40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 784 5. The Voyage of the Black Sparrow (I)

Former sheriff Rawl, then 46, looked in front of a mirror and solemnly buttoned all the buttons of his uniform.

However, it is interesting to say that these ship owners who run short-distance cargo ships all day do not actually have any uniforms. After all, they are not official personnel. However, all ship owners from the A-310-7 trading station will choose a dark blue coat without any prior agreement.

Luo Er was naturally no exception, but he hadn't worn this suit so formally for a long time. In the past five years, the buttons of this suit had never even been closed.

If he didn't dislike drinking, his protruding belly would have pushed the buttons off.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he curled the corners of his mouth downward out of habit.

This habit originated from his time as a sheriff. He has been in that profession for 21 years, so he is naturally influenced and changed by it. For example, this slightly fierce expression, and the pistol on his right leg.
And the last point.

He raised his hand and patted his cheek, and in an instant he gave a bright and flattering smile.

In this way, the originally serious captain in the mirror became a humble opportunist who flattered others. After observing himself, he withdrew his smile, walked out of his narrow room, came to the dirty and noisy main bridge of the Black Sparrow, and issued a few orders.

First, he told his first mate that no one would be allowed to drink on board for the next week. Then he went to the boatswain and asked some questions about logistics.
The seriousness he displayed today surprised everyone who knew him - in their impression, Rawl was far from being that serious about his work.

In many past shipments, he would not come to the main bridge for inspection for several days in a row, and would just stay in his room until the trip was completely over.

So his first mate quietly asked, "Whose business are you going to do this time, Boss?"

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask." Luo Er glanced at him, his bronze face showing a coldness that was not as cold as before. "Do your job well, Thorson, otherwise we will all be sent to the labor camp to do hard labor. Remember my words, no drinking within a week, do you hear me?"

His first mate nodded in disbelief, then walked away tactfully. Luo Er looked at his departing figure, and the corners of his mouth suddenly twitched nervously.

He took a deep breath, rubbed his stiff muscles, immediately turned around and left the bridge, and rushed to the only cargo deck of the Black Sparrow as quickly as possible.

The hatch had not yet closed, and the sounds of the port's busyness were roaring in from outside. His sailors bent their backs and carried up metal tanks containing pure water one by one. A robot servant moved among them, checking and fixing the tanks that had been brought up.

And behind all this, a man in a dark coat was walking slowly towards them.

Behind him followed a terrifying-looking modified servitor. Although it was wearing a hood to cover it, the scars left on its face after the modification were still clearly visible. The scar that crossed its cheek and lips was particularly terrifying.

Roll hurried over to them.

"Sir!" He put on that flattering smile again and greeted warmly. "Welcome to the Black Sparrow!"

"Hello, Captain Rawl..." The man nodded to him. "I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation in the days to come."

"Of course we will be happy to cooperate!" Luo Er said loudly, and bent forward to point out a way for him. "I promise you that the Black Sparrow will rush to Nuceria as quickly as possible so that you can make a fortune!"

The man seemed amused by these words. He curled the corners of his mouth and suddenly stopped.

Luo Er looked back in confusion, and the latter reached out his hand like lightning and grabbed his right hand. The force was not strong, but it was surprisingly firm.

After a brief silence, Luo Er asked cautiously, "Sir, did I do anything wrong?"

"No, it's just that the calluses on your hand don't seem right for a captain, even if you were a sheriff. You often handle a sword, don't you?"

These words made the humility on Luo Er's face tremble suddenly, but he still calmed himself and did not struggle. Instead, he nodded obediently and put on that smile again.

"After all, we are a small business." He nodded and said. "To put it bluntly, this business is no different from walking with your head tied to your belt. I have to find a way to protect myself."

The man smiled and loosened his hand, but still didn't let the matter go.

"Where is your sword?" he asked.

"How can I come to see you with a sword?" Luo Er raised his hands exaggeratedly, showing an incredible expression. "You are my honored guest!"

"Distinguished guest? I think it's more like an unwelcome guest." The man smiled and introduced himself. "My name is Caryl Rohals, Captain. In addition, I have two companions on the way. I hope you can wait for them for a while, okay?"

"of course can!"

Rawl immediately nodded in agreement, even though this violated the 'two accompanying personnel' clearly stated in the agreement between him and Jaco.

"But I don't know their names."

"You've seen them," Khalil said. "A pair of brothers, Chulanko and Yorkland, bodyguards of the merchant Jaco. Now, if you allow me to excuse myself for a moment, I want to go to my cabin to rest."

After saying this, he walked straight forward and left the cargo deck, leaving Rawl standing there with an unpredictable expression.

It was not until several minutes later that the former sheriff remembered that the other party had not even asked which deck his cabin was on.
-
"That captain is interesting." The merchant's modified robot servant slowly sat along the wall and spoke in a low voice. "He is not just holding a sword all the time."

Sitting on the only chair in the room, Caryl took off his hat, raised his head thoughtfully, and leaned back on the chair. He held the wide-brimmed hat in his left hand and danced briskly on his knee with his right hand. Then, he said a series of speculations that would probably make Roll's hair stand on end if he heard them.

"This man never drinks alcohol, has extremely disciplined lifestyle habits, and is proficient in swordsmanship, fighting, and shooting."

"The way he walked showed that he had a gun hidden on him, possibly more than one. The calluses on his hands and the slight deformities on his fingers and wrists showed that he practiced swordplay every day. Then there were his nose and ears. People who didn't fight or receive relevant training frequently wouldn't have such a crooked nose and deformed ears."

"He was kicked out of the ranks of sheriffs a long time ago, away from this profession that requires violence, and his excuse for hanging his head on his belt is totally untenable. Hundreds of local trade routes are protected by the Imperial Navy. Not to mention the aliens, even the pirates have been killed by those young people who are eager for merit."

"So, Yago, why does our captain treat himself so harshly in such a stable environment and force himself to become a machine proficient in violent means?"

Yago Sevitarion raised his hand and tore off a thin bionic mask, revealing his true face.

"He kills people all the time." Ye Ren chuckled with amusement, without any malice. "And he doesn't kill for himself. How interesting! A man who was fired for stealing and kills people all the time doesn't even have a ghost following him."

Khalil glanced at him and shook his head. "It's no fun to work backwards from the results, Yago. You have to learn to enjoy this."

"Enjoy what? Reasoning? Developing the superior intelligence of my overdeveloped brain after transformation?" The First Reserve shrugged sarcastically. "I'll leave this to you, old man. Young people like me in the new era have always been hands-on rather than brain-based."

Khalil smiled and said, "You know what, Yago? Technically speaking, you are much older than me."

The First Reserve rolled his eyes, stretched his legs, pulled down his hood, folded his hands, and closed his eyes without saying a word. "Yago?"

"I'm sleeping!" the First Reserve roared impatiently.

"Really? Well." Khalil sighed. "I thought you'd want to meet your father."

Yago Sevitarion opened his eyes suddenly, but only saw the calm smile of his instructor.

"I'm just kidding, dear Iago," Caril said. "Conrad is busy digging graves and can't take care of you and me for the time being."

"old man."

"little monster."

"Old monster!"

Khalil finally couldn't help laughing, waved his hand, and spun his chair back to the matching desk.

He put down his hat, picked up the briefcase at his feet, and took out a work manual with the emblem of the Inquisition - or rather, a data pad of the latest version.

From the outside, it is completely different from any previous version. Not only is it silver, but it is also incredibly thin.
Khalil reached out to wake it up, and the data board hummed softly, responding immediately after passing the identity verification. A blue light lit up, and a log with a rather fragmented writing style but extremely concise and clear information appeared before his eyes.

【Trading Station A-310-7】

[The Joyful Dancer Cult: A large-scale evil cult with deep roots. Its sphere of influence has spread beyond the local area and has even reached out to at least one auxiliary army. The largest gathering place in the local area has been destroyed by Yago Sevitarion and I, and no one survived, but there are still remnants active in other worlds.]

[After torture, we learned that they did not know that they believed in the evil god named Slaanesh, they only knew that his name was the Joyful Dancer. There is a doubt here, God can have many incarnations, but for a cult like this that has received so many blessings, there is no reason for them not to know the true name of the god. ]

[Is it a deception, or is He seeking some kind of satisfaction that I cannot yet understand? ]

[Sub-item: Soul-stealing Needle]

[It belongs to the third category of evil objects, which are highly harmful and hidden. After being implanted in the human body, it will gradually endanger the life of the implanter, and eventually cause the soul to dissipate and be replaced. Currently, all the soul-stealing needles scattered at the A-310-7 trading site have been confiscated by me and Yago Sevitarion. ]

[Needs to be returned to the Inquisition for internal analysis to develop countermeasures. Any third-category evil should be taken seriously.]

[Sub-project: Merchant Jia Ke]

[A fairly honest businessman who values ​​credit and has strong professional ethics. Unfortunately, he became one of the targets of the Happy Dancer Cult. Because he wanted to save money, he was implanted with a soul-stealing needle in the name of a life-extending operation. He was saved by me using an experimental Type IV panacea.]

[Sub-projects: Chulanko and Yorkland. ]

[A pair of brothers, former soldiers. One of the outstanding soldiers born after the education reform era, both graduated with excellent grades.]

[The elder brother has a violent temper, while the younger brother is more calm, but not decisive enough. After graduation, he served in the 11th Company of the 22nd Regiment of the Fire of Vorsax. Later, he developed psychological problems after carrying out a secret mission with heavy casualties, and was forced to retire by his superiors. (There is a great doubt here)]

[After retiring, he returned to his hometown to look for a job and was taken in by Jaco, which became the biggest reason why he was targeted by the Joy Dancers. According to the torture, they wanted to take over the bodies of the two brothers after taking over Jaco, so as to strengthen their control over the Fire of Vorsax.]

[Sub-project: Fire of Vorthax]

[An armored corps with a long history and outstanding achievements, known for its bravery and fighting spirit, and its refusal to retreat. It has good relations with the gladiator auxiliary forces of Nuceria. There are a total of thirty regiments, scattered throughout the empire. ]

[One of them, the 22nd Regiment, in which the Churanko and Yorkland brothers served, is now on reinforcement duty on Nukeria.]

Looking at the words he had written over the past four days, Khalil's expression gradually became calm.

He was good at paperwork in the past, and now he was even better at it—but these work logs were not much like ordinary documents. The logs written by him were to be filed in the archives of the Inquisition after each mission.

Afterwards, Malcador would personally review the logs and select those parts that he thought would be helpful to other Inquisitors. After being kept confidential, these logs would even become a kind of teaching material, circulated within the Inquisition.

Therefore, he has to be very careful when writing now, and can no longer just mention a case in a few words like he did in the past.
From this point of view, Makhado's revenge was very successful.

The Chief Judge sighed silently, slid his finger, and turned the log back to the previous chapter.

【Nukeria】

[To Do: Lorgar Aurelion]

[To-do: Angron]

[To-do: Iskandar Khayon]

Looking at the three sub-projects in front of him, Khalil narrowed his eyes and did not write for a long time. Among them, his eyes stayed on the name of Lorgar Aurelion for a particularly long time.

Some past events came to mind.

Can you come back? Can you do it? They believe in you with all their heart.
His voice fell into the depths of darkness and floated in this unknowable and untraceable world for a long time. Finally, a monster imprisoned deep in a cave heard it.

It opened its eyes, and so did its jailer, bloodied but calm. He stood up and walked toward it, ready to fight.

But this time, it did not attack violently. On the contrary, the jailer saw extremely obvious grief on that distorted face.

It shouted hoarsely, softly and gently. This sound was completely different from the usual angry roars, and it seemed to be calling some names.

The jailer silently loosened his grip, letting the axe fall quietly to the ground.

"Brother." The man with the broken arm called softly. "Hold on a little longer, I will accompany you."

After he finished speaking, he sat cross-legged again and calmly entered into meditation in this sunlightless cave.

(End of this chapter)