40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 83 81. The Battle of the Adamantite Ore (3k)

Lucretius Corvo did not answer Khalil Rohals' words immediately.

He has a good understanding of politics and a limited understanding of adamantium, but it is enough.He also knew a lot about war, in fact, he was born for war.Politics and urban planning and governance were rather learned things, and during his first years as an Astartes he was a living machine, only to kill.

He knew a lot, but he was utterly ignorant of the man Khalil Rohars.

He knew his name, he knew who he was, but what else?
I don't know at all.

Looking into those calm eyes, Corvo didn't know how to answer for a moment.The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this issue must be treated with caution.

The silence lasted for a full 2 ​​minutes. There was a hollow echo from the far end in the dark corridor. The pipes in the walls of the Nightfall were rumbling, and the machines were running smoothly, doing their usual work without wavering. , without hesitation, to maintain absolute rationality.

They are rational because they have no intellect.

This thought crossed Corvo's mind, and in the next second, Khalil Rohars spoke slowly, interrupting Corvo's tense and orderly thinking.

His voice was as calm as ever, and although he was much taller than Corvo, his manner of speaking did not seem domineering.

"Don't take it too seriously, Corvo, I just asked a question," he said quietly. "You don't have to think about it politically, or take it too seriously. Like I said, it's just a problem."

"A question that may concern many things, Instructor Khalil."

"Are you going to do business? Well, Captain Lucretius Corvo—then let's take this seriously. You've read the papers, haven't you?"

"Yes." Corvo replied gravely. "I already have a general idea of ​​the production of Adamantite in Nostramo, and frankly, I can hardly believe it."

"Can't believe what?"

"."

Lucretius Corvo's first instinct is to lie - he doesn't want to tell the truth, which is often unpleasant and irritating.At the same time, he was also annoyed by the sentence he blurted out just now.

However, looking into those dark and calm eyes, he couldn't convince himself to lie.

There was nothing in the eyes he was looking into but an almost unbearable peace.This calm cut open his heart like a sharp knife, carefully searching for traces of lies.

And if you still want to heal the wound on your heart, you better tell the truth.

Corvo clenched his hands.

"I can't believe that a cursed planet like Nostramo can have such rich fine gold deposits." He said in a deep voice.

"indeed so."

Khalil smiled gently, and the calm that was almost indifferent before disappeared without a trace. "It's really hard to believe, it's even hard to understand. And if you ask me, it's like an accumulation of misfortunes."

"I don't understand what you mean," Corvo replied stiffly.

He really didn't understand.

"The instructor is the limit of my patience, Captain Corvo."

The smile on Khalil's face was fleeting at this moment.

"So, don't use the honorific title anymore, I respect you."

Corvo froze, it was difficult for his common sense to connect respect with not using honorifics—according to human common sense, his common sense, if you respect someone, you should address them with honorific titles.

He didn't have time to answer this sentence, Khalil had already changed the subject.

"The accumulation of misfortunes."

Khalil said, shaking his head calmly.

"Beforehand, Captain Corvo. You may take what I say next as a less-than-funny joke."

"After all, I've always had a terrible sense of humor personally."

He grinned, this smile was different from all the smiles before, it looked very threatening, as if being suffocated by someone slowly approaching the neck with a rotating chainsword.

"For me, Nostramo's production of such a large amount of fine gold seems like a kind of revenge accumulated for the misfortune of the dead."

"Don't you think that's ironic?"

Khalil asked with a chuckle. "This planet has treated its people cruelly, and its unremembered people have retaliated against it with ore condensed with blood and life, leaving it over-exploited and leaving it an empty shell."

"."

Lucretius Corvo didn't know how to answer.The birth of pure gold and blood has nothing to do with human life, he knows it.

In all fairness, Caryl Rohars's tone of voice in telling the joke was mild, even chatty.But Corvo didn't find it funny, and it was even difficult to breathe as if someone had weighed down his spine.

Suddenly, he remembered the experience of being buried by collapsed ruins during a certain battle.Even with the protection of Power Armor, he would never say that it was a good experience.

And the heaviness at this moment is even heavier than that huge collapsed building.

"It seems that I really don't have a sense of humor." Khalil shook his head. "The joke isn't funny, is it?"

"...I don't think that's a joke, Instructor Khalil."

"For you, no. For me, neither. But for some people on Nostramo, yes."

"...the so-called nobles?"

"They are nobles," Khalil corrected.

"I'd love to deny it, but I can't deny the facts, Corvo. No matter how much we despise them, loathe them, or hate them, they are nobles. They were a long time ago. And nobles have always been a hereditary system, Isn't it?"

"So—" he gestured. "—Power and power are indeed a kind of poison."

The corners of Lucretius Corvo's eyes twitched, how could he not hear this cryptic reminder?However, after a brief silence, what surged in his heart was not flinching, but a kind of discontent almost like fury.

"Your insinuation makes no sense at all!" He frowned, and spoke the sharpest words with the most peaceful attitude in his life. "There is no way we can do what you imagine!"

Gazing peacefully, again.

For Corvo at the moment, Khalil Rohals' deadpan expression in silence is even a terrifying threat.

He didn't know why he had this thought, but an instinct welling up from the depths of his bone marrow told him not to look away.

Eye to eye with him.

Half a minute later, Khalil smiled.

"I apologize, then," he said softly and sincerely. "I hope you will forgive me, Captain Lucretius Corvo."

".Are you always like this?" Corvo replied in a low voice, with a hint of vengeance. "The temptation is simply overwhelming."

"Test. That's an interesting term. I wouldn't call it a temptation. In fact, we were just chatting, weren't we?"

Khalil blinked at him. "Who can deny that this was a small talk? I was joking."

"...if anyone could laugh at that joke, I'd question his morality."

Khalil chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, let's get down to business," he said softly. "You can see that we have no intention of hiding anything about Nostramo's Adamantite Reserve, Lucretius, can you?"

"That's true, but I don't understand what it means."

"You understand." Khalil smiled slightly. "A completely tax-free trade route, of course you understand what I'm talking about, Lucretius."

".This matter is of great importance. I am afraid that I cannot make a decision on my own."

Lucretius Corvo licked his lips discreetly - he wouldn't hide his desire, there was no need for that.

If someone said that they don't need fine gold, that would be a complete lie, who wouldn't need it?Battleship keel, Titan skeleton. Who wouldn't need it?But also because of this, he must be extremely careful.

Nostramo is not an ordinary trade planet, it is the home planet of Konrad Curze, the Primarch of Genes, and according to tradition, in the future, it will also become the conscription place of the Eighth Legion.

From here on, if someone wanted to trade with Nostramo, it would no longer be a simple commercial act.

And
"It may take years to establish a trade route with Macragge, Khalil."

he said cautiously. "The distance between Nostramo and Macragge can only be considered not too far from the perspective of the entire empire. Moreover, I have no authority over this matter."

"I understand—this kind of matter is of course up to Lord Macragge to decide."

"It is best to understand nature."

Corvo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"According to the current situation, the best scenario is that we return to Macragge after five years and bring the news back. Or let the next logistics fleet to resupply bring the news back. In short, This matter will take time, just like adamantine mines need time to mine, don't they?"

"Actually, Lucretius, we have already stockpiled a considerable amount of adamantine ore." Khalil said noncommittally. "And today's conversation is actually not entirely out of my own wishes."

Lucretius Corvo frowned sharply.

"Yes, that's what you think." Khalil nodded gently. "I was ordered by the Lord of the Eighth Legion, Konrad Curz, to discuss this matter with you."

He chuckled, as if casually making another joke, but, looking into those eyes, Corvo knew he wasn't.

Yes, he didn't.

　There's one more chapter -- or two.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)