the disturbing part of the sentence into the distant future.

"But I just don't like him." Kylia muttered angrily, "I also don't think I can become friends with him. Are all the Inquisitors other than my sister so annoying?"

"I don't know, but judging by the stereotype, I guess that's probably the case." Fujimaru Ritsuka said with a smile, "After all, these people are the first line of defense of the empire, and the pressure brought by their work is beyond the imagination of ordinary people. They have been working in this position for one or two hundred years. If such a senior inquisitor looks mentally normal and approachable, you will doubt whether there is some chaos pollution at work."

"But sister, you——"

"——Don't joke around. According to the time in the real universe, I have only been on the job for less than a year." Fujimaru Ritsuka restrained her smile and pretended to be serious when she said this, but within a few seconds, she couldn't help but break it again. "Hey, although I don't know what Inquisitor Hastings said to you that made you hate him so much, but——"

"——I don't want to be friends with him." Kellya emphasized while hugging the pillow.

"That's fine. That's just an additional question anyway. Your main task is to learn from him how to control psychic energy. After all, he is the only registered psychic on the ship who has received systematic education." Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't care. "Then I'll give you a different task: think of a way to make Inquisitor Hastings 'less annoying' in front of you."

"......?" Kellya didn't say anything, but her big brown eyes were full of doubt when she wasn't using her psychic powers: Can it still be like this?

Meow (peaceful)

(Try to make a side story)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 170 Women's Sleepover (Part )

"Why not?" Fujimaru Ritsuka said in a very natural tone, "Interpersonal relationships will change due to various things. You can certainly choose to let it take its course, but you can also choose to work hard to make it change in the direction you want."

"Hmm..." Kellya hugged the pillow and thought hard for a while, then replied frustratedly, "I can't imagine any way to do it. That person seems really stubborn."

"Inquisitor Hastings is not stubborn, he just appears to be tough. If he was really stubborn, he would not have agreed to be your teacher on board." Fujimaru Ritsuka revealed the answer directly to the other party, and couldn't help but complain, "Sigismund is really stubborn, it started a long time ago, and most of the time I am the one who goes along with him... I'm getting off topic."

"...There are people who are hard to convince, too, sister."

"Of course there will be. Who do you think I am? I am just an ordinary human who looks very unreliable. Even if I carry the Sky Eagle Scepter when I go out, people's first reaction is to question the authenticity of the identification code - although they will soon realize that the identification code is indeed real."

Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed and brought the topic back: "Although I don't know what happened, you can summarize why Inquisitor Hastings makes you feel disgusted, then list them one by one and clearly tell the other party that you don't like it. The basis of all communication is to 'speak clearly'. Although this method is direct, it is also very effective."

Perhaps due to the difference in cultural atmosphere, Fujimaru Ritsuka thought that Kaelia would hesitate here, worrying about whether this was too direct or not. At least, that was what she thought before she had experienced so much. But Kaelia only thought about it for a second, and then nodded fiercely.

"I'll say that tomorrow." But then, worry showed on her face again, "What if he doesn't want to listen?"

"That means you are not important enough in his eyes, so what you say doesn't carry enough weight." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied, "Think about it, what is your advantage on this ship?"

"...But I'm just his student." Even in Parmenio's grammar school, this kind of master-disciple relationship seems quite strict and absolute. Bound by her inherent thinking, Kaelia huddled herself into the quilt sadly. Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed slightly:

"This is the first time, so I will tell you the general idea, but if you have this kind of question again in the future, you have to think about it yourself." She said, "From the perspective of your relationship, Inquisitor Hastings is of course your teacher and you are his student; but what about the significance of the entire Chaldean Bureau?"

"What does it mean to the Chaldea Bureau?" Kylia looked up blankly.

"You are the only heir designated by me, the Master of the Chaldean Crown, and he is technically my prisoner. By the way, Captain Sevitarion and the ten Black Armored Guards left on the ship by Konrad Curze are also my prisoners in a technical sense. It's just that the current situation still requires them to take on various duties on the ship, and I think it's a waste to lock them up."

Fujimaru Ritsuka turned around, put his feet back on the bed, and faced the headboard with his back to the bed. Facing Kaelia who was sitting on the bed, he put his elbows on his knees and supported his face. "In terms of the master-disciple relationship, you are of course the one with less influence. But for the other members of the Storm Boundary, it's not the case. You can find some other 'allies' to help you fight against this 'powerful enemy that you can't fight alone'."

"But..." Kelly hesitated, "I thought this was a matter between the two of us..."

"Since the beginning of human history, humans have been social creatures that need mutual help to survive. When faced with a dilemma that is difficult for one to solve, it is not shameful to seek help - look at when I started to fight alone." Fujimaru Ritsuka said something briskly that sounded absolutely not worthy of pride, but there was even a hint of pride in her tone, "I am actually very weak. If I were thrown alone into the lower nest of any hive, I would be dead within a week. I have come all the way to where I am now, and it is all thanks to the help of various friends."

“But I don’t know who will help me.”

"Wouldn't it be possible to find out if you just ask around?" Fujimaru Ritsuka said lightly. "On the other hand, if you don't ask others in this way, no one will know that you need help in this area, and naturally no one will come forward on their own initiative."

"If I wasn't going back tomorrow, I would definitely help." Abigail, who had been quiet for a long time, suddenly interrupted, "That uncle is annoying, everyone thinks so! I think you can ask Sister Alter first."

Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly noticed something else: "No, wait a minute, although I know that generally speaking, the judge's personality is certainly not likable, but to say 'everyone thinks so' is a bit..."

"No one likes him!" Abigail said angrily, "Monte Cristo's uncle also dislikes him, and the bug-like goblin brother also said he wanted to cast a spell on him. Master, you must hate him too, right?"

Kellya also turned her gaze to Fujimaru Ritsuka, but this question, which seemed to require no hesitation in everyone's opinion, really made her stuck.

"...Well, of course I don't like him either. He wants to kill me." For some reason, this sentence sounded a little guilty. "But if you want to say that I hate him, it doesn't seem to be the case. You see, I can also be temperamental. If I really hated him, how could I let him get on the boat..."

"Why?" Abigail angrily squeezed Fujimaru Ritsuka while hugging a pillow, "There is nothing about him that can make people like him!"

"Objectively speaking, I am very clear about this..."

"Then why doesn't the Master hate him? Is there anything worth liking about him?!"

Abigail knelt on the bed with a pillow in her hand, facing Fujimaru Ritsuka. It was obvious that if the other party's answer was not to her liking, she would throw the pillow down. Fujimaru Ritsuka also understood this clear threat, and immediately began to ponder for a while. After a few seconds, hesitantly gave an answer:

"Uh, he is, human?" Finally feeling helpless, Fujimaru Ritsuka squeezed out such a reason reluctantly, and then the pillow in Abigail's hand fell on her face.

Amidst the condemnation of "Even if you have to find a reason, find a more convincing one!", the nighttime chat quickly developed into a pillow fight. But in the midst of laughter, only Fujimaru Ritsuka herself realized that it had been "a long time" since she had subjectively disliked any "human being".

That was indeed the truth, but she decided to just leave it as an unfunny joke.

Meow (six o'clock)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 171 A Family Ethics Drama (Sequel)

"...At least now, we don't have to worry about Akuldona showing up to bother us again. I have already given him a prophecy and kicked him back into the warp. Let Elder Rilanor and the loyal Emperor's Children worry about it..."

Corvos Corax slowly opened his eyes as a girl whispered softly.

Theoretically, he didn't know what had happened before this, but in fact, the moment he regained consciousness, he realized, "something must have happened."

People, even Primarchs, are often unaware of what is happening when they are in a slow slide. Only when they are suddenly pulled back to their original height by external forces can they realize how far they have slid. The first moment Corax opened his eyes, he clearly realized that somehow, his attention was easily focused, and this was the information processing speed that he, as a Primarch, should theoretically have.

That moment was almost equally cut into countless small pieces by the Primarch's high-speed thinking ability, and Corax himself leisurely let his consciousness travel through these small pieces, and in "one moment" he "methodically" recognized the surrounding environment.

He was still in Guilliman's room on the Macragge's Glory; this room, along with everything in it, was immersed in reality, he could now finally confirm this 100%; having lost his material entity, he was still able to maintain the image of "Corvus Corax" in reality because of the abrupt appearance of some runes on the walls of the room that were completely inconsistent with the decorative style of the walls themselves and emitted a faint glow from the perspective of the Warp creatures. These runes maintained the Warp concentration in the room while psychically sealing the room with a mechanism he did not understand - he did not know why he had missed this before. This was an indisputable and major mistake. If it were on the battlefield, he would most likely have died.

Corax was frustrated for a short while, but after this "short while", "this moment" was not over yet. He continued to observe the furnishings in the room: compared with before, Guilliman's desk was obviously more messy, and it was obvious that he had handled some government affairs on this desk during this period of time; the time shown on the wall clock told Corax that if his previous fragmented impressions were correct, then "this period of time" was probably fifty hours; and Guilliman, who was sitting in front of the desk, looked exactly the same as he had remembered before, except that he put on the laurel wreath again - that is, he was still wearing the dress that Corax remembered he had changed into because the previous set of clothes was stained with blood. Obviously, he had not left this room since then.

In addition to him and his brother, there were two other people in the room, or living things. The "doctor" in white clothes and holding a snake staff that Corax vaguely remembered was gone, and the Space Marine guarding the door had also been replaced, and judging from the paint on his armor, he was not even an Ultramarines. Corax was not familiar with the current regiment organization of the Empire, and could not name the regiment to which this Space Marine belonged, but he could tell from his equipment that he was also a think tank. In Corax's perception, the one who made him doubt the concept of "the other two people" was the ginger-red-haired girl who climbed onto the small sofa of the Primarch's size and tried to raise herself up. She looked about fifteen or sixteen years old.

Corax couldn't explain why he had this feeling. It was an intuitive perception that happened in a split second. There was no specific reason, and it was difficult to describe in words what was wrong. He only doubted his judgment inexplicably the first moment he recognized the other person's existence, but after further careful observation, he was very sure that this little girl was just an ordinary mortal in every aspect.

Perhaps it was an illusion, Corax thought. Considering that he had just woken up from an unnatural sleep, it didn't seem so difficult to understand that he had some unnatural misjudgments.

While he was thinking this, the two people who were near the inside of the room obviously noticed his awakening - after all, when he flapped his wings and tried to find an angle that would allow him to get up without knocking over too many things, the noise he made was really hard to ignore.

The girl who was speaking paused at the right moment, and Guilliman turned to ask, "Are you feeling better, my brother?"

Forced to lie prone because of the wings on his back, Corax, who was now carefully climbing out of the bed, did not speak. In these few short seconds, he quickly retrieved and reviewed his memories of the past few days with a clarity that he had not felt for thousands of years, and at the same time arranged them in order of importance according to his subjective level. After he sat down on the bed, he had finished thinking about all this and was ready to act accordingly:

"Thank you, Robert, I am much better. But—"

If you exclude the pair of wings on his back, Corvos Corax now looks almost exactly the same as he did ten thousand years ago. After the fragility and anxiety that shouldn't have appeared on him disappeared as his soul and thinking ability became complete again, except for a little melancholy and resentment between his eyebrows, time seemed to have left no trace on his face - but it was this point that made a decisive difference between the two:

"What happened to Konrad Curze?" After being able to clearly recall his previous experiences and clearly distinguish which part was real and which part was illusory, the Lord of the Dark Crow spoke again, his tone undoubtedly containing murderous intent, "Why did he appear alive in your fleet?"

The originally bright and warm light in the room suddenly dimmed, and the anger of a Primarch filled this space sealed by strange runes with an oppressive and tyrannical atmosphere. The suffocating feeling that could not be seen by the naked eye, but it did spread violently, instantly drowning the others present - however, not to mention Guilliman who was about to speak to comfort his brother, there was another character here who knew how to blow bubbles under the overwhelming negative emotions of others.

"I told you a long time ago, he just didn't remember it for a moment, or thought it was a dream." The girl who had laid herself on the sofa complained to Guilliman in a low voice - but for everyone in the room, it was still a clear and audible volume without any effort. Then, she turned to Corax's direction, raised her hand like a student answering a question in class, and spoke loudly to a Primarch who was furious:

"Konrad Curze originally died on the border world of Tagusa, killed by an Imperial assassin. This rumor sounds far-fetched, but it is indeed true. As for the Primarch of the Night Lords you saw before, I can assure you that he is indeed him: under the instruction of the Emperor who provided the corresponding soul and essence, we used Chaldean technology to successfully "resurrect" him in another form-"

She couldn't continue, it was physically impossible. Corax remained where he was, but the darkness that quickly spread throughout the room between these few words almost distorted reality itself. As the primarch, the Raven Lord did nothing, but the rage he exuded at this moment was enough to suffocate a weak mortal.

"Corvus, calm down," Guilliman said defensively, aware of what was happening. "You heard it, this was from my father himself. He believes that Curze can be of particular use in the current situation."

The Imperial Regent actually didn't really believe this, but for the sake of the current situation, he still had to say it. He didn't know if his persuasion would work, but in the next moment, the darkness in the room did become a little thinner, and Fujimaru Ritsuka was finally able to start breathing again.

"I heard it, that's why I'm still here, that's why there's no blood here." The Raven Lord said so, his voice once again carrying a layered echo as if from the warp, as if the words in the sentence would directly pierce into the listener's mind. Obviously, he was using reason to restrain his hatred and anger, but the part that was still revealed, as long as it took some time, it could still directly kill a mortal, which meant that this matter... was obviously not that easy.

"I respect our father as well, but he'd better have a good reason for this matter," said Corax.

Guilliman wanted to speak, but the strange thing was that he, an orator skilled in speech and debate, was half a beat slower than the girl beside him when it came to this question: