Warhammer Fanfic: Starting with a Core Cabin

In fact, on the way to the temple, Duanmu Huai had already grown suspicious of the elf scout.

As a scout, she simply knew too much.

Of course, scouts specialized in intelligence gathering, so knowing some secrets wasn't strange.

But the moment she opened the seal, Duanmu Huai knew—this elf scout definitely had a hidden identity.

The reason was simple. Everyone knew that bank vaults stored a large number of valuables and cash. Those with some connections might even know which direction the vault door opened.

But not just anyone could have the key to the vault.

Watching the elf chant a few incantations and effortlessly open the seal, Duanmu Huai immediately realized something was off.

If the seal were that easy to undo, then what were the God of Decay's cultists even doing here earlier? Wasting time having a bonfire barbecue?

"Alright, tell me your true identity, elf."

Duanmu Huai gripped his chainsword, staring coldly at the elf. He was perfectly calm. As a player, Duanmu Huai had seen this kind of situation far too many times.

Like when they painstakingly escorted an NPC to a designated location, only for that NPC to suddenly transform into the final boss.

Or when, after safely delivering an NPC, that NPC suddenly turned around and tried to destroy the world.

Or when they rescued an NPC with great effort, only for the NPC to immediately reveal their true nature and unleash a plague across the globe.

To be honest, after experiencing so many of these twists, players had become numb. No matter how dramatic the plot twist, after enough repetition, everyone just got used to it.

So later on, when NPCs suddenly transformed into bosses again, most players would just silently draw their weapons and start the fight.

They couldn't even be bothered to say a single line of dialogue, nor pretend to be shocked.

In fact, they were even a little excited.

After all, another boss meant another loot box!

That was why Duanmu Huai remained so composed.

Even if this elf scout turned out to be an agent of the God of Trickery or the God of Desire, he could deal with it calmly—he had simply seen too many storms to be shaken by something like this.

No matter how dramatic, it wouldn't rattle Duanmu Huai anymore.

"I really am a scout, Sir Knight."

Feeling the cold blade at her throat, the elf swallowed nervously and spoke. She had clearly seen this sword slice a Plague Apostle in half. She didn't believe she had the same durability as one of those monsters.

"At the same time, I'm also a royal spy."

"Explain everything. What's really going on?"

Duanmu Huai didn't lower his chainsword. This elf scout was clearly not as simple as she appeared, and he wanted to know her true identity.

"I didn't deceive you, Sir Knight."

The elf hesitated for a moment, then decided to come clean.

After hearing her explanation, Duanmu Huai finally understood what was really going on.

In the end, it all boiled down to a political mess.

Alisa had already mentioned when she first introduced herself that, due to the sudden death of the Empire's ruler, the entire nation had fallen into internal power struggles. The elf scout's intel was more detailed—because she was a royal spy, one who served only the Emperor.

According to her, the Emperor's sudden death was highly suspicious. He had died of a sudden illness while leading a major military campaign against foreign races.

Hmm? Why did that sound so familiar?

In any case, after the Emperor died, the expedition army suffered heavy casualties and was forced to retreat back to the Empire. Meanwhile, his heirs began scheming in the shadows, each vying for the throne. Of course, those matters were far removed from the present situation—what mattered now was why this elf scout had appeared in Silver City.

The reason was simple: the lord of this region was a loyal royalist. During the Emperor's great expedition, he had given most of his territory's regular troops to the Emperor. This was one of the reasons Silver City's defenses were so weak and why the Skaven and evil god cultists had managed to breach it.

After all, this was a border territory that didn't even share a border with other nations—only wilderness and deserts surrounded it. No one had ever expected the cultists and Skaven to dare launch such a bold assault.

As for the relic called the "Water God's Gift," it had been granted to the lord by the Emperor as a reward for his loyalty. Normally, holy relics would only be found in territories belonging to members of the royal family, so placing it here was akin to giving the lord an imperial token—a "sword of divine authority" that could at least help him ward off political threats.

Of course, the Emperor wasn't foolish. After giving away such a precious item, he didn't simply leave it unattended. Instead, he secretly sent a royal spy—that is, the elf scout—to quietly monitor the artifact and make sure nothing went wrong.

And as expected, something did go wrong.

The reason she was now revealing all this to Duanmu Huai was simple: the Emperor was dead, and all royal spies like her were directly subordinate to the Emperor. That meant, with the Emperor's death, they had become rootless agents, with no home to return to and no superiors to report to.

According to Imperial tradition, before the previous Emperor's death, he should've informed the next heir about the existence of these spies to ensure a proper transfer of command. But... well, the Emperor had died suddenly.

But there was still one more problem.

"You once said that the relic was protected by Imperial mages, sealed with dozens of enchantments, and only someone of royal blood could touch it."

"Yes."

The elf scout nodded. Then she stood up and reached out toward the white pearl—but before her fingers even touched it, her entire body was flung backward as if struck by an invisible force, crashing heavily into the wall.

No wonder those fat sorcerers had such a hard time. It seemed Imperial mages really were something.

Glancing at the elf scout who was struggling to get back up, Duanmu Huai narrowed his eyes and gave a nod. After a moment of thought, he spoke again.

"...Your objective probably isn't just the relic, is it?"

"I don't know what you mean, Sir Knight."

Though the elf scout tried to appear calm, Duanmu Huai's next sentence completely broke her composure.

"Alisa—she's one of your protection targets too, isn't she?"

"...…"

"She's of royal blood, isn't she? Perhaps even an heir to the Empire?"

"......…"

The elf scout didn't answer—but often, silence is confirmation.

I knew it.

Looking at the frozen elf scout, Duanmu Huai let out a soft snort. At first, he hadn't considered this angle. But after hearing her explanation, and combining it with his own experience playing games, the conclusion wasn't hard to reach.

First of all, the level of the evil god cultists chasing Alisa was the best clue.

Demons usually lived in the Warp, and they couldn't affect the real world directly. They had to seduce psykers into performing profane rituals and the like to blur the boundary between reality and the Warp in order to manifest.

In such a case, any demon that made it to the real world could be considered a rare and precious "specimen."

Yet to hunt down Alisa, the frenzied cultists had even sent a Bloodthirster—one of the higher-ranking demons!

Though it wasn't on the level of a Daemon Lord or a Greater Daemon, a Bloodthirster was already a very rare and dangerous high-tier demon in the early stages.

All that for the daughter of a mere noble lord? Was it worth it?

There was only one possible answer: she was no ordinary noble's daughter. Otherwise, it made no sense that the lord was killed, yet she survived.

After listening to the elf scout's story, Duanmu Huai immediately strung all the clues together. It was very likely that Alisa wasn't the biological daughter of the lord and his wife at all—but a royal descendant. For some reason, the Emperor had hidden her identity and entrusted her to be raised by them. And the presence of the relic only deepened Duanmu Huai's suspicions—according to the elf, only someone of royal blood could touch it. Relics like that were usually only placed in territories belonging to royalty.

But this was a remote frontier—were they really going to send a royal all the way out here just to collect a relic?

So from another perspective, if Alisa herself was royalty, then this territory effectively became royal territory.

In that case, the Emperor placing the relic here made perfect sense.

Even though the elf scout hadn't answered Duanmu Huai's questions directly, her reactions basically confirmed his deductions—he'd seen this kind of storyline far too many times.

Of course, it was also possible that this elf scout was cunning enough to be putting on a great act.

But either way, it didn't concern him.

After all, Duanmu Huai had already scanned the relic the moment it appeared, and the system didn't give him any response… which was honestly a bit disappointing.

"Forget it. None of this has anything to do with me."

Duanmu Huai thought for a moment, then pushed the matter out of his mind.

"Just one last thing I want to ask you."

"...What is it?"

"Do you know of any haunted places around here?"

"...…?"

Duanmu Huai had no intention of getting involved in the Empire's internal struggles. His target was only the Chaos gods and their cultists. He had no interest in a medieval-tier civilization's internal politics. He was fairly certain this would turn out to be a main storyline quest, but right now, what mattered more to Duanmu Huai was increasing his own power.

Currently, there were followers of both the God of Rage and the God of Decay on this planet. The former was still manageable, but the latter—those who used viruses and corruption—were a real pain, and Duanmu Huai didn't have any specific countermeasures yet.

So his current plan was to explore various ruins and ancient sites, using "Soul Awakening" to collect soul cards—hopefully ones that could suppress or counteract the walking biohazards that served the God of Decay.

Fortunately, perhaps because they were traumatized by the slaughter at the temple, the Skaven and cultists never showed their faces again. Meanwhile, Commander Cardo took the opportunity to reinforce the castle's defenses. Only after the reinforcements arrived did everyone finally breathe a little easier.

The officer leading the reinforcements seemed to be an old acquaintance of Cardo's, so their first meeting went smoothly. Duanmu Huai also exchanged greetings with him at Cardo's introduction—and the officer treated him with considerable respect.

Duanmu Huai had to admit, he seemed to fit into this world more than the last one.

Back in his previous world, just walking down the street could get him reported to the police. No one ever thought he looked like a good person. But in a world like this, where strength determined status, his appearance actually made people feel more at ease.

After all, in typical webnovel fashion, if the reinforcements heard that the protagonist had single-handedly slaughtered an entire Skaven army, destroyed a Chaos ritual, and killed a Plague Apostle, they'd usually assume it was just an exaggerated rumor.

Most protagonists were ordinary-looking people, and no one would believe they had any special powers.

But Duanmu Huai was different. Just standing in front of you with his 2.5-meter-tall frame, the menacing aura of his Inquisition power armor, and that terrifying face—people wouldn't just believe he wiped out a Skaven army. They'd believe he could kill a Chaos god.

Honestly, sometimes looking like this wasn't bad at all. At least it saved him from all the "pretending to be weak and getting into drama" plotlines.

One glance was enough to tell—this guy's a killer. Who'd dare mess with him?

Humans really are visual creatures.

After the reinforcements arrived, Duanmu Huai bid farewell to Alisa and left Silver City. Though Alisa was reluctant to see him go, Duanmu Huai wasn't gone for good...

After all, players always clear all the side quests in an area before tackling the main storyline, right?

(End of this chapter)