Chapter 177 As long as we launch the attack, everything will be fine
Riven didn't know how the empire became what it is today.
As for how to change the current situation of the empire, this problem is definitely not something that a small middle-level officer like her can solve.
The only thing she could change was the poor old woman's current situation.
"Can we come to your house?" Riven asked.
Of course the old woman agreed.
She brought Riven and Marit back home to a fairly splendid farmhouse.
The group pushed open the door and walked in. They found that although the furnishings in the house were a little old, the items were complete, clean and neatly arranged, giving a good overall impression.
There were sofas, a fireplace, a large dining table, rugs on the floor, and paintings on the walls. The home decoration was much more luxurious than that of an average peasant family in Triville.
"Mom, are there any guests?" A little girl, no more than 7 or 8 years old, poked her head out of the house sweetly.
"This is my little daughter." The old woman held the child in her arms lovingly and introduced her, "She is also my last child."
"Oh..." Riven breathed a sigh of relief.
It turned out that she had one child left. Fortunately, she didn't encounter the worst situation.
Then Riven looked at the old woman and her last daughter, and couldn't help asking, "Madam, have you been doing well these past two years?"
"Okay, that's okay." The old woman nodded.
In just a few years, her husband, two sons and a daughter died. It should have been impossible for her to live a good life.
But her tone was serious, and it didn't sound like she was just responding to the polite words of a leader visiting her home.
Because it was precisely the sacrifice of her husband and children that allowed her to live a "good life":
"Although the resettlement allowance and pensions for my husband and children were delayed, they were all paid in the end. With this money, I bought a lot of land when Master Kawa fled. Now I can hire people to farm the land instead of working on my own."
"Moreover, the grain collector knows that my husband is a veteran with more than ten years of service, and that my family is a military family of the empire, so the grain he asks me for is less than that of other families..."
"So even though life has been stressful over the past two years, I think we can still get by."
The old woman held her little daughter in her arms and kept talking.
After hearing this, Riven asked with concern: "Your husband has been in the army for more than ten years?"
"Yes." The old woman nodded.
"Then I should know him!" Riven said with emotion.
When she was a child, she knew that there was an uncle who was born a serf at the east end of the village. He not only gained the status of a free man by joining the army, but also made a small fortune, married a wife, and had his own land and house.
This story had a profound impact on Riven.
It was inspired by this counterattack story that she finally made up her mind to sign up for the army and try to change her fate with her own strength.
"I still remember the story that uncle always told people..." Riven finally found some sense of familiarity as a wanderer returning home and began to recall her childhood memories.
"I think he made some contribution during the war in Shurima or Demacia, and brought back a gold bracelet or a ring from the battlefield?"
"Ring, it's a ring!" There seemed to be light in the old woman's eyes.
She and Riven recalled the good memories of the past: "That was the ring of a Shurima tribal noble, and there was more than one!"
"My husband was the first to rush into the camp and cut off the barbarian's hand with one blow. The commander gave him the severed hand as a reward for his bravery."
"Do you know? There were five rings on that broken hand!" the old woman said excitedly.
"My husband was so excited that he was completely stunned. He tried to pry the ring off his finger for a long time but couldn't get it off."
"Everyone was laughing at him. The commander joked, 'If you can't even deal with a Shuriman's severed hand, you might as well forget about the ring.' So he just chopped the hand off and dug the ring out of the pulp..."
"It is thanks to these rings that we have fields, properties, children, and our own home..." the old woman said tenderly.
Recalling the good old days, she felt like she was alive.
It’s better to stay in the past.
Although there were frequent wars at that time, the impression that war left on the Noxian people was so beautiful.
At that time, the Noxian Empire was always winning battles, destroying a country today and massacring a city tomorrow, and its pace never stopped.
At that time, the Noxians were trying their best to join the army, and to become a soldier they had to compete and rob.
"At that time, every time my husband went to war with the army, he would bring back many, many good things."
"And now..."
Now, let alone the spoils, even the people can’t come back.
Noxus has suffered a lot of defeats in recent years.
Her husband and children were all dead.
"Hmm..." As if realizing that she might have complained too much, the old woman stopped talking abruptly.
"It's okay." Marit was very tolerant this time.
She said to the old woman, "Madam, your husband and children are heroes of the Empire. Their sacrifice will not be in vain."
"Maybe the next two years will be hard, but I believe everything will be fine in the future. As long as we..."
"Kill all the Demacians!" Before Marit could finish her words, a childish voice suddenly rang out.
The person who spoke turned out to be the old woman's little daughter, the little girl who was only 7 or 8 years old and had been hiding in her mother's arms.
“What… did you say?” Riven and Marit were stunned for a moment.
"All we need to do is kill all the Demacians !" the little girl said in a baby voice, "My brothers and sisters all said that the land of Demacians is much more fertile than Triwell. As long as we get rid of all these barbarians, we won't have to starve anymore!"
Marit was silent for a while, then smiled in surprise: "Yes, good kid! You are right!"
"We must not only clean up the Demacians, but also the Shurimans, Ionians, and Freljordians - every inch of land under the sun should belong to the great Noxus!"
"Runeterra is a gift from God to Noxus."
"Those weaklings are not worthy of occupying such a vast land. Only by destroying, annexing and conquering them all can we carve out a living space for us Noxians!"
"For Noxus!" Marit shouted the slogan emotionally.
"For Noxus!" the little girl babbled along.
But children are children after all.
After she won everyone's favor with a few words, she asked an inappropriate question: "Big sister, when will Noxus defeat Demacia?"
"Well..." Of course Marit would not show her weakness in front of the child.
She held the rune sword inlaid with magic gems and said confidently:
"The previous defeat was only temporary. The Empire is already gathering strength and preparing for the next all-out offensive against Demacia."
"Believe me sister, as long as the Empire launches an attack, everything will be fine!"
"Yeah!" The little girl didn't understand anything and just jumped there excitedly.
Riven listened quietly on the side, but her expression was very subtle.
She knows what's happening on the front line better than anyone else.
In the past, the imperial army took an elite approach, aiming to attract strong men to join the army with high welfare benefits.
After all, a Noxian soldier's standard armor, helmet, sword, axe and other individual equipment, all added up to about 200 kilograms.
If you are not physically strong, you are not even qualified to be a soldier in Noxus.
Now, as the war drags on and casualties become increasingly severe, Riven, who has been fighting on the front lines for many years, is shocked to find that the quality of the Imperial Army is actually declining at a rate visible to the naked eye.
After several years of fierce fighting, Noxus has even begun to recruit orphans, serfs, and vagrants who do not meet the physical requirements into the army.
They didn't even get any training, let alone armor. They were just given weapons and sent directly to the battlefield to fill in the gaps.
The result is that the more they fight, the weaker they become, and the weaker they become, the more they fight, almost falling into a vicious circle.
Yes, the Demacians have been through a lot in recent years, but how much better can Noxus be?
"With this empire now..." Riven couldn't help but think: "If we continue to fight..."
“Will things really get better?”
