Chapter 15: My Warhammer is Too Lonely
One month. It took only one month. Omega's "Blue Ocean Tutoring Platform" swept across the entire Forge World of Teyedan with a speed that felt unreal.
It was all going too smoothly. No bureaucratic hurdles. No exorbitant taxes. No competitors. No one was making trouble for him. It was as if all potential difficulties were "actively" avoiding him.
The user base continued to rise in a straight, vertical line. He estimated that in another month, maybe even half a month, his "Blue Ocean" would have 100% market saturation among all apprentices with spending potential.
The biggest crisis in the past month was when the backup Cogitator (a human-brain computer) at the Mechanicus temple they were renting as a server nearly collapsed from insufficient processing power.
But then, conveniently, an "old friend" of Magos Laust just happened to have an "old Cogitator array" they were looking to get rid of. And because they were "friends," they offered it on credit, with payment due later. Omega threw his hands up in the air. The Omnissiah aids me!
He had initially assumed such a good deal meant the hardware had to be faulty, but it turned out he was judging a noble Magos by his own petty standards. The cogitator array had been maintained as if it were brand new; every component was in perfect, pristine condition. Even when Omega, not expecting much, suggested a one-year installment plan, Magos Laust immediately agreed, saying, "Don't trouble yourself. I'll cover the payment first. You can pay me back when you have the funds."
Omega had to agree on the spot, but it left him deeply unsettled. What kind of trap is that old fox digging for me now?
He mulled it over for days but couldn't figure it out. Finally, he convened the first meeting of the "Alliance of Male Priests Against Unwarranted Magisterial Intervention by Laust." At the meeting, Jacob and the other two insisted that Omega was overthinking things. Couldn't it just be that Magos Laust was in a good mood?
Omega smelled a traitor! They were hiding something from him! Their words were too synchronized, as if they had rehearsed them. Then again, it was possible he was just being paranoid. Lately, he'd felt more and more like everyone around him was keeping a secret from him. But what secret could there be that everyone would conspire to hide from him?
And it was true that Laust's star was on the rise. Every few days, high-ranking Magi, so heavily modified they barely looked human, would come to visit him. Each time, they would call Omega over to test his technical knowledge and ask what he had been up to. This made Omega feel a mortifying sense of déjà vu, like he was back in his past life, being forced by his parents to perform for relatives. The dead memories of a past life were still attacking him in the 42nd Millennium.
The "Blue Ocean Project," of course, became the "talent" that Magos Laust would show off to his visiting Magi. Omega was deeply worried about this for a long time, but later discovered his fears were unfounded. These senior Tech-Priests had surprisingly high moral standards.
This led Omega, now flush with cash, to admit his error to Magos Jacob at the belated celebration feast for Paul's successful promotion to Tech-Priest. "I was wrong to judge those senior Magi so harshly. They are all 'virtuous and wise.'"
Jacob just said, "You are right."
This dissatisfied Omega. "Magos Jacob, although there is a great age difference between us, I believe we are now friends!"
"Yes, that's right."
"And as friends, we should be equals! We should be able to speak our minds to each other!"
Jacob answered, a little guiltily, "That's right!"
Omega continued, "You can't just agree with me all the time because I am the planner, decider, executor, and primary investor of the 'Blue Ocean Project'!"
"Yes, of course."
"But look at you now! For a while now, the most common things you say to me are 'that's right' and 'yes.' It's very upsetting!" Omega slammed his hand on the table, and the feast hall fell silent.
Magos Jacob was suffering! All he did was accept a tiny little bribe, and somehow he'd become one of the primary culprits in spreading the most popular and widely believed piece of gossip about the Fabricator-General. The rumor's believers now ranged from the high Magi in the Grand Manufactorum down to the indentured laborers toiling in the rad-soaked factories. Its reach and speed terrified even Magos Laust, let alone a minor priest like himself. Now, whenever Jacob saw Omega, he imagined a spot on the Fabricator-General's "dark assembly line" beckoning to him. The fact that he could still speak to Omega at all was a testament to the shame he felt for his part in this.
"Yes, it is my fault!"
"See, there you go again! This isn't fun anymore! If you have something to say to me, just say it! We're friends, aren't we?"
Jacob—the honest man, the unwitting creator of the rumor—felt at that moment that perhaps telling the truth would be less agonizing than this charade. He took a deep breath and began, "Omega, you..."
"Jacob, you muddle-headed fool! Look how upset you've made Omega!"
"That's right! Louis, don't hold me back! I'm going to teach him a lesson today!"
Magos Aedus shot to his feet, interrupting what Jacob was about to say. Priestess Rhea, her chest heaving with anger, rolled up her sleeves, ready for a fight. Magos Louis, while holding Rhea back and telling her not to be rash, added, "Jacob, you must apologize to Omega! Otherwise, we won't forgive you!"
Preventing Jacob from apologizing, Omega sourly left the celebration. Walking back to the temple, he looked up at the star-dusted sky of Teyedan, and a sense of loneliness washed over him.
Success makes a man solitary, he thought. Their act just now was so forced, so fake! How did the 'fierce and loyal generals' from my dreams become such 'fawning sycophants' in reality? Ah... such loneliness...
While Omega was wallowing in his melodrama, Jacob was being privately reprimanded. If he ever let his emotions get the better of him again and sabotaged the "Grand Plan" set forth by Magos Laust, he would be locked in the warehouse to kowtow day and night.
While issuing the gag order, Laust knew he couldn't keep the matter secret forever. The order was merely to make the priests understand the severity of the situation if they continued to run their mouths. Someone would investigate soon enough. His plan was to put Omega out in the open, let them see for themselves. If it cleared up the misunderstanding, great. If not, he hadn't committed any great crime. He was an outsider anyway, with little room for advancement.
But he never expected that after the first two senior Magi returned to the Grand Manufactorum, the rumor, instead of dying down, intensified. More Magi came to visit. Even he himself was swept up in this bizarre wave of gossip, reaping considerable benefits. The temple under his charge was allocated more resources, and everyone benefited. It was as if the rumor was being confirmed as fact.
This strange turn of events among the Forge World's upper echelon allowed Laust to profit immensely, but he couldn't help but worry about becoming a pawn in their high-stakes games. As an outsider, his network of connections, built over twenty-some years, didn't extend into the inner sanctum of the Grand Manufactorum. Otherwise, he wouldn't spend his days complaining about the Fabricator-General. The upper echelons were a closed circle, offering him no opportunity to get a piece of the pie.
He had been ready to give up, but now, a crack had opened for him. It had just opened in the strangest way possible. He was unwilling to let it go. If not for the chance to acquire greater knowledge, he would have stayed in the Departmento Munitorum, where he was respected. Why come to a Forge World to be slighted?
Fortunately, Omega, one of the two epicenters of this strange vortex, was under his control. He had to leverage this. So he gathered Jacob, Aedus, Louis, Paul, and his daughter Rhea—the people closest to Omega—and explained the situation to them.
The four of them were stunned. In contrast, Paul, the newly promoted priest, was the calmest. He held an almost religious reverence for Omega, one he himself didn't fully understand. So this news didn't faze him much. If anything, it confirmed that he had chosen the right person to follow. Extraordinary people experience extraordinary events.
"Father, you mean to say that right now, we not only have no control over the situation with Omega, we don't even understand what's happening? And we can't predict what will happen in the future?!" Rhea asked, her voice laced with anxiety.
"That is the reality of our situation. The reason I've only summoned you five is that the others in the temple might be able to escape the fallout, but all of you, including myself, will surely be implicated," Laust said, patting his daughter's shoulder comfortingly.
"Magos, what should we do now?" Aedus asked urgently.
"You don't need to do anything," Laust replied. "I will prepare an escape route."
"Huh?" Louis grunted, confused.
"Until the escape route is ready, the best course of action is to act as if we know nothing."
Louis wanted to ask more, but Paul spoke up. "Magos, why don't we bring Boss Omega in to discuss this?"
Jacob, who had been muttering "it's all my fault," suddenly looked up. "That's right, Magos! Priest Omega is incredibly intelligent! He might have an idea!"
"Yes!" the other three chimed in.
Laust thought: That Omega brat has some kind of devilry about him. In such a short time, he's turned everyone around him into this! You trust a little pipsqueak more than you trust me, your Magos? I need to get my... 'collected' Ecclesiarchal relics and test him later.
"You lot!" he snapped at them. "I'm afraid he's too smart! That he'll do something rash, draw unwanted attention, or force our opponent's hand prematurely! Can any of you say you can confidently predict or control what that boy will do?"
"Err..." The five of them fell silent.
"Hmph!" Laust continued irritably. "Not only can we not tell him, but you must all help me keep this from him. Watch for any suspicious individuals around him. When my preparations are complete, I will tell him myself."
The five of them exchanged glances, mulling over everything Laust had said. But they all understood one thing: at the very least, Magos Laust meant them—including Omega—no harm. His long-standing reputation was one factor, but more importantly, if he were plotting something, it would have been more effective to speak to them individually, to sow suspicion and distrust among them. Furthermore, if there were any real danger, he wouldn't have involved his own daughter, Rhea.
"Understood?!"
"Understood, Magos Laust."