40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 129 32. Traders Who Come

Khalil looked at the mirror in front of him thoughtfully, with a calm expression.

In the mirror, there was a pale face, with completely black eyes resting quietly above the cheekbones, a straight nose, and thin lips, drawn into a line.Like a sculpture, condensed under the dim light.This face was no different from his past, it was the same cold when it was expressionless, and it didn't look gentle when it smiled.

The only difference is that this face—or, these flesh and blood clinging to the skeleton, he spent seven days piling up bit by bit with spiritual energy.

They were genuine, his flesh and blood, and he was now a living person in a physical sense.

"I'm already suspicious of medicine, instructor," Jairzinho Guzman said.The medical officer stood behind him, every detail of his face revealed a kind of numb calm.

Kalil turned his head and smiled apologetically at him: "I'm sorry to make you go through all this, Jairzinho. However, you can still continue to believe in medicine. My situation is one of the very few very few."

"Like your height, instructor?" Guzman asked with a sense of humor, shrugging his shoulders bitterly. "Well, I think, I should try to convince myself that as a special case, your situation doesn't explain anything."

"At most it can only mean that I am a psyker."

"Strong and terrifying psyker—Fair Zalost of the [-]rd Company can't do that, instructor, and he's pretty much the best psyker we have."

"You set me apart, Jairzinho." Khalil raised an eyebrow. "What? I just went out for a trip, so I don't belong to human beings?"

Guzman didn't answer this sentence, his expression answered the question instead of him - it was a complex expression that wanted to laugh but didn't dare, full of recognition of Caryl Rojars' special sense of humor , and some kind of worry.

"There's no one else here," Khalil said. "So, if you want to laugh, laugh, Jairzinho. I have a terrible sense of humor, but the joke should be alright?"

The medical officer raised his hand and covered half of his face, not knowing what to do.This kind of calm lasted for tens of seconds, and when he put his hand down again, the medical officer had completely recovered his calm.

At least the surface is calm.

"How?" Khalil looked at him expectantly. "You at least have to comment on my joke, Jairzinho?"

Guzman finally laughed.

He thought, this kind of joke after another is much scarier than those that can be told in one sentence.In a sense, joke tellers are like laying landmines, and a chain of minefields is of course much more difficult to deal with than a single one.

And the person who listens to the joke is the person responsible for clearing the mines. You never know where the enemy will plant booby traps that may cause chain explosions.As long as it is detonated, the aftermath will be generated one after another.

Thinking of this, the medical officer couldn't help laughing louder—at this moment, he suddenly realized that his sense of humor seemed to be more terrifying than their instructor's.

This incident swept away the stress he had accumulated in recent days from constant inspections, but it also brought out another thing.

Brings out the voice of his Primarch.

It came from behind him, calm and clear.

"What is so funny, Jairzinho?"

The laughter suddenly stagnated, and the 'cemetery' fell into silence again.The medical officer widened his eyes and looked at Kalil, who had a calm expression. The latter smiled slightly and said nothing.

Jairzinho immediately turned his head after a short silence, and as expected, he saw the Primarch of the Eighth Legion, Konrad Curz, in the darkness.

He was wearing a black robe, and his sharp facial features seemed soft at the moment, but those dark eyes were staring at the medical officer curiously, exploring his heart.Seeing him turn his head, Conrad Koz asked again.

"Why were you laughing so hard just now, Jairzinho?"

".May I not answer this question, Primarch?"

"Yes, of course you have a choice, but I want to hear it. I want to share in the joy of your laughter."

The medical officer was silent again, and for five seconds, he told the joke in its entirety with the determination to treat death like home.He lowered his head so he didn't see Conrad Curz's expression, but after the narration was finished, he heard a series of chuckles.

Jairzinho looked up in disbelief to see that their sullen primarch was laughing very happily at this moment—not fake, but genuine joy.It overflowed on that pale face, making the gloom between the eyebrows and eyes disappear a lot.

"I have to say, this is a terrible and very misleading joke. But, personally, I would classify it as a good joke. However, as the Lord of the Eighth Legion, I must also remind you In a word, Jairzinho, you better not tell this joke to your brothers."

"Of course not." The medical officer replied quickly.

Of course he could hear what his Primarch was implying—what a joke, not everyone has such a terrible sense of humor, if he dared to say it, he might be in the duel cage for the next few days passed.

Conrad Coates nodded to him.

"So, would you mind letting me have a private chat with our instructor?" he asked softly. "I have a lot of work to hand over to him."
-
"Work?"

Khalil looked at his nominal boss: "Don't tell me you're going to get me back to work right now and start paperwork."

"Didn't you already start?" Conrad Koz asked back from his chair. "You started causing extra workload for the servitors the day after you got back, Khalil."

".That's an interesting adjective." Khalil laughed dumbfoundedly. "Okay, I admit that I am indeed a person who can't be idle, so, what's the matter?"

Conrad Curz shook his head and made a gesture: "You haven't forgotten the adamantine mine on Nostramo, have you?"

"Does a poor man forget every bit of his wealth?"

"."

Midnight Ghost looked at him dissatisfied, and began to hiss again: "I'm talking about business, Khalil. But, you haven't been so negative recently, I think, I want to thank Robert Guilliman."

Khalil didn't answer this sentence, but nodded with a light smile, indicating that he understood Ghost's dissatisfaction.

"In short, the nobles will trade with several planets around Nostramo, among which fine gold is the main commodity. They have reached some trading agreements with the people on those planets. Every five years, they will Send a fleet to trade with the nobles."

Khalil raised his eyebrows, and Conrad Koz nodded, confirming his thoughts.

"They approached Nostramo three hours ago, and we stopped the ship by jumping gangs. There are three ships in this fleet, without any weapons, armor, or even any detection capabilities. None. They don't know anything about our presence."

"According to Mechanicism, these ships are extremely old and cannot be identified, and most of the area has been abandoned, and there is no possibility of restoration. A priest guessed that these ships should be left by the former human colonists Legacy, is a short-distance transport ship specialized in transporting goods between planets."

"One or more human worlds relying on the shadow left by their ancestors to trade with Nostramo?" Khalil said softly. "That would be interesting. Do any of them speak Nostramo?"

"A lot." Conrad Koz replied calmly. "Many of them are descendants of nobles on Nostramo. According to the information obtained from the torture, they went out to 'increase their knowledge' and 'travel'."

Khalil grinned, his white teeth gleaming under the soft light in the office of the Lord of the Eighth Legion: "So, do they know what's going on in Nostramo now?"

Conrad Koz also smiled slowly: "They don't know."

"So, what are you going to do with them, Legion Commander?" Khalil asked again.

"I plan to lock them up first." Curz replied firmly. "It is a kind of mercy to simply execute them. Their fathers died in the fire you ignited, and they are naturally not spared. The people on Nostramo still don't know the existence of justice and judgment, but they Will find out soon."

Khalil smiled softly, and imperceptible relief flashed across his face: "So, what about the rest of this fleet?"

"...and that's the point of the question."

Conrad Koz pursed his lips: "I don't know what to do with them."

Khalil was not surprised by his answer, he nodded: "If you think about it as the master of the Eighth Legion, what answer will you come up with?"

".I should replace the empire and regain lost ground."

"Recovering lost colonies is part of your job."

"But."

"But what, Conrad?"

Conrad Koz was silent for a long time before giving his answer.His tone was hesitant and slow, which was in extreme contrast to the firmness before: "...But this means that I am going to start a war."

"You're already in the midst of a war," Khalil replied calmly. "Humanity has no other path but solidarity."

"Even if we use war to achieve this kind of unity?"

"Even if it takes war to achieve this unity."

"Khalil, is that right?"

The instructor of the Eighth Legion calmly stared at the Lord of the Eighth Legion, and after a short silence, he answered him in a calm and firm voice: "I will not change you with my ideas, but your problems will be here. Find the answer this way, Conrad."

　There is one more chapter, and it is being coded

　　
　
(End of this chapter)