Before arriving aboard the Emperor Dream through his subspace forest, Leon El Johnson had already completed a certain level of profile of Rika Fujimaru during his conversation (or interrogation) with Ranmaro.

Although it sounds strange that this organization, which has the command of the Imperial Dream, has the technology that is unimaginable even in the eyes of the Lion King who has the Icarus Agreement, and has succeeded in obtaining the command of a small force of the Dark Angels that he once lost 10,000 years ago, is led by a seventeen-year-old (self-proclaimed) mortal girl as the chief commander; However, after quickly learning what the ship and its crew had experienced in their subjective half a year through the battle reports on the Lionmane, the original body was surprised and actually had a little recognition of this distribution of power, which seemed quite unnatural by the standards of 10,000 years ago.

First, the Midnight Lord's first company commander, Yago Sevitalyon, escaped from prison under the supervision of the Dark Angel - and after that, the Lionmane's attempts to remedy it were unsuccessful. This was a grave mistake 10,000 years ago or 10,000 years later, and Ranmaro, the leader of the ship, should undoubtedly be punished for it. But considering that it was precisely because of this incident that all the crew members of the Lionmane were able to achieve the result of drifting in subspace to 10,000 years later, and reuniting with the original body that had awakened after 10,000 years, Leon hesitated to do so.

For 10,000 years, maybe he just lay down and fell asleep, or maybe his soul drifted somewhere else. The fisherman in the boat on the surface didn't tell him, and neither did the Dark Watchers. But he did change in a time that he barely felt himself: he was getting old—and that was even first told to him by a betrayer—and softer than before.

He retracted his rushing thoughts, crossed the point, which was not considered the main contradiction at the moment, and continued to compare the records of the Lionmane's operation with the work records of Ranmaroke. What had happened on Jaystar was a mess, and not only was the record filled with vague, contradictory accounts that looked like the Chaos Enemy's ruse, but there was also a conclusive part of it that the Lionmane had somehow lost a weapon-of-extermination shipborne virus bomb during that time.

These records are followed by a note from Rika Fujimaru for reference. The note contains detailed "truths" that are "unlikely to be verified." She wrote in High Gothic 10,000 years ago, the words and sentences were very formal, the format of the official document was very standard, and the data was very detailed, but the things she described really didn't look real. Thus, at the end of the document, Leon sees several of them fighting with their electronic seals underneath, and the annotations indicate that the members of the Inner Ring are very divided about whether or not to add it to the record - but in the end, Ranmaroch wins, so Leon manages to read the gibberish to the effect that "the entire timeline of Jestal has been copied for 10,000 years".

Even the original brains couldn't tell if it was true or not, so Leon simply left it aside. He then looked down and saw Conrad Coetzes reappearing, and the Lionmane being forced to release all of the Midnight Lord prisoners they had been holding. Not to mention his inexplicably re-emerged rebel brother, Fujimaru Ritsuka's mediation in this is obviously also an important factor in making the whole thing go smoothly without blood.

Perhaps because of the preconceived style of the previous report, Leon wrote a trumpet Killiman who was very good at foxes and fake tigers, based on the few words described of Fujimaru Rika in this account. He told himself that there was too little information to be true, and he quickly dissipated the uncomfortable image that appeared in his mind, skimmed over the document that followed (and failed) the two impeachments of Ranmarok by Inner Ring, and asked the Firewing Grand Mentor, who was still poking him in front of his eyes and seemed almost entirely awaiting execution, "What is the matter with Conrad Coetze?" ”

Of course, Ranmaroch didn't know what was going on, but he certainly couldn't say "he didn't know what was going on". He had to reluctantly put together the fragments he knew into something that looked like a whole, and even more reluctantly poured the pot of dumplings out of his own teapot.

For the first time in his life, he felt that his language skills were so poor. But at the same time, he firmly believes that this kind of problem arises because what is happening in reality is too absurd and incomprehensible, and that the fault is not his own.

He recounts what he sees as a completely inverted power relationship between Rika Fujimaru and the original rebels (and presents two video recordings as examples at this stage.) Yes, Master Killiman ordered them to be destroyed, but how did the Ultramarines get their hands on the Dark Angels? ), and Ferus Manus, who appeared inexplicably after encountering the Iron Hand's Talon of Destruction, and Corvacs Corax, who suddenly appeared on Pameño and caused some chaos. He shouldn't have theoretically known about this, but he still reported to his Primordial that the "resurrection of St. Giles" might also be in Fujimaru Ritsuka's schedule, and combined it with all of the above to deduce that this little girl may exist so that the Emperor could recall the lost Primordial, at least partially.

Leon, who heard this, was noncommittal, and just continued to look down. After telling these stories, Ranmaroke, who had no bottom in his heart, didn't know, in fact, his original body didn't know anything in his heart after hearing this. Leon had been walking around the dark side of the empire for some time, and he still scoffed at the current widespread belief in the empire that "the emperor is a god", and was only forced by the situation to be noncommittal in most public forums, but at this moment, he really couldn't help but wonder if there was indeed some metaphysical behemoth behind Rika Fujimaru—to be specific, his genetic father—who was operating everything.

But he was also pleased to know that his other brothers were gradually beginning to be active in the material world in the future. Although it includes a Conrad Coetze.

Leon would rather replace that candidate with Riemann Ruth. But considering that Manus, Killman, Corax, and the possible future of St. Giles are in front of you, there is only one Conrad Coz to worry about, and it doesn't sound particularly unacceptable.

He then quickly passed several reports from Zantyk Afpa. This includes more than a dozen battles from Jeestal to Pamenio and then as they sail all the way to Barr. Rika Fujimaru had never directly intervened in the chain of command of the Dark Angels, so what Leon saw in these reports were familiar tactics and modes of operation. However, it cannot be said that there is very little information about Fujimaru Rika - at least, Leon can still see a lot from the strategic objectives she assigned to the Lion's Mane and the rest and supplies after the incident: for example, she cares a lot about the sacrifice of personnel but not about material attrition, she is quite fond of decapitation tactics, and she is very skilled in the means of maintaining morale, etc.

Considering the composition of the entire team, all of the above is a matter of course. If Leon were in command of such a small but powerful team, he would have done the same. But if the commander's age, experience, and physical limitations of mortal thinking are also included in the evaluation criteria, it makes her look quite powerful.

He wasn't sure if the person was aware of it on her own, or if someone else was teaching her. That's why he decided to meet Rika Fujimaru face to face in this form, to see if her performance in the face of such an "unexpected situation" as he could show that she had some real talent.

Leon rated this assault quiz highly – a little too high, in fact. He admits that it was wrong for him to scare such a little girl from behind, but he also did not expect that he would be locked up in a room on the Emperor Dream, forced to move for more than ten minutes with the rumbling of machinery.

Just as he began to seriously consider whether to summon the surrounding Caliban forest and then use it to escape, the radio station next to him, whose signal had been cut off when the room began to move, came back on. This time, however, instead of the Ranmaro's winged helmet on the Lionmane, it was Rika Fujimaru, apparently located in another room on the Imperial Dream.

"Mr. Leon, I feel it is necessary for us to speak openly and honestly—not for any particular purpose, but just to exchange information. Transparency as much as possible in the institutions that are supposed to work together is a necessity in the dark side of today's empire. ”

She sat down in a chair and said as if she had made up her mind.

(End of chapter)