By the afternoon, with evening approaching, the weather had been pretty calm and pleasant ever since the heavy snowfall a few days ago.
Lux and Kahina both came back early from the Illuminators.
Lately, the Illuminators had not had much work, and there was not much for them to do.
At that moment, Luke was moving like an old man, going through slow, Tai Chi-like motions.
This was also a slow version of the Vitality Arts, perfect for calming the mind and cultivating the body.
And right now, Luke's mood was exceptionally peaceful.
When the two girls came back, they did not disturb him. Instead, they found an open area and began sparring.
By evening, Vayne, Frey, and Shyvana had returned as well.
They had trained in the military camp all day, so after coming back, they sat down to rest and chat.
Recently, Shyvana had become more and more popular among the soldiers. She had never been hard to get along with to begin with, and after going out with the troops these past few days, her strength had earned her even more respect.
A lot of soldiers came to spar with her. They all wanted to see for themselves how this powerhouse who fought enemy troops barehanded measured up.
Jarvan IV had wanted her to carry a weapon, but Shyvana refused.
She said that compared to weapons, she trusted her own hands more.
And the truth was exactly that. Even empty-handed, Shyvana displayed tremendous combat power.
Not a single one of the warriors who came to spar with her could beat her, and after every fight, they were convinced completely.
By now, they had fully accepted Shyvana.
And Shyvana did not dislike life here either. She liked the Demacians' bright, humble, and righteous nature, and she liked this atmosphere of unity.
At first, hardly anyone ever saw Shyvana smile, but these last few days, people often caught the corners of her lips lifting without her even noticing.
Shyvana, who had always been alone, no longer seemed alone anymore.
After their sparring match, Lux and Kahina took a break too.
But Lux could never sit still, and before long she was wandering all over the place like a neighborhood stray.
Not long after, a few jars tucked away by the wall in a dark corner caught her eye.
"By the way, what exactly are all these things you made?"
She leaned in, curious.
When she came back that day, those jars had already been set there, and they had stayed there ever since.
She had been incredibly curious about them.
Luke had just finished his health routine and was leisurely drinking tea. Hearing that, he looked over and thought for a moment. "Hmm... yeah, I guess they're about ready."
He stood up and walked over.
At once, the other girls all looked over too, curiosity flickering in their eyes.
Lux was not the only one curious about the stuff.
They had all noticed it long ago too, but none of them had figured out what Luke was making.
When he got close, Luke glanced at Lux. "Back up a little."
"Why?" Lux asked, though she still obediently stepped back.
"You'll see in a second."
As he spoke, Luke opened one of the jar lids.
Lux, having clearly forgotten what he had just said, could not help edging closer again to see what was inside.
But before she could get near, a strange smell drifted out first.
The completely unprepared Lux caught a whiff of it and immediately rolled her eyes back, then toppled stiffly backward.
Luke reached out and caught her in his arms. Looking at Lux's peaceful little face, he sighed emotionally. "Young people really do have great bodies. She hit the ground and went straight to sleep."
Kahina pinched her nose and could not help saying, "Your Highness, are you sure she's asleep?"
Why did it feel more like she had been knocked out by the smell?
From the moment Luke opened the lid, a weird, foul odor had started spreading out. It smelled a little like rotten eggs left too long, a little like sweaty feet that had not been washed in three months, a little like a foul ditch after rain, and there was even a bitter herbal note mixed in.
Luke put the lid back on, then pressed a finger under Lux's nose and started applying pressure.
A moment later, Lux gave a muffled groan and woke up from the pain.
The first thing she did after opening her eyes was pinch her nose and stare at Luke in confusion. "Why do you have a bunch of kitchen slop sitting in the house?"
"This isn't kitchen slop. This is a volatility booster."
Luke smiled faintly.
"What are you making this for?" Lux did not understand, but she climbed out of Luke's arms with a disgusted look and retreated back to the other girls.
The lid had only been open for a moment, but plenty of the smell had already escaped.
Every girl there frowned slightly and moved farther away.
Luke replied, "Obviously it's for our lovely neighbors."
The greenish-yellow flower he had bought at the market last time was called lusu in Runeterra.
It counted as a medicinal herb. Its flavor was bitter and sour, but the important part was that it had an easily volatile and solidifying effect.
First, it had to be steamed and roasted at high heat to remove the moisture inside, then ground up and frozen in a low-temperature environment.
After taking it out and grinding it into powder, if you mixed in the right amount of charcoal powder and methanol, then let it cool for half an hour, it produced an effect similar to phenolsulfonic acid, basically a solidifying agent.
The point was to neutralize the other ingredients, which were exactly the things that had made Katarina think he was making poison.
Sour ingredients, wild fruit with a bit of toxin in it, stone powder, white ash, seasoning, basically the weirder the better.
With the solidifier added and the whole thing stored in a sealed space, the ingredients would slowly neutralize.
Luke's goal was to make it ferment until it smelled as foul as eggs left expired for a month, though the real key was still its tendency to evaporate easily.
Because the true main ingredient still had not been added yet.
This was going to be a special gift for the neighbors next door.
The girls more or less understood, but Lux still asked, "So what are you going to do with it next?"
"Isn't it obvious? The weather's been so nice these past few days, I figured it's about time we had some rain."
Luke walked over and opened the door to a storage room. A moment later, he came back out carrying a large, wide wooden contraption.
"What is that?" Lux could not help asking.
"I call it a rainmaker."
Luke gave a brief introduction.
The rainmaker was around five feet tall, almost as tall as a person. The main thing was its size, it was so wide that it would probably take two or three people to wrap their arms around it.
At the bottom was a thick silver tube, and at the front was a round sprinkler head.
There were also two gear-like switches on either side.
Luke first found water and poured it all into the rainmaker. After putting in some effort, he hauled it up to a higher spot, then tested it and found that it did not leak.
Next, he secured the sprinkler head in front and turned the switch on the right. Immediately, tiny water droplets began spraying out in a steady stream.
Lux got it at once and said in realization, "You're going to put the stuff from the jars in there and spray it over next door?"
"That wouldn't be nearly enough. The main ingredient still hasn't been added."
Luke tested the effect and confirmed there were no problems.
When he mentioned the main ingredient, for some reason, every girl immediately thought of the same thing.
Their expressions all turned strange, and a little sickened.
"It can't be..." Lux started, then stopped.
"Hill City has so much raw material lying around, it'd be a waste not to use it. Might as well let it nourish our lovely neighbors."
Luke showed a harmless smile.
The girls all thought that smile looked a little offensive.
Ten minutes later, Luke brought the equipment to the dragonbird grounds and found Cithria.
"Your Highness, do you need something?" Cithria looked at Luke and asked.
"I've got a mission for you, and only your group can handle it."
Luke then gave a simple explanation.
Demacia had one advantage Noxus did not, air power. Granted, it was only a slight advantage, but an advantage was still an advantage.
Silverwing dragonbirds, those powerful creatures capable of high-altitude flight, only lived in the western part of Valoran, and only the Demacians had mastered the methods of living alongside them and taming them.
That was not to say Noxus had no flying magical beasts with strong combat power.
The problem was that those beasts were either difficult to tame, too violent to tame at all, or so scarce that they simply could not be used in large-scale battle.
And even if they did have some, they were still no match for silverwings in aerial combat.
That alone showed how valuable silverwing dragonbirds were.
Of course, even in Demacia, the number of silverwings had always remained at a fixed balance, never too many, never too few.
Demacia had once tried to find a way to speed up silverwing reproduction, but after discovering that it only made the situation worse, they stopped.
So while Demacia did have aerial combat strength, it was not overwhelmingly strong.
Otherwise, if they had a thousand dragonbirds supporting the fight, taking the Gates of Mourning would not have been difficult at all.
And now, Luke intended to make effective use of that strength.
After he finished explaining, Cithria also wore a strange expression as she nodded. "I think I get it... Your Highness wants to send the Gates of Mourning a little care package, right?"
Luke nodded. "Exactly. How many Dragonbird Riders are there in Hill City total?"
Cithria answered at once, "Including me, forty Dragonbird Riders."
"Forty should be enough."
Luke thought it over. The number of rainmakers he had built these past few days was about the same.
The rainmaker was really just an oversized sprinkler. That was more than enough to simulate a light rain over a medium-sized town.
"I've already spoken to my brother about this, and he's making preparations on his side too." Luke looked at Cithria as he spoke. "Go gather the rest of the Dragonbird Riders now and have them get familiar with the controls."
"Yes."
Cithria accepted the order and left.
After watching her go, Luke stood there in thought.
The stuff in the jars alone naturally was not enough, but once the real main ingredient was added, all it needed was a good mix and stir, and then it would be more than enough.
The truly important part was still the solidifying and evaporating agents inside. Their job was to release, atomize, and make the smell linger, so that it would not fade in a short time.
Night had fallen.
At the Gates of Mourning.
The situation was stable for the moment, and Noxus's main task was simply to hold the Gates of Mourning. With the front steady, the soldiers' nerves were no longer as tight as before.
By now, the entire city was packed with warbands. Altogether, their numbers had already climbed well past one hundred thousand.
With a force on that scale, the possibility of the Gates of Mourning being broken through was, for all practical purposes, zero.
In the camp's parade grounds, bonfires burned bright. Yesterday, a large batch of supplies had arrived from the rear in Noxus.
Among them was plenty of liquor, specially requested by General Patria as a reward for the troops.
At this moment, the atmosphere on the grounds could only be described as lively.
People were drinking, playing rowdy drinking games, gambling, and devouring meat in huge mouthfuls, having the time of their lives.
At a time like this, with everyone in such a relaxed state, General Patria did not impose especially strict discipline. On the contrary, he was being rather tolerant.
Noxus had always ranked pretty high when it came to freedom.
"High! High! High!"
At that moment, one soldier with bloodshot eyes shouted wildly at the table in front of him, his face excited and flushed.
"One, two, three, low!" The soldier shaking the dice lifted the cover and revealed the numbers inside.
The first soldier slammed a fist onto the table. "Damn it, low again!"
"Again!"
He glared unwillingly as the soldier across from him scooped up the silver coins from the table, then took out some more from his own pocket.
If he lost a few more rounds, this whole campaign would end with him going home flat broke.
At that very moment, drip, a drop hit the top of his head, leaving it damp.
"Is it raining?"
He looked up in surprise, and another drop landed squarely on his face. He wiped it off, his brow furrowing and his expression turning strange.
"Why's it brown?"
He had a habit of tasting rainwater after it fell. Over the years, he had learned what light rain, heavy rain, and every kind of rain under different conditions tasted like.
It was winter, but that did not mean rain was impossible, just rare.
And rain this color was something he had never seen before.
Curious and puzzled, he licked the droplet from his finger.
His face changed instantly, twisting into the expression of someone who had just eaten shit.
"Holy crap!"
This wasn't rain at all!
At the same time.
Patria's office.
At that moment, he was sitting behind his desk with a wineglass in hand, leisurely sipping from it. His face was flushed red, clearly from quite a few drinks already.
He was beyond lightly buzzed.
Ever since taking command of this campaign, his mood had only gotten better and better.
First, he had seized the Gates of Mourning at lightning speed. Then, snow had conveniently fallen from the heavens and blocked Demacia's path forward.
And now, two princes had practically delivered themselves to him.
As long as he performed just a little more brilliantly in this campaign, he might even earn two promotions in one go when he got back.
If that happened, his family would be proud of him, and he would become one of the brightest rising stars in all of Noxus.
Not to mention, he was still very young.
Maybe even Darkwill's seat might one day be his to sit in.
At that thought, the corners of Patria's mouth could not help lifting. Right as he was indulging in visions of a bright future, he heard a hurried burst of footsteps outside, followed by a loud shout. It was a little far away, but he could still make it out.
It sounded like, "General, the enemy has surrendered!"
The moment he heard that, Patria froze, and the hand swirling his glass stopped as well. He rose to his feet and strode quickly toward the door.
As he moved, he heard the soldier shout it again.
This time, he was sure he had not misheard. It really was, "General, the enemy has surrendered!"
There was no one in the army who would dare joke with him like that.
He even wondered if he had drunk too much, and a trace of delight rose onto his face.
Could something this good really happen?
When he opened the door, he saw a soldier standing there, breathing hard. A strange odor was drifting off the man's body, not a pleasant one.
Patria frowned, then quickly relaxed his expression and looked at him with authority. "Is that true?"
"Absolutely true, General. You need to come outside and see it!" the soldier said urgently.
Patria could not understand why, if this was such wonderful news, the man's face looked like that.
He quickly strode outside and was soon out in the open.
The moment he stepped out the door, a drop of rain fell onto his head.
"It's raining?"
Patria frowned again. Soon more drops started falling.
He held out a hand, and one landed in his palm. As he stared at the brown rainwater, his brows drew tighter and tighter.
Then he began to smell a foul odor drifting in, like a latrine that had been clogged up for ten years.
Unable to help himself, he raised his hand and sniffed it.
"Urgh, blegh!"
A dry heave burst out of him. He nearly vomited up every bit of wine he had drunk. His face changed instantly from red to white, from white to green, and from green to black.
His drunken haze was blasted away in an instant by the smell.
He held his breath and felt his scalp go numb.
What the hell... why does it smell like shit?
He looked out over the city. Almost the whole place was like this now. A lot of soldiers were scrambling to dodge the rain, while some had already been drenched from head to toe, reeking as the smell spread everywhere.
He immediately took a step back and retreated inside, his face growing darker by the second.
At that moment, the soldier chased after him and cautiously reported, "General, based on our analysis, this rain contains an extremely high concentration of fecal matter."
Bang.
Patria kicked the soldier clean off his feet and sent him flying.
Face black with rage, he glared at the man. "I can fucking smell that! Get the hell out of here!"
Seeing Patria in a towering fury, the soldier scrambled up and ran for his life, rolling and crawling back out into the rain and fleeing while getting soaked.
Patria furiously hurled the wineglass still in his hand to the floor. It shattered with a sharp crack, wine spraying out together with shards of glass.
He had never imagined that what the enemy would drop on them was this kind of shit.
This shit-rain falling across the entire city was absolutely not a natural phenomenon.
Damn it, this was obviously man-made!
"General, there appears to be a group of Demacian Dragonbird Riders circling in the skies above the Gates of Mourning. The rain over the city was most likely caused by them."
An adjutant ran over, having already discovered the cause, and reported it to Patria.
Patria looked up toward the sky, fists clenched, veins bulging on his forehead, his eyes blazing with fury.
Those damned Demacians had actually pulled something like this!
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