Emperor's Bane

Chapter 38 Laughing

Ahriman and Morgan from the Thousand Sons Legion were the seventh batch of guests that Luthor entertained today, and if nothing unexpected happened, this should also be the last batch.

The Calibans are running the precious wind-up clock on their desktop. It is a work of art made of gears, glass and metal wires. Countless rotations and pushes determine the law of the pointer's swing, allowing it to display time and The homeland of mankind is almost identical.

Today was only about eight standard hours by the standards of Holy Terra, and his last rest was about thirty-two standard hours ago, but despite this, Luthor didn't feel much fatigue, his muscles and spirits were still at the peak. A relatively soothing and energetic stage, which made the old knight sigh the magic of genetic modification surgery.

Occasionally, though, he wondered what it would be like to be fully genetically modified knights who had undergone the fabled nineteen surgeries: Nemir, Zahariel, Cypher, and others. ...

They were his brothers, his warriors, and his knights, and they were the legions that followed his footsteps into the hunting battlefield. Once upon a time, he was still standing at the forefront of everyone, and he was the leader of everyone.

But now, they are on the battlefield, on the front line, using unimaginable greatness and strength, and those knights who have followed him have participated in the most magnificent war cause in the galaxy, to gain enough to sing Ten thousand years of feats and honors.

As for death?It was nothing but an inevitable moment, like the last drink at a banquet, like a sunset slowly swallowed by the forest, when death was nothing to any Caliban.

When donning his armor for the first time, what knight would promise himself a long life?When it's time to straddle the horse again, which soldier can guarantee that this will not be the last leg?

With a surging heart, hold the steel gun tightly, go forward bravely, death is like fragrance, life is nothing more than that.

Whether it was Luthor in the past or Luthor now, they all think so.

But times have changed.

Luthor lowered his head, and in front of him were documents that were nothing new: request for support, request for survival supplies, request for temporary evacuation, request for ammunition supply, or request for fire assistance from the cruise fleet.

------

Luther Knight may have disappeared.

he thought.

------

Luther's eyes quickly discerned among these similar documents, some of which he didn't need to pay attention to, such as the transfer of fleets and legions, that was the authority of the war commander, and he was responsible for those more trivial matters. Events for: Supplies, Transportation and Storage.

In this way, another document was selected: The 23rd Kronos Regiment of the Mortal Auxiliary Army requested new supplies and ammunition supplies. In the semi-permanent fortress world, they were one of the first troops to participate in the battle of Randan. They had suffered a near-destructive blow in the fierce battle of Shana in the foundry world.

If they have the ability, they also hope to send new troops to take over their defense line. The 23rd regiment has not experienced a rotation for two years. The chief of staff and the liaison officer repeatedly used words such as [depressed morale] and [ heavy losses] and the like.

Luther's gaze casually skipped over these words, and didn't stop there, because every mortal auxiliary army unit was like this, and the [heavy losses] and [request for support] in various reports have never stopped.

He opened the star map, looked for the location of the 23rd Regiment, weighed the importance of their front, and finally wrote the answer: Without reinforcements, the requested supplies can get up to 50% of the share. After a batch of supplies arrives, an additional base will be added.

As the documents were sent out, Luthor's eyes and thoughts did not stop at all. He quickly threw himself into the next job, which was still the same: asking for supplies, asking for reinforcements, asking for what was needed in this damn war. everything needed.

……

When he raised his head again, Luthor only felt that the upper half of his spine had finally begun to ache slightly. He glanced at the clock, almost ten Terra standard hours had passed.

Maybe take a break.

Thinking of this, Luthor turned his gaze to the other side of the desk, where there was a stack of letters from Nemir, from Cypher, and from every former comrade-in-arms who fought on the front line.

Luther stretched his fingers, only feeling some numbness at the fingertips. He moved a few times, and then opened the first letter. This letter was not long, but it exuded the smell of gunpowder and iron blood, making Cali The class couldn't help but took a deep breath.

he likes.

Nemir simply said hello, and then asked about the situation of his cousin Zahariel. In the letter, he still referred to his old job title: [Luthor Knight Commander], which made the corners of the readers' mouths twitch.

At the end of the letter, Nemir casually mentioned the situation of the war, mentioned the factories and furnaces that were destroyed and ravaged in the foundry world, as well as the comrades who died in the battle among the steel, or the new generals. Stars rise in the endless fighting, and countless blood and flames burn on the battlefield, which is far beyond what this small piece of paper can accommodate.

Although the part that mentioned the war was just a few cryptic words, Luthor looked at it again and again, as if it was some kind of wonderful masterpiece that made people mesmerized.

Finally, the Caliban leaned back in his chair, still clutching the letter tightly in his hand.

For a moment, he even wanted to save the letter and read it several times later.

But he can't.

All information about the war on the front line must be kept confidential to the utmost extent. All backups of documents are not allowed, and must be destroyed after reading.

And this order came from 【Lion】.

No one dared to go against his [Lion].

Luther struggled briefly in his heart, but this struggle was not intense: almost just for a moment, obedience and fear prevailed.

Looking at the burning letter, Luther just wanted to sigh.

He turned his head, looked behind him, and looked at the paintings that carried the glory of the past: he saw the day when Zhuang Sen was brought back by himself, he saw the day when he personally put on the armor for his adopted son, he saw Zhuang Sen Began to grow bigger, more majestic, more... terrible.

He still remembered those days: the child brought back from the deep forest entrusted Luthor's longing for the child who died young. He watched the child grow and learn, and watched him grow up like the legendary son of God, quickly Transformed into a great warrior, from a savage child at his side, into a great knight who can be trusted.

[Lion] grew up so fast, when almost no one noticed, he was already so powerful, so majestic, so invincible.

Luther didn't even notice when he was taller than himself. When [Lion] began to put on his sword, his shadow enveloped everyone.

Luthor also didn't notice when he stood in front of him and became the new leader and hope of everyone: no one shouted Luthor anymore, everyone would only shout the name of "Lion".

Luthor didn't realize at all, when did he start to fear every move of [Lion], and regarded him as a leader, rather than his heir and relative.

Luther even started to...

hate him
------

He hates [The Lion].

Maybe so.

------

Letters were burned.

The last trace of its scroll also began to curl and turn black as the high temperature approached, and finally disappeared into the crimson flames.

Luther stared at all this, all he wanted to do was sigh.

Immediately, he picked up the second letter, which was from Cypher. The words in the letter were inevitably a bit cryptic, and even contained some code words and references that only the knights of Caliban would understand, but Luther still He could see traces of war from his description, none of which prevented him from searching for them as much as possible.

Read, read again, sigh, then burn, then pick up the next one...

Luther wanted to laugh, a bitter smile.

His former comrades-in-arms, his former brothers, and even his former subordinates were enjoying the madness, pain and honor brought about by the war wantonly, and they were living as living soldiers.

Only him, only Luther, is like a stamp, every day, every hour, every minute of him, he must live in harmony with the document.

He even doubted whether he was really a knight. If he was, then he was obviously undergoing an unimaginable torture.

For knights, there is no war, no honor, no days worth charging, fighting and bleeding, that is torture, a living torture.

But he couldn't disobey all of this, after all, this was an order from [Lion].

[Lion] hates disobedience.

After burning the last letter, Luther closed his eyes, and he even wanted to sleep for a while.

Then, he heard a knock on the door.

------

The eighth visitor is a veteran of the Dark Angels.

Luther saw the logos of [Hurricane Wing] and [Blade Sky Army] on his shoulder armor, and even a Medal of Honor from the Terra Unification War, while he held a paper document in his hand.

"Urgent documents, Chief of Logistics."

Luther got up, took a few steps forward, smiled, and took it solemnly. Everything was smooth and smooth, and he had already done it countless times.

But this time, after thinking silently, Luther smiled and said one more word.

"You can also call me a knight, I think I'm more used to it."

This sentence obviously made the Dark Angel pause for a moment. He neither nodded nor denied, but just lowered his head slightly, moved his eyes down, revealing a large area of ​​white, and then stared condescendingly at the little old man in front of him.

He didn't say a word.

But his gaze said it all.

Luther was still smiling, but this time, his smile froze because he had seen such a look before.

He will never forget it.

He remembers that time, he remembers clearly, he remembers when 【Lion】returned to his legion, how he brought himself with him like a squire, he remembered 【Lion】standing in front of all In front of the Dark Angel, he patted him on the shoulder like a king, telling everyone that this old man who couldn't even undergo genetic surgery was his most trusted right-hand man.

He remembered that none of the dark angels spoke, they neither resisted nor agreed, they just stood there quietly, looking at him.

It's that look.

He will never forget it!
------

But Luther was still smiling.

He can only laugh.

------

Luther Knight may have disappeared.

Because of 【Lion】.

------

The Dark Angel was silent, he didn't say anything more, he just turned around and closed the door.

When the sound of the iron boots stomping on the ground faded away, Luther could finally—he almost forgot—stop his damn grin.

The documents were casually thrown on the table, and Luther leaned on his chair, watching the smoke that hadn't dissipated wandering in the air.

They are weak, sluggish, and have no escape.

He raised his head, trying to see the paintings, but he couldn't see them anyway. He had no choice but to drive his neck harder.

Sometimes life really sucks.

When the blond [Lion] caught his eyes, Luther couldn't help but think so.

(End of this chapter)