59 Never Ending Quest and New Intel

"Knowledge already exists in the universe, and it is our organization's great duty to find them," Magos Callias said to a group of educated 'psykers' of the New World. After receiving an invitation from Lord Imperator Fratrum, the leader of Admechs appeared right on time even though the ballroom was empty and few servants were conducting the finishing touches. Eventually, people started to come in, and when Magos Callias saw a group of intellectuals, they got along with the topic of science.

"Interesting point of view on knowledge itself. What about our ability to discover and to invent through research?" One of the old men with a grey robe holding staff replies to Magos Callias's remark. It is rare to find an educated man outside of the Scholar's Pillar who could hold a conversation in equal terms or beyond their level.

"The idea of 'inventing' is contradictory to our belief in Omnissiah, for he already made everything that could be made. Inventing is nothing but an illusion as it goes against Omnissiah's will and twists his divine creations into an abomination. The discovery is another word for enlightenment as an individual who learns the will of the Omnissiah is on the righteous paths." The Admech continues to explain as more wizards, and a few nobles gather to hear the new idea of higher ideals.

"Your institution 'discovered' gunpowder recently, but we have known the gift since ancient times, and we mastered it. We made various modifications to fit our needs and maintain the divine knowledge without distributing the machine spirit. This is the true and only way of the Omnissiah's will." The Admech finishes his sentences and proceeds to 'drink' wine through his mouth area, which a metal port opens, and Magos simply pour the whole drink into it.

Many of the wizards and nobles didn't fully understand the Magos's point of view, for they simply couldn't grasp the idea, but few of the archwizards and scholars managed to understand within a limit.

"It is true that an individual's discovery could already be found by someone else previously. To prevent wasting time and resources, we keep a record of our knowledge with tomes and books. I have to assume you do the same, right?" The elderly woman with a fancy red robe asked with interest as she held a small chained book in her hand.

"Every tech-priest has their methods and passes the information to Mar's library. But these are small fragments compared to an STC (Standard Template Construct) from the Dark Age of Technology, which holds tremendous knowledge of the Omnissiah. To find the location of STC is our ultimate quest. To obtain the STC is absolute no matter the price." Mangos Callias's last words were more than just lecture style, for his tone of voice changed into more religious. The topic of the STC is nothing to joke about, as even the whisper of the location or whereabouts could launch the whole armada of ships from Mars itself.

Once in the 40K universe, small guardsmen found an STC that only had one blueprint. This one blueprint was enough for Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperium to reward them with planets and rule them however they wanted. That blueprint from the STC was instruction on how to make a combat knife, to which it became standard equipment for all Space Marines to have afterward. Because STC is from the Dark Ages of Technology, it is scarce to find one intact, not to mention finding one without corruption of chaos is near impossible.

"This is a very interesting ideology. You must come to Scholar's Pillar and give an open lecture with rest. I'm one of the senior educators of the institute, and I'm sure the headmaster will welcome you with open arms." The same old man with a grey robe said to Magos that he accepted the invitation as long as William allowed it.

"Well, looks like you are going to have your wish to visit the Scholar's Pillar after all," Rana said to William while holding his right arm with both of her hands.

"I think I'll pass. Since Magos Callias and his cog boys have more understanding, I will instruct them to make a few adjustments with gunpowder weaponry." William said to the Duchess and moved away from the group. Before summoning the Admechs, William planned to visit the Pillar to see D&D wizards and magic school. All this changed ever since William got busier with a war effort and duties of the Imperator Fratrum. The best thing he can do is distribute the workload to each staff member specific to their specialty.

After the couple left the first group, they were about to see the second group when a sound of five horns gave a sign of announcement to be made. Standing next to the main entrance, an announcer steps forwards and announces the news.

"May I present the Crown Prince Benton Pius Amadeus the 4th of the Alderim and his ladyship, Mia Vamini Spire of the Adventurer's Guild."

The crowd went silent while the main attraction entered the room. Before making their descent from the stairs to the main room, the prince raised his right hand to signal that he was about to give a small speech.

"Thank you for attending the party tonight. I want to thank everyone who supported my campaign as I have learned a lot and gained important allies who helped me open my eyes to understand how big the world is. As you all know, we are about to face a new military campaign against our neighboring country who took advantage of our country and king. I'm making an official decree tonight that the royal family and country of Alderim is supporting our new allies, the Knight Lord of the Metal and his military force." At the end of the prince's speech, most of the nobles in the room clap their hands, with a few joining the rest two seconds later.

It's well-known that Prince Benton's new friend is a giant man who has a mysterious mercenary force equivalent to the entire country's military might. Because of their victory against 'orcs' and 'metal golem' a few days ago, many nobles, including the minor faction, started to support the war against Legellan. Their reasoning is to join the winning side as long as they won't spend many resources, especially the workforce and money.

As Prince Benton and Mia make their descent and pass supporting nobles around them, they interact with them for short seconds and move on towards William and Rana. Reaching William and Rana, Prince Benton moved aside to present soon to be the hero of the Alderim, and everyone's clap went loud.

Eventually, the clapping stopped, and the party resumed back to normal. Not many nobles approach the prince and Mia as they don't want to bother the important meeting between influential people.

"I didn't expect to see you with Mia, Prince Benton," William said to the prince while Mia hid her blush using her fan. Meanwhile, Rana smiled and enjoyed the awkward moment her cousin was experiencing. She already knew how close the prince and guild representative is ever since rescue from the barbarian warrior who worships the blood god.

"Well, Mia is still new to the capital and doesn't know anyone in the city. Since she is attending the party as the representative of the adventurer's guild and William, I decided to accompany her for the night." Prince Benton made a very understandable excuse, except it didn't work since the prince's face told a different story.

"Of course, how a gentleman of you." Rana made a small comment which weakened the prince's defense and made him make an awkward smile. Mia, seeing the prince about to crumble, changes the topic of the conversation by providing new information.

"William, we have new intelligence for you regarding Legellan. The guild's and Alderim's spies gathered as much information as they could and reported back just this afternoon." Before Mia could continue, Rana interrupted her from spilling more information since many ears are around them.

"Let's move to a private room before continuing our conversation. This party is too dull for us anyway." With Rana's request, the four people quickly left the party and regrouped in the private room similar to the one where Admechs healed King Benton. After confirming there are no other ears, Mia continues her report on new information.

"There isn't much regarding Legellan's army since their military couldn't refurbish their numbers in the short time since three years ago, but what got our attention is their hero's party." The last part got William's and Rana's attention since it was the first time hearing anything about the hero.

"Hero? What hero? Like high ranking adventurers from Legellan?" William made the best guess using his previous knowledge from the D&D campaigns. If there is anything such as a hero's party, it makes sense that this would be a group of adventurers who achieve fame and recognition from completing high-risk quests. As for William, this would mean some challenges and more loot for him.

"Yea, your guess is right. A party of adventurers from Legellan's guild officially join the war effort, and we don't know what their reasoning is. Every guild has a similar policy, such as joining the international conflict since adventurers' jobs require them to travel between borders, so not many accept the war quest unless they are desperate. The vampire campaign is a different story since they are monsters, but human conflict could get complicated." Mia explains the basics of the guild policy as every guild within known countries have similar rules and agreement with other guild offices.

"After the conflict three years ago, it is rather difficult to gather intelligence regarding this group, but from what we could gather so far, here is what we know of. The heroes are the standard build, such as wizard, thief, fighter, ranger, cleric, and bard. This group managed to defeat an ancient black dragon and raided the lair full of treasure and the surprising thing is that their leader, the fighter, is a rookie adventurer with strange armor." It got William's full attention, and he moved his body forward from his chair to listen more carefully. Mia continued.

"We don't know name or age, but according to the spymaster, this fighter holds the title of the hero and is rumored to be a chosen of the Mother. As for his armor, it is reported that his armor is big, bigger than yours, and powerful enough to survive the black dragon's acid breath and didn't melt the armor plating." End of Mia's words, both Rana and Prince Benton are shaking with fear after hearing the fighter's description, which resembles the barbarian who slaughtered their mentor and captured them for his entertainment in the fight pit not long ago.

"Do you know the color or any noticeable symbols within the armor?" William asks nervously because, depending on Mia's answer, William has to change his approach.

'Could it be another Chaos Marine sent by one of the ruinous powers or one of the royalist Space Marines?'

"There aren't any noticeable symbols, according to the report. As for the color of the armor, it is steel grey. The giant armor's color is grey."