"Come on, boss~!" After landing her assist, Ahri went right back to cheering him on.
Her assist really had been perfectly timed.
Chen Ce couldn't help wanting to give her a raise.
"Nice work!"
The two swordsmen had been forced to charge within reach. He immediately spun his spear at full speed.
The next moment, thunk, thunk!
Two blows landed, and Yasuo and Yone's heads rang.
"Had enough yet?" After knocking them both dizzy, Chen Ce deftly used his spear to flick the swords out of their hands—Three Talon Strike sent all three swords flying with pinpoint accuracy.
Now they were completely out of options.
"Can you listen to me properly now?"
Tonight's update and bonus chapter will be posted~
Chapter 31: Pay Your Respects to the Pale Lady
For a swordsman, having the sword knocked from his hand meant he had lost—and lost decisively.
It was no use saying, "If there's a sword in your heart, everything can be a sword." If they couldn't win with real swords, were they supposed to expect victory by picking up a random tree branch and using it as one? That was just self-delusion.
At that moment, the two swordsmen, Yasuo and Yone, knew they had lost completely.
Yone looked at his twin blades lying far away and sighed silently—his head was still spinning.
That blow had nearly knocked him unconscious.
Yasuo was in much the same state.
But given his personality, he still seemed unwilling to accept the truth—
"Again! This time, I'll cut your spear in half before you can knock my sword away!" he shouted, clutching the huge lump on his forehead.
"That's enough..." Yone grabbed him, holding his own head as well. "If you keep this up, you'll be rude."
"..." Yasuo shut his mouth, indignant.
The two brothers sat on the ground, clutching their foreheads. They looked a little ridiculous.
That blow had left them both somewhat dazed. They looked like two brothers, each with a different temperament, who had just been scolded by an adult.
Ahri couldn't help laughing at the sight of them sitting there rubbing their heads.
Chen Ce, however, remained composed. "I've already introduced myself, so I won't repeat that. Let's get to the point—the truth about Elder Souma's death."
"I'm listening." Yone had become much more subdued than before. When the other man could kill him with ease, there was no point in questioning him.
Questioning was a "choice" made by the strong toward the weak, not a way for the weak to "seek answers" from the strong.
He could disbelieve the man, but he had no choice but to listen.
Besides... just as he'd said earlier, he wasn't actually suspicious of or hostile toward the other man. He simply wanted to be cautious and make sure.
"Good." Chen Ce nodded in satisfaction, resisting the urge to say, I liked you better when you were arrogant and defiant.
"In short, I know who really killed Elder Souma, and where they are—not Yasuo, but a Noxian knight."
Yone reflexively wanted to ask, "How can you be sure?" But when he saw the other man's imposing gaze, he wisely kept his mouth shut.
Chen Ce continued, "The Noxian knight's name is Riven. She's a brave fighter, and her weapon is a Black Stone Rune Greatsword, personally bestowed upon her by the Noxian emperor, Braum Darkwill. It contains astonishing power."
"When the Black Stone Rune Greatsword is unleashed at full strength, it releases its power in a way similar to a gale. It's so powerful it can slice through metal and smash through anything."
At the mention of "gale," Yasuo and Yone both frowned instinctively, but neither interrupted Chen Ce.
"Not long ago, Riven was ordered to escort a warband through the Navori Province, across a battle zone. She didn't know what the warband was carrying... And as it turned out, the Empire betrayed her."
"At Dragonspine Canyon, I joined Irelia, leader of the Placidium Resistance Army, to intercept that warband."
As he spoke, Chen Ce turned to look at Yasuo. "Yes, Dragonspine Canyon was the battlefield you went to that day after leaving Elder Souma without permission, hoping to join the fight. I imagine you saw the hundreds of Noxians who died there."
"But back to the point... Riven was betrayed by the Empire at Dragonspine Canyon. The warband's commander, Emystan, set off a new chemical weapon that Noxus urgently needed to test, without caring whether Riven lived or died."
"The chemical flames that erupted from the clay jars engulfed everyone in Dragonspine Canyon. Even Irelia and I nearly died... Riven survived, protected by the Black Stone Rune Greatsword."
"At dawn, after the flames had burned out, Riven regained consciousness. She had been knocked out by the chemical weapon's effects, and realized the Empire had betrayed her."
"Amid that sea of corpses, she suddenly realized how many evil deeds she had committed for the Empire over the years... Lost and confused, she left Dragonspine Canyon, hoping to find someone who could shatter the Rune Blade in her hands—to destroy the Empire's reward to her, as a symbol of her complete break with the Empire."
"Then... she headed toward a village."
By then, the whole matter had become clear.
Chen Ce looked once more at the two swordsmen, whose faces were filled with disbelief.
"The instant the Black Stone Rune Greatsword was destroyed, the immense power within it burst out and killed the swordsmanship master who had shattered it for Riven."
At this, the hot-tempered Yasuo finally jumped to his feet. "That damned Noxian killed Elder Souma! Where is she now? I'm going to arrest her! I'll make sure everyone puts her on trial!"
"She's in the village," Chen Ce said plainly. "I can take you to find her—I've met her."
"Then let's go! There's no time to waste!" Yasuo was impatient.
Fortunately, Chen Ce wasn't the sort to drag things out either. "That's exactly why I came here. Let's go."
"Let's move!" Yasuo was full of energy, the gloom that had weighed on him vanishing in an instant.
But... Yone didn't seem nearly as excited.
Because he knew... some things couldn't be undone.
The moment Yasuo left Elder Souma without permission, he had already lost his honor...
Even if they found the real culprit, he still couldn't make up for the mistake he'd made...
"Samira failed..."
Somewhere in Ionia, inside a dimly lit tent, Noxian warband commander Emystan gazed thoughtfully at the secret letter on the table.
"How is this Ionia man named Chen Ce so hard to kill...? The poison couldn't kill him, the flames couldn't burn him to death, and now even Samira failed to kill him..."
"How could someone this capable have gone unnoticed before...?"
"And... Yasuo? Ionia has someone else who can control the gale? That's a disaster for Zaun's alchemical weapons..."
"If the intelligence is accurate, there's a chance they really will reach some sort of agreement or form an alliance..."
"Hmm... This looks like trouble..."
Tap, tap-tap, tap... The quill tapped rhythmically against the desk. A stimulating drink from Piltover sat beside Emystan's pensive face.
"Intelligence... Even with information coming from inside the Resistance Army, this won't be easy to resolve..."
"Perhaps I should have them do something... Work from both sides? Maybe..."
"Hmm... I should ask the Pale Lady for instructions."
The quill stopped tapping. Emystan took an envelope bearing the insignia of the Noxian Empire from her drawer.
[My esteemed Pale Lady, please forgive my incompetence and foolishness.]
[I have encountered some difficult problems on the front lines. Please allow me to ask for your assistance.]
[The swordsman who has mastered the Way of the Wanderer may disrupt your plans. I believe the Empire must send sufficiently powerful warriors to defeat them.]
[However, please be advised that the Resistance Army has become aware of the traitor among them. We need a more thorough plan—please give me some more time, and I will explain it in my second letter. A frontal assault may not be the best approach.]
[I would be deeply grateful if you could send me the warrior who once slew the king of Demacia. I will not fail you.]
[Also, please be aware that Samira has fled. She is missing.]
[With respect, Emystan.]
Chapter 32: The Greatsword Is Broken, the Knight Exiled
A broken sword.
What could a broken sword do? Riven didn't know.
Noxian words were still carved into the broken Black Stone Rune Blade. Those characters had become bound to her, and would remain with her forever, no matter what—like the flesh and bones of her body, destined to belong to Noxus forever.
She had wandered across the land of Ionia for a long time since the blade broke.
Her consciousness was so hazy, her thoughts so confused... She couldn't even remember what had happened to her.
The one thing she would never forget was the fire that had given her a splitting headache... its acrid stench, and the chemical flames filled with screams and curses.
She had escaped death. Noxus's betrayal hadn't taken her life.
Still... sometimes she couldn't tell whether Noxus had betrayed her, or she had betrayed Noxus, or whether they had betrayed each other.
She didn't know. The broken sword in her hand couldn't give her an answer either.
All she could do was keep trudging through the soggy mud of the rainy season, wandering like a lost soul across the land she had hurt.
When the revolting yellow mud splashed against her ankles, she seemed to remember something else... what had happened on the night she was betrayed.
She remembered frantically searching everywhere for someone who could smash the greatsword, and then... then she had found an old man.
The old man's voice had been calm and peaceful. His meditation room was heavy with the weight of thought and incense. He hadn't judged her, nor the burden she carried.
Yes, yes... the old man had smashed the greatsword for her... She was grateful to him, but what had happened afterward...?
A surge of immense power... a storm... a gale as sharp as blades...
Riven's head began to throb again.
The rainy season's downpours were so frequent that the rain started falling again before her clothes had even dried.
She was still lost. She continued to wander without purpose.
When she looked up at the scene before her again, she saw something familiar:
A village. A village in chaos.
It was like a sign... a sign from fate, like a serpent devouring its own tail.
She had been here before. On that desperate, rainy night.
She heard voices, and her dormant heart grew tense, panicked, and confused once again:
"Have Elder Souma's remains been cleaned up?"
After several days on the road, Chen Ce finally reached the village that had raised the Windswordsman.
The truth hadn't yet come to light, so Yasuo didn't dare enter the village. Yone, who had been ordered to capture him, stayed outside with him.
Chen Ce entered the village with only his "sniffer dog," Ahri. If they wanted to find Riven's exact hiding place in the village, Ahri's extraordinarily keen nose might save them a lot of trouble.
The endless rainy-season downpours had made the air thick and clammy, but Ahri could still immediately smell the unusual scent—the powerful energy remained obvious, even though it was battered and broken.
"Boss, this way!"
Ahri pointed the way while holding an umbrella over Chen Ce. Her delicate nose twitched from time to time, making her look rather like an obedient sniffer dog.
"I can smell her... The scent of that sword is very strong... I can smell the farmland too... Yes, this way."
The man and fox searched through the village. Their behavior looked rather suspicious—like thieves sneaking into the village to make a quick fortune. Fortunately, the rainy season kept their strange little group from attracting much attention.
Before long, Ahri led Chen Ce to a flooded field.
There, they saw a silver-haired woman slumped on the ground, her eyes vacant.
She was filthy, her tattered clothes caked in mud, and numerous shocking wounds marred the patches of skin she had exposed... She looked like a scavenger who had been wandering outside for a long time.
Her tangled silver hair was plastered to her scalp and forehead with rainwater and yellow mud. Her empty eyes remained fixed on the ground, and her nose and the corners of her mouth were smeared with blood that the rain hadn't washed away. She looked utterly wretched.
There was none of her former heroic bearing left. It was as if she weren't the same person who had once stood in Irelia's way, holding the Black Stone Rune Greatsword.
The broken greatsword lay at her feet, radiating a profound sense of ruin.
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