Emperor's Bane

Chapter 848 Luo Jia: Why Should We Believe in God

"Come on, Anglete."

"Walk with me, and have a chat: I have had enough of the smell of blood in the air."

There is no doubt that few in the galaxy could refuse the invitation of Primarch Lorgar: especially for the Word Bearers.

As we all know, the respect that Lorgar's descendants have for Lorgar is exactly the same as Lorgar's respect for the God-Emperor. The element called blind obedience has been best inherited in the gene seed of the Word Bearers Legion, and has permanently changed the appearance of the Seventeenth Legion.

And Anglete is one of the best.

Faced with the Primarch's request, Angerte would never have the option of refusing. He quickly followed the shadow of the Father of Genes. After Luo Jia gestured to the guards beside him that they did not need to follow, the father and son stepped onto the creaking crystal-like white sand.

They quickly moved away from the battlefield surrounded by a large army and came to the other more remote end of this small world: almost no one noticed the departure of the Primarch and Angertai, not even the Word Bearers.

But the Custodians were the exception. While everyone was busy cleaning up the battlefield, searching for souvenirs and counting the losses, the Emperor's Golden Warriors were focused on their sole duty: a golden figure stood side by side with Lorgar's guards, far away at the end of the Primarch's field of vision.

"It seems that our bloody battle here is still of some use."

Luo Jia naturally noticed this. He glanced at the imperial guards in the distance, and finally shifted his gaze to Angertai beside him: the Primarch's smile seemed both bitter and proud.

"At least, these arrogant guys have finally learned to respect me as the Primarch. If it were in the past, they would definitely follow us around relentlessly and not leave us any private space."

"Or is this your personal friendship with Aquitaine at work?"

Angertai gave a mischievous smile, not knowing how to respond to his Primarch.

As the most amazing master of friendship in the Word Bearers Legion, Angertai was even able to become friends with the Imperial Guards who came to monitor them: although their friendship was very weak, it was indeed incredible for the Emperor's Guards who had always been arrogant.

"I think that's due to the Emperor."

After thinking about it, the Word Bearer decided not to take the credit for this achievement.

"I know."

The primarch nodded.

"It is said that my father was able to use a method unknown to outsiders to train a group of reasonable people in the Imperial Guards and then let them be responsible for diplomatic work."

"Although I have always been curious: What means can make the Imperial Guards become reasonable?"

“Maybe he’s an education guru.”

Angertai also withdrew his gaze from the position of the Guards, and he responded to the Primarch absentmindedly.

"After all, the emperor's subordinates are never short of talents from various fields."

"indeed so."

Luo Jia seemed to have thought of something.

"Besides, my father always knew what kind of people should be placed in what kind of places."

Even the Great Bearers do not always refer to the Emperor as a god in private.

“I hope I can inherit this ability.”

"At least, I should make some progress."

Luo Jia sighed, as if regretting his past incompetence.

"That's why I propose that you take over the position of the first company commander of the legion, Angerte."

The Primarch brought up the topic again, and he seemed particularly persistent about it, which made Angertai feel that if he kept delaying it, it would be a shame to his loyalty to the Father of Genes.

"I just……"

Anglete took a deep breath.

"I'm just curious, is there something that Master Kor Phaeron did wrong, my lord?"

"He just made a mistake."

There was not much tenderness in the Primarch's voice when he mentioned his adoptive father.

"That means you shouldn't be the captain of a company."

"He was a passable missionary, an effective careerist, a terrible assassin, a distinctive court jester, and a passable foster father: but he should not have been an Astartes. And certainly not one to lead an entire Legion."

“He doesn’t have the ability.”

Having said this, Luo Jia paused, and then he suddenly laughed.

"Of course, this is also my fault."

"I shouldn't have given him such an important position in the first place: but I thought he would be my Luther."

"But it turns out that there are very few people like this loser."

My brother Jonson is very lucky."

"Not only does he own Luther, he also owns Morgan in a way."

There was an indescribable light flickering in the eyes of the Great Word Bearer: long before he was allowed to enter the Eye of Terror through the game between Terra and Caliban, Lorgar was forced to stay in the land of the Lion for a period of time.

It was also during that time that he was able to spend some decent time working with Luther, Jonson's assistant and the de facto leader of Caliban: the old knight's abilities impressed the Primarch.

If Kor Phaeron had the same ability as Luther, no, even half or even a third of it, then the Word Bearers wouldn't have to work so hard: he could just prioritize his limited energy on military affairs like Jonson did.

Unfortunately, this was just a beautiful fantasy in Lorgar's mind. The real situation was that without the Primarch's tacit consent, Kor Phaeron would not even be qualified to stay in the Word Bearers Legion, let alone manage his First Company.

In the Astartes Legion, which is guided by the values ​​of ability, honor, loyalty and merit, Kor Phaeron's existence is like a stain that is completely out of place. His every breath makes the entire Legion feel sick, reminding them that the Primarch can also make mistakes.

And now, it is time to wipe this mistake out of the Legion with our own hands.

Luo Jia's adoptive father could have returned to Colchis to live out his days in peace. Being a high priest or an honorary governor would both be good choices. However, the position of a company commander in the legion would definitely have to be handed over to someone more capable.

And in Luo Jia's heart, the more capable person is naturally Angertai.

As for Layak and others, although their abilities and loyalty were impeccable, in Luo Jia's eyes, these people lacked a quality that he could not describe: and Anglete just happened to have this quality.

However, he himself seemed unaware of this problem.

"If you insist..."

After a long silence, the Word Bearer found that he had no reason to refute: he didn't really want to take over this position, and the sense of responsibility in his heart was far greater than the joy of promotion.

But at the same time, there was a wonderful feeling in his heart.

Angertai had never thought that the Primarch would actually take the initiative to replace Kor Phaeron: at least in the past, Lorgar would never do so.

Perhaps, without any of them realizing it, the Lord of the Word Bearers had changed.

"very good."

The Primarch nodded in satisfaction.

"Once we leave this place and return to the real universe, I will start to make Kor Phaeron retire and let him return to Colchis to live out his days."

"As for you?"

Luo Jia glanced at his children: the one that made him most satisfied.

"You are a passive man, my dear Captain Anglete."

"You don't like war, but you are the bravest one in battle."

"You don't like torture either, but you always manage to be ruthless."

"Similarly, I know that you do not fear anyone except me, neither the God-Emperor nor any more terrifying being, and you will not offer your loyalty to them: but you will also fight for them, for your own goals, and to answer the confusion in your heart."

"May the Emperor bless you, my child. You are the most open-minded one, but you never learn to live for yourself."

"I live for what I believe in, my Lord."

Angeltai replied in a deep voice.

"Come on."

Lorgar laughed, and in the Primarch's laughter there was an emotion called magnanimity that Angertai had never felt in Lorgar before.

"You live to obey, even though you despise obedience from the bottom of your heart."

Anglete did not refute.

And Luo Jia continued.

"Angeltai, you are actually a very curious person. You will not actively pursue the secrets of this world, but when the truth in the depths opens its arms to you, you will not reject them. That is why you are always confused: because you always see or feel things that you cannot understand."

"And in order to answer these questions, you will double your ability and make yourself even better: so good that you are qualified to listen to and understand the meaning of these truths, and qualified for me to answer your questions."

"I never thought of it that way, my Lord."

"Instincts don't need to be thought about. Instincts lurk in the shadows behind you."

“You can’t see it, but others can.”

The Primarch raised one hand. When he was explaining the truth, there was always a different kind of glow around Lorgar: his words were so convincing, as if this was the mission the Emperor had created him for.

"Come on, Anglete."

The Great Speaker only needed a smile to restore his son to peace.

"You have a puzzle in your heart: and you have always wanted to seek answers from me, right?"

"Speak out: consider it a reward for your continued bravery in battle."

Anglete opened his mouth.

Then he turned around and glanced at where the Custodians and the Primarch's guards were standing.

"Yes, my lord."

The Word Bearer bowed his head.

"In fact, there is a problem that has troubled me for a long time."

"Please...excuse my rudeness first."

"Tell me, I forgive you."

Luo Jia waved his hand nonchalantly, while Angertai took a deep breath: preparing himself to have his head blown off.

"I have always been curious, sir." "In the beginning, what kind of mentality did you have when you chose to follow your faith?"

"Why do you...would you like to worship God?"

"..."

The air seemed quiet for a moment.

The surroundings were so quiet that even the cheers from a thousand meters away and the whispers between the imperial guards could penetrate Angerte's eardrums at this moment, but more often than not, there was only the sinister wind caressing the ground and the sound of his saliva being swallowed in his rough throat.

He could hear beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and down his chin, and he could hear the pounding of both of Astartes' hearts with the emotion called nervousness, while in his restless brain, half of the area was occupied by unprecedented fear and regret, and the other half was trembling: trembling with curiosity that might be satisfied.

He shrank back, he waited, his full attention focused on the Primarch in front of him, paying attention to Lorgar's every move: when the Great Bearer's steps paused because of his doubts, Angertai felt as if his breath was frozen.

He suddenly felt a little regretful: Why did he ask such a stupid question.

But soon, at least before the fear completely tore his heart apart, the nearly suffocated Angertai heard a slight laugh: the laughter came from Luo Jia who lowered his head, not anger, but a kind of joy that he had never expected.

"really interesting."

The Primarch was laughing.

"You did scare me, kid."

As he spoke, the Great Speaker turned around slowly, looking at him curiously as if he had discovered Angertai for the first time.

"I thought it would be someone else, a scholar like Layak, who would ask me that question, but I didn't expect that the first person who couldn't hold back and had the courage to ask this question would be you: Ingreta, who is bored with everything."

“Do you also think about the depth of your faith?”

The Primarch seemed to be making fun of him, but Angertai answered seriously.

"If faith is relevant to everything in our lives: yes, my Lord."

"Yes, they are closely related."

This word made the Primarch stunned for a moment. He fell into deep thought and sighed sadly.

"Such a simple truth: you see better than most in the galaxy, my child."

"At least more than my brothers: they were all there, pretending not to see."

After sighing, Luo Jia did not answer Angertai's question immediately, but walked silently towards the hilly area not far away. The Word Bearers could only quicken their pace to catch up. They quickly left the plain, left the creaking crystalline ground under their feet, and then walked into an undulating black soil.

The world seemed to be in great decay. They had been moving forward for so long, but had not found any large-scale vegetation, nor any signs of life. When they climbed a relatively high hill, they could see the gray skyline at a glance.

Turning around, the Imperial Guards and Primarch's guards were dutifully staying on another hill.

"Let me guess."

Luo Jia spoke at this time.

"Similar questions have been circulating on the lower deck of the Law of Faith, right?"

"Everyone wants to know: Why should I pursue my beliefs so passionately, even if the person I believe in doesn't agree with me?"

"That was not what I meant……"

"No need to say more, Anglete."

The Word Bearer shook his head. He did not seem angry.

"I know what they're all going to say."

"A coward, a blind follower, a powerful person, lacking a sense of subjectivity and personal dignity, who only worships humans in order to follow the strong rather than with true faith: If I were to encounter a more powerful god one day, they would all think that I would abandon my sect without hesitation, abandon my faith in the Emperor of God, and turn to another place."

"Become a shameless traitor."

"Right?"

"grown ups……"

Angertai's eyes widened, his mind went blank: Lorgar's words just now caused such great psychological damage and shock to a Word Bearer, just like Leman Russ finding Magnus suddenly barking like a dog in front of him.

"My Lord, I promise that there will be no..."

"Be patient, my captain."

Lorgar patted the Word Bearer's shoulder.

"You can control the lower decks, but you can't control others. In the galaxy, there are people who misunderstand and misinterpret us. They think we are just helping weak charlatans who can't live without the Emperor."

"In their hearts, they have the same questions as you, but they don't dare to think and ask like you do."

"They just want to give the answer they want in order to slander us."

"On the first day I set foot on this path, I had foreseen that one day I would be stigmatized by these foolish people: If I can't even bear such a small thing, how can I practice the true path?"

Lorgar looked into the distance. Even in the darkness and chaos of the Eye of Terror, the stars in the sky would still emit a faint light: when the Primarch stood on the top of the sand dune, the pale white light would cover his golden armor, making him look like a great man walking in the world in mythology, followed by a group of natural elves.

"You know, Anglete, I'm glad you asked that question."

"Now, let me give you the answer."

The Primarch pointed into the distance: or rather, he pointed into the Warp.

"Look there, Anglete."

The Word Bearer looked over.

"It has been a while since our fleet entered the Eye of Terror. This place is completely different from the real universe and is closer to the subspace. So tell me, what does this space make you feel?"

Angertai opened his mouth. He wanted to say chaos or darkness, but such a common answer was definitely not what the Primarch wanted.

"Can't understand?"

Finally, he came up with a word: Luo Jia's satisfaction was visible to the naked eye.

"It is said that it is incomprehensible: but it is real."

"And that's the problem."

"Tell me, Angerte: What kind of existence do you think gods are?"

"I……"

Angerte hesitated: he had never really thought about the answer to this question.

And the Primarch was not surprised at all.

"To put it simply, my child: the so-called gods are the source of all the powerful forces that we cannot understand."

“The ancients could not understand the sun, but they needed it, so they understood it as a creation of God.”

"Likewise, the ancients could not understand the principles of disasters. They did not know why the earth and the sea trembled, nor why floods and droughts always went hand in hand: so they interpreted it as the favor of the gods."

"On the other hand, the ancients did not know where they came from. They did not know what separated them from the beasts, nor did they know where the wisdom in their minds came from. So they claimed to be the creation of God and believed that their appearance was the kindness of the Unknowable."

"Did you hear anything, Anglete?"

"..."

The Word Bearer nodded.

"You mean to say that the so-called gods are the embodiment of all things that are incomprehensible."

"exactly."

Luo Jia nodded with satisfaction.

“The most important label for gods to us is that they are incomprehensible. Whether it is their abilities or habits, even if we use all our wisdom, we cannot fundamentally analyze the rationality of their existence: then, when an unreasonable thing exists in the world, there must be a stronger force that makes it seem reasonable.”

“This power is God.”

"And on the other hand, Anglete."

Lorgar spread his hands: after a long period of fighting and bloodshed, the Primarch was excited to be able to talk sense to his offspring.

"Now, think about it, what kind of unreasonable galaxy do we live in?"

"The Emperor, my father, can survive in the void with only his mortal body. He can fly from the ground to high altitudes. He can cut off warships with a wave of his hand. He can also make a world run at a hundred times the speed. He can decide the life and death of countless star regions with a single thought."

"Tell me, can all this be explained by so-called scientific principles?"

"And look in front of you, look at where we are standing: the Eye of Terror, or the Warp, which is completely separated from the real universe. Conceptually, it is impossible to exist, but in fact, it does exist, and it is a chaotic place that devours the rules of time and space."

"Tell me, how can all this be explained by scientific theory?"

“The answer is: it cannot be explained.”

The Primarch spread out his hands, like Moses who parted the sea in the legend.

"Even if we trace back to the Golden Age and Dark Age of Technology, our wise ancestors could not explain how mortal bodies could withstand the pressure of the universe? How human skin could glow golden and cut through warships."

"Similarly, when people can use scientific theories to explain the sun and disasters, and explain where humans came from, we can indeed loudly deny the existence of gods: but even after so many years, I have never heard of anyone using real-life theories to explain the turbulence of the Warp and the Eye of Terror."

"They are unknowable. They are far beyond the rules of this world and beyond our cognition."

"But on the other hand, they can't just appear out of thin air. Since they appear, there must be an existence, or a will that makes their appearance reasonable."

"And the answer is: God."

"Be careful, Anglete, God is not an absolute concept."

“God is a relative concept.”

"When there is such a being whose creations are beyond our comprehension and beyond our ability to decipher, it means that the gap in power between us is so great that it can only be understood as the difference between God and man."

“So, He can be called God.”

“And the facts are before our eyes.”

"And the Warp, the Eye of Terror, and my father lie before us."

"And the truth is: we live in a world where gods exist."

"In such a world, denying the existence of gods is an act of ignorance."

"That is the folly of idealism."

(End of this chapter)