Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 209: Accusation

"My father was a believer in it, but I never believed in it from the very beginning. I left the mining sector, originally thinking I could get far away from it... But, but, in my moment of greatest despair, it told me that it could allow me to reach the absolute pinnacle of my life, and that I wouldn't need to betray the Imperium, nor would I need to betray the God-Emperor. I merely needed to..."

"Merely needed to turn a blind eye, right?"

Barov released his hands and nodded forcefully.

"Yes! Yes!"

"How much do you know about it?"

"I... I don't know much about it. The Cult of the Raven Lord has existed for hundreds of years, always remaining in secret dormancy. This cult does not aim for expansion; the believers use bloodlines and marriages as their connection, making it extremely difficult for outsiders to enter the cult's inner circle."

"What are their doctrines?"

"There are no doctrines."

"What?"

Soshyan furrowed his brows, realizing the situation was not at all simple."How is that possible?"

"It is indeed the truth. The Raven Lord has no doctrines. It only demands that believers regularly offer tributes, and in return, it provides protection. That is all."

"Tributes? What tributes?"

"Uh... I am not a believer, I merely heard this, but it seems to be some high-tech products and certain mechanical components."

"Specifically."

"This, this I truly do not know."

"Then it never made any similar demands of you?"

"Never."

"And you have never seen it either?"

"No."

"Then you must at least know the specific locations of these believers and exactly how many strongholds they have, right?"

"I—"

Barov's eyes shifted for a moment. Just as he was about to deny it, the muzzle of a bolter suddenly pressed squarely against his forehead. The freezing metal resting firmly against his skin caused him to uncontrollably shudder.

"Do not disappoint me. The consequences of doing so will be extremely severe."

"There, there are some!"

The Bishop hastily turned around, fumbling frantically across the bookshelf behind him. He subsequently opened a hidden compartment and pulled out a rolled-up map.

"Over all these years, every discovery regarding the Cult of the Raven Lord, I secretly recorded onto this map. There are eleven locations in total, distributed across several different mining sectors."

Soshyan took the map, which was made of a special material. Upon opening it, he discovered it was a clearly hand-drawn map of the mining sectors, with each stronghold explicitly marked upon it, complete with annotations regarding their depth.

The stronghold discovered earlier by the Departmento Justitiae was precisely the deepest one among them.

He glanced over it and put it away.

"Excellent, Bishop. Thanks to your cooperation, we are one step closer to the truth. Now, let's discuss the increasingly severe xenos threat."

"X-xenos?"

The Bishop blinked.

"There are no xenos here, only some anti-Imperial elements."

"Oh? Then how do you explain the attacks the Departmento Justitiae suffered, along with the massive disappearances of miners?"

"My Lord, based on what I know, the Departmento Justitiae was merely attacked by some local gangs, and they are making a mountain out of a molehill... As for the missing miners cases, ahem, well, you might not be fully aware of the local political situation, My Lord. The mining guilds are the primary governing bodies. Every month, they must report personnel losses to the Departmento Munitorum. If personnel attrition exceeds a certain limit, the Departmento Munitorum will, depending on the situation, provide reinforcements from neighboring penal worlds. Those guild masters frequently falsify personnel losses or use disappearances as an excuse to apply for a fresh influx of population... Their true goal in doing this is merely to increase production capacity. After satisfying the Tithe and the Adeptus Mechanicus's fixed quotas, there will still be surplus output for them to trade."

"So according to you, those missing people are all still alive?"

As he spoke, Soshyan moved away from the desk and walked over to a portrait, studying the person depicted within it with considerable interest.

It was a portrait of the previous Bishop. He was an elderly, bald man. Judging from his physical appearance, his mouth was rather large, his eyes were somewhat overly narrow, and his skull seemed slightly larger than an ordinary person's.

"Well... not necessarily. The standard daily work hours in the mining sectors are 16 hours. Many miners can't handle it and will flee deep into the mine shafts to fend for themselves... Furthermore, many mine owners will use the miners for other purposes. They are all morally bankrupt individuals, and some things are simply too embarrassing to speak of."

"And did you ever stop them?"

"Uh—"

Barov coughed awkwardly.

"Outside of a state of emergency, as representatives of the Ecclesiarchy, we cannot lightly interfere in local administrative affairs..."

"Very well, I understand."

Soshyan turned around, looking at Barov with a smile.

"There is a new meeting taking place outside. I believe you should go attend it."

Under Soshyan's piercing gaze, Barov had no choice but to walk trembling with fear toward the main doors. Subsequently, two Enforcers waiting outside flanked him on either side, escorting him toward the grand hall where he gave his daily sermons.

Barov felt exactly as if he were a condemned criminal about to step onto the execution grounds.

He was subsequently brought to his familiar grand hall.

In the past, this entire hall used to be filled with hundreds of honored guests every single day, yet today, there were only a little over a dozen people present, all representatives of various organizations and institutions. A massive monitor screen had been installed on the ceiling.

Barov saw an emaciated, sharp-featured, and clearly hot-tempered man.

He was the Arbitrator of the local Departmento Justitiae.

The Bishop licked his lips as a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek.

Radiating an overwhelming aura of sheer intimidation, the Arbitrator stared at him from the other side, his face looking exactly as if he were wearing an emotionless, frigid mask.

The moment he was pressed down into the chair he usually sat in, the Arbitrator had already begun to speak.

"Over the past twenty years, your policy of sheer negligence directly resulted in the rampant growth of local heresies and the weakening of faith, rendering this world entirely powerless to respond to the current rioting threat. All of this demonstrates blatant, completely unpardonable incompetence."

The Arbitrator's accusation hung heavily in the air; around the long table, absolutely no one dared explicitly make a sound.

Barov felt entirely as if the world before his very eyes was shrinking, his heart practically leaping straight out of his throat. His gaze darted frantically around the table before him, but aside from the Arbitrator, absolutely no one dared to meet his eyes.

"I... this... perhaps we... made a certain error regarding our interpretation of... the severity of the situation... but absolutely nothing is beyond correction. I assure you of that."

The Bishop's voice sounded hollow and feeble even to his own ears.

"Saphonius is currently facing imminent anarchy and a xenos threat! The security of the Hive City and the mining sectors is rapidly deteriorating! Current conditions are utterly unacceptable! The time for bureaucrats to pass the buck amongst themselves is completely over! Bishop Barov, I judge that you have blatantly ignored your responsibilities, exhibiting severe dereliction of duty and malfeasance! Until the Ecclesiarchy strictly dispatches a more suitable replacement to formally assume your post, your authority will be temporarily superseded by the Departmento Justitiae! I hereby declare that Saphonius is now under martial law, which will continue until the riots and the xenos threat are completely eradicated, and the mining sectors are once again entirely secure."

The Bishop's face turned deathly pale as his chest tightened painfully.

He tried to speak, but could find no suitable words. His mouth opened and closed silently, before snapping tightly shut in pure panic.

The guild representatives were similarly pale-faced.