The temporary residence of the Eighth Army was located in a separate building with a total of thirteen floors and a vast area.

The Ultramarines didn't snub them because of their numbers, everything was of the highest standard, even the flag of the Eighth Legion was raised at the top of the building. It was unusual for the citizens of Maculag to be able to see it hunting in the wind at a glance, given that no other legions had visited Makulag before.

Many newspapers have devoted a lot of ink to depicting these soldiers from another regiment, and the descriptions vary, but the photos all invariably choose the eerie appearance of the Eighth Regiment on the tarmac that day.

It's quite interesting, and the curiosity of the people of Makullag is evident, and there are even quite a few requests for interviews that have landed at temporary locations these days - you may already have an answer as to who is responsible for picking them up.

Who else but Siani of Terra can still keep this alive in today's situation?

"No, we don't accept interviews." Siani said. "Yes, we are the soldiers of the First Company of the Eighth Legion, but we do not accept interviews."

He hung up, inevitably sighing - to this day, Siani couldn't figure out why Macurag had been able to establish such a relationship between Astarte and civilians.

The latter do not see the former as some kind of exalted god, but as an integral part of society. They talk about 'Ultramarines' in a proud tone, but they don't seem distant, they are close.

"How many times?" In the dark, someone asked.

- If you ask......

Yes.

They don't turn on the lights.

Without looking back, Siani said, "Today's tenth."

"The original is on top...... It gives me a bit of a toothache."

"Come on, your teeth were alloyed twenty-one years ago."

"I'm talking about neuralgia." So said the man in the dark. "Every time, when I'm in a bad mood, it flares up."

"Haven't you been in pain for twenty-one years, Morec?" Siani grinned and began to instinctively taunt the lieutenant of the first company. He has been punished many times for this, but each time he has not learned his lesson.

The latter only snorted coldly at his words, and then ignored them. For a moment, the atmosphere in the resident office was almost as silent as a cemetery.

Whenever this happens, it means that whoever speaks next will bring the dead back to life – or rather, they will say something enough to make the dead jump out of their coffins.

"Is the company commander dead?" Siani asked suddenly.

「......」

The adjutant didn't speak, and some kind of inhalation sound came from the darkness.

"Do you know something, Morets?"

"No, I don't know." The adjutant replied stiffly. "But I know another thing, Van Cleef would be quite angry with you for that."

"I'd like to see him angry." Siani muttered. "We haven't seen him in six days."

"Maybe it's official business."

"But, while still on the transport, things weren't right—or rather, he started to feel a little wrong from the moment we set off. Moreover, what official duties are enough to keep him busy for six days without returning to the station? He's not an instructor, he never rests."

「...... The instructor rested."

"How do you know? Have you seen it?"

"I've seen it."

Morets nodded in the darkness—behind Siani, to be exact—to be more accurate, to another giant who appeared at some point.

"Really?"

"Of course it's true." A third voice rang out, soft and gentle. "How could I not need to rest, Siani?"

Siani, from Terra, jerked her head.

"Uh——!"

"No explanation, Siani, we all hear you clearly." Morec said solemnly. "We're not bombarded to the point where our hearing fails."

"I ......"

"I just don't get much rest." Carlil chuckled. "But that doesn't mean I don't need to rest, a person's energy is always limited...... Like your company commander."

"What's wrong with him, instructor?" The adjutant asked.

"He's been through a very hard war." Carlil replied softly in the dark. "A battle to the death, and he won."

"So he's ...... now In the hospital?" Siani asked tentatively.

"Yes."

"Can we go see him?"

"No, Siani, unless you want to disturb him recuperate."

"But I have a lot of things I want to ask him."

"I have it too." Carlil said. "But I chose to wait until he was healed."

「...... Is this an order?" The young man from Terra asked unwillingly.

"Yes."

Then he heard his instructor reply, in a serious tone.

"This is an order from the instructor of the Eighth Legion, Siani, do you obey?"

「...... I obey."

-----------------

"How do you feel about talking face-to-face with a giant like that, ma'am?" Robert Killiman asked, looking down, there was a torrent of data pads streaked by, but none of the numbers slipped away, they were all caught by him.

"Is this a question, my lord? Because of my unauthorized actions?"

「......」

Killiman didn't answer, just looked up at her.

Talasha Yuton sat in a mortal-sized chair waiting for his answer, and she sat across from the marble table with a very funny expression. For a moment, Killiman felt as if she was still angry. But, judging by the right half of her raised eyebrow, she must have been joking.

For a moment, he was a little unsure of what his housekeeper was thinking.

So he decided to be honest.

"Of course not." Kiliman said. "I'm just worried about you."

"What are you worried about me? Do you think he's going to be angry with me?"

"Not really."

"And what are you worried about, my lord?"

「...... It's Saturday, ma'am, you're not at work today, so can you stop calling me sir?"

"No, housekeepers don't have holidays—I told you I don't like holidays, but you have to stuff me with two days a week, do you want me to waste time lying in bed doing nothing?"

Robert Killiman suddenly felt a headache.

He put down the datapad and inevitably looked up at the two portraits. His adoptive mother took in the action.

"I'm asking you a question, sir." She frowned. "Even if you don't want to answer, you shouldn't complain to your adoptive father."

Killiman almost laughed—he remembered that Yuton rarely joked, let alone with a little childishness.

He tried to hide this emotion with his most usual serious expression, but he couldn't. The lady sitting across from him just wrinkled her face and let his efforts go to waste.

Robert Killiman finally laughed.

"I'm sorry." He smiled and sincerely apologized. "But I really can't help it, ma'am."

Talasha Yuton didn't answer, just smiled. Between the stretched wrinkles, a sense of relief began to spread.

"You'll be fine, my dear lord." She said softly. "You stupid boy really think I'm here to ask you about your sin today, don't you?"

"You've done this before, ma'am." Kiliman said

。 "I remember every sarcasm you made to me, like the last time you said that the clothes I wore when I went to see Rog and them were far less formal than the ceremonial armor."

"Isn't it?"

"Yes." Kiliman nodded. "You've made me ashamed, ma'am."

"I don't dare to make such an assessment......

Killiman didn't reply, but instead picked up the datapad and handed it to Yutun on the other end of the marble table, who took it with two hands and placed it on the marble table again.

Her reading lasted about five minutes, and during that time she frowned, and Robert Killiman did not interrupt without a word, he just waited patiently.

Patience is always a virtue. Staring at the portraits of his fathers, Killiman thought.

「...... Are you going to give a batch of supplies?" After a brief silence, the housekeeper asked.

"Yes."

"Ninety tons of pure gold may not sound like much, but it is still worth a fortune, my lord, I am afraid that a batch of supplies is not enough to show your sincerity. What's more, the Eighth Legion came with the intention of opening up a trade route."

"And this is good for Macurag." Killiman took his butler's words.

"My brother Konrad Coetzes wrote in his own handwritten letter that Nostramo is a planet with plenty of Adamantite production, and I don't know how he defines it as sufficient, but ...... We're obviously going to need it. So of course, it's not just a batch of supplies, in fact, my sincerity is still to come."

Of course Macurag needs it, and who wouldn't need Adamantite?

"He wrote you a letter?" The butler asked in surprise.

She didn't care about Adamantite and trading at first, which was quite incomprehensible considering her position and past performance. But Killiman knew in what capacity she was asking the question, so he was not surprised, and even knew early on.

"Yes, this letter of his is unbelievable for his age." Killiman smiled and shook his head. "When I was two years old, I was still busy flipping through the newspapers looking for science stories."

Yutun pursed her lips, and after a moment, she sighed.

"The universe is cruel to us." The woman said in a tone of implicit sadness. "A two-year-old child is forced to learn to do politics."

"This is just the beginning."

Kiriman said calmly—his tone was even a little unforgiving.

"He'll also have to learn to accept every bit of squalor behind politics, and his intellect will help him learn it quickly. He's going to be miserable, that's obvious, but he has to accept it, because we were born to do that."

"So?"

"Sacrifice." Kiliman said. "Trust me, ma'am, I don't want to trap myself in this chair, no one wants that. But I have to do it, and at some point there is a link between competence and responsibility. Even Ruth had to restrain his wolves in times of non-war to keep them from making trouble, not to mention me and my young brother whom we had never met."

"It's young." Yutun corrected. "And not young."

Killiman sighed and did not continue on the subject. "I'm going to do a 10-year aid to Nostramo, from supplies to people — frankly, ma'am, my plan is to give whatever they want."

Yutun frowned.

"What about the trade in adamantite?" She asked briefly.

"We'll pay for the money. If they want us to pay for it, it's okay to do both."

Killiman saw that his housekeeper's brow began to furrow.

"What does that mean?" She asked, puzzled. "Is there something I don't understand happening to you, Robert? I know you did this with good intentions, but will your brother really take it? I didn't see them much, and I didn't see them much, but they were all proud."

"Me too

Pride."

"But that's not why you're doing this, is it?" The housekeeper said suspiciously. "By doing so, you're almost politically branding your brother's home planet with a Maculag, Robert...... Is that really good?"

She still had a word to say, but Kiliman could hear it, and he could see it in her eyes.

Is this allowed?

Of course it's not good, ma'am. But it has already been allowed.

Killiman fell into a brief moment of contemplation. He didn't speak, the lines of his cheeks tightened, and his blue eyes were as calm as the ocean in the evening. It took a long time for the progenitor to speak again.

"So I need to get permission, a formal license." He said.

Yutun began to wait for his next words.

"So I made an appointment in the afternoon with Karil Lohars, the instructor of the Eighth Legion, and I wanted to ask him to come and interview me about the matter—if all goes well, the Eighth Legion will depart for Nostramo after their company commander has recovered from his wounds, and bring with me my greetings, willingness, and sincerity."

Yutun sat up straight and quickly got into shape. Her cane rested flat on top of her knees, quietly fluttering gently. She asked, "Shall I be around?"

"Of course." Kiliman smiled and nodded. "Ma'am, where do you think you can go?"

"It's working time." Ms. Judon said solemnly. "So stop talking to me like that, what time did you make an appointment?"

"Thirty-three minutes later."

"I'm going to change my clothes." She quickly stood up.

Robert Killiman shook his head with a smile and hurriedly asked the question before she opened the door, "Does he make you so nervous, ma'am?"

"You'd better be nervous too!" His lady said.

I've been nervous since last night, but not for this meeting. Kiriman thought to himself. Then he watched her leave.

-----------------

Generally speaking, a person's emotions are easily observable.

The easiest way to do this is to observe the other person's expression, and those who have some experience with this will keep staring into the eyes. If you are more sophisticated, you will choose to analyze it together with body language.

But when Karil Lohals sat down on the full-size chair opposite the marble table, Talasha Yuton found that she couldn't see any expression on the giant's face.

The emotional reaction he had revealed in that conversation that day seemed to be just a hallucination, and now, sitting here, the man sitting across from her master, was an impenetrable piece of ice.

Is this normal? Yutun questioned himself. She looked at her master again, and saw that Robert Killiman had become a piece of ice.

"Good day." Robert Killeman said. "Or good afternoon, I'm a little unsure of the time right now, Instructor Carlil—anyway, I hope you're doing well."

The visitor smiled.

"So are you." He replied softly.

"Is everything okay with Captain Van Cleef, Company Commander?" Kiliman asked again.

"He's going to heal soon, and I'm sorry, we didn't expect his armor to make such a horrible malfunction."

The visitor raised his hand and made a gesture with a sullen expression.

"The cable pipe exploded, and several components were wrong...... We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused to Maculag in recent days."

"It's just a little bit of help you can, and you don't have to be sorry, Instructor Carlile." Robert Kiliman said solemnly but softly. "Maculag never treats our friends badly."

The visitor smiled and nodded, his face glaring.

Perfect gratitude.

Killiman smiled as well, he lowered his head, picked up a datapad from his desk and handed it over, "Please look at this, Instructor Carlil."

The visitor reaches out

He took it and asked, "What is this?"

"A Covenant." Killiman replied that his demeanor was impeccable, and that the pronunciation of the syllables was doubtfully perfect, and that he was no longer as accustomed to speaking as he usually was.

Yuton, who was sitting on the side of the long table, frowned.

"The Covenant?" The visitor asked as he looked. "What type?"

"About Maculag's alliance with Nostramo." Kiriman said succinctly. "Nostramo provides the Adamantite, and Makurag provides anything else you need."

Something is even more wrong. Yutun thought. He didn't even say what was needed – could Robert Killeman really be so rough?

She looked at her child, stared, and realized that he was forcing herself not to turn her head to answer the question she hadn't asked.

That gesture of rejection was too obvious for Talasha Yuton, and it could even be said to be a bit overwhelming.

The next second, Killiman heard his housekeeper sigh.

"Enough, enough." She said. "Logically speaking, I shouldn't interrupt a conversation like this, but your acting skills are a little too clumsy—you discussed it early on, didn't you?"

"That's not right." Kiliman said.

He still didn't look at Yutun.

"Yes, ma'am." The visitor, or rather, Karil Lohals, smiled, and the ice melted completely.

The evidence was conclusive, and Talasha Yuton looked at her son, who was silent for a moment, coughed, turned his head, and said with a sincere face, "Sometimes it is necessary to hide some truth, ma'am."

"I've taught you this." His lady said with a blank face. "When you were 21 years old, you didn't want to tell the public about the real situation of the floods because the officials cut corners on construction materials and filled their pockets, but you didn't know whether to lie or not, you came and asked me, I said this to you."

「...... I apologize." Robert Killiman said it honestly.

"I don't want your apology, my lord, what I want is an explanation." Said the housekeeper. "If you're not going to let me in this meeting, you can say it at the outset, instead of colluding with our guest and convincing him to let him act with you for me, the old woman."

She said, even laughing, "It's so strange that it's enough for me to brag about it to my old buddies when I retire."

"You're only sixty years old." Kiriman tried to answer in a calm tone. "No one will say you're old, and you have life-extension surgery."

"I'm already halfway through my life, and even if I were to use that thing, I wouldn't let it change my appearance!" Yutun snapped.

"I doubt you'll ever find a doctor willing to operate on you......" Killiman looked away and muttered. You might chase them down the hallway with surgical forceps."

Carlil didn't say a word, smiling as he watched the mother-son interaction. The reason why he doesn't speak is very simple and normal - how can an outsider be good *** in this obvious mother-son dialogue?

Interestingly, though, the lady had been watching her adopted son's reaction in between conversations.

I don't matter, look at him more. Carlil thought. This meeting is strictly just a meeting for your son's peace of mind, and he wants you to see that he's back to normal...... Otherwise, why would he go to such great lengths?

"I'm not old enough to go after the doctor!"

"Who knows if it will?"

"Robert Killiman!"

「...... I'm sorry." Kiriman covered his face. "I apologize, ma'am. This meeting is just because I want to put you at ease."

"I was relieved more than forty minutes ago." Yutun said angrily. "Can't I tell the difference between your troubled appearance and your relieved appearance?"

She got up angrily, took her cane and walked away, without hesitation, without even saying a word

, leaving the office directly to Caryl and Robert Killman.

The latter met the former's gaze and let out a long sigh.

「...... I can't deal with her." Kiriman said with a wry smile. "There's always been no way, she's always found my loopholes."

"Zhizi Mo Ruomu."

"Is this also the ancient language of Terra?"

"There's a lot of old sayings in Terra, Robert." Carlil smiled. "Like doing bad things with good intentions."

「...... I remember." Kiriman said with a sigh. "So, let's get down to business?"

"Absolutely."

Carlil nodded, pushed the data board back, and said, "But I'm actually surprised that you would want me to go with you to participate in the exploration of the Extreme Star Field."