In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 43: The Gift

[Feather of Saint Celestine x1: A small feather from one of the Saint Celestine's wings. This legendary item generates a blinding light that can harm the minor creatures of Chaos when they are near. The Feather of Saint Celestine can grant a miracle to whoever possesses this item as long as the user's intention is genuine and willing. Note: This item can only grant one single miracle and will disappear]

'Shit, you got to be kidding me,' William said to himself after checking his inventory to check if his minor dimensional meeting with Star Child actually happen.

Aside from learning new revelation of multiple warp tears and his invisibilities from four Chaos Gods, William is more shocked by what he received from Soul of the Emperor.

'A freaking miracle and area damage to minor Chaos creatures? Damn, I kinda a wish I could keep this instead of giving it to an angry lioness.' The thought of powerful wishes and potential advantages came to William. He could wish for Imperator-Class Titan that has enough firepower to blast the entire fortress to the crater or an Emperor-Class Battleship, a gigantic spaceship that could lunch planetary bombardment from the orbit and have enough ordinates to execute Exterminatus on the planet.

'It is so tempting… but I have a feeling this is a trick. Numen told me to give this to her, knowing that he knows what I can do with this. That means either Numen is testing me or knows this feather will help Rana in the future. Damn, I really really want titan under my command.' William thought to himself and went over the cons and pros of his options. Ultimately, he decided to go with the flows and make the 'right choice.'

'Fuck it. After this whole political shit is done, I'm going to hunt down giants and see if I can get at least Warhound-Class Titan.' With the final decision made, William closes his inventory to see the surrounding environment.

The sky is still dark, and nothing is changed as most people were still sleeping (Except for guards). William checked the time from his helmet to find out that only a minute passed before he went to sleep. This means his entire conversation with Star Child, which lasted one hour, was less than 60 seconds in the real world. Seeing no changes, William decided to go back to sleep with no interruption from higher beings bothering him.

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Five Hours Later,

William didn't need to have a five-hour sleep as his body is built to require only an hour or two and could last weeks without any sleep during combat. But as a normal human being, William loves the peaceful sleep process and waking up full of energy which reminds him of his old life.

The morning began with loud noise as many of the troops move around the camp. Some of them start making breakfast while others began packing tents and sleeping bags. Few of the soldiers check the vehicles for maintenance checks, including fuel levels. With soldiers doing everything like a well-oiled machine, William got up from his tree and joined the group after quick washing from the nearest water bucket.

The breakfast was uneventful, and everyone native to this world was eager to arrive at the capital. Meanwhile, most of William's troops weren't excited as they rather be on the battlefield than mix with some small political game. But this allows them to have more leisure personal time and enjoy decent meals provided by Catachan Jungle Fighters.

Before convoys resume the final trip to the capital, William decided to have a private talk with the Duchess. William doesn't know if he will have another chance to have a one-on-one moment with her when they make it to the capital. After all, she is royalty, and there won't be any room to have an honest discussion with all the court rules and stuff.

"William, did you decided to have me as one of you? If my cousin can pass your test, you know I can pass it as well." Rana is the one who starts the conversation the moment they have some privacy. William didn't answer immediately but once again remove his helmet to have face to face.

"I'm sure you could, but I didn't bring you to talk about that. I want to give you this since you mentioned my god last night. I hope you will accept this and reconsider what you said last night. Let me do what I must do while you handle the situation in the capital and other nations." William said to Rana and pull out the Feather of Saint Celestine from his inventory (While pretending to pull it out from one of his belt pouches). The feather didn't glow any light, but pure white and golden feather were enough to dazzle anyone, including the Duchess.

"Where did you get this? It's beautiful," Rana covers her mouth and is about to take the feather from William but stops herself as she paused to admire the beauty.

"Well, let's just say I had a little visit from home last night," William explained it to the Duchess and quickly gave the feather. He isn't used to giving gifts to a girl, especially a girl who expresses herself freely and can duke it out with daemons on the battlefield.

"You sure I can have this? This feather gives me a strange but present feeling. It's like I can fight non-stop and enjoy the beauty of life itself." Rana gave a small protest but showed great appreciation for a gift she received from William.

Ever since she reached 'of age', many suitors approach her and her father for hands in marriage with various gifts as a tribute. Many tried but failed, from treasures chests to beautiful clothes as those didn't attract Rana's attention. But this single feather from William was different. It is remarkable and important to William, and he gave it to her as a gift that touched Rana's heart a little bit (More than little, as Rana, doesn't want to admit yet).

"Yes, I want you to have this feather. Just remember not to lose it or give to anyone as it have a special property." William quickly said to Rana and didn't give much description of the feather. When the time comes, William will tell her the wish ability, but he will only tell her about protection against minor daemons of Chaos.

"What kind of special property? Is this mean something for your culture?" Rana asks with curiosity the moment she heard what William said. She doesn't know much about William when it comes to culture and how things work in his world, but it seems feather has importance behind it.

"Well…" William was about to tell her about the first property within Feather of Saint Celestine, that was until he heard radio chatter and the sound of lasguns fired in the distance. William immediately put on his helmet to find out what is going on as he didn't expect any trouble so close to the capital.

"Status report, what is going on?" Willam didn't immediately receive the report, but after four seconds of silence, someone reports back through the vox-caster (Imperial radio transceiver).

"Brother Champion, we encountered moderate size of Orks in the distance. The guardsmen are handling the situation as they don't seem to be much of a challenge. The convoy will be ready the moment you return back to camp." One of the Black Templar report back to William regarding of situation. William turns around to tell Rana about the orc attack on the convoy when suddenly a band of orcs appear out of nowhere and surround William and the Duchess.

[Alert, Xenos teleportation detected.]

'No shit.' William thought to himself as he pulls out his power sword and bolter pistol while Rana draws her sword to fight orc ambush.

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"Since when did orcs use teleportation magic?" The Duchess said to William as she slays one of the orcs who blindly attacks her. Even though these are standard fantasy orcs, they still are dangerous and deadly to normal humans.

"I have no idea, but I believe this isn't some random orc attack. I think someone sent them to wipe us out before reaching the capital." William said to the Duchess as he cleve two orcs' heads in one swing and immediately turn around to fire his bolter pistol to put down three other orcs.

A total of 15 orcs appeared out of nowhere and ambushed two humans. But, unknown to these foolish orcs, they end up doing the opposite of the very thing they were sent to do, killing. Quickly the number of orcs decreases as William and the Duchess slay one after another.

Just about four orcs remind in the field, William saw a single life form detected from his radar in the distance. Without giving a second thought, William shot three orcs and swiftly change his weapon. With a bolter rifle in his hand, William changes his direction and aim; half a second later, he fired his weapon and hit the target, so he thought.

With the Duchess killing the last orc, William rush to the location where the target was. When he arrived, there was nobody except the destroyed tree from the bolter round. Rana catches up to William and looks around to see what William was looking for.

"Did you saw another orc here?" Rana asks giant Black Templar as he stares at the ground.

"No. Whatever it was, it escaped before I could hit it. It seems this one managed to escape using the same method as to how orcs appeared out of nowhere." William said to Rana as he went to his knee to check the ground.

"How do you know he or she escaped using the same method of magic?"

"Because the ground is scorched with burned grass and dirt as if something scalding suddenly hit the ground." William shows the hand full of black burned dirt to Rana.

"It seems someone doesn't like us very much, not to mention taking extreme measures to use orcs as a tool of assassination. This changes things." William said to the Duchess as he got up and radioed his troops to start the convoy. After giving the order, William summons his assault bike and signals the Duchess to hop on.

"The assassin will try again before we make it to the capital. So we are going fast, fast enough to give the assassin no chance at all."