Barov sat in his conference room, flipping through several battlefield reports.
The conference room turned out to be a luxurious bedroom, but Barov never slept here. He only used it to receive his most trusted advisors and occasionally let his young female assistant relax for him.
When the situation was so troublesome, he thought to himself, it would be a good idea to hide here.
No matter what, he had to keep his head clear, thinking too much about the details would drown him in them - he said his, she said hers, there was nothing he could do about it.
He took a sip of the fine wine imported from other planets—a fine wine only worthy of a crisis of this magnitude—and continued reading reports from various places.
Barov read that almost half of the No. 14 mine had lost contact, and the workers there, inspired by some heresy, staged a riot and occupied the entire area.
He shook his head and smacked his tongue.
He originally thought that blocking all major thoroughfares would end the riots, but now it seems that is not enough.
He had to send a scout company of the 12th Light Infantry Regiment of the Home Defense Force deep into the mining area to prevent the madness from spreading further.
Subsequently, the second report Barov picked up from the writing desk was a communiqué from the colonel of the 7th Infantry Regiment.
The colonel regretfully said that he could not contact his troops to coordinate their garrison at Mine No. 16.
Barov sighed. It seemed that he had to contact some priests in the church. He wanted the colonel to see how redundant a few outstanding priests could make his chain of command appear once they opened their mouths.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of the room, and Barov raised his head angrily.
"Come in."
His voice was quite sharp.
Then, a waiter servitor pushed the door open with its chrome arm, and a deacon walked in. He was Barov's trusted servant and messenger, a young but ambitious man.
"grown ups."
The deacon said carefully:
"Someone outside the door said that he wanted to see me for something."
"Tell this person, my office has rules! My time is precious. If it's really that important, let him find Mia first."
"That's where the trouble lies...my lord."
At this point, the deacon's plump face suddenly turned red.
"They claim they have the right to meet with you directly."
"I said no time..."
"You will have time, Bishop."
Suddenly, a deep voice came from behind the deacon.
An armored giant held down the deacon's shoulders, threw the screaming man into the corridor, and then strode into the house. The heavy steps made the wooden floor of the house creak, as if it might collapse at any time.
The person who came was tall and almost terrifyingly strong. His face was stern and full of aristocratic temperament. His eyes revealed wisdom.
He wears a silver-gray power armor covered with thunderclouds, with the emblem of two crossed swords printed on the shoulder armor. Behind him is a short cloak, and on the chest is the stern imperial eagle emblem.
"Pardon my interruption, Bishop."
The giant stood still, looked down at the pale Barov, and said with ridicule but elegance:
"But it would be better for us to meet face to face? After all, I shoulder the responsibility of saving this world."
For a moment, Barov felt as if he was pinned to the chair by the other person's gaze? He wanted to stand up, but his sore legs refused to allow him to sit like this.
"I, I, I... you...
"I am Soshyan Alexei, Chapter Master of the Astral Knights, here to represent the unlimited authority of the Emperor? Are here to contain the spreading xenos threat? Our enemies are much more difficult to deal with than you imagine.
,bishop"
"Of course..."
Barov nodded hurriedly, then stood up unsteadily.
"Honored, noble angel, forgive me for my rudeness..."
"Now is not the time to discuss these etiquettes."
Soshyan smiled and waved his hand.
"I just have something to ask you."
"yes--"
"As the person in charge of the local state religion, I think you should have heard of...the Lord of Crows."
Barov's shoulders stiffened for a second? Then he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves and whispered in an extremely humble manner:
"This...I have never heard of it."
"oh?"
Sosh raised his eyebrows.
"Is this a secret sect? The Crow Lord is their god, and there is a group of miners who believe in it? Have you never heard of it?"
"I have neglected my duty. Is there still such a heresy? I will immediately ask someone to conduct a thorough investigation? I will definitely give you an answer, angel."
Saying that? Barov wanted to press the electric bell on the table to summon his followers? But the bell was immediately smashed by a big armor-covered hand, and the bishop was so frightened that he retracted his hand as if he was electrocuted.
"Don't worry, I still have some questions."
Although Soshyan was smiling at the moment, there was no smile at all in Barov's eyes, only the coldness that penetrated his bones.
"According to my investigation of your personal resume, you were born in an unbelievably humble way. Your father is a miner and your mother is simply a prostitute... Yes, don't be too busy denying it. That is your biological mother. Your father married
That restaurant waitress is actually yours
stepmother."
With that said, Soshyan took out the data disk.
"Originally, this is nothing. The empire never lacks inspiring stories. It is not unacceptable for a lowly person to climb to the highest position... But until you are 35 years old, you are just the most ordinary priest who was assigned
To the poorest and most violent neighborhoods, every day
Apart from hiding in that chapel and drinking heavily, he was basically useless."
After hearing Soshyan shaking out his life treasures, Barov's fat face became whiter than the surrounding walls, and sweat dripped from his chin to his stomach like rain.
"As far as you are concerned, you have neither excellent speaking skills, nor fanatical beliefs, nor an excellent background. But even so, after your 35th birthday, your life seems to have hitched a ride. You began to
As you rise to the top, any colleagues who compete with you will
It was either an accidental death or a disappearance, and everything happened without any flaws. There is nothing to blame you for, just like the last bishop died of cardiac arrest in his bedroom..."
Soshyan threw the data disk on the table, then put his hands on the table, looked closely at the bishop who was shaking like a sieve of chaff, and said softly:
"This is not the most coincidental. What is even more coincidental is that the No. 13 mining area where you were born is the area where the Ministry of Justice encountered those heretical believers. So, Bishop, can you explain it?"
"me……"
"It doesn't matter if you don't want to say it. Although the equipment of the Legal Department is not as complete as that of the Inquisition, I think it can still be done to pry your mouth open."
"I, I...I'm not a traitor."
Barov's psychological defense collapsed in an instant, and he collapsed directly on the chair, covering his face and sobbing.