54 The Cog Boys
William selected Lord Ursarkar E. Creed as he quickly realized that he needed a legendary commander to command various types of Imperial Guard effectively. Lord Creed has vast experience in battlefield strategy and utilization of different types of troops effectively. For this reason, William decided to go with Creed instead of Death Korps of Krieg, even though he is a big fan of shovel melee.
'Next time, I hope.' William said to himself and summoned his captured battle brother and veteran Black Templars for additional support on purging the Ork spores. Immediately, 31 Black Templars run through the main gate with weapons in their hands and scan the area for any enemies on the battlefield.
"I have returned with reinforcement! Where is the Necron scum? Black Templar announces his presence on the battlefield while the rest of the troops stare at him for a second before returning to burning Ork remains.
"You missed out, brother," Tech Marine and the other two Space Marines join the party and explain the situation. Meanwhile, Battle-Brother Raduriel flips the damaged Chimera while Commissar Cain watches with a painful expression, and Jurgen pulls out a flask containing Tanna tea. "Tanna tea, sir?"
"The damage is… extensive." Rana (The Duchess) said to William and turned around to face him.
"We have to make sure to exterminate Ork spores right now. If we don't, it will be beyond our control within weeks." William explains to Rana and hands over his flamer and heavy flamer to two additional Black Templars who don't have them.
As for the Crown Prince, he sends troops to the palace's outer wall to maintain the peace and gives the knight captain strict orders to prevent anyone from interrupting William's forces. Prince Benton trusts William and his troops enough not to question their action even though the fight is over. At best, they are doing the post-battle cleanup job, which is considered a minor job for foot soldiers and presents.
'I'm sure there is a reason why they are burning my mother's flower field and the rest of the trees.' Prince Benton thought to himself and joined William and Rana with a bit of concern.
"I see. While you were fighting ex-Prime Minister Waylon, we handled the throne room, but unfortunately, the remaining representatives of the Legallan ran off back to their country. I assume they accepted your declaration of war and believe we are part as well." Rana explains to William what happened to the throne room during his fight with Trazyn.
"They ran off? If that's the case, I will send a few soldiers to pick them up." William told Rana, but he shook her head as if there was no point sending troops after Legellan priests.
"They used teleportation spells to escape. I guarantee they are currently explaining the situation to Legellan counsel with you as the main topic of the discussion." Rana calmly said to William and saw the giant's surprised face as if he had forgotten something important.
"Oh, I see. I forgot about magic. I was hoping to interrogate them about their religion and ask who this 'mother' is. I guess I will go to the source with my army behind me." William left the battlefield and headed to the throne room with Rana and Prince Benton following him. With the Necron problem solved, William wants to ensure no nobles will take advantage of the situation, especially with King Benton's health condition.
"I need ten men and any available medics to the throne room," William said through vox communicator and entered the main palace door as people made room to stay away from the giant armored man.
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In the throne room,
The friction between the two noble factions finally erupted long before William and the rest entered the throne room. The verbal fight between the two factions went to the next level when they saw William entering the room.
"This is all his fault! This mercenary killed the head representative from Legellan right after ignoring the rules of the royal court. We demand immediate execution and a message sent to Legellan with his head as an apology." Head of the minor noble faction demanded William's head and re-establish political relations with Legellan as they feared another war with a neighboring country.
The previous war caused them significant depletion of resources which the majority of nobles provided. Most of the war resources came from major nobles who supported the royal family, while minor nobles held back most of their portion with various excuses. For this reason, after the war, nobles who withhold their support to the king didn't receive awards from King Benton compared to nobles who supported him. This caused many minor nobles to distrust their king and the royal family to the point they side with Legellan than their king.
"This man single-handedly eliminated metal daemon within our ranks and showed those cowardly priests not to mess with our nation. You are a fool if you think we will let you do as you wish, just like how you failed to provide troops three years ago." The head of the major noble faction yelled, and people behind him continued to shout as if their words could be heard.
This continues to go on for another minute until a single shot of bolter fire silences the room, and every eye turns to the source of the bolter sound.
"BOOM!"
"Now that I have everyone's attention, can someone please show me where King Benton is, so I can have my healers look after him? Also, if you want my head, I'm more than welcome to have you all slaughtered with my bare hands." William turned his head towards minor nobles and put away his bolter pistol to show he was more than ready to handle any challenger.
While William is scaring the shit out of nobles from both sides, Rana and Prince Benton quickly lead the medics to the meeting room, where one of the nobles shows the way. Inside, they found King Benton lying on the sofa while his queen sat beside him to comfort him. Also, in the room, There were already a few court healers and mages present as they attempted to remove the mind-shackle scarab from the king but failed as they had no idea the true identity of the scarab.
"Clear the room. We will handle the Necron tech sorcery," One of the medics said to everyone as other medics armed themselves to remove scarab.
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Back to the throne room,
"So, you were saying something about my head?" William asks as if it was a common question, but his giant figure and power armor told a different story, for no one in the room or city can stop him from ripping apart naive nobles.
"You… you dare to speak to us without permission? How dare you don't know your place…." One of the nobles from the minor faction steps forward with little courage he could muster and demands to make William know his place in the hierarchy, which it didn't do much. This is because no soldiers from both sides or royal guards step forward to protect them from the giant death.
The young nobleman didn't finish his sentence because William finished it for him. With a simple gesture from William, he placed his power fist on the noble's shoulder (William still has his retractable lighting claws attached to his power armor) and put small pressure, which immediately made the young nobleman get on his knees as he cried from the pain.
"As you said, I don't know my place, but from my point of view, all of you don't seem to know your place at all. Thanks to my informant, I know all of your deceptions and schemes against the crown three years ago whom you swore an oath to serve until your dying breath. Maybe I should help you complete your service by executing each one and every one of you right now." William said out loud and pulled out his black sword for additional points for threatening presence. While this is going on, nobles on the other side of the room are glad they stay loyal to the crown because they didn't wish to be on the other side of the room.
"Please! Remove your hand. You are killing him," Alone noblewoman steps forward from the back to plead to William to stop hurting the young nobleman. Witnessing a woman instead of a man step forward to prevent bloodshed, William silently smirks, for he just saw a lady demonstrating more courage than any man in this room.
"And who might you be, my lady? No offense, but I fear I failed to recognize worthy authority among these…. nobles." William picks his words carefully and asks the lady her title and name. As William asked his question, the young nobleman quickly escaped and ran off without thanking his savior nor concern for her safety.
The noblewoman is in her late middle age, around 46, 5.6 feet tall (170.6 cm), brunette with few white strands of hair, and presents herself with dignity, which is saying something compared to other nobles within the minor faction.
"I'm Countess Danel Van Shaw. I maintain the northeast region of the country, right above where Deron and Fort Stormfist is." Countess Shaw introduces herself in front of William without showing fear or weakness as she maintains her ground against the Emperor's Champion.
Unknown to William, Countess Shaw is the only member of the minor noble who sided with the crown during the war only to switch sides after losing her only son and husband from the war. Her husband and son join King Benton's main army to fight the first battle against Legellan's invading army, but unfortunately, half of their military forces get decimated by Legellan's army led by their hero.
"Countess Shaw, are you the one who speaks for your group? Because the way I see it, you are the only one who stands between me and soon-to-be fertilizers." William places his sword to his shoulder and demands an explanation not to kill anyone from the countess. The way William sees it, it is better to clean the house before starting repairs, and Prince Benton's house is long overdue.
"For now, I do, and I will not have any barbaric confrontation while the king lay sick," The countess said to William and looked towards the door to the meeting room. Many nobles talked among each other as they realized their priority was misplaced. Just when William is about to respond, one of the medics comes out of the room and requests William's help.
"Lord Champion, we need a cog boy if we want to remove the Xenos device. I believe we don't have much time."
The room again went silent as no one could understand who this 'cog boy' is, to which William gladly demonstrated as he summoned Magos of Adeptus Mechanicus. A few seconds later, the door to the throne room opens, and six Tech-priests enter the room with the leading Magos introducing himself to William with a slight bow of respect. Unlike the typical sound, the tech-priest speaks with a mechanical voice with a muffled sound.
[Magos of Adeptus Mechanicus are here to serve the Champion of the Omnissiah. I'm Magos Valadus Callias of the Metalica and loyal servant of the Omnissiah.]
