The stench of corpses permeated the wasteland of Garaspa, and near the nest capital, corpses had long been piled up into a spiky hill.

On the bloated nest, a large hole is visible, and a few wisps of fireworks float out from time to time.

Motarian watched in silence as his two brothers stepped off the shuttle, and he slowly pursed his shriveled lips.

Originally, each Primordial returned and was led by the Primordial brothers who brought them back in one step to learn how to become a qualified legion commander and gradually integrate into the Empire.

Originally, it would have been Horus who would have led Motarian, but by chance, the step of Motarian's integration into the empire was completed by Machado.

Motarian, on the other hand, did not have much contact with his so-called biological brothers.

But he still distinguishes between the two through Machado's previous description of each genotype.

The figure walking in front was shorter, wearing a distinctly distinctive black steel-colored Seiko armor, but the intricate and delicate power armor did not wrap around his hands, but instead revealed silver-white steel arms, and the metal looked to be as tough as possible—

Motarian grasped this detail, presumably as Fernus, a man who, according to Machado, was born in the world of death like him, with an extreme pursuit of sanity and efficiency.

That's good news, Motarian thought.

Because of the previous understanding, Motarian realized that he was not satisfied with all of his brothers, and in those obscure and evasive descriptions, Motarian decisively grabbed those brothers whom he might not like.

For example, he had a brother who used psionic powers, and for example, he was puzzled by the pursuit of glory and magnificence by most of his brothers.

But now it's Fenus, Motarian thought, hoping that his brother would be able to judge the merits of the Death Guards fairly, as this would affect the Empire's position of the Death Guards and the possible summoning of them to those battlefields.

And behind his brother, Fenus, a. and his tall figure walked silently.

Rather burly, the elder brother was even taller than Motarian, and he looked wider than the three unarmored Motarians stacked together.

Aside from the Emperor, Motarian had never seen anyone taller than him.

Motarian felt himself tense for a moment, but he forced himself to relax and stare intensely at the second comer.

A question briefly popped up, why didn't that taller person go ahead?

The thought quickly crossed out.

The royal green armor, carved like dragon scales, shimmered on his armor because of the cleverly carved angle, even in the dim daylight of Garaspa.

Distinctive pure black skin, the flames burned in his eyes.

That must be Vulcan, Motarian thought silently.

According to Machado, Vulcan was a benevolent primordial.

Benevolent? Would he then understand the mercy of Motarian's death? Will he be benevolent in assessing the Death Guard?

Motarian didn't know, he just stood in silence, waiting, welcome, and the two brothers came over.

Beside him, the Death Shrouds also stood silently, but he knew that there was no one missing from the queue.

It was a bad feeling that he was about to be evaluated by others, and Motarian felt irritable again, but the fact that he saw two good-looking brothers for the first time weakened his uneasiness.

However, after that he knew that he was wrong, very wrong.

As they got closer, even those as silent as Motarian were quick to detect that something was wrong with the atmosphere.

The comer was silent, and Motarian even saw a hint of wetness in Vulcan's fiery eyes.

Motarian's heart slammed.

Doom has begun.

"Hello, my brother, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Fenus Manus, Lord of Medusa, Legion Commander of the Iron Hand."

Fernus motioned for his convoy to withdraw, and held out his iron hand to Motarian.

"Motarian, Lord of Barbarus, Captain of the Death Guard."

"I'm glad to meet you, too."

Motarian muttered under the cover of his breathing mask.

His voice was hoarse and rough compared to his brother's firm and full voice.

They shook their hands, and the opposite hand was very strong and firm.

Then Motarian slowly moved his gaze to Vulcan, and reached for it as well.

Vulcan smiled as if reluctantly, but took Motarian's outstretched hand.

"Vulcan, Nocturne, Captain of the Salamanders."

The Lord of the Fire Dragon's body temperature was so high that even through the power armor, Motarian could feel the burning sensation like lava.

They quickly let go of their hands.

"I've looked at the battle, the stats of the Death Guard."

Fernus in front of Motarian took a deep breath, and his eyes in his deep eyes stared at Motarian, as if he was restraining something,

"But I'd like you to tell us about the battle of the Death Guard."

Motarian blinked slowly, he didn't feel quite right, but he decided to go on anyway, introducing the Death Guard's victory to his two brothers.

The Lord of Death turned sideways to give his brothers a clearer view of the mountain of corpses.

Vulcan's figure shook for a moment.

"Those were the rulers of Galaspa's tyranny, but they were all there now, every single one."

"Tyrants oppress the people, treat them as their real property, and oppress the people for generations."

"But now, the oppression is gone."

"The Death Guard has uprooted the management system of the Galaspar system, and not even the tiniest cells have escaped."

"We dismantled the regime in Galaspa in one day."

Saying this, Motarian was a little relieved that his death guard had not failed him, and he had not failed his death guard, and he had uprooted tyranny.

"Brother. Motarian, may I take the liberty of asking a question? ”

Vulcan's voice rang out,

？

Motarian turned his head and looked at Vulcan in bewilderment, but the shadow of his hood obscured his eyes,

"Those. What are those who are moving on the mountain of corpses? ”

On top of the dense mountain of corpses, the ragged dots moved slowly.

At first, Vulcan thought it was a native who had stripped his wealth and clothing from the corpse, but he stared at it for a long time, and the men did not remove any of their jewelry.

"They're counting."

Mortarian's voice sounded lightly,

"The oppressed need to feel for themselves that the oppression is gone, and they need to stand up for themselves."

"So?"

Vulcan was puzzled.

"So I asked them to count the corpses of the tyrants, and to make them realize that the heavy oppression was over."

Vulcan was completely choked.

He couldn't understand, he couldn't understand, he tried to understand this brother with difficulty, I heard, Motarian came from a bleak dead planet, so, is this their custom there?

"Did you ask the locals about their wishes?"

Vulcan cautiously asked one last question, but Mortarion's reaction broke him.

“？”

What's there to ask about this?

The ragged men couldn't have realized what Motarian had in mind, and with so many things to do on the Death Guard, he didn't have the time to do it.

What, talk to a local? He might as well go and sit in the infirmary for a while.

Vulcan completely collapsed, and the fire dragon spoke slowly but firmly,

"Brother, brother Motarian, you can't replace one tyranny with another."

Motarian stalled.

Is Vulcan saying that the death guard is tyranny?

They had brought liberation, and Motarian even let the men see the tyrant being hanged.

Tyranny?

He hasn't done anything, why accuse him.

Suddenly, Motarian realizes that this brother has a reputation for kindness. He breathed a sigh of relief without a trace.

That's how merciful he was, Motarian thought.

If Vulcan had been in Barbarus's kind of dead world, he wouldn't have thought so.

However, Fernus spoke, and he first turned his head to look at Vulcan, who nodded, indicating that he was okay,

"So, brother, is that what you want us to see?"

"Tyranny aside, I think the Killiman and the like might be interested in it, but I really don't pay much attention to that."

"I mean, if you know that you've cleaned up all the administrative staff in Garaspa, where are you going to find a replacement for them?"

Motarian choked, and for a moment, he spoke slowly,

"The empire will send the administration, and they have already sent the tax department."

Fenus smiled lightly, but his frowning brow did not relax,

"My brother, it's true that we all have slightly different opinions about the Empire's taxes, but I think you know that the Empire can't send so many administrators in a short period of time in a giant nest like Garaspa."

In fact, except for some major planets, or extreme star fields, most of the conquered planets, the empire only sent the tax department, and then symbolically inserted a few administrative departments, and let the natives of the original planet do the rest.

Motarian was silent, he really didn't pay attention to the administration of the nest capital after this, he just knew that the factory here was no longer operating.

But that's how it is in war, isn't it?

"Death guards can be managed by the locals."

"I hope it's a viable solution."

Fenus spoke mercilessly,

"But on this planet, with a high degree of division of education, I don't think you can find a lot of administrative talent in the short term."

Mortarian was silent, he quietly hid himself in the shadow of his hood, but he knew that he was not defeated.

"The first time I've done this, no one told me that in addition to war and victory, the legion has to worry about these mortal affairs."

"But the Death Guard's war performance isn't all that satisfying, my brother."

Fernus continued to pursue Motarian, trying to tear him apart with words.

"The losses of the fleet were too many, and the damage ratio of the dead guards in this battle, even when compared to other battles, was surprisingly high."

The Death Guard lost more than 10,000 men in this campaign, although most of them were new recruits.

Fenus looked disapprovingly at the gray brother in front of him, most of his brother's body covered by poison gas and a broken cloak, preventing him from seeing Motarian's reaction.

Could this newly returned brother be similar to Perturab's attitude towards his own legion and heirs?

There is no genetic progeny who will praise this attitude towards the offspring.

Motarian in front of him moved, and the poisonous gas drifted into the air with his actions,

"These are necessary sacrifices in order to liberate this region."

He spoke hoarsely, and Fernus noticed that his brother's tone was too hoarse, like a pebble that had been soaked in acid. But with their constitution, it stands to reason that it is difficult to leave long-term permanent damage.

"Have you really liberated this place?"

Fernus spoke, he really didn't understand the strange train of thought of this brother, and avoided the important and trivial, but the data and reality were here.

Did he turn a blind eye to those enormous sacrifices?

So far, based on Mortarian's behavior, Fernus has analyzed that Mortarian pays considerable attention to some "values" in his thoughts.

But it is not the pursuit of glory in the ordinary sense, and he deliberately chooses Galaspa in order to pursue glory.

After all, no matter how measured this battle is, it cannot be described as "glorious".

Fernus knew that his best friend, Fogen, would strive for perfection and glory on the battlefield and win every war beautifully.

But he was ashamed to compare their previous battle to the battle of Galaspar in front of him.

Meaningless battles.

Fernus thought.

Huge sacrifices and losses, conquering a system that can't immediately provide production capacity for the Empire, and even the Empire needs additional support here.

The items at both ends of the scale are not equal.

Why didn't his brother give up on this place, let the Empire surround this starfield, and wait until the Empire needed it before joining forces with the other legions to attack?

Prior to this assessment, in order to comprehensively and systematically examine his brother's results, Fernus searched all the data and information in detail.

Obviously, there are at least three pocket kingdoms suitable for the Death Guardian to attack outside the star field not far away, and Motarian can complete the first campaign speech of the Death Guardian on their pleasant main planet.

"My brother, based on reality, as well as the assessment of post-war data, I do not think that this battle is suitable for the annals of the Empire."

According to the custom of the Empire, after a legion battle, the victories were recorded in the annals of the historians and publicized throughout the Empire.

Clans that won hard, and demonstrated superior results in battles, were further rewarded, sometimes directly from the Emperor.

But not all campaigns do.

Those dishonorable battles, or the legions' heavy losses, and the disgraceful battles will be hidden in the snow and disappear into the vast history of the Empire.

Obviously, such a battle, as the first battle of the Death Guard, a battle that made an impression on other legions, was not suitable for publicity.

Fernus also thought about Motarian, after all, some of their other brothers were not so forgiving.

He looked at Motarian, who had been silent since a moment ago, standing silently, the poisonous gas slowly drifting away.

"You-"

You can't insult me and my legion's victory, you just want to steal the fruits of the Death Guard's victory and measure this war by your so-called standards.

In war, the only criterion is victory or defeat, do not use those, the cumbersome criteria you have defined, to limit and steal our victory.

Mortarian was familiar with the ugly faces of these men, and in his years when he was weak enough, his adoptive father would always give him various tasks, and whenever Mortarian had completed them, he would judge them by the exact opposite.

As it is now.

They won, but they will be judged by whether there are enough mortal officials after the war?!

Mortarian's vicious, words to defend himself and the glory of Death Guard are about to be sprayed like poison gas—

Behind him, there was a sudden commotion in his death shroud.

In front of him, Fernus and Vulcan stared behind him with some confusion,

So Motarian stopped his words, and he turned back.

Heavily armed and dressed in the Death Jacket Finisher, Hades stood in the queue, with the Death Guard badge on his left shoulder and the Martian Cult badge on his right shoulder.

Hades took a slow step forward, feeling as tired as if he had just walked over a mountain.

He clasped his hands into fists on his chest and made a sky eagle salute.

"Sorry to interrupt, my lord, the data you asked me to collect has been collected."

What data?

Although Motarian was happy to see Hades wake up, he was sorry for not being able to visit him.

But now these emotions, including the anger just now, are surrounded by inexplicable doubts.

Motarian's face was full of doubt, but fortunately he was wearing a breathing mask, so Fernus and Vulcan did not see his puzzled expression.

However, Hades didn't give Motarian time to react, and hurriedly continued.

Seeing that Motarian was not annoyed or scolded by the death shroud that interrupted his conversation, Fernanus and Vulcan thought it was Motarian's arrangement and did not say much.

"The second survey report on the distribution and production capacity of the Garaspa nest has been completed, and a preliminary assessment of the population structure and the original division of labor has been made."

"The mechanical sages have analyzed this as well."

"The conclusion is that Galaspar is suitable as a conscription planet for the Death Guard, and your previous doubts can be dispelled."

He didn't think about Galaspa as a conscription planet-

"So that's it?"

However, Fernus's speech interrupted Motarien's doubts.

Fenus's gaze fell on Hades, who looked thoughtfully at the Martian Cult label on his shoulder armor.

If it was sent to Mars when the Death Guard was first formed, it shouldn't be able to get the Martian certification badge now, right?

But Fernus quickly focused on what Hades had just said.

If his weird brother wanted to use Galaspa as a conscription planet, then his behavior would be more explainable.

At least it's much more reasonable than for the sake of "liberation".

After all, Galaspa, as a giant nest world, also has resources that can produce weapons and ammunition in large quantities, and has a large population and abundant resources.

In general, in this kind of world, the empire will not cede to the legions, because they are too rich.

But the difficulty of attacking this galaxy determines that the empire will not touch it.

Regardless of the blockade, insisting on attacking and taking this system, the Death Guard, who has suffered heavy losses, can apply to the Empire for this system as a conscription system.

Don't

Fenus glanced meaningfully at Motarian,

Could it be that he is deliberately cleaning up all the administrative staff and making it more difficult for the imperial administration to accept it in order to better eat the resources here?

I didn't expect it to be so far-sighted.

Generally speaking, the original body that returned at the beginning, except for Killiman, few people began to lay out the army's recruitment sources and supply areas so early.

And Fernus also knew that his brother, Mortarian's home planet Barbarus, did not seem to be able to carry a large number of people.

What Motarian did just now was to prevent them from seeing his intentions and report it to the imperial administration?

I see

No, Fenus thought, the Primitives didn't really like the Imperial Institution very much.

"I see, I misunderstood, my brother."

Fernus said,

"We are all brothers, don't worry."

"Can I ask a few more questions about your desire to use Galaspar as a conscription planet?"

Motarian in front of him was silent.

Hades' voice rang out, as hoarse as Mortarian's, but sonorous,

"My lord, Lord Motarian, who is busy with the affairs of the Legion, has entrusted this matter to me, please let me answer your questions."

"Okay."

Nor was Fenus the original body dwelling on these things, so he simply threw out some of his confusion about the structure of Galaspar and the composition of its star field.

To his relief, he was worthy of a technical sergeant, and the other party answered his questions one by one with capable generalizations and rich data.

"Good, good."

"I'm glad to meet such a brilliant Death Guard Tech Sergeant, what's your name?"

"Under the Death Guard, Hades."

Motarian watched in silence as his two brothers boarded the shuttle in the distance, and after a roar, the Inquisitor was gone.

It had been Hades answering questions from Fernus and Vulcan.

Motarian was confused and even annoyed at first, but he soon realized that the two brothers' attitudes towards him had changed.

Especially Vulcan, when Hades "unintentionally" proposed to search and rescue the children to facilitate the future education of the death guard, the search and rescue team that was originally black was simply glowing.

Except for Garaspa as a conscription planet, everything else hasn't changed, why have they changed so much?

But Mortarian didn't care about one more conscription planet anyway, so he listened in silence as Hades answered.

Motarian blinked, looking back at Hades, who was standing.

Hades must have mastered some unspecified evaluation criteria and learned the rules of those games.

Will these be taught on Mars?

He was about to ask—

However, on the other side, Hades watched in a daze as he began to bleed from his nose, and the huge amount of calculations and data input just now made his brain hot at the moment.

In the chest, the second heart felt like it was bleeding outward.

God knows what a shock it was for him to hear that Motarian had just woken up to meet Fernus and Vulcan.

He was already wondering if Vulcan would fight Mortarion.

Caring about it so much, Hades hurried to this side based on his memories of other primordials in his previous life.

Faced with the pharmacist who came to dissuade him, Hades decided to fall on his back and run away after learning that walking a few steps or a small fight would not let him into Dreadnought.

At the same time, he directly contacted Garo, Vaux, and the other previous company commanders, and Enrique, asking them to pass on all the data of Galaspa to him.

Hades also unceremoniously and directly instructed Vaux to help him investigate.

The good news is that Galaspa is really a good fit to be a recruiting point, and he managed to fool around.

Hades looked at the Motarian who was still blinded and even wanted to ask him.

Motarian, you TM-

"Bang!"

Hades, who could no longer hold on, fell directly to the ground.

Wait for me to sort out the book review and send a leaflet

(End of chapter)