Richter swung his arm, and the power sword slashed through the air, and the disintegrating force field crackled, and the deadly sound and speed were fleeting.

A separated corpse immediately fell limply, and scarlet blood immediately spread to the ground.

He was not pleased, for three other men were shooting at him, their guns making a strange crunch, and after a short delay, the reddish beams of energy were dodged by Richter by a fraction of a second.

With his sword in both hands, he slew all three men with a single slash. Their white armor was dyed red, and blood and entrails gushed out.

"Are you sure these people came to Nostramo to make a deal, company commander?" He asked.

Enric Barbatos didn't answer the question right away, he turned his head and fired several shots with his blaster into the darkness behind him a few seconds later - the eyepiece told him where the enemy was, and he opened fire, screaming in the darkness.

"Company commander?"

"Say no more, keep going, we must hurry to their bridge." Enric finally spoke, his voice serious. "Damn it."

Richter knew what he was cursing – Enric Barbatos was cursing himself.

His company commander's gang jumping strategy for the ship was to spread out, disable the engines as fast as possible and bring the enemy to its knees.

The fleet consisted of five ships, and again, there were no weapons or armor, and they were no threat except for the three old ones that had been detained. However, it was only after entering the interior of the hull through a boarding torpedo that the fighters of the 8th Army discovered that something was wrong.

Unlike their frail boats, the people inside were heavily armed. Their armor is not yet resistant to explosive bullets and swords, but their weapons can pierce through the power armor of the Astartes under a volley.

Although the guns they use are indeed energy beams, they are much more powerful than the laser guns used by the auxiliaries, and their appearance is completely different.

While they still can't pose a threat to the Eighth Legion, it will make them less effective.

The fleet consisted of five ships, and in addition to the two hundred men of the Eighth Company, four squads were also involved in the jumping. If these squads use a different strategy than the 8th Company, it means that they will be the first to complete the mission faster than the 8th Company - and they are not even part of the company.

"Leaving aside the mission itself, company commander, something is wrong with these people." Richter said this in between runs, and he and his company commander blended into the darkness so perfectly.

Some of the men in the Eighth Company had done their job, paralyzing part of the ship's power system, allowing darkness to fall, and despite the presence of emergency lights, most of the place remained dark. And darkness has always been the land of the Eighth Legion.

"Of course I can see it, but at least they're still wearing gray uniforms under their armor." Enric replied gloomily. "It means they're from the same place as those people."

"Harcosus." Richter softly pronounced its name. "According to them, it's a rich planet."

"Its wealth may have been forged by blood."

"And these are the vampires who help it plunder the blood?"

"Don't say the words of the myth and legend – keep going, Richter, we'll find an opportunity to torture you." Enric said in a low voice.

He's right.

Twenty-five minutes later, they were the third team to complete the mission.

This made everyone in the Eighth Company furious, especially Anrique Barbatos, whose anger was mixed with a little annoyance and shame towards himself.

A battle barge quickly approached the ship after they signaled, and the auxiliaries on it would take over. And until then, the Eighth Legion still has time to do what they want.

But not to vent their anger – they don't resort to lynching.

"Tell me, who are you?" The commander of the eighth company hissed, knowing that the man in front of him who was hanging upside down could understand Nostramo. "You have a minute to decide whether to speak or not."

The man didn't answer, his face was pale, but it was because of excessive fright. The Eighth Legion did not use too cruel means against them, just simple killing, and these people would collapse.

Not everyone can keep their composure after seeing the corpses all over the ground, at least not this one. He didn't answer Enric's words in the first place, but his throat kept rolling up and down, and it was obvious that he wanted to speak, but he couldn't.

Standing in a pool of blood in the darkness, Richter told himself that he would beg for mercy as soon as he spoke.

"Please don't kill me!"

I guessed it. Richter curled the corners of his mouth.

"You have surrendered, so we will not do anything to you again, unless one of you does not know each other."

Enric said. He didn't take off his helmet, and his voice became terrifying through the breathing grille.

"You're going to tell me something I want to know, and of course, you can choose to remain silent, and I'll leave the choice up to you."

He stared indifferently at the man through his scarlet eyepieces, and held out his fingers against the man's throat with cold steel—lynching was not permitted, nor was it permissible to torture the enemy after they had surrendered

But who's to say you can't use some means?

The man shouted in horror, almost screaming. Richter was sure that if he hadn't been hung up with his head to the ground, he would have screamed incessantly.

"I say! I say! We are from Harcosus, we are soldiers who burn fire! ”

Richter narrowed his eyes.

Information about this Harcosus has been circulated in writing within the Eighth Army Corps.

The five senior traders were very interesting after some questioning, and they were very welcoming to the questions. This includes what the badge on their collar represents.

Ignite a fire.

The ruler of Harcosus—a family, an organization, or rather, a vast chamber of commerce.

Strange names, strange forms of existence, but looking at the entire galaxy, it is not unusual. It's nothing more than a ruling organization made up of a group of merchants, and sooner or later the Eighth Legion will find them.

After all, the organization that could trade with these people on Nostramo, and even take them on a trip, was no longer worthy of the Eighth Legion's softer means of communicating with them.

"And then? Why are you all armed? ”

"Because we're here to deal with high-level traders who have relationships with the people on Nostramo!"

"What are you going to do with them?" Enric slowed his tone and asked softly, but his fingers began to strain slowly. He didn't need to do anything else to make this man feel terrible threatened.

"They need to die to make room for someone else who wants to be a senior trader!"

"What does that have to do with Nostramo? Why should they die? Because they know someone on Nostramo? ”

The man hesitated for a moment, and then immediately gave it all out.

"Because Harcosus wants to turn Nostramo into a colony, the nobles who come to play have amazing wealth, and our leaders know a lot from them, and if these high-ranking traders who have a relationship with them die on Nostramo, we will have a reason to start a war."

Enric looked back at Hit, who nodded to him and gestured to indicate that he had started recording through the eyepiece, before Enric turned back to continue his questioning.

"It took you four months to get to Nostramo, and they came here for two weeks, and you arrived, that is, you set off right after that?"

"Yes, yes!"

"Anyone else?"

Enric took a second finger and began to nonchalantly poke the man's throat. "I mean people in uniform, people like you. The gray uniform, it's really interesting. ”

"No more! Oh my God, my lord, I swear to the fire that I would never lie! ”

"You're also from the fire, so what is this, your infighting? Never mind. One last question. ”

Enric stood up, and the man looked at him with fear and a little hope, and then he heard the giant ask, "So, what about the civilians who arrived in Nostramo with the high-ranking traders of your Burning Chamber of Commerce?" ”

"What?" The man asked, confused.

"Those people—what are you going to do with them?" Enric Barbatos clasped his hands together and lowered his head, allowing his scarlet eyepiece to meet the man's gaze.

The man hesitated for several seconds before replying, "They will die with the senior trader." ”

——

"What a dirty excuse." Conrad Coetzes said coldly. "What's wrong with the so-called Chamber of Commerce in charge of killing even their own civilians for this?"

"You can't expect everyone to have a normal intellect or a brain that thinks well, a wise ruler is in the minority, Conrad."

"But they actually created a pretext for war by trying to murder their civilians!" The Lord of the Eighth Legion bared his teeth in exasperation, and the canine rolled his lips. "Unheard of!"

Carlil shook his head slowly.

"Maybe we should have moved forward." He said noncommittally. "After all, the first company will soon be complete, what do you think, Conrad?"

Conrad Coetze took a deep breath and calmed down—his innate sense of justice made it take him some extra energy to calm down at some point.

While on Nostramo, he felt a burning rage at the many horrific atrocities he had witnessed. At that time, he even needed Carlil's presence to calm down, but now he can regain his sanity by his own efforts.

"If it's a world ruled by people in power like that." He spoke angrily. "I think I'm going to try to do my job."

Updated

(End of chapter)