Lux's Magic Penetration Rod

Demacia's capital, early morning.

Although the temperature in Xiongdu was not too low, as a representative of Forsbarrow, Haguire still wore a fur-based coat and left his residence calmly.

Haguire, a native of Forsbarrow, is currently the leader of the Forsbarrow Intelligence Group [Bird Group], codenamed [Tern].

This team leader, who was born as a hunter, is one of the few non-spellcasters in the intelligence team.

Before becoming a member of the intelligence team, Haguire, a hunter, already had the nickname "Migratory Bird" - Migratory Bird means that no matter how complex the environment is, he can always clearly distinguish the direction and remember the direction. The path I took when I came here was like a migratory bird migrating every year.

Because of this ability, before Fosbarrow's production structure changed, he was the most important hunter in the Hunters Guild. He was responsible for leading the hunters into the mountains when there was the most prey.

In the Longji Mountains, snow can easily change the terrain. For hunters who are unable to follow a fixed route, a guide who is extremely sensitive to direction is naturally extremely important. With a guide there, even if the weather changes suddenly or the terrain in the mountain changes, Even if drastic changes occurred, they would not be lost in the mountains.

Therefore, even though Haguire only led the way and never hunted, in large-scale hunting, he always got the most prey in the end.

It was precisely because of his outstanding sense of direction that when Ino set out for Ionia, he was chosen as the guide and became a member of the thirty-person mission.

During this trip, Haguire showed amazing learning ability and enthusiasm. Although he had no education and was basically illiterate, he spent more than a year learning the basic skills of drawing maps.

Later, with the successful return of the thirty-man mission and the gradual decline of Forsbarrow's hunting activities, Haguire completely gave up his identity as a hunter and officially joined Forsbarrow's intelligence team through Ino's inspection. .

At this time, Fosbairo's tax holiday was about to end. According to the usual practice, Fosbairo needed to send a representative to the capital to attend the meeting of the noble council. After some internal inspections, Haguire passed After being personally reviewed by Kalya, he became the leader of the [Bird Group], codenamed [Tern], which specializes in collecting intelligence about the capital.

The Northern Terns, which nest and breed in the Dragonspine Mountains in summer, are the birds with the longest known migration distance in Demacia. When the North enters autumn, these small birds will fly across the entire continent of Valoran, heading to Wintering near Kalamanda and at the foot of Mount Targon.

The code name of Tern means that Haguire can always remember all routes and information like a tern that has migrated 20,000 miles.

After passing Kalya's professional training, Haguire led the Bird Group and entered the capital as an envoy of Forsbarrow, becoming an observer of the Noble Council.

According to Demacia's tradition, the Noble Council should represent the will of all nobles. In theory, any noble should be a member of the Noble Council.

However, since the nobles all have their own fiefdoms, and it is difficult to stay in power, except for those big nobles with strong family backgrounds, it is difficult for other small nobles to actually attend the noble council.

As a result, noble representatives came into being - nobles can send their most trusted people to represent themselves in the noble parliament.

Noble representatives have no right to propose or vote. In the Noble Parliament, they can only be regarded as ears.

In Demacia, the number of noble representatives is not large, because for those nobles whose fiefdoms are only one or two villages in size, it is completely impossible to send a representative to emasculate, and even if such nobles appear in person, they will not speak. They didn't have any weight, so they simply didn't send any representatives and abstained forever by default.

This was the case with Forsbarrow before.

At that time, the situation in the capital was tense, and the noble council and the royal family were almost at odds with each other. There was no point in sending a representative at this time, and there was no one in Forsbarrow who could act as a representative on his own at that time.

But later, with Ino's return and Fosbairo starting to pay taxes, the matter of dispatching representatives became very important.

Considering that the situation in Xiongdu is quite special, it is not easy for the experienced mages in the Freljord to participate. In the end, Haguire, who showed his personal ability in the thirty-person mission, was selected and became The envoy who represented Lux ​​at the Noble Council was also Fosbairo's ears in the capital.

Due to the development of trade in the north, Fosbairo already had several independent shops in Xiongdu at this time. Through the channels of the Chamber of Commerce, Haguire was able to continuously send the information he had inquired about in Xiongdu back to the north. At the same time, The information from Lux and Ino's parents' home is corroborated and serves as an important reference for Xiongdu.

Moreover, as the representative of His Excellency Count Laxana, Haguire can also openly contact the Art Support Association and collect information through the Art Support Association - His Excellency the Count cares about art the most.

Previously, Fosbairo's high-end furs created a craze in Xiongdu through the Art Support Association, of which Haguier contributed a lot.

Today is another regular meeting of the Parliament of Nobles. He got up early and put on a formal suit full of Forsbarrow style. Haguire arrived at the meeting place of the Parliament early as usual and found a good seat in the auditorium.

Although Forsbarrow can be regarded as an important town in the north, Haguire is a completely transparent person here - in fact, even representatives who can only listen but cannot speak have different identities, such as They are branches of the nobility and children of the nobility. Even if they are not qualified to speak at the meeting, they can at least communicate with each other and even reach cooperation.

But someone like Haguire, who has been a representative of the common people for eight generations, can really only serve as a meeting background and a wood carving and clay sculpture.

In addition, Haguire deliberately spoke in a strong northern dialect every time he opened his mouth. Over time, even representatives who hoped to have a better relationship with Foss Bairol were too lazy to talk to him.

Soon, today's regular meeting began.

Haguire sat upright with a serious expression, but he couldn't help but feel empty in his heart - the regular meetings of the Parliament of Nobles are often quite boring. Although the content of the meeting is not trivial, it is not a big deal after all, plus Forsbarrow Not within the public eye, Haguire didn’t even have much to record.

However, there seems to be something wrong with today's regular meeting.

Mr. Barrett Bouvier, His Majesty's confidant and moneybag, was present in person.

Under normal circumstances, a regular meeting is not enough for the busy Mr. Barrett to attend in person - considering that this person does not look like he has nothing to do... I am afraid that this regular meeting should have Quite an important thing!

Realizing this, Haguire instantly became alert.

Then, Barrett dropped a bombshell directly: He announced an extremely lengthy proposal, but Haguire realized the weight of the proposal when he listened to the beginning.

"Several proposals regarding the inheritance of noble families..."

……………………

In Demacia, the law of succession was proposed hundreds of years ago and was even implemented for a time.

In that era, a noble's territory and title would be inherited by all his heirs except his illegitimate children. The territory would be infinitely subdivided and the title would be lowered from generation to generation.

The nobles who were divided into small families had difficulty uniting and had limited strength. The noble council gradually became a vegetable market. The king only needed to pay a small price to win the nobles into his camp and completely control the council.

As a result, the then King Enno I, who promoted the Tuien Succession Law, relied on this to almost turn the Parliament of Nobles into a face-saving organization, and completely put power in the hands of the king.

Then, just when Demacia began to develop towards a centralized state, history made an interesting joke. Enno I had many heirs, and some of them who were not clear-headed enough began to make noises. As a result, the royal family also Serious divisions arose, and Demacia even fell into chaos for a time.

It coincided with the massive invasion of Noxians, and if it hadn't coincided with Galio's awakening, I'm afraid Demacia would have been in bad luck during that war.

Afterwards, the frightened royal family and the nobles finally sat down and had a good conversation, and tacitly rejected the Tuen inheritance law. It was then that the system of branches of the Demacian noble clan was born and gradually developed to what it is today.

Haguire has studied this part of history, so he knows very well what it means when the royal family once again proposes the Tuen Succession Law at this time - His Majesty the King is a climber, and it is really too early for him to consider the inheritance issue. If the Tuien Succession Law is passed, he can completely break all the noble fiefs into pieces!

As a result, even before Barrett finished reading the draft opinion, the aristocratic council exploded, and voices of opposition continued.

As long as the nobles with a little knowledge of history will never agree to restart the Tuen Succession Law - this is simply poaching the lifeblood of the nobles!

Facing the excited nobles, Haguier only felt funny in his heart.

Although ten years ago, he was still an unknown hunter guide and had never even met the nobles, but now his footprints have traveled across several continents in Runeterra. For these "noble" nobles, he has deep feelings in his heart. Not even an ounce of respect.

Push the inheritance law?

That thing has nothing to do with Forsbarrow, just eat whatever you like!

This is a great proposal. It refreshes my mind immediately!

In this way, Haguire happily sat in the back row all morning, watching the hysterical ugliness of the nobles. The only pity was that Barrett was not determined enough. Under the unanimous opposition of everyone, he refused to inherit the throne. The law has not even entered the review stage.

Mr. Barrett seemed quite dissatisfied after being disgraced. Seeing that the issues related to the Tyne Succession Law could not be passed at all, he continued to read out the detailed proposals that followed: the use of family emblems, the size of the carriage, the opera Tax exemptions for performing groups, diplomatic attitude towards the Principality of Valoran, transaction tax on food import and export...

Wait, transaction tax on grain import and export?

Haguire, who had been happily eating melons before, was extremely shocked to find that this time he actually ate melons at his own home!

According to Barrett, with the peace in Valoran, Demacia should reduce its food exports to the Principality of Valoran, especially low-price exports. Without Noxian interference, these countries should learn to themselves Produce food instead of lying on Demacia and being a vampire.

The words were high-sounding words, but when they fell on the ears of the nobles, they sounded like they were honoring someone who had lost face before.

As for the proposal to increase the tax on grain exports, this is clearly because the royal family wants to reduce the subsidized aid to its allies and instead let them spend money to buy it - they are afraid that some nobles will steal the business and deliberately raise the tax rate!

But... if you are willing to improve, then just improve!

Anyway, the area close to the city-state and principality of Valoran is almost all the territory of the royal family, so we don’t have the channels to sell it!

Therefore, this article was passed quickly, and no noble was willing to bother here.

It's time to eat soon, so finish talking quickly and eat quickly.

As this was quickly passed, the Haguires were dumbfounded.

You are all fine, what about Forsbarrow?

Ten years are about to expire, and Forsbarrow is about to pay all taxes normally. In this case, the passage of this proposal will mean that all the grain earned by Forsbarrow exported to Freljord will have to pay three taxes. Give one part to Xiongdu!

Although trade in the Freljord is profitable, after such a move, the profit will be reduced by half at least, right?

As an observer, Haguire does not have the right to vote or speak. In this case, he can only watch the proposal pass and enter the subsequent review stage. If everything goes well, it will be implemented this year!

Damn it, how could this happen?

Aren't you discussing the law of succession?

At the end of the meeting, Haguire left in a hurry and returned to his residence as soon as possible to write a letter.

After sealing the letter with wax, he quickly went to the store where he often met and sent the letter through the channel of the Bird Group.

However, what Haguier didn't know was that just as the next member of the bird group hurriedly left the capital with the letter and riding fast horses, a dangerous hunter followed him.

The messenger had just left the confines of Xiongdu and entered the mountains. On top of the galloping horse, he suddenly felt a palpitation in his heart. The blood in his chest seemed to be boiling, and his eyes became extremely red.

Realizing that something was wrong, the messenger pulled on the horse's reins, but before the horse could stop, his heart stopped beating as the blood flowed backwards.

The next moment, the sensitive horse was suddenly frightened, and after a long neigh, it ran wildly, rushed out of the road, and plunged down the cliff. Finally, a bright red flower bloomed under the cliff.

Then, a ghostly figure appeared next to the corpses of a man and a horse, and he took the time to pull out the blood-stained letter.

"The response is quite fast." The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and he easily tore off the paint, "Let me see what you wrote... huh?"

Looking at the square symbols on the paper, Vladimir fell into self-doubt at this moment.

"What is this?"

Fosbairo's secret words:

Forsbarrow's secret language was of a very high level because it was written in Chinese - almost no one except specialized intelligence personnel knew it.