Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes.

The joy of reunion always makes time pass quickly. After half an hour of regular meeting time, the figure of Alan Janus appeared at the door of the living room again.

"I understand, let him in." Calvin said to the adjutant, while signaling Nicholas beside him to be calm.

The leader of the imperial guards also quickly entered the working state. When Vice Admiral Aurelion, the admiral of the escort fleet, stepped into the hall, he was already standing in the position behind Calvin in the standard posture of a deputy minister of state.

"Good day! Echo of the Emperor's Will in the Empire, Eye of the Emperor in the world, Lord of the Imperial Senate, Savior of Orpheus, Conqueror of Orcs, Destroyer of Chaos Fleets, Bringer of Ashes, High Lord Grand Inquisitor, Your Excellency Calvin!"

Ollivander’s voice came from his kneeling body. The complicated and lengthy title made Nicholas look at Calvin beside him wryly, and the latter also pointed his eyes at Nicholas’ breastplate while smiling wryly:
The fait accompli cannot be changed by Calvin, but he can still hurt each other.

During the eye contact, Nicholas took half a step back to show his concession, which ended the secret debate.At this moment, Calvin responded to the mortals in front of him:

"Okay, I've received your tribute, mortal. Let's skip this nonsense and talk about why you're here."

Calvin finally waited until Aurelion had finished reading his title, and interrupted his speech impatiently.

It wasn't that he was not polite or respectful of the soldiers in front of him, but that he knew that if he didn't stop it, then according to the normal process, the 15-minute meeting would not even finish the greetings.

The first meeting between the two was extremely important. During this meeting, Calvin had to impress the fleet commander with his pragmatism and simplicity.

"Your will..." Ollivander also took a deep breath. The opponent's title is too complicated, but it must not be omitted to cause the impression of underestimating the opponent.

As a high-ranking person, Calvin was able to take the initiative to cancel this painful link, which really saved this relatively simple soldier.

"I brought the news that the fleet has been rested. If possible, I would like to know the specific departure time."

"It hasn't been decided yet. The preparations for the Ministry of the Interior have not yet been completed. You can go back first, and there will be..."

Calvin's eyes confirmed with Nicholas, and after receiving the latter's affirmation, he continued to say to Ollivander:
"The Forbidden Army will serve as my envoy to keep in touch with you."

"Your will, then, please allow me to retire..."

Seeing the figure of Ollivander disappearing outside the door, Calvin turned his head and said to Nicholas, "You came just in time, I don't know the customs of the empire on the travel of high lords, can you tell me about this? "

"Well... In fact, among the existing practices, there are not many that apply to your current situation."

"Why?" Calvin frowned slightly, and looked at the leader of the imperial army in surprise.

"First of all, most of the high lord's outings will not involve areas other than Terra;

Secondly, the few cases of going out to other places outside of Terra were either when they went out to seek refuge during the "unification war" that year, or when they were about to leave office, they chose to return to their retirement homes..."

"No exceptions?" Calvin asked.

"Yes, Lord of War. When he was authorized by the Senate of Terra to preside over an important battle of the empire."

Nicholas answered Calvin's question, but he, who had received a higher political education, clearly understood that this answer also did not meet Calvin's needs.

"Warlord? Is it the Warmaster?"

Calvin thought about it, and finally compared this strange title with a certain "root of all evil" in his own impression, and found a subtle commonality from the same functions of these two different titles.

"You said yes, yes." Nicholas followed suit, and in front of Calvin, the Primarch of the Gray Knight, who was also an Astarte, he chose to answer this sensitive question sideways.

"Hey! You slick!"

Calvin was so angry that he laughed out loud, but after thinking about it for a while, he understood the other party's intentions, and lost the motivation to press on.

The title of "Warmaster" is obviously out of date in the empire after the great rebellion.

However, judging from the huge territory and complex system of the empire, it is indeed an unavoidable strategy to concentrate the rights and resources under the emergency response mechanism in a short period of time.

The title of "Lord of War" came into being for this reason. Since no one wanted to recall that painful past, it wouldn't hurt to change to a title that everyone could accept.

"It is not a permanent position." Calvin asked, but it was not so much an inquiry as an inference.

This concentration of power during wartime is definitely a slow murder of the existing system;

The appointment of each Warmaster is to create an existing precedent for the high integration of power in the empire's management.

This is drinking poison to quench thirst, because these cases that cross departments and rules will not fade or disappear with the end of the war;
It will only make his transition to power smoother when the next Warmaster emerges.

In the context of seemingly improving the efficiency of the empire's emergency mechanism, it is actually digging into the empire's existing power structure!
This can only be a necessary concession to reality after the emperor is unable to see things, and it is also a helpless compromise that the human empire is called the empire, but lacks the emperor's central position.

Calvin can even infer that if this continues, another Horus-like figure will be born on this soil called "Lord of War" sooner or later.

"Yes, war lords are elected by the Senate, but they cannot take over any existing permanent seats."

Nicholas has served in the palace area for nearly a thousand years since he was selected.

The empire's ruling team composed of mortals has changed several times in his eyes, and the anecdotes are naturally familiar to him.

"Oh……"

Calvin's meaningful response was a pawn.

With such a huge set of rights and one person's hands, there is no way for him to withdraw or step up.

Then after the end of the war, the fate of this person can be imagined. It is a luxury to die in an accident with dignity.

But there is no way, even in the capacity of Calvin, it cannot solve this problem.

He only has to imagine it to know:
When the high lord in charge of military power returns to Terra with his outstanding feats and integrated connections throughout the imperial army, and enters the imperial senate, which symbolizes the center of power, it will be so invincible.

At this time, he has no way out, because if he takes a step back, he will never recover, and all the people and forces behind him who have supported him will not agree.

And going further is even more impossible. Today, when all the apparent direct bloodlines of the emperor have disappeared, how can a mortal be left with the possibility of controlling the power of the entire empire?
It is enough for the incident of "Supreme Minister Van Dier" to happen once. Today's empire is full of internal and external troubles, and it can no longer withstand a split and internal strife...

Calvin looked at Nicholas in silence for a long time.

He is not sure now whether this topic has come to the present, whether it is purely accidental, or whether it is a well-intentioned temptation and hidden warning by the imperial army in front of him or the people behind him.