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

"I will explain everything." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "There are some very complicated reasons..."

Meow (six o'clock)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 172 You listen to my excuses

"To put it bluntly, the Emperor believes that if I leave Holy Terra and go to the dark side of the Empire, I need Konrad Curze - or more precisely, the essence of his 'Judgment' - to form some kind of connection with my soul -"

Just as Fujimaru Ritsuka was about to start a long speech, the Imperial Regent interrupted her with a simple gesture, and then tilted his head slightly towards the door. The girl turned her head in confusion, but only had time to catch a glimpse of the corner of the staff in the hands of the registrar who slipped out smoothly, and then the door of the room closed smoothly and silently.

“…Is it necessary?” Fujimaru Ritsuka turned back and asked Guilliman, who had successfully cleared the situation with just a glance. The latter did not speak, but just looked back at her with a serious expression.

In fact, Guilliman didn't know if this was necessary. First, he didn't know what Fujimaru Ritsuka was going to say next. Second, no matter how much he blocked the news, it was impossible for the core management of the fleet to hide the resurrection of Conrad Curze and his 5,000 or so captives. But this conversation obviously involved some details, and Guilliman instinctively felt that it was better for fewer people to know about things that were too specific.

Fortunately, Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't care about this. After all, her most important listener was still sitting on the bed, clearly emitting a black aura that could be seen with the naked eye. After a brief pause, she continued to tell the "story":

"To put it simply, the Emperor has deemed it necessary to bring my soul into a mystical harmony with his essence."

Due to insufficient prior information, Guilliman did not understand the necessity of this move, but Corax seemed to understand something and immediately retorted: "I can probably understand the necessity, but I still question the choice of personnel."

"Excuse me, I don't understand." Guilliman naturally interrupted the topic, "What exactly is the 'necessity' you are talking about?"

Corax glanced at Guilliman, and after confirming that he really hadn't discovered anything, he inexplicably revealed a complicated expression: "You are still exactly the same as before."

"what?"

"The girl has no Warp projection of her own." Corax did not answer this question, but instead began to explain the previous one. "This should be completely impossible - even the Untouchables can see a structure similar to a black hole when observing them from the perspective of the Warp. But for her, even this does not exist."

Guilliman's expression was visibly confused. "But that is impossible - I mean, many of my Librarians have come into contact with her. If there was something so obviously out of character about her, they would have -"

"——That's because she 'looks' like she has a projection." Corax said, "a small piece of black mist, about the same size as any mortal, very inconspicuous, so no one would pay too much attention to it. But it's not her own, but was added later. Although it can be roughly synchronized with her in the real world, if you can observe the two at the same time, you will find that there is always a slight delay difference between them. I felt a little inconsistent when I saw her, and now I think the problem may lie here."

He paused, then continued reluctantly, as if even saying the name pained him: "That little projection is the essence of Conrad Kurtz."

Guilliman looked towards Fujimaru Ritsuka with a blank expression. He wanted to get some further explanation from her, but found that her expression was exactly the same as his.

"I never knew about this. I mean the part where a little bit of Conrad's essence was faked as my 'subspace projection'." She said, "I thought I always looked like I had 'no projection', but everyone thought that this level of 'abnormality' was not worth mentioning when I was 'very abnormal' in various senses, so no one specifically mentioned it..."

"..."

"..."

"Wait a minute." After a brief silence, Corax asked again: "If it is not due to this 'fake projection', then what exactly do you mean by 'necessary mystical resonance'?"

"No, I think she should first explain why -" Guilliman turned back from Corax to Fujimaru Ritsuka again, "- you don't have a warp projection?"

"It's simple, because I'm not from this universe. The Emperor knew this from the beginning, or it can be said that this is the premise of everything." Fujimaru Ritsuka explained, "Although from the perspective of appearance, structure and genes, there are only some 'understandable' and 'normal' differences between me and ordinary people in this world, but because the operating rules of the two universes are fundamentally different, from the perspective of mysticism, the fact that I 'exist' in this universe itself is very unreasonable. If I do nothing, I will soon be excluded by the universe itself because of this 'irrationality'. In order to stay, 'establishing a connection with an important person in this universe' is a kind of... emergency measure, a cover-up for the 'irrationality', I guess."

"Why not Guilliman?" Corax said, not letting the point slip. "I don't know why you didn't include my father in this question, but even if you're just choosing from the Primarchs, isn't the 'Imperial Regent' obviously much more important than a long-dead renegade Primarch?"

"...Actually, I had no choice. It was the Emperor who chose me." Fujimaru Ritsuka expressionlessly began to pass the buck, "Another reason is that the Emperor felt that Conrad's essence could serve as a kind of insurance in case of an 'accident'."

"What 'accident'?" Corax asked. But from his expression, he didn't really want to know the answer to this question, but instead acted like "I want to hear what else you can say."

"You see, I don't have a subspace projection." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "This is because there is no subspace in my original universe. Humans don't have subspace projections. But if I stay in this universe for a long time and have to adapt to the rules here, perhaps my soul will gradually form my own subspace projection. The Emperor believes that it is necessary to make countermeasures in advance for this possibility, because to be honest, there are quite a few monsters in my soul. If they are allowed to become subspace entities without restrictions, there may be some catastrophic consequences. The nature of Conrad's "Judgment" should theoretically be able to limit this to some extent."

This sounds like a fantasy: a little girl who is definitely underage and only looks like she is about 15 or 16 years old claims that "there is a monster in my soul". If this kind of thing is said in public, most people will laugh it off. But when Fujimaru Ritsuka said this, she even turned her head away guiltily and did not look at anyone present, which basically proves that at least she herself does believe the truth of this statement.

Guilliman exchanged another confused look with Corax, and this time even Corax gave him an 'uncertain' look, shaking his head at his brother.

"Why didn't my think tank——"

"——Because 'soul detection' is unnecessary in many cases, and it's offensive no matter how you think about it." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied, "It's normal for people to use psychic powers to secretly listen to each other's moods and surface thoughts. It's completely sufficient in terms of practicality. Putting effort into soul detection is not only easy to be discovered, but can only be done openly. And unless there is a special ritual requirement, there is often no reward for doing so."

"What's in your soul?" Corax asked immediately, and Fujimaru Ritsuka looked a little embarrassed: "Do you have to tell me?"

Guilliman calmed himself down and decided to change his perspective: "Then at least let us know how much damage would be caused if that 'catastrophic consequence' happened?"

"I don't know." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "It's not that I don't want to say it, but I have to speak like a prophet next: there are countless possibilities in the future, but until it progresses to the moment when it can be concluded, no one can be sure in which direction it will develop. All we can do now is to add to the future itself and try to make it deflect in a better direction, but whether it will really deviate in that direction, no one can tell."

Corax pondered, but Guilliman simply gave him a disapproving look.

Meow (six o'clock)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 173 The Emperor is a Bad Father

"You can't say——"

"No." Turning to face Guilliman, Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately made a cross with his hands, using body language to express his firm refusal. "The reason why mysticism is called mysticism is because it can only be hinted in mysterious ways!"

That's not the case. At least not etymologically. Guilliman frowned and complained. But it was irrelevant to the topic at hand, and he was not Magnus, so he didn't really say this rebuttal.

"...Since my father has already come up with a solution to this matter, perhaps we shouldn't ask any more questions." Corax said this with some difficulty. From his struggling expression, it was obvious that this sentence was the final conclusion that prevailed among one or more other intertwined and mutually negating ideas.

But even though he let this go, it didn't mean that the Raven Lord had forgotten the question he originally wanted to pursue: "Perhaps I can agree that it is necessary for Conrad Curze to appear in this area again, but I don't think..."

He hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to say the vicious words as they were: "I don't think he has the right to live so comfortably."

Guilliman's shoulders rose and fell oddly, as if he were about to make some move but then decided not to. Then, with a hint of pleading, he said, "Come on, Corvus. He is our brother, after all—"

"—since the time of Istvan, he has not been!"

Corax's voice exploded from the depths of the warp like thunder. Even though he seemed to be sitting still without moving, the furnishings in the room were humming along with his words in a strange resonance. But in the next second, the Raven Lord himself seemed to realize that he was too excited. Like any human, he stopped and took a deep breath to slow down his emotions. When he spoke again, Corax was obviously much calmer in all aspects:

"Robert, I know you once had a happy family, so you may be a little obsessed with the idea of ​​'family affection', but for those culprits who betrayed our father and forced the human empire to continue to burn until now..."

He paused, trying to find some words that could more accurately describe what he was thinking, but he failed. So the Lord of Ravens just sighed and said briefly and firmly: "They are not worthy."

Guilliman was visibly stunned. He wanted to say something, but Fujimaru Ritsuka spoke quickly enough to stop him from making any excuses: "Do you mind if I explain this from a completely 'outsider' perspective?"

Both Primarchs were a little unhappy because the dispute between brothers was interrupted, but fortunately, these two Primarchs were Guilliman and Corax. Considering the importance of Fujimaru Ritsuka herself, they were reluctantly willing to listen to what she had to say.

"First of all, as an outsider, my first feeling is that the emperor is an indisputable great ruler, but also an indisputable, terrible father." Fujimaru Ritsuka, who automatically took silence as a default, spoke this heavyweight statement as soon as he opened his mouth. "Don't rush to refute. He is a typical workaholic who neglects his son because he has too many things to do. He also has some inexplicable idealism that everyone can understand his ideas. He shows no love to his son when he should, and splashes love indiscriminately when he shouldn't. The above are ironclad facts. No matter who you ask, he is a terrible father."

Guilliman's Adam's apple moved, but in the end he said nothing, just folded his arms and sat there angrily, perhaps completely at a loss for words. It was Corax, whose almost tangible "atmosphere" was becoming increasingly gloomy, who spoke, but not to refute the above argument: "I don't see how this is related to our topic."

"The connection is that the root of this whole thing is that the emperor's 'bad father syndrome' has struck again." Fujimaru Ritsuka said confidently, "Even now, he still feels that every one of his sons should have the opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and he is willing to let them try. This is completely and fundamentally: he is loving his sons again when he shouldn't love them."

Guilliman held his composure, but Corax's expression was a mixture of shock, anger, confusion, pain, and sadness. In the next second, Corax's anger clearly took up a larger proportion of this emotion, and he said angrily: "This is not right. I think it should be-"

"——From my perspective as an outsider, I actually agree with this recycling plan." Fujimaru Ritsuka interrupted the point Corax was about to make, "Although my perspective is more cold: if there is one more Primarch serving the Empire in reality, the positive benefits that can be generated after a period of time are immeasurable. Just like Mr. Robert quickly prepared the Indomitus Crusade within a period of time after waking up, and initially stabilized the dark side of the Empire that had become chaotic due to the opening of the Great Rift, in this galaxy surrounded by enemies, we should not miss any opportunity to increase the strength of the Empire."

In fact, she herself was also of the opinion that "the person has died once, so give him another chance", but she knew very well that such a light and emotional reason would never convince the direct parties and the victims of their deep hatred, so she simply ignored this "unimportant" part. However, the rather pragmatic reason she put forward at this moment did have some hope of convincing the other party: at least Corax did start to think about this.

"Maybe so, but I don't think people like Curze can play any positive role in the overall situation of the empire." The Raven Lord said reluctantly.

"At least he can still lead all of his 5,000-plus descendants to fight. This is the minimum thing for a Primarch, and even he can still do it well." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "Our initial decision for these Night Lords is to break up their organizations and divide them up again, and then send them to the Great Rift Atonement Expedition in batches. It is always a good thing to have more troops to help the Empire recover lost territory, and Conrad himself agrees."

"It's like this," Guilliman began to chime in at the right time, "I decided on this matter after talking to him. It seems that my father originally wanted him to clean up a designated planet in the Great Rift - he has really changed a lot, maybe you should also -"

"——No thanks." Corax refused immediately, "I am not interested in what kind of person he has become now. Now, I can understand the meaning of his current existence here rationally, and I also admit this. But emotionally, I still..."

He took another deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, "I don't trust him. I can't trust him."

After this was said, there was a subtle silence in the room for a second. Then, Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice sounded again: "Indeed, I don't think it's a good idea to leave this matter entirely to him. There must be someone with enough weight to watch over him throughout the process."

Guilliman asked the other party nervously in a questioning tone: "Ms. Fujimaru?"

This sentence sounded like a request, but in fact it did have a bit of a not very firm denial. Before Corax woke up, the plan they had made did not include this part, but Fujimaru Ritsuka ignored him and continued to talk to Corax without caring:

"The reason why it was just a 'preliminary decision' is that we don't have the right person to take on the position of supervisor. Mr. Robert and I both have other, more important things to do. The expedition to the Great Rift seems to be a waste of time compared to the plan we should have carried out. However, as I said before, 'If there is one more Primarch serving the Empire in reality, the positive benefits that can be generated after a period of time are immeasurable.'"

Corax sensed what she was about to say, and puffed up his wings nervously. But this did not stop the little girl from saying what she was about to say:

"Mr. Corvus, as a 'primarch', would we be honored to invite you to return to reality and, as a 'sufficient' supervisor, lead the Raven Guard and the Night Lords to carry out this mission together?"

The expression on Guilliman's face was very interesting for a moment. He couldn't even imagine what would happen if these two legions (chapter) with deep hatred were put together. He looked at his brother with a pleading look, but he couldn't tell whether this pleading meant "pleading him to stay like this" or "pleading him not to agree to this request."

As for Corax himself, he pondered in silence for a while. Even for mortals, this period of time was a bit long, but in the end, he came to a conclusion and responded with a firm attitude:

"Okay, I agree." He said, "The blood feud between us will never disappear, but now I also know very well that temporary compromise is sometimes necessary."

He "moved" down from the bed in a way that was physically impossible, stood up, and faced Fujimaru Ritsuka who made this request to him. The huge shadow of the primarch enveloped the mortal girl. To others, this might be understood as a demonstration or a warning, but Fujimaru Ritsuka still looked up at Corax's pale face without fear: she knew that the other party just wanted to make this statement look more solemn.

"I, Corvus Corax, swear upon my life and soul that I will keep a watchful eye on Konrad Curze and his Legion for as long as I live," the Raven Lord said. "I will do my best to judge what I see, even though there is a hatred between us that will never be healed. This is not because I want to forgive him, nor because I believe he can atone for his sins - it is for the sake of the civilians who may still be suffering in the Warp, and for the sake of this crumbling Imperium."

"That's enough." Fujimaru Ritsuka jumped down from the sofa. Perhaps she also wanted to make the scene look more formal, but in fact, she just made her voice lower when she spoke. But it doesn't matter, she still looked very happy when she spoke: "Everyone should thank you for your return, Mr. Corvos."

In this scene, the only person who remained silent, Robert Guilliman, showed a complicated expression, not knowing whether to be happy or sad.

Meow (six o'clock)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 174 The backlog of work will always be solved by the most conscientious person in the department

"...I really hope everything goes well." Ritsuka Fujimaru said this with a sigh while lying idly by the porthole of the tower of Macragge's Glory.

"Everything is going according to plan," said Sigismund, who was standing beside her.

Compared to some Warp entity whose existence is difficult to explain, or a captain of a traitorous legion wearing a bat-wing helmet, a Black Templar Emperor Champion is obviously a more legitimate candidate to walk around, even if he does have a few more medals of honor. After several rounds of "friendly discussions", several members of the Storm's Edge finally decided to temporarily transfer the post of Fujimaru Ritsuka's guard to Sigismund - at least, that's what will be decided before the next round of "friendly discussions".

"I don't know." There was a hint of complaint in Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone, "I always feel that in the past few days since I woke up, there are still many things that I should have done that were originally written in the plan but have not started yet."

Sigismund, who had indeed deliberately delayed the progress of the work, avoided the question: "In fact, you have already completed a workload that is inappropriate for your current physical condition. You should think more about your health."

“But putting things out there won’t make them go away on their own.”

"This is a planet under the rule of Lord Guilliman. Theoretically, as long as you leave most things there, Lord Guilliman will naturally make them disappear after a short period of time."

Fujimaru Ritsuka turned around in confusion and stared at Sigismund in surprise.

"Wait a minute, are you this kind of person?" she said in surprise, "Or did I really lead you astray... No, did I ever push work like this back then?"

Sigismund still did not respond directly: "You need to rest. Not to mention your previous physical condition, you should also be aware that you are now just a more fragile mortal - you need to at least get eight hours of sleep a day and get enough nutrition. You should not work for dozens of hours in a row as you did in the past."

This is what happened in the illusion. Although it was fake, at that time, Fujimaru Ritsuka had the physical fitness of the original body, so it was easy for him to work non-stop. Even so, Fujimaru Ritsuka still wanted to refute: "This is your stereotype. Even the humans of my era were not so fragile-"

"What fragile?" another voice floated down from above their heads.

The speaker was Corax, who was perched on top of the wall lamp. After leaving Guilliman's room, where the warp environment had been transformed by special runes, he had to reduce the power he projected into reality in other areas with thick curtains and stable reality, and turned his image back into an ordinary raven - at least this time, when he was shaping his physical image, he remembered that ravens only had two eyes.

No, wait, he didn't remember. Fujimaru Ritsuka was sure of this after a brief observation. He just closed the other three "extra" eyes on his head that were not in the right position to make their presence less obvious.

While Fujimaru Ritsuka was observing like this, Corax was also observing Sigismund carefully. But whether he came to any conclusion or not, he did not express any clear opinion on this. Instead, he jumped from the wall lamp to the railing on the other side of the corridor, and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka who turned around following his movement path, and simply explained his previous question: "You said before that there are some 'understandable normal differences' between you and the current 'ordinary people'."

He obviously felt that this hint was enough, so he folded his wings and stretched his head to wait for the other party's answer. For Fujimaru Ritsuka, there was nothing wrong with this, but she still looked around and confirmed that there was no one else nearby before explaining in a low voice:

"Didn't I say that I came from another universe? In that timeline, I was born in 2000 AD - there's no missing zero or anything. In this universe, if I were to undergo a genetic test, they would find that I'm an ancient human who should have already become a fossil."

"That is to say, she lacks the necessary antibodies to many common environments or epidemics in the empire." Sigismund added an unnecessary explanation. "Her physique and physical fitness are also weaker than the average level of ordinary people in the empire. Even the slightest radiation will affect her health."

"I think you guys are a little too nervous." Fujimaru Ritsuka deadpanned, "I'm a woman who can drink Leman Russ down at a Fenris-style banquet!"

"That was in a fantasy world, it doesn't count, and you fell into a three-day depression afterwards." Sigismund retorted, "The reality is that you can't even go to the port to check the progress of the Emperor's Fantasy's cleanup. The radiation there is already too much for you."

"——As long as I wear a protective suit——"

"——I believe the Imperial Guards will handle this problem." Sigismund ignored Fujimaru Ritsuka's angry defense, "You should learn to hand over the work to people in other departments with confidence."

"But if you are genotypically 'ancient human,'" Corax obviously had a different emphasis on this matter, "then could you unlock some dark age technology..."

"...The Emperor let me try it in the basement of the Imperial Palace." Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged. "The answer is yes, but only with some insignificant civilian equipment. The portable costume projection of the Dark Technology Age is fun, and the virtual reality equipment is also interesting, but once I want to turn on something more useful, they will pop up a description telling me: I haven't passed the identity authentication, 'Insufficient permissions'. Overall, this feature is of little use except for being able to adjust the product manual."

Corax shook his feathers regretfully and said nothing more. Then, he turned his head to the side, as if waiting for something to appear. After a few seconds, Fujimaru Ritsuka realized from the mechanical sound of the door sliding open and the heavy footsteps of the power armor that Guilliman, who had finished his gear and put on the armor of destiny again, had finally come out of his armory.

"I hope you didn't have to wait too long." The Imperial Regent seemed a little absent-minded. "This suit of armor comes with an additional life support system, so it will take longer to wear."

"We didn't wait long." Fujimaru Ritsuka responded naturally and without any connection. "We all understand that you need some time to prepare yourself mentally."

Guilliman cast a slightly angry look downwards, but then he touched his face uncomfortably and unconsciously: "Am I so obviously nervous?"

"I guessed. After all, this is a celebration banquet held by dozens of the most outstanding descendants you missed during your 10,000 years of sleep." Fujimaru Ritsuka's smile seemed a little mischievous. "If I put myself in their shoes, I would be nervous too."

This made Guilliman realize that he had been fooled by a feint. This made his subsequent counterattack seem a bit angry and embarrassed in the eyes of others: "You are going to wear this?"

"I don't need to take the main seat at the banquet." Ritsuka Fujimaru, who was only wearing a very ordinary formal uniform, shrugged and fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist. A stream of light like a virtual image quickly covered her entire body, making her look like she was wearing a layered and complicated Rococo dress.

——Then, the little girl raised her hand confidently and gave the Imperial Regent a "yeah". Guilliman, who had used similar tactics to fool the ministers who came to the meeting not long ago to show that he was not incapable of taking off the Armor of Destiny, could hardly make any effective rebuke for this.

The question was easily ignored, and Fujimaru Ritsuka happily turned to Corax on the side and said, "Aren't you coming? Just show up. We don't need to sit in the main seats anyway. You can stay for ten or twenty minutes and then leave."

"No." Raven flapped his wings awkwardly, "I still want to... why don't I go and take a look at those Primaris descendants in the fleet who were forged with my genes as a template."