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

Chapter 406 I know you are anxious now, but don’t be anxious yet

Perturabo smiled slightly, and his lips, slightly cracked by his expression, were like a crack exposed on steel. "Don't be anxious, my brother. The real show is just about to begin."

He said this to Magnus, but he himself was not sure how much sincerity he still had in the word "brother". They had all been through a lot, and another ten thousand years had passed. Even the Primarch would inevitably have changed in such a span of time. Moreover, Perturabo was even more unsure whether the Magnus in front of him was the pedantic brother who could talk and laugh with him ten thousand years ago, or a fragment of him who had been broken into pieces by the disaster and hardships and still survived until now.

But it doesn't matter, Perturabo thought. Is he complete? There is nothing that can be done about the way things turned out. Perhaps from the moment they decided to rebel against the Empire and the Emperor, the outcome of mutual destruction was already doomed.

The Scarlet King did not touch upon Perturabo's current thoughts, but simply followed up on the previous topic and commented: "You seem happy for the first time in a long time."

"Is there?" Perturabo's first reaction was confusion and questioning, but he immediately laughed at himself, "Indeed, why not? In the vast galaxy, to accidentally encounter a goal and challenge that suits your heart, isn't it a blessing for you and me?"

For the sake of past friendship, Magnus snorted noncommittally: "I have always felt that you are a little too obsessed with Dorne."

"I admit it." On this issue, Perturabo showed surprising frankness. In the past ten thousand years, he has indeed become more open-minded, which even surprised his former brothers.

However, Magnus was only surprised by this. Perturabo's final admission of his obsession with Dorn was a change, but it did not change anything decisively. Those who were obsessed with resentment and one-sided hatred of being ignored could not pay attention to the wider world. Even if Perturabo was the same Primarch as him, and even if Magnus had recognized his brother's meticulous ideas and exquisite talents, it would not change the fact that the other party was trapped in reality under the constraints of his own thoughts and could only be a mediocre person in the shallows of the Warp wisdom. This was true regardless of whether the Iron Lord reconciled with his obsession or not.

Magnus could see this, but he didn't think it was necessary to say it out loud. Compared to Perturabo, who was aimless and didn't perk up until he heard the news from Dorn again, he had been tirelessly seeking knowledge in the Vast Ocean for thousands of years, seeking ways to save his children and create the paradise for psykers in his mind. This did make him think that he was walking on a more noble path than the other party, but Magnus himself admitted that he was not completely free of the resentment and hatred similar to the other party in his heart.

So, driven by the little brotherhood left in his broken heart, the Scarlet King turned the topic back to the current situation: "You hope to launch the attack in two hours, but this time is meaningless to Guilliman. He has ignored the power of psychic energy too much, and he has personally broken up the Astartes Legion into pieces. Even if the cubs who inherited his genes have crawled all over the Imperium, I don't think he can gather enough psychic power to deal with the next situation in such a short time."

Perturabo laughed at this comment. "It's all the same. Whether it's two hours, two days, or two weeks, the forces Guilliman can muster under the current circumstances will never be 'enough'. That is why his defeat is inevitable."

He stood up from his huge throne and moved to the holographic projection screen with a rumbling sound. The hideous and distorted light displayed countless abstract tactical symbols, marking the fleets fighting each other around the Iron Blood, as well as the panoramic view under the orbit of Macragge World.

The Iron Blood has no portholes, which was a design Perturabo decided in his early years in his arrogance. He believed that an excellent commander could make accurate judgments about the battle situation based on the sand table and symbols in front of him, so everyone on the bridge had to work hard to adapt to this. But in fact, there are indeed people who need to work hard to adapt to this command environment, but not that many - even now, Perturabo, who has more or less admitted this arrogance, is still unwilling to give it up. He still believes that the sand table and symbols are completely enough for him, and only he is truly qualified to command the entire legion, the only "good enough" commander.

This kind of "good enough" arrogance would not be diminished in front of his brother, who was also a Primarch. Perturabo approached the holographic projection, carefully watching the dots on the global diagram, symbolizing the Iron Blood, and the dots on the global diagram, symbolizing the Pride of Macragge, gradually approaching each other. His fleet swung the hammer into Macragge's orbit completely according to his thoughts, and the position and fire of each ship were completely controlled by the Iron Lord's orders. Even when he was giving speeches on the bridge and talking to Magnus beside him, he still did not relax his command of his fleet. Similar to Guilliman in a sense, Perturabo could also multitask to a certain extent. The data cable directly inserted into his brain translated his thoughts into detailed and specific orders in real time, and then transmitted them to all corners of the battle formation through radio signals. Every macro-cannon and every sacrifice was calculated by Perturabo. To him, everything under his command was just building materials to pave a road to victory - even Magnus who appeared here.

But Magnus' presence was not part of his plan. He only tolerated his presence here after considering more factors. Naturally, he did not intend to use everything brought by this brother who was almost completely a plaything of Tzeentch as a decisive factor. This is his war, and it should be fought according to his rules. Perturabo did thank the Scarlet King for the warp storm brought by his psychic power, which brought combat advantages to the Iron Warriors who were relatively more adapted to this combat environment, but he did not think that Magnus had the same strategic wisdom as his psychic power. He did believe that Guilliman's defeat was a foregone conclusion. He just didn't say that the Hera Fortress would eventually fall to his iron torrent, rather than being destroyed by Magnus's "helpers from the Lord of Change".

However, Perturabo had a feeling that Magnus himself did not care about the outcome of this matter. This was not the Scarlet King's war, and he had no desire to win or lose in this matter. He only wanted to complete the task assigned by Tzeentch and leave - or in other words, his desire to win or lose in this war was not towards Guilliman or Dorn, but towards the "colleague" who theoretically served the same god as him.

That's good too. Perturabo would even be happy about it. Not to mention Guilliman, for the Iron Lord, Dorn is obviously a goal that should be defeated alone. Of course, the so-called "Terra Guard" is now in a state of no soldiers and no generals, so he will not try to really win the war with the other side this time.

But perhaps, taking this opportunity to be ruthless and dig Dorn out of Macragge, and completely put an end to this evil fate that has lasted for thousands of years, is also an option? Perturabo was in a dilemma.

No matter what, the war had just begun. The former Olympian Hammer thought he still had plenty of time to hesitate.
-
There is no doubt that Perturabo's speech was a declaration of war against Guilliman (and most likely Dorn), but this has nothing to do with Fujimaru Ritsuka or Pegasus. After the sky fell, there were tall people who volunteered to hold it up, and the short people were driven back to the Storm's Edge in a few words. The Imperial Regent meant that they should leave as soon as possible, and Dorn listened silently without objecting.

The one who was a little bit opposed was Fujimaru Ritsuka herself. She looked at Sigismund beside her, then looked at Dorne across from her, and even for a moment she had the intention of "taking Dorne aboard as well" - although she immediately dismissed the idea.

At this point, she was quite sure that the main reason why Curze told her to "go to Macragge" was because he foresaw Dorne returning to the Empire and Pegasus appearing out of nowhere. Although she found the reason, she was not sure what she should do after meeting these two people - in short, what she had done now was definitely not enough. There was no need to contact Curze or his essence to further explore the content of the prophecy. Fujimaru Ritsuka was also very sure of this fact.

She had wanted to spend some time quietly with Pegasus to observe the situation, wanted to care about Dorne's broken arm, and wanted to care about Hastings's old subordinates who were (forced) to stay in Macragge, and ask them if they wanted to set off to Baal together. As a result, under the continuous accidents, she did the first thing in the plan, and she hadn't done it yet, and even Sigismund's home leave was stumbling. Emotionally, Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't really want to leave, but rationally she knew that at this time when the enemy was at the gates, she'd better not cause trouble for the regent.

After returning to the control room on the Storm's Edge, the Imperial Saint, who knew her own limitations, followed suit and turned on various sensors and positioning systems, and began to let the Planar Moon calculate the success rate and route of the dive in the subspace storm around Macragge. But even though she did this, she still felt strongly unwilling because "this is not nothing accomplished." The highly automated operation mode of the Storm's Edge allowed her to distract herself and retain her emotions while working, so, driven by this unwillingness, she turned to Sigismund and said:
"Do you have anything else to do?" Faced with this question, Sigismund was at a loss for a moment, then immediately turned around and saw several other Astartes who were not part of the (non-existent) Chaldea organization and were looking around for the first time on board. He realized that he had been distracted by the sudden attack on the Hera Fortress and had forgotten to announce the end of the rescue mission and disband the team that he had urgently assembled with Guilliman's power and was not supposed to be under his command, returning human resources to places where they were more needed.

Sigismund, who thought he understood everything, nodded. "I will start the handover immediately. The process under Lord Guilliman is very clear and it will be completed soon."

"What handover—" Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had just turned his head back, turned back again. When he saw the other Astartes who were not permanent members of the Storm's Edge, he instantly caught up with Sigismund's train of thought, "—It must be handed over, but this is not what I'm talking about. Before I was attacked by the Eldar, you must have been doing other things. Have you finished this thing?"

When Fujimaru Ritsuka turned back to stare at the curve on the screen, Sigismund paused for a moment before catching up with the previous sentence: "It's not important."

"You've already started a fight with them." The Imperial Saint said without even turning his head. "Akuldona told me that you gave the other side a lot of ground, right? You've even considered giving face to the opposing regiment, and you still say it's not important."

Behind Fujimaru Ritsuka, Sigismund suddenly turned his head to look in the direction of Akurdona, while the Primaris Space Marine with the Inquisition mark on his hand lowered his head and stared at Sigismund thoughtfully. Akurdona raised his hand slightly, then put it down awkwardly, as if he wanted to say something, but considering other factors, he didn't say anything in the end.

"Not that important." Sigismund was very persistent on this point. "Madam, in this fake life of mine, no mission is more important than your safety."

"That's not the point." Fujimaru Ritsuka wanted to explain her thoughts, but considering that the person listening was Sigismund, she decided to throw away the euphemism and jump directly to the conclusion. "The Stormbound will leave the war zone of Macragge next. I don't mean to say that you are not important, but once this ship enters the warp, the guards around me really can't miss you. If you still have something to do here that you will regret, or if you just want to stay by the side of your gene father, you can actually stay. This doesn't mean that I want to drive you away. Even if this is another false life after your death, I hope you don't leave any regrets for yourself. The decision is yours, from now on... um..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka took a quick glance at the estimated progress, and decided with the mentality of "I have many regrets on this trip, so I hope that those who came with me will not have any regrets", that a little delay would not be considered a delay: "...Anyway, I need to take a shower, change clothes, eat a meal, find a room for Pegasus, and ask the servants at the Hera Fortress for some replacement clothes for him. It will take about an hour and a half. You can make the decision before I finish these things, but you can't regret it once you make it - if the situation permits, the Storm Edge will dive and leave immediately afterwards. What do you think?"

It was not so important for the Heavenly Lions to survive or not, but Sigismund still hesitated after nodding. Dorne's descendants were always cautious, so his hesitation was very short. After just a few seconds, Sigismund spent about three minutes to tell the story of the Heavenly Lions and the Inquisition, as well as the chain reaction that this incident triggered in front of the Primarch.

"That's what I thought. This is why Rogge got mad at the Inquisition." Ritsuka Fujimaru, who had dealt with some of the aftermath of the external events before, accepted Sigismund's minimalist description well. "What a big deal. Macragge is now at war. Don't worry about the matter between Mr. Robert and Rogge for now. Wait until this battle is over. Take advantage of this time before you leave to complete the handover, and bring the rest of the Celestial Lions onto the ship. Return the ship to the Black Templars first, and keep the items with the history of the chapter with the ship. Wait until the members have recovered and come back to get them. Don't use the equipment and gene seeds. I'll be responsible for getting new ones. I'll issue the official transfer order later. Chaldea can afford even a fully-established chapter, not to mention their current size."

Sigismund was a little confused by this series of instructions, and felt that he was taking up Chaldea's resources: "Will this——"

"——What kind of meeting? You are more polite to me than Akuldona is to me." Fujimaru Ritsuka began to adjust the parameters of the Planar Moon according to the warp fluctuations detected by the instrument. His mind was obviously no longer on this matter. "Go do what you need to do. I'm starving. It was you who said you would protect the regiment's number. Did you escape from the warp with this second life just to ruin your reputation as the 'Black Knight'?"

Hearing this, Sigismund silently glanced at Akuldona, and took the order to leave the control room with the people he had temporarily recruited from the Hera Fortress. Santo, who was originally scheduled to stay in Macragge for a while, looked around and felt that there was probably nothing for him to do, so he also said goodbye and left, preparing to hide his "Prototype No. 1". After there were no "outsiders" around, Pegasus, who had watched the whole process, smiled and said, "'What's the big deal', huh? This young lady is so generous when she opens her mouth?"

"Don't tease me. I know I like to meddle in other people's business." Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled bitterly. "I have already messed up a few things in the past two days. When I have the ability to make a profit, I can't just watch others mess up their own affairs, right?"

"That's not what I'm talking about." Pegasus was still teasing. "Although 'Chaldea can afford to support a full-fledged warband' does show surprising generosity, but 'the matter between Mr. Robert and Roger', do you think you are capable of managing it?"

Pegasus emphasized the names of the two primarchs, but Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was not paying attention to the conversation, did not understand the teasing intention and just answered the other party's question in a conventional manner: "I don't think so, but the solution to this problem is very simple. Mr. Robert, as the regent of the Empire, proposed to inspect and reform the Inquisition, and then let Rogge take charge of this matter. It takes a person of Rogge's character and status to push forward reforms despite resistance. In this way, the Empire retains the Inquisition, Mr. Robert resolves the awkwardness between the brothers, and Rogge can clean up the organizations he thinks are inappropriate according to his own wishes. It's killing three birds with one stone. Anyway, if they quarrel again after the battle of Macragge, I will throw this plan over to them. It's up to them whether to use it or not."

"I think they will definitely use it." Pegasus said this, but he was concerned about the part where Fujimaru Ritsuka casually called him "Rogge". But he didn't mention it at all, and just continued to suggest: "However, although Dorn is indeed capable of political reform, don't you think that if there is someone who can lubricate the bilateral relationship between him and other departments, things will run more smoothly?"

The parameters of the Planar Moon were basically adjusted, and the remaining part was just the boring repetitive calculations that could be handed over to the computer, so Fujimaru Ritsuka could return to the conversation. She immediately heard what the other party meant, and wanted to recommend herself, but she was not sure whether Pegasus's current state was suitable for directly engaging in work related to the empire, so she laughed it off:
"I haven't thought about this question yet. In any case, this is worth discussing only after the war around Macragge is over. It's too early to consider the details now, as nothing has been decided yet. Asclepius, please help me keep an eye on the next calculation. I'm really starving."

She left the control panel, ran to Pegasus, and grabbed the corner of his toga, trying to pull him out of the control room as well:
"Walk, walk, wash your hands and face, and then eat!"

(End of this chapter)