Chapter 13: Father and Son United
Wayne nodded as he observed the shattered robot below. As expected of a Primarch. He had destroyed the machine and endured twenty seconds of sustained electrical attack for his first attempt; that was already impressive.
The Primarch's instinctive impulses were difficult to suppress.
Even the Lion, educated by Luther and the knights of The Order for over a decade. Guilliman, taught by Regent Konor for years, couldn't achieve perfect self-control. They still succumbed to wrath when provoked, just as Magnus still acted with pride when he shouldn't.
They lacked absolute mastery over themselves.
The reason was straightforward: for Primarchs, beings who were functionally immortal, twenty years of education was equivalent to a minute or an hour by mortal standards. Could an ordinary person be fundamentally changed by a minute or an hour of instruction?
Teaching Konrad properly would require far more time and demand that he learn on his own initiative.
"That was very good, Konrad."
"But I didn't accomplish what you asked."
Wayne dropped from the platform and stood before Konrad, reaching out to stroke his son's damp hair. The electrical discharge had left Konrad drenched in sweat. Wayne produced a cloth and handed it to him.
The Primarch wiped away the sweat without speaking, staring down at the broken robot.
"You're only six months old, and you expect perfection already? Konrad, we are human beings. We need time to learn and improve. We're not born as gods, understand?"
"But I—"
"This is your first simulation exercise. The fundamental purpose of training our self-control is to make us stronger. Impulsiveness can lead to failure. Judgment and discipline are what make us truly formidable."
Wayne looked at the boy before him, who clearly craved approval. He understood Konrad possessed talent for violence and terror tactics.
But war, psychic prophecies, and the burden of his sons could destroy his sanity.
At this stage, Konrad hadn't yet become enslaved to his precognitive visions, and unexpected events could still overwhelm him. Therefore, Wayne had to teach Konrad what self-control meant and what political understanding required.
Nostramo was a place tens of thousands of times more corrupt than Gotham ever was.
Wayne remembered that when Konrad first assumed command of the VIII Legion in the original timeline, he had been spirited and promising.
Contemporary accounts described him as fierce and terrifying in appearance, yet also as a leader with an unshakable sense of justice. His early years might have been those of a successful hero, but his later ones were pure tragedy.
After Konrad left Nostramo, the planet reverted to its previous state of decay and corruption.
The Primarch's original intention was that Night Lords recruits must come from the finest people his homeworld could offer, but the nobles sought to avoid the tithe.
They emptied the planetary prisons and filled the Legion's ranks with murderers and petty criminals. By the time Konrad realized what had happened, the Night Lords had become a cesspit of criminality.
Those criminal soldiers, precisely as his final prophecies foretold, shattered Konrad's mental stability.
Konrad was, in truth, someone who considered himself civilized, attempting to correct barbarism and lead it toward something better.
Yet Nostramo, where Konrad had fallen to the planet's surface, was from any perspective utterly barbaric. The expensive and difficult-to-refine adamantium produced there enriched a privileged few while the masses starved.
The suicide rate was so elevated that it functioned as population control.
However, Konrad wasn't as fortunate as Ferrus Manus, who miners raised, nor did he gain the love of the lower classes as Corax had. He was destined to remain a civilized outcast, never to conform to these people's ways. So he became a creature of the night, indiscriminately judging and executing all he deemed guilty using methods he considered effective.
Konrad's actions worked. The surviving nobles revered him as Nostramo's first true monarch and demigod.
Sometimes gentle, sometimes merciless, he brought civilization through his unpredictable nature.
Wayne smiled as he looked at his young son.
He wouldn't let darkness consume little Konrad, nor would he permit tragedy to claim him. No predetermined fate belonged to Konrad anymore.
As a transmigrator, Wayne understood that Konrad's psychic precognition stemmed from his fundamental nature and that his task was to train him endlessly.
This would allow Konrad to become a genuine hero, mastering his own abilities and psychic powers. But to gain control over divine power granted by one's nature, one required either absolute ruthlessness or genuine love from the depths of one's heart.
"You did well."
"Really?"
"What else would I say? I mean what I say, Konrad. You're doing an excellent job right now. This was my fault."
"How is this your fault?"
"I set the robot's difficulty too high, making it impossible for you to move freely. Next time, I'll make it simpler and let you adapt gradually, increasing the difficulty over time."
The Primarch shook his head. He felt he should begin with the most difficult challenges. Only then could he meet Wayne's expectations.
Wayne placed a hand on his shoulder, looking tenderly at the young Primarch. He didn't want Konrad pressuring himself at this stage.
"We are all humans, Konrad. Treat yourself as a child, not an adult yet. There's an endless future ahead for you to strive toward, so why not give yourself peace now?"
Wayne gestured to the Robins that they could resume their training.
"We are human. Imperfect and Vulnerable to tragedy. Pressure is a driving force. It can make us strong, or it can crush our souls, causing us to fall. So treat this as a small setback, Konrad, not a failure. Consider it my mistake instead."
Konrad's young eyes widened as he felt Wayne's love for him. Strict but kind. He looked at his father and embraced him tightly.
"Thank you."
Wayne smiled at the little boy, tightly hugging him, "I'm your father. No need to thank me."
Wayne picked up the boy. "Let me hold you while I still can. Come on, let's get something to eat. Adelaine is very fond of you."
Wayne paused and asked, "Can I request something, Konradd?"
"Hm, what?" Konrad jerked up, excited.
"Please don't keep me up tonight, though. Adults have their own lives to live."
"But why don't you want children?" Konrad groaned.
Wayne didn't understand where Konrad had gotten that idea. He patted the boy in his arms. "Why are you worrying about my 'children' at six months old?"
"How about this? When Nostramo is stable and peaceful, I'll consider retiring and start a family. Then Wayne Enterprises will be yours. Happy now"
"Really?" Konrad asked with glowing eyes.
"Yes. Everything I have is yours, but right now you're my son, and there's still a very long road ahead."
"I understand. I will not pressure again. I'll study hard, Father. You can work hard on making children."
"That's rig- Noo wait,tha... that's not what. Sigh~You know what? Leave it."
Wayne never felt so powerless in a long time in life. Why is his son caring about his father's sex life? Is this something all primarchs' parents had to go through?
'I would like a conversation with them about parenting.'
[End of Chapter]