Lux's Farewell

It was not difficult for Kalya to blend in with a group of blacksmiths.

On the contrary, it is much more difficult to extract information about the passage from these guys' mouths without leaving any trace.

Although many craftsmen have heard more or less about the "passage from Fort Diver to Drunne", 99% of them were drunken words heard in taverns.

There are really very few people who have seen that passage with their own eyes because of their work content.

When inquiring about relevant information, Kalya must distinguish carefully.

Fortunately, these craftsmen don't have any sense of confidentiality. Just a glass of wine is enough for them to tell all the information they think is accurate. All Kalya has to do is to ask every person with a northern accent unhurriedly.

Combining everyone's responses, he believed he would find an accurate answer.

........................

Kalya is looking for a way to the Dredge Keep.

In Freljord, the coalition's front is still advancing steadily eastward.

Although the ice fortress of Fort Diver was discovered, the coalition forces obviously did not decide to change the battle plan. After Kalya set off, Lux and Ashe still led the army in person and "visited" one tribe after another.

For the tribes visited, this may be the hardest decision they have ever made.

The tribes of East Freljord have looked up to the Frostguard tribe since ancient times.

But now, the coalition forces are approaching the city, but the support the Frost Guard tribe can provide is very limited - although the Frost Guard priests have paid a lot for the tribe in the past, this is obviously not enough for the War Mother to bet on the fate of the entire tribe.

Of course, not many tribes actually stood up and rebelled.

Most tribes are inclined to "if the coalition is willing to retain our original hunting grounds, then we can take the initiative to make way for the passage and provide guides" and watch the coalition pass through their territory in a cooperative manner.

In Valoran, this kind of behavior is undoubtedly unacceptable.

Wherever the Demacia Northern Expedition goes, the countries involved in the supply line will be bound to the Demacia camp by treaties. However, in Freljord, Ashe readily accepted the proposals of these tribes.

Lux naturally criticized this. She believed that the coalition should "establish a more solid and reliable connection" with these local people, rather than simply letting them be the same as in the past.

But as a local snake, Ashe knew very well that Lux's statement was impossible.

"This is not Sifreljord, let alone Rakstark!" Ashe obviously had a clear reason for his decision. "You can't expect them to abandon darkness and turn to light so easily. The power of tradition is not so easy to violate. of!"

"We can also use some traditional means." Lux was naturally not naive enough to think that she could copy the methods of Severeljord here, "Just like Lissandra's choice, re-dividing the hunting grounds, or Exchange the positions of the hunting grounds with each other and establish a new order."

"..."

Ash looked at Lux, a little confused what she meant.

"What I mean is that we can adjust the existing pattern in a more traditional way that is acceptable to all tribes." Lux explained, "Increase the hunting grounds of some tribes, reduce the hunting grounds of some tribes, and change some The location of the hunting ground... As long as most tribes are guaranteed to be more satisfied with the new order, then they will completely stand on our side."

The method proposed by Lux was a method used by the Demacia royal family in the past to balance the power of the nobles. Through methods such as increasing, reducing, transferring, and interfering with successors, the power of the nobles was balanced and adjusted so that a sufficient number of nobles would always be able to maintain their balance. Stand with the royal family.

"That...that's impossible." After hearing Lux's explanation, Ashe's eyes lit up at first, but then she could only shake her head helplessly, "We are not Lissandra, and we don't have that many Frostguard priests. To contact and influence every tribe.”

Lux blinked.

"I don't know how many tribes there are in East Freljord." Ashe continued, "But even if we don't count the raiders who don't have fixed territories, there are still a few three to five hundred tribes - unless we can We need to hold a large-scale alliance, otherwise we will not be able to understand the situation of each tribe."

This question made Lux frown.

"Moreover, most tribes don't even know the scope of their hunting grounds." Ashe seemed to recall some unhappy past. "Lissandra can divide the hunting grounds. That's because her Frostguard priests have Many of these Frost Guard priests will enter every tribe, ostensibly serving as healers and arbiters, but in fact they have learned all the information about the tribe."

"And we didn't." Lux sighed, "Yes, I was too anxious."

"Yes, we don't." Ashe nodded, "The merchants under you are very powerful, but this is not Severeljord, and we don't have that many things in our hands that can be used to trade and gain trust. We rashly Using the method you mentioned to restore order is very likely to completely anger the locals for some reason."

Lux had fully reacted.

In the Freljord, the customs between different tribes are similar, but there are also differences. If the coalition forces re-plan their sphere of influence and assign the "Holy Mountain" or "Holy Tree" that a tribe cares about to another, tribe, then this will be regarded as a provocation, which will lead to fighting conflicts.

And it seems that because of the frequent ravages of raiders, the atmosphere in East Freljord is more direct, and the tribes here tend to be more aggressive.

The restoration of order proposed by Lux is to stabilize the supply line, not to cause trouble.

Therefore, under Ai Xi's persuasion, she had to give up this idea that was not practical enough, and instead specially designated two teams to cooperate with the air force to conduct large-scale patrols to avoid attacks on the supply lines.

But even so, the coalition's supply lines were frequently harassed - after the last successful ambush of the marauders, Lissandra finally sent out another cavalry after many days, and the mount of this cavalry was no longer Erniu. Gram, but the direwolf.

The Wolf Cavalry Marauders are more mobile and have absorbed the lessons from the last failure. Even if they are marching at night, they will never rush toward their destination carelessly and unscrupulously. Different from the past, this group of marauders took advantage of their high mobility to take harassment to the extreme - although the snowy owl can indeed maintain a certain degree of reconnaissance at night, the results of this reconnaissance are very vague. , these northern thugs can only bring back information about the presence of enemies, but further information requires follow-up investigation.

The wolf cavalry marauders use the gap between the two groups of reconnaissance to create chaos, attract attention, or tire the enemy. They will never engage in battle rashly, and even if they fight, it will be a small-scale scout battle.

The actions of the Wolf Cavalry will not directly disrupt the supply line.

But it is undeniable that the existence of this mobile force has indeed restrained the coalition forces three times their own number.

During this period, the coalition forces tried to lay traps several times, waiting for an opportunity to annihilate this annoying "dog-riding flea team" as before. However, due to its unwillingness to fight head-on and the sharp nose of a dog, the three ambush attempts to lay traps failed. It could only end in failure, spending a lot of manpower and material resources but failing to achieve any results.

In desperation, the coalition forces could only let them go and simply played a hide-and-seek game with them.

As the front continued to lengthen, similar situations began to occur in different places. Although the coalition forces did not encounter any large-scale resistance, their pace became slower and slower visibly to the naked eye.

If it weren't for the well-trained baggage troops in Demacia, I'm afraid this expedition would have reached the end of its strength - and even if Demacia's baggage troops were reliable, the manpower of the baggage troops was obviously insufficient.

Under this situation, if the coalition forces were to conduct a siege at Fort Diver, unless they could win quickly, the result would only be a complete defeat after heavy snowfall due to unsustainable logistics.

It was when this situation was a little embarrassing that Kalya brought back news about the secret passage of the Diver Fort.

........................

"It's confirmed that there is indeed a passage to the Diver Fort in the mountains north of Drunne."

The news about Kalya was like a shot in the arm to both Lux and Ashe - they both knew very well that only by taking down Fort Diver and advancing the frontline positions to the front line of Fort Diver would the coalition be able to go smoothly. spend the winter.

And storming an ice fortress is definitely a foolish idea. At this time, the best way is to raid along the secret passage and bloom in the center!

"The only question now is, does Lissandra know about this passage?" While excited, Lux also asked her biggest worry, "If Lissandra also knew about the secret passage, she would be seeking her own death. "

"Lissandra should not know." Kalya shook her head, "Or at least, Noxus has never revealed it to Lissandra - I think Darius is not stupid enough. Knowing full well that Lissandra knew that passage, we prepared elite soldiers to take advantage of us while we were in a fierce fight."

"But Lissandra will enter people's dreams." Ash was obviously relieved, but Lux obviously had other concerns, "We all know what Ino experienced at that time."

"That's what I'm worried about, so I spent some time and walked around the secret passage." Kalya's mask revealed a bright smile, "I think Lissandra doesn't know that passage. Yes - it is a passage dug out of an abandoned mine tunnel. It is not underground all the way. There are not many traces of magic inside the passage, and the part near the Diver Fort is obviously blocked."

"Stuck up?"

"It should have been done by the guy who claimed to be the royal family of the Iron Thorn Kingdom before. It doesn't look like Lissandra's handiwork."

"So, this means that we can take the road to Noxus again and take Drunne to the Dredge Fort?" Hearing what Kalya said, Lux finally let out a long breath, "We are sure we don't have to spend a lot of money. Price is laying siege to an ice fortress!"

"No, not from Drunje." Kalya shook his head, "Remember what I said, not all of that passage is underground - in fact, there is one at a pass south of the Iron Thorn Mountains. Exposed entrances and exits to the ground.”

As he spoke, Kalya clicked a red dot on the map.

"This is it. This should be the closest entrance to the Iron Thorn Mountains and the entrance to the passage." Putting down the pen, Kalya gestured with his hand between Drunne to this red point and this red point to Diver Fort. "If you walk from here, you can avoid detours and give the Noxians a surprise."

Lux was stunned for a moment, and then realized that Kalya seemed to have plotted against the Noxians again.

"You mean, intercept the Noxian's plan to reap profits here?"

"It can also show the generosity of Demacia." Kalya continued following her words, "This time, we need to completely drive the conservative forces of Noxus out of the political situation. Only in this way, Noxus Only people can honestly give up their petty thoughts and help us maintain our supply lines under the constraints of the treaty like other city-states in the Principality of Valoran."

Hearing what Kalya said, Lux couldn't help but narrowed her eyes.

"You mean, there are less conservative forces within the political situation of Noxus?"

"Of course." Kalya nodded very proudly, "Three defeats in Presidence, Tobitsia, and Black Forest. Although it has not caused Noxus to completely change its direction, at least the new generation has thought about it. - Actually, I had a lot of exchanges with the new commander in the Immortal Fortress, and compared to Swain or Darius in the past, she is a little girl who can see problems very clearly."

Lux blinked, feeling that this statement seemed a bit familiar.

"Furthermore, although I failed to enter the Well of Darkness openly, I still discovered a lot of interesting things from the behavior of the Noxians." Kalya continued, "I still remember your brother Aatrox. ?"

"The one who was gored by the sheep?" Lux almost blurted out, and then realized that it seemed a little rude, "I mean, the one with a big sword?"

"Yes, that's him, you've seen his situation too." Kalya explained with a smile, "He is located in the Land of the Undead, and in the Immortal Fortress, I found that the connection between Noxians and death seems to be stronger than I imagined it would be even closer.”

"Uh, what does this mean?"

"Literally." Kalya did not explain further. "In short, I should be able to ask Aatrox to scare them... It's really interesting. The Noxians who have brought countless deaths to Runeterra are actually the most afraid of them. die."

Rhinitis + neurasthenia + cervical spondylosis, this is simply too painful.