Every few steps, you can see a bulletin board, and the paper attached to it is nothing more than three things - army recruits, arena recruit fighters, and the reward issued by the Assassin Guild.

"This country really likes violence." Lothar recalled the tradition of looting other tribes in his hometown when there was a lack of food, "but I'm not qualified to say that."

Lothar stopped in front of a public sign and carefully looked at the contents on it.

"In the name of the supreme emperor, Brown Darkwell, the entire country is recruited. Any man or woman who has reached the age of sixty has the obligation and responsibility to serve in the military!"

The poster of this chapter has a neat regiment square, which looks really majestic.

"The arena adds another fierce general! Whether the Tiger Vastaya Liquidator from Ionia can defeat the champion Draven will be exciting in the Arena of Glory tonight!"

The poster for this chapter features a tiger-headed Vastaya and a man with a funny two-way beard facing off.

"Bangba Guild accepts all assassination missions against non-human beings."

The poster of this chapter depicts several non-human race heads pierced by swords, especially tauren.

Lothar looked one by one, not looking for anything, but simply practicing the Noxian language he had learned for a while.

The most eye-catching thing on the bulletin board is the war mobilization of Emperor Darkwill.

Many cities in the southern Shurima desert have been captured by Noxus, but Noxus is not doing well in the Freljord, Demacia and Ionia, and has not laid much land. , Darkwell claimed that a larger war would be launched next year to attack all three areas at the same time.

"What a war madman." Lothar wondered if the emperor had taken the wrong medicine.

Lothar looked into the distance, and in the center of the imperial capital, there was a huge castle fortress.

The Immortal Citadel, as the Noxians call it.

This fortress is as tall as a mountain, so majestic that even the entire imperial city is as small as a lawn in front of it.

The gray city wall is not made of stone, but is made of a special metal, and the densely covered artillery and soldiers can be vaguely seen on the city wall.

The immortal fortress is also the residence of Emperor Darkwill.

As Lothar stared at the huge fortress, out of the corner of his eyes, he caught the afterimage of a crow.

"It's time to go back."

Lothar left the bulletin board and turned into an alley.

Whether for the purpose of war or what, there are many secret passages in Noxus Imperial City, they are very hidden, complicated and winding, and you may even get lost in them if you are not careful.

Swain, however, gave Lothar a map covering all the secret passages in Noxus.

Lothar shuttled around in the secret passage, and after making sure that there were no stalkers behind him, did he return to the dilapidated remote old house.

Entering the interior of the mansion through the underground passage, Lothar went straight to find Swain.

"This country sucks." Lothar scolded Swain's first words.

Swain raised his head: "How do you see it?"

Lothar looked at the fireplace and wanted to make a fire to keep warm, but he held back in order to practice ice magic: "I feel that this country is full of thoughts about fighting and killing, what is it for?"

Swain smiled and said, "Don't the Freljords also like to fight?"

"It was when the Freljords were hungry." Lothar glanced at the wall clock. He had learned to recognize the machinery used to calculate time. It was time for lunch.

"Today's lunch will be delivered in a while," Swain said.

Lothar frowned slightly. He didn't like this feeling very much. No matter what he did or thought, Swain saw him very thoroughly.

"How's your magic going?" Swain changed the subject as he wrote.

Lothar stretched out his index finger and thumb, a piece of rough-looking ice crystal feathers condensed.

"It looks like it's going well." Swain put down his pen and stood up, "Let's go to the restaurant for dinner, I have something to tell you."

Lothar followed the lame old man to the middle floor of the mansion. Lothar remembered that when he first came here, the floor was covered with ashes, but now it is spotless, but Lothar never saw anyone come to clean it.

There were only two chairs on the long dining table, and a plate was placed in front of each.

"Sit down." Swain sat on the main seat and invited Lothar to take a seat.

Lothar was not polite, he directly opened the cover on the dinner plate.

—————————————————————————————————

Vastaya, a mysterious magical intelligent creature.

They have a mix of human and animal shapes, like the ears and tail of a dog, or the horns and hooves of a goat. Traces of Vastaya are found in many places, from the Freljord in the north to Shurima in the south, and there are records of the Vastaya. There is a huge difference in the appearance of the Vastaya people in different regions. It seems that the records show that the mermaid Vastaya living in the sea was once found in the sea. They don't even have legs, but have a fish tail.

Vastaya is still a race that uses magic by nature. Although different Vastaya have different magical abilities depending on the type, in general, the average magical ability of Vastaya far exceeds most of them. Humanity.

——Excerpt from "The First Vastaya of Universal Education" published by Piltover University Press

Chapter 131 Lunch

The main course is a large piece of meat smeared in a red sauce, accompanied by a portion of vegetable leaves and fruit tossed together, drizzled with a honey-colored sauce, and a goblet of red liquid.

Lothar was a little confused, it was the first time he had seen these things.

Swain pointed to the staple food: "Red braised beef tongue with sea fish sauce, a famous Noxian dish, which is improved from southern cuisine."

"Tongue" Lothar was disgusted, "You Noxians eat tongues"

"Noxus is a country that embraces many cultures, so don't be surprised if any food appears. This dish is only famous among the aristocracy, and the common people may not know it."

Lothar didn't want to eat it very much. In the Freljord, the meat of the animal's head is basically used for sacrifice: "Isn't it necessary to eat eyeballs in Noxian dishes?"

Swain nodded. "There are some."

"Give me another." Lothar folded his arms.

"I do not want to eat"

"A tongue that can get into my mouth can only be a pretty girl's."

"But you have to eat."

"Why? You have to take care of what you eat"

"I need you to enter the high society of Noxus, and it is inevitable to eat with nobles." Swain stated his purpose, "Getting used to food is only the first step, you have to learn etiquette. , words and accents, and also pay attention to the scandals and rumors circulating in the aristocratic circle.”

Lothar raised his eyebrows: "Is this what you need to do to kill the emperor?"

"Naturally." Swain nodded slightly, "Do you think it would be easy to assassinate an emperor? You need to go through a lot of preparation and preparation before you can stab the last knife. If you don't have a noble status, you can't even face him. Can't see."

"Aren't Noxian nobles talking about state affairs or something? Should I learn that?"

"If they can talk about the country's business affairs, then they are not called nobles." Swain said.

Lothar sighed, grabbed the knife and fork and cut off a piece of beef tongue, chewing with disgust.

"It's delicious." Rosa was a little surprised.

Swain looked at Lothar's hand holding a knife and fork like a weapon: "Tomorrow I will teach you the correct dining etiquette and eat the next one."

Lothar pulled the second dish with a fork: "Isn't it just vegetable leaves and fruit, what is this?"

Lothar found that there was also a light gray mass in the center of the disk.

"It's foie gras, and the surrounding vegetables and fruits are all delicacies that were transported from other places." Swain said, "The full name of this dish is 'Baron Salad', which means that only people with a baron status and above can afford it."

"Liver? Not eyes." Lothar dipped his fork into the meat.

"Accurately speaking, it is fatty liver. In order to make the goose's liver bigger and fuller, the breeder will force the goose with a funnel to feed a large amount of food." Swain explained in detail, "If you open the wild goose and feed it In the stomach of a goose, you will find that the liver of a raised goose is about ten times larger than that of a wild goose.”

Lothar looked into Swain's eyes. "You Noxians are disgusting."

"In a way, I don't disagree with you." Swain wasn't angry at all, "but the law of the jungle is a deeply ingrained Noxian ideology, and we won't be like the Freljords. Respect their prey, and don't help the weak like the Demacians. The weak can only be conquered by the strong, and you can't resist whether it's cutting your tongue off or making your liver fat."

Lothar looked down at the piece of foie gras.

After a long time, he cut out a small piece of foie gras with a fork and put it into his mouth.

"The correct way to eat it should be to eat it with the vegetables and fruits next to it," Swain reminded.

Lothar let the foie gras eat in three or two bites, and without thinking about how it tasted, he directly picked up the goblet: "What is this?"

"Red wine, wine made from grapes, is quite different from your Freljord mead."

Lothar didn't like the bright red color, like blood. Although there is a custom of drinking the blood of animals in the Freljord, the purpose is mostly for rituals, and no one has ever used blood as food.

Lothar took a small sip. It was indeed wine, and the bitterness and sweetness reverberated in his mouth.

"Mead is better." Lothar put down the glass. "That's all?"

"Of course not. The regular Noxian nobles' dining procedure is very complicated. There are only three appetizers, and at least five aperitifs will be tasted in a row. Today is just to let you familiarize yourself a little with what you need to learn. There are many more."

"Huh..." Lothar never imagined that he would come to a foreign country one day to learn these incongruous things.

Swain opened his dinner plate, his red left arm condensed, and he sat upright and ate: "When you came back today, you told me that Noxus sucks. What do you think is the main reason?"

"That emperor." Lothar cut off a piece of ox tongue and ate it, "I don't know why he is crazy, so he wants to conquer the world?"

"The war of expansion has never stopped since the founding of Noxus." Swain put down his knife and fork, "The land of Noxus is very barren and the products are not rich. Nothing you eat now is original. From the Noxian mainland, they were shipped from Noxian territories and colonies elsewhere.”

"I see." Lothar now understood why the Noxians liked war. They were like a hungry tribe that couldn't survive without conquering new hunting grounds and farming.

Swain continued: "But attacking three countries at the same time is unprecedented. Noxus still looks like a strong country, but after years of war, it has actually started to tire."

"I don't see how tired I am." Lothar recalled what Tryndamere and Quinn had said. Noxus' offensive against the Freljord and Demacia was unprecedented this year.

"That's it." Swain said indifferently, "Freljord, Demacia, and Ionia are not easy to gnaw on, and blindly increasing the number of troops will not achieve very good results. If you persist for a few years, take the lead. The only one who can't hold on is Noxus."

"Why did the emperor do this?" asked Lothar. "Does he like wars so much?"

Swain sneered, and Lothar was a little surprised. This was the first time he saw Swain show such obvious emotion.

He is disdainful.

"Bron Darkwell is very old." Swain shook the red wine glass, watching the liquid swirl inside. "He hopes to find a way to prolong his life."

Lothar understood a lot at once.

Why the Noxian Army's offensive this year has been so crazy.

And why, Swain wants to kill Darkwill.

Lothar swallowed the foie gras silently.

"You have to practice frost magic well this winter, and continue to follow me to learn Noxian language and noble etiquette." Swain broke the silence. "When spring comes, you have work to do."

"what work"

"Enter the Noxian nobility."

"How to get in? Do you arrange an identity for me?"

Swain shook his head: "Although I'm still a noble now, in the eyes of outsiders, I'm already a cripple. I'm hiding here to make the plan go smoothly. It's too abrupt to arrange your identity directly, and no one will doubt it. A nobleman who suddenly appeared out of thin air."

"Isn't it okay to pretend to be your son?" Lothar suggested. "Like I'm your illegitimate child in Ionia or something."

"Maybe it is feasible, but even if you become a noble in this way, it will only become a joke of other nobles. No one will take the initiative to approach you, and no one will want to communicate with you."

"What to do then"

Swain took a sip of red wine: "Demacia also has nobles, but do you know what is the biggest difference between the nobles of Demacia and the nobles of Noxus?"

"what?"

"Blood." Swain put down the red wine, "Demacia's aristocracy is hereditary from generation to generation, and the family power is deeply rooted. Even if they make a big mistake, the nobles will not be severely punished by demotion. Unlike Noxus, Nuo Xian is different. Texas does not value blood, but only on ability, and only those who are capable can go to the top."

Lothar narrowed his eyes: "So I have to prove my ability"

"Yes."

"You won't let me join the army?" Lothar asked warily.

Swain shook his head: "Military merit is indeed the main way to improve your status, and it is also the most stable. Like me, just because of your excellent military merit, even if you get fired, you will not get rid of your noble status. But you will spend at least a few years on the battlefield. In order to get enough military merit to meet the emperor."

"You mean there is a faster way?"

"That's right." Swain took out a piece of paper from his coat.

Lothar looked at it and was surprised to find that he had actually read the content on it.

"The arena adds another fierce general! Whether the Tiger Vastaya Liquidator from Ionia can defeat the champion Draven will be exciting in the Arena of Glory tonight!"

——————————————————————————————

Noxus is a country with a fairly rigid social structure, but a very large amount of volatility.

Within the Noxian Empire, especially in the military, there is a strict hierarchy. But such a hierarchy is not absolute, and if people of lower status can prove that they are more valuable to the empire than their superiors, they can easily replace them.

This law is not limited to Noxians, but also applies to aliens, slaves, and criminals. Noxus has also become a very efficient country, and the pace of daily life is very fast, because people of low status are eager to get ahead, and people of high status do not want to be replaced.