After the enthusiasm for fighting with the melon-eating primordial body faded, Hades suddenly realized a terrible fact -
Mortarion has changed.
This is a kind of... indescribable change? Hades didn't know whether this was the original state of Mortarion, or whether he had also sublimated himself in the fight with Konrad Curze.
It's not just the madness and terrifying battlefield sensitivity that Mortarion displayed when he was fighting Konrad Curze...
... Was Mortarion like this before? Wait... It seems that Mortarion did show this tendency in the Battle of Galaspar.
But not quite the same
The most notable point was 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 review had been greatly reduced.
Hades even spent a second conspiratorially thinking whether he was going to be sidelined, because there were no new documents on his desk, and even the old documents had disappeared.
Later he found out that it wasn't the case. All the legion affairs to be handled were moved to the legion commander's desk by Vorcus and Garro, while Mortarion reviewed and approved the documents with a calm face (actually, more like he was dead).
Seeing Hades coming, he just raised his eyes and glanced at him indifferently, then continued to write documents with a dead face.
Hades looked up and saw two new photo frames hung in the Primarch's office. A blue and white envelope and a gold and white envelope were quietly displayed in them, which was out of tune with the gloomy style of the entire room.
Before this, Mortarion's chambers had been bare of anything but the Death Guard banner.
Hades opened his mouth. Was Mortarion finally crazy? He walked over and looked at the two letters carefully. He seemed to know where the limited edition stationery in his collection cabinet had gone.
"… Mortarion, what is this?"
Mortarion did not even raise his head.
[decorate.]
Haha, Hades doesn’t believe this anyway.
Hades turned his head and glanced at Mortarion, who was still struggling with the immersive file, then he quietly reached for the photo frame—
“Bang!”
In an instant, a fountain pen suddenly stuck on the wall. The high speed even caused the pen body to tremble slightly, and the sharp tip was only a few millimeters away from Hades' hand.
Hades took a deep breath and slowly turned around to see Mortarion casually pulling out another pen from the pen holder and continuing to write the plan with his head down.
[You don't have to read this, Hades.]
Hades silently withdrew his hand.
"Ah...hahaha, ha...ha..."
Hades swallowed his saliva.
"Motarion... If you have something on your mind, tell me in time. Early detection and early treatment are needed."
Mortarion looked up from the pile of documents and looked at Hades calmly and resentfully. Hades suspected that the pile of documents was about to successfully kill Mortarion.
[If you really have nothing to do, then I don't mind letting you take charge of more content. ]
Mortarion said calmly,
"Ah, I remembered that the foundry recently asked me for something, and the purchase price of No. 3 screws is half price—"
"Ahem, no, Mortarion, what's going on with the Moon Wolves? And as for 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 stride away from the damn picture frame and directly across from his desk.
Hades looked at Mortarion with a serious and calm expression.
"Tell me the details. The matter of Mortarion, Garro, and Vorx is not over yet. The surveillance video of that area and the video record of Vorx's helmet have been deleted manually."
Mortarion let out a sigh from beneath his mask, then 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 can be a qualified legion commander.]
Mortarion said helplessly,
Mortarion watched expressionlessly as Hades's expression changed from astonishment to an expression of being unable to hold back. Then Hades really couldn't hold it back and he began to laugh. He even laughed so loudly that his wound was torn and he had to squat down to continue laughing.
Finally, Hades, trying hard to hold back his laughter, stood up.
"I understand Jialuo. Let me guess. You wanted to take risks, but Jialuo wanted to keep you? Was he trying to provoke you?"
He almost succeeded.
Mortarion said matter-of-factly.
Hades put on a serious expression.
"You really should spend more time on domestic and foreign affairs. Garo and Vox are under a lot of pressure, and the other management has a lot of work to do as well."
In fact, you have the heaviest workload, Hades.
Mortarion thought silently, but he said nothing.
Hades' enthusiasm has always been the highest. He originally thought that Hades liked to manage the affairs of the legion. In fact, Hades did show it like this.
Mortarion was never a tyrant who coveted power, and he believed in Hades, so he naturally handed all of this over to Hades.
But now he realized the pressure behind the workload and what he really thought when faced with these boring paperwork.
To some extent, Galaro 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 subject.
[Because I had another private chat with Coz, at least we resolved our personal grudge.]
Mortarion said with a hint of sarcasm,
[Moon Wolf looks relieved, and I never thought Horus could show that kind of expression—]
[To be honest, if I hadn't communicated with him remotely in the channel and told him the result, the Wolf God would have immediately... given me a hug that would have dislocated my bones.]
[He later contacted the Night Lords again. I think the answer they gave him was roughly the same, so he is now busy talking to that human civilization and preparing to meet the people from Terra—the answer from there is always coming soon.]
Hades quickly scanned the files...
"Wait, peace talks?"
[Yes, peace talks. When we were confronting the Night Lords, Horus was obviously not concerned with just one thing. He was keen to eliminate as many troubles as possible because he realized that the Death Guard would never cooperate with the Night Lords. So he contacted that human civilization without authorization...]
Mortarion said irritably.
[Horus chose to give that kingdom some preferential conditions and let them surrender voluntarily - this happened more than once or twice, the Moon Wolves often do this.]
Mortarion pulled out another stack of papers, and Hades recognized them as the documents Mortarion had been reading in the ward.
[No tithe will be collected in the first tax season, and then 10% tithe will be collected in the second tax season. The tax will increase by 20% every quarter until the full tax is collected.]
Hades looked at the terms of the document carefully. In addition, the document also listed the benefits given by the Empire -
At the same time, the Empire will open up trade to this civilization and gain access to the Forge World...
Hades spoke softly,
"He portrayed it as ... more of a partnership, with taxes like a membership fee, but 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 imperial truth, the empire itself grants great autonomy - because the empire simply cannot control it. However, in general, in the signed documents, the various powers are actually set very rigidly, and at first glance, the planet does not have much autonomy at all.
This should have been the case, but unfortunately the empire had not established any other effective institutions except the tax department.
Mortarion nodded.
[Horus gave this document to the Death Guard, asking whether we agree with this approach - because if taxes cannot be collected immediately, this recovery cannot be called "glorious and honorable." ]
"The Death Guard don't care about that."
Hades whispered,
He said,
[It depends on whether the Wolf God can completely convince the other side. As far as I know, they are still negotiating. Horus even exposed the positions of three legions - in order to make the other side realize that they have no chance of winning. ]
“It’s a bit risky.”
Hades commented,
Mortarion spoke without any concern.
[The Legion closest to this civilization is the Night Lords, and 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.]
…In a flash, Hades thought to himself, it’s not impossible.
It was just a decoy of a legion... Hades might have advocated minimizing casualties if it was any other legion, but the Night Lords? 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.
What’s more, Conrad Kotz is a lunatic.
And... if that's the case, Horus's rash action this time becomes... interesting.
Although Mortarion has sanctioned Konrad Curze on a personal level, Hades still needs to ensure that... after this, and even in the distant future, the Night Lords will not pose a substantial threat to the Death Guard...
"What do the people in the Empire say?"
[Civil war is prohibited, propaganda is prohibited, and all records are erased. ]
Mortarion's tone cooled.
[Perhaps I should have realized this earlier. Konrad Curze, my "brother", has committed many crimes. Horus said that according to "rumors", he had conflicts with Magnus, Guilliman, Dorn, and Fulgrim long before us.]
[Of course, I still sincerely hope that he and Magnus will disappear together in the conflict.]
Mortarion's dry humor, Hades smiled,
"Is that all the Empire said?"
[besides,]
Mortarion said, staring at Hades,
[They want you not to move, not to make a warp jump.]
Hades' smile froze, he did feel something was wrong... but since he couldn't release the black domain on a large scale, he couldn't be sure what the golden psychic energy looked like now.
Mortarion said slowly,
[them…]
[They may take you, Master of the Order of Silence.]
Mortarion was silent and stopped talking. For a moment, Hades even saw reluctance, regret, and even cautious temptation in Mortarion's eyes.
[What do you think, Hades?]
After a moment's silence, Mortarion suddenly spoke,
[I know that compared to the Death Guard, the Order of Silence may be more suitable for your physique. You see, it was you who chose to stay in the Death Guard, but... the Death Guard didn't give you what you wanted, right? ]
[Power? Corresponding to it is an even more desperate responsibility, and your friendship with Barbarus has faded after the legion recruited new soldiers from other planets...]
[And... there is also this incident, and the cooperation with the Iron Warrior. ]
Mortarion's eyes were evasive. 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 to being the second-in-command in the Legion, you will gain more power and glory - instead of worrying about the Legion's supplies and political status. ]
[so,]
Mortarion was still speaking,
[If you choose to leave the Death Guard, I understand your behavior and have no dissatisfaction or objection to it. ]
Mortarion's wandering gaze suddenly returned, 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 shocked by the content of Mortarion's words.
It seems... Mortarion feels guilty about him
A thought suddenly came to Hades' mind, with a hint of evil taste.
Mortarion looked at Hades. He was glad that Hades could see Curze's apology - but that still couldn't erase the fact. That was the fact, and it made Mortarion sad.
He watched Hades... Hades smiled
"You want to send me away, Mortarion?"
Mortarion's head rumbled. He didn't expect Hades' reaction to be like this.
This shouldn't be the sentence.
[… no.]
"Not what?"
Hades waited slowly and methodically for the answer, while he continued to casually look through the documents on Mortarion's desk 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 a very high authority within the legion. Whether it's a new recruit or a veteran, the Death Guard doesn't want you to leave. If you leave, it will be a heavy blow to the Death Guard.]
After dealing with the lethal dose of documents, Mortarion has also learned to speak in official language, Hades sighed silently.
"Then why do you want me to leave?"
Hades casually mentioned that he continued to deal true damage and critical hits.
[…I don’t want you to leave.]
"That's all."
Hades sorted the documents in his hand again.
"It still depends on the arrangements on Terra's side... My physical condition does bother me, but at least I don't want to leave the Death Guard, otherwise all my work over the years will be in vain."
"All my hard work over the years is just going to be thrown away in vain?"
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 ready to die.
[…even if the Empire sent you to the Ultramarines.]
…
ah
"Why should I go to the Ultramarines?"
Hades hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly realized something. He turned around and saw the blue envelope.
He immediately ran to reach for the letter.
Mortarion, realizing what Hades was going to do, also stood up in fear. The Lord of Death burst out with an astonishing speed of 10 or even 90%, and rushed to grab the letter that was already in Hades' hand and was about to be opened.
The final winner was Mortarion, and Hades went to the medical room again.
———
Small theater:
Garro silently watched the Ultramarines in Mortarion's office...
There's no hope.
For the first time, the veteran deeply experienced this cruel fact.
A little late posting, sorry.
Today it is 4.3k!
I created a new group, you can see the introduction, the previous group had too many people.
No more.
(End of this chapter)