Emperor's Bane

Chapter 540

"Words are indeed dangerous things."

"It can disrupt a family, poison a city, destroy an army."

"Or is it……"

"I asked my brother not to go to bed even though it was midnight. Instead, he put it on a piece of dry bread that stood upright and performed a performance for me: Hey! Corax, if it doesn't work, I'll ask Sevatar Go buy you a bottle of caffeine to cheer you up?"

"...No...No need."

"Thank you for your kindness, Conrad."

"Tsk, that's up to you."

Midnight Ghost shook his head, curled his lips, and lay on his side on his bed. After his kindness was declined by Corax, Conrad's free hand touched the holographic simulator next to him, and Just as he was about to put it on, he couldn't help but hesitate.

"…annoying guy."

After thinking about it, Conrad finally shook his head, muttered softly, put the simulator in his hand back to its original place, turned around and continued to pay attention to his brother, just in case this little crow who knew everything was really Something unexpected happened.

Well, a mental accident.

After putting down the simulator, Conrad picked up the communicator next to him. Only four names were displayed on it. From top to bottom, they were Morgan, Savita, Virgo and Jonson: Midnight Ghost yawned. , while entering Corax’s name.

Then, the original body straightened up, stretched out his arm, hooked the edge of the upper bunk bed, and with a little force, he hung his body in mid-air. His other hand followed the trend and groped towards Corax's bed. After a while: after catching a hair, the Night Lord retired to his lair contentedly.

Then, Conrad twisted Corax's hair with his hand and muttered something. He pulled out a certain concept of psychic energy, and finally poured it into the communicator in front of him, which was built by Morgan himself: Wait until the communicator comes on The moment the originally dim four characters [Corax] lit up, Conrad nodded with satisfaction and threw his hair away.

From now on, as long as he didn't lose the communicator, and as long as Corax was no more than a star away from him, the two of them would be able to stay in touch at any time: Morgan guaranteed it.

Midnight Ghost can see from these powerful small objects the Lord of Avalon's continuous research in the field of psychic energy: At least fifteen years ago, the Spider Queen could not make such a high-precision psychic communicator.

But it's clear that Morgan never stopped delving into her psychic skills.

In other words, she never stopped studying hard.

Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, the Spider Queen, who indulges in sweets and naps, is the laziest of all the primarchs, but Conrad obviously will not be deceived by this inherent impression: he knows very well that sweets, naps, etc. [Mortal] hobbies such as washing, bathing, polishing gadgets, and writing some weird articles may seem numerous, but in fact they don't consume much energy from a primarch.

Morgan's external laziness is because she spends more time exploring her own potential and learning more deeply in various fields: For the Primarch who was born with supreme power, Ah The Lord of Wallonia's study level has reached an incredible level.

The reason why the Night Lord was sure of this was because once, during a conversation with Morgan, his Avalon blood relative threw a memo in his face: the name of the memo was [Killing Your Brother Without Regrets].

Conrad's name is also specially noted on the subtitle: it seems to be a serial work that includes various primarchs.

This memorandum records in detail the methods that Morgan could use to kill Conrad in various situations and locations. There are more than 150 methods, ranging from close combat to psychic spells. When the Midnight Ghost chewed off the pieces one by one, he found that most of them could indeed make him, the original body, feel a chill down his spine.

And he can guarantee that many of these killing moves are not skills that Morgan was born with at all, but were developed bit by bit by the Lord of Avalon during his conquests over the years.

What does this woman usually think about...

Thinking of this, Conrad couldn't help but cursed.

Considering that the Lord of Avalon dared to throw this memorandum directly in his face openly, it is conceivable that Morgan must have more methods behind the scenes: After confirming this, Conrad De finally understood why in the many futures he saw, his biological sister would always be the one who won in the fight between brothers.

Even angels and figures like Horus will fall at her feet: but archangels are archangels after all. In most death endings, Sanguinius can pull Morgan to die together: Archangel The courage he can burst out in desperate situations can even allow him to forcibly block Morgan's psychic frenzy and tear the heart of the Lord of Avalon.

What's even better is that due to some unknown psychology, Conrad never told his sister about the power of the angel, just like he never really studied how he could counter Corax or Jonson. People: Everyone should have a flaw to deal with the possibility that they will go crazy in the future.

Conrad believed in this truth.

However, unlike those original bodies with dozens or even hundreds of shortcomings, Morgan's shortcomings are reducing at a speed visible to the naked eye. In every future that Conrad can see, there are already at least five. There is no way the Primarch can kill Morgan anyway, and this is definitely not the final number.

"...Tsk, scary woman."

Seeing his hair fall to the ground, Midnight Ghost shook his head with lingering fear. He calculated the time in his mind and couldn't help but saw his brother with worry: In any case, the time spent studying things to gain knowledge was a bit too long.

Conrad actually didn't quite understand why Morgan's words could make Corax shut down to such an extent. It was as if it were some indescribable old legend: Morgan had obviously told Conrad about almost everything. Exactly the same knowledge and principles, but he, Conrad, was not so unbearable at the time.

Let him think about why he could accept these political science foundations in the first place...

"..."

Ah, right...

Because he didn't understand it at first.

Thinking of this, Conrad simply lay on the bed and chuckled, not knowing whether he was laughing at his own stupidity or at Corax's intelligence. When he had laughed enough, Midnight Ghost jumped out like a carp. He came to the bed, put his hands in his pockets, and leisurely walked around behind his blood brother.

Corax stared at the piece of bread, already a little cross-eyed.

"Okay."

Conrad patted his brother on the back, then put his arm around his shoulders, not forgetting to grab the communicator, and gave an order to Savita, asking him to bring another supper for twenty people: Done After all this, the primarch turned and smiled at Corax.

"It's almost lights-out time, brother, think about anything tomorrow."

"Would you like to come and play black with me? I promise I can really help you beat Zhuang Sen this time."

"That's what you told me before you were headshot by Jonson's plasma last time."

"That was an accident!"

Conrad's voice was almost a scream.

"Who knew that simulated Jonson would actually install a plasma launcher in his mouth!"

The Crow King shrugged his shoulders.

"After all, all the simulated characters in this simulator have learning and memory devices. They will remember the reasons why they failed in the last battle. Conrad: Besides, if you hadn't insisted on killing Jonson at close range, If he strangles him, you won’t be that close to his mouth.”

"……whispering sound……"

The Night Lord pouted.

"If that doesn't work, I'll take you to a different level today to fight Luo Jia. I'll tell you what it means to really go through it all over again. By the way, I'll also let you practice your skills in advance so that you don't become lazy again when you need to get started later."

"……what?"

Corax frowned, but his brother wanted no more to discuss the subject.

"It's nothing. I just went to ask Savita to get the supper. Before he comes, tell me where you are stuck. I will explain it to you based on my experience. Then we will finish the supper. Open a few black ones and go to bed early: I’ll have to get up early tomorrow morning.”

"You...will explain?"

"You can't trust me?"

Conrad laughed and patted Corax hard on the back.

"Let me guess, Corax, you must be fine with the two aspects of consolidating the base and attacking the enemy that Morgan taught you before. After all, that's what you did on the Redemption Star: what really makes you The difficult thing is how to win over, or how to identify those centrists who are worthy of your win over, right?”

"...how did you..."

"how could I know?"

Conrad made a strange sound in his throat.

"Because I am the same as you, we are both facing the same situation: the knowledge that Morgan told you has also been told to me. I have also faced the dilemma you are facing now. I think I just took over When I joined the Legion, I faced another mess, but it wasn't as bad as yours."

"Look at the bright side, after all, even Horus doesn't like my rubbish Eighth Legion."

Having said this, Conrad simply bent down and leaned forward, pressing his entire upper body next to one of Corax's arms. He slightly adjusted the lamp on the table so that the shadow would not block the Crow King's sight: It looks like a mortal brother who is tutoring his younger brother, using his superior knowledge and knowledge learned several years in advance to answer questions for his blood relatives.

"Get your notes out."

Corax obeyed silently.

"look here."

The Night Lord stretched out his finger, and the Crow King instinctively moved forward.

"[Existing question]: You wrote this word many times in your notes. You also drew a red circle to symbolize the key points. This simply refers to the fact that your 19th Legion originally had many violent customs. ,Right?"

The Crow King nodded.

"This is the only thing that worries me the most, Horus and everything else are secondary."

"You're right."

Conrad grinned.

"After all, that Wolf Shepherd, although he is not a completely good person, he has no intention of being a real bad person. He is just like the sun hanging in the sky. It neither rises nor sets, and will not give warmth to people like us. , but it won’t burn us: from this point of view, he is quite harmless.” “As long as you have a little bit of popularity among the original bodies, there are one or two people who are willing to cooperate with you, or are willing to cooperate with you. Brother who stands up for you, then Horus doesn't dare to do anything to you: he takes too much care of his own reputation, and makes two or three Primarchs hate him at the same time? Are your descendants not worthy of him? "

"But if you're alone, that may not be the case."

"…Thanks, Conrad."

The Crow King was silent for a moment and nodded solemnly.

"You'd better explain to me how you deal with the Legion."

"Then you should listen carefully."

Midnight Ghost grabbed a pen.

"I think back then, when I first took over the entire Eighth Legion, the problems I faced were actually similar to yours: the common appearance of Terran warriors on my side was even worse than those on your side, because they Most of them are prisoners, but fortunately, this prisoner army has maintained its bottom line for the time being, but even so, the long-term bloody battle has still infected them with a very bad bloodthirsty atmosphere. "

"How to reverse their bloody thoughts is the problem I have to face."

Conrad knocked on the table.

"From this point of view, for me at that time, my base in the legion was undoubtedly represented by Sevita and Shen, the new generation of Nuno who grew up listening to my Midnight Ghost legend. Stramore people: Although their temperament and nature may not be completely in line with my psychological expectations, they do not violate my orders, so it is very easy to change them.”

"Place them on you, the warriors you brought from the Redemption Star."

"On the other hand, my enemies are of course the most stubborn Terrans. It is not difficult to distinguish them. Corax: You are the Primarch. You are born with the power to change them. You only need to "You use your will to dictate certain actions, and those who dare to completely ignore your orders are the enemies you need to eliminate."

"Is this what you do?"

"Be more gentle: after all, the situation on my side is not tense."

"That's true."

The Crow King nodded bitterly.

"So, how do you distinguish and win over those centrists?"

"this is very simple."

Conrad first drew a circle.

"First of all, as the old saying goes, you are their Primarch after all, and your influence on them is rooted in blood and genes. Even veterans of Horus and Terra cannot completely reverse this: from me Speaking from experience, from the day I returned to the legion, when I showed them my goodwill and my willingness to bring them forward, naturally there was a group of legion soldiers who instinctively 's getting closer to me."

"They will use various behaviors to show their goodwill to me. Maybe it is a public pledge of allegiance in public, maybe they double the execution of every order I give, or maybe they are senior officers themselves and can Be loyal to me in private."

"If the situation is normal, then you should also encounter the same thing, my brother Corax, and facing these first batch of surrenders, even if some of their ideas are not actually in line with your views, but even if For the purpose of buying horse bones with thousands of dollars, you must also show them the greatest goodwill you have."

"Choose those who are the first to show kindness to you and who will not make you frown, and win them over to become your first group of confidants. As for those loyal heirs who conflict with you in their acting style, it depends on the situation. If the conflict between you is not serious, you can use your identity as a father to correct you, and generally speaking, they will not refuse. "

"And if these heirs who are loyal to you do have shortcomings that you cannot tolerate, then you'd better find a time to talk to these people in private: don't force them to change, but express your gratitude to them as a father. Your disapproval of these shortcomings also means that you will tolerate the existence of these shortcomings as much as possible for their sake.”

"Generally speaking, this kind of [sincerity in private] often works surprisingly well."

"At least on my side, those first loyalists who I tolerated their own shortcomings, without exception, gradually changed their own shortcomings in the following days: after all, they are the first people to move closer to you, This behavior already shows that they are willing to put your will above theirs and are willing to make changes for you.”

"...That's it..."

The Crow King sighed.

"Until now, I didn't feel like I had that right."

"Power is not something you can enjoy."

Conrad snorted.

"Power is meant to be carried on your back."

"It's also for you to use."

"For example, after these active loyalists are on your side, it is time for you to use your power: these warriors naturally have their own connections in the legion, and they will work for you on their own occasions. The Primarch of the Legion attracts votes, so that more and more warriors gather around you. This process may last from a few weeks to a few months, but after a year or two at most, all the warriors who can take the initiative to join you will be gone. They will all come over, and the remaining ones need to use means. "

"They favor...the enemy?"

"Most are not."

Conrad shook his head.

"Those warriors who will not take the initiative to approach you generally have four situations: The rarest one is that they are cold-natured and will carry out your orders neatly, without being too pandering or too resistant. , but there are really very few such people, and there may be less than a hundred such existences in my legion."

"As for the remaining three, the worst one is naturally the pure enemy. Their hostility towards you is often undisguised, and there is no need for you to be merciful to them. Here, I can give you a suggestion. , if you really don’t know how to deal with them, you can send them to me: my ghoul star defense belt always needs various support fleets from other legions. As for the quality of these warriors How about it? You don’t have to worry about these little problems for me.”

"...sent to you?"

"That's right: just like the penal colony of old."

Conrad chuckled.

"If there are enough people, I can form them into a fleet: What do you think of calling this fleet [Night Watch]? I think this is a name that fits the artistic conception very well."

"..."

Corax said nothing.

"What about the remaining two strands?"

"The situation of the remaining two groups is actually not that complicated: some of them are old stubborns in the legion, and generally speaking they are also the most elite Terran warriors in the legion. They have their own persistence and traditions for the legion, although they will respect Your identity as a Primarch does not put you above the Legion."

"You really have to be careful when dealing with them. You can't condone all their traditions, because there are often places where filth and evil are hidden in these traditions, but you must also respect some of them, and you have to distinguish which traditions are the most important. , and then show enough respect for these traditions: these old warriors may not regard you as a father, but they will regard you as a leader worth following.”

"The last one, it couldn't be simpler or more difficult: the kind of pragmatists found in every legion. They don't care about the so-called tradition and the relationship between father and son. They only care about the honor in the Great Expedition, and they only care about the legion. Whether they can thrive under the leadership of the Primarch, as long as you can satisfy their expectations in this regard, they will be your most fervent warriors, but if you cannot satisfy their thirst for victory, war, and glory, then these people will What will happen is unpredictable.”

"...for example?"

"For example..."

Conrad raised his head.

"Nothing happened on the Redemption Star."

"……what?"

"Nothing, if you want the Redeemer to be truly nothing: you'd better take care of these pragmatists."

"..."

"Of course, brother."

As if something suddenly occurred to him, Midnight Ghost burst out laughing.

"If you are a Primarch like Morgan, then you should just take everything I just said as bullshit."

"Morgan...that kind of Primarch?"

"What kind?"