Loyalty

Of course, that one noble house wasn't the only one harboring heresy on Rostov II. A total of sixteen noble families were excommunicated, and twenty-seven nobles burst into flames on the spot after drinking the Blessed Wine. Their families were dragged to the Adeptus Ministorum plaza to endure thirteen hours of white phosphorus execution.

Normally, the Imperial white phosphorus execution doesn't last that long; four or five hours is usually enough.

But at Chen Xi's suggestion, the time was extended to thirteen hours.

It should be noted that white phosphorus execution doesn't kill the heretics immediately; instead, they suffer for as long as the execution lasts.

So that day, in the Adeptus Ministorum plaza, the heretics' wails and curses lasted for a full thirteen hours.

No one showed sympathy, or rather, no one dared to show sympathy.

Everyone was doing their best to distance themselves from any suspicion or connection to the heretics. Even former close friends and relatives severed ties immediately, doing everything possible to prove that they weren't heretics and had nothing to do with them.

After all, everyone knew that the Planetary Governor, who had stirred up so much trouble since taking office, was an Inquisitor of the Inquisition.

If a regular Planetary Governor could negotiate in such matters, a Planetary Governor from the Inquisition would only have one way of dealing with heretics.

Get involved with heretics? They didn't want to be the next unlucky bastards hung in the plaza and burned for thirteen hours.

And the Adeptus Ministorum, who presided over all of this, was quite... pleased to see it happen.

For the Adeptus Ministorum, their job was to spread the Emperor's faith and ensure that everyone devoutly believed in him.

From a 3K era perspective, this was utterly insane; the entire Adeptus Ministorum was a bunch of religiously crazed fanatics.

But from a 40K era perspective, if you don't believe in something in this cesspool... have you heard of the Unbeliever's Plague?

In this purgatorial galaxy, akin to swimming in a cesspool, you need to believe in something, and be as devout as possible, because the Emperor can actually manifest and pull you out when necessary.

So when a wine that could identify heretics was created, several of the Adeptus Ministorum priests nearly went mad with joy.

The elderly Bishop, who needed an anti-gravity platform just to get around, almost died of happiness, if not for the timely intervention of a Hospitaller.

After his vital signs stabilized, the three-hundred-year-old Bishop, as he was said to be, stood up from his anti-gravity platform and knelt before the Imperial Icon in the Adeptus Ministorum, praying devoutly and thanking the Emperor for bestowing miracles and blessings upon his people.

The Bishop wanted to name this wine that could identify heretics "Blessed Wine," and represented the Adeptus Ministorum in making a large purchase. At the same time, he reported the matter to the Adeptus Ministorum headquarters in the sector via astropathic communication.

Chen Xi didn't have much attachment to the name of the wine, but told the Bishop that he wanted it to be named "Loyalty," and that the winery's current production capacity was very limited, requiring the Adeptus Ministorum to provide some support to better develop the planet and expand production.

The old Bishop didn't even bother to bat an eye at Chen Xi's near-extortion, ordering his deacon to prepare 1.8 million Throne Gelt for Chen Xi, and said that he was only the planet's Bishop and didn't have much money to allocate, believing that the sector diocese headquarters would give Chen Xi greater support.

In response, Chen Xi simply knelt piously before the Emperor's Icon, stating that he was a devout believer in the Emperor, as evidenced by his Inquisitorial Rosette.

At this time, in the Mariupol Sector capital, Mai Mai was in a villa, calculating their gains this time.

During the year that the character they controlled was in automatic management, it had completed communication with the sector nobles and successfully obtained the development rights for the sub-sector where Rostov II was located through the Planetary Governor.

For the Planetary Governor, entrusting the development rights of an entire sub-sector to a Rogue Trader was a bit of an exaggeration, but considering how much benefit the development of this sub-sector could bring to the sector's Tithes, the Planetary Governor was willing to take a small risk.

Especially since this Rogue Trader was working for an Inquisitor, which made the Planetary Governor even less hesitant.

Of course, this wasn't free.

The sub-sector where Rostov II was located had a total of thirteen star systems. Although the specific development plan was yet to be determined, developing even one of the planets could bring in enormous wealth.

As the Planetary Governor, they no longer had much need for money, but the Governor's family still hoped to gain more benefits in the sector.

Therefore, Mai Mai obtained the development rights for the entire sub-sector from the Planetary Governor at the cost of promising to cede 10% of the profits to the Planetary Governor's family and having at least three Planetary Governors recommended by the Planetary Governor appointed.

Such a price was undoubtedly expensive, after all, this was the income of an entire sub-sector.

But overall, taking the development rights of the entire sub-sector with 10% of the profits was still a worthwhile deal.

Of course, this didn't mean that the remaining 90% could fall into the hands of Mai Mai and Chen Xi's group.

First of all, at least half of the profits earned from developing the sector in the next few decades, or even a hundred years, would have to be invested in sector development to continue expanding reproduction.

The actual profits that could be divided up were about 45%, with 5% being various possible losses and expenses that couldn't be included in the total accounts during the development of the sector.

Of these 45% profits, the Planetary Governor took 10%.

Negotiations with the Adeptus Ministorum were almost complete, and they would also take 10%.

As for the Adeptus Mechanicus... Mai Mai was helpless. The Adeptus Mechanicus was the party they had spent the most time on and promised the most benefits to, but the Adeptus Mechanicus had consistently failed to make a decision.

Even though Mai Mai had promised to allocate 10% of the profits, promised that all purchases during the development of the sub-sector would go through the Adeptus Mechanicus, and would build at least one industrial world to supply the Adeptus Mechanicus with talent, etc...

But the Adeptus Mechanicus just wouldn't give a positive response.

Mai Mai contacted the Sage Ovilia mentioned as soon as they arrived in the sector capital, and the other party did indeed agree to help after seeing what Mai Mai brought.

In fact, the fact that Mai Mai was able to meet the Forge Master of the sector's Forge World later on was thanks to Sage Donia's help in making the connection.

The Forge Master himself wasn't very interested in excavating the alien tomb. Although he was indeed interested in the alien technology artifacts that Mai Mai brought, unfortunately, the things Mai Mai brought weren't attractive enough.