A Heated Dispute

Shetaka denied my claim; it seems she hasn't declared herself empress or established an empire yet, although her expression and demeanor are practically indistinguishable from one. 😾♛ ★😾

Since that's the case, why don't I give her a push?

"With such elite soldiers and magnificent palaces, why don't you ascend the throne?"

"Shh..."

Shetaka's reaction to my words was quite interesting. She made a shushing gesture, then looked around with a frightened expression.

"What is this...?"

"Don't even mention it, I'm having a real headache right now, I can't become emperor."

"Headache? Is it because there are too many enemies around?"

"It has nothing to do with the enemy; it's just that there's someone in the army who's been opposing me."

"Who... who has this ability?"

"I am Aatrox."

As we were talking, this daredevil appeared—it was Aatrox!

Even before his ascension, he was still imposing and dignified, and because of his mortal body, he appeared even more real.

At this time, he was probably around fifty years old, with graying temples and a piercing gaze. He exuded the aura of a battlefield without being cold or ruthless, truly the demeanor of a great general!

If he was the one causing Shetaka headaches, that would be understandable, but why would he stop Shetaka from becoming emperor?

I can't ask this question directly; it's more important to get to know them first.

"Greetings, General Aatrox. We are travelers from a distant land, fortunate to have been rescued by Lord Shetaka and brought here."

"Since you're a guest, enjoy our hospitality and don't ask irrelevant questions." Aatrox was somewhat annoyed by my suggestion that Shetaka declare himself emperor.

At this point, Shetaka's expression also darkened. "This has nothing to do with the guests. It was my idea to begin with. If you have any objections, just tell me directly. Don't beat around the bush and scare people!"

"I'm not here to argue with you. Put aside our differences Shetaka."

Call me the manager!

Shetaka was furious and roared, but Aatrox didn't seem to care, as if he was used to this kind of atmosphere:

"Very well, great Administrator of Naremajet, I am preparing to confront the formidable Uzer in the north. I will depart today. Please grant my permission."

"You usually don't report these kinds of operations to me, what's wrong this time?"

"Because I feel this operation is somewhat dangerous, I might need your help."

"We've defeated the Uzer several times already, how could they possibly be your match?"

When the topic of the war came up, their attitudes finally softened; I had just thought they were about to fight.

Aatrox paused for a moment, then said, "I think their actions are not simple; it's highly likely an attack launched by multiple tribes in concert."

"The Uzer have always been at odds with other tribes; who would want to join forces with them?"

"That was true before, but now we are much stronger, especially since you have gained the power of the Sun God. Faced with a common threat, it's normal for them to choose to unite."

So what do you want to do?

"I'll engage in direct combat; if other tribes attack from different directions, you'll be responsible for repelling them."

Leave it to me!

After giving his instructions, Aatrox left, glancing at me and Ekko as he went, though I had no idea what he meant.

Shetaka let out a long sigh of relief, looking as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders; it seemed Aatrox had put a lot of pressure on her.

"Phew... those troublesome guys are finally gone. You heard me? I need to prepare for the next operation, so I can't look after you for now, but I'm not entirely comfortable leaving you alone..."

"Then take us with you. You should feel more at ease having us by your side, right?"

"That suits me perfectly! But I won't let you leave if you can't endure the hardships of marching!"

"It's alright, we've endured a lot of hardship along the way, this little bit of trouble is nothing."

So, not long after Ekko and I arrived in the city, we followed Shetaka back to the military camp. She divided her troops into three teams to cover Aatrox from three directions behind him.

We each received two sets of armor and were assigned to a team personally led by Shetaka; apart from that, we were not subjected to any other surveillance.

After a busy day and night, I've finally settled down. I'm reminded of my final battle with Camille. In that timeline, everyone must have perished by now.

According to Ekko's time theory, even if we travel to the right place, it's difficult to change the outcome; we can only try our best.

At the same time, I was also lost. Whether I could defeat Camille or not was not that important. After all, it was just a small episode in my strange experience. How to return to the world I used to live in was the question I should be thinking about the most.

I've been traveling for so long, and I can't wait to return to the world we saved together, to drink and chat with my close friends, and to tell Sivir: I'm back.

Currently, the only way to go back is through Ekko's time machine.

In a whole day, the time machine only recovered about 10% of its energy. At this rate, it will take another ten days or so. Until we are ready, we can only stay obediently in the Shetaka forces, otherwise, something could easily go wrong.

I also heard Ekko tell me some of his stories. He had already told me before that his purpose in Piltover was to find "Crazy Sister" Jinx, but he was captured by Camille and transformed into Project Warrior.

In fact, he had tried several times before we met, but no matter what efforts he made, the result was the same: failure and being reformed.

In the process, he gradually realized the horror of time travel and slowly adapted to the sadness. However, in the past, he had always traveled to a nearby point in time, but this time he went to the distant ancient times, and Shurima.

The reason, he felt, was that I had changed everything, and perhaps what would happen next would be different, which was something he was looking forward to.

Two days later, we officially set off with Shetaka. Our unit was responsible for the right flank, and the enemy was the Gogan had attacked us earlier.

Shetaka looked relaxed, whether from trusting Aatrox or having confidence in himself, I couldn't tell, but I had a bad feeling.

I had heard Rebeca tell this story before. She had traveled from Aatrox to Ixtal because she longed for Naremajet, only to find that the various tribes were launching a joint attack on the area.

After that Naremajet was embroiled in a defensive war that lasted for many years until Aatrox's successful ascension brought some relief to the kingdom.

The predicament at that time was precisely due to Shetaka's overwhelming power, and it now seems very likely that this period was the one in question.

In fact, the attack came faster than I expected. We hadn't gone far when scouts came to report that a large number of enemies had been spotted not far away!