Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 787 08.786: "'Foreign Legion'?"

Horatio turned around slowly, and the dim light cast by the emergency lights in the bridge cut out bright and dark outlines on his face.

A bitter smile froze on his lips. He shook his head slightly, his voice was particularly low due to fatigue, and hoarse like metal friction:

"Louise, you know better than me how high the threshold of the Sintira Fusiliers is. They never openly recruit middle-class children into the army, let alone those refugees who are displaced and homeless among the stars."

He let out a long breath, and the circulating air that smelled of rust seemed to become a little stagnant because of the weight of his words, making it hard to breathe.

"The only possibility I can think of if the Sintira Fusiliers would recruit refugees is..."

He paused, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. "Those nobles who have long been accustomed to embezzling military pay and enriching themselves, leaked such an insignificant 1% from their generous military pay to pay those desperate refugees, so that they can serve in the army as auxiliary personnel who are not included in the establishment, and endure the hardship and danger that should have been borne by them.

Or, more directly, these cheap refugees are used to fill the "ghost" teams that exist on the roster but are actually empty, so as to deal with the occasional and formal paperwork inspections conducted by the Military Affairs Department. "

"Servant?"

Louise gasped for a breath of cold air, her bright purple eyes slightly dilated in shock, her pupils filled with disbelief, for someone born in the fortress world of Cadia, this was undoubtedly absurd blasphemy.

"Oh, God-Emperor... How could they, how dare they do such a thing... Such a thing to deceive the God-Emperor!"

In her opinion, from the frozen fortress of Cadia to every corner of the empire, it is such a noble and sacred honor to become a glorious Imperial Guard and dedicate everything, even life, to the God-Emperor and the Empire of Man.

This is a belief that has been deeply engraved in the souls of countless Cadian people since they were just learning to speak.

How could such a sacred duty forged with blood and loyalty be allowed to be so frivolously desecrated and shamelessly encroached upon by others?

Louise's fists clenched unconsciously at her sides, her knuckles losing color from the excessive force and looking a little pale.

The low vibration of the ship's engine reached Horatio's feet through the deck, but it could not shake the coldness in his heart.

"if."

He spoke word by word, each syllable carrying suppressed anger and a sense of powerlessness that almost swallowed him, "If those high-ranking bureaucrats in the Ministry of Military Affairs really approve us to establish the first Imperial Navy landing combat unit in Sintira, then the people we will eventually be able to recruit will probably only be those useless people who were unable to squeeze into the regular navy sequence due to various unbearable reasons before, but now smell an opportunity and try to sneak into this new unit to continue to occupy positions and embezzle military pay.

They are like a bunch of apples that are rotten from the core and only contaminate the entire basket."

He paused, the eternal starlight outside the porthole reflected in his eyes, but it seemed dim: "In that case, our so-called 'First Imperial Navy Landing Combat Force', which is highly expected, may not even pass the initial combat readiness review.

It will be rotten to the core and hopeless. The whole plan, into which we have poured so much effort...will be a complete and ignominious failure.

And the designation "Imperial Navy Landing Combat Force" will probably become a permanent laughing stock in the vast archives of the Ministry of Military Affairs, to be shelved, buried in the dust, and finally forgotten by future generations."

The room fell into a suffocating silence. Only the almost inaudible hum of the life support system and the cold and eternal light from the distant stars outside the portholes silently witnessed his deep frustration and near despair at the moment.

Suddenly, Horatio's body shook slightly, and his tightly furrowed brows raised slightly.

A thought, like a faint flash of lightning that suddenly appeared in the thick dark clouds, instantly illuminated a corner of his confused thoughts.

"Wait." He whispered, his voice a little hoarse due to the long silence.

"Hmm?" Louise's frown relaxed slightly as his tone changed. She keenly caught the unusual fluctuation in his voice, raised her head, and looked at Horatio with a hint of inquiry.

"You're right, Louise." There was a faint, almost imperceptible rise and fall in Horatio's voice, no longer the complete, suffocating despair before. "If Sintira can really provide the so-called 'substitute soldiers', then the situation... maybe, there is really a glimmer of hope."

"Why do you say that?" Louise's face showed complete confusion. She had not yet fully recovered from her shock and anger, and obviously did not understand what the difference was.

"Imagine if a substitute soldier serves in the army for a long time instead of those noble lords of Sintira..."

Horatio began to pace back and forth in the small cabin, the metal floor making a slight creaking sound with his footsteps.

He spoke slowly as he pondered, his speech speed gradually increasing as his thoughts became clearer, “Then, they may have received basic training in the military for several years, or even longer.

Their basic military skills, at least in theory, exist and have been honed.”

He stopped abruptly and turned to face Louise, his eyes flashing with a burning light that was almost desperate, that was the look of a desperate person when he accidentally saw a faint spark in the endless darkness: "Moreover, the most crucial point is that they are not nobles, and they will never be able to get the privileges and treatment that those pampered noble soldiers can enjoy.

In order to qualify for the next year's "substitute service" and to earn the meager military pay that allows them to barely survive in this cruel world, these substitute soldiers who have been serving for many years will definitely try their best to train hard and improve their combat skills at all costs, in order to survive in the strict hierarchy and harsh environment of the military camp, and prove their value to their superiors and prove that they are "worthy" of continued employment. "

"Well...if the situation is really as we guessed." Horatio's breathing became a little rapid. He straightened his back, as if he had unloaded a part of the invisible burden, and a glimmer of light rekindled in his eyes. "Then, this is not completely without benefit. It may even be...an opportunity."

"Perhaps we can carefully identify and select a group of such 'substitute veterans' from all corners of the empire who have relatively rich practical experience from the bloated noble troops of Sintira.

Then, on our warships, let the Krieg Death Legion conduct extremely strict and ruthless screening and retraining on them, just like... just like the brave and warlike Gallic Foreign Legion in the legend of Ancient Terra, forging them from a group of rabble into an elite team with real strong combat effectiveness and capable of carrying out difficult tasks. "

"Huh? What is the 'Gallic Foreign Legion'?" Louise blinked her beautiful purple eyes in confusion.

Well, these distant historical terms from ancient Terra tens of thousands of years ago are still too unfamiliar to a human like her who was born in the 41st millennium.

"Uh, nothing." Horatio waved his hand, a complex smile on his lips, which contained both some expectations for the dim future and helpless self-mockery of the current cruel reality.

"I only pray for God's blessing. When He closes a door for us, He will always quietly open another window for us where we haven't noticed."

"Yes, the wisdom and mercy of the God-Emperor are always so unfathomable." Louise smiled, her tone much lighter, and she was sincerely happy for his renewed spirit.

The depressing atmosphere in the room seemed to dissipate a lot with the emergence of this glimmer of hope.

"I'm going to take a hot bath to clear my mind and drive away the cold. Do you want to join me?" Horatio turned around, extended his hand to Louise with a playful smile, and made an invitation.

The corners of her mouth raised higher, revealing a sweet smile. She stretched out her hand without hesitation, gently placed it in his broad palm, and accepted his invitation.

"Besides, I want to vent this nameless resentment accumulated in my body." He raised his eyebrows with a smile, and a cunning light flashed in his eyes.

"How...how do I vent?" Louise's cheeks instantly flushed with a touching blush, and her voice became a little weak and gentle.

"You know." He laughed loudly, and with his still strong arms, he picked up the beautiful woman with a graceful figure, and strode towards the spacious bathroom opposite the bedroom, which was fully equipped and filled with steam.

(End of this chapter)