Emperor's Bane

Chapter 800 Horus is calling
[In other words, it was Saliss, not Malcador, who made you decide to start the Great Crusade? ]

"Let's open it at 73."

"It was mainly because of Malcador's ability, which was indeed very tempting, and he happened to have the resources I urgently needed at the time, so I pretended to be persuaded and made him stay with me willingly. This has continued until today."

【…】

[Does he know about this? ]

"Ignorance makes people bliss, Morgan: even the Sigillite is no exception."

[I didn't expect that you could spit out some ivory chopsticks from your dog's mouth. ]

The Spider Queen muttered to herself, her drooping hair masking the texture of her voice, but it couldn't block out the rustling sound of the quill in the Primarch's hand and the expedited documents, as well as the rhythmic drumbeats of the Silver Eagle seal.

The Lord of Avalon was like a machine that had been wound up long ago, handling the mountains of documents and meetings in an orderly manner: every time she blinked her eyes, the fate of a planet or a family thousands of miles away would change, and with the seal that followed, it would become a new and irreversible chapter in the history books.

The Spider Queen has become accustomed to the feeling of controlling everything in her hands, and to using the words within her field of vision to rule the power beyond her field of vision: at the beginning, this meticulous rule could indeed satisfy her perverted desire for control.

But it is no longer possible now, just like when hobbies in life become jobs responsible for making money, people will start to get bored. No matter how beautiful the white moonlight is, after being married home, it will sooner or later become a fish eye that pollutes the vision: when interests become a habit or even an obligation, they naturally will not provide more emotional value.

Therefore, the current Primarch always becomes capable and impatient, and her temper becomes worse when handling official business: just like when she has to stay away from her desk for a while, and then returns to deal with the mountains of documents and meetings that are enough to overwhelm her, low pressure will naturally be created.

At this time, even Virgo and Lana were reluctant to stand too close to Morgan.

But Lucy was an exception.

At least in her opinion, rather than taking care of Morgan's slightly awkward emotions, the most important thing to do is to check as soon as possible whether her mother and daughter has picked up any bad habits or accidentally brought back something deadly after having sex with the galaxy's number one drug addict offline.

Thus, a quiet scene fell in the Primarch's office: the Spider Queen was accumulating anger and working quickly to solve the problems accumulated due to the Thorn War, while her little daughter was sitting opposite the desk, looking her up and down again and again.

【Do you see what the problem is? 】

After finishing a strange document with thirty-five of the thirty-seven pages filled with nonsense and etiquette, and viciously memorizing the name of the idiot who signed at the bottom, the Spider Queen was satisfied to find that this was the last mental torture she would face today.

There is no way. One of the prices of monopolizing power is to face too many possibilities: from the top to the bottom, from geniuses to fools, from those who are not loyal enough to those who are too loyal, all information and documents are summarized in the hands of the Primarch, and the dirty and the clean are squeezed in the same river, and he will always have to swallow a few mouthfuls.

Just like the document just now, which had 35 out of 37 pages of nonsense, but the last two pages made a lot of very valuable suggestions, it was nothing new to the Spider Queen. And it couldn't be blamed entirely on the guy who wrote the report, because he had spent six pages just to write down all the official titles and honorary titles of the Primarchs.
"For now, it's okay."

Sitting opposite Morgan, Lucy was absentmindedly playing with the souvenirs that Conrad had mailed from the Ghoul Stars, which were said to be artifacts from the ancient Terra period: Although Morgan couldn't quite understand what role these palm-sized little people could play in the aesthetics of the ancient Terrans?
Obviously, the Emperor could not answer this question either: she threw aside the gift sent by Conrad, and examined the Primarch's body and mind one last time. The twitching of her brows revealed the ripples in her heart, but in the end she still said nothing.

"From your own situation: it is relatively safe for the time being."

"He is afraid to use force."

[So, Sally is planning to attack my army and fleet? ]

Anyway, Morgan didn't believe that the Dark Prince would return empty-handed after causing such a big commotion: since there was no breakthrough point to be found with the Primarch, it would be the turn of her descendants to suffer, and those mortals would be incidental.

"I'll be on my guard against that."

Lucy nodded: at least her words were reassuring.

But Morgan was still not satisfied. She took out the documents that needed to be carefully screened and pretended to put on her flat lenses: small gifts that Corax had personally polished using the crystal stones from the Redemption Star. While reading, she began to complain to her father.

[If you really want to prevent the infiltration of the Sharis, you should write a letter to Malcador and ask him to pack up all the damn narrators, artists and historians he sent out: these idle bastards will cause trouble sooner or later.]

"They pissed you off."

[Not me: but my senior officers, as well as security and civil officials, were furious.]

【Look at these impeachments. 】

The Spider Queen pointed to the pile of documents next to her that was more than half a meter high.

[Adjutants, archons, company commanders, discipline inspectors, mortal generals, and managers of propaganda and livelihood departments: Every native Avalonian on the Aurora who has a say in front of me has submitted more than one impeachment letter to me? ]

[The last time they were so united was when there were rumors that I was going to compete with Dorn for the Terran Guard: well, they united to persuade me not to go. ]

"Have you ever thought about that?"

[The idea of ​​500,000 Dawnbreakers popping up on Holy Terra is quite tempting, at least for me: Or do you plan to have Terra support me with some new recruits? Then I don't mind paying the taxes I owe. ]

"…Tell me what happened just now."

【Miserable (muttering gloomily).】

【Well, speaking of impeachment. 】

[The Avalonians portrayed the group of poets, playwrights, artists and composers from Terra as a bunch of rotten and corrupt garbage. Except for a few of them who were truly impressive, the rest were just a bunch of useless rubbish.]

[These guys only use their status as Terrans to speak out against the traditions of Avalon, or they pull out a lot of unofficial history and hold their so-called art evenings full of decadence and depravity day and night: the shadows of the theater are full of naked men and women.]

"Seriously, are you not going to have Malcador send the Custodes to check if there are any altars dedicated to the worship of Shalith on Terra?"

"I checked it three months ago: there shouldn't be any new ones for a while."

【……All right. 】

[In addition, I also reserved two halls for these guests from Terra, as an elegant place for them to display their artistic talents and exchange their experiences with each other, but the reality is worse than I imagined: those who really want to display their talents will not stay in the hall at all. They have already stepped down to the grassroots level. The ones who stay there are just a bunch of drunkards and gamblers.]

[The whole hall was filled with smoke and the sounds of playing cards and having trysts were everywhere. The artists destroyed the works on the walls with white marbles and filled them with obscene graffiti: According to the Avalonians, the only thing worth mentioning in the hands of the Terrans was the gold-plated gambling chips and distilled liquor that could kill people.]

[You should be thankful that I moved all the things related to the honor of the Legion out of that hall in advance, otherwise there would have been some bloodshed there sooner or later: the biggest change these Terrans brought to the Aurora was that in order to detain the drunkards among them, I had to allocate funds to build a new detention center, which occupied the original location of the public library and indoor garden.]

(Don’t think it’s an exaggeration, this group of Terrans is indeed so chaotic: this is also recorded in the first chapter and fourth section of the false god in the second part of the Horus trilogy.)
Seriously, father.

Morgan spat disdainfully.

[If I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I would never believe that these people were chosen by Malcador. If the Sigillite is counting on these guys to consolidate the loyalty of the various expeditionary fleets, then I can only say that he will be greatly disappointed: You know, this situation is not just happening to me. Horus and Corax have complained to me. ]

"Horus?"

Lucy looked up.

"Will you come to you to vent your grievances?"

【certainly. 】

Morgan smiled.

[Obviously, our Warmaster Horus thinks it would be beneficial for him to maintain a close, or at least frequent, communication with local powerful figures like me: he can't go to Jonson or Guilliman, right?]

"Then it looks like Lupercal is settling into his position quite well."

Lucy shook her head, her sincere sigh not seeming fake at all: and the Primarch, who had thrown aside another impeachment document, grabbed the papers sealed in the black file, then glanced at her father with surprise.

[How strange: I thought you would care more about how Horus is doing than I thought.]

[Didn't you leave any spies or observers around him? ]

"He doesn't like the Custodes."

[Luo Jia didn't like it either: but the imperial guards still followed him like a shadow.]

"Those are two different things."

[Okay, I won’t ask anymore.]

Morgan smiled perfunctorily. She knew that even if she asked more questions, she would only get an obvious imperial bias: the Primarch's eyes swept over the documents in front of him, and his long brows furrowed higher and higher.

[But then again, aren't you really curious about what your Warmaster would do? ]

"Listen, Morgan, since I have handed over the power of the Warmaster and the Great Crusade to him, I will not interfere anymore. The Webway needs to focus all my energy. I don't have that much time to keep an eye on the galaxy: except for you, there are still some remnants left here."

【I am really flattered.】

The Primarch yawned: it seemed she hadn't slept in nearly two hundred hours.

[But seriously: you should occasionally check on what's going on with Horus.]

These words that were obviously meaningful and the Spider Queen's bored look as she looked at the document in her hand made Lucy hesitate for a moment, then she leaned forward, put her hands on the table, and leaned her head directly to Morgan's shoulder, her hair rubbing against her neck, her red eyes darting left and right at the Primarch's top-secret document.

"What happened?" [Nothing serious.]

Morgan shook the document, shaking Lucy's little head out.

[It was just a small conflict between the Luna Wolves and Dark Angels in the northwest of the Milky Way, which was the area where we fought with the Randan Empire before. Although neither side opened fire, there were still some intimate exchanges of fists and feet.]

"Another Badab?"

Upon hearing this bad news, Lucy frowned immediately: If you calculate carefully, it seems that less than two years have passed since he handed over the title of Admiral Warmaster of Ullanor to Horus and officially retired from the Great Range Command?

【Nothing serious...beautiful.】

Morgan suddenly laughed.

"What's beautiful?"

[Nothing: Astelan of the First Legion knocked out the little Horus of the Luna Wolves with one punch during a physical fight.]

"What does this have to do with you?"

[It is always a pleasant thing to see your godson beat someone else's biological son. ]

The Primarch hummed in satisfaction.

[Not to mention that after the defeat, the Luna Wolves' fleet directly vomited out a whole star-district-sized area of ​​land: although there were neither resources nor population on it, even building an outpost seemed a bit of a loss. ]

[However, as the saying goes, empty land that was once considered useless often becomes extremely valuable in the end: who knows what kind of turn of events will appear after a few generations? ]

"Shouldn't the focus be on why the two legions clashed?"

【What's so strange about this? 】

Morgan raised her head slightly, showed off to her father, and pointed to the giant star map on the wall beside her: even the highest-specification product used by the Primarch of the Dawnbreaker Legion himself could only roughly draw the outlines of the territories occupied by each legion, and there was not even a truly definite national border.

[Who told you not to clearly demarcate every inch of land when you left? After returning to their local areas, each legion can only rely on their spirit of exploration and their fists to determine the detailed boundaries of each legion.]

[No one will remain humble on this issue. After all, any concession will damage the overall interests of the legion: We are all meritorious troops, and we are all local emperors appointed by the emperor himself. Why should our interests be sacrificed for yours? ]

[Especially the border between the Dark Angels and the Luna Wolves, which was the main battlefield with the Randan Empire back then. It is as deserted as Holy Terra hundreds of years ago: there are no settlements or resource outposts. There are hundreds of worlds, and whoever plants the flag first will get first come first served.]

"Is that just it?"

The Spider Queen's answer obviously did not satisfy her father: Lucy cast a suspicious look at Morgan.

"I don't recall Jonson being a man who was keen on expanding his territory."

【But Luther is different. 】

The Primarch put down the document and looked at his father with eyes full of irony and ambiguity.

[Besides, Horus's Wolf Kingdom is already big enough due to your favoritism, and no one wants to see it grow further: the Warmaster himself should also know this, so he ordered little Horus to swallow his anger and give up the land in the disputed area. ]

“Right decision.”

There was pride in Lucy's voice as she took the document from Morgan's hand and brought it closer to examine it carefully.

“He defuses a crisis.”

[It's just this once: there are many more potential crises in various parts of the galaxy. ]

The Primarch sneered and slowly opened the second encrypted file.

"For example?"

[For example, the Betanjamon system supervised by Leman Russ. ]

This place name with special meaning made Lucy quiet down all of a sudden. There was a dangerous atmosphere in the air around her. She looked up with scarlet eyes, and her originally bad tone became serious.

"Betangamon: What happened?"

[Leman Russ wrote to me and told me that not long ago, an extremely abnormal, large-scale warp disturbance suddenly occurred above Betagamon: However, when Leman Russ rushed into the cell where Magnus was imprisoned, he found no signs of an attempt to break into the prison, and the Scarlet King was still there.]

"But it can't be a coincidence, can it?"

[Based on the current investigation results, it seems that the accident occurred when the members of the Mechanicus were operating the Black Stone Device.]

"..."

"I'll talk to Malcador."

Lucy nodded.

[Don't you have any more trustworthy members of the Mechanicus under your command? ]

"The Webway needs them more."

"Besides, I don't have time to clean Mars for the time being."

【That’s bad.】

Morgan put the document aside: now in front of her was the last important document, an ornate-looking letter with a golden border and the emblem of the Luna Wolf.

[Judging from the largesse of Casting General Kalpohar during this period, if you and Malcador are not ready to deal with him and his followers now, then be prepared to send an extermination order directly to Mars.]

"Don't be so unsure: a single spark won't cause any trouble."

What if they choose to join Horus at that time?

"..."

Lucy frowned, she seemed a little impatient.

"Morgan, I don't know why, but you always seem to like to assume the worst of your wolf-shepherd brother: Are you so worried that I will let Horus take charge? Or do you question his loyalty to me?"

[My attitude is irrelevant. If you want to know what is happening to Horus, why don't you go and see for yourself, father?]

“Haven’t I seen enough?”

【Children are in two different states when they are at home and in society. 】

The Primarch pointed at the ornately decorated letter in front of her.

"What do you mean."

[Nothing much: the Warmaster is merely calling on me to join his next expedition.]

[How about this: Don't you want to see what Horus looks like when he's not in front of you? ]

"Horus? Looking for you?"

Morgan nodded.

[Obviously, Horus takes the unpleasant things that happened in the northwest of the galaxy as seriously as you do. He doesn’t want to make things too awkward with the First Legion, but he certainly can’t talk to Jonson or the Dark Angels, so…]

"So he can only talk to Jonson's witch and Keyman's Lady Macbeth?"

【…】

【Where did you learn this? 】

"That's just...?"

Lucy hesitated.

"You should ask Sanguinius."

【? ? ? 】

(End of this chapter)