Chapter 525: The STC Data-Slate
Kian put the books down and dusted himself off, ready to leave. The old monk stepped up and asked hopefully:
"My lord, when will the Imperium come? We've been waiting with our necks craned, praying only for the heavenly host to descend and restore the glory of the Golden Sun!!"
Kian glanced at the old monk and answered in a perfectly bureaucratic tone:
"Well, see, it's not that they're not coming. It's that they'll come gradually. Slowly. In a measured fashion, according to plan, in phases, some sooner, some later. You catch my drift?"
The old monk slapped his bald head.
"Yes, yes, I catch it! My lord would like a little something for his trouble. This way, please, my lord. I have something good for you here!"
Kian thought to himself, what could a farming world like this possibly have that's any good? But since the man was offering, he went along.
After a winding walk, the old monk led Kian from the library to another room.
This room was laid out nothing like anything on this feudal world. The whole room was built of solid steel, and he could see some mechanical equipment whose purpose he couldn't guess, though it was badly corroded.
The old monk went to a metal box, opened it, and lifted out a rectangular object about a palm wide, which he held out to Kian.
"My lord, we don't know what this is. But from the old texts that survive, we know that what's inside it is worth more than a city!
"I offer this to you, my lord. I ask only that you bring the heavenly host down to us soon, so the Golden Sun may return to the world!"
Kian took the rectangular metal object, puzzled, and opened up the Scavenge-Strike-Extract System that readers have been missing so much to look up what it was.
Then his eyes flew wide. It was a red drop! And not just any red. A classified file, Star of Africa–tier red!!
Name: STC Template, Electronic Storage Slate.
Value: Priceless.
Description: A quantum storage device capable of holding vast amounts of information, protected by an adamantium casing and filled with a special electronic storage fluid that extends the shelf life of its quantum storage units to over ten thousand years.
This quantum storage unit contains a manufacturing template for a power sword: a single-edged long blade. Characteristics: extremely light, not durable, but cheap.
Kian weighed the STC template in his hand. It held the plans for a katana-pattern power sword!
For a businessman like Kian, power swords were an excellent product.
In the brutal universe of Warhammer 40K, a power sword was a hit-and-you're-dead weapon. No matter how thick the armour, one cut and you were in pieces!
Power swords were also status symbols, and plenty of officers and nobles were happy to buy them out of their own pockets.
Kian tucked the STC template away and smiled at the old monk.
"I'll take this off your hands. As for when the Golden Sun's heavenly host will arrive, just wait patiently. You catch my drift?"
The old monk nodded so hard his head nearly spun off.
"I catch it, I catch it! My lord, when the heavenly host arrives, you must make the Son of Heaven pay with his life!!"
While Kian was digging into the mysteries of history, the Big Yōkai were getting ready to enter the city again.
But as soon as the monsters passed through the outer gate, they all stopped dead in the barbican. The huge enclosure had been packed with a thousand or two thousand people!
Those one or two thousand people had all been stripped naked, tied up with rope, and dumped in the barbican like pigs.
Their mouths had been gagged, and they whimpered without stopping.
When they saw the horde of Big Yōkai come through the gate, they panicked and could only squirm, trying to get as far away from the Big Yōkai as they could.
The Giant Yōkai's massive frame was nearly as tall as the gate tunnel. He walked through the gate, looked down, saw the ground covered in bound humans, and was amused.
"Hoho~ Slaves? How interesting!"
He waved a hand, and the Big Yōkai rushed in laughing and began to feed. The barbican filled with screams.
A little over half an hour later, the monsters had eaten their fill and began withdrawing out of the city.
His mouth smeared with blood and brains, the Giant Yōkai suddenly turned around as he was leaving the gate tunnel. He looked up at the samurai watching him from the walls and said cheerfully:
"A fine offering you've prepared. Since you're so sensible, I won't come into the city from now on.
"From now on, every day before sunset, have a thousand offerings ready in the barbican."
The samurai on the walls kept swallowing hard. They looked down at the Giant Yōkai's enormous body and his bloodthirsty eyes, and their nerve broke completely.
The Giant Yōkai sniffed at the fear in the air, looking very satisfied. But he felt it still wasn't enough, so he said:
"Slaves don't taste very good, though. I want something else!"
The samurai on the walls exchanged glances. One of them asked shakily:
"Lord Giant Yōkai, what... what kind of people would you like?"
The Giant Yōkai stroked his chin and thought.
"Let's do this. Tomorrow, prepare a thousand small children for me, and have their parents watch from the walls.
"The day after, prepare a thousand old people, and have their sons watch from the walls.
"The day after that, prepare a thousand married couples. I'll let one of each couple go, but they'll have to choose for themselves which one dies!"
The samurai on the walls went pale. They gripped their bows tight but didn't dare draw.
The Giant Yōkai let out a roar of laughter and left with his demon troop.
That same day, the monster's demands spread through all of Kyoto, and panic swept the city.
In the Son of Heaven's hall, the Son of Heaven looked utterly despondent, gazing helplessly at his ministers.
"Our court's pillars of state, what are We to do? What are We to do?"
After a long silence, one minister said shakily:
"We can only... only give the demon what he asks, and hope that after he eats, he doesn't come into the city..."
A military officer slammed the table and stood up.
"A thousand today! A thousand tomorrow! How many people does Kyoto even have?
"It's only the start of autumn, and it's a long time until early spring when the Big Yōkai go back to their dens. If we send a thousand people to be eaten every day, won't Kyoto's million people be eaten to extinction!!"
When they heard this, everyone lowered their heads in silence. But one civil minister shrieked:
"And what else can we do? It's because you military men can't beat the Big Yōkai that we're in this mess in the first place!!
"If you're so capable, then go lead your troops and kill the Big Yōkai yourself!!"
The officer, his blood up, shouted:
"Fine! I'll go take the Giant Yōkai's head right now!!"
He left the Son of Heaven's hall on the spot, mounted his warhorse, and charged out of the city with a hundred of his personal guards.
But less than half an hour later, a samurai brought back word: the officer and his hundred guards were all dead, and their bodies had been torn to pieces and thrown back into the city.
The Son of Heaven looked at the other officers.
"Is there anyone else willing to go out and slay the Big Yōkai?"
The officers all lowered their heads. The Son of Heaven sighed and waved a hand helplessly.
"Since no one dares go out and fight, there's nothing more to say. Go and prepare. Whatever the Big Yōkai wants to eat, give it to him.
"One breath of peaceful sleep is still peaceful sleep."
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