Robert Kiliman slowly stood up, and it was not easy for him to do this now. He used both hands to prop on the armrests of the walker, and his arms trembled so loudly that he was worried that he would collapse in the next second.

But he didn't.

He straightened up a little, his haggard blue eyes beneath the faded blonde hair, and the first words he uttered were barely a joke.

"I'm now worried about whether Dr. Jairziño will be invited to many unnecessary medical discussions in the future."

Conrad Coetzes curled the corners of his mouth and shook his head with a smile: "Unless you publicize your injuries, he will still only be a medical officer of my legion, not someone who is so skilled that he can even cure Robert Killman." ”

Kiriman chuckled as well. Angrão, who was standing on the side, clasped his hands, glanced at them with disapproving eyes and shook his head.

"I strongly urge you to go for another medical diagnosis, brother."

Angron spoke in a deep voice.

"You're awake and even able to walk, but that doesn't mean you're okay. We celebrated a lot of gladiators I knew who died in their sleep after a great battle, and they acted like nothing at the banquet, but the next day, we only got a corpse. ”

"You have a point, Angrand, but I'm now"

Kiriman paused for a moment and began to move himself little by little.

With the push of a button with his finger, he turned on the lock button on the walker itself, and its training wheels began to work, and Killiman pushed it, walking some distance before stopping again.

"I'm pretty sure I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Angron frowned. "With all due respect, brother, but you are only a patient now, and it is impossible for a patient to know what is going on in his body."

Killiman didn't answer the question, just shook his head. He bent down and picked up an office data tablet from his desk and placed it on the partition in the middle of the walker. Then there was silence for several minutes.

Without saying a word, Robert Killiman swiped the data board, watching the losses of the Ultramarines after the battle.

He was silent, and that silence felt familiar to Conrad Coetzes—so he patted Angron on the shoulder, and shook his head gently at him as he turned around.

It was only after ten minutes or so that Robert Kiriman let out a slow sigh. He lowered his head, raised his right hand, and slowly swept away the hair on his forehead that obscured his vision.

The once handsome face is now only a frightening haggard.

The cheeks are reced, the shape of the cheekbones and jaw is unobstructed, and the eyes seem to be embedded in the sockets of the eyes, which are still bright like jewels, but also create a stronger contrast. There was not a single excess flesh on his face, only skin, clinging to the bones.

"You guys. . . How's it going? He asked softly, his voice hoarse, but he didn't look weak.

"Three thousand six hundred and seventy-six." Conrad Coetze replied with a smile. "The Midnight Blade has three thousand six hundred and seventy-six victims."

"Midnight Blade?"

"Ah, I decided to give the legion a new name, and it would be weird to keep calling it by number, wouldn't it?"

Robert Killiman nodded silently, taking his eyes off Conrad Coetze's face.

He was still a young brother, and he was smiling warmly, but his eyes looked like he was undergoing an amputation without anesthetic.

The main body of Macurag had felt this way many times, and each time, he was in agony, so he wasn't going to ask any more.

He looked at Angrã, and the Nukerians grinned, their canines sharp, their smiles simple, but their tone was terrifyingly resolute: "War hounds have no dead. ”

“.” Killiman nodded wordlessly.

He could roughly guess what Angrand had done on the Harcosus II, and he wouldn't question Angrand about it - anything that involved an alien couldn't be good.

There is an eternal bloody war between them and humans, and across the galaxy, there is hardly any alien race that has not harmed humans. In those dark years, they committed a great deal of blood, and this blood debt went beyond the scope of crime.

Crimes can still be pardoned, but they cannot.

"What about you, Robert?" Conrad Coetzes asked.

He was now naturally and leisurely leaning against a bookcase, tapping it with his right hand carelessly against the side of the bookcase. He did not show sadness at the huge sacrifice figure of three thousand six hundred and seventy-six, as if he did not care at all.

"The casualty count is still being counted." Kiliman said. "At present, there are 1,324 victims who have been identified. The situation of the auxiliary army is slightly better, which can be regarded as a blessing in misfortune. ”

He closed his eyes and pondered. It's like thinking, and it's like wandering in the corner of memory.

Conrad Coetzes and Angron did not speak, the former still tapping rhythmically on the side of the bookcase, while the latter came to the porthole and observed the Harcosus III through the tracks.

A few minutes later, Angron broke the silence: "There are no living creatures left on the Harcosus II. ”

The Nukerian turned his back to his brothers and spoke in an extremely calm voice, thick cables swaying behind his head: "So, what about Harcosus I and III?" ”

"There's no living thing left on No. 1." Conrad Coetzes replied quietly. "My legion is inspecting the Harcosus civilians at the bottom of the Nightfall's cabin, and I haven't figured out what to do with them yet."

Keenly grasping the word 'process,' Killiman opened his eyes, lowered his head, and issued a new command on the databoard.

After doing this, he looked up and said, "The same is true for Number Three, but I'm going to do it more thoroughly. The entire underground of Harcosus III. There are almost always traces of contamination of that kind of thing, so I'll use orbital bombardment to destroy it after the survivor search is over. ”

"Well, the same goes for Two." Angelon said. "I know that the Empire has a large colony fleet on standby, but what happens on the planet Harcosus II deserves to be completely destroyed in my opinion."

Conrad Coetzes nodded thoughtfully, and instead of answering the question immediately, he turned to something else.

"Robert, you've reclaimed quite a few planets, haven't you?"

"Yes."

"In other words, you've been part of the Great Expedition for a while."

Coates lowered his head, clasped his hands, and stopped tapping on the bookcase, but began to tap his left arm with the index finger of his right hand. The metals collided, rubbed against each other, and clanged as if sharp knives had come out of their sheaths.

"So, what exactly do you think it is?"

Robert Killiman tilted his head and began to stare at the two portraits on the wall.

Unlike his office in Maculag, the two portraits are hung directly above the bookcase, not obtrusively, even natural.

The one on the left is a portrait of Conor Killiman. Dressed in the consul's uniform of his time, the consul stood on top of the hill and rode a horse looking out at the Makurag below. The city is thriving, and Connor Killiman's profile looks like he is contemplative.

On the right is a portrait of the emperor, dressed in gold armor and wielding a sharp sword. Thousands of troops rushed out from behind his golden armor like shadows, declaring war on a storm that was striking not far away.

Everybody has a different answer to that, Conrad." Robert Killiman spoke in a low voice. "Take Ferus, for example, for whom the Great Expedition can be divided into the following five steps. Get on board, arrive at your destination, war, win, get on board. ”

"The cycle repeats, and the cycle repeats. But Ferus was not bored with it, and he had a considerable enthusiasm for the war, which came from his identification with our father's ideals. Therefore, he was willing to be a sentient weapon during the Great Expedition. ”

"I'm different, I've tried that, and I can't accept the devastation and weeping civilians left behind after the war is won. Moreover, if we use too cruel methods, the recovered world will not recognize us much, and the result will often be rebellion. And counterinsurgency."

Robert Killiman suddenly smiled wryly, his excessive thinness making the smile look shocking and terrifying.

"The Empire's attitude towards rebellion is very serious, and there are no second chances. If the rebellious planet does not surrender immediately after the arrival of the Imperial fleet, most of them will be executed, and the rest will be reduced to slavery and slavery. ”

"I've been through this, so I don't think my legion can simply cross the sea of stars to fight war after war, and every time we reclaim a world, we will stay there until they are self-sufficient and have a defense system."

"We'll help them, for example, by keeping a team of consultants to help them build trade routes. Identification is important, and I've even written a book about it, on the fourth floor of the bookshelf behind you, and the first one is what it is about the Great Expedition."

The Lord of Maculag closed his mouth with a complicated expression and stopped talking, his expression was enough to answer the question.

An idealist is so miserable only when they do the right thing, and idealists are so ridiculous that they will suffer because they can't achieve their ideals, but they will also suffer even more because they are on this path.

Because they understand the price of being right.

Conrad Coetzes quietly curled the corners of his mouth, still smiling, but the smile was a hundred times better than before.

"The Great Expedition is a process of reconquistaking, and this war against Harkosus requires at least one planet to be saved. Otherwise, what lost ground have we regained? Broken asteroids? I'll get those civilians back to live on Harcosus 1 after the inspection, if they're not tainted."

Angron frowned, "Are you sure, brother?" ”

"I'm sure." The Lord of Midnight bowed slowly, a smiling expression appearing on his face. "It's complicated on Harcosus One, Angelang. It used to be polluted by those things, but that pollution is completely gone. ”

"Then, the Ultramarines will stay and continue our traditions." Robert Killiman said. "Until the Empire sends someone to take over here, me and my First Warband will stay here."

Conrad Coetzes grinned and smiled. He walked to the door and pulled it open, revealing Marius Gage, covered in bruises and still wearing armor, into the eyes of his brothers. Killiman pursed his lips with a complicated expression, but did not speak.

Gage gave a grateful look at Conrad Coetzes, who smiled and shook his head, pulling Angron away, not even forgetting to close the door.

His hearing was always good, and he used to listen to someone's voice through the heavy door.

The door closed slowly, and Marius Gage looked at his original body, remaining completely silent, not saying a word. Killiman looked at his warlord and was equally silent, but it wasn't because he didn't know what to say.

In fact, on the contrary, he had so much to say that he remained silent. Eventually, it was Gage who took the initiative to speak.

We almost thought we had lost you."

Killiman shook his head.

"Blame them." He whispered. "They don't work too hard."

Gage laughed dumbly. Robert Killiman is like that, he always has a clever word at some point to relieve stress and make everyone smile – he is very good at it, and this is inseparable from his status as a politician.

Gage was amused, and his smile gradually widened into something that could barely be stopped.

"I swore a long time ago that I would protect you, Primordial." Marius Gage spoke in a low voice. "And today, I made another vow."

"I swear I'm going to bring you back. While underground, I said this to countless individuals. They trust my words, because they trust you, they are fearless and I thought I myself was fearless, until I saw you appearing in the clearing with a ray of light, and I almost thought you were dead. ”

"But I didn't, Gage. Like I said, it's because they don't work too hard. Kiliman replied softly.

He looked up at one of the two portraits again, and he stopped talking, as did Gage.

Needless to say, the commander of the First Battle Regiment had already understood his unspoken apologies. Just as Kiriman understood Marius Gage's twisted pain hidden beneath a calm exterior.

"But." After a long time, Killiman spoke again, his eyes instantly sharpening, not the way a patient should be.

He beckoned to Gage, motioning for him to come over. "This has also given me a lot of new ideas, come and discuss them with me, Marius."

Without hesitation, Gage walked over, as before, as always.

The update is complete, and it's 7k today.

(End of chapter)