Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

"What did you say?"

"A planetary rebellion that was secretly manipulated by Alpharius?"

This brief message made the Lord of Five Hundred Worlds, who was busy with document affairs, temporarily stop writing. He quickly raised his head, and his right hand, which had lost the guidance of his eyes, did not forget to fluently complete the signature work on the paper, while the other hand took the opportunity to touch the teacup, so that he could take the time to replenish one or two liters of much-needed liquid caffeine while listening to the news.

The Macragge people are used to keeping themselves in a multi-threaded state, so as to squeeze out more time to take care of more details: even when talking with blood brothers, Guilliman will specially free up part of his brain capacity to think about things that are completely unrelated to the topic. This obvious perfunctory attitude is also one of the reasons why his reputation has become so bad.

But the Lord of Five Hundred Worlds never cares about these trivial matters that do not affect his interests in the real world: even if there are a million angry mouths cursing the name of Guilliman at the same time in the entire empire, Macragge's growing wealth and national strength will not be affected in the slightest.

Guilliman despised them: even if the owners of these mouths were his brothers.

But from another perspective, if the development of things would actually affect the interests and future of the Five Hundred Worlds, the Macragge people would definitely take the highest alert, shirk everything at hand, and pay attention to the progress of a small matter outside tens of millions of stars: and if it was related to his mysterious brother, then this matter would be more worthy of frowning and thinking for a while.

This is the situation now.

"Alpharius..."

The Primarch whispered the name, and the majestic voice was drowned in the sound of running water. The hot liquid caffeine moistened Guilliman's throat. Although their taste was not pure and beautiful, it could even be said to be very bad, but the Primarch was never a person who indulged in pleasure: the reason why he chose this drink as his work companion was purely because it had the best refreshing effect.

Guilliman also tried to recommend this secret weapon to his brothers, such as Morgan and Crade, who were close to him: especially Conrad. After learning a little about what kind of dark enemy Midnight Haunter and his Eighth Legion were facing, Guilliman hoped more than anyone else that his Nostramo brothers could stay awake and alert at all times.

But Conrad obviously couldn't bear this kindness.

This survival expert who had afternoon tea with rats and rotten meat in his childhood, after personally sipping the [Working Companion] that Guilliman strongly recommended, immediately fell to the ground and vomited and had diarrhea for several minutes, which made Sevatar and others present almost draw their swords against Guilliman.

Fortunately, the extremely resilient Midnight Haunter recovered in time and stopped the possible Legion fight, but in the next half month, Conrad the Witch always used extremely melancholy eyes to make his brother's scalp numb: whenever he looked at the Midnight Haunter's eyes, Guilliman would have a very real illusion.

Midnight Haunter looked at the Macragge people with such resentment: it was as if Guilliman had killed Sevatar with his own hands.

The intention of promoting caffeine was naturally aborted, but after that, Guilliman still did not give up. During the Ullanor Expedition, he recommended his caffeine to Chagatai Khan, Jonson, Fulgrim and others who fought alongside him: he always believed that sharing gifts was a good way to bring brothers closer.

Before leaving, Lady Euden specifically asked him to build a good relationship with his brothers.

But the Lord of Macragge wisely did not find Morgan, because when he took out his precious caffeine in front of the Spider Queen, Morgan's face clearly flashed a moment of coldness, obviously Conrad had already complained.

At that moment, the only thing Guilliman could do was to quickly touch his neck to make sure it was there.

The recommendation to Jonson and Chagatai Khan was not going well. The two children who came out of the wilderness just smelled the smell of the things in Guilliman's hands, and then left with respect: Even when facing Randan, Jonson's steps had never been so fearful.

On the contrary, Fulgrim, who was traveling with him, heard the news and ran over to visit.

He was the only one who had the courage to drink Guilliman's work partner.

And Phoenix is ​​worthy of being Phoenix, his performance is much better than Conrad.

Fulgrim at least managed to rush into his room, and he didn't forget to close the door: but during the rest of the Ullanor Crusade, the Phoenix never approached his Macragge brothers again, and at the same time, rumors that Guilliman [attempted to poison other Primarch brothers with strong toxins] gradually spread, and the rumors were spread with details.

"..."

Ms. Euden, it's really hard to get along well with brothers.

The Lord of the Five Hundred Worlds, who seemed to be indifferent, wailed in his heart.

The only subsequent impact of these things on Guilliman might be that on the eve of the end of the Ullanor Crusade, the Macragge people suddenly received an invitation letter: Mortarion, who had never had any contact with him, suddenly had a whim and hoped that Guilliman could visit his Endurance one day.

Guilliman readily agreed, but did not immediately set a date, because he still felt a little unfamiliar with this kind of tea party between blood brothers: it might be better to wait until his sister Avalon has time to go with him.

Morgan and Mortarion...

Hmm... there should be no problem, right?

In the second when his most trusted hero unfolded the intelligence information, the Lord of Macragge blinked, thinking about so many ideas in his mind, and also made a series of follow-up plans to invite Morgan and visit the Endurance: After doing all this, the hero's voice came at the right time.

The time is just right.

"According to the various intelligence we received before, the incident happened in the southern part of the Maelstrom region, on a civilized world called Vianya. This world has always maintained a semi-independent state with the human empire for more than a hundred years, but because it is in the chaotic Maelstrom region, the empire has never had the energy to deal with it."

"Vianya."

This name stirred up a familiar wave in the lake in Guilliman's heart. He had heard of this name, and with the Lord of Macragge's photographic memory, he was sure that he had dealt with things related to this name: but it took a few seconds to think.

So, Guilliman paused for three seconds

"I remember it."

The Primarch nodded quickly.

"Is this civilized world close to our overseas territories in the Maelstrom region?"

"Yes."

"It is adjacent to Badab."

"Yes, Badab..."

The Primarch chewed on the name, and a trace of nostalgia appeared on the corner of his mouth. The last time he thought about [Badab] was at least seventy or eighty years ago: but it is undoubtedly part of the Five Hundred Worlds, and it should have nothing to do with the Alpha Legion.

"Tell me, what did Alpharius do in Viania?"

"Hmm...very strange."

The hero scratched his head in confusion.

"What we can be sure of is that Lord Alpharius did bring his entire legion to the front line of Ullanor, but when the Ullanor War was halfway through, he suddenly split up several companies and ordered them to advance to the Maelstrom area, and at the same time received the order to pacify the Vianya world."

"Pacification order?"

"Yes, do you remember that the Terra government would put those tasks that were not so important or that the mortal expedition fleet was unable to take on on the mission list of the Great Crusade: if the Primarch and the Legion were interested, they could take the initiative to undertake the tasks given on the list. This act of undertaking tasks It depends entirely on voluntary participation and the actual situation of each legion. For example, we Ultramarines have never done this. "

"The same goes for the Dawnbreakers: we are too busy to handle our own work."

"Generally speaking, the Iron Warriors are the ones who most often take on tasks on this list. They have maintained this habit in recent years, but they only take on the most important tasks that are related to the progress of the entire Great Crusade: instead of taking on all of them at once like before, regardless of the dirty work. "

"This is a good thing. "

The Primarch was stunned for a moment, but soon felt relieved for his Olympian brother.

"Perturabo's brain has finally become a little more active."

"But I heard that the High Lords of Holy Terra don't like to see this change: many tasks are thankless but must be done, so they have been left vacant for a long time. It is said that the High Lords Council on Terra is discussing the possibility of forcibly assigning these tasks, but the final decision on this order lies with the Emperor."

"I have many reasons to hate them."

The Primarch did not comment on this. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the High Lords with a snort, but soon stopped: because from a rational point of view, Guilliman can actually understand the behavior of these Terra officials, although from the perspective of the Legion, he is also very resistant to this kind of forced assignment.

"So, Alpharius took on this kind of assignment."

"Not really. The task of pacifying Viania is not difficult at all, but it is not glorious either. We also cannot understand why Lord Alpharius suddenly took on this pacification task, and his methods of pacifying this civilized world are also...extreme."

"What do you mean?"

"He first spent several months to let the two major factions in this world start a full-scale civil war. This civil war destroyed most of Viania's infrastructure and productivity. Until the two major factions were both defeated, the Alpha Legion suddenly supported the The three factions conducted a comprehensive liquidation of them, killed a large number of leading figures in the two civil war factions, and occupied the entire Viania for the Empire. "

"He wants to completely control it?"

"More than that, because after only a dozen days, the two civil war factions that should have been annihilated suddenly launched a counterattack and fundamentally eliminated the third faction. Then the two factions actually united and stood together under the banner of the Alpha Legion, pledging allegiance to the Empire and Terra: In any case, the High Lords' Council finally accepted this result, but Viania did become a ruin. "

"..."

"Unbelievable..."

Guilliman held his tea cup and sat there in silence for several seconds. He reached out his hand with some disbelief and took the thin piece of letter paper from Yingjie's hand: the signature and seal at the bottom of the paper roll. They all pointed to his most trusted subordinates, but the content above was so funny, as if they were deliberately deceiving.

"What's in it for him?"

The original body frowned and drank all the caffeine in the tea cup in confusion: he had never met this brother named Alpharius before, and he had no in-depth understanding of the 20th Legion.

He had indeed heard of their preference for a mysterious fighting style.

But this kind of behavior shouldn’t be described as mysterious, right?

"We don't know either."

Yingjie, who had followed the original body for at least a hundred years, could only shake his head helplessly.

"But one thing is certain. Vianya is very close to our enclave of Badab in the Maelstrom area. The command is worried that the chaos in Vianya will affect our territory: the Maelstrom area is already chaotic enough. No more nails belonging to the Alpharius Legion should be inserted into the chaotic situation there."

"Let them pay attention."

The original body just nodded, he was not too worried about the impact of this matter.

"No matter what, Alpharius is my blood brother. We are all warriors and heirs of the Lord of Mankind. There is no reason to harm each other's interests: just don't let Vianya affect our land. Use Don’t worry about anything else.”

"I'll give the order."

"Besides, my lord."

Yingjie didn't leave immediately, he looked a little hesitant.

"Say it."

"That's right. You should know that there are many soldiers of Badabu descent in the legion, right?"

"Of course I know that."

Guilliman raised his eyebrows in displeasure.

"Have you forgotten? Can I remember every member of the Five Hundred Worlds?"

"I can tell you right now that Badab is an imperial world that surrendered to me during the Second Osiris War: At that time, we and Morgan's Dawnbreaker Legion had just joined forces to defeat the Osiris aliens and disperse the Troubled Legion. Years of old nightmares, and on the way back, we received a letter from Badab asking for help.”

"This world has been suffering from the greenskins for thirty years. They asked for my help at the price of surrender. After we helped them drive away the greenskins, the Badab people were grateful for our help. , they loyally provided Macragge with wealth and military service for the next hundred years. In order to reward their loyalty, I promoted them to the main star of the five hundred worlds of Ultramar thirty years ago. A level administrative district, that is to say, Badab is one of the five hundred worlds.”

"It's our core territory."

"We should shed the last drop of our blood to protect them."

"In addition, there are at least two thousand members of my Ultramarines from various colonial worlds in Badab and its surroundings. The best among them have become company commanders: ordered to station in the world of Badab Most of the members of that company are natives of Badab.”

"So: what's the problem?"

Facing the gaze of the original body, Yingjie did not have the courage to give in.

"Well, the people of Badab expressed their concerns to me through the battle brothers stationed there, because they had heard rumors that the Emperor would divide the Primarchs, and they were worried that they would not be divided into five In the Hundred Worlds area, after all, they are closer to Holy Terra than Macragge."

"Indeed."

Guilliman thought of the Five Hundred World Map that he had measured again not long ago.

"Badabu is the world closest to the western end of my core territory."

"Are they worried about that?"

"That's right: you know, because our taxes have never been heavy, and we have always adopted supportive policies for Badab, so looking at the entire southern part of the Maelstrom region, Badab is the richest world: there are rumors It is said that Holy Terra intends to raise the tithe in the entire Maelstrom area, and Badab, the richest and most conspicuous one, is most likely to be used as a model.”

"impossible."

Guilliman denied it without thinking.

"You go tell them."

"Just tell me my exact words."

"Badab has been an integral part of the Five Hundred Worlds since ancient times. In the past one hundred years, their people have shed blood and sweat for our cause. I will never abandon this world under any circumstances: just like me As I told you before, the Ultramarines will shed their last drop of blood for their land."

"As long as we are here, they don't have to worry about any external threats."

"Even... Terra?"

The Primarch turned his head and glanced at his Hero with a strange look: the implications of these words should have made him angry, but because the possibility he hinted at was so absurd, Guilliman found it a bit ridiculous.

"You are so worried."

He laughed and cursed, was stunned for a while, and then nodded and admitted nonchalantly.

"Yes: even Terra."

"..."

"Don't worry, my child."

After a while, the Lord of Macragge's words seemed to be comforting the hero and himself.

"Terra is not willing to embarrass five hundred worlds just for a little tax."

"Besides, even if it's taxation, how serious can it be?"

"Will it starve people to death?"

Guilliman smiled again.

"Anyway, it seems now: my father is not a spendthrift person."

"Don't worry: a few tax issues will not disrupt the empire that can span the galaxy."

"I promise you, my child."