In the League, but with the Taiwan Server System

And the warmth where their skin touched... felt especially comforting on this chilly early-winter night.

Sharing a bed with a girl really was wonderful...

"If you find it comfortable, would you like to sleep with me every night from now on~?" Ahri happily lifted her upper body a little, her nine tails swaying unconsciously. "I think it feels wonderful too~"

"I don't mind." Chen Ce smiled and nodded. He knew she hadn't recovered as quickly as she seemed. The Imero Stones had caused her a certain kind of "harm," and deep down, she was still very uneasy.

She needed someone she could trust by her side—like a pack of foxes huddling together for warmth on the frozen plains.

"Thank you~!" Ahri happily threw her arms around him, and her nine tails instinctively wrapped around them both again.

She was practically like a spider.

Chen Ce was a little helpless, but he didn't push her away. "How are you feeling now?"

"Mm... a little better, but I still feel a bit uncomfortable." Ahri knew why he was asking. "Could you give me two more days to rest? We'll set off again right away after that!"

"Sure, no problem." Chen Ce wasn't in a hurry if it was only two days. He could use the time to visit the Underground Fighting Pit and Lady Dadana to see if there was any unfinished business to take care of.

With that in mind, he prepared to get up, wash, and start work for the day.

But just as he tried to get out of bed, he realized that the nine tails were wrapped around him surprisingly tightly—and seemed to tighten in response to his movements. The more he tried to shift toward the edge of the bed, the tighter they coiled around him.

Then he felt Ahri's warm breath against him.

"If we're going to rest, then hurry up and rest with me~!"

Thump.

The upper body Chen Ce had just propped up was tackled back down by the fox girl.

Her tails then wrapped around him and Ahri like a blanket, putting them in exactly the same position as the night before.

"Come sleep with me~~"

Irelia hadn't seen Chen Ce in a long time.

She missed him terribly, and was sure he missed her too.

She imagined that Chen Ce was holding the badge she'd given him right now, thinking of her in secret and recalling the sweet memories they'd shared.

Just as she was doing—she was gently stroking the gift Chen Ce had sent her.

A letter.

She'd read it over and over again.

Partly because she missed him, and partly because... the information in the letter was extremely important.

She'd been poring over its contents ever since it arrived two days ago.

There was no need to mention the personal things Chen Ce had written to her. She'd read them again and again, and each time, they warmed her heart. She'd picture what Chen Ce must have looked like as he wrote them. She was overjoyed.

As for the intelligence... that gave her a headache.

[ Noxus is about to send a warband to land at the Reef Strait, south of Wuju. They'll be carrying the same kind of alchemical weapons from Zaun that we saw before at Dragonspine Canyon. ]

Fortunately, Chen Ce had also included a solution in the second half of the letter.

[ ...But there's no need to worry too much. I've reached a small town somewhere in southern Wuju and gathered a reasonably strong armed force here. They're all gladiators who've lived in this area since childhood and know the terrain around the Reef Strait very well. ]

[ We learned of Noxus's movements in advance. If you can send some troops from the Resistance Army to join the "Gladiator Legion" I've assembled here, I believe we can defeat the enemy at minimal cost, prevent the Noxian warband from landing, and destroy their alchemical weapons. ]

Irelia's first reaction to Chen Ce's plan was surprise. She hadn't expected him to raise a local armed force in such a short time.

Anyone else reading the letter might have thought he was exaggerating, but she chose to believe him. She knew what Chen Ce was like.

After her surprise came delight. She knew Chen Ce was capable, but she hadn't realized he had such influence.

As for her third reaction... of course she would support him.

Whether as the leader of the Resistance Army or for personal reasons, she thought the plan was entirely feasible.

So she'd already ordered a sizable group of regular Resistance Army soldiers and several elite squads to head for the location Chen Ce had given her.

"Chen Ce..."

Her break having just ended, Irelia reluctantly put the letter away and prepared to get back to work.

But just then, a Resistance Army soldier rushed into the tent in a panic.

"Report, Leader! The Resistance Army camp on the Placidium Plains has requested reinforcements!"

"The Placidium Plains?" At the name, Irelia's heart lurched.

That was her homeland.

The Xan House that had raised her was there.

"According to the local Resistance Army, scattered Noxian forces are gathering and racing toward the Placidium Plains! Their scouts have already clashed with the enemy!" the soldier continued.

"How is the battle going?" Irelia asked.

"We've been forced to retreat for now! The Noxian Legion used a new chemical weapon, and the scouts on the front line were routed!"

"Chemical weapons?" Irelia was taken aback again.

Others might not know much about them, but she knew them all too well...

"Who's leading that Noxian Legion?"

"According to the scouts, it should be Emystan!" the soldier replied. "She's gathered all the forces around the Placidium Plains. It seems she plans to take the region in one fell swoop!"

At that, Irelia's expression darkened.

Emystan again, and alchemical weapons again...

The Placidium Plains lay deep within Ionia. Even if Noxus captured it, the region would be difficult to hold. Besides, there was nothing there that would attract the Noxians. Why go to so much trouble to attack it...

And she'd even brought out alchemical weapons. Those must be precious to her...

Ever since their last encounter at Dragonspine Canyon, the straits in the area had all been reinforced. Emystan shouldn't have had another way to acquire more alchemical weapons. This batch might well be the last she had anywhere in Ionia...

Could it be...

Irelia happened to glance at the letter on the table—the one about the intelligence Chen Ce had intercepted.

In an instant, she came up with a new theory: Emystan wanted to "lure the tiger away from the mountain."

She might be trying to draw the only Windswordsman capable of countering alchemical weapons to the Placidium Plains. That would explain why she didn't care whether the region was worth attacking or whether she could hold it afterward. Her real goal might simply be to seize the chance to attack Placidium while the Windswordsman was on his way to the Plains.

And what would she use to attack Placidium...

The Noxian warband about to land at the Reef Strait—the one Chen Ce said would be carrying alchemical weapons.

That also explained why the warband wasn't landing on Fae'lor Island, which Noxus had already conquered, and was instead going out of its way to land in southern Wuju.

At that thought, a sly smile returned to Irelia's lips.

She would turn the enemy's plan against them.

Only children had to choose between options. She would take both the Placidium Plains and the Reef Strait.

"Give the order: send another three hundred soldiers from the force previously dispatched south of Wuju!"

"Strengthen our defenses along the western coast, using Fae'lor Island as a reference point!"

"Gather reinforcements for the Placidium Plains at once, with the Windswordsman Yasuo in command!"

Chapter 54: You Call This Testing the Resistance Army?

While waiting for Ahri to recover, Chen Ce spent several more days in town.

And those days had been... quite "debauched."

Ahri wasn't in a good state of mind, and needed to spend a lot of time sleeping each day to recover. So she spent her days eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating. That alone wouldn't have been a problem, but she just had to...

Insist that Chen Ce sleep with her.

In that strange position where her tails wrapped around them both. She said it made her feel safe—like a pack of foxes huddling together for warmth on the frozen plains.

Chen Ce had no choice but to force himself to sleep every day, even when he wasn't tired. Honestly, it was all right when he was sleepy. But when he wasn't, having such a beautiful fox girl lying beside him, with so many parts of their bodies pressed together, made it hard for any man with normal urges to fall asleep.

It was sheer torture.

For days on end, Chen Ce had eagerly waited for the moment Ahri fully recovered. At last, she was better.

But just as he was preparing to set off again, the reinforcements he'd written to Irelia to request arrived.

He hadn't planned to lead the battle himself. He'd intended to leave right away. After all, he'd explained the situation clearly in his letter: they only needed to find Sett to carry out the original plan and stop the Noxian warband from landing.

But now that the troops had arrived, there was no need to insist on leaving. He'd only meant to avoid the unnecessary wait of those previous few days, but Ahri had delayed him anyway. There was no time left to save, so he wasn't in a rush to leave a day or two sooner.

Taking part himself wouldn't make much difference to the strategy, but at least his exceptional combat ability could help bring the battle to a swift and easy end.

Since things had come to this, he might as well help.

"Ahri, from now on you can drink as much of my Corrupting Potion as you want, on one condition... you have to come fight a battle with me."

"Oh?" Ahri blinked in confusion, her fox ears standing upright again.

Late that night, in southern Wuju, at the Reef Strait.

Several Noxian warships raced toward the mainland beneath the cover of night. They made quite a commotion, as though they hadn't deliberately chosen to land in the dead of night and had simply happened to arrive then.

In other words, they didn't really need the darkness for cover. They were only pretending.

They knew there were practically no Resistance Army troops stationed here. There were already plenty of Noxians in the area.

The largest Underground Fighting Pit in all of Ionia stood here, and it was packed with Noxians. It was practically the only "no-man's-land" between the two warring nations.

The Ionian side left it alone, and the Noxian side didn't attack it. It was as if both sides had agreed to leave a place where their wealthy merchants and notables could enjoy themselves even during the war.

The commander glanced at the empty shore, then turned to look at the hold packed with two-handled clay jars. He couldn't help feeling a little puzzled.

His mission was to deliver those jars to Emystan in the war zone, but he had no idea what was inside them.

That was classified information from the higher-ups.

"They look just like some kind of strange secret weapon..."

The commander chuckled mockingly as he puffed on his cigar, then turned his gaze back to the shore.

The warships were drawing closer and closer.

The only problem was that the name "Reef Strait" wasn't arbitrary. The closer they got to shore, the more reefs there were beneath the water.

They had to slow down near the shore and stay alert, lest anything go wrong at the last moment.

It would be ridiculous to hit a reef and sink when there wasn't even an enemy in sight to stop them.

"Slow down!" the commander shouted, getting his own gear ready to disembark.

Just then, he spotted someone standing on the shore, dressed all in black. From a distance, he was hard to make out.

As the warships drew closer, the other Noxian soldiers noticed the man too.

Before the Noxian soldiers could question him, the man shouted, "I'm a gladiator from the Underground Fighting Pit! The boss sent me to guide you ashore! My boss is Sett, a bodyguard for Commander Emystan!"

At that, the commander relaxed a little. The biggest investor in the fighting pit was Noxian, and those gladiators were practically on their side.

Besides, this mission had been ordered by Commander Emystan, and only he and Emystan herself knew about it.

But... even so, he wasn't about to trust a stranger so easily—especially an Ionian he'd encountered in the middle of a secret mission.

"No need for you to guide us! Stay where you are!"

"..." The gladiator on the shore fell silent for a moment.

Then he turned and spoke to the darkness behind him. "Looks like these Noxians aren't as easy to fool as we thought."

The next moment, the shore, which had been plunged in darkness, lit up all at once as countless torches flared to life.

A large group of burly men carrying torches emerged from every corner. Some were human, others Vastaya. They varied in height, build, and clothing, but they all had one thing in common—

their eyes were full of murderous intent.

"What are you trying to do?" The Noxian commander immediately signaled his troops to prepare for battle, but he still couldn't understand. Their appearances and builds made it clear they were gladiators from the Underground Fighting Pit. Why were they making trouble for him?

After all, they were dogs kept by Noxian merchants.

He'd landed here so brazenly precisely because he thought these gladiators wouldn't attack Noxians.