Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 645: The Shepherd Dog Must Meet the Wolf Cub
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The top of the hall they were in was very high and wide. The irregular but curved dome indicated that this was a cavity formed somewhere on the inner wall of the mountain when magma cooled rapidly. The cooled rock here should have been shaped like a bubble, but the bottom had been roughly but effectively smoothed into a flat surface by large hot-melt tools.

In the alcoves at the far end of the hall, hidden are the Silent Sisters with braided hair and silver swords in hand. Although their abilities have no effect on Ramezane, they can still be of some use to Magnus. Finally, as the product of the combination of Terra's cutting-edge technology, Martian forging and ancient mystical symbols, they are also very competent as the Emperor's guards.

Fulgrim, Sanguinius, the Custodes, the Grand Marshal of the Custodes, and the Imperial Chancellor had all been dispatched to deal with the large crowd of nobles and high officials that had gathered on Nikaea for the gathering.

After all, some of these people cannot be dealt with simply and roughly, and must be carefully controlled and brainwashed; the two primarchs and the officers and legionnaires they brought with them can help suppress the wild wolves who are already ready to move; Valdor happens to be very experienced in screening people, and Malcador happens to be very good at using his own psychic power to delete part of people's minds without affecting their normal thinking and other memories.

Ramizane couldn't help laughing when he thought about what Malcador had just presided over in the amphitheater and what the Imperial Chancellor was now doing personally.

He leaned back into the soft chair and looked around at the stone walls that were obscured by beautiful gold-threaded tapestries, bronze instruments of the Adeptus Mechanicus, or other furniture.

Even though the host and the guests knew that all the traces of artificial architecture and the representatives of human engineering power here - halls, passages, corridors, boxes, theaters, thrones - all of these were only temporarily built for holding this short meeting or trial, and would be abandoned or even destroyed immediately afterwards, the exquisite fabrics hanging on all sides, the flags and lights hanging from the top and all other luxurious arrangements that should be in the palace were present.

This may mean a great display of power and glory to the Emperor and the Empire, which can better highlight the status and identity of the master of the Empire, but to Ramezane, it shows a kind of ostentatious waste of the absolute right to distribute resources controlled by the ruler at the top of the human race - this is quite reminiscent of the medieval aristocracy.

Likewise, the One Armor, said to be made of Shining Gold and other precious materials, shone in the light radiating from his head, and the glow of psychic energy once again flickered in the Emperor's eyes.

He did not speak until the two humanoid "Primarchs" present fell silent at the same time, as if he had come to attract everyone's attention at the moment.

This time the Emperor's voice became majestic and deep.

"The meeting has been declared over. Magnus, my son, your Thousand Sons Legion's reliance on psychic powers has caused many concerns before. Psychic powers are dangerous weapons. They are both tools and curses. We must make a decision on this, otherwise we will repeat the mistakes of the old night. So I have made my judgment, but obviously, your brother has some other opinions. Perturabo, my Lord of Steel, what brought you here who have no interest in psychic powers and led to the current situation?"

Raising his eyes through the golden halo that enveloped His face, Ramizane could see a tawny face, just like the ones he had seen somewhere in the distant past, with countless interpretations and derivative versions but all of them had the same features.

Under the golden crown is long black hair, which is basically all straight instead of curly like the Mediterranean residents; the bone structure is more inclined to a more classical bloodline, and people in the 3K era usually only occasionally see such appearance among the local residents with the oldest bloodline in the Anatolian Peninsula; and the eyes are... well... gold, honey, or the changeable Baltic amber, it's hard to say.

But when he next tried to take a closer look, the Emperor dropped his eyes, coughed, and reiterated his question.

"Perturabo, you came here without permission, disrupting the Nikaea Assembly and forcing us to reorganize the Imperial Central Department at this critical moment, delaying the progress of the Great Crusade. You also caused such a big commotion to oppose my ruling on psionics and psionics users. Don't you have anything to say about this?"

"Why are you bringing this up again at this time? You double standard king, do you dare to wipe out the spiritual energy from your face before you say this?"

Ramizarn glanced at Magnus in surprise and disbelief, seemingly completely unaffected by the other's majesty or any emotion.

"You found that your fists were no match for mine, so you brought up the past again? You used these things to cause me shame? Do you think I would care about these? - Instead of trying to make me feel a little guilty, or considering whether your verdict that eliminated most of the witnesses needs to be corrected, shouldn't you first ask our unfortunate brother 'Rus' whether he can still control his legion? For example, how many Space Wolves did he bring today? Will they behave as originally planned? Are the manpower you reserved enough to suppress so many wolves? Shouldn't we pacify the wolf pack first?"

The Emperor seemed to be silent for a moment because it was the first time he faced "Perturabo" who was so smooth, fearless and careless in telling him what to do. The black and white dog remained quiet, constantly tilting its head and licking its wet nose subconsciously, while Magnus's single eye kept gurgling and moving between the two people and the dog.

"I have a bold idea on how to suppress the wild wolves in one go..." The fifteenth Primarch tried to straighten his back quietly.

"No, you don't." "You don't! Shut up."

"Oh."

Even though he was unwilling and curious, on one side was the Emperor whom he still called father even though he had just deeply hurt his heart, and on the other side was his brother who had just stood up to speak for himself and his offspring at the risk of being turned into ashes by his father. In such a red, white, rose (? ) situation, since both of them agreed to let him shut up, Magnus chose to shut up honestly.

- Of course, it's hard to say how much of the reason here was because of witnessing Leman Russ, the barbarian stinky dog ​​who held a grudge against him, actually turned into a... well, fragrant, shiny, elegant and gentlemanly purebred dog because of his psychic distortion. Although this fact pleased the Fifteenth Primarch, people knew that in the next two days, the Scarlet King kept smiling, not angry, and was very, very easy to talk to.

The Emperor of Mankind turned His scrutinizing gaze to the black and white border collie, which had been silent since being urgently brought here from the theater. ——What do you want your father to do by looking at you like this?

——I don’t know, shut up, He has never looked at me like this, but I have seen Him look like this…

——The hair on the back of your neck is all standing up. Uh, his eyes are a bit cheesy. I think your father wouldn't really like you to turn into dogs. Look at the guards, how much he likes them.

——…Lami Zane, I don’t want him to know that I can talk to you for the time being.

——That's fine, but how are you going to explain to him that we can't be too far apart? Or is this restraint no longer effective now?

——Of course it works! So you and I still have to stay together.

"Russ." The emperor's voice sounded more like a sigh, with a hint of helpless doting. The black and white sheepdog's hair even stood up at the base of its tail. Magnus opened his only remaining eye in surprise, while Ramizarn secretly rolled his eyes.

——I said the old man must prefer you to be dogs! But you need to be able to speak and command and coordinate more mortals and Astartes Legion, so in the end I made you into human form!
——Shut up! Can you stop reasoning so enthusiastically at this time!

"My son, do you understand what we are saying now? If you can fully understand, please knock on the table three times with your right hand."

Then they saw the black and white shepherd dog sitting on a temporary elevated seat gracefully raise its right front paw, and its trimmed nails tapped the table in front of it three times with precision.

The Emperor nodded, seeming pleased, and Magnus' skin had turned a very pleasant reddish-brown, his single eye was as blue as the sea on a sunny day, and a smile almost overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

"My son, how many of your descendants have come here today? Is there anyone among them whom you want to see first? You can use this to talk to us."

As the Emperor spoke, there was the gentle hum of anti-gravity motors and flapping wings, and an angel servant with a silver baby face on its head landed lightly in front of the shepherd dog, placing down an input keyboard and an output screen used by the Mechanicus for him.

——How come this anti-human thing is available now? In theory, shouldn't it have been created after the rise of the state religion? I remember that Guilliman hated it every time he saw it.

- Apparently, since these babies with built-in mini anti-gravity engines were used as a "tribute" to the Emperor, since they were not modified by Terra and the Emperor, their hands are still considered clean. Did you notice the style of their mask carving and overall modification style? There is actually a subtle exotic feeling. Not the work of Terra or Mars.

——Indeed, although it looks like something made by Terra at first glance, there are some differences... Wait, the one that meets these conditions... could it be Nuceria! The nobles there seem to use anti-gravity engines in their daily lives! And those so-called high rider slave owners really like this body modification style! I remember that some high riders were described as wearing this thing!

- So, you see, it wasn't as if He found and took away the unfortunate Angron without any gifts. At least Nuceria later sent him these tributes. I bet the relevant technology is now being verified and tested on Mars or Terra. Now they use these ready-made flying servitors as decorative deer heads or heralds on the wall. Apparently they are very good at using them. How do you think the miniaturization technology of servoskulls can be so widespread and portable in large quantities ten thousand years later?
——… That makes perfect sense! Wait, doesn’t that mean we might run into that miserable An…

——Yes. But let's not talk about this for now. Since you have been here for a while, do you know how many wolf cubs Russ brought with him this time? Although I can pretend to have complete amnesia and lose the ability to communicate, I don't think it would be a good idea to use this suit on the Space Wolves. The last thing I need at this moment is to lose control of these wolves, because they might try to abduct me and take me back to Fenris.

——Hmm. Now that you put it that way, it's possible... There should be three Great Companies, the First, Third, and Fifth Great Companies of the Space Wolves. The leader of the First Great Company is Gunn... How do you pronounce Gunn, Gunn na Gunhilt? The leader of the Third Great Company is Ogwe, and the leader of the Fifth Great Company is Skarsson. They should also have their own Rune Priests. Seriously, how come Magnus and the Thousand Sons can't even fight back against the fact that they caught the Space Wolves' own Rune Priests on the spot? Rune Priests are psychic users no matter how you look at it! Isn't this just the pot calling the kettle black?

——Obviously, Magnus's already very single-threaded brain was either in a mess at this time or someone deliberately made it a mess, but your appearance made his brain calm down again because of the diversion of attention. By the way, your intelligence gathering is quite good. The Space Wolves don't even use Low Gothic when they talk privately. They use dialects such as Fenris's Yuvik and Volgan. Can you understand?
——In fact, I only know that the Wild Wolves came to these three companies, and the names of the leaders are the names of the officers of the Sixth Legion that come with LOGOS. I just read them out. Your power armor database is really helpful, because the time I got here was only enough for me to find Yesugei to talk, not enough for me to eavesdrop on the Wild Wolves. To be honest, I vaguely remember that there is a mortal recorder belonging to the Wild Wolves who is very important, but I can't remember more, and your power armor does not have any further information about mortals.

The black and white shepherd dog began to type the words "Three Dalians" on the keyboard while listening to what Ramizane told him, with a thoughtful look on his face.

——It doesn't matter. If there is such a person, we will know it soon. You see, this is the advantage of pretending to be Ruth. I will ask them to bring the narrator they brought today to see me.

Thus, the Space Wolves, who had become extremely restless and difficult to appease in the dark room below the theater since the incident in the theater - especially the Rune Priests brought by the leaders, who felt as if the sky had fallen - were finally told before they could not help but break through the defenses of the brother legion that they could nominate trustworthy leaders and the people chosen by Leman Russ to meet their Primarch who "had some problems but was still able to talk."

(End of this chapter)