Emperor's Bane

Chapter 1008 Heart-Corroding Arrogance

"Bayar".

"Ok?"

"Do you think we'll receive a medal from the Emperor after this expedition ends?"

"Just like in Ulanno?"

"Tch...who cares about something like that?"

When Hector asked him a question, the chief champion warrior of the Lord of Avalon chose to ignore him.

At least for him personally, medals and honors have long become meaningless words.

They are less valuable to the Terran veteran than a loaf of bread on the dinner table tonight, or the bottle of essential oil next to his sword.

After all, these two things still have some practical use.

Bread can satisfy his hunger and give him the energy to fight, while essential oils can be used to maintain his power sword: even such an advanced and high-tech killing machine needs regular maintenance after being bathed in blood.

For any swordsman, how to maintain his beloved sword is a profound art: a veteran like Bayar, who has been through this process for a long time, has developed habits and experience in maintaining his sword that could even be the subject of a high-priced lecture.

Compared to them, what use are medals?

Putting aside other things: at least in the history of the Dawnbreaker Legion's Great Crusade, those battles that truly challenged them and proved their strength and authority could never earn them medals to commemorate.

In other words, the most prestigious medal on the chests of many Dawnbreaker warriors is the so-called Ulanor Expedition Victory Medal.

That's a truly brilliant irony.

Hector couldn't possibly be unaware of this principle.

Bayar naturally figured this out by applying the essential oil evenly to the blade.

So he raised his head, bending his neck to an extremely uncomfortable angle, just to barely see Hector's face: even without being fully armed, Hector, just standing there, was enough to completely envelop Bayar, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, in his shadow, domineeringly obscuring the light above the latter's head.

Seeing this, Bayar was not at all surprised by the outburst of the members of the Cult of Machines.

Just a few days ago, when the fully armed Hector was ordered to support a battlefield, members of the Cult of Machines, who were also active on that battlefield, immediately mistook Hector for a brand-new model of knight. Upon seeing the knight's highly intelligent actions and anthropomorphic behavior that was almost indistinguishable from that of a human, these Omnesian believers were so excited that they almost forgot their duties.

Two mechanical priests immediately rushed toward Hector with wrenches and incense.

Of course, it's best not to mention the wretched look on the faces of the mechanical priests after the misunderstanding was cleared up.

For the Dawnbreakers, this was just an insignificant episode in the Comoros War: this was not the first time Hector had been mistaken for the latest model knight of the Empire of Man by unsuspecting allies on the battlefield, especially in recent years, he had taken more anti-tank shells than bullets.

From Bayar's perspective, he could also see a scar on Hector's neck that hadn't fully healed: it came from a Comorian armor-piercing bullet.

Just as Bayar was recalling how many Dark Eldar they had killed in that battle, Hector noticed his senior's gaze. He lowered his head and humbly avoided Bayar's eyes.

"What's wrong, Your Excellency Bayar?"

"I was just thinking about the question you just asked."

Bayar also shifted his gaze, turning his attention back to the sword and oil in front of him.

"You don't seem like the type of person to bring up something like this."

"Isn't it the same?"

Hector also sat down cross-legged, not to mention how much dust he stirred up, which completely ruined Bayar's efforts of the previous ten minutes: even when he sat down, he could still block the sunlight from the champion swordsman, just like a restless Grookes beast.

"Of course not."

Bayar blew the dust off the blade.

"You don't think you're still young, do you, Hector?"

"Huh? Aren't I young?"

Hector touched his face, which was as smooth as a peeled egg, somewhat bewildered.

"You have served for 150 years."

Bayar struggled to suppress the urge to roll his eyes.

"Of course, it's also possible that I'm remembering it wrong: maybe it was 160 or 170 years ago."

“But you’d better realize one thing, Hector.”

"At your age, you'd be considered a junior in our legion."

"If you were in another legion, what do you think a veteran with 150 years of service would call you?"

"Well……"

Hector stroked his chin but didn't say anything.

After a long silence, just as Bayar was about to finish his work, he finally spoke.

"Senior, do you know why I asked you that?"

"The medal issue?"

"Yes."

Hector nodded.

"It's because not long ago, I overheard a conversation among the junior members of the legion: the real juniors only joined after Ulano."

"Isn't that normal?"

Bayar raised his sword, gazing at the not-so-blinding light above the Comoros, weighing its sharpness.

"The little guy who has never seen the Great Expedition will naturally be excited about the so-called honor and medals."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

Hector lowered his body and moved closer to Bayar.

It seems he wanted to speak with the second company commander privately.

However, he completely failed to notice that neither his conspicuous physique nor his loud voice had anything to do with privacy: fortunately, there were no people around.

"Originally, I didn't care much about this matter."

"But just yesterday, I happened to run into those recruits discussing medals while on patrol: on a whim, I chatted with them."

"Then, I discovered a problem."

Hector's expression turned serious.

"This lack of honor and pursuit of honor is not the opinion of a few people in the legion: in fact, the vast majority of new recruits who rejoined the army after the Great Expedition were somewhat dissatisfied with the current state of the legion, the most serious of which was the dissatisfaction with the lack of honor."

"Lack of honor?"

Bayar turned his head to the side.

He started to take this topic seriously.

"They should know that they were just unfortunate enough to miss the glory days of the Great Crusade, right?"

“They have no problem with that.”

Hector shook his head.

“I asked carefully, and even went out of my way to find other new recruits who could participate in the Battle of Comoros.”

"The conclusion is that virtually every soldier recruited into the Legion after the Battle of Ulano, even those who joined at the end of the Great Crusade and did not experience many battles or victories during the Great Crusade, generally harbored a dissatisfaction with the Legion's lack of honor."

"That's right, it's not about their personal grievances; it's about our entire legion."

"They have no objection to the Primarch."

"They have grievances against the emperor and the empire."

"A lack of honor for the Legion?"

Bayar frowned.

He didn't react for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"simply put."

Hector moved closer.

"These new recruits who joined at the end of the Great Crusade and afterward generally believed that, given the strength of the Dawnbreaker Legion and the achievements we made in the Great Crusade, we had gained far too little honor and status within the Empire. Terra and humanity lacked respect for us; they did not realize how important we were to them."

"what……"

Bayar understood what Hector meant.

"You mean to say that the new recruits think we should be given a higher position?"

"Yes."

At this point, Hector also seemed somewhat helpless.

"The vast majority of them believe that we should not limit ourselves to just one corner of the Far East."

“They believe that Lady Morgan is more suitable to lead the Empire than the Terra Highlord Council and Warmaster Horus: she should be the successor to the Lord of Man.” “Similarly, the Shadowmoon Wolves or the Imperial Fist are not qualified to be in the very center of the galaxy; at the very least, they should not occupy so much status, power, and honor.”

"Tsk...that is indeed a problem."

Bayar slowly frowned.

“I had never thought about honor and status from this perspective before.”

"This new generation of young people...is that really what they think?"

"This isn't even the worst of it."

Hector gave a somewhat bitter smile.

"Do you know what the problem is that makes the new recruits in the legion the most dissatisfied?"

They believe that the Emperor and Holy Terra did not give our Mother of Genes enough rewards.

"This is what annoys them the most."

"Their honors are irrelevant; but the honor of the Mother of Genes is another matter."

"what?"

Bayar was taken aback.

"What do you mean?"

"According to them, the Far Eastern frontier was opened up by the Primarchs and the Legion on their own during the Great Crusade. Although the Emperor made a verbal promise, he did not provide any assistance during this period. Similarly, Holy Terra did not provide even the slightest help to the Far East."

"And when the Great Crusade ends, the Lord of Mankind only needs to casually acknowledge the existence of the Far East to negate the Primarch and the Legion's return during the Great Crusade."

"In their words: Although it seems that we have become the masters of the Far East and have received generous rewards."

"But in reality, every Primarch and Legion that participated in the Great Crusade can receive the same reward: they can carve out fertile starfields and become a dominant force. Even if they never built anything on the lands they ruled during the Great Crusade, they can still possess them because of the Emperor's reward."

"On the other hand, we, who have already put in extra effort during the Great Expedition, end up receiving the same reward as these people: isn't that a loss?"

According to them.

"Apart from the formal recognition of the Far Eastern border."

"The Emperor should reward our Primarchs with even more rewards to be fair."

"For example, the power on Terra?"

Bayar pressed for an answer.

"They didn't mention that."

Hector shook his head.

"And I think they don't even know what they want to fight for the Primarch and the Legion."

"They just felt it was too unfair that Lady Morgan was just an ordinary principality like the other Primarchs: her status should be higher, higher than the other Primarchs and principalities, and even if she wasn't a Warmaster, she should be second only to the Warmaster."

"However, these newcomers are just dissatisfied. Their clamor is still only emotional and has not yet formed any firm organization or action plan. Although they always mention these things, it seems that they have won over quite a few people within the legion."

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

Bayar waved his hand.

"After things are settled in Comoros, I'll find an opportunity to report this to my mother."

"Mother will definitely have a way to handle it."

"I know."

But Hector's brow did not relax.

"Actually, what worries me is something else."

"What!?"

"According to these newcomers, this resentment over the unfair rewards from the Emperor and Terra did not originate within the Dawnbreaker Legion: it is an imported one."

"Imported goods?!"

Bayar's voice rose slightly.

If it's just the dissatisfaction of the newcomers, then it's indeed not a serious problem.

However, if someone outside the legion deliberately incites discontent among new members, then the problem becomes serious.

"Where did these imported goods come from?"

"Hmm... Five hundred worlds."

Hector seemed to hesitate for a moment before giving Bayar an answer that was not surprising at all.

"In fact, there are also the Midnight Lords: many of the Midnight Lords' new recruits are also dissatisfied with their status, honor, and the rewards they received during the Great Expedition."

The 11th Company Commander then added.

"In fact, this theory of unfairness is quite popular among the three Far Eastern countries: mainly among the new recruits in the legions."

"I don't know exactly how it spread, but it probably originated in the Five Hundred Worlds: the Ultra Warriors are the most fervent believers in this theory."

"According to those newcomers, and even many veteran Ultramarines who participated in the Great Crusade, they genuinely believe that the Emperor and Terra have failed their Primarchs: they believe that Lord Guilliman and Lord Morgan deserve more, and even that they are the ones who are qualified to wield power over Terra."

"Humph……"

Bayar shook his head.

"They are very enthusiastic."

"But based on my understanding of our Primarchs, Lord Morgan might not think that way."

"However, if it's really as you say, this idea has become popular in the Thirteenth Army."

"Then its harm may be greater than we imagine."

"Hopefully it won't erupt immediately..."

At this point, Bayar suddenly smiled.

"Never mind: it's not something we can decide."

“The issues you raised are very valuable, Hector. I will find an opportunity to raise them with Lord Morgan.”

"Find an opportunity?"

Hector looked somewhat displeased.

"Shall we go now?"

"not now."

Bayar stopped him.

"The original manifestation is that there is something very important happening now."

"She wants to discuss with the Emperor how we should launch a second offensive against Comoros."

"So fast?"

Hector frowned.

"Aren't we fully ready yet?"

"Those members of the Mechanicus have not yet completed the construction of the fortress and infrastructure."

"Many of the elite troops of the World Eater Legion are still scattered across the battle lines, busy with their own affairs."

"The Salamanders are well-prepared, but they have acted too recklessly in this war. We cannot let them go it alone."

"To start a war under these circumstances?"

"Emperors and Primarchs had no choice."

Bayar sighed.

"Because some bad news has just come from the real universe."

"What is it?"

"Dorn was defeated at Minerva."

"The Dawnbreaker said in a heavy tone."

"Although we did not completely lose the war, we did lose the initiative on the battlefield."

To be specific.

"He lost a vital fortress."

"He almost lost his life in the duel."

(End of this chapter)