The Firefighter

A flash of cold light, and a black-robed figure had a poisoned dagger in hand, lunging for the back of Rovi's neck.

The attack was incredibly fast.

The assassin had clearly undergone physical enhancements.

Rovi didn't even blink.

It was as if the attacker wasn't a deadly killer, but a mere fly.

Bang!

A dull thud exploded through the cramped office.

The black-robed figure's head burst like a rotten watermelon, splattering red and white across the walls.

The headless body stumbled forward a few steps on sheer momentum.

Then it collapsed at Rovi's feet, twitched twice, and lay still.

Buck blew the smoke from the muzzle of his boltgun and sneered.

"Trying to use a knife in front of me? You must still be dreaming."

Rovi turned slightly, avoiding the blood spreading across the floor.

He took a pristine white handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped the corner of his robe, which hadn't even been stained with blood.

Then he tossed the handkerchief onto the corpse.

"Look. There's your evidence."

Rovi pointed to a tattoo exposed on the corpse's neck—

A festering mark of three rings.

Arranged in a triangle, one above and two below.

The mark of a Follower of Nurgle.

A symbol of the cycle of "death, decay, and rebirth."

"Supervisor Kase, you have a Chaos cultist hiding in your office."

"Furthermore, according to last night's surveillance footage, your private account received a huge transfer from the underhive Black Market a month ago."

Rovi spoke slowly.

But to Kase, every word sounded like a funeral bell tolling for him at the hands of the Ordo.

"Colluding with heretics, contaminating the water supply, and sabotaging the Imperial Tithe."

Rovi rose to his feet, braced both hands on the desk, and leaned forward.

His dark brown eyes fixed on Kase, as though they could see straight through to his ugly soul.

"Under Imperial Law, these are crimes punishable by Exterminatus."

"Not just you. Your family and everyone connected to you will be purged. The Ordo's interrogation chambers have plenty of ways to make a person wish he were dead."

"N-no... I didn't. They forced me!" Kase broke down.

He slid off his chair and fell to his knees, his face smeared with snot and tears. "They came to me!"

"They said that if I put something in the water, it would make those lowlifes sick and bring down production, so you'd fail your task and be executed... I didn't know it was Chaos. I swear, I didn't!"

"To get rid of me, you were willing to plunge an entire planet into famine and plague?" Rovi looked at the wretched, despicable fat man without a trace of pity.

This was the world of Warhammer.

Stupidity was more terrifying than malice.

And when stupidity joined forces with greed, it became a breeding ground for destruction.

"You have two choices, Kase."

Rovi sat back down and tapped his fingers lightly on the desktop.

"First, I hand you over to the fifty thousand farmworkers outside. I'll tell them that you're the one who tried to turn them into rotting monstrosities last night."

"I'm sure they'll be more than happy to use their scythes to 'talk' things over with you."

Kase shuddered all over.

Imagining the scene, he wet himself in an instant.

"Second."

Rovi pulled a prepared document on Parchment from inside his robe. "You sign this."

Kase crawled over trembling and glanced at the document.

It wasn't a resignation letter or a letter of abdication.

It was a Wartime Emergency Authorization.

It read:

In view of the attack by unidentified armed assailants on Granary Seven, and in order to ensure the safe production of the Imperial Tithe;

I, Kais, hereby voluntarily request that the Governor's Mansion dispatch Special Agricultural Advisor Rovi to temporarily assume all administrative and military command of the Granary;

Until the crisis has been resolved or the Governor issues a new appointment.

"Sign it."

Rovi held out a quill.

"This proves that you 'voluntarily requested assistance,' rather than 'fleeing to escape punishment' or 'colluding with the enemy.' It might keep you alive for a few more days before the Ordo arrives."

"I'll sign! I'll sign!"

Kase nodded frantically, as if he meant to smash his skull against the floor.

With trembling hands, he signed his name and pressed his fingerprint onto the document.

Rovi picked it up and checked the signature.

Once he'd confirmed it was in order, he carefully tucked it inside his robe.

He hadn't seized power outright.

In the world of Warhammer, procedural justice was often more important than justice based on the facts.

With this document, he was no longer a "rebellious Scribe," but a "firefighter dispatched to meet a crisis."

"Good."

Rovi stood up and straightened his robe.

"Buck, have your men take him away. Send him to the Adeptus Mechanicus and hand him over to Priest Alpha."

"What? You said you'd spare my life!" Kase shrieked in terror. "I signed the document!"

"I did spare your life," Rovi said, looking at him impassively. "I didn't hand you over to the farmworkers, and I didn't execute you on the spot."

"The Adeptus Mechanicus happens to need a wetware processor for low-level calculations. From a biological standpoint, a Servitor is still alive."

Rovi's eyes turned icy.

"Did you think signing a document would absolve you of colluding with heretics?"

"This document is only meant to make the transfer of power more 'legal,' and to spare the Governor any trouble."

"As for what happens to you... the moment you chose to pray to the Dark Gods, your soul ceased to belong to the Emperor."

"Take him away."

Buck's men dragged the screaming Kase out like a dead dog.

Rovi sighed softly.

He turned and looked at the chair that symbolized the highest authority in Granary Seven.

He didn't sit in it.

Instead, he pulled over an ordinary chair and sat beside the desk.

Then he took out a sheet of Parchment and began to write.

It was a report to Governor Alicia.

"To the Honorable Governor:

"At dawn today, Granary Seven detected serious heretical infiltration.

"Under Your Excellency's wise guidance and special authorization, I assisted Supervisor Kais in carrying out emergency measures.

"Regrettably, Supervisor Kais was so severely tainted while fighting the heretics that he is no longer capable of performing his duties.

"To ensure the completion of the Imperial Tithe, I have temporarily assumed command under the Wartime Emergency Regulations, at Supervisor Kais's request..."

Rovi credited the Governor's "guidance" with every success.

He wrapped every action in the cloak of "legality."

He absolutely could not become a "usurper."

He had to be the sharpest, most obedient blade in the Governor's hand.

After finishing the report, Rovi returned the quill to the inkwell.

He moved gently, as if soothing a startled cat.

He didn't seal the letter right away.

Instead, he went over every word and every punctuation mark on the Parchment again and again.

In the world of Warhammer, words were not merely vessels for information; they were also nooses with which to convict people.

A report with even one poorly chosen phrase could be more lethal than a boltgun—

The latter could only kill your body.

The former could let the Ordo rip out your soul and hang it up as a lantern.

Only after confirming that the wording did not overstep in the slightest, and that it perfectly portrayed Governor Alicia as "the guiding hand behind every action," did Rovi melt the sealing wax.

Dark red wax dripped onto the envelope's seal, giving off a scent of pine resin mixed with some unfamiliar spice.

He picked up the brass seal Kais had left behind, the symbol of a Supervisor's authority, and pressed it firmly into the wax before it hardened.

Click.

As the seal lifted, an invisible pressure seemed to fall away with it.