Emperor's Bane

Chapter 545 Intermission: The Band of Doom

Chapter 545 Intermission: The Band of Doom (Part )
"So, we really don't need to worry about Conrad?"

[No rush, let this kid soak in the resurrection pool for a while. ]

"If he stays in that bathtub full of promethium for any longer, he'll really need to be resurrected!"

Since he was born, the Crow King had never felt that his tone was as urgent as it was now. He could feel the paleness of his face and the sweat on his forehead, just as he could clearly hear large gulps of promethium pouring into Conrad's lungs.

But then again.

Why didn't Conrad's lungs sound like they were having a bad reaction?

Corax was stunned.

For a moment, he was actually genuinely curious about this question, and even his original nervousness was washed away in an instant: as reason returned to his mind, Corax glanced around belatedly, and then he realized that among the few people present, except for him, no one else seemed to be very panicked.

Even Conrad seemed calmer than him: calm and motionless.

"First time?"

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Lord of Five Hundred Worlds strolled over to his new brother and asked calmly, and not surprisingly received a wooden nod from Corax: The Raven King turned his head and found that Guilliman had the expression of an experienced person.

"Don't worry, if it happens again, you'll get used to it: just like me."

"..."

So this is still a permanent project?
The Raven King said nothing, but Guilliman could see the shock in his pupils clearly: the Lord of Macragge smiled at this, although his smile seemed too deliberate to Corax, like the solemnity required for a speech, rather than a true expression of affection between brothers.

But despite this, Corax could still accept the kindness from his blood relatives, and a painful smile appeared on his face: the smile was sincere, but also very difficult. Guilliman suspected that it was due to the influence of his past life behind bars.

So, instead of dwelling on his current success, he took the lead in reaching out.

"Although this is not a satisfactory formal occasion, brother, but..."

"Robert Guilliman."

"Kovas-Corax."

The Raven King hesitated only for a moment, then shook his brother's hand. As they held each other tightly, Corax felt not only Guilliman's warmth and kindness, but also something more subtle: the Lord of Macragge's wrist was carefully protected by a circle of gauntlets surrounded by ornate gemstone carvings. When Corax's fingers brushed over these fancy decorations, he didn't even need to look over to appreciate the ostentation and dullness of these gorgeous things.

This indecent little detail made the Raven King smile in his heart. Guilliman's poor taste made him seem particularly real, and it also made Corax firmly believe that his brother was definitely not as humble as he looked: he had a kind of arrogance hidden in his heart, and this arrogance, or arrogance, often carried with it an instinctive and violent emotion.

Corax hoped he was wrong.

"You don't seem surprised by any of this, Guilliman?"

"Yeah, I'm more indifferent than I thought."

Guilliman snorted softly, and he saw his brother winking at him: After the simple greetings, the Raven King adjusted his posture and stood out from the shadows completely. Although his face was still pale and expressionless, the Macragge people could still feel that the gap between him and his brother had become much thinner.

This made Guilliman breathe a sigh of relief, and he felt grateful to Conrad for no reason.

After all, on the way here, he had been racking his brains on how to start a conversation with Corax, and in the end, he hadn't come up with any reassuring ideas: but who would have thought that as soon as he stepped into the room, his Midnight Haunter brother would take the initiative to push such an explosive topic in front of him.

Seeing Morgan and Conrad passionately engaging in a fight less than five meters away from them, the remaining two Primarchs no longer had to worry about what they should talk about: when he thought of the sacrifice made by the Midnight Haunter for this, Guilliman could not help but sing in his heart.

That's great, Conrad.

In his heart, the Macragge people were rarely grateful.

"To be honest, when I first witnessed Morgan's punishment of Conrad, I was no less surprised than you, Brother Corax. At that time, I was even angry with Conrad for some reasons."

"But within five seconds of Morgan's attack, all the anger in my chest was scared away by her."

"Like now?"

"of course not."

Guilliman smiled.

"She was much more dangerous then: somewhere between Jonson and Sanguinius."

"Jonson is a bastard, and the Archangel is the softest of us brothers."

"As for Morgan, I still don't really understand her thinking until today."

Guilliman shook his head, his smile seemed a little heavy to the Raven King, but not bitter.

"I will never forget that scene. Even the bloodiest and darkest interrogation room in Macragge could not be more impressive. That memory even made me misunderstand Morgan for a while. But when I got along with Morgan and Conrad for a little longer, I realized that it was really just a misunderstanding."

“In our eyes, it’s horrible.”

"In their eyes, this is just the way they get along with each other every day."

"..."

The Crow King said nothing.

Following Guilliman's explanation, Corax looked in Morgan's direction again: the mess on the floor and the dents scattered on the wall told of a short and fierce fight, and the result of this fight was vividly displayed in the deepest part of the private bathroom.

At this moment, a certain Lord of Avalon rolled up his sleeves, knelt on one knee on the ground, and gritted his teeth as he pressed his black-haired relative into the bathtub. The promethium made a harsh sound when it rubbed against her exposed skin. The low curses and the flickering lights on the ground reminded Corax of the horror murder movies he had watched with Conrad.

No wonder Conrad is so familiar with the routines in those movies, and even complains about the poor acting of the actors, and the fatal scenes that should have been thrilling are not realistic at all: Corax originally thought that Conrad was just picky.

Looking at the Lord of Avalon again, the originally pretty face had already revealed a fierce look, his clenched teeth made a creaking sound, his hair was disheveled, his temples were wet, and his sleeves were rolled up, and the arm that was tightly holding Conrad's head had muscles stretched to the point of exaggerating Corax.

That arm looked like it could easily crush his head.

The Raven King touched his neck and indeed understood what Guilliman had just said.

Some of the "gentle and elegant" filters in his mind about Morgan seemed to be breaking.

"You mean: they've always been like this?"

"Anyway, only when Conrad was present did I see an Avalonian being so true to his nature: Morgan like this was surprising and a little uncomfortable, but if you think about it carefully, it's not bad. What's more, it's hard to say that this is abnormal behavior."

Guilliman smiled.

"Maybe it's because of the different positioning. Mothers and sisters are always different."

"For us, a Morgan as a sister or guide would be enough, but for Conrad, he might want a mother: our Avalon bloodline certainly satisfies this idea."

"A mother who could stick his head in a pool of promethium?"

"Is this..."

The Macragge hesitated.

"As the old saying goes: A mother is strong."

"Brother Corax, anyone with even a little common sense knows that the role of a mother is inherently majestic: even my Lady Euden, although she is the most gentle person in the galaxy, when I was young and did something wrong, she would show her majesty at the right time to ensure that I would learn enough lessons from my mistakes."

Guilliman raised a hand, and as he began his long speech, an unconcealable smugness was revealed in his every move, and his gaze naturally passed over Corax and immersed himself in his own kingdom of logic.

"I think you should also understand this simple truth about your mother, brother. After all, you are on the Redemption Planet...ah!"

It was only at this point that Macragge realized that he had said something out of turn, but he just gave a slightly apologetic smile.

"Sorry, bro, I forgot about that aspect of your question."

"……It doesn't matter."

The Crow King still had a blank expression on his face.

“Do you always enjoy expounding on your views, Guilliman?”

"When I think they need it."

"..."

The Raven King experienced a moment of annoyance. He could see colors of humility and pride flashing across Guilliman's face. The Archon of Macragge obviously realized that he had said something wrong, but he was also obviously not very good at apologizing: not that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't.

Fortunately, Corax didn't care about these little things, and his attention was soon attracted by the noise in the bathroom: Morgan was much more skilled than he thought, and just three seconds before the Raven King thought his Midnight Haunter brother was really going to be drowned, the Lord of Avalon loosened her fingers with a lack of interest, and the dark shadow jumped out of the promethium pool in the blink of an eye.

Then, as if to prove Morgan's soft-heartedness, the Midnight Haunter's claws just [inadvertently] scratched Morgan's exposed arm, leaving three bloody marks: The Spider Queen frowned, but she was not too angry. She just relied on the inertia when she stood up, shifted her center of gravity backward, raised her other leg, and kicked Conrad, who was flying in the air, into the promethium pool again.

"Relax, it's a small scene."

This time the Raven King didn't even need to ask questions, Guilliman patted him on the shoulder.

"Looks like they've had enough."

"But Conrad was just thrown into the promethium pool."

"They used 100% pure plasma acid last time."

Guilliman sneered.

"Can you imagine the scene when I saw Conrad jump out of a pool of plasma and land on Morgan's desk? There was even a joint announcement that Morgan and I had not finished approving on the desk."

"That day I was convinced that our Primarch really had three hearts."

"..."

The Crow King said nothing.

He just watched quietly as Conrad really did what Guilliman said, not even for a second, and happily climbed out of the pool full of promethium. He even bent down and let Morgan wipe his hair with a towel. He didn't even notice the scene of the two men fighting a minute ago.

"It seems that our big family is a little more complicated than I thought."

"…Tsk, maybe."

Guilliman echoed.

"By the way, what were you originally doing? I hadn't even heard it clearly when Conrad interrupted me."

"Practice singing."

The Crow King's face twitched: Until now, he didn't think this was a reliable idea.

"Conrad is going to help me choose a regimental song: let me sing it best."

"Can you sing?"

"This is where the problem lies."

"And you, Guilliman."

"I did receive vocal training for a few years when I was young, very early, so early that I don't even remember it clearly: but I remember that I didn't receive training for long, and the course was cancelled for no reason."

The Macragge stroked his chin.

"Until now, I still don't quite understand why that class was cancelled."

"……so……"

"Can you sing?"

------

【Less likely.】

[And I haven’t tried it either.]

The Lord of Avalon crossed her legs and sat in the seat that originally belonged to Conrad, looking at the three blood brothers surrounding her with some surprise, just as the three men were also looking at her with surprise: this look of surprise lasted for a few seconds until Morgan asked back with a sneer.

【how? 】

[Do I have to be able to sing? ]

"That's not what I meant."

Guilliman scratched his head.

"We're just... a little hard to understand."

"correct."

Conrad, who was standing behind Morgan and leaning his hands on the back of his chair, responded.

"After all, you have a voice, my dear sister. Of all your brothers, perhaps only Fulgrim and Sanguinius can match your voice: a voice well suited to singing shepherdesses' ballads, feasting themes, or even the choir of any sacred church."

[But it's not suitable for public speaking, right? ]

Morgan stabbed Conrad.

[I know what you want to say, but unfortunately, although I have a voice that you think can be both sweet and cold, I really haven't sung much: at most I hum a few little tunes when I'm in a good mood.]

"Just like me."

The Night Haunter shook his thin face triumphantly.

"Perhaps you could sing very well, my dear sister?"

【That's no use to me. 】

Morgan retorted harshly, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"Instead of that, Conrad: why don't you help Corax choose the songs?"

"Difficult to reach."

The Night Lord shrugged.

"My tastes have always conflicted with Corax's, and now there is a better choice than me: our Ultramar brothers are still very enthusiastic, and I think he will not miss any opportunity to express his opinions."

Following Conrad's instructions, Morgan looked at Corax and Guilliman who had gathered together: the Lord of Five Hundred Worlds was holding the preliminary selected song list tightly with a frown on his face, as if he was formulating a new development plan for his Macragge.

【That's true. 】

Morgan slumped in his chair. [It looks like the two of them are going to discuss this for a while. So what are we going to do now, Conrad? Do you want to talk to me about something serious?]

"..."

Midnight Haunter's brows jumped.

Past experience told him that once his blood relative came to discuss business with him under the pretext of "talking about serious matters", he was most likely planning to throw a bunch of thankless work at him, and would come with some conditions that even the Midnight Haunter couldn't refuse. He didn't know who Morgan had learned this tricky method from.

Conrad blinked.

Having finally got this period of time to relax, the Midnight Haunter didn't want to waste his vacation on any serious matters: so, the Lord of the End of North rolled his eyes twice, and soon came up with a relatively perfect response.

Well, let Sevatar suffer a little longer.

He has to bear the guilt on his conscience.

Conrad laughed.

"It's fine to talk about business, but before that, shouldn't we also do some corresponding preparations? It's so late, since we have to use our brains, why don't we order some midnight snacks first? What do you think?"

As he spoke, Midnight Haunter waved his communicator in front of Morgan's eyes.

"My Sevatar should be free."

【Um……】

The Spider Queen hesitated, her eyes fixed on the communicator as if she could see the midnight snack floating over, but she also pursed her lips and frowned, looking like she was thinking carefully about something: but Conrad knew very well that his sister was just pretending to think carefully.

But we need to discuss...

"It is said that the Ancient Glory Restaurant on the battleship, which specializes in Terran cuisine, has recently launched a set of Anatolian-style sweet dishes: tres leches cake, rice pudding, snow-white angel cake, Pavlova fruit tart, and top-quality baklava called baklava, paired with lemon wine."

"Look at the time. This restaurant should be about to close, sis?"

【…】

【Then let me just say this: it is always difficult to show wisdom when your stomach is empty. 】

"Best regards, my lord."

The Lord of Avalon's Adam's apple rolled up and down. She turned her head away, snorted softly, and then casually gave an order: After receiving a positive answer, the Midnight Ghost retreated like a successful traitor, hiding in the shadows, congratulating himself on his great wisdom, and then sent a message to a top-level resentful person on the other end of the phone.

------

"Sai, are you there?"

"…I'm here, father."

"Why is it so noisy over there?"

Conrad raised a brow.

"Ah, I'm on the lower deck."

Sevatar's voice was drowned out by a crowd of human cubs.

"Lower deck? What are you doing there?"

"It's like this. A friend of mine in Dawnbreaker used to come to the kindergarten on the lower deck as a volunteer regularly, but he happened to be on a business trip recently, so he asked me to cover for him. I will put all these little guys into their beds right away. Please give me any orders, father."

"..."

Conrad did not speak immediately. He squatted in the corner, silent for a moment, trying his best to squeeze out his imagination, which was not very rich to begin with, and imagined a picture of Sevatar fully armed with all kinds of human cubs crawling all over his body.

Well... damn...

He couldn't figure it out.

Conrad shook his head and finally decided to change his thinking.

Sevatar in full armor: but all his clothes are made of the skins of human cubs.

Well... that's quite simple.

Conrad laughed dryly.

"Old rules, Sai."

"You mean the midnight snack?"

"Yes, let's go get some sweets today: go to that Old Glory restaurant and buy some more."

"How many more boxes?"

"Do not……"

Conrad looked up and took in the scene in the room: himself, Corax, Guilliman, and the man who effectively tied the three of them together: ten thousand Leman Russ, rounded off.

“Buy a few more.”

"?"

"What's wrong? Is there any difficulty?"

"It is not difficult at all; but have you forgotten one thing?"

Sevatar licked his lips.

"It costs money to buy this midnight snack."

"Are you saying that I haven't given you a midnight snack allowance for a while?"

"You never sent me one, father."

Midnight Haunter could actually sense some resentment in Sevatar's voice.

"Well……"

"Can't you convince the cooks to pay for it on delivery?"

"If I remember correctly, the Old Glory Restaurant and the Green Hell Restaurant opened by those Catachans are brother units. Father: I don't have the confidence to convince those Catachan lunatics... Damn it! Valkia! Don't chew on that turtle! Put down the remaining half!"

"Then go borrow some money."

Conrad didn't care.

"Go find the richest guy who is most likely to lend you money. Don't bother me with such trivial matters, Sai. I have something very important to discuss: Can't you find a rich little girl and let her spend a lot of money on you?"

"Why a little girl?"

“You’re good at this.”

"...Understood, father."

Sevatar wisely dropped the subject.

"So, can you tell me roughly how much midnight snack I'm going to buy this time?"

"You wait."

Conrad put down the communicator and moved closer to his blood relative.

"Morgan."

【Um? 】

"Are you...hungry tonight?"

【I’m not really hungry.】

The Lord of Avalon licked his lips.

【But I do have an appetite.】

"That's it."

Conrad shrank back.

"Sai."

"I'm here, Father."

"You should first familiarize yourself with the bankruptcy process."

"...???"

------

"So, have they chosen one?"

Conrad slipped back to Morgan a minute later. At this time, the Lord of Avalon was holding a familiar-looking object in his hand. It was the phonograph that Corax had pieced together halfway before. However, within Morgan's five fingers, this exquisite little gadget was assembled almost instantly.

[Already entered the final round. 】

The Primarch raised his chin.

【Guilliman is auditioning the contestants he has selected one by one. 】

"Is it?"

Conrad looked up, just in time to hear Guilliman singing.

Solemn, majestic, solemn...

Like Rogal Dorn.

"..."

Midnight Ghost hesitated for a moment, his eyes accidentally caught a glimpse of the phonograph in Morgan's hand, and suddenly, his narrow eyes seemed to have thought of something, flashing like a meteor, followed by a cheerful smile that made people's hearts stop.

"Hey! Guilliman!"

To everyone's surprise, Conrad's voice was surprisingly loud.

"what happened?"

The Macragge turned his head.

"It suddenly occurred to me."

Seeing that Morgan wasn't paying attention, Midnight Haunter took out the phonograph.

"I think there should be some songs that suit your taste in this phonograph of mine: songs from the ancient times of Terra, which are said to be closely related to the great ancient Roman Empire and have witnessed the life of the empire, brother."

"real!"

Guilliman's eyes lit up instantly and he came over excitedly.

"Conrad, my brother, I never thought you had Roman music here."

"Of course: it is said to be the most powerful dynasty in the Roman Empire."

"Shall I play it for you?"

This sentence was said to both Guilliman and Corax in the distance. After seeing that neither of them had any objection, Conrad swaggered and turned on his phonograph: the Macragge man specially moved a chair over and moved closer, intending to listen closely to the Roman music that interested him so much.

"Would you like to sing along, Guilliman?"

"Why not."

It was the first time that Conrad saw such a genuine smile on Guilliman's face.

Sitting in the back, Morgan had already sensed that something was wrong, but she said nothing: after all, the Lord of Avalon was also very interested in the so-called Roman Empire music that Conrad mentioned.

then……

#silence#
The phonograph began to sing.

"Bang! Bang! Boom!"

【…】

[Are you sure this is from Rome? ]

Morgan had already frowned as Guilliman danced excitedly.

"Of course!"

And amid Conrad's hideous grin, a powerful music exploded in everyone's ears.

------

Yelkenler Dikilecek, Yelkenler Biilecek.
(Sail up, sail down)

Dalardanektirilen, Kalyonlarekilecek.
(The warship walking on dry land will pass through the mountains)
Elde Sensin, Dilde Sen,

(In your hands, in your language)
Gnüldesin Batasn.
(In your heart, in your mind)