Logic Won Support

Altar 3 of Lukpo Hive.

Kivior-15 withdrew the data probe of his mechadendrite from the Data Slate Murawski had brought.

The name Kivior came from the Magos who led the Mars Explorator Fleets that discovered Vostonia. It was an identifier with a glorious history, used by many local members.

The appended 15 was a custom addition by the Magos, meant to highlight this unit's unique individuality, much like another Tech-Priest known as Custom-23.

Thierry was the first to speak. "Magos, as you can see, Puhach is dead. Nimrod, the new king from Tezwork Hive, has already taken the Hive Spire and Upper Hive."

Murawski added, "Magos, Puhach had long since gone mad. Without King Nimrod's emergence, Lukpo would have collapsed before long."

"Foolish Puhach. Fragile humans."

The voice from within the red robes conveyed Kivior-15's judgment. Puhach had not been wrong to pursue a perfect body; he had merely overestimated the wisdom and endurance of fragile fleshly life.

Murawski and Thierry exchanged a glance. They naturally understood the Magos's stance. Without his tacit approval, the Mad King could not have ruled Lukpo for so many years.

The white-haired marquis hurriedly said, "Magos, King Nimrod has already noticed Lukpo's recent decline in production capacity. He has promised to restore it swiftly."

Thierry added, "King Nimrod has already accomplished this in Tezwork, and he has reached an agreement with Magos Kaminski."

Kivior-15 said nothing. Red and green binary code flickered across his golden mechanical eyes as he contacted Magos Kaminski through an exclusive Adeptus Mechanicus high-level communication channel.

After a torrent of binary data surged for a moment, the Magos spoke.

"I will meet this new king. Lead the way."

Sixteen standard minutes later, Kivior-15 met the new king. More convinced than Kaminski or Puhach of the perfection of mechanical bodies, he struggled with his new king for five full minutes before speaking.

"Kaminski told me that you restored Tezwork's production capacity and completed reforms in the Lower Hive Dome."

"Yet you did not follow the agreement and eliminate the xenos pirates. Instead, you attacked Lukpo and killed Puhach, blessed by the Omnissiah. This is a breach of contract."

Nimrod shook his head. "No. I attacked Lukpo precisely to fulfill the agreement."

"What you say is not logical."

"Eliminating the pirates requires ships. All three of Tezwork's vessels have departed under Robert Boleslaw's command."

Nimrod's eyes gleamed. "I did not attack Mazov and Szczecin first, but Lukpo, precisely for House Piatkowski's frigate."

After taking the Hive Spire and searching Puhach's palace, he had made three major gains.

First was naturally the foundation of House Piatkowski: the STC for Maglev Trains, along with some incomplete mechanical augmentation technologies.

Second were potion ingredients that only he could make the fullest use of. He had found twenty-five types, totaling forty-three potion ingredients.

Besides assembling another complete set of ingredients for the "Sailor" potion, his greatest gain was completing two sets for the "Know-it-all" potion.

Nimrod found the main ingredient for "Know-it-all" in the study: two Data Slates from dead Tech-Priests.

He also found seven auxiliary ingredients in the laboratory: unused Mars Grade I helical gears.

He did not yet have a suitable target. Otherwise, he would have long since ordered Bukayo and Rawlslev to travel to other Hive Cities, kill several Tech-Priests, and obtain their Data Slates.

The final gain was the frigate docked at the spaceport.

Unlike Tezwork's warships, which were scattered among the three great houses of Boleslaw, Fender, and Kournikova, Lukpo had only one ship: the Piszczek.

The moment Nimrod discovered this prize, he dispatched Bukayo and the 7th Company, carrying the keys and riding flying transports, to the spaceport to seize control of the Piszczek.

At the same time, based on this new gain, he reorganized his response with "Extraordinary Eloquence."

After advancing to "Barbarian," the extraordinary abilities he possessed during the "Lawyer" stage had all improved to some degree. The improvement to "Extraordinary Eloquence" was not as great as his ability to catch loopholes in rules, but it exceeded the improvement to his ability to extract clues from information.

"With a frigate, I can venture into the stars and strike the xenos pirates."

He took out a Data Slate. Earlier, he had spent fifteen minutes using Superhuman Brain to process data from all Upper Hive factories in Lukpo over six Work Cycles. He then used his ability to extract clues to identify the key points and finally turned them into charts.

"The trapezoid chart in the first table records production statistics at ten-minute intervals for the B-14 weapons Foundry during the Rini Troupe shift in Lukpo Hive six Work Cycles ago."

"As you can see, after work hours exceeded five hours, output plummeted by 8.52%."

He tapped with a finger and brought up another table.

"This is the production record for the same factory, the same shift, and the same time five Work Cycles ago. As you can see, output in the first standard hour was only that of the third standard hour on the previous day, and by the fourth standard hour, it had already begun to decline sharply by 10.83%."

Nimrod displayed the charts one by one to Kivior-15, letting the data speak.

Finally, he brought up a comprehensive industrial production chart, measuring Lukpo Upper Hive's output over six Work Cycles in Mars Credits.

"This chart shows that Lukpo Upper Hive's total production capacity fell from 2.508 billion Mars Credits per Work Cycle to 1.635 billion Mars Credits."

"Combined with the previous charts, one conclusion can be drawn: Lukpo's production capacity is rapidly declining."

"The data is accurate, the logic rigorous, and the conclusion correct."

Kivior-15 immediately rendered his judgment and sought advice from the giant before him.

"King Nimrod, how should this be resolved?"

"By solving the problem, naturally. There is only one cause behind it: food."

"Workers are not Machines, not Servitors, much less bodies of steel."

"The weakness of flesh." Kivior-15 looked down on mortal beings of flesh, yet he had no choice but to accept reality. "Kaminski and I request that you fulfill your promise as soon as possible."

"Of course. I have always kept my promises."

"I need twelve Work Cycles to prepare."

Only after taking Lukpo did Nimrod realize the severity of the food crisis.

The 1st Vostonian Regiment had also suffered relatively light losses in battle. He decided to launch attacks on Mazov and Szczecin ahead of schedule, then set sail at once to deal with the xenos pirates.

Seeing Nimrod easily win Kivior-15's recognition of his status as Lukpo's new king, Thierry and Murawski finally let go of their last concerns.

The giant not only possessed godlike combat strength, but he was also not mad like Puhach. Outside of battle, he was rational and wise. He grasped the points the Magos cared about, won support with logic, and achieved his political goal.

The two of them thought in unison: Vostonia's order will change. Nimrod will unite all thirty-three scattered Hive Cities and become the one true king.

Considering that he would soon leave Lukpo and later venture into the stars, Nimrod decided to reform Lukpo after his return.

"Murawski, you will temporarily take charge of Lukpo's administration."

"As you command, my king."

After Murawski left, Nimrod sent messages to Rawlslev and Bukayo, summoning them to the palace for a military council. He intended to begin a new round of expansion.

He also specifically named Szczesny to attend the meeting.