Chapter 20: There Is a Reason Why the Emperor Sits on the Throne

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There was no exaggerated phenomenon like in the Warp, but with a sudden exclamation, a cluster of golden flames appeared beside the group.

These flames only flickered in form; they did not burn anyone, nor did they emit heat. They simply spread quietly, climbing onto everyone except the Travelers.

Soon, these illusory flames faded away, leaving only faint traces in the eyes of the warriors—tiny fragments of golden light.

Such a spectacle naturally sparked fervent prayers among many believers.

Especially the sisters; visions that might only be witnessed at the moment of their death occurred twice within just a few hours, prompting devout chanting of hymns and the documentation of these experiences.

“Well done, Ramesses.”

Arthur sighed with relief and did not withhold his praise.

In the era before the Great Rift unfolded, it was still difficult to summon an apparition of the Emperor.

“...”

Yet Ramesses, despite clearly having accomplished something significant, showed no sign of happiness; instead, he looked as if something had disgusted him deeply.

“Sorry.”

Ramesses confessed to the three, adopting an apologetic posture.

“I acted on my own accord.”

“...”

Romulus blinked.

Hadn’t he just heard those words before?

“What exactly happened?”

Arthur was also confused.

Since he had already ventured into the Warp to extract valuable information, the honorable task of studying the Warp naturally fell to Ramesses.

So no one understood why Ramesses, despite having earned merit, wore the expression of someone apologizing.

“I am guilty; I was foolish.”

Having successfully completed his attempt to save a great many lives in the future, Ramesses’ mood was far from joyful.

Looking at the souls handed over to him by the group for centralized use, which had already dwindled significantly, he felt thoroughly exploited!

“Do you remember the safe house we had in the Warp when we first landed?”

He asked abruptly.

“Yes.”

Arthur nodded; he even recalled there was some toilet paper inside.

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“This thing was created instinctively when we landed, as a defense against the Warp. Essentially, it’s a mental barrier within the Warp, providing a certain degree of concealment. Of course, Warp entities can’t see us anyway, so this is actually useless.”

Ramesses explained the principles behind the safe house.

“Then the Emperor probably judged us as some special Warp entities influenced by humans, and this safe house is the domain where our true selves exist…”

“Never mind that for now—you should know that being noticed by the Emperor isn’t exactly a good thing, right?”

“Understood.”

Arthur nodded.

He had read many novels produced by Games Workshop, often in the original English besides the translated versions, and naturally knew one of Chaos’s favorite pastimes.

Namely, corrupting humans who firmly believe in the Emperor, a cruel kind of twisted amusement.

The hardest hit are understandably the battle sisters and Astartes, who are under the Emperor’s gaze.

Many heretical demons take pride in having a fallen sister under their command or capturing loyalist Space Marines to sacrifice to the Chaos Gods, as this pleases their masters and grants stronger blessings.

So, in the Warhammer universe, praying to the God-Emperor and receiving no response is the best response; a real response usually means you’re either about to die or face some kind of demon.

In a sense, if you draw the Emperor’s attention while alive, your risk of being noticed by the Chaos Gods skyrockets.

While living, you might be tortured by Chaos champions; after death, you could experience a gruesome dismemberment in the Warp.

And the Emperor often cannot protect these people.

There are simply too many such cases, even the Emperor cannot manage them all.

“So our safe house isolates these people; for example, if they die, the Chaos Gods cannot sense them for a short time, allowing the Emperor to safely extract them from the safe house?”

Arthur roughly understood Ramesses’ point.

“Yes.”

Ramesses nodded.

“So the Emperor used a psychic projection to instruct me to enlarge the safe house to shelter about a hundred people.”

“Actually, he wanted it bigger, but as I said before, the cost of creating anything involving the Warp and complex matter is very high, so I stopped when it started feeling wrong.”

“And then—”

Romulus, who managed the accounts, turned pale.

Ramesses pointed to the marked Warp Marines and sisters.

“Then he tagged everyone and left without a word. Even the demons near my psychic projection fled in fright.”

The four fell into a deathly silence.

“The Emperor’s move…”

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“Is basically us paying to expand a warehouse in the Warp for the Emperor to store his money, but he doesn’t even pay rent, just dumps the souls and leaves, taking our livelihood and earning the glory for himself?!”

Romulus glanced back at the group caught up in religious fervor.

“Oh, right, he also tagged all these people, forcing us either to expand the safe house or control the number of their deaths, or else just watch them die?”

Everyone nodded.

Though tinged with some subjective emotion, that was roughly the meaning.

And Ramesses, who had communicated with the Emperor psychically, was even more certain that was the Emperor’s intent.

Because to him, losing the bet was inconsequential; compared to the fate of all humanity, the lives of a few thousand were expendable.

“How many souls did it cost?”

Ramesses marked the shared data stream with a red flag.

“No—”

Romulus let out a harsh, sharp cry.

“No, how could the Emperor do this?”

At least show some goodwill, even just an attitude, right?

Using them and leaving as if they were tools?

“At least give some feedback, a sound or sign would be humane. Before, in the Warp, he at least observed us through the sisters. Doesn’t he understand our attitude?”

Everyone was a bit angry.

Not because saving people required sacrifice and they felt cheated, but because of the Emperor’s attitude.

It was as if he said, “Whether I protect you or not is up to me; I’ve done the tagging and given the order, now I’m leaving. You deal with it.” It was as if he was taking them for granted.

“Maybe it’s because he understands us too well.”

As the oldest among the comrades, Ramesses, with more life experience due to personal reasons, clearly understood the nature of his freshly graduated companions.

Setting aside the imposing aura their solemn appearance gave them among the Imperial citizens, these three exuded a markedly incongruous temperament.

Yes, a kind of pure foolishness?

No, not foolishness.

It should be called kindness.

The kind of kindness that comes from growing up surrounded by a healthy family’s love, just entering society, still holding beautiful hopes for others and the world.