"What are you doing... no, wait, how are you alive?"
A huge question mark was practically written across Solomon's face as he looked at the passionately declaiming Horne.
Horne turned at the sound of his voice, and when he saw Gaia and Solomon, a helpless look appeared on his face.
"I didn't die, so why are you two so shocked?"
Gaia looked Horne up and down in disbelief. Although he was still wrapped in bandages like a rice dumpling, he was clearly alive and moving around just fine, and a good portion of the burn scars on his skin had already faded.
The Mechanicus certainly possessed core technologies, but their effectiveness should have been limited aboard a ship with such poor facilities.
And yet, despite injuries so severe you could practically season him and eat him, Horne had not only survived, but in such a short time had recovered enough to walk around and even preach loyalty to an underage girl.
That was truly bizarre.
So either Magos Lena was a genius healer, or Horne was unusually resistant to being burned.
"Right. Since my injuries have already healed, I should return to the Astra Militarum and report back."
Horne's words made Solomon wonder whether the burns had reached his brain after all.
"No, brother, you're still a long way from healed."
"And unfortunately, we're about to begin Warp transit. Even if you really were fully recovered, you'd still have to stay aboard for a while before getting off."
Gaia nodded as well.
"Commissar Horne, your injuries were extremely severe. The fact that you survived is proof of the Emperor's blessing. To serve Him better, I think you should recover properly before worrying about returning to your unit."
Horne immediately looked troubled.
In his view, being separated from the Astra Militarum was wrong.
As the Emperor's currency, he should be fighting for the survival of the Imperium at every possible moment.
But Gaia's words also made sense, and that left him stuck in indecision.
Seeing Horne's tangled state, Gaia glanced at Nia, who was excitedly holding up the cover of the commissar's handbook with her name on it for Solomon to see, and the corner of Gaia's mouth lifted slightly.
"Commissar Horne, you can still contribute to the Emperor even now."
"Not just this child. There are many people on this ship who can't read, and who also lack a proper understanding of the Emperor's greatness."
"If you can help them understand that the true meaning of life is to serve the Emperor, then that too would be a great contribution to the Imperial cause, wouldn't it?"
Gaia's words instantly lit up Horne's eyes.
Like a man seeing daylight through parted clouds, the light in his gaze flared to life.
Of course.
Serving the Emperor was not only about fighting.
Guiding those with weak fighting spirit, and eliminating heretical thoughts through either psychological or physical means, was also service to the Emperor.
Solomon looked at Horne, whose fighting spirit was practically about to materialize from his eyes, and immediately thought of the situation on the lower decks.
So he patted Horne on the shoulder and said with a grave expression,
"That's right. There really is a place for you on this ship. How about this: I'll leave the lower decks to you. From now on, you'll be the acting person in charge down there."
Just like that, an excited Horne grabbed Nia and hurried off, eager to spread proper ideology and purify the atmosphere aboard the ship.
Watching the large and small figures disappear into the distance, Solomon smiled and shook his head, then spread his hands toward Gaia.
"I'll arrange for some deckhands to protect them."
After that, he pointed toward the captain's quarters at the end of the corridor and grinned.
"Now then, as for your matter, let's go inside and talk."
Gaia nodded and followed him inside.
...
"Report. We've discovered an abandoned transport ship ahead."
"The damage on it is recent. It appears to have been abandoned not long ago."
Hearing this, Inquisitor Darkleid of the Ordo Hereticus opened eyes as sharp as an eagle's and asked in a deep voice,
"Any survivors aboard?"
"No life signs detected. No response on vox channels either."
"Prepare the assault boat. I'm going aboard to take a look."
Darkleid could feel that he was drawing close to the target he had been pursuing.
Not long ago, he had learned of Klaurund's treachery and had immediately rushed to that planet aboard his Inquisitorial cruiser, Blade of Retribution.
The result, however, had left him speechless the moment he landed.
The traitorous planetary governor had already been righteously purged by his own cousin.
Still, considering that hidden truths might lie beneath the surface, Darkleid had decided to interrogate the man now serving as the acting planetary governor.
And then he had been left speechless all over again.
The man had already been taken into custody by the Arbites, and under the pretext of protective investigation, they would not allow Darkleid to meet him at all.
After learning that the planet was due to pay its tithe next year, Darkleid understood that unless he was willing to wait an entire year, they were never going to hand the man over.
Even so, as an experienced Inquisitor, he had still managed to uncover a few details about the planet that concerned him.
Among them, the most shocking was the witness description of a being with an unusually large physique, great physical strength, and strange black protrusions covering its body.
Based on those unmistakable features, he had immediately realized that it was very likely an unarmored Astartes.
After urgently contacting the nearby Astartes Chapters, he received a startling answer.
No Chapter claimed that Astartes who had apparently solo-killed the Ork Warboss.
As an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, he had at once understood that this was no ordinary situation.
It was either a Chaos Space Marine plot, or an illegally modified Astartes.
And either possibility was absolutely intolerable.
No.
This required a hard response.
So after learning that an unidentified vessel had hovered over Klaurund without requesting docking clearance and then quietly departed, he had immediately set off in pursuit along its flight path.
For him, however, the troubles were far from over.
Recently, the two major pirate groups in this sector, Darkstar and Black Shark, seemed to have gone completely insane and had started fighting each other to the death, to the point that their conflict was even disrupting merchant traffic.
His cruiser had also been caught in the aftermath of one such pirate clash not long ago. Although the result had been the total destruction of the pirate forces, his pursuit had been significantly delayed.
Just as he had started to think he was about to lose the trail, an abandoned House Hayek transport ship had appeared.
...
The moment Darkleid boarded the transport, countless mutilated corpses filled his field of vision.
The marks of slaughter on those bodies, along with the savage gouges left by chainaxes in the walls, made his pupils contract sharply.
Well.
That settled it.
The target was not only a Chaos Space Marine, but one of the Blood God's killers as well.
Having reached what he believed was the truth, Darkleid clenched his fists.
"Damn hounds of the Blood God, you will die beneath the hammer of my judgment!"
(End of Chapter)
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