Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 594 He's coming, he's coming, he's coming
-
"The slaves of desire and emotion who have an extra "of" do not think of themselves as slaves, but only think of themselves as the masters of the world."

--------

Governor Belinus Cymbaline had spent a lot of time preparing for this, but he still had to control his behavior of biting his nails before leaving the waiting room - this would make him look too neurotic or nervous in the eyes of others, and not worthy of his status and title.

In fact, if it weren't for the bishop of the state religion, officers of the Imperial Navy and the Ultramar Auxiliary Army, and a bunch of other people who were waiting here, now rushing to their respective positions in the upcoming grand parade, it would be a luxury for him to be alone here.

This group of people - especially the devout, richly dressed, elderly priests of the State Church - have been making a lot of noise around Lord Guilliman almost all the time since he woke up - like a swarm of flies sucking juice from a piece of meat - he thought absentmindedly and a little rebelliously.

Their repetitive demands, mixed with their incessant chanting of scriptures, and the strong incense they carried almost drove poor Governor Macragge mad.

He didn't know what happened in the Hera Fortress, or how it happened! Even he, the Chief Executive of Macragge and the mayor of the capital city of Magna, couldn't do it!

Ever since Hera Fortress suddenly stopped receiving pilgrims and all visits from local citizens, and then there was the material crisis and its miraculous solution, the food and other markets in the Ultramar sector were occupied by strange merchants from the Far Eastern border as if overnight. Before the local nobles and merchants had time to react and reach a consensus to petition him, the entire galaxy suffered an equally sudden large-scale attack by heretics and demons... It was a mess!

He himself was wounded in the attack, but fortunately, he quickly recovered from the attack of the hateful demon. It was a pity that his wife and children were killed, and the people who cleared the ruins afterwards found their horrible broken and skinless corpses in his home... Alas, but he was a strong man, and after briefly mourning for them and agreeing to burn their remains instead of holding a funeral for the sake of purification, Governor Belinus immediately tried to return to his work with unexpected motivation.

But then, before he could return to his post and fully resume work, he was informed of two bolts from the blue.

Firstly, the respectable Regent Marneus Calgar, with whom he had long been in contact and was familiar, was now temporarily recuperating due to illness and would not receive outsiders. The affairs of the chapter were temporarily taken over by the chief think tank of the chapter, Lord Varo Digris. Unfortunately, although Lord Digris was in a high position of power, he was the most mysterious among all the senior officers of the Ultramarines. It was said that he hardly contacted even his own battle-brothers, let alone the mortal governors. This made things start to become a little confusing.

And within the first hour of taking office, the latter immediately appointed a civilian named Kadur, whose name none of them had ever heard of, to take over the affairs of the entire planet and star region. This was so ridiculous that it didn't seem like an order that could be issued by an adult with such a title, but because they had no idea about the temperament and style of the chief think tank, they had no choice but to accept the appointment.

What was even more unpleasant was that they discovered that this little-known old man was able to handle everything after they all piled the original documents and data on his desk as ordered (emphasis), without the help of any additional mortal bureaucratic assistants - this also caused some uneasiness in some private places, but given the good reputation of the Ultramarines here for thousands of years, Governor Belinus believed that these wavering fence-sitters were still waiting and watching - humph!

As for the second one, it was the most earth-shattering—the original body in the tomb of the Temple of Purification—he was alive!

Many people believe that he is dead, and that it is just a preservation coffin where his body is stagnant. Others believe that he will be resurrected - supporters of this view have been dancing in ecstasy recently and telling others the news. The respectable but nagging adults of the State Religion gather around Governor Berenus every day because of this - the only living son of the God-Emperor, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, the living embodiment of the God-Emperor's power, Robert Guilliman walks among mortals again after nine thousand years!
But the problem is that since he woke up, the Primarch has not agreed to meet with any bishops or officials of the state religion or related forces. There is no clear record of the Primarch himself appearing. All they have heard is from the distant glimpses of mortal servants in the Hera Fortress, or the excited testimonies of senior officers of the Imperial Navy and fragments of naval communications in the spaceport.

However, what everyone could see was that many ships of the Space Marine Order - mainly all of the Ultramarines - were already heading towards Macragge like moths to a flame, and the Astartes Brothers who sent requests to the skyport clearly stated that they came to "audience" rather than "make a pilgrimage" to their Gene-Father were also coming in an endless stream and were outspoken.

These Astartes were received as quickly and preferentially as possible, and as they left the gates of the Hera Fortress, every unhelmeted battle-brother had a dreamy, fanatical focus on his face.

In comparison, the Imperial Navy and other departments were fine, but the administrative departments, especially the dignitaries of the State Religion, were horrified to find that without their daily orders, all the middle and lower-level staff and administrative functions here operated quite well under the direct leadership of the Hera Fortress - in fact, because there was no need to pass on orders from multiple levels, the administrative efficiency of Macragge and several neighboring star systems increased by 67%, and in those more imperial areas not directly led by Macragge, this number increased by at least 132% when it was passed to the other party's astrologer department.

This made many people feel extremely uneasy, especially the Imperial State Religion Department. When many of them first learned of Guilliman's return, they were ecstatic and believed that this was a new and great blessing bestowed upon the State Religion by the God-Emperor. Through the resurrection of the God-Emperor's own son, they could embed the teachings of the State Religion more deeply, widely and firmly into the hearts of every resident of the Ultramar world.

But because the resurrected Primarch had never met with them or made any statement about their existence, the bishops of the Ecclesiarchy secretly felt very sad as if they were despised, but on the other hand, they were also extremely uneasy. After all, they discovered the same problem as the civil servants: if Robert Guilliman intended to forcefully impose his personal rule here and decided that he did not need the help of the Ecclesiarchy and the civil servants, then, unlike countless previous failed cases, his identity and ability naturally made this matter very feasible.

And there was almost - almost nothing they could do about it.

After all, even though many Macragge citizens had elders, peers, or juniors who might have entered the glorious Ultramarines Order to serve the Imperium and the Emperor, becoming His Holy Angels among the stars, joining the Macragge Auxilia was considered a decent career for the second son or daughter of a family.

However, although there was no actual feeling on weekdays, at this moment, Belinus sadly discovered that the action chain between Hera Fortress and the Ultramarines could actually still be completely controlled by the adults of the Ultramarines themselves. The seemingly busy and diligent participation of mortals on weekdays seemed to be just out of special favor. Once these proud and superior angel warriors intended to sever their connection with the mortal world, the bureaucrats of the administrative department would have no way to deal with it.

The elders of the state church did have a view that perhaps they were not pious enough (hence why they used a considerable portion of the monastery's assets in this parade), or perhaps they were not familiar enough with the miraculous manifestations of the newly resurrected God-Emperor and had not yet realized their importance - but Belinus Cymbrine was not so naive.

The old bureaucrat, who had achieved the highest office a mortal could attain on the home world of a fledgling Chapter, felt that he had every reason to feel unfairly treated in the current climate.

He had been serving Lord Calgar diligently for so many years, who had been fighting all year round and had the title of Regent but had not actually done much work as Regent. As a hard-working man who had not been able to fully grasp the power of a planetary governor, he had always been walking on thin ice and whose official residence was not as gorgeous as that of that damn traveling trader. However, he still performed his duties beyond the requirements of a planetary governor. He thought he had been very dedicated and devoted to the Ultramarines and the people of Macragge, but now look!

They just parachuted a small civil servant into his arrogance, ignoring all his previous contributions to the world. Every visitor to Hera Fortress didn't even have to go through his desk process, no one looked at him, and no one cared about what he would do next in the Primarch's new court!
He was not rewarded or encouraged after the return of the Primarch, but was completely abandoned! Ignored! How arrogant! How arrogant! Your name is Ultramarines and...

Just as the muscles on Governor Belinus's face were unconsciously twisted to the extent of a hideous mask in this empty waiting room, the sound of a servant knocking on the door interrupted his reverie and also made his eyes focus again in a trance.

"My Lord, are you there? It is time for you to leave. The parade has passed through Titan's Gate, and your Highness and the other Lords have begun to ascend the viewing platform."

"Of course." Governor Belinus Cimberinus stood up shakily and grabbed the exquisite box he had been holding in his arms. This was a measure he had come up with after much thought, with a little help and inspiration, to deal with all of the above.

"Of course." He murmured, his eyes gleaming with joy, "The viewing platform will be where I present my gift."

"This precious gift will surely make His Highness smile, change his mind, and grant me the power, treatment, and dazzling status I deserve..."

--------

The parade stand was built outside the beautiful, towering white and canary yellow gates of the Hera Fortress. Although the construction schedule was tight and it would be demolished afterwards, it was still built into a magnificent and tall building thanks to the generous donations of the state church sponsors and the relationship between devout craftsmen and volunteers.

The original lawns, trees, sandstone floors, and even shops and houses were ruthlessly demolished, crushed, flattened, and reinforced by the Mechanicus's engineering machinery, until a wide, straight, new marble avenue connected the Titan's Gate on the outer city wall with the Hera Fortress. Except for the Hera Fortress, no buildings on the entire road and the surrounding area of ​​several kilometers were allowed to be taller than the marble and bronze viewing platform itself.

The finest local rocks brought from Tarassa, Aix, Massari, Konor and even Calth were piled into symmetrical tall stone pillars with the ingenuity of craftsmen and designers, extending from both sides of the viewing platform. The blazing promethium flames on the top of these majestic stone pillars representing various worlds day and night also fully demonstrated the financial strength of the wealthy residents of the Ultramar sector - this was a donation from members of the commercial and transportation guilds to the state religion. The merchants promised to bear all the fuel costs before and after the entire parade so that light would fill this avenue at all times.

The Textile, Cloth and Dye Guilds proudly brought out the finest cloth and carpets that had been carefully preserved in all their warehouses. The expensive fabrics were spread out layer by layer, and were solemnly trampled upon by the Primarchs, Space Marines and their followers like ordinary linen mats. The sacred prayers and inscriptions strung in gold and pearls on them turned into fine, glittering powder, covering the soles of everyone who passed by.

The fighter planes flying over the viewing stand in the sky formed a strict formation and carefully lowered their noses when passing the viewing stand, saluting the noble person who was the center of attention. The roar of the war engines could not cover the boiling cheers that almost exploded from the moment the Primarch appeared on the viewing stand.

Everyone, everyone who dares to look up at him, will first be shocked by his size and brilliance. When the initial shock is over, people will find that they will see in his face the face that best matches their ideal ruler.

The appearance of the Son of God, which was so brilliant and bright and met people's expectations, and his benevolent gesture of waving to everyone made many people kneel on the spot, praying with tears and thanking the Emperor of God for giving the world such a bright savior in such a dark world and the terrifying rift in the sky.

The colorfully painted Ultramarines Chapter members, carrying bolters and marching in unison, pointed their goggles at the Primarch and began to pass the viewing stand in a majestic and intimidating manner.

"Your Highness." Governor Belinus endured the contempt, disdain, and ungrateful gazes of those who finally squeezed out of the crowd from the back row and walked in front of the Primarch who was almost three times his height. "You are surrounded by the people who sincerely worship you, and here is one last gift for you."

--------

At the same time, at Mandeville Point in the Macragge system, a ship that identified itself as a member of the "Silver Skulls" chapter jumped out of the warp in a hurry.

(End of this chapter)