"White silk feet? What white silk feet?" Alexander blinked, unable to resist asking.
"Dying-worshippers." Augustus' voice was clearly strained: "A cult that worships death and reveres the Emperor as the God of Death."
Listening to Augustus' words, Alexander paused for a moment, then remembered what the Dying-worshippers were.
They were a cult that worshipped death, but most of them did not worship the Blood God or Nurgle, but the Emperor.
The logic of most Death Worshipers was simple:
The Emperor exists between life and death; the Emperor saved humanity through a sacrifice akin to death; the souls of the departed will return to the Golden Throne.
Therefore, the Emperor is clearly the God of Death, and his broken, corpse-like body is undoubtedly the best evidence.
Based on this "fact," the Death Worshipers began to interpret the Adeptus Ministorum's scriptures in their own way.
They believed that the cornerstone of the Imperium's existence was death and martyrdom; the more death, the more sacred, and the more the Emperor's will could be carried out, ensuring the Imperium's prolonged existence.
Some of them were indeed corrupted by the Chaos powers in the Empyrean,
but more Death Worshipers maintained a different kind of loyalty to the Emperor, and the Adeptus Ministorum and Imperial authorities were often willing to accommodate them and use them as their bloody gloves.
"Ashford actually has a branch of the Dying-worshippers?" Alexander asked, somewhat astonished.
So many talented people, so many talented people.
"It's in the Lower Nest, thirteenth district. That's their parish, and their altar."
"They call themselves Dying-worshippers, a smaller faction within the Death Worshipers, with only women internally."
Augustus' words seemed to carry a hint of fear:
"These extreme cultists often adopt young girls, training them from childhood to become first-class assassins."
"With only simple, form-fitting leather and two sharp rapiers, they dare to break into the bedchambers of cult leaders and take their lives."
"To be honest, the Lower Nest occasionally breeds some troublesome cultists, and I usually hire them to clean up."
Dying-worshippers, huh?
Alexander recalled what he had seen in the Bottom Nest: the scenes of death, the blood-stained church, the masked priestesses...
And the secret phrase Joan wanted him to remember: "Only sacrifice to death, only worship the God of Death."
Could it be... the reward the Emperor, his elder, spoke of... is with the Dying-worshippers?
Alexander blinked with interest, looking at the data-slate in his hand and saying:
"Sounds a bit interesting."
"I'll introduce you, and I'll cover the cost of hiring them."
Augustus said, staring at the data-slate in his hand.
Only when he heard Alexander agree to the proposal did he let out a slight breath.
Then, he ended the call with Alexander.
Afterward, Augustus couldn't help but tremble with fear.
He had just said that the Dying-worshippers were insane,
but that man Alexander was even more insane than the Dying-worshippers.
Even the Dying-worshippers rarely targeted a planetary governor for assassination.
That man Alexander not only dared, he even dared to tell Augustus directly that he would assassinate him.
Augustus reviewed their recent conversation with fear.
He could feel that the man was not unafraid of death; he felt that he would never die.
That kind of baseless confidence, as if even the great powers of the mortal world... no, even the sea of souls... could not take his life.
What a madman, everyone dies...
At this thought, Augustus' lips curled into a forced, cold smile.
What would happen if the Death Worshipers, who bring death, were pitted against the heretic who claimed he would never die?
He tapped the data-slate in his hand, opening another call.
"Who do you wish to bring death to?"
A cold, muffled female voice came from the other end of the call:
"By whom do you wish to send death?"
Augustus shivered, startled by the cold voice,
but he did not betray his fear. Instead, he spoke in a low, dry voice:
"I want your chief assassin."
According to Augustus' intelligence, the Dying-worshippers had only twelve assassins in total,
but each one was a killing machine meticulously cultivated by the Death Worshipers from childhood.
Not only did they receive training far beyond ordinary people, but they were also injected with various strange drugs and underwent unique modifications.
And among them, the one most excellently forged, the one most capable of bringing death, was their chief assassin.
Augustus had only hired that woman once.
In just one night, she had destroyed a cult worshipping the Blood God and beheaded its leader.
"Dixus is devoutly awaiting the arrival of the Death Chosen; she cannot leave our church."
"..Death Chosen?" Augustus asked, raising his voice.
"Yes!" The cold, muffled female voice took on excitement and piety: "The Chosen has arrived, the Chosen of Death."
"Just a few days ago, through a sacrifice and offering of death, we received a revelation in the grayness of death."
"It was a magnificent blue figure, chosen by the Emperor, arriving steeped in death."
"He is the master of us Dying-worshippers; we are his humble servants."
"Chief assassin Dixus, by the Emperor's command, awaits the arrival of the Chosen in the church."
The chief assassin cannot leave the church.
Augustus had no interest in the mad worship of the Death Worshipers.
He only knew that the chief assassin could not leave the church.
The other eleven assassins... truthfully, Augustus felt that they alone would absolutely not be able to contend with Alexander.
Fortunately, he could use the pretext of an introduction to lure Alexander and that illegal psyker to the thirteenth district. He just didn't know if it would succeed.
"I will find a way to make the targets go to the thirteenth district and enter your church."
"At that time, can the chief assassin personally assassinate those two targets?"
Augustus asked.
"The targets' names." A colder voice suddenly rang out.
Just listening to this voice, Augustus felt as if he saw boiling pools of blood and mountains of gray corpses.
He almost threw up. If it weren't for the training he received as a governor, he would have started screaming.
Augustus knew that this voice belonged to the chief assassin of the Dying-worshippers.
"Alexander and Reyna, they are respectively..." Augustus whispered.
"They will receive a visit from death." That cold voice said: "Our church will never be short of death."
"Especially with the imminent arrival of the great Death Chosen. Praise be to that glorious blue figure."
Augustus detected the extreme fanaticism in her words.
After ending the call with the Dying-worshippers, Augustus reconnected with Alexander.
"..I've made the connection for you, but they require you and that illegal psyker to both go to their church for a detailed discussion."
Augustus was a bit nervous; Alexander might very well refuse.
At that point, it would depend on Augustus' eloquence.
A soft laugh came from the other end of the call, as if mocking Augustus.
"Alright, I was just planning to pay them a visit anyway."
Alexander replied in a light voice.