Emperor's Bane

Chapter 218 Yes, Your Excellency
"How did you become an Astartes warrior?"

"When I was young, a stranger came into my family, and he recommended me a job that required beastly greed, mechanical ruthlessness, constant harm and plunder, and constant shouting. For the Emperor."

"Is he an Astarte officer?"

"Yes, but I thought at the time that he wanted to recommend me to the Terra Council."

------

In every sense, Jean-Lana is already a veteran.

By the time the fleet of the Second Legion had finally completed their meeting with the Iron Warriors and left the Veil of Fate, abandoned by all, to head south, Lanar had served as a warrior of the Emperor. over 120 Tara standard years.

Among them, 78 years were spent in the Great Crusade, and the rest was the ups and downs of the Terra Unification War: Yes, contrary to what ordinary people think, the Lord of Humanity used the war to unify Terra It is extremely long. It may have taken him almost 200 years to wipe out those barbaric technological tribes, genetically modified warlords, and ancient tyrannical relics on the human home planet one by one. They, in fact, have power and technology that are even enough for them to separate one side of the galaxy and become the rulers and emperors of several galaxy regimes.

The Angels of Death of the First Legion alone appeared on the scale of the Legion for the first time in the Siege of Samarkand, and the aftermath of the Great Crusade officially began. The time span between the two exceeded 130 years. Not to mention that even before the siege of Samarkand, Thunder Warriors had already been the emperor's messengers of death, constantly expanding the territory.

And Lana almost witnessed all these changes: as one of the earliest soldiers of the Second Legion, the first time he went into battle, and the first time he saw the heroic appearance of the Emperor was when he besieged and destroyed the soldiers on the Holy Terra. In the last temple [Thunderstone Church], he acted as the vanguard of the Second Legion, and he never left this identity for more than 100 years.

He is the undead vanguard, the leader of the vanguard detachment, responsible for the early intelligence investigation and necessary breakthroughs in the war: he is very satisfied with these duties, and never thought of going further in status and title, although his resume, honor and The medal was enough to make him the leader of the Second Army, but he never thought of leaving his basic command post.

In other Legions, this may seem strange, but in the Second Legion, characters like Lana abound, and the strange and simple pragmatism is one of the most ingrained characteristics of the Sons of Morgan. In the eyes of the combat brothers of other legions, there are even some unbelievable values. A large number of veterans and meritorious people are willing to stay in the grassroots positions where [the legion needs him most] instead of continuing to climb up: because those so-called high positions and powers are not Not enough to attract most II Legion fighters.

As a result, this has created a rather interesting phenomenon: in other legions, especially the War Dogs or Iron Warriors, their superiors have unimaginable authority and control over ordinary soldiers, but after Morgan took over the Second Legion Before, the leadership of this legion was known for its relative weakness.

Because you never know, the ordinary veteran, squad leader, technical sergeant or administrator in your eyes is a legend who has served for many years, how many military exploits and medals he has: the sons of Morgan are transforming surgery and recruits During the period, they had a top damage rate, but once they survived to become veterans, they were basically the well-known battlefield phoenixes.

People like Lana, who are enough to be of the same generation as Marshall or Bayar, have at least three digits in the legion, and those who have witnessed the final battle of the Thunder Warriors may even exceed two thousand: if one The first Dawnbreaker joined the Legion on the eve of the Great Crusade, so now, at least two-thirds of the entire Second Legion has characters whose qualifications are far superior to his.

These experienced grass-roots backbones have made Morgan's heirs the imperial phoenixes that can be reborn at any time, but the resulting low degree of organization eventually led to the division of the legion: the benefits of these legion traditions And disadvantages, it seems that it has become a confusing topic that can never be explained.

But all of this has become history, and it has become something that no one will care about. Since Morgan's return, the Second Legion has knelt under the boots of its own genetic mother, allowing her to knead and change at will, and some original The atmosphere, also unknowingly, changed.

A rather obvious change is: Many Dawnbreakers who were originally [Poverty and Happy Road] began to look for a way to climb up. Although they still don't care much about the temptation of high positions, there is one thing they have to admit and have to do. care:
That is: an important minister of a legion is always closer to their Primarch than an ordinary junior officer, and is more likely to gain the favor, attention and trust of their genetic mother.

Closer to the Primarch.

For any true Astartes warrior, this is an absolutely irresistible temptation. It is far better than the so-called status, power and honor, and even the most greedy angel of death cannot go The greedy desire of giving up and resisting.

In other words, this is their instinct.

At least, in Lana's case, he regards it as an instinct: after the return of the Primarch, the grass-roots command position that he was quite satisfied with seems to be closer to his genetic mother. Overshadowed.

The undead veteran won't tell anyone how ecstatic he was when he was drafted into the Old Guard, and even made chief, everything in his private lounge was repressed as best he could. In the ecstasy, they were twisted out of shape by trembling hands, crooked and scattered all over the ground, as if they were stuffed into a company of space wolves.

Being promoted to the rank, wearing more gorgeous brochures and medals, and walking into the command rooms and offices in the core areas of those battleships, all these things that he didn't care about or even disdain for, now made him feel real joy: Just because every step he took was one step closer to his own Primarch.

As a veteran of Terra, Lana easily found his destination on the huge Queen of Glory class battleship: the Great Council Hall, theoretically the processing center for all things of the Legion, and every character who can enter and sit down here , can justifiably command ten company commanders.

After submitting his certificate and military badge to the two guards, Lana pushed open the door and walked in slowly. Before his figure completely appeared in the room, he had already observed the wide but simple center of power. It's over.

The Great Council Hall is a spacious place enough to accommodate a company, but its interior decoration is very simple, with a common aesthetics of pragmatism for the Second Legion: a large enough round table occupies the most central position in the room On the surface, it looks like the most natural work cut from a thousand-year-old tree. The well-groomed tabletop and undecorated edges bring a visual equality, so that every Anyone who sees it will subconsciously know that this is a place to speak freely and communicate with each other.

The round table was large, and its long edges looked like it could squeeze more than thirty Astartes fighters forcibly, but in reality there were no more than fifteen seats scattered here and there, some far apart. Far, but some are very close.

Outside of the round table, there is still plenty of space in the Great Council Hall, some of which have been used to place substitute seats and file cabinets that are slightly taller than the Astartes, while the rest The space in the space was left unused. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t think of it for the time being, or because I want the participants here to have some visual surplus.

In an inconspicuous corner, you can still see a few low tables and chairs for ordinary people. Together with a few decorative flowers and plants, a half-full wine cabinet, and a few ancient oil paintings that tell the history of the Legion, they form the center of this room. An unimportant but indispensable remainder.

"Ah, here you are, Lord Lana."

The chief old guard just glanced over the last corner when he heard a gentle greeting. He turned his head and saw an irresistible face. The owner of that face was standing up, Get ready to come and meet him.

Terra veterans quickly noticed that although the round table did not seem to have any signs of status and identity, the seat facing the gate of the council hall had a circle of golden patterns that were completely different from other seats. There are two seats very close to each other on the left and right of the seat, one is silver-colored and the other is copper-colored.

And the owner of that voice got up from the copper-colored patterned seat. He walked around the round table unhurriedly, with one arm raised in the air early, waiting for the handshake with Lana.

"Welcome, Lord Lana."

"I've been waiting for you for a while."

"Introduce yourself, my name is Hawthorne, I hope you have heard of me."

The owner of this voice, or Hawthorne, gives people the first impression of a gentle kindergarten teacher: that not fierce face is full of just the right mature smile, so that no one can It's easy to dislike him. If it weren't for the same tall figure and burly strength, Lana would not be able to see half of the aura belonging to an Astartes warrior from that benevolent face.

"Of course, Your Excellency Hawthorne, I've heard of your name a long time ago."

Lana quickly extended his hand, and when shaking hands, he saw that Hawthorne's light gray hair seemed to reveal exhaustion.

"That's really rare, Lord Lana, after all, I don't remember that we have seen each other on the battlefield."

"Yes, but I have often seen your signature on various documents issued by the Legion, Mr. Hawthorne, it is in the two columns of document inspector and approver."

"After all, Lord Marshall and Lord Bayar value my combat effectiveness in the office more than the battlefield. They think that I alone can shoulder the combat missions of the three of us, and the fact is true: I have thought about using every I would like to write both of their names on this document as a reward, but unfortunately I don't have the right to do so."

While talking, Hawthorne led Lana to the conference table. There were only the two of them in the huge room, but when the chief old guard walked to the round table with the extremely fast speech speed of the greeters, He was still caught in an invisible problem.

"Where should I sit, Lord Hawthorne?"

"They... do these positions have any specific meaning? Which one of them belongs to me?"

"During working hours, which chair belongs to me and which one belongs to you, we need to use the brain to remember all this, and then let it decide where we sit, representing some invisible number and collective .”

Hawthorne first pointed to the chair with copper-colored borders, and then pointed to a chair closer to the door.

"But now it's private time, the brain is off work, let's listen to the thoughts of the buttocks and feet, ask them where they want to sit, after all they are working overtime today."

As he said that, Hawthorne casually brought Lana to the side of the round table: here he could just reach the wine cabinet, and took out the wine bottle and glass that Hawthorne himself brought.

Lana sat down a bit cautiously. He first looked around, then made a note of his position, and then turned his head to look at Hawthorne who was pouring wine leisurely there: Other than talking, what does this Excellency seem to be doing? It is a kind of unhurried gentlemanly demeanor.

The Old Guard frowned and asked the next question.

"You just said...working hours?"

"Yes, working hours, and the corresponding private time, I think you should be able to understand these two words, if you really can't understand, you can bring it in like this: working hours are squatting behind the bunker, honestly Light up all the explosive bombs in your hands, and when the ammunition runs out, it will be private time."

Lana raised his head and looked at the tall brackets on the dome of the room.

"Then here, what is a bomb?"

"It's the things you need to browse and review every day, Your Excellency."

"Are they lethal?"

"No, when you don't need these things, you will take them with you, as if they are treasures, but after you use them, they have nothing to do with you. When you put all the files around you And after they're launched, you don't have to worry about what the consequences are: it's your personal time."

"But I don't think the private time will last long."

"That's right, after all, you won't be short of bombs if you're missing anything, right?"

Lana touched his chin, he felt that there was something in these words that he couldn't figure out, and he couldn't agree with it, just like the perfect smile on Hawthorne's face, it made him have an instinctive disgust.

"Wait, Lord Hawthorne... well, I'm still a bit puzzled: why do we have to distinguish between work time and personal time? It sounds like we're like those clerks of the Terran Council, we're the Astartes , shouldn’t all be…”

"It's all working hours?"

"...That's right."

Hawthorne still kept his smile, he handed a glass of wine to his guest, and then drank it on his own.

"There is a problem in your words, Mr. Lana: it is not the word working time that brings out private time, on the contrary, it is we who first proposed private time, and only then did working time come into existence."

"So... what if we ask to cancel the private time?"

"Then there would be no [working hours]."

"...what if we asked for all hours to be set as work hours?"

"Then there would be no [us]."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Continued Cup?"

"Thank you...tell me about the workflow here, Your Excellency Hawthorne."

"Happy to serve."

------

"So, when [working hours] start, what do we all need to do?"

"Do what anyone would do: sit in your chair, listen to and memorize every word of the discussion, offer sincere advice and reasoned words, and then relay the contents of the high-level meeting to the commanders and Soldier."

"It sounds like anyone can do it, even a doll that hasn't undergone plastic surgery."

"No, Lord Lana."

Hawthorne took a sip of his wine and shook his head.

"I have observed it myself."

"The Space Wolves can't do the first."

"Qianzi can't do the second point."

"The Word Bearers can't do the third."

"Dark Angels can't do the fourth point."

"...I understand everything else, why can't Qianzi do the second point?"

"Because the sons of Magnus will neither listen nor discuss with you nor remember anything that is said by others."

"...Well, I don't think I have much authority to speak on this matter, after all, I have only seen one Thousand Sons, and he has been in the arena for 1000 hours now."

Hawthorne frowned.

"1000 hours, isn't it a bit too much?"

"is a bit……"

Lana scratched his head.

"Actually, at the very beginning, many people wanted to see what was special about [Friends of the Primarch]. We didn't even ban him from using psionic powers. I have to say that his level of psionic powers was pretty good. In the first competition, he even won consecutive victories."

"Then, Bayar came out and fought against that Ahriman three times in a row, winning three battles and three victories. The first time he put his sword on Ahriman before his psychic spell could be cast. As for the remaining two fights, he even waited until Ahriman's psychic spell was cast before dodging and placing the sword across his neck."

"Sounds like something Bayar can do, and then?"

"Then? Then, in fact, everyone wanted to stop. After all, there was no real hatred. Most people just wanted to see who this Qianzi was."

"However, there was a problem on Ahriman's side, and he was defeated by Bayar while dodging the psychic spell, and he was defeated three times in a row, which obviously hit him."

"He made an impulsive move?"

"...a little more serious."

"He yelled in front of more than 400 fighting brothers present: How can you guys who are full of muscles be qualified to be Morgan's fighters?"

"And then...uh..."

"alright, I got it."

Hawthorne drank the wine in the glass.

"I will draft a letter and send it to Prospero in the name of the Legion Council: Thank you Lord Ahriman for your outstanding contribution to the cultural inheritance of the Second Legion, and to use his actual actions to become one with us, reaffirming that the first The deep friendship with the No.15 Legion has laid a good foundation for future cooperation."

Lana blinked.

"In the name of the legion council...does that mean I also need to sign it?"

"Functionally, it is not necessary, but if you want, no one will refuse to sign your name. After all, you are also a member of the Legion Council. Although we don't expect you to be icing on the cake every time, if you want to be with If we face possible troubles together, we will accept it."

"One more person to sign means one more person to share the risk. For others, this is definitely a good thing."

"...shared risk?"

"You could call it a democracy."

Hawthorne poured another glass of wine and raised his glass to his guests.

"Then they were affected together?"

"The failure of one person is dereliction of duty, the failure of two people is a secret deal, the failure of three people is a small group, but the failure of a group of people is not a failure, it is called a decision-making error, and it is a matter of force majeure. This is responsible."

Lana blinked, and he stroked the round table beside him, only feeling an extra coldness.

"Is this what we do in the Great Council Hall? Discussion and review?"

"Specifically, it is called exchange of opinions and daily management: Our working hours are generally ten to fifteen Terra standard hours, of which four to seven standard hours are used for discussion, and the rest of the time is used for reviewing various documents. "

"Why do you spend more time reviewing documents than discussing them?"

"Because the discussion determines what we do now, and the approval of the document is because of what we have done in the past: the past is always more than the present, isn't it?"

"What's more, the things that can be discussed here are often things that have become or are becoming established facts. The discussion we need to do is to formally acknowledge the occurrence of the facts, which will not take too long."

"Then why must they be discussed here, instead of acknowledging it when the various departments have negotiated it privately?"

"Because it's private time."

"That's the value of working hours."

Hawthorne smiled.

"Show your attitude, admit the established facts, then write your name on the corresponding document, and then deal with the next thing. When they are all done, re-approve the established things that have been decided before. This is our The workflow is not complicated."

"Every document must be reviewed?"

"It won't take too long, Lord Lana, you just need to write your own name on the cover, and they will transfer your name to the required page, and generally, you only need to You need to write your name once."

"... Occasionally write multiple times?"

"Sometimes, you do need to write your name twice, but you better hope that you don't run into those times."

"Where will it be written the second time?"

"There was a plea of ​​malfeasance."

------

Lana sat there, he was silent, silent for a very long time.

He may have been silent for more than ten minutes before he raised his head and looked at Hawthorne in front of him with blazing eyes.

"Unacceptable? Lord Lana?"

"...Yes, I can't accept it, I can't accept this..."

"Inefficiency? Pedantry? Bureaucracy?"

"..."

"It's okay, I still have forty adjectives that can be used in this sentence."

Hawthorne leaned back on the chair, and Lana couldn't tell for a moment whether he was more like an Astartes warrior or more like the bureaucrats of the Terra Council.

"If you can't accept it, then Lord Lana, I have another way."

Hawthorne straightened his throat, and he shook the wine in the glass until a shallow vortex was formed.

The next moment, the smiling Mr. Hao disappeared, and in Lana's shocked pupils, the person in front of him turned into a cold and ruthless operating machine.

"The branch fleet led by Cortez has returned. They are carrying a batch of top-level secret materials, a Legion-sized Catachan auxiliary army, and a report with a casualty rate exceeding 50%. This is all to be reported to the Primarch, and the Council allows only one record."

"The reconnaissance troops, vanguard squads, and rogue traders sent to the Avalon star area and its nearby star areas have mostly returned. All the drawn star maps and world information have been sorted out and reported, and handed over to the direct subordinate of the Primarch. The information department of the Ministry of Defense shall conduct screening, and the parliament shall determine and verify the first batch of attack targets, and report the plan to the Primarch."

"The envoy from the Ultramarines Legion has sent us an application before. If the time is correct, we should welcome him three standard days after arriving in Avalon. The welcoming ceremony at that time will be the same as the corresponding For the deployment of personnel, a plan needs to be drafted in advance and submitted to the Primarch for approval."

"and also……"

Lana blinked his eyes. He looked at this cold political machine that he was talking about in front of him in shock. He had no resemblance to the kind-hearted old man a few minutes ago, except for the head that symbolized Old light gray hair.

In seconds, Hawthorne uttered more than a dozen crucial topics and proposals in one breath. His speech was so fast that even Lana couldn't react. Shocked, he watched the actual leader of the legion council finish all the proposals in one breath, and took a shorter time to pick out all the problems, precautions and special cases, and make a separate statement.

Until this time, the swirl in the wine glass had not completely disappeared.

Hawthorne returned to that harmless smile, he shook his chin towards Lana, and said in a soothing tone.

"This is the real efficiency of the Legion Council, Lord Lana, what we need to ensure is that any urgent situation will be presented to the Primarch or anyone who needs it within 1 minute.

"Then...before..."

"That's working hours."

Hawthorne smiled.

"Those are not responsibilities, but the work that the Primarch has given us, the things she wants us to do."

"Although no one can understand what she means now, everyone believes that the system we have formed now can help our Primarch in the future. It can enable us to perform what we should perform in her plan part of the responsibility."

"A parliament that is almost mortal?"

"Of course you can call it that, Lord Lana, but you can also call it: the mirror image of the Terra Council. Does this sound like a sacred and noble feeling?"

"Who needs holiness and nobility?"

"Those mortals who need, whether those of Terra, or those of Avalon, or those who will live under our rule later, the mortals above, they will squeeze their heads and join this The sacred and important councils in our perception are content with their central position of high power in the Primarch's kingdom, thereby ignoring other plans carried out by our mother."

"For the outside world, our Primarch wants to convince many people that in the country she rules, mortals hold a considerable part, or even most of the power."

"But... this is the Legion..."

"When our Primarch established her kingdom, people like me who originally belonged to the legion council can leave their seats and form a so-called national council or round table council to serve as the governing gene The supreme organization of the Primarch's realm, attracting the attention of those mortals and Tara."

"Then let those real new blood enter the legion council to manage the legion: Isn't this a very simple matter?"

"So, in your eyes, we're practicing this meaningless mortal move: because apart from you and a few really important rising stars, most of the people in this council are actually about to step down, Like me."

"The Primarch gave me respect, gave me a decent step, and gave me a position where I can still display my value. Although it sounds like it has nothing to do with the battlefield and honor, but you know, I also Don't care about those things."

"It's our genetic mother's way of telling me that when she's useful to me in another place, that's what I want."

"You know, in nearly all Legions, Terran veterans have some kind of conflict with their Primarch, a conflict that sometimes leads to a decided tragedy."

"In our legion, although it is not obvious now, as we are about to arrive in Avalon, the addition of new recruits will make us the veterans of Terra in the eyes of the Primarch."

"And this is exactly her temptation to us, a proposal."

"A suitable retreat, a post that can continue to shine: what else should I expect?"

"You know, Lana, the dissatisfaction of many Terra veterans is not actually because of the so-called status, honor, and title. What they want is actually very simple."

"They just don't want to be forgotten."

"And our genetic mother has already stated her attitude: she will not forget us."

"Just like she gave you the position of Chief Guard, she gave me the right to fight with mortals, and I am happy to take over these rights and continue to serve the Legion and the Primarch on the bloodless battlefield .”

"So, I went ahead and started practicing for it, practicing how to adapt to those so-called rules in the Council of Mortals and use them to our Primarch's advantage."

Lana nodded.

"Form a council that will bring you, some other veterans of Terra, and mortal rulers from all worlds together, and discuss some inconsequential matters, pretending that you can rule her kingdom in place of the Primarch. Illusion."

"Camouflage is not a very good word. We only let mortals believe that they can rule this country."

"Let Terra believe it?"

"Let those mortals who are ruled by the Primarch, Terra know, but Terra does not know."

"Now, do you understand, Lord Lana?"

"..."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

(End of this chapter)