Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 1023 09.1022: 'Yadwiga's 'Invasion' Plan'

Horatio pushed open the car door and stepped out of the dark, hovercar.

A rich and complex fragrance wafted over, a mixture of pollen from countless alien violets and the scent of damp earth after rain.

He looked up and saw that the entire garden was covered by these deep purple flowers, forming an endless purple ocean, so numerous that one could not see the end of it at a glance, and the intense fragrance was even a little suffocating.

Amidst this sea of ​​purple flowers, a female officer dressed in a crisp cavalry uniform and wearing a square-cornered military cap strode toward him.

The cavalry saber at her waist swayed powerfully with each step, its scabbard rhythmically slapping against the outside of her military trousers. Each step was firm and resounding, echoing in the quiet courtyard.

The visitor was Colonel Yadviga.

"Good evening, citizen." Horatio, dressed in a naval dress uniform and a dark blue windproof cloak, gently touched the brim of his hat with his finger and greeted Yadviga.

“Good evening, citizen.” She walked up to Horatio and returned his greeting after a brief exchange.

"You wear a military uniform even in your own home?" Horatio looked her up and down with interest.

“Personal style. Sometimes I wear armor too,” she answered frankly, without a trace of a joke in her tone.

"So," Horatio said, getting to the point, "what do you plan to do?"

“I need your help to distract my family guards.” Yadviga’s gaze passed over Horatio’s shoulder and landed on the towering building in the distance, which resembled a medieval castle. The building exuded a repressive atmosphere in the hazy night, clashing with the brightly colored gardens around it.

"They've been sealing off the demon tower that imprisons my mother day and night. Only if you distract them can I get in."

"Hmm?" Horatio frowned slightly, feeling that this matter was somewhat familiar. He coughed twice and said in a deliberately serious tone, "Female citizen, we are Imperial soldiers. I think this kind of clandestine operation is improper."

"What if I sneak around and cause a commotion, and the guards catch me red-handed, discovering that I am a high-ranking captain of the Imperial Navy in uniform? Wouldn't that be a disgrace to the Navy?"

He paused, leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and added in a volume only the two of them could hear, "If you had told me earlier, I would have changed to a different set of infiltration gear."

"Pfft... Hahahaha."

These words, so drastically different from his previous ones, finally made Jadvig, who had been keeping a straight face, burst out laughing.

Her clear laughter dispelled the chilly silence around her.

“Of course, I don’t mean for you to distract them by creating a commotion.” Yadviga turned around and stood beside him, looking at the castle-like building.

“Citizen of Cochrane, with your rank and status, you could certainly add some ‘work’ to this lifeless manor and its guards through a formal visit.”

Horatio immediately understood her intention. He stroked his chin and said, "You mean, I'll go directly to your father's house, then 'tour' the manor, forcing him to redeploy guards from elsewhere to reinforce the defenses around him and other key areas?"

“That’s right, citizen.” After Horatio began to adopt the local custom of using the term “citizen,” Jadvig’s way of addressing him also became more “republican.”

“I only need them to show a brief weakness.” The colonel’s tone was surprisingly calm, as if she were planning a real military operation. “I have already devised a complete invasion plan.”

She used the word "invasion" to describe her own home.
-
Horatio felt to the mansion that was like a forgotten mansion deep in the forest.

It was lifeless and lacked vitality, completely unlike the metropolitan atmosphere of other upper-class noble residences in Sintira, where parties and salons were always held.

Two tapping sounds.

Jadwiga knocked on the door of the quiet study.

“It’s me,” she said.

“Yadwiga? Come in, I have something to discuss with you.” A frail but powerful voice came from inside the door.

"But the Imperial Navy is among them..."

"Let's talk about your business first!" The voice inside suddenly hardened.

The colonel sensed something was wrong and her brow furrowed. She turned to Horatio and whispered, "Please sit here for a moment and wait for me to call you. I have some family matters to attend to here, I'm very sorry."

She pushed open the heavy oak door and went inside.

Horatio sat down on the red velvet bench outside and waited quietly for her call.

As expected, a heated argument broke out in the study shortly afterward.

A loud thud!
The door was suddenly pushed open from the inside, and the female colonel's face turned red with anger, her pupils contracting in response to her intense emotions.

"I decide my own marriage! If you dare to arrange another marriage for me without my consent, I'll kill him first, then commit suicide! I'll make sure you never get the political marriage you desire!"

The female colonel made a startling statement, hurling those words at the old man inside before striding out of the study.

"I can get you, you rebellious daughter, back from the army right now!" the old man inside roared in an even louder, furious voice. "I want to see what you can do to escape your obligations as a nobleman after the Ministry of Military Affairs removes you from the military register!"

"I have never had any obligations! You have no right to control me! You should be held responsible for my mother's death!"

"You!!! Cough! Cough cough cough!" A violent coughing sound came from inside the door.

With a flushed face, Yadviga turned to Horatio, his eyes gesturing that he could go in.

"..."

[Uh, these two, father and daughter, started arguing like this the moment they met. Is it really appropriate for me to go in now...?]
Horatio was momentarily at a loss for what to say once he went in.

Well, let's just play it by ear.

He sighed, then straightened his uniform and stepped forward.

Before she arrived, Yadwiga had already sent him her father's identification information.

Charles de Lannes, Duke of New Montabello.

He joined the Sintira flintlock regiment as an attendant at the age of sixteen and was promoted to captain at the age of twenty-two.

He was renowned in the army for his bravery in battle, leading from the front, and fearlessness. At the age of twenty-four, he was awarded the title of "Knight," and at twenty-six, he was promoted to Colonel in the Star Guardian Army.

When the first Great Tooth Plague broke out, he had already become a general of the Sintira Flintlock Regiment, and in a key battle, he defeated the main Greenskin offensive with a smaller force.

That battle became the turning point of the entire war, after which the Astronauts were able to gradually recapture the precarious Polaberia.

However, just as this general was at the height of his fame and power, an unexpected situation occurred.

At the age of thirty-nine, at the peak of his life, he resolutely chose to leave the army and go into business.

He established the largest textile factory in Sintira and registered investments in banking and finance.

No one knows the reason behind his almost 180-degree life change.

What's even more surprising is that after leaving the army to go into business, he actually did quite well.

Although he has long since retired from the military, he has now been appointed as the Quartermaster General by the Calissis Military Affairs Department, in charge of the logistics and supply distribution of all Star Force units in the Calissis Sector.

This position, combined with his once unparalleled military prestige, was enough to give the old duke considerable influence within the Calicus Military Ministry.

"Your Excellency the Duke greets you."

Horatio, wearing his bicorn hat, entered the tense study and said in a deep voice, "I am Horatio Cochrane, High Lord Colonel of the Gothic Fleet of the Imperial Navy. I have come to Sintira today, having long admired your reputation, to pay you a visit."

(End of this chapter)