Emperor's Bane

Chapter 643: What about Malcador?
【Come here, Conrad.】

【Let me tell you a funny story. 】

"I'm not interested."

【It's about some old bastard.】

"Then I'm very interested."

The Primarch of the Midnight Lords Legion lay cocooned on his very own lazy chair, his pale horse face rolling on the silk like a salted fish that had lost its dreams and air, and the black robe he was casually wrapped in had long been dragged to the ground, becoming an afternoon tea dessert for the chubby automatic sweeping robot and the robed little man who was wandering around with nothing to do.

"You still have it?"

Midnight Ghost used all his strength to successfully turn over and lie on the bench. He accidentally saw the little alien squatting on the automatic sweeping robot with its butt sticking out, and picked it up: his slender fingers easily suppressed the alien's dissatisfaction, while feeling the unique psychic aura on its body, he casually asked his blood relative a question.

【It will always be useful. 】

The Spider Queen crossed her legs, her long silver hair combed into a neat ponytail, and every strand of hair was carefully and thoroughly stretched, revealing a large area of ​​snow-white forehead: just looking at it, Conrad felt a headache on his forehead. As a victim of long hair, Midnight Haunter knew very well how much effort and suffering it took to pull a head of long hair so tightly.

Not a single hair is out of place.

Those who can tie a ponytail so neatly and tightly are all ruthless people.

but……

"Why are you reviewing documents again?"

Conrad bent a finger, hooked the chin of the robed man with his fingertips, and stroked its belly with the side of his fingertips. He easily got into a fight with the little guy. After watching the sweeping robot swallow and chew one end of his robe into its stomach, which was directly broken, and then being silently carried away by Virgo, Conrad turned his head in time: a document blown by the breeze almost hit his eyes.

When I picked it up and took a look, it was still a headache-inducing digital book.

"I'm not saying this, Morgan: you seem to be approving more and more documents recently."

"I haven't heard of any large-scale expansion in your Far Eastern frontier either."

"You still didn't bring your little brother?"

[Can’t we expand internally? 】

The Spider Queen read ten lines at a glance, signed a page of documents about the assets of the star sector, selected a seal to stamp it, and then placed it in the front left position: the relevant documents would be sent to the nearby Sword Fence Hall by Virgo every five minutes, and handed over to the Legion Council on duty today for detailed processing, and the results of their discussion would be reviewed again with the Primarch.

Inefficient administrative processes.

Conrad grinned, letting out a disdainful laugh from between his sharp teeth.

It's unbelievable. I really can't imagine why someone like Morgan...hiss...

The Primarch was secretly shaking his head, lamenting that his elder sister would make such an inefficient and cumbersome mistake in such a small matter of handling documents, when a sentence that had been forced into his mind decades ago quietly emerged again at this moment.

Examination-oriented education.jpg.
Any rule that seems strange has its reasons in the past.

Conrad lowered his eyebrows and wiped his thin lips, and couldn't help but recall the Nostramo's layers of scrutiny over every old model of ship at this time: These procedures seemed to be useless except for causing trouble, weren't they because decades ago, a space wreck that looked no different from an old transport ship slipped into the Imperial space domain right under the noses of the Midnight Lords Legion?

Three worlds paid the price for this: and the honor of the Eighth Legion: the entire company responsible for the inspection voluntarily wore red gloves

Thinking of this, the Primarch's fingers couldn't help but become heavier, and the robed little man in his arms immediately fought back. Conrad absent-mindedly dealt with the little guy's biting, while pricking up his ears to listen to Morgan's words: He stood up nimbly from the recliner, frowning and feeling the fatigue deep in his soul.

Another bad night's sleep.

【Here is the situation, Conrad.】

Morgan was writing furiously, her psychic power guiding the documents, forming a white storm above her head, but the Spider Queen's other hand was lazily lying in the middle of a pile of seals: each small object was engraved with its own unique power, and they symbolized every spider silk in the Spider Queen's hand.

Legion Council, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Supreme Senate of Avalon, Navy Commander, Queen's Guard Command, General Administration Office...

Just a touch of ink and thousands of lives will start running like gears.

"that power."

Conrad whispered the word: at least in his opinion, nothing could better reflect the inner meaning of the word power than standing by with his hands folded, watching his sister sign orders one after another with ease, pressing the seal in her hand again and again.

In comparison, their common father, the Emperor, was far too lazy, Malcador was a servant without much dignity, Guilliman was quite suitable for the position, but his way of doing things made him not feared: Horus simply lacked such experience, and he had almost no awareness of such.

The Wolf God's understanding of power seemed to be still stuck at holding the gun tightly. Although Conrad believed that Horus would learn quickly, at least at this moment, the Lord of the Moon Wolf would definitely not say such words:

[There are some things that don't need to be thought about: since we will arrive in Ullanor tomorrow, and Malcador is waiting for us there, our respected Master Sigillite will definitely catch Guilliman and me in the act and ask us to negotiate the tax issue with him there, and then we will inevitably use some soft and hard tactics.]

"Ah...how interesting."

The Midnight Haunter stretched his voice insincerely and sang an aria. He put the little man in the robe in his arms and sat down leisurely opposite Morgan. In his hand was already a cold drink of berry juice that Virgo had brought him while she was busy.

"It's been so many years, and you haven't finished discussing this tax issue yet?"

【Taxes are never a small issue. 】

Morgan gave a quick laugh.

[To be honest, if Malcador is willing to give me the full tax-farming rights of the Far Eastern Frontier and its surrounding areas, then he and I can reach a final agreement in the next second, and I can even make concessions in many aspects: but you can go and ask our Master the Seal. ]

[Does he dare to do this? ]

[So, since the Master of the Seal wants to extend his hand into our private land under the guise of taxation, don't blame me for nagging him: time is on our side on this issue anyway, and Guilliman and I are not in a hurry.]

"whatever."

Midnight Ghost yawned.

"Anyway, I have outsourced Nostramo's tax issues to you. You can discuss these matters with Guilliman privately. But I think he should be more anxious than you. After all, it is an indisputable fact that his five hundred worlds do border the Solar Segmentum."

【yes. 】

Morgan nodded, and his brushstrokes rarely paused for a moment, with a chilling light flashing in his blue pupils.

[Sooner or later, they will have a conflict.]

[Terra, and Guilliman: Once the Emperor leaves the front lines of the Great Crusade, who can suppress the friction between these two behemoths? Neither I nor Horus can do it. Only the Emperor can assume the role of arbitrator. His departure is bound to ignite the fuse. ]

"But I think Horus would be happy to be such an arbitrator."

The primarch snorted.

"Then again, what does this have to do with your internal affairs in Avalon?"

[It matters a lot.]

The Spider Queen picked out a page from her pile of documents that didn't look that complicated, and slapped Conrad in the face. Midnight Haunter took a closer look and saw that it recorded in detail the various financial and internal affairs figures of a galaxy, and there were also hundreds of notes and extension symbols that could lead to hundreds of other documents.

[Under the pretext of taxation, I can clean up every star region and even every star system in the Far Eastern Frontier. I have wanted to do this for a long time: my Avalon is different from your Nostramo. Yours is on the military frontier, and the larger settlements and fortresses will not change. But in my Far Eastern Frontier, colonization and development are going on all the time.]

[If I don’t check it every ten years, the information in my hands will just be a pile of waste paper.]

"I understand."

Conrad nodded eagerly and put the document aside.

It gives me a headache just looking at it.

"Would Guilliman do the same?"

[What do you think he is doing on his Macragge's Glory all day long? ]

"I think he's just lying in bed: just like me these days."

Conrad muttered unhappily.

"I'm not saying anything, Morgan, but have you been driving too fast these days?"

Before Morgan could reply, Midnight Haunter waved his arms dramatically.

"Yes, yes. We all know that we have to get to Ullanor in time. We all know that letting you lead the entire fleet directly is the most effective and fastest way. But aren't you going a little too far in your home space? Such a long and uninterrupted large-scale warp jump, even a Primarch like me can't handle it."

"I heard that the medical rooms on various ships are now overcrowded."

[I just have some...]

"Whatever you have, go ask Malcador or someone else, Morgan: In the past hundred years of the Great Crusade, has any expedition fleet been able to jump so fast? We crossed almost half of the galaxy in one breath. This is just a journey, not a special military operation."

【Maybe in the future. 】

The Spider Queen was silent for a moment, and her next words left Conrad speechless.

[Conrad, I have to find a chance to verify my idea: that is, when I lead a fleet, how fast can I guide them from the Far Eastern border all the way to the Solar Star Region? Now it seems to be just a small attempt, but in the future it may save our lives, or even all of our lives.]

"Makes sense."

Conrad closed his lips, licked his teeth, and nodded, but muttered in his heart: his sister obviously ignored the factor of the warp storm, but this was understandable.

It's just an exercise, how many casualty indicators can there be?
"Okay, we're getting off topic: didn't you tell me you had a joke?"

[Ah, I almost forgot.] Morgan quickened his pen strokes, quickly reviewed the last few documents, pushed them all into the Gladiolus Hall, and then reached for his own refreshing drink: the original juice obtained from Guilliman, and then added a lethal dose of fresh milk, sugar, reliable caffeine and regulating potion in turn, finally turning it into a cup of something barely edible.

Every time she forced herself not to spit out the drink in her mouth, Morgan would respect Guilliman even more in her heart: What kind of willpower did that Ultramar typewriter have to hold a bucket of raw juice and suck it dry while maintaining high-intensity work for at least seventy-two hours?

This child may be able to take charge of the political affairs of the entire human empire in the future.

Ok……

To everyone except Guilliman: Seems pretty good?

Fallen leaves bring news: That was an era when only Guilliman bore everything.

The Spider Queen was delighted.

【Let me tell you.】

She leaned back in her chair, her tone full of undisguised boasting.

[Not long ago, the most senior and fearless elder in the Dawnbreaker Legion finally responded to our call and woke up: now he is patrolling the entire fleet, searching for his old brothers, and preparing to have a good chat with them. ]

[But before that, he came to me specifically to report some situations.]

"Elaborate."

[This elder had experienced the first half of the Unification War. He often did some archaeological work in the intervals between wars, and his footprints covered half of Terra. When he was doing archaeological work in the ancient Babylonian area, he saw a mural related to our Gene Father in an underground tomb.]

"How can you be sure it was the Emperor?"

[He is wearing golden armor, holding a double-headed eagle high, calling himself a mortal, but his face on the mural is covered by a sun-like light, leading a large army to conquer the east and the west, and there is a warmaster following behind him. ]

“That doesn’t mean…”

[In the last scene of the mural, the Warmaster stabbed him in the back.]

"pretty."

Conrad was amused.

"It seems to be our father indeed."

"And then? Did he start another great expedition on the mural?"

[More or less: Because the description of the Fearless Elder is a bit fragmentary, generally speaking, our Gene Father led his army to attack a tower that was very important to him. He seemed to have obtained something at the top of the tower, and then was killed by the Warmaster behind him.]

“A classic script.”

[And on the mural, our genetic father is called Neos.]

"Where's the Warmaster?"

【Olpersund.】

"really……"

【Do you know this name? 】

"But I don't know where he is."

Conrad shook his head in denial.

"Maybe in the Five Hundred Worlds, but it's also possible that he's in your Far Eastern frontier. After all, you still have a policy of religious freedom here. I remember that he was a guy who liked fighting. If you're really free and want to look through the soldier's roster, you might be able to find his name in some corner."

[It feels like looking for a needle in a haystack.]

"And then? Our fearless elder didn't say anything else to you?"

[He didn’t know more: Then I let him go to find someone. ]

"Which people?"

[Those who voted together and decided to send him to the Dreadnought: The situation at that time was quite special. The elder was seriously injured in the process of digging out the Dreadnought. Because there was no nearby medical facilities, he was in danger of death, so several of his old brothers got together and figured out a good idea, which was to bury him in the dug-out Dreadnought on the spot. ]

[Using this method, we can also leave an extra powerful Dreadnought for the Dawnbreaker Legion. ]

"sounds good."

"But are you sure he really wants to catch up with his old friends?"

[I have no objection: the Contemptors in the Legion's warehouse are almost covered with dust. If they think this specification is not enough, when we arrive in Ullanor, I will ask the Emperor for a few more Gratus and Achilles: he still has to give me this face. ]

"I'm more curious, what other equipment of the Imperial Guards do you not have here?"

[Their hoverbikes, hovertanks, and hoverattack craft, and those hovertransporters are actually pretty good: if I could really get a few from the Emperor, I could use them to lure other brothers. At least one legion loves these things.]

"I know."

Midnight Haunter nodded, but Morgan's words seemed to wake him up: a humble smile appeared on Conrad's lips.

"But let me tell you: these things are not really suitable for you."

[You mean there is a suitable one? ]

"Not with the Custodes: but I know there are still good ones with the Emperor."

【explain. 】

"Did you know that our Gene Father actually has a private Titan Order?"

"And the most impressive product of the Titan Association is the Psychic Titan."

【…】

[Sounds like a good thing.]

"Twenty-five in all: I think the Emperor would rather give you a few Custodes."

[What use do I have for the Imperial Guards? ]

"Maybe they can breed with each other and give birth to a few little guards for you?"

【…】

【This is disgusting, Conrad.】

"I know."

Midnight Haunter leaned back, his face wrinkled with pain in his temple.

"But if you ask me, Morgan, you can find that Olpersong."

"It's not impossible for our Gene Father to give you one of his precious Psychic Titans."

[It doesn’t sound cost-effective. ]

"Then, there is a certain probability that our Wolf Shepherd God will lose his position as the warmaster."

What is the probability?

"Um……"

"Give me an inappropriate example."

"If you, Morgan, were still just a mortal, and left Jonson for some reason after the end of the Randan War, but the friendship between you, at least Jonson's opinion of you, had not changed at all: after experiencing the ups and downs of these years, you returned to the Indomitable Truth again and stood by Jonson and the Dark Angels again."

"So what position do you think Jonson will give you?"

【ah……】

Morgan hesitated only for a moment: not even a moment's careful thought.

The answer is pure instinct.

【I see. 】

[I will go check now to see if there is an Orpesson under my command.]

"Then I have to get busy too."

【What are you busy with? 】

"Busy preparing money for the possible wedding of our Gene Father."

【…】

[What about Makado? ]

(End of this chapter)