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 immediately turned his head 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.

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

Such a small change showed 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 had never 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?"

"So to speak." Swain turned his attention to the huge sandbox with a map of the entire Noxus area 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 are bugs in it and know that the bugs are harmful, but this program just 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 modify the 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, even though 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 transition to the full intervention of the Wind Leader Association in the future.

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 rapid surge.

But now, after this year of governance, under Swain's traditional Noxian thunderous methods, those rebellious 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 clamor for war against the Wind Leader has been completely suppressed. Every town, county, noble realm, vassal state, and semi-independent city-state has succumbed to Swain's power and renewed their loyalty to the Immortal Fortress.

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

"Yes..." Lester's heart sank. He knew that the teacher would not be idle and ask questions knowingly.

He is a general. His main job in the past year was to eliminate rebels from various places for 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 pacification." 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 appeasement Swain, but were unable to rebel and seize power, so they simply laid back and surrendered to the leader in advance?

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

He knows 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 also changed a long time ago.

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

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

Later, those who surrendered, such as General Du Quecao, 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 would be too late.

The leader is not someone who sells atonement scrolls. It is not someone who pays dirty money and can absolve himself of his sins, wash away the blood on his hands, and start over in a new era.

And the aristocrats who moved closer to the leaders 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 been gradually tightening for a long time. Those reactionary nobles 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 perishes. What's more, they are now facing the perdition 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 Swain's opponents before, but recently they suddenly became more honest.

"I can try, but..."

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

Lester was about to say this.

"There's 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 course of a year, Swain had almost completely replaced the direct troops he had led with his own hands.

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 still came.

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 "honorably".

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

"I 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 secretly clenched his fists, 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 speechless.

Faith, faith, faith! This damn faith! If he doesn’t believe in the leader’s nonsense, he will never be an official!
To be continued...