"Cannot do it?"
Dominic's face darkened instantly. He snapped from a relaxed lean to sitting bolt upright, his sharp eyes locking onto Raynor with undisguised murderous intent. As a scion of the Ventrillia family and a Rear Admiral of the Imperial Navy, he had never been rejected by a remote sector governor—especially not in a tone so calm yet so firm.
"Governor Carey Von, do you understand what you are saying?" Dominic's voice bristled with danger. "Do you know the charge for refusing to pay the Imperial Tithe?"
"It is treason. It is disloyalty to the Emperor. What awaits you is the Inquisition's pyre and an Exterminatus for the entire planet of Brevis!"
The moment the words fell, the dozen Ventrillia elite guards flanking the room locked their gazes onto Raynor. Their fingers rested on the triggers of their bolters, and the hydraulic systems of their power armor hummed softly. A cold, palpable killing intent coalesced around Raynor.
The temperature in the reception room plummeted. In the corner, Alpha also lifted her head, her grey eyes growing colder. Her aura intensified abruptly; Raynor could feel the faint psychic fluctuations within him being nearly extinguished. His connection to Sarah was reduced to the system's internal mental link.
This was an overt threat. Dominic was showing Raynor the choice: pay the tax or die.
But Raynor acted as if he didn't feel the pressure that would have crushed most men. He remained seated calmly, even lifting his teacup for a small sip. The tea had gone cold, carrying a bitter aftertaste—much like Brevis's current predicament.
He set the cup down, looked up, and met Dominic's furious glare without a hint of fear or retreat.
"Lord Dominic, as a loyal subject of the Emperor, I naturally understand the responsibilities on my shoulders and the turbulent state of the Segmentum Obscurus."
Though a storm raged in his mind, Raynor's voice remained as steady as a still lake.
"If this were a standard tithe, I would pay every last credit to the Imperium even if it meant selling everything we own. I wouldn't even blink if I had to personally lead the sons of Brevis to the Cadia front to fight Chaos."
"But the problem is that the requirements on this list far exceed Brevis's capacity. Brevis is a standard Hive World. According to Imperial regulations, our primary obligation is to provide manpower."
"Over the years, we have sent over forty billion Astra Militarum soldiers to the Imperium. The vast majority of them died on battlefields fighting xenos and Chaos. We have fulfilled our duty."
"But now, in addition to manpower, you are demanding such staggering amounts of grain and armaments. Especially the grain—Lord Dominic, you may be unaware of a certain fact."
"In M40.998, the agricultural world of Dorido, which was originally under Brevis's jurisdiction, was completely overrun by the legendary Greenskin Warboss, Big-Gullet Ragnaro."
"Dorido has now become a Greenskin home-world. Billions of Orks breed there, watching Brevis like hawks."
One guard racked his bolter's slide, but Dominic raised a hand to stop him, gesturing for Raynor to continue. He wanted to see what this governor had to say.
"After losing Dorido, Brevis's grain production can barely sustain the basic survival of our existing population. The amount of grain you are demanding, Lord Dominic—even if we emptied every silo, even if we seized every scrap of food from every noble house, we still couldn't gather it."
"If you insist on collecting according to this list, the only outcome will be a famine of unprecedented proportions on Brevis. Billions of low-level citizens will starve to death, and the entire planet will fall into absolute chaos. Before the Greenskins even arrive, Brevis will collapse from within."
Raynor's point was clear: the tithe for Dorido should be paid by the Orks who occupied it, not Brevis. He had done his best, but he truly could not produce that much food.
After hearing this, the anger on Dominic's face did not dissipate; instead, it turned into mockery. He let out a cold laugh, leaned back into his chair, and crossed his arms, looking at Raynor as if looking at a con artist.
"Heh. Those are nice words you've made up."
Dominic had seen many remote governors like this. Whenever it was time to pay the tithe, they would cry poverty and weave tales of xenos invasions or natural disasters. It was all just to pay less and line their own pockets.
"Dorido was overrun by Orks?" Dominic shook his head, his face full of disbelief. "Dorido is less than three days' voyage from Brevis. Everyone knows the nature of the Greenskins. They are natural invaders; once they occupy an agricultural world, their next step is inevitably the surrounding planets."
"If Dorido had truly been occupied by Orks for two years, how could Brevis still be intact? Furthermore, our fleet encountered not a single Greenskin warship on the way here, from the edge of the Calixis system to Brevis's orbit. If the Orks truly held Dorido, their patrols and raiders would be all over the system."
"Do you really think such a lie can deceive me?"
Raynor looked at Dominic's "I've seen through you" expression and felt a wave of helplessness. He was telling the truth, so why didn't anyone believe him? But on second thought, it was understandable. For a small planet to survive alone for two years with an Ork-occupied world next door sounded exaggerated. Usually, Orks would swallow up everything nearby within months.
"That is because I and the soldiers of Brevis blocked the Greenskin advance with our own flesh and blood."
Raynor's tone remained unchanged, carrying a hint of pride as a "God-Chosen."
"The Orks did reach the mainland of Brevis. Their vanguard once nearly broke the Forbidden Wall defense line, reaching the ice wilderness just a few hundred kilometers from the main hive."
"It was I who formed the Vanguard. Beneath the Forbidden Wall, I slew the Ork Warboss, Fat-Mountain Guga, and repelled the first large-scale invasion. Afterward, I purged the rising Great Mek, Enemy-of-Machinery Elko, and the remaining Ork remnants, eliminating the birth of a second possible Warboss."
"After the war, I mobilized the wilderness tribes on the Brevis ice plains to form countless guerrilla units. They went deep into the wilderness, constantly harassing Ork outposts so they could never form a threatening cluster again."
"Just three months ago, I organized and led an expedition fleet to capture the Greenskin stronghold at the Karl-2 space station. I slew two Ork Warlords, Big-Foot Sis and Iron-Claw Chandler, removing the thorn the Orks had planted at Brevis's doorstep."
"It is precisely because we took back Karl-2 that the Orks lost their springboard. That is why you saw no Greenskin ships on your way here."
The mockery on Dominic's face wavered. He looked at Raynor, his eyes filled with incredulity. On his way here, he had already had someone look up the data on Governor Carey Von. The records showed this governor had only been in office for a little over half a year.
A governor in office for six months managed to defeat Orks who had occupied Dorido for over a year, and even launched a counter-offensive to retake a strategic space station?
How was that possible? Who did he think he was? An Empyrean God-Chosen?
Dominic exchanged a glance with one of the guards standing beside him.
The guard slightly shook her head, a hint of confusion flickering in her blue eyes. She was a specialized psyker, though her power level was only at the $\zeta$ (Zeta) grade—the weakest tier legally allowed to operate within the Imperium. However, she had awakened a particularly useful ability: she could sense the psychic fluctuations caused by lies.
As Raynor spoke, she felt no trace of deception. Raynor's emotions were calm and frank; every word he uttered felt like an absolute, undeniable fact.
This left only two possibilities. Either Raynor was telling the truth, or his mental strength was so immense that he could ignore the presence of the Sister of Silence, Lady Alpha, and deceive her own psychic senses. The latter was almost impossible. Even the most powerful psykers could not perfectly mask a lie in front of an End-Hunter like Alpha.
For the first time, a seed of doubt sprouted in Dominic's mind. Could he... be telling the truth?
Raynor watched the shifting expressions on Dominic's face and allowed a composed smile to touch his lips. He pulled a data-slate from his coat, placed it on the table, and slid it toward Dominic.
"Lord Dominic, I know that words alone carry little weight and that you wouldn't believe me easily."
"Contained here are detailed records of every military engagement and administrative action on Brevis over the past six months. Every battle, every victory, and every soldier sacrificed is clearly documented. You can see for yourself."
Dominic hesitated for a moment before picking up the data-slate. His fingers swiped across the screen, beginning to scroll through the contents. Alpha leaned in as well, watching alongside him.
The room fell into a profound silence, illuminated only by the faint glow of the screen reflecting off their faces. As they delved deeper into the records, the expression on Dominic's face shifted from initial disdain to surprise, and finally, to utter disbelief.
The documentation was terrifyingly detailed. It didn't just contain text; it was packed with battlefield photographs and video segments.
The records of the Battle of the Forbidden Wall clearly showed the terrifying strength of Fat-Mountain Guga. The four-meter-tall Ork, clad in tank-grade plating, had led over a hundred million Orks to breach the defense line. Countless PDF soldiers fell under the Orks' blades, and the line retreated step by step.
However, the "Urn Trap" strategy formed by the second and third inner walls made Dominic's eyes light up with tactical appreciation. At the most critical moment, Raynor had personally led the elites of the Vanguard into the fray. In the video, Raynor—armored in a power suit and wielding a power sword—charged through the Ork mobs as if they were nothing. He had claimed Guga's head the moment the Warboss showed weakness. Without their leader, the Ork horde collapsed instantly, and the Vanguard launched a counter-offensive that secured a total victory.
Next were the records of the purge against the "Enemy-of-Machinery," Elko. Elko was a Mek Boy who had been at Guga's side. After Guga's death, Elko had used "Waaagh!" energy to create powerful flamethrowers and a massive Ork mecha. He had regrouped the Orks scattered in the deep ice plains and launched a grand assault on the Forbidden Wall.
(Raynor had intentionally omitted the fact that Elko created the flamethrowers to counter "Winter Soldiers," as well as the fact that he had killed Elko in coordination with Sarah.)
Then came the records of the wilderness tribe mobilization. Raynor had personally negotiated with the chiefs of the two largest tribes on Brevis. He promised them a chance for their clans' survival by bringing the old, weak, and sick into the warmer, more comfortable areas surrounding the main hive. In exchange, he secured the right for these tribesmen to fight for him.
These barbarians, who lived year-round in the ice plains, possessed formidable combat strength and intimate knowledge of the terrain, becoming a vital force against the Orks. Their guerrilla units were elusive, constantly harassing Ork outposts and keeping the Greenskins from ever forming a large enough cluster to give birth to a new Warboss.
...
What shocked Dominic the most was the record of the expedition to Karl-2. It detailed how Raynor had exploited the internal strife between the two Warlords, Sis and Chandler. While they were mutually weakened, Raynor seized the opportunity to lead the expeditionary force in a total assault, reclaiming Karl-2 in one fell swoop. In the video, though the footage of the battle between Sis and Chandler was somewhat blurred due to distance, one could still feel the world-shaking power involved.
Beyond the military records, the data-slate held every administrative act since Raynor took office. He had crushed the grain monopoly held by the Noble Council and single-handedly established the Vanguard. By utilizing the grain in his hands and the massive demand for armaments required by the Vanguard, he tapped into the industrial overcapacity of the Mid-city, revitalizing the sector.
He also recruited heavily from the Under-city into the Vanguard, which not only bolstered Brevis's self-defense capabilities but also alleviated the famine in the lower levels through military subsidies.
He had even thwarted a Chaos plot at Saint Gallus Castle, slaying a Prince of Saint Gallus who had fallen to Chaos and crushing the wicked schemes of a Tzeentchian sorcerer.
Every entry included specific times, locations, individuals, and data—undeniable in its authenticity. Dominic, a veteran commander himself, could easily distinguish the reality of these details. These battles were all exceptionally difficult and bloody. The failure of any single one could have led to the total destruction of Brevis.
Yet this young governor, who had been in office for only six months, had managed to shoulder it all and win every single engagement. It was nothing short of a miracle.
The only thing that gave Dominic pause was the mention that the Orks in the deep ice plains hadn't been fully purged because of the complex terrain and harsh climate, which made large-scale troop movements impractical. The reason sounded a bit vague, but upon reflection, it made sense. Ork spores were hidden in every inch of soil; a total purge was impossible. Rather than wasting immense manpower scouring the ice, it was more cost-effective to hold the Forbidden Wall and contain the Orks in the deep wilderness.
Dominic set the data-slate down and remained silent for a long time. He looked at Raynor, the disdain in his eyes having mostly vanished. He had originally thought this remote governor was like the other corrupt and incompetent "vermin" he had encountered—masters of crying poverty while lining their own pockets.
He hadn't expected that the man might actually be a true hero. A hero who had saved an entire planet through his own strength.
Could he... really be the Emperor's God-Chosen? Dominic mused to himself.