[Barbarus]
The wind blows through the cornfields of Babarus.
Yixia raised his head with great effort. The height of the corn improved by the sage had already exceeded the height of an adult. These densely packed corn seedlings looked like lush aquatic plants at the bottom of a river. The sun cast rose-red spots, making everything even more like a dream.
But this is Babarus, the place farthest from the dream.
No, it’s not that the people of Babarus don’t dream—it’s just that everything here is rigorous, down-to-earth, and they consider the basics first, with little entertainment.
Even though the greatest use of this land is still to produce food and can indeed provide some military supplies - but here, all interpersonal relationships have been changed by some ancient and solemn existence. People have adapted to a militarized life and have adapted to less entertainment.
Yixia was silent for a moment. The bells of the Hades Church rang in the distance and white birds flew across the sky. She touched her pigtails and pressed down the corn seedlings in front of her.
A thin black cross stands out from the towering cornfield. It is the tomb of the heroes. Every child from Barbarus will be sent back to his hometown after death. In memory of them, a black cross will be erected in their hometown.
But it is not that a cross represents one deceased person - rather, a cross represents all the deceased within a 49-kilometer radius from it.
Otherwise, Barbarus would have been pierced with crosses long ago.
There are still a few butterflies resting on the cross. They are the rare native species of Barbary after the heavy rain. They are pale and broken, without any aesthetic appeal, but they are loved by the people of Barbary.
Yixia pressed down her sickle. She was not here to plant crops. This work had long been handed over to large machines. These people lurking in the fields were "hunting".
There are some animals on Barbarus that like to eat crops and have some attack power. The Death Guard did not eliminate them, but instead used them as a way to train people.
The girl suppressed her moss-green eyes and wiped her bloody hands on her linen apron. She touched the bag at her waist, which was bulging with a small round bone from the skull of a porpoise.
In Barbarus, you can trade these animal-specific bones for money, supplies, a good gun—and even gain the favor of the Legion.
The bag around Yisha's waist was enough to attract the attention of the Death Guard.
But she doesn't care much about this, because her grades in the Pass Military Academy are good enough and she has already become an internal candidate of the academy. She can then choose to be the commander of the Death Guard's auxiliary army, the Ghost Cavalry (she can control the knights, but this depends on her talent), or choose to join the Cult of the Underworld (but she will leave the Death Guard route).
Of course, the above are the three mainstream and conventional paths, which are also the common choices of the Barbarus people - men will choose the candidate position of the legion, and women will choose the cavalry, the command post of the hellhound, the political commissar post, the maintenance post...
In addition, the Death Guard offers exchange student places with the Ultramarines, and you can apply to continue your studies in the Five Hundred Worlds.
Or maybe you want to become a "Son of the Dead".
The concept of "Son of the Dead" originally originated from Pluto's solitary life on Barbarus, and later became a tradition - if you are peculiar enough, rebellious enough, enjoy solitude, and are good enough, then you can apply to become a "Son of the Dead".
Death Guard will provide you with a decent ship, some funds, and a large enough map of the galaxy -
Then you can go away on your own.
The Milky Way is vast, it's time to make achievements.
The Church of the Underworld provided the Sons of the Dead with food, lodging and certain assistance. After the first seven years, the Sons of the Dead were allowed to set foot on Barbarus again.
Over the past ten thousand years, many speculators have emerged from the Sons of the Dead. Some of them later converted to the Dark Religion and became a unique new force in the Dark Religion's command personnel, some became excellent wandering merchants, and the others... most of them disappeared forever in the vast Milky Way.
Perhaps one day in some corner of the galaxy, a hero saw through the enemy's conspiracy and saved a planet - or even the entire empire. In that case, don't be surprised if he speaks with a Babarus accent.
Yixia's aunt chose to become a son of the dead. In Yixia's memory, her aunt seemed to have become a pirate in the end.
Of course, as long as the target is not the Death Guard and their subordinates, the Death Guard will not care at all.
The embers of the bells faded into the sea of corn, and as evening drew to a close the sun burned red at the edge of the sky.
Yixia felt his heart beating.
Today is [Heroes' Couples Day].
This festival is to commemorate the death of the Death Guard forging master Pasteur and his lover, the female sage Nightingale, ten thousand years ago. On the important satellite hive planet of Graeae, in a battle with the greenskins, the Death Guard's third company, the sixth squad and the affiliated technical squad were completely wiped out.
At the last moment, Forge Master Pasteur and his companion Sage Nightingale decided to detonate the antimatter engine pile in the hive to slow down the greenskin attack and buy time for the Death Guard reinforcements.
Because they did not have the highest key, the two had to take the initiative to go to the scene to operate. The last image they left for people was Pasteur standing in front of the door covered in blood, and Nightingale took the initiative to jump into the reaction pool to complete the final explosion.
In the end, the war was won. Pasteur's apprentice went to collect Pasteur's belongings, but found a diary among a pile of books.
This diary records the story of Pasteur and Nightingale in detail. The two met when they borrowed the Pluto Mars Notes, and then the female sage was "accidentally" transferred to Pasteur's combat team, and the two fought together.
No doubt, Pasteur's apprentice called the feelings expressed by Pasteur in this diary "secret love" and "secret love with great revolutionary friendship."
Later, the Death Guard also found a similar diary in the surviving data of Sage Nightingale, which recorded how the female sage developed a liking for Pasteur and tried every means to transfer him into Pasteur's combat team.
But according to insiders, the two probably didn't tell each other about their feelings in the end, but fought together to the end in the name of protecting humanity.
One was too dull to understand his own feelings, the other was timid enough.
But it doesn’t matter, after all, they were buried together in the end.
In the culture of Death Guard and Barbarus, death is both the most important and the most understated.
This seemed to have wiped out all the previous regrets and dissatisfaction.
But no matter what, people later established the [Heroes' Couples Day] to commemorate the two - one is to praise their achievements, and the other is to secretly warn the new generation of people - especially the Barbarus people who are famous for their silence and subtlety, to express the love in their hearts as soon as possible.
However, the reality is cruel. [Heroes' Couples' Day] is close to [Conscription Month]. As the sun sets on Heroes' Couples' Day, the Conscription Month begins.
Afterwards, the Death Guard, Cerberus Hounds, Cults of the Underworld, Mechanical Skitarii... countless organizations will start recruiting in Barbarus.
Many young people often separate from their lovers immediately after expressing their feelings and embark on an unfamiliar battlefield.
There may be other hints in this, or maybe it is just a coincidence, but no matter what, the days just flow by.
On the night of the Day of Heroes and Their Families, people lit a grand bonfire, but there was no singing or dancing, nor were there any gatherings. They simply lit a flame around the black cross - there was no curfew tonight, so let the heroic spirits guard the young people who were about to set sail and light a beam of light for them in the darkness.
Young people will find a place by themselves. Each region has its own customs and adults do not interfere.
Yixia hurriedly ate in a nearby underworld church. The last bit of the sun had set, and the earth became dim. In the distance, on the dimly pulsating horizon, there were sounds of snap, snap, snap—
The flames jumped up.
The firelight illuminated the girl's young face, clearly showing her long eyelashes and freckles on her face. She was panicked, but also excited.
She hurried out of the Hades Church. Couples of figures were already emerging from the darkness. Soft instructions and whispers were floating in the fields. In the distance was the cold light of the armor of the Death Guards on duty - since there was no curfew, there would be people standing guard to ensure safety.
There are also some people who specifically go up to the Death Guards on duty on this day. Some simply offer them a handful of corn seedlings, while others are looking for their lost family members. Those who come to stand guard are often new recruits - the one who is looking for someone may be a mother, a father, or a lover.
Yixia thought for a moment, then strode towards a location that was familiar to both of them. She passed through the cornfield, through the woods, and through the shooting range used for training at the academy. Finally, she arrived there and saw his figure.
The moon is dim and the waves are bright white.
She took a deep breath and soothed her panting after the long cross-country journey.
"Hey," Yixia grinned awkwardly. She tugged at her collar. The apron had been taken off and washed and returned to the priest of the Hades Cult, revealing her training pants and well-tied leggings.
She walked over and sat next to the young man skillfully.
The young man had a face full of freckles like her, and his deep blue eyes were particularly deep and melancholy. However, he didn't look at her, but just stared at the lake in a daze.
Yixia sat down cross-legged and shook his body.
"Tonight... the moon is so beautiful tonight."
She said, cursing her own foolish opening remarks in her heart, and hastened to make amends.
"I have made up my mind,"
She said, "I plan to join the cavalry. I want to drive a knight. I have asked the sage 0567 Ao. I think I may have a talent for this."
A faint smile appeared on the young man's lips. He looked alive.
"That's a good thing," he said hesitantly. "I'm happy for you, from the bottom of my heart, Yisha."
"A knight is more than a warrior on the battlefield."
He said, picking up a piece of grass from the ground.
“No,” Isha said, “every soldier has value—we can’t take them lightly.”
"Is this what you wanted?"
Alu said, seeming absent-mindedly, "Everyone has value?"
"Yes," Isha answered firmly, "Every soldier has his own significance. Even an auxiliary soldier can shoot a bullet into the enemy's head."
This didn't seem to be the answer the young man wanted to hear. Alu turned his head and looked at Yixia seriously, then turned his head and sighed.
Yixia didn't notice much, she just felt her face turn red. The young man's serious gaze was enough to make her blush - even though she didn't feel so nervous when defusing a bomb.
Could this not be a conspiracy of Chaos
Yixia thought about it and quickly prayed for Hades' blessing in her heart. The bonfire of the black cross in the distance swayed, which made her feel a little weak, but Yixia also confirmed that this was not Chaos' conspiracy.
She just loves him.
Yixia's fingers were digging into the grass on the ground.
"You..." She drew out the words, "Where are you going, Alu?"
Alu's performance in the military academy was not outstanding - it could even be called terrible, but in Barbarus, military academy was compulsory education. After that, people could choose to learn other things, but from the age of three to sixteen - you had to go to military academy. As a Barbarus, you had to at least learn how to drive a hellhound.
The young man did not answer, but only looked even more dejected.
Silence, with only the chirping of insects.
Yixia felt nervous about this unspeakable silence. She thought about it and finally decided to follow her heart. She took out the hunting bag she had prepared long ago from her waist, which was full of bones.
Enough bones to get a person noticed by the Death Guard.
"A-alu," Yisha said, closing her eyes and thrusting the bag in her hand forward, pushing the young man down. The young man fell to the grass behind him and struggled to sit up while screaming.
"I like you—and—this is for you!"
"Do you want to be a Death Guard? Or a Knight? Or a Hades Bishop? Whatever you want, take it!"
Alu opened his eyes wide in surprise, but smiled helplessly, even though the smile on his lips was sincere.
"I-that's not what I meant, Isha."
He said gently, "I mean... no... that's not what I meant."
The young man was silent for a moment, and then he said as if he had made up his mind.
"I like you, too. This friendship is absolutely sincere—but—but not everyone has to become a Death Guard, a knight, or a bishop..."
"You wish to be the son of a dead soul?"
Yixia suddenly raised his head, looking at the young man with twinkling eyes.
"N-No no no no."
Instead, the young man was at a loss, "I just - I mean -"
"I-I just want to stay on Barbaros as a farmer."
Yixia opened his mouth in confusion.
A kind of sadness surged over Alu. In Barbarus, staying where you are might be something that only the most useless people would do. Some of the people in Barbarus were retired Hades dogs, and the other part were those who "were not chosen for anything".
Al sighed deeply.
"Do you understand? - or do you want to take it back?"
The young man raised his eyebrows calmly and asked,
"You're staying in Barbarus—this—this—"
Yixia smiled, "Then I can come back to see you more often."
…
The bushes behind them rustled. Karas, who came here to recruit soldiers and chose to go out and wander around, stood up in boredom. He shook the bottle of wine in his hand and realized that he had come here to be alone for a while, but was disturbed by the young couples.
He had wanted to listen—but now, Karas vomited.
Look, anyone is smarter than him, why didn't he stay in Barbaros and be a farmer
Thinking so, Karas took another sip of wine and staggered along the forest path.
Hmm... Who would have thought that Barbarus was such a horrible place back then that it would be so livable now.
Karas burped, he couldn't be called stupid at that time... He slowly thought that life was too hard... He really wanted to die rather than return to this planet.
The bonfire was burning in the distance, and Karas knew that in a few days, that idiot would come back to have fun.
So many people - Karas thought drunkenly, so many people - enough to cover an entire planet's ten thousand years - this guy must have done something remarkable.
At least now he could listen to the little things whining about something that didn't even exist.
(End of this chapter)