Traveling through time, I'm making pancakes in Warhammer

Chapter 221 Big Chess

"What are your plans next?" After making sure that Gloria would not kill him with the power sword, Howard asked almost too demandingly.

The battle sister was still adjusting her pistol. A small brass incense burner was lit at her feet. Amidst the mist, she patiently and devoutly disassembled the parts of the grenade launcher one by one, wiped them patiently with a cloth soaked in holy oil, and placed the cleaned parts in order in front of her.

As perhaps the most important weapon in the Imperium of Man, the Boltgun is the equivalent of the real-world AK47. While capable of firing devastating rounds, its structure is surprisingly simple, allowing any skilled soldier to disassemble and reassemble it.

The Sister of Battle removed her hand armor and knelt on the ground, her eyes slightly lowered as she diligently cleaned every spring and pin of the bolter. She meticulously wiped the intricate and ornate patterns on the gun casing with a handkerchief, ensuring no trace of blood remained. Under her care, the killing weapon, once obscured by blood, flesh, and unknown grime, regained its luster.

Seeing the nun maintaining the weapon, Howard wisely shut up.

For a warrior, their weapon is their life, their most loyal companion. And thanks to the presence of the Machine Spirit, this time-consuming and laborious maintenance of their weapon is never in vain. When the Machine Spirit is displeased, even a recently serviced gun may jam. When the Machine Spirit is pleased, even if the chamber is empty, a bullet will still be ejected upon pulling the trigger.

Only when maintaining the weapons could Howard see some of the shadow of the nun in this sister. Usually, this girl was so brutal when killing people on the battlefield that those who didn't know her would think her rank was basaker.

The sister quickly finished her work. She quickly reassembled the scattered bolter parts, extinguished the stove, and hung it back on her waist. Finally, she answered Howard's question. Perhaps because weapon maintenance was a meditation practice for a battle sister, her tone was less sharp. "After receiving an order, our response is always victory or death."

What the nun meant was that retreat was never within their scope of consideration.

"You can't send every unit into battle without ever returning," Howard said. "If your superiors ordered you to defend a city wall, and then discovered it had no strategic value and ordered you to return, would you still shout victory or death and continue to fight the attacking enemy to the death?"

"Don't be so sullen, Sister. You know better than me that this operation of yours has been a complete farce from the very beginning, a show that invested the Empire's resources in the service of one man's political career. Your ability to break through the orcs' outer defenses may have met your commander's expectations. You have done better than that. Return."

"There are no ifs and wherefores. We haven't received any orders to retreat, so we will resolutely carry out the original orders. I've been wondering if our action is truly meaningless. Perhaps we feel it's meaningless because we don't have enough information, but in the eyes of those who truly understand the overall situation, our seemingly meaningless action is actually meaningful. If that's the case, retreating at random would be tantamount to betrayal." The Battle Sister immediately responded, "Furthermore, even if this action is truly meaningless, we fought to the death and sacrificed our lives for the Empire. This act itself proves our persistence and loyalty. Loyalty doesn't need a reason; it is the reason."

This time Howard was speechless, because he actually felt that what the nun said made some sense.

"We fight for the Empire. Even if not for the Empire, then for the political achievements of some important figure. What are you fighting for?" Gloria put her weapon to the ground, but her fingertip still pressed against the gun casing. "You appear here for no reason, seemingly to solve some problems, but at the same time, you create more. At times, you do fight harder than us, but why do you fight so hard?"

"Because I'm human," Howard replied, then added, "The fact that I'm human is both a cause and a result."

This repetitive repetition completely made the Battle Sister lose interest in the conversation. She lowered her head and went back to inflating her armor that was emitting sparks.

The fact that she was not directly convinced by Howard's persuasion proves that the nun is a determined person.

There is no perfect thing in the world. Everything has its pros and cons. The most common way to persuade people to change their minds through verbal persuasion is to use the strengths of your own ideas to attack the weaknesses of others' ideas. It is easy for ordinary people to fall into this thinking trap and be led by the nose.

So again, the best way to deal with verbal attacks is to tear their mouths apart before they open their mouths.

However, being able to stick to one's beliefs after hearing verbal arguments is truly commendable. This means that one must have a deep understanding of both the pros and cons of what they believe in, so as not to be swayed by just a few words. In real life, such people are often called stubborn and tend to stick to their own path.

And judging by the Battle Sister's reaction, she was undoubtedly a determined person.

To be honest, Howard was quite envious of the nun. Just as the nun said, he was a wavering man and it was difficult for him to devote himself to anything. For example, just now he was almost persuaded by the nun.

The negotiations with the human side seemed to have reached a dead end. He couldn't even convince his only ally, and to be honest, he didn't even consider the possibility raised by the nun.

However, if the human side cannot be persuaded to cooperate with the Eldar in retreating together, Howard's disguise as "a person with weight among humans" in front of the Eldar will be exposed, and these Eldar will no longer care about him. They will capture him and raise him like a guinea pig. Without him as a bargaining chip, these humans will surely die.

Howard was disheartened. Gloria had just asked him what the purpose of all this was. He vaguely remembered someone asking him a similar question a long time ago.

He has always had a purpose, but it is still unspeakable now. The lack of cooperation from the human side at this time is likely to hinder what he wants to accomplish.

So even if he couldn't convince these humans, Howard couldn't just lie down and give up, but continued to think about ways to solve the current dilemma.

As he was thinking, Howard suddenly slapped his thigh.

The answer is right there on the surface. The Sister of Battle had made it clear before: without orders from above, they would not retreat easily.

Then just go and ask for a retreat order. If the decision-maker behind the scenes is playing a big game, just ask him face to face.