How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 390 I Want to Talk to the Alien
Because the occasion this time was obviously calmer than that of Parmenio, Fujimaru Ritsuka was finally forced to change out of her favorite imperial standard daily dress and put on a more formal one at the suggestion of Akuldona. At this moment, she was fiddling with the hem of her long skirt a little gloomily in the last moment before the meeting.

"I think I'm too old to like this kind of skirt." She complained to herself in a low voice, causing Akuldona to secretly turn his head and look her up and down.

"It's not a problem, it's pretty good." He whispered to comfort her in a somewhat baffling way, but in return he only received a resentful look from Fujimaru Ritsuka:

"I'll give you a similar length to try sooner or later. Just in case something unexpected happens and you want to run a few steps but end up stepping on the hem of your skirt and falling, you'll just have to behave yourself."

Akurdona shrank back. He felt that even if something like this happened, he would not trip over the skirt, but the desire to survive prevented him from saying it. When the words came to his lips, he said, "Since I helped you choose the skirt, I will make sure you don't encounter any emergencies that require you to run."

"Don't say that." Fujimaru Ritsuka hummed softly, but he seemed to be in a better mood. "You've made it possible for something that would never happen to you to happen."

Akuldona wanted to say something more, but Santo made a harsh binary sound next to him, which made the former turn his head and look in that direction, thus missing the opportunity to speak.

The incident happened suddenly, and Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't know why Guilliman summoned her so suddenly, so she prepared all the possible topic materials she could think of and brought them with her. This was actually not a big deal. She just took her tablet and spent a few minutes to check if the relevant documents were all there, and then when she left Storm's Edge again, she took Santo with her as part of the "reference materials".

The three of them followed Digris's personal servants in the Hera Fortress, stopping and starting as they went, passing through various inconspicuous paths as much as possible. When passing some intersections, Fujimaru Ritsuka was able to cast a glimpse of the more crowded corridors: countless well-dressed men and women, representing the forces behind them, lingered and refused to leave, even if they had conflicts with the Ultramarines responsible for maintaining order, they still stubbornly and anxiously waited, looking forward to a chance to meet with the Regent of the Empire. In a sense, these corridors carry a part of the epitome of human political activities and various noble or inferior desires, but Fujimaru Ritsuka did not think about those things, she just felt that there were a lot of people over there.

The servants led them through a maze-like route until they arrived at a relatively remote reception room in the main building of the fortress. The Imperial Regent had not initiated any formal meetings since the warship returned and reunited with his brother. Countless eyes were staring at the audience hall in the Hera Fortress. Under such circumstances, a relatively informal meeting place was obviously more conducive to confidentiality.

Diglis himself was waiting at the door of the reception room. He waved away his servants and spoke without any expression, but Fujimaru Ritsuka still read a hint of anxiety from his calm tone: "On behalf of the Primarch, I apologize to you for this sudden and hasty meeting."

Fujimaru Ritsuka shook her head, indicating that she didn't care about it, and then asked: "What happened?"

Digris paused for a moment, then chose to answer in a straightforward manner: "Lord Guilliman believes that it would be best for you to complete the work you have to do here as quickly as possible, and to leave Macragge and return to Baal as soon as possible."

Everything was fine. Guilliman certainly wouldn't suddenly change his mind for no reason. So something must have happened, or he received some news that Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't know. Although it was a bit sudden, both possibilities were quite logical, so Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't think too much about it. She just followed her standard understanding of "emergency" in the Empire's sense and asked a nonchalant question: "Are we going to war again?"

Digris did not respond to this, and Fujimaru Ritsuka did not care about it. He just followed him into the reception room - after all, broadly speaking, the Empire has never been at war. Even in the current Greater Ultramar, the Plague War is not strictly speaking over. A lot can happen in half a year, but for a battlefield with a complicated and stalemate situation, it is not a very long time. Even if the culprit of the Plague War has been completely eliminated on Parmenio, the remnants of Nurgle scattered throughout the star region cannot disappear completely in this short period of time. Therefore, it is not wrong to understand Fujimaru Ritsuka's previous question as a piece of nonsense.

But Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly remembered the last time she took Kelly to send star language to Macragge. After the ceremony, Kelly told her that she saw the illusion of Macragge being plunged into war during the process. Fujimaru Ritsuka is not an imperial, and she does not have the consciousness to take prophecy seriously as a kind of strategic intelligence. In addition, the contract with Curze and the nature of the other party (involuntarily) placed with her make her have unrememberable precognitive dreams almost every night. Therefore, for a long time, she forgot similar things after hearing them. Unfortunately, at this time, some subtle hints in front of her made her inexplicably connect the two things together, so she approached him again to comfort him: "Look at it calmly, the result is not bad after all."

Digris seemed to want to say something about this, but since he was already in front of the Primarch, he didn't say anything in the end. Guilliman was surrounded by his honor guards and sat in the most conspicuous position in the room. He was not wearing any kind of regular clothes, and was still wrapped in the armor of destiny. The luxurious armor made his already huge body more oppressive visually. But judging from the "old wound" on his neck that had completely healed and only a scar remained, he no longer needed to use the life support system in the armor in any sense. This was of course a good thing, but even if he realized this at first glance, Fujimaru Ritsuka still couldn't be happy - because the atmosphere in the room was very serious. In addition to the Ever-Victorious Army, which was bound to be there as a means of ceremonial guard and security, the Tribune of the Imperial Guards, Coken, and the current President of the Psychic Council, Maxim, were present here with several subordinates or followers with stern faces. In addition to Digris, who quietly joined the line after leading the guests, it felt like the next step was to start a three-court trial.

Fortunately, the interior space of the imperial buildings for important people is generally extravagant, otherwise it would be questionable whether so many people could be crammed into a small reception room. At least now, Fujimaru Ritsuka can still be thankful that in such a tense atmosphere, at least there is more than enough space, so she won't be suffocated to death.

Because there were too many people, Fujimaru Ritsuka had to go through all the necessary formalities and greetings before he could get to the point. It might be because of the atmosphere, or it might be for some other reason. In short, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt that Guilliman was not as easy to talk to today as he had been before:

"I have no doubts about the progress report you submitted." The voice and tone of the imperial regent were very dignified. In Fujimaru Ritsuka's opinion, the dignification was so fake that it was unnecessary. "But I have many doubts about some reports and records other than this." This was no longer a sign of "giving people an ominous premonition", it was a definite clue that "something bad is going to happen next". Seeing that the situation was not good, Fujimaru Ritsuka stayed where he was a little nervous, trying to make himself look as obedient as possible, and by the way, he threw an accusing look in the direction of Diglis: Why didn't you tell me that he was so angry!
Digris squinted at a pot of decorative green plants in the corner, refusing to make any eye contact with the Imperial Saint. Guilliman ignored the little movement in front of him, and his low, roaring voice still echoed between the walls of the reception room: "Please explain to me in person, what is the meaning of 'being thrown into the Silver Palace of Slaanesh by the enemy's teleportation spell'?"

"...This was a complete accident!" Ritsuka Fujimaru retorted nervously in a sharp voice, as if his tail had been stepped on.

She wanted to describe the whole process of the incident in detail to prove that she had indeed considered various possibilities, and had made sufficient considerations and arrangements for various possibilities, and did not risk her life. This happened only because of a completely unpredictable accident - Mephiston was out with Dante at that time! He was not even in Baal! She was specially informed of this matter! How could she have imagined that this man could break through the void and kill in the middle of the battlefield! She was completely innocent! But in a flash, she quickly realized that once this narrative was spoken, the person responsible for the whole thing would immediately become the director of the Blood Angel Think Tank. Although this was indeed the essence of the matter, in line with the principle of keeping things as peaceful as possible, Fujimaru Ritsuka still clumsily changed the subject at the last moment, making specious arguments:
"And I am still standing here in one piece! If the result is good, everything is good. There is no problem at all!"

Guilliman's disapproving gaze fell heavily on her. Fujimaru Ritsuka instinctively shrank her neck, but immediately, she felt two other disapproving gazes piercing her neck like needles. Akurdona and Santo, who had just learned that there was such a thing, were obviously very dissatisfied with it. In just a few seconds, Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately found herself in a situation where she was attacked from both sides.

Unexpectedly, Guilliman chose to lightly let go of the key point of this section, which was obviously wrong no matter how you looked at it: "It's over now. There's not much point in going back to the past. Let's just leave it as it is."

Fujimaru Ritsuka stretched out her guard a little, but Guilliman's next words made her shrink back again: "Then, you wrote in the report, 'This matter is suspected to be related to the Eldar Prophet Eldarad'. How accurate is this?"

"Uh... Actually, I don't know." Fujimaru Ritsuka answered in a very guilty voice, "I don't have any relevant clues at all. This was told to me by someone else, and He didn't explain it in detail. But considering what specifically told me, I think I should still write it down..."

In fact, the specific situation at that time was that the Emperor only asked her "whether she remembered or had met the prophet Adalad", and the one who really told her "this matter was related to Adalad" was the letter that Ahriman assigned by the Smoke Mirror to throw. But considering that the person directly responsible for designing her into the Silver Palace was Tezcatlipoca, Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't say whether Adalad had anything to do with this matter and how much it had to do with it. But when she wrote the report, she was indeed full of resentment. For reasons of her position, she had to save some face for the Imperial Agency, but the aliens had no such concerns. Based on the principle of dragging down as many people as possible, it is not difficult to understand that the Eldar prophet Adalad suffered a tragic fate at the hands of the Spring and Autumn style.

"All right." Guilliman snorted. Perhaps because Fujimaru Ritsuka used a person's name in the previous paragraph that would automatically move closer to the Golden Throne in the Empire, no one in the room asked "who told you that?" Everyone just accepted this as an established fact - but the Imperial Regent's combo was not over yet:

“Although the intelligence is too little to be rigorous, considering the source, let’s assume that there is a 50% chance that this is a conspiracy by Adalaad.” Guilliman became more and more angry as he spoke. “And then, knowing full well that, during a secret visit without informing anyone else of your itinerary, you were interviewed by Adalaad, who theoretically should not have known you were here, and you agreed to meet him?!”

Under the strict teaching of King Connor and Lady Euden, Guilliman is of course a very cultured Primarch. His questioning was just a statement of fact, without any exaggeration, and he only expressed his "unbelievable" attitude in a strong tone. But anyone with a basic emotional intelligence in the room could easily hear the implication of "Are you mentally ill!" from this sentence.

Of course, Guilliman also knew this famous Eldar prophet, and even sought his advice on some important matters. There is no doubt that Eldarad Ossuran is a prophet with superb skills and foresight, and therefore has experienced some magnificent experiences in his long life. These "magnificent experiences" have made him have a mixed reputation even among the Eldar, and he was even eventually exiled from the Ulthvi Craftworld where he was born. For Guilliman, the knowledge and insights of such an Eldar prophet are sometimes very useful. Under the current fragile alliance between the Empire and the Eldar Death Army, he is also willing to regard the Riddler who has been stirring up trouble in the galaxy as a relatively trustworthy ally. But if Adalaad and Fujimaru Ritsuka were put on the same scale, considering the achievements of both sides, the possible impact on the situation in the future, and the level of the Riddler - even though Fujimaru Ritsuka was far behind Adalaad in both pros and cons because of his young age, Guilliman still chose to unconditionally favor Fujimaru Ritsuka without hesitation.

His original intention was to question the little girl, how could she agree to close contact with the other person regardless of safety when she knew that the other person was suspected of endangering her personal safety. He was also very sure that the little girl obviously understood what he meant. But the strange thing was that after he made the above question, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was a little depressed because of being scolded, quickly regained his confidence:

"It's because I don't know how he figured it out that I want to ask him face to face!" The little girl responded in a matter-of-fact manner, as if she was just declaring a universally known axiom like "the freezing point of water is zero degrees Celsius". "And whether he really cheated me, why did he cheat me, what is the attitude of the Eldar on this matter - how can I not ask so many important things face to face! Now the situation is that he is nominally in the Death Army, and considering the relationship between the two sides, I can't just think of a way to kill him, so of course it's best to make things clear in person!"

Guilliman paused. Part of him realized that what Fujimaru Ritsuka said was indeed reasonable, but another part of him was furious. In the end, he chose the part of his anger, stood up from his seat, and roared down like thunder:

"You don't even think about your own safety, do you?!"

(End of this chapter)