Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 369: How Courageous Are the Rogue Traders?
Tick.

what sound?
The sound of water?

Another click.

Ta-ta, tap-ta.

Wait, those are footsteps.

The sound of footsteps approaching from afar.

The prisoner blinked.

He found himself with one cheek pressed against some cool metal floor that felt and looked like a precious alloy of adamantium.

Where is this? Wait.

He seemed to remember something that happened before.

By the throne of Terra, this is not going to happen, is it? Is this what he thinks?

This is ridiculous! Why me? Why am I...

I see, it must be because...

A basin of cold, salty-smelling water was splashed on his face, interrupting his thoughts and bringing back his calm and smoldering anger.

He blinked again and tried to lick his lips with his tongue - his tongue was cleverly controlled because someone stuffed a special gag into his mouth.

Oh... this design is even tailored for use with the Astartes' acidic salivary glands. It seems that the person who made this has considerable expertise.

But the amount of liquid that flowed into his mouth was actually enough.

Even though he was tied up and imprisoned here, his taste monitoring nerves (Neuroglottis) could automatically start working and analyzing, and his gene detection nerves (Omophage) also made some basic judgments in advance - it seems that the first good news is that this is at least not some kind of human body fluid, right?

Well... the bad news is that the mold, heavy metals, illegal drugs, corrupted blood and other things in this bucket of water are all above the standard.

The reason why it was not human blood but corrupted blood was because his gene detection nerves faithfully analyzed the...genetic sequence fragments of at least more than six different races.

It seems that the place where he is now is very busy.

He shrugged, but the adamantium rune chains that bound him tightly made a crisp sound, attracting the attention and action of the person who had awakened him in the first place.

Without warning, a slender electric whip surrounded by dangerous red arcs of electricity struck his naked skin.

The abnormally severe pain that reached directly from the nerve endings to the cerebral cortex made the prisoner tense his body muscles, which were beautifully and voluptuous with aggressive lines. His huge body was like a fish thrown onto the beach, arching and bouncing due to the inevitable physiological nerve reaction.

"Oh, haha, it seems that even our God-Emperor's great Angel of Death can feel pain. It's much easier to deal with if he can feel pain and react to it. I was a little worried before."

A woman's voice, with a habitual condescending attitude, indifference to the living, and a harsh and demanding tone unique to people in the army.

What? The Imperial Navy? The Ministry of Internal Affairs? The Ministry of Justice? Or the so-called Inquisition or the State Religion? Are people doing such crude work now? Or has the title of Astartes become so meaningless after ten thousand years that mortals do things so unruly? Oh, yes, maybe they really don't follow the rules... considering that he and his companions were surprised to realize that the richest and most powerful among mortals began to regard monstrous things like Cherubim as a symbol of status...

"What are you thinking about? Are you distracted? How dare you ignore me?!" The woman's voice sounded again. The captive didn't even bother to raise his eyelids to look at her, still thinking about his own thoughts. Obviously, his behavior of not taking her and his current situation into consideration greatly angered her. The strange electric whip fell without saying anything, whipping the captive from one side of the small cage to the other, until the person whipping the whip felt his hands sore.

She snorted coldly, the metal heels of her high heels stepping on the alloy floor, "You actually still want to find a way to evade my punishment of you, is this how the Emperor's angel warrior shows his piety and loyalty?"

The prisoner grinned with his bleeding and torn mouth, and shook his head, revealing his mouth locked with a gag hidden by his hair, indicating that he could not answer her questions like this.

A servant who had undergone severe body modification walked forward silently, opened part of the gag with pliers and a key, and at the same time opened a device between the captive and the mysterious woman, separating them with a light red barrier.

"...If you ask me, ma'am." His unexpectedly pleasant and heart-piercing voice made the woman visibly stunned, and then a subtle look of satisfaction emerged, "First of all, the only ones who are qualified to punish me are my superiors and my master; secondly, in my opinion, the loyalty content of your whip and this position is not very high."

"This is one of the holy relics of the State Religion that my fleet discovered on a deserted temple world." Lady Elspeth Gorda, the pale and gorgeously dressed Lord Colonel, replied coldly, "And they have been baptized and authenticated by the State Religion of the Kronos Expanse."

"I noticed you didn't mention being certified by the 'Caliss Sector Bishop.'"

A silence fell between them. The mistress of the dynasty frowned sternly at this little taunt, then replaced it with an expression of indifference.

"Enough of that nonsense," she said simply, "You're mine now."

"So far, my memory tells me that I have not heard of my identity being transferred to a mortal woman."

"Of course," she told him. "Because I am Elspeth Korda, Mistress of the Korda Dynasty, Angel of Death to the God-Emperor. Do you know what kind of trade I am famous for in the Chronos Expanse?"

"I don't know that, but I can see that you have courage and determination, ma'am, in every sense of the word."

"You sound much better when you speak like this. If you can keep doing this, you will receive less punishment."

"Excuse me, what have I done or what crime have I committed to deserve the punishment that can be used to punish someone like me?"

She narrowed her calculating, cool grey eyes.

"I started out as a cold trader, you know? If you don't know, then another way of saying it is that I sell some rare technologies and products that I have dug up to people who are interested and willing to pay a high price for them."

"So the Rogue Traders deal in aliens and illegal products," the captive on the floor pointed out bluntly, "and I guess these products include living products, which means slave trade, right?"

"Correct."

"So I guess I didn't do anything wrong, but I became your prey or a rare commodity?"

"Yes."

"Can I ask why?"

"Because you are the most beautiful one among them." Ms. Elspeth Gorda said bluntly, "I like beautiful and gorgeous things."

"Oh." Lucius, former Captain of the Thirteenth Company of the Emperor's Children, emerged from his restraints with the first genuine smile of this conversation.

"I knew it would be like this."

(End of this chapter)