Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 267 Accusations of Heresy
As a secret intelligence agent directly under the Governor's Office of Rostov II, Paul continued to diligently carry out the surveillance mission assigned by his superiors, monitoring the activities of the Blood Oath Order as a volunteer.

After the governor restricted all the activities of this sect, its behavior suddenly became much more subdued.

Since Chen Xi, in his dual capacity as Inquisitor and Planetary Governor, issued the prohibition against the Blood Oath Order's missionary activities, the sect's activities have indeed become much less intense.

They can no longer preach openly in the streets as before, nor can they use medical aid as a pretext to reach out to various communities to recruit believers.

Now they can only cower within the sect's altar, passively waiting for desperate poor people to come to them for help.

This passive approach to missionary work significantly slowed the expansion of the Blood Oath Order and diminished its influence.

Despite the widespread discontent within the Blood Oath Order, they could only swallow their anger in the face of a planetary governor who held the title of Imperial Inquisitor.

Of course, after the second attack on the planet by the undead in space and Chen Xi launched the expedition, the Blood Oath Order on the planet was given some of its restrictions lifted, and they were allowed to participate in the treatment of the wounded.

After all, the medical resources in the entire Rostov sub-sector were very limited. In order to ensure that the expeditionary force could receive sufficient medical care, Chen Xi had no choice but to use this medical force, which he considered to be clearly problematic.

Although Chen Xi had many doubts about this sect, he had no choice but to compromise in the face of scarce medical resources.

Under strict supervision, he allowed the Blood Oath Order to participate in the treatment of the wounded.

For this reason, Paul, as a volunteer of the Blood Oath Order, joined the Blood Oath Sisters and other members of the order in battlefield medical care.

On the surface, he was just as busy as the other volunteers, taking care of the wounded and carrying medicines; in secret, he was always vigilant, observing the words and actions of the religious members and memorizing all the details for reporting.

For Paul, who had served in the Rostov II planetary defense force, returning to the familiar military environment was an exciting experience.

Although he is now just an ordinary volunteer at a field hospital, the familiar bugle calls, the sound of orderly marching formations, and the smell of engine oil mixed with disinfectant in the air have brought back the passion and sense of mission he had when he served in the defense force.

As for his other previous mission, organizing and training the militia reserve, this mission had to be temporarily suspended as the Governor's Office launched an expedition.

The reason is simple: almost all the eligible young men on the Rostov II had been conscripted into the regular army, leaving either underage teenagers or elderly people, leaving the militia with no one to train.

After all, with the expedition underway, most of the eligible young men on the Rostov II had been conscripted into the army, and without personnel, the training of the militia reserve could not proceed.

However, this situation actually allowed Paul to focus more on his true duties: monitoring the Blood Oath Order's every move and investigating whether they were engaging in any heretical activities.

Of course, Paul himself did not have a standard for judging "heresy"; he was neither a state pastor nor an expert in the court.

His task was simply to meticulously record, strictly following the Governor's Office's requirements, the daily activities, ritual procedures, personnel interactions, and even the medical methods they used to treat the wounded.

He would then compile this intelligence into a report and submit it to the Governor's Office through encrypted channels, so that those truly knowledgeable bigwigs could judge whether the Blood Oath Order was a devout faith group or a lurking heretical cult.

Paul was well aware that his role was merely to be an eye and an ear, not to be a judge.

He didn't need to understand those complex doctrinal debates, nor did he need to judge which actions crossed the Emperor's bottom line. He only needed to faithfully observe, record, and report; the rest was left to the Governor's Office to decide.

Paul had initially thought things would continue this way, and he had even begun to feel a certain respect for the Blood Oath Cult.

During his recent mission, he witnessed firsthand how the nuns in their scarlet robes tirelessly treated the wounded day and night in a makeshift field hospital.

Their concoctions healed wounds quickly, and their mysterious rituals seemed to truly alleviate the pain of the injured, saving the lives of many soldiers who would otherwise have been certain to die.

Paul noticed that these nuns never preached while treating patients; they simply fulfilled their duty of saving lives in silence.

This scene caused Paul to waver.

As a veteran of the defense force who had risked his life on the battlefield, he understood the importance of battlefield medicine better than anyone else.

If the Blood Oath Order is truly just a group of healers dedicated to saving lives, as they appear, then perhaps the Governor's Office's wariness of them is unnecessary.
Paul even began to secretly think that if they hadn't fallen into depravity, they might actually be a group of respectable good people.

However, just as Paul's thoughts began to change, a decree bearing the seal of the court suddenly descended.

The order, personally signed by Governor Chen Xi, was strongly worded, demanding the immediate isolation of all Blood Oath members, the sealing of their medicines and medical supplies, and a complete ban on all activities of the sect.

Paul saw fully armed guards rush into the religious order's medical tent, violently interrupting the ongoing treatments and forcing the nuns who had once saved lives onto prison vans.

The mysterious potions, books, and medical devices were sealed and neatly piled up in the square awaiting inspection.

The entire Blood Oath Order was uprooted overnight, as if it had never existed.

Paul, as a volunteer brought by the Blood Oath Order, was also arrested and imprisoned in isolation.

Paul didn't know what kind of evidence the governor's mansion had, but after being imprisoned, he was able to have more in-depth contact with the nuns and priests of the Blood Oath Order and learn more information from them.

It was only then that Paul finally learned that there were different factions within the Blood Oath Order.

One sect offers a slightly different interpretation of the sectarian blood worship tradition, believing that blood is incredibly sacred and that believers should offer a portion of their blood as a sacrifice to the God-King while donating their own.

This is not really a big problem. Blood sacrifice to the God Emperor is a fairly common religious ritual in the Empire, especially prevalent in the Church of Death.

Even the state religion and the courts turned a blind eye to this, and would not interfere much as long as the trouble didn't go too far.

But there is no doubt that when someone investigates, this behavior will undoubtedly become evidence of heresy.

(End of this chapter)