Warhammer: Empire Reboot

It wasn't for the neighbors to hear.

He looked at his wife, son, and the water on the table.

"May the Emperor look upon the Lord of the Seal."

This statement is not wrong.

Miri added:

"May he never forget the forty-second floor."

Palin thought for a moment, then seriously raised the water bottle.

"May Your Excellency enjoy good health."

Daquil chuckled.

"You're quite eloquent."

Palin asked, "What else is there to say?"

Miri looked at the water bottle and softened her voice.

"I hope he lives a long life."

"how long?"

Daquil meant to say a hundred years.

In an empire, a hundred years sounds too short.

He thought of the mechanical priests who had lived for so long, of the murals in the church about the immortality of emperors, and of how the people of Chaodu always talked about impossible numbers.

He lifted the bottle.

"May the Lord of the Seal live for ten thousand years."

Parin then said, "Ten thousand years."

Miri also said, "Ten thousand years."

The next day, this sentence appeared in the queue at water purification station number seven.

At first, it was just a man who whispered it before drawing water.

He was probably a little embarrassed, so he read it unclearly.

"May the Lord Seal wielder enjoy good health and live for ten thousand years."

The cornerstone supervisor looked up at him.

The man was so startled he almost dropped the bottle.

The regulator did not stop it.

Then the people behind them started talking too.

Those who came after felt that saying only one sentence was too little, so they added:

"I hope the water pipes don't break."

Someone in the group muttered under their breath, "You're being way too honest."

The man shrank his neck and said, "If you mess things up, what will you drink?"

So the third person stepped in:

May the water pipes also be healthy.

This time, someone in the group finally laughed out loud.

The laughter was soft, but it wasn't broken by the butt of the gun.

On the third day, after shift B of the riveting plant finished work, someone tapped on a plate.

It was Hoban who was tapping the plate.

The old man coughed twice, a little embarrassed, as if afraid that if he didn't speak up, it would be too late.

"Your Excellency is in good health."

Navie looked at him.

"Can live for ten thousand years."

Navi's younger brother sat next to her, holding up a seaweed cake, studying very diligently.

"May the Lord of the Seal live for ten thousand years."

A week later, people in the lower and middle levels of the Visarian Nest, the factory, the distribution station, the water purification point, and the PDF canteen all began to recite this prayer before eating.

The state priests were initially nervous, fearing that this would cross a red line.

Later, the civil affairs department issued a ruling.

Allowed as a prayer for the lord's health.

It cannot replace the worship of emperors.

Illegal religious sects must not be established.

No money may be accepted.

The priests breathed a sigh of relief and quickly learned to put this phrase at the end of their daily prayers.

"May the Emperor watch over the Lord of the Seal, and grant him eternal protection of Agrippina."

This sentence is formatted correctly and is safe.

But ordinary people privately prefer their own version.

Because that's what they said themselves.

It wasn't written on the church wall.

It wasn't ordered to be read by a nobleman.

Those were the wishes whispered before a meal by the person who had drunk their first sip of clean water, the person who had returned home after a twelve-hour shift, the person who had eaten with their child for the first time, and the person who had discovered for the first time that the gang hadn't come knocking.

Similar scenes are constantly occurring on the 318 planets of the Agrippina Sector.

People are still afraid.

I still have doubts.

I'll still hide half a piece of egg white under the bed, just in case I wake up tomorrow.

They would also watch others drink before taking their share of the water.

They would stand still after the get off work bell rang, afraid to leave.

They would lower their heads when the patrolling gray-armored men passed by, and only dare to continue eating after their footsteps had receded into the distance.

But whenever they see the clean water on the table, the sufficient rations, the timely closing bell, and the silent, stalwart soldiers standing guard at the street corner, they lower their heads again.

They don't know how to say nice things.

They would only use the simplest language to pray that this new order would last one more day.

Let's stay one more day.

And so, across countless rough dining tables, under countless dim lamps, and among countless people who had not yet learned to believe in tomorrow, the same sentence quietly spread.

"May Your Excellency enjoy good health."

"Can live for ten thousand years."

P.S.: 1.6 words updated today.

Chapter 194 The Node of One Billion Dead Soldiers, Hero Units

When Lawson saw the sociological analysis report, he simply smiled.

The report comes from the Civil Affairs Division of the Agrippina Sector.

The title is very long.

[Statistics, dissemination pathways, and potential theological risk assessment of the phenomenon of 318 spontaneous health prayers from ordinary people at the bottom of the human world]

Lawson glanced at it a few times.

The report lists a large amount of data.

In the Visaleur-Lyon city, 72.4% of lower-income families say "May the Lord be in good health" before dinner.

In Castis-VI, 61% of the companies in the PDF mess hall would tap their plates before meals, praying that the Master of the Seal would live for ten thousand years.

The children in the basic literacy class wrote this sentence on their calligraphy practice board: "Albitel-3."

The miners of Heros-Nine simplified their prayers into a cruder statement.

"Lord Chief, don't die! Don't let the mine collapse!"

The statement was deemed to express genuine emotion by the civil affairs department, but the expression was not in accordance with the proper standards.

Upon seeing this, Lawson's smile deepened.

"Only lived for ten thousand years?"

He took the cigar away from his lips: "That's a bit unlucky."

Lawson casually closed the report.

He did not issue an order to prohibit it.

There was no order to amend the state religion.

Let the common people speak if they want to.

They weren't talking about theology.

It is both fear and confirmation.

Lawson fully understood the fear in the hearts of these imperial civilians.

Throughout the millennia-long reign of the dark empire, precarious existence, overwork leading to sudden death, genetic mutations, hunger, and gang extortion were the fundamental physical laws governing the operation of the lower-level cities.