Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 657: Unraveling the Mystery (Part )
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"You are already tens of thousands of years old. The oldest of your sons is less than 400 years old, and the youngest is less than 100 years old. The elders are unwilling to pay much attention to the young ones. I have heard that the chieftains in various places are looking for your faults and are preparing to take revenge. You did not disband your troops, pacify the people, and appease your sons. Instead, you let your favorite son lead the army outside. Once something goes wrong, there will be internal strife. Although your sons rely on your skills and are inferior to you, how can they be willing to be inferior to your son in the future?"

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"Ornn Badwinter."

The Lord of Steel sat at the top, those who had been questioned by him stood aside, and those who had not been questioned were still in the waiting area.

The Space Wolf he named slowly stepped forward and saluted the Lord of Steel and the Leader of the Wolf Pack with an ancient and majestic step and posture - if someone who was very familiar with ancient shamanism or ancient Norse culture was here, he would find that the Rune Priest's steps and rhythm, as well as some of his gestures, all expressed a meaning of exorcism and freedom from evil.

But the Lord of Steel and his companions were obviously unresponsive to these anti-evil spirit methods, so Ornn Evilwinter just bowed in the end. The whole process was watched expectantly by many pairs of eyes, but - nothing unexpected happened.

Thus, the Lord of Iron, in coordination with the Lord of Winter and the Lord of War, began questioning the Rune Priests of the Third Company.

"When did you catch up with the aforementioned Adeptus Amon, the bard Casper, and the wild bear?"

"At the same time as Wild Bear, the Lord of Steel."

"Wild Bear was fulfilling his duty to protect Casper, so why did you follow him?"

"Because we were supposed to follow the poet, the Lord of Steel. The Wolf Aldridge didn't follow him, so we should follow him. It was obvious that he was still entangled with the evil spirit of the wizard at that time. It was obvious that he would be out of the influence of those witchcrafts when he was within the guard range of the Sisters of Silence."

The Lord of Iron seemed to choke, Magnus blinked his single eye, Fulgrim still maintained his perfect smile, Sanguinius sighed silently and looked in certain directions with worry, and Valdor had a blank expression on his face.

"Okay. Let me think about what you're trying to say... You mean that you - at least you Space Wolves, were fully aware that Casper's condition was not right, that he was being controlled, monitored, or something like that."

"Casper Ansback Hauser has his own mission. And more than one." Orn Evilwinter bowed solemnly. "After he came to Fenris and was discovered by us, our wolf priest made him lie on the ice for nineteen years. We studied him from inside to outside, and we can see that he has ideas from other people. Those ideas took decades or more to make him what the operator behind the scenes needed. Lord of Steel, a person's destiny can be manipulated, and his life path and career planning can also be subtly guided. Through character profiling and countless invisible diversions at life's intersections, a qualified agent will be trained to become what his trainer needs him to be without him knowing it."

The Lord of Steel frowned.

"And Gasper Hauser's strong desire and pursuit for forgotten knowledge to be discovered is just what is needed and can be reasonably utilized to reasonably achieve the reason for sending him to the final specific destination. It can also allow him to cope with sufficiently in-depth and rigorous questioning and scrutiny."

"I think what he meant was that it was Magnus who took advantage of this man and carefully planned everything from training this agent to being important enough, to sending him to Fenris as a spy, and then to following the wolf pack here." The black and white plush sheepdog typed this line quickly, and then almost laughed out loud, "And then [Fenris swear word] was used to give Magnus the most unfavorable backstab when he was making the final defense for his crimes! The result was reversed at the last second! I [Fenris swear word] am really dying of laughter!"

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"Oh, my God." Pallas muttered, not daring to look at Ruth's face sitting there. "From what I was told... this is too classic..."

"Yes, there is a 99.9999999% chance that it was arranged by the blue soft monster. Obviously, it doesn't like Russ and his offspring, but it is willing to see them become the protagonists of the satire."

"Why not 100 percent? This is clearly it."

"Because..." Magna pondered as a line of answer flashed on the display screen behind him, "'There are fifty great ways, forty-nine of them are derived from heaven, and one is hidden by man. And vice versa.'"

"I don't understand... Why does this line of text look more like a series of pictures you drew? Why are there so many ancient Terra religious symbols?"

"Although you can't say you're wrong, you're definitely not right. But it doesn't matter, because it's not good to explain things too clearly. I don't want to attract too much attention from the blue software monster. After all, its KPI is too easy to overflow. I'm not very talented in balancing accounts..." Magna flashed his bright blue eyepiece, and another line of words popped up, "But I believe He can understand the meaning of this sentence, otherwise He wouldn't be here."

"Coo." The pigeon sipped the Iberian ham slices served with the wine in a quick and skillful manner.

"I hate the Riddler. And so do the pigeons."

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"Leman Russ" laughed loudly in the basalt hall. People had different expressions, and Wild Bear noticed that only the Lord of Steel looked very agreeable.

Then, the Primarch sat up straight with his black and white fur covered body, restrained his smile, and became dignified again. "This result is the kind of eight o'clock drama that everyone loves to watch. It is almost written on paper. The Sons of Fenris and I almost became the clowns in this drama. But not now!"

The black and white sheepdog bared its canine teeth. "We will find the culprit and nail this evil spirit to the bottom of Et* forever! The Wolf of Fenris will never be deceived!"

The light on the face of the Emperor of Mankind seemed to grow even brighter.

The Lord of Steel had an extremely strange expression on his face at this moment. It seemed that he was between wanting to laugh, wanting to admire, and wanting to reach out to comfort "Russ". Finally, he coughed.

"Well, thank you for your explanation and speech, Ruth. I think Magnus will regard this self-admission as a signal to ease the relationship."

"Who wants to..." The Lord of Steel turned his head suddenly, and his icy blue eyes were like a pair of ice cones that nailed the Red King, who was about to angrily refute, in place, "...Well, maybe. But you need more sincerity." He said very reluctantly.

"Ornn Evilwinter, then, your journey to the platform is the same as that of the wild bear. If I am not mistaken, for better understanding, this platform is the hunting trap you chose, and Gasper Hauser is the piece of meat you put on the trap. What is the role of the Custodians?"

"A disguise of a trap - a feint, a cover, or something similar, I'm not sure how to say it in Low Gothic, my lord." At the same time, the rune priest responded to the angry glares of the royal guards here with a big grin with bared fangs.

"That's very wolf pack." The Lord of Steel commented. "Well, tell us about the conversation after you jumped out, Ornn Badwinter."

And so they heard the full story of how the Rune Priest had used ancient gestures and the power of the Soul of Fenris to weaken the Thousand Sons sorcerer, and their final conversation.

Obviously, the Rune Priest's mind is much more sophisticated than that of an ordinary wolf in terms of certain levels of memory.

"...He tried to ridicule us, calling me a hypocritical shaman and thinking that what we did was no different from what he did. But that's wrong." The Rune Priest said, his naturally white hair swaying slightly in the light as if it were made of ice. "I told him that the key is to realize that self-discipline and self-control are important. Power exists, and power must be used. Otherwise, we humans will never be able to fight for a place for ourselves in such a dangerous universe. In order to survive, we must always make something else unable to survive. This is like a wolf pack hunting."

The Rune Priest's heavily accented voice echoed under the dome. "We use it, but we never go beyond it. We know the limits of what we can master, and we will consciously and forcefully limit it and never cross that red line. I asked him in return, how far have you crossed the line of 'necessary as a weapon'? A thousand steps, or ten thousand steps? How much research has been conducted that is too in-depth and has no real effect on the hunting situation, just to satisfy your own desire for exploration?"

No one spoke, only the voice of the Lord of Steel sounded calmly and clearly, "So, how did this man named Amon answer your question?"

"He said that there are so many things to learn in the vast ocean, and no matter what they do, everything will be under their control, precisely because of our innate superiority." ————————————

"Ah." Pallas sighed. "Combined with the seemingly ordinary but actually very unfavorable testimonies of the Imperial Guards, I think I know why Magnus was completely ready to die at this time, and my original body made seemingly unreasonable actions, which were actually very reasonable. As a social and court creature, it was very reasonable. Indeed, if Old Deng heard the Thousand Sons warriors make such a statement, his reaction would be... Although I don't think it is appropriate, I think he must be very angry... and made a judgment out of fear."

"That's right," Leman Russ continued. "I don't want to know or confirm who or what is inside Perturabo's shell, but I must say that he has an amazing ability to see the essence of things."

"Moreover, this man represents no ordinary Thousand Sons warrior," Magnar Dorn added on his display. "This man is the Captain of the Ninth Society, Magnus's aide-de-camp, the man who adopted and taught Magnus when he fell on Prospero."

“Oh,” Pallas muttered. “Poor Magnus, it doesn’t sound like there’s any hope of survival for him—why?”

"Cuckoo?"

Fulgrim Pallas stared into the pigeon's eyes as it began to play dumb.

"Why can the blue soft monster predict your psychology and next move so accurately? Is this supposed to be possible?"

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"I'm really worried that Magnus won't give up completely." Although the Lord of Steel's muttering was very low, everyone present was sharp-eyed and sharp-eared.

"Okay, so what next?"

"Then," Ornn Evilwinter recounted, "the bard told him, 'Enough is enough.' And then the wizard showed off his knowledge with a smug smile. He said, 'Isn't that what the treacherous rune priest Wildmark told you when you woke up on Fenris?'"

"It is a damning confession, Iron Lord, with the recording devices of our power armor and our heads as evidence. Amon, a soldier of the Fifteenth Legion, admitted that he used Casper Hawser to spy on Fenris."

There was dead silence at the questioning session, and Magnus even looked like he was thinking with an incredible expression.

"In fact," the Lord of Steel spoke again, "is this Amon you describe a man with a shaved head, tattoos on his scalp, light brown skin, and a black beard? Oh, and obvious black eyeliner."

"That's right, Lord of Steel, exactly."

"Hmm...if it is a Thousand Sons warrior that fits this description, then there is only one in the Fifteenth Legion, Aide-de-camp to the Primarch, Captain of the Ninth Academy, Crow Eye, Amon." Ramezane turned to the thoughtful Magnus, "Am I right? All you need to do now is answer this question for me."

"That's right, but..."

"answer my question."

"...From what I have described, it is indeed my aide-de-camp Amon." Magnus answered reluctantly. "But he was..."

"Okay, you can tell me the rest later. Thank you."

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"Oh," Pallas said, "the perfect identity... there is no one more suitable than Amon. Even 'that' Ahriman is not as perfect as the identity Amon reveals here and now, enough to cause the greatest attack on Magnus and the Thousand Sons Legion."

"Indeed," Ruth agreed. "It took advantage of everything, except..."

"Except that I didn't expect that someone would insist on questioning each person's testimony word by word." Magna Dorn said, "Because doing so is completely inconsistent with His mentality and thinking habits at the time."

"Oh, this is not entirely what I wanted to survive at the time! Of course, I was a little too hasty..."

"Well," Magna Dorn's monitor flashed, "there's no shame in escaping after failure, but you'd better keep your mouth shut."

"Gu! Even you! My heart aches!"

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"And then you started fighting, right?"

"It was so, Lord of Iron, we engaged in battle—mostly the wild bears launched effective attacks at him, and he fought very well."

"So you didn't kill him in the end?"

"No, Lord of Iron. When the bear was about to rip his throat out, the poet said he wanted to leave him alive as evidence."

"That means you can't control him?"

"Not really. After the wild bear struck him down at the cost of being injured, he used the poet's axe to carve the sacred symbol of exorcism on the wizard's breastplate. It worked." At this point, the rune priest's eyes were fixed on the Lord of Steel, one of his hands was like a snake, and the other hand was a claw.

Still nothing happened.

"Then why don't we have this Amon at the inquiry here?"

"That's because," Ornn Evilwinter replied, "Amon the Custodian stopped the wild bear that was trying to hunt the wizard, and he said to us, 'I have sent a signal to all the Custodians here. The upper buildings are beginning to be blocked. He can't escape. The Sisters of Silence can come and control him, and my brothers in the Custodian will definitely subdue him.'"

Someone finally let out a loud laugh.

Magnus was shaking with laughter in his seat, and there were even tears in the corners of his colorful one-eyed eyes.

(End of this chapter)