Emperor's Bane

Chapter 695 Interlude: Dawn Warrior's Diary
This is the 286th Terran standard day I have spent on Nikaea, and the 44th year I have been away from my true homeland: time flies, but I still miss the lights of the Far Eastern Frontier, as the best spiritual support for my survival in the Iron Blood and the Iron Warriors Legion.

Emperor bless me, I no longer need to constantly reminisce about the days of Avalon to maintain the spiritual strength I need to survive like I did more than forty years ago: to be more specific, since our Gene-Father has not paid much attention to the daily operations and many details of the Legion, the living conditions of everyone in the Legion have improved a lot.

At least I can live longer.

Seriously, I saw the first batch of recruits in Hoth's company some time ago who had survived for thirty years and experienced a full hundred battles of all sizes. Only some of them were Olympians, and the others were mostly from the Legion's current pilot program of [Expanding the World of Recruiting].

Of course, these so-called conscription worlds are ultimately just a series of colonies and imperial vassals centered around Olympia, which are under the jurisdiction of the Iron Warriors Legion. Most of their civilizations are very backward, and the working-age population of each world is not that large. It is unrealistic to rely solely on these initially expanded conscription worlds to maintain the operation of the entire Fourth Legion.

But this is still a good sign, at least we are looking for a solution instead of waiting in vain for the death knell: the real hope of the Legion comes from the decree issued by Lord Perturabo on Olympia a few years ago. He ordered a preliminary reduction in the blood tax that Olympia needs to pay to the Iron Warriors Legion every year, so that more young people can stay in their hometown.

I believe that Lady Kelly Fanny, who is rumored to have become the Archon of Olympia with the secret support of Lord Morgan, and who is also Lord Perturabo's biological sister who has no blood relationship with him, played a very important role in this process: this new law was actually formulated by her, and her greatest contribution in the process of determining the law was to convince the Primarch himself.

It is said that at the moment when the [Delay Order] was confirmed to be officially implemented, all the ancient temples and theaters in Olympia were filled with celebratory bells, the marble streets were wet with the tears of mothers, and ceremonies and altars dedicated to Lady Caelphine were spread across every corner of the mountains the next day. She is now the most respected archon in the history of Olympia.

It is said that before this, this title belonged to our Primarch, but Lord Perturabo was not angry about this: on the contrary, he welcomed and delighted Lady Kelly Fanny's rebellious behavior. In the Primarch's own words, his sister was finally willing to use her talents.

He was even willing to reserve a position of "Subordinate God" for Lady Kelly Fanny in his future "Council of Gods", so that she could sit with him forever and rule together the vast universe with Olympia as its core: for a mortal, this was the supreme honor.

The Primarch even dispatched a special Iron Battalion back to Olympia to ensure Lady Kellyphan's rule: I would say this was completely unnecessary. Not to mention Perturabo's reputation and Kellyphan's popularity, the foreign aid that this lady could get from the Far Eastern Frontier and the Five Hundred Worlds alone was enough to ensure that she would stay in that position until her death.

After all, the entire Far East star field knows that Lady Caliphate is the Queen of Avalon: Lord Morgan's closest confidant. Although they don't always meet, their friendship is growing stronger. Long before I decided to return to the Iron Warriors, I saw Lady Caliphate's statue in the cabin of the Aurora, and there were roads and squares named after her.

Moreover, it is said that it was Lord Morgan who acted as a middleman, allowing Lady Kelly Fanny and Lady Euton to establish a good personal relationship, and then to reach cooperation with the entire Five Hundred Worlds: when she was elected Grand Archon, Lord Guilliman sent an envoy to congratulate her, and a package of cooperation agreements and trade treaties were reached.

Although these terms caused new panic on Terra's part.

So, to be fair, even without the help of the Primarch, Lady Kelly Fanny's reign would have been long and lasting.

This is what she told me herself.

Don't be surprised. Since the Primarch has decided to implement the monarch offline system in the legion, we warsmiths will always have to maintain the daily operation of the legion after his departure: reconnecting with Olympia in the name of the legion was a proposal unanimously passed at the voting meeting of all warsmiths. I just happen to be in charge of this aspect.

Who told me that I am the current acting commander of the Iron Warriors Legion and the most trusted war blacksmith assistant of Lord Felix, the head of Trident? If it weren't for the internal rumors, I would be more or less a candidate for the next Trident, although I am not pursuing that position.

It was a great pleasure to communicate with Lady Kelly Fanny. She possessed all the abilities necessary for a ruler, and her control over the entire Olympia was even comparable to that of the Primarch. She even hinted to me during the conversation that she hoped to infiltrate such influence into the expeditionary fleet of the Fourth Legion.

In her own words: We can't let the Astartes warriors who fought for the Empire and their hometown forget the land where they were born and raised. They have the right to remember everything they shed blood for, which can better ensure their dedication and loyalty.

All we have to do is add a little bit of Olympian style to each ship of the Iron Warriors: just think of it as decoration. Anyway, the veterans didn't stop us from changing the damn post-modern minimalist style of the Iron Blood.

At least put up windows: otherwise this thing will be like living in a coffin.

So: why not?
I have the power to do so anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have much power: it's just that it is distributed rather widely, covering about twenty or thirty aspects.

As for other aspects, they are taken over by other [newcomers] who come from the Far Eastern frontier like me: This is not surprising, those old veterans represented by Lord Fricks, who come from Holy Terra and Olympia and have served in the legion for dozens or hundreds of years, seem to have a very contemptuous attitude towards these [strange and ingenious] things, and they do not like to fight for power in this area.

After the initial interactions, we Avalonians discovered that as long as we did not compete for positions such as the Trident or the Primarch's Herald, which would allow us to come into contact with the increasingly reclusive Lord Perturabo, the veterans of Terra and Olympia would no longer pay attention to where we wanted to get our hands on.

They are even happy to see us Avalonians taking on unimportant matters such as the Legion's external negotiations, exchanges with the home planet, the management of the mortal auxiliaries and mortal servants, and the coordination of duties with Terra: most mortal officers and captains are now accustomed to coming to us Avalonians to hand over tasks and report on the situation.

They all know that the casualties here will be smaller, and if they are lucky, they may even get medals: the most elite mortal auxiliary troops loyal to the Fourth Legion are called Seleucid Cuirassiers. Now, most of the officers in this army are willing to follow our advice as much as possible without violating the will of the Primarch.

We are targeting the small number of recalcitrant elements that remain.

This is not an easy task: Thanks to Lord Dantioch, he has been silently supporting our cause behind the scenes. During these forty years, new like-minded partners have always come to the Far Eastern Frontier. They are all new blood recruited by Lord Dantioch and our supporters who returned to Avalon before. Those with the most courage and dedication will choose to come to the Fourth Legion to help our cause.

Of course, Lady Morgan also paid great attention to these actions: she not only gave the green light to all these actions, but also provided all the volunteers with very comprehensive military command training in advance. Each of them exuded the elite aura of the Dawnbreakers.

To be honest: every time these new comrades bring me new news and new items from Avalon, as well as the local specialties and delicious food that we all long for, my nostalgia for my hometown in the Far East becomes even stronger. The day I am responsible for welcoming them is often the day I suffer from sleepless nights due to homesickness.

I thought that all of us would gradually forget our former homeland in our new Iron Warrior careers, just like the Terra veterans and Olympians around us, but in fact, we still have a strong centripetal force towards the distant Avalon: I always dream of making the Iron Warriors Legion around me look like our hometown.

That would be better: so we have to establish ourselves in more sectors. So far so good: these Terra veterans and Olympians really don't care about any power except the Primarch, and we can even be considered a cooperative relationship, they indulge in the construction of new fortresses, while we survive in the Legion.

Of course, they still have a firm grip on the positions concerning equipment and construction. Ever since the Primarch stopped caring about the legion, these idle war blacksmiths and old men have become crazy about building bunkers and forging equipment: even if they have taken down a public toilet, they will build a semi-permanent fortress with sixteen machine gun ports on it.

Don't ask me how I know.

I never thought in my life that my internal injuries would come from a machine gun that was positioned upside down.

But a blessing in disguise was that it was during the period of recuperation that I finalized the Legion's subsequent expansion.

Our main recruiting points in the future will come from a series of colonies on Olympia, a result of a joint effort between us, Lady Kelly Fanny and the Primarch, who convinced Master Perturabo to temporarily suspend the recruitment plan on Olympia.

In exchange, the young men on Olympia must board the colony ship without hesitation and head to the vast universe that the Emperor will soon bestow upon the Primarch, so that Lord Perturabo's fiefdom will prosper: this is part of his grand plan, and is also the foundation for the rise we have laid down for the Fourth Legion.

These growing colonies will eventually take over the reigns of Olympia and become our most important source of recruits: all we need to do is help Lady Caliphney maintain the influence of her rule over these distant Olympian colonies.

A good deal: at least until we reach Nikea, we are firmly fulfilling our agreement with Lady Kelly Fanny and trying to reduce the number of casualties in the legion as much as possible.

The effect was remarkable, and the veterans also contributed to this: it turned out that if the Primarch was not supervising them, they would not be so... keen on dying.

In recent years, the death rate in several key siege battles has dropped by an average of fifty to sixty percentage points: although the Legion's death rate had begun to decline steadily before our Gene-Father let go, it was not until he chose to let go more than a decade ago and handed most of the power to the General Assembly composed of warsmiths that the 4th Legion's death rate in each battle dropped to a barely reasonable level.

Before arriving in Nicaea, our legion had already reached 200,000 soldiers. If the subsequent expansion plan goes smoothly, we can double this number in the fifteen years after Nicaea, and double it again in the next twenty years.

By the way, the Primarch fully supports our military expansion plan. It is said that this is because in the grand cause in his mind, 200,000 troops are too scarce: he requires us to prepare at least 500,000 experienced veterans, only in this way can we barely match the grand cause he has built for the entire empire.

Of course, before that, he had to complete his magnificent mission in Nikaea.

honestly……

To this day I still can't understand why they chose such a place to hold the meeting.

There was nothing here but volcanoes everywhere: active, extinct, violent, and erupting, spread across Nikaea's pathetic face like a follicle infection from the wind until we popped the pustules one by one.

Fortunately, at least this is where we, the Iron Warriors, specialize. It took us a few weeks to tame every volcano here and make the world habitable again. Various great buildings are entering the final stage of construction. It hurts my heart to think that after the meeting, they will inevitably become garbage.

But other than that, some good things have happened during this period: at least we are about to meet Lord Dantioch, Lord Morgan, and our old friends and battle-brothers in the Dawnbreaker Legion, and we can have a good discussion with them about all the hardships we have endured in the past forty years.

But this is not the most important thing: just a few hours ago, I witnessed with my own eyes a group of new recruits from Olympia and other conscription worlds being awarded medals by the war blacksmith, Felix, the head of the Trident. From today on, they are no longer privates, but grassroots officers who can command squads and companies.

This means that after forty years of hard work and training, we have finally taken a key symbolic step in one of our most important undertakings, rebuilding the grassroots fighting force of the Fourth Legion: it is truly a great cause that can fill my heart with a sense of accomplishment.

It is for this reason that we have chosen to remain in the ranks of the Fourth Legion.

We will stay forever for this.

Until our dreams come true.

Until I could see the phantom that once belonged to Great Avalon on the Iron Blood.

------

My name is E.

They call me the Dawnbreaker: so be it.

I come from the Far Eastern Frontier, grew up on the Aurora and the Dawnbreakers, served in the Iron Warriors, and may rest in the shrine of the Iron Blood in the future: I am the offspring of Master Morgan and Master Perturabo, and I am fortunate that this identity has not torn me apart, but has actually helped me in many ways.

And I will repay you for that.

This is my story.

(End of this chapter)