LOL: Summoner of Goddess Janna

The next day, the imperial capital, the immortal fortress.

When Darius, leading his general bodyguards, returned to the imperial capital after an absence of several years, the streets and cityscape of the Immortal Fortress seemed to have become much more depressed than the last time he saw them.

The protracted and futile war, apart from the munitions industry controlled by the nobles, never brought any benefits to the empire. However, the heavy burden brought by the war actually fell on hundreds of millions of imperial citizens.

The terrible economic depression caused by this inevitably spread from the vast countryside, towns, and cities to the prosperous capital of the empire.

As a result, even the vast slums could no longer accommodate the city's growing filth.

Homeless orphans, ragged beggars, and ailing vagrants began to spread throughout the city like an unstoppable flood.

In addition to the heavily guarded wealthy communities and honorable estates, you can see these poor people struggling to survive almost in every corner and on every roadside in this city.

This makes the work of those city corpse collectors much more arduous.

In the past, they only had to go to the slums to collect corpses from the poor, but now there are so many poor people that they can't even fit in the slums.

They had to push the cart through the streets and alleys of the Immortal Fortress, and then turn over one by one the "road corpses" that could be seen everywhere on the roadside.

Those who were absolutely dead were loaded into cars and sent outside the city to be burned;

Those who were still breathing were carried up and sent to be burned outside the city.

Anyway, the fate of these people is doomed. If you don’t move it and burn it now, you will need to come back and move it again in a while.

When Darius returned to the Immortal Fortress, this was what he saw.

Of course, he didn't really care.

In other words, he has seen so much that he has become numb to it.

The creed of Noxus is that of the jungle. A weak person dies because he is weak and has only himself to blame.

Therefore, the economic depression caused by the war has never been a problem for the Noxus Empire.

According to "Noxian Economics":

The most intuitive manifestation of economic depression is the concentrated unemployment of a large number of people in a short period of time.

The massive unemployment of people is due to the fact that the current economic situation cannot provide so many jobs.

Then the problem can be easily solved - since the problem is that there are not enough jobs, then as long as these unemployed people are all dead, there will naturally be enough jobs.

Anyway, there is nothing these weaklings can do except wait for death.

Therefore, the empire does not need to do anything. It only needs to "rule by doing nothing", "follow nature" and wait for them to die naturally.

Of course, if the number of unemployed people is too many, the Noxus Empire will occasionally give them some small help.

For example, the frontline youth corps and slave corps have always needed a large number of orphans and homeless people to serve as cannon fodder.

This method of "military relief" combined with "natural elimination", where the visible hand and the invisible hand work together, has indeed helped Noxus (physics) eliminate countless poor people and survive the past safely. numerous economic crises.

"General." One of the guards noticed Darius and looked at the orphans on the roadside with complicated eyes.

Thinking of the general's similarly humble background, he couldn't help asking cautiously: "Do you need me to give them some money?"

"..." Darius finally slowly withdrew his gaze, and then shook his head: "No need."

He didn't do anything unnecessary.

Darius himself was once one of these wandering orphans.

But he could rely on his military exploits to grow from a war orphan to a general, the Hand of Noxus, and the Grand Marshal of the Northern Army.

Noxus is fair, and there is no shortage of opportunities here. It's just that the empire gave you the opportunity, and you have to make the best of it.

If people are not useful themselves, there is no need to help.

Moreover, he couldn't help.

"Let's go to see His Majesty." Darius left these wandering orphans behind and continued to lead the team forward.

This time, under the pretext of recruiting and replenishing troops, he rushed back to the capital from the northern Freljord front line in order to meet with His Majesty Darkwill in person and persuade the emperor to end this meaningless war.

There are no four seasons in the Freljord, only the never-ending winter.

This land cannot be cultivated, there are no resources worth plundering, and the weather is so cold that it is almost unsuitable for human survival.

To put it bluntly, even if this damn place was given to Noxus for free, it would be a huge burden that would only waste administrative funds.

In the past few years, Darkwill has been like a madman, constantly ordering Darius to lead his army out of the fortress and deep into the north, striving to make the barbarian tribes surrender to the empire.

The northern expedition against the barbarians seems understandable at first glance.

But the barbarians of Freljord do not live on the grassy grasslands, but in the ice and snowy "Arctic Circle"!

Going to that hellish place that's colder than the North Pole to fight barbarians, aren't you asking for trouble?

So, not surprisingly...

This battle lasted for a long time and eventually reached a bitter and cold stalemate.

Darius has been in danger many times, experiencing assassinations, ambushes, and even being captured by the ruthless Winter's Claw tribe.

Finally, he grew tired of the endless war of attrition. He wrote to the emperor again and again, requesting an end to this meaningless war.

But Ke Kewei's attitude has always been so stubborn, stubborn to a puzzling level.

Darius felt more and more something was wrong. At this time, a rumor began to spread in the army:

"Black rose..." Darius looked up at the towering immortal fortress, with complicated thoughts.

Emperor Darkwill is controlled by a cabal called the Black Rose - this rumor is said to have originally originated from the leader in the southern part of the empire.

But it spread at an incredible speed, spreading throughout the entire Noxus Empire from south to north in just one month, especially in the major frontline legions of the Noxus Empire.

For a time, the morale of the army was shaken, and the situation became turbulent.

Darius was vaguely aware that there was something wrong with this exaggerated spreading speed.

After all, the leader is an external force with a shallow foundation, and it is impossible for it to reach out so far. There must be a force from within the empire behind this, for some ulterior purpose, cooperating with the leader's propaganda offensive and secretly adding fuel to the flames.

And this is why Darius decided to return to the imperial capital this time:

"Who is spreading these rumors? And, are they spreading such rumors against the army?" Darius felt vaguely uneasy about this, so he led his general's bodyguard and rushed back to the Immortal Fortress.

First, he wanted to find out the source of this rumor.

Secondly, he also wanted to meet and have a detailed discussion with Darkwill to confirm the emperor's mental state——

Yes, although Darius noticed all the strange things in the spread of this rumor, he still half-believed the rumors.

no way...

Levi's spoilers, combined with Swain's insider's revelations, the various rumors about Black Rose eventually spread by the Leader are too rich in content and details.

Darius knew very well that many of the things mentioned in those rumors were true, and they were secrets that could only be mastered by high-ranking officials in the empire.

So he had to wonder whether Darkwill was really controlled by a mysterious organization - that's why he turned from a wise king to the willful and irrational mad emperor he is now.

"General, there seems to be a commotion ahead."

Darius was worried about national affairs. He didn't notice the sudden commotion on the road ahead until the guards around him reminded him.

"Killing! Killing!" First, a group of panicked citizens ran from the front like a flock of fleeing sheep.

Darius didn't notice anything was wrong at this time, he just thought it was another gang fight on the street.

But not long after, there were many Noxian soldiers among the fleeing crowd.

Behind those Noxian soldiers, there were actually a group of "ordinary citizens" of the Imperial City who were holding military-style long knives and dressed as ordinary citizens.

"This is... the garrison of the capital?" Darius was shocked when he saw this.

The capital of Noxus was designed from the beginning to function as a military fortress.

Many city gates, important departments and landmark buildings inside and outside the Immortal Fortress have dedicated garrisons responsible for daily guarding.

Although these patrol troops are not yet considered the emperor's palace imperial army, they can still be regarded as a direct battle group at the emperor's feet.

But now, a group of "ordinary citizens" dare to attack the imperial garrison directly under the emperor in the streets of the imperial capital?

Moreover, they also won?

"The Garrison is one of the most elite troops in the empire." Darius reacted quickly: "These are no longer ordinary citizens who are not afraid of the power of the Garrison... These people are obviously rebels!"

The nature of their behavior is undoubtedly:

"Rebellion, this is a rebellion!" Darius immediately thought of the dangerous rumor that confused the morale of the army.

Sure enough, there were rebels plotting behind this.

As the Hand of Noxus personally appointed by His Majesty the Emperor and a loyal minister of the Empire, he certainly cannot tolerate such a treasonous thing happening.

"Where is the place ahead?" Darius hurriedly grabbed a fleeing soldier and asked him: "Where are you guarding? Why did the rebels attack there?"

"Hai, Hex Flying Gate!" The soldier replied hastily: "That's the newly built cargo Hex Flying Gate hub in the capital."

"Oops!" Darius' heart sank.

He immediately realized the purpose of these rebels:

The capital is heavily guarded around the city, and only the Hex Flying Gate can bypass the layers of defense around the capital and deliver troops directly to the city center of the Immortal Fortress.

This group of rebels must be planning to seize control of the Hex Flying Gate, and then work together to lure outside rebels into the capital, thereby capturing the Immortal Fortress in one fell swoop!

"Follow me!" Darius rushed forward without hesitation.

Because the foreign general could not bring too many people to the capital, he only brought a few dozen personal guards with him on this trip.

But that's enough.

Dozens of battle-hardened extraordinary warriors, plus Darius, a humanoid Gundam, are more than enough to deal with a group of rebels.

So Darius immediately led his team to attack the Hex Flying Gate hub, and with the force of divine soldiers descending from the sky, he suddenly appeared in front of the group of rebels who had successfully occupied the Hex Flying Gate hub.

"You rebels, stay still! Watch me send you to heaven one by one!"

Darius shouted loudly, making everyone present feel frightened.

"Who, who?" The rebels, who thought they had complete control of the situation, were suddenly taken aback by this sudden change.

Darius didn't hesitate either.

He picked up his axe, shouted and rushed into the crowd, ready to give these rebels a set of A followed by W followed by a massacre——

"Darius is here! Who dares to kill me?!"

"Brother!" The rebel leader greeted him in surprise: "It's me, brother!"

Darius: "..."

The big ax he slashed out moved half a meter to the side in the air.

Such an abrupt turn and exertion almost caused his waist to dodge.

When Darius finally regained his composure and looked up at the rebel leader, his heart was twitching violently.

"De, De Laiwen..." This is his biological brother.

The brother of the Hand of Noxus actually became the leader of the rebel bandit and led the rebellion against Noxus?

"Brother, why did you come back to the Immortal Fortress?" De Laiwen greeted him cheerfully: "Forget it, you came just in time -"

"Now that the Hex Flying Gate has been taken down by me, the sentry leading to the Immortal Fortress has also been cleared by my people. As soon as the reinforcements arrive, we can attack the Immortal Fortress together and kill the mad emperor. You got pulled off your horse!"

Darius: "..."

There was a terrible silence.

The way the guards around him looked at him became more and more uncomfortable in the silence.

"General." Finally, one of the guards whispered tentatively: "So you suddenly brought us back to the capital just for... for..."

"This..." The guards felt aggrieved: "You should tell us about this kind of thing in advance."

"..." Darius' face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.

He looked at Delaiwen angrily and asked loudly: "Deilaiwen, are you crazy? Who bewitched you and made you do such a crazy thing!"

"This is my own choice." Drain replied quite seriously: "Look, what has become of the empire now! Noxus can no longer be ruled by those greedy and short-sighted old nobles. I want to To restore the empire to its past glory, these insects must be eradicated."

"Brother, come and join me - we are not rebelling, but saving this country."

"History will definitely judge us fairly, we..."

"Shut up!" Darius interrupted his brother angrily.

He knew that De Laiwen was not a particularly caring person for his family and country.

This set of "make the empire great again" tactics of persuading surrender must have been taught to him by someone else.

"Who is it? Who asked you to do these things?!" Darius knew that Delaiwen must have been used.

"It's me." A voice sounded slowly.

The sound came from a suspicious red boy crow flying around Delaiwen.

Darius had never seen this crow. But the sound it made was very familiar to him.

"S-General Swain..." Darius couldn't believe it.

Swain is the imperial general he respects most, a senior and division commander-like existence in his mind.

After the humiliating defeat in Presidence, Darius even publicly expressed his opposition to the emperor's decision to dismiss Swain.

Politically speaking, Darius's public statement is tantamount to an open alliance.

It was not a wise move to side with a defeated general who was deliberately suppressed by the emperor.

But Darius did it anyway.

Because he respects this strategic leader from the bottom of his heart, and believes that Swain can regain his strength and make a comeback in the future, and continue to shine for the future of the empire.

Unexpectedly... Swain did make a comeback, and he did come to continue to shine for the empire.

But the light and heat he gave off this time were so powerful, it was like the second "sun" that suddenly appeared in the sky of the empire.

"Really, is it really you?" Darius still couldn't believe that Swain would betray the empire.

"You'll know soon enough," said Crow.

As soon as he finished speaking, Hex flew out of the door and sent out a powerful wave of magic.

Swain and Amystan, leading a forward force composed of elite warriors, appeared mightily among the gorgeous blue magic light.

"This..." Darius finally accepted the reality.

He couldn't help but tighten his grip on the ax in his hand, and asked the man he once regarded as a role model: "Why?"

"Why?" Swain said calmly: "Because I swore allegiance to Noxus, not Darkwill."

"Is this reason enough?"

Darius was stunned for a moment. Swain looked over with a blank expression.

He knew Darius well.

Darius has a rigid and conservative personality, and he sticks to the rules too much.

If the plan had been told to him before the incident, he would have refused and even reported their treasonous act to Darkwill.

But if they kill first and then tell the story, drag Darius down through the text first, help Darius break the invisible shackles of the rules, and then tell him what they are going to do - then Darius will definitely choose to follow In my heart, I half pushed and half pushed to join them.

Sure enough... it didn't take long for Darius to have a shaken expression on his face.

"Did you know?" Swain then came up with his trump card: "The empire's hundreds of thousands of troops in Ionia were nearly wiped out yesterday."

"What?!" Darius' heart sank: "Is this... done by the Wind Leader?"

"You can say that, but the leader did not kill them directly." As he spoke, Swain repeated his old trick, causing the crow on his shoulder to spit out a beam of light and play the real video recording the entire battle of Baru'e. .

Then, as expected...

Seeing the "outstanding performance" of Vladimir and Yin Lisi in the video, Darius was immediately shaken.

"Are these made of black roses?"

"yes."

"Are black roses real?"

"Yes." Swain said in a serious tone: "All the rumors you heard about the Black Rose are true."

"How can you guarantee that this scene is not an illusion you fabricated to deceive people's minds?" Darius said aggressively.

"The news of the disastrous defeat on the Baru'e front line was immediately sent back to the Immortal Fortress yesterday, and was 'accidentally leaked', reaching the ears of the people in the Immortal Fortress."

This is naturally Swain's handiwork.

"Why do you think the empire's elite garrison was defeated by this small force led by Delavin and was unable to fight back?"

"Because they all know what happened in Baru'e and the truth about the existence of the Black Rose - now, no one is willing to sacrifice their life for the puppet on the throne."

This is the general trend.

The disastrous defeat in the Battle of Baru'e not only dealt a heavy blow to Emperor Darkwill's prestige, but also revealed the existence of the Black Rose to the world in a bloody and cruel way.

The long-standing conflicts within the empire finally erupted at this moment.

If the people's hearts are lost, there will be no way to lead the team. As a result, even the garrison of the imperial capital had no intention of defending the Immortal Fortress.

If you can shoot two shots into the sky, you are worthy of the salary given by Darkwill.

"This..." Darius was speechless for a while.

He had just returned to the Imperial Capital today, but he did not expect that the situation in the Immortal Fortress had already undergone such drastic changes.

Seeing Swain's determined look, and recalling the bizarre scene of the garrison soldiers running away in embarrassment with no fighting spirit, Darius actually vaguely believed his words.

But he still instinctively questioned: "This doesn't mean anything. Who knows if this is another rumor spread by you!"

"Rumor?" Swain said calmly: "When you follow me to the Immortal Fortress and see the military intelligence report on His Majesty the Emperor's desk, you will know whether this is a rumor."

"Ridiculous!" Darius frowned: "When I go to the Immortal Fortress with you, then even if it is false, it will become true!"

"Yeah." Swain smiled.

He did not continue to explain, but instead asked the other party: "Is it true or false, does it matter?"

"If the Black Rose doesn't exist, wouldn't the empire need to change?"

Darius: "..."

He fell into deep silence again.

He thought of the depressing scene he saw on the street, and of the endless ice and snow in the Freljord, and of the brothers who fell in the ice and snow one after another because of the emperor's almost crazy order.

Many people died, meaninglessly.

This war has really gone on for too long.

If Noxus changes, it will inevitably perish.

"Dreaus." Swain said to him: "The nobles of the empire are eroding this great country bit by bit. They control the emperor and launch one war after another that is only beneficial to them. ..”

Noxus emphasizes the law of the jungle. If the nobles are powerful, they deserve to enjoy wealth.

But the problem is that there is still some content behind this set of laws of "the weak and the strong" that have been forgotten by the imperial nobles:

Since the weak eat the strong, the strong who eat the meat should do more work and play a more important role than the weak.

Enjoying the privileges of the empire, but can only have a counterproductive effect on the development of the empire, such people...

"Shouldn't he die?"

"..." Darius looked moved, as if he could no longer hide his thoughts.

"So, what is your choice?" Swain sent him a final invitation.

"I... am the Hand of Noxus." Finally, Darius gave his answer: "My allegiance is to Noxus."