After the enthusiasm for eating melon-plasmas faded, Hades suddenly realized a terrible fact——
Mortarion had changed.
This is an... indescribable change? Hades didn't know whether this was how Mortarion was originally, or whether he had sublimated himself during the fight with Konrad Curze.
Not only was Mortarion's madness and terrifying battlefield sensitivity shown when fighting Konrad Curze...
...Is this what Mortarion looked like before? Wait... It seems that Mortarion did show this trend during the Battle of Galaspar.
But not quite the same?
The most significant point is that when Hades finally came out of the medical room and returned to the office, he found that the number of documents he needed to approve was greatly reduced.
Hades even spent a second conspiratorially thinking about whether he was going to be ignored, because there were no new files on his desk, and even the old files had disappeared.
Later he found out that there was no such thing. All the legion affairs to be handled were moved to the legion commander's desk by Vox and Gallo, while Mortarion was reviewing and approving the documents with a calm face (actually more like he was dead).
Seeing Hades coming, he just raised his eyes lightly, and then continued to write documents with a dead face.
Hades looked up and saw two newly hung photo frames in the original body's office. Blue and white envelopes and gold and white envelopes were quietly displayed in them, which were incompatible with the dim style of the entire room.
Prior to this, Mortarion's room would only have the Death Guard banner and nothing else.
Hades opened his mouth, Mortarion finally went crazy? He walked over and looked at the two letters carefully - he seemed to know where the limited letter paper in his collection cabinet had gone.
"...Mortarion, what is this?"
Mortarion didn't even look up.
【decorate. 】
Haha, Hades doesn’t believe this anyway.
Hades turned his head and glanced at Mortarion, who was still struggling with the immersive file, and then he quietly reached for the photo frame——
"Snapped!"
In an instant, a pen suddenly stuck on the wall. The excessive speed even made the pen body tremble slightly, and the sharp pen tip was just a few millimeters away from Hades' hand.
Hades took a breath. He turned back slowly and saw Mortarion casually taking out another pen from the pen holder and continuing to write the plan with his head down.
[You don’t need to see this, Hades. 】
Hades retracted his hand silently,
"Ah...haha, ha...ha..."
Hades swallowed,
"Mortarion...if there is something on your mind, tell him immediately so that it can be discovered and treated early."
Mortarion looked up from the pile of documents and looked at Hades calmly and resentfully. Hades suspected that the pile of documents was going to successfully kill Mortarion.
[If you really have nothing to do, then I don’t mind letting you be responsible for more content. 】
Mortarion said calmly,
"Ah, I remembered that the foundry hall had something to do with me recently. The purchase price of No. 3 screws was half price——"
"Ahem, no, Mortarion, what's going on with Moon Wolf? There's also the Night Lords and the Empire. I haven't received any news at all."
【Everything is stable. 】
Mortarion said silently, and then he saw Hades striding away from the damn picture frame and reaching the opposite side of his desk.
Hades looked at Mortarion seriously and calmly,
"Tell me the details. The matter of Mortarion, Garro and Vox is not over yet with me. The surveillance video in that area and the video record of Vox's helmet have been artificially deleted."
Mortarion let out a sigh under his mask. He raised his head and looked at Hades calmly.
[Do you know what Jia Luo said to me at that time? 】
Hades was stunned,
"What?"
[He hopes that I will be a qualified regiment commander. 】
Mortarion said helplessly,
Mortarion watched expressionlessly as the expression on Hades's face changed from one of shock to one that couldn't hold back. Then Hades didn't hold back as expected. He began to laugh, even tearing himself apart from laughing too loudly. I had a wound and had to squat down to continue laughing.
Finally, Hades, who was trying not to laugh, stood up.
"I understand Jialuo. Let me guess, did you want to take risks at that time, and Jialuo wanted to keep you? Was he trying to anger you?"
[He almost succeeded. 】
Mortarion said matter-of-factly.
Hades turned serious,
"You should really put some thought into domestic and foreign affairs. Gallo and Vox are under great pressure, and other management also have a heavy workload."
In fact, the one with the biggest workload is you, Hades.
Mortarion thought silently, but said nothing.
Hades has always been the most enthusiastic one. He originally thought that Hades liked to manage legion affairs. In fact, Hades did appear to be like this.
Mortarion had never been a power-hungry tyrant, and he believed in Hades, so he naturally handed over all these to Hades.
But now he realizes the pressure behind the workload and what he is really thinking when faced with these boring paperwork.
To a certain extent, Gallo was right.
Mortarion looked away silently, his eyes lingering on the blue-and-white envelope for a moment, then he pulled out a few documents from the file, handed them to Hades, and changed the topic,
[Because Coz and I had a private chat again, at least we resolved our personal grudges. 】
Mortarion said with a bit of sarcasm,
[Moon Wolf looked relieved, and I never thought that Horus could show that kind of expression——]
[To be honest, if I hadn't communicated with him remotely on the channel and told him the results, the Wolf Shepherd God would have immediately...given me a hug that would dislocate my frame. 】
[He then contacted the Night Lords again, and I think the answers the Night Lords gave him were probably pretty much the same, so now he is busy talking to the human civilization and preparing to welcome the people from Terra - that Bian's reply always arrives soon. 】
Hades browsed the files quickly...
"Wait, negotiate peace?"
[Yes, peace. When we were confronting the Night Lords, Horus obviously didn't only care about one thing. He was very keen to eliminate as much trouble as possible because he realized that the Death Guard was simply impossible. The fact that he cooperated with the Night Lord, so he contacted that human civilization without authorization...]
Mortarion said a little irritably,
[Horus chose to give that kingdom some preferential terms and let them surrender on their own initiative - this happened more than once or twice, the Luna Wolves often did this kind of thing. 】
Mortarion pulled out another stack of papers, and Hades recognized them as the documents Mortarion was looking at in the ward.
[No tithe will be collected in the first tax season, and then a 10% tithe will be collected in the second tax season. Each quarter, the tax will increase by 20% until the full tax is collected. 】
Hades looked at the terms of the document carefully. In addition, the document also marked the benefits given by the empire——
At the same time, the empire's territory will be opened to trade with this civilization, and the right to contact the forging world will be obtained...
Hades spoke softly,
"He framed it as... more like a partnership, with taxes like dues but also with a lot of autonomy."
… Horus gave his language a certain… modest packaging.
In fact, except for those civilizations that are particularly inconsistent with the truth of the empire, the autonomy given by the empire itself is extremely large - because the empire cannot control it at all, but generally in the signed documents, the various powers are actually set very rigidly. At first glance, the planet doesn't have much autonomy at all.
Logically speaking, this should be the case, but it is a pity that the empire has not established any other effective institutions except the tax department.
Mortarion nodded,
[This document Horus gave to the Death Guard is also asking us whether we agree with this method - because if taxes cannot be collected immediately, this kind of recovery cannot be called "glorious and glorious". 】
"The Death Guard don't care."
Hades said softly,
[Yes,] Mortarion laughed, [we don't care. 】
He said,
[It depends on whether the Shepherd God can completely convince the opponent. As far as I know, they are still negotiating. Horus even exposed the locations of the three legions - in order to make the opponent realize that they have no chance of winning. 】
"It's a bit risky."
Hades commented,
Mortarion spoke without concern,
[The closest to the geographical location of this civilization is the Legion of the Night Lords. The Eighth Legion is also the farthest from Mandeville Point, followed by the Luna Wolves, and finally the Death Guard. I even expect this civilization to have the necessary resistance. Spirit. 】
...For a moment, Hades thought in his heart that it was not impossible.
It's just using one legion as bait... If it were another legion, Hades might still advocate reducing the casualty rate as much as possible, but Night Lord? Forget it.
In the middle and late stages of the Great Crusade, the Night Lords' soldiers were all criminals and scum, and Sevatar was a rare mutant bat.
Not to mention that Conrad Coates is a lunatic.
And... if this is the case, Horus's rash action this time becomes... worth pondering.
Although Mortarion has already punished Konrad Curze on a personal level, Hades still needs to ensure that...after this, or even further in the future, the Night Lords will not cause any substantial damage to the Death Guard. threats...
"What did the people in the empire say?"
[Civil war is prohibited, propaganda is prohibited, and all records are erased. 】
Mortarion's tone softened,
[Perhaps I should have realized this. Konrad Curze, my "brother", has already committed many crimes. Horus said that according to "rumor", he had been with Magnus long before us. Guilliman, Dorn, and Fulgrim have all had conflicts. 】
[Of course, I still sincerely hope that during his conflict with Magnus, the two of them disappear together. 】
Mortarion's dry humor, Hades smiled,
"Is this all the Empire said?"
【besides,】
Mortarion said, staring at Hades,
[They want you not to move, not to make subspace jumps. 】
Hades's smile froze. He did feel that something was wrong... but because he could not release the black domain on a large scale, he was still not sure what the golden spiritual energy had become now.
Mortarion said slowly,
【them……】
[They may take you away, Lord of the Silent Order. 】
Mortarion was silent, he stopped talking, and for a moment, Hades even saw unwillingness, regret, and even cautious temptation in Mortarion's eyes.
[What do you think, Hades? 】
After a moment of silence, Mortarion suddenly spoke,
[I know that compared to the Death Guard, the Silent Order may be more suitable for your physique. You see, you chose to stay in the Death Guard at the beginning, but... the Death Guard didn't give you what you wanted, right? ? 】
【that power? Corresponding to this is an even more desperate responsibility, and the friendship between you and Barbarus has also faded after the Legion recruited recruits from other planets...]
[And...there is also this incident and the cooperation with the Iron Warriors. 】
Mortarion's eyes were evading. Was he staring at the two letters behind Hades?
[Leaving the Death Guard is not a bad thing for your promotion in the empire. Compared with being in the second-in-command position in the legion, you will gain more power and glory - instead of worrying about the material and political status of the legion. 】
【so,】
Mortarion was still talking;
[If you choose to leave the Death Guard, I understand your behavior and have no dissatisfaction or objection to it. 】
Mortarion's wandering eyes suddenly moved back, and he stared at Hades cautiously.
[Really, Hades. 】
Hades didn't know whether he should be shocked that Mortarion could say so much in one breath, or whether he should be shocked by the content of Mortarion's words.
It seemed... Mortarion felt guilty for him?
A thought suddenly came to Hades' mind, with a little bit of bad taste.
Mortarion looked at Hades. He was glad that Hades could see Curze's apology - but that still didn't erase the fact. It was what it was, and it made Mortarion sad.
He observed Hades... Hades smiled?
"You want to drive me away, Mortarion?"
There was a roar in Mortarion's mind. He didn't expect Hades's reaction to be this.
This shouldn't be the sentence.
【……no. 】
"Not what?"
Hades waited for the answer slowly and methodically. By the way, he continued to look through the documents on Mortarion's desk casually to continue to understand the current situation of the Legion.
[That’s not what I meant. You are still an irreplaceable and important figure to the Death Guard. You have extremely high authority within the legion. Whether you are a recruit or a veteran, the Death Guard does not want you to leave. If you leave, it will not be the best for the Death Guard. It will be a heavy blow. 】
After handling a lethal amount of documents, Mortarion also learned to speak in an official manner, Hades silently sighed.
"Then why do you want me to leave?"
Hades mentioned it casually and continued to deal real damage and critical hits.
[…I don’t want you to leave. 】
"That'll do."
Hades classified the documents in his hand again.
"It still depends on Terra's arrangements... My physique is indeed troublesome to me, but at least I am unwilling to leave the Death Guard, otherwise all my years of work will be in vain."
"All my years of hard work have been thrown away?"
Mortarion immediately said seriously,
[No matter what, you will always be the one with the highest command of the Death Guard...]
Then Mortarion choked, as if he was resigned to death,
[...Even if the Empire sends you to the Ultramarines. 】
...?
ah?
"Why should I go to the Ultramarines?"
Before Hades finished speaking, he suddenly realized something. He turned back suddenly and saw the blue envelope——
He immediately reached for the letter.
Mortarion, who realized what Hades was going to do, also stood up in horror. The Lord of Death burst out with ten or even nine points at an astonishing speed and rushed to grab the letter that was already in Hades' hand. The opened letter——
The final winner was Mortarion, and Hades once again went to the infirmary.
——————
small theater:
Gallo looked at Ultramarine Blue in Mortarion's office silently...
Hopeless.
This veteran deeply realized this cruel fact for the first time.
Posted a little late, sorry.
Today is 4.3k!
I created a new group and you can see the introduction. There are too many people in the previous group.
No more.
(End of chapter)
