LOL: Summoner of Goddess Janna

Meanwhile, Noxus, the Immortal Bastion.

"Teacher Swain." General Lester stopped outside the door and knocked on the door for instructions.

"You're here, Lester." Swain slowly put down the document in his hand. The red boy crow on his shoulder also turned his head immediately and cast a calm look.

Looking at those faint red eyes, Lester swallowed subconsciously.

"Please take a seat." Swain gestured with an indifferent look.

"Yes..." General Leicester sat down on the chair in front of his desk with some discomfort.

The chair was added after Swain came to power. After all, in the old era when there were emperors, no one could sit on Darkwill's desk as an equal.

Small changes like this demonstrate equality. But at this moment, sitting face to face in front of Swain, looking directly into those eyes as deep as the abyss, Lester felt a little uneasy.

"Are you nervous?" Swain said meaningfully, "You were never like this in the past."

Lester was silent. Indeed, he would never have been like this before.

Soldiers don't need to be afraid of their generals, and students don't need to be afraid of their teachers - because they are in the same camp.

but now...

"Lester, you don't need to be so careful in front of me." Swain broke the oppressive silence at the right time: "You have done a good job during this period. Noxus can maintain its current stability without you. contribution.”

"Thank you for the compliment, teacher." Lester's mood eased a little. He asked: "Mr. Swain, you called me here this time. Do you still have a task for me?"

"You can say that." Swain turned his attention to the huge sand table with a map of the entire territory of Noxus placed in the center of the office.

The Noxus Empire is like a huge ancient program.

Its code is like a mountain of old shit. Everyone can see that there is a bug in it, and knows that the bug is harmful, but this program runs on the basis of bugs.

More and more bugs will cause the program to fall into a slow death. But if you rush to fix bugs when your brain is hot, it will easily cause the entire program to fall into chaos and collapse.

Swain did not dare to leave his reform plan in the hands of those corrupt and incompetent aristocratic bureaucrats.

Therefore, although he is a believer in the wind of change, his style after taking office is not to vigorously reform, but to do his best to maintain the stability of the empire and prepare for the future full-scale intervention of the Wind Leader Association.

This sand table shows the results of his efforts over the past year.

The black flag on the sand table represents the local noble rebels.

When Swain first came to power, this map of Noxus was almost dotted with black flags.

Later, when he united with Darius and began to clean up the fanatical war faction that opposed the leader, the number of local rebels experienced another sharp surge.

But now, after this year of governance, under Swain's traditional Noxian thunderous methods, those rebel nobles who did not know whether to live or die quickly went to the underworld to meet Mordekaiser.

The situation in the Noxus Empire has thus entered a stage of overall peace that is turbulent but stable on the surface.

At this moment, the black flag representing the noble rebels was almost invisible on the sand table.

The voices clamoring for war against the Wind Leader were completely suppressed. Towns, counties, noble realms, vassal states, and semi-independent city-states have all succumbed to Swain's power and have renewed their loyalty to the Immortal Fortress.

"The nobles have become much more honest recently, haven't they?"

"Yes..." Lester's heart sank. I know that the teacher will not be idle and ask questions knowingly.

He is a general. His work in the past year was mainly to eliminate rebels from various places on behalf of Swain.

Now that the rebels have been cleared out and the domestic situation has stabilized, will he, the rebel killer, have to... be laid off?

Lester felt heavy. But he still pretended to be calm and continued: "As you said, the wave of noble rebellion has completely subsided in the past few months..."

"More than just calming down." Swain said pointedly: "Not only have they stopped rebelling recently, but even the voices that opposed my appeasement policy and advocated a decisive battle with the leader have almost completely disappeared."

"These nobles are a little too honest."

"Maybe..." Lester replied thoughtfully: "Maybe the nobles have recognized the reality?"

"As far as I know, many imperial nobles are now secretly contacting the leader of Zaun, trying to surrender to the leader and planning a way out for the family. So..."

Could it be that the nobles were completely disappointed with the appeased Swain, but were unable to rebel and seize power, so they simply laid back and surrendered to the leader in advance?

"Maybe part of it is." Swain was noncommittal.

He knew those imperial nobles too well. Therefore, he will not underestimate the greed and madness of the nobles, as well as their deep-seated hatred of the wind of change.

"And most importantly..."

The leader's united front policy has long since changed.

At the beginning, the leader was just a fledgling bird. Naturally, he needed to put aside his moral obsession and learn to compromise with reality.

Therefore, even warlords and nobles like the Myrdalda family can be regarded as old friends of the Wind Leader as long as they can help the Wind Leader's cause.

Those who surrendered later, such as General Du Cacao, who had no choice but to surrender after being defeated.

Considering the huge role he played in the peaceful liberation of the colony on the north coast of Shurima, as well as his positive attitude of handing over his family property and cooperating with the transformation, the leader is also willing to ensure the safety of his family and let him be a slave in Zaun. An ordinary retired old man.

But now, the leader has almost taken control of the entire Runeterra, and the struggle has almost achieved a staged victory - at this time, some people think of adding icing on the cake, thinking of becoming the leader's "old friend", thinking Handing over family property in exchange for peace...

Then it will be too late.

The leader is not one who sells indulgences. It is not that anyone who pays dirty money can be freed from all sins, wash away the blood on his hands, and start over in a new era.

And the aristocrats who moved closer to the leader at this time were probably not progressive people worthy of reform.

They are not repenting. They are simply afraid of death.

Therefore, the leader's united front policy has long been gradually tightened. Those reactionary aristocrats who have done many evil things, are notorious, and have committed heinous crimes, even if they voluntarily surrender and surrender, they will never escape trial and liquidation.

in this case...

"Do you think those nobles will still sit still and wait for death?" Swain asked.

"No." Lester shook his head.

"But now they just sit there and do nothing. This is abnormal, isn't it?"

"Indeed..." Lester also frowned thoughtfully.

A person is often crazy before he dies. What's more, what they are facing now is the destruction of an entire aristocratic class.

"Then what do you need me to do?" Lester asked in a self-conscious manner.

"I need you to get close to these people and make friends with them." Swain took out a list with the names of several great nobles of the empire.

These old nobles had always been opponents of Swain before, but recently they suddenly became more honest.

"I can try, but..."

Shouldn't this kind of intelligence work be left to the war masons? Even if he needs to be a noble to get close to the target, there is no need for him, the high-ranking commander of the Guards, to go into battle in person, right?

Lester was about to say this.

"There is one more thing." Swain added lightly: "You should concentrate on this next thing. Let others take care of the daily affairs of the Guards."

"There are many young people in the army who have progressive ideas and outstanding abilities. The waves behind push the waves ahead. As a senior, you must also leave some opportunities for the juniors."

Lester: "???"

Hearing this, he suddenly trembled slightly.

The list in his hand was tightly clenched into a ball, but he didn't notice it at all.

Come, this day has come.

In the past year, Swain has been quietly developing leaders in the army, and promoted these progressive officers who accepted Janna's ideas one by one, replacing those old officers with reactionary ideas to key positions. Position.

Over the past year, almost all of the direct troops that Swain brought out were completely replaced by him.

Countless former heroes of the empire were optimized and eliminated, and were ruthlessly replaced by the leader officers promoted by Swain.

Lester thought that this matter would not happen to him so quickly. But unexpectedly, it came anyway.

Swain didn't have any important tasks assigned to him at all. His teacher just found an excuse to help him step down from the stage of power with dignity.

"Teacher..." Lester tried hard to maintain, but his voice was still trembling: "Please give me another chance."

"I also want to make more contributions to the people of Noxus..."

"That's enough!" Swain's face suddenly turned cold: "Lester, don't talk about things you don't believe in."

Lester: "..."

He clenched his fists secretly, his eyes full of unwillingness.

"Lester." Swain regained his composure: "You have to know that I have given you a chance. But what about you?"

“One year has passed, where is the thread of your faith?”

Lester was silent.

Faith, faith, faith! This damn belief! If he doesn't believe in the leader's nonsense, he will never be able to become an official!

Why?

"Teacher Swain." Lester could hardly suppress the anger in his heart: "Isn't what I did good enough?"

Swain's face was calm: "Okay, you did a good job. In the past, you were my most effective student. In the past year, you have also made a huge contribution to the peace and stability of Noxus."

"I also know that now you can recite Janna's thoughts by heart. Your research on Janna's theory is extremely thorough, and your theoretical level even exceeds that of most Leader cadres."

"After I revealed my identity as the leader to you, you have been demanding yourself with saint-like moral standards."

"From that day on, you have not greedy for a penny or abused your power once. You will greet the most inconspicuous homeless man on the roadside enthusiastically, and you will spend money generously to support those slum orphans you have never met... "

"I think even a true leader would not perform as well as you."

"Then..." Lester gritted his teeth and asked, "Why can't you still tolerate me?"

Swain didn't answer, just looked at him coldly.

After seeing him, his heart tightened and he calmed down, Swain said, "Because you make me scared."

Lester: "?"

"Yes, you scare me." Swain said, "You made me clearly realize that a person can disguise himself so much like a leader."

"You are really good at acting. If you only look at the appearance, then even I can't tell who you really are."

Lester: "..."

"If we don't have the goddess Janna and the thread of faith, and let a pretender like you get into the team, how serious the consequences will be."

"Jana Lord Yi will definitely come true. But how many difficulties and obstacles will a false leader like you add to the road to victory?"

Swain sighed melancholy. He seemed to be thinking of the past. The struggles and betrayals he experienced with Darkville.

He had already compromised with reality and only wanted to be the leader of a new empire that would make limited improvements.

But: "Fortunately, God allowed me to meet the leader."

Swain stretched out his hand to show the bright thread of faith, admiring this brilliance of faith with his eyes as deep as the abyss.

This brilliance was so dazzling to Leicester.

"Teacher!" After the words were spoken, he stopped acting.

"A gentleman's deeds have no regard for his heart!" Leicester used an "ancient Ionian saying" invented by Livy. He said unwillingly: "I do better than the leader, and my acting is better than the leader, so why can't I keep the status I earned from the mountains of corpses and the sea of ​​blood, and can't continue to act?"

"Can you act for the rest of your life?" Swain asked.

"I..." Lester was about to say yes.

Swain added: "Wouldn't it be painful for you to act for the rest of your life?"

Lester was speechless.

It’s uncomfortable, of course it’s uncomfortable. Every time he pretended to greet those incompetent poor people, he felt like vomiting.

"Leader cadres have no privileges. If you continue to act, you will only suffer more in the future."

"Of course, I won't give you this opportunity." Swain's tone became colder: "You may be my student, but you are definitely not my comrade."

"If you relax restrictions and let you crowd into the organization, it will only bring disaster to the leader's career."

As long as there are choices, the old bureaucrats and old intellectuals will never be retained.

Even if the old bureaucrats and old intellectuals are temporarily retained due to lack of manpower, they must be replaced from their posts step by step with those cadres who truly believe.

Without faith, the greater the ability, the more dangerous it is.

Therefore, no matter how capable and meritorious a person is, he cannot be a leader without faith.

This is the principle of the Association of Leaders and cannot be compromised.

Leicester was still unwilling to give in, but Swain's firm eyes made him unable to argue anymore.

"Let's go." Swain said: "Lester, don't forget what you have done in the past. Now that you can keep your property and become a retired rich man, it is because of your contribution that I will fight for you." Best result ever.”

"If you can't make progress, just accept it calmly."

"I..." Lester clenched his fingers almost until they turned white.

What has he done?

He massacred cities, destroyed countries, burned, killed, and looted. He also sent slaves and orphans to the battlefield and used them as cannon fodder.

If judged by the leader's values, he deserves death.

But in the past empire, this was what a Noxian general should do. Massacre of the city and the destruction of the country were all orders from the emperor, and Lester didn't feel that he had done anything wrong.

He devoted all his efforts to the expansion of Noxus, no matter what the means. He shed all his own blood and that of his colleagues to finally go from a humble slum boy to where he is today step by step.

He was supposed to be the hero of the Empire. But now, he has become a sinner in the eyes of the leader.

He struggled all his life, but finally ended up with the same status as the slum boy back then.

hateful! So what did he struggle for?

Lester was really unwilling to give up.

"I know it's hard for you to accept all this, Lester." Swain sighed softly, with a hint of understanding on his cold face.

"but--"

"I believe you are not stupid."

Lester: "..."

"When do you plan to formally remove me from my post?"

"There is no rush." ​​Swain said frankly: "Before the arrival of the Wind Leader, you will still be the general of the empire and the commander of the Guards Corps."

"Now I just need you to transfer some of your power and train those progressive officers."

"I understand." Lester was silent for a long time, and finally slowly picked up the list Swain gave him, calmly stood up and left: "I will put down the work at hand first and complete the task you gave me. of...Teacher Swain.”