Meeting, Regarding the Five Seats of the Federation

"Just as we suspected, Swain did indeed choose to court Demacia, secretly negotiating with several countries in an attempt to unite and contain us."

In the underground conference room of Zaun, Renata stood upright beside Silco, like a secretary, holding intelligence gathered by her spies, and spoke softly.

Upon hearing this, Silco nodded noncommittally, then looked at Li Ke.

Silco wasn't surprised by Swain's actions, because if he were in Swain's position, Silco would most likely have made Swain same choice.

Li Ke once said that Silco and Swain are very similar in many ways; they both tend to think about things in extremes and then take a seemingly feasible, and ultimately feasible, path that actually harms others and themselves.

"Ah, I understand."

Li Ke rubbed his eyes, his face showing exhaustion as he looked at Silco. He yawned and leaned lazily against the wall.

Li Ke was very tired during this time, and so was Taliyah, the little girl whom Li Ke had abducted from Shurima. During this period, she was the most important person in both Twin Cities upper and lower cities.

Taliyah's current position is even more important than Janna's. The first step in land reclamation is to dredge out the silt from the seabed. With the Twin Cities' technology, it's not that they can't go deep into the sea.

Ekko recently developed the Hextech Shield, a small device embedded in clocks and Pocket Watch that can be activated with a single press to release magic for self-protection.

The magic barrier is quite resilient; after a simple test, it proved capable of withstanding attacks from Hextech rifles from all directions within a fifty-meter radius. Therefore, with that device, workers can venture deep into the ocean to carry out their work.

However, compared to Taliyah's use of magic, that speed was far too slow.

The mud that hundreds of people dug out of the seabed over ten days was nowhere near as fast or as much as the soft seabed mud that Taliyah moved by casting magic twice with her hand.

Therefore, Taliyah is currently busy helping out in Zaun. Although many people didn't know what this young girl did at first, now everyone knows that the success of building the New Zaun depends on Taliyah. So, Taliyah is currently very popular among the Zaunite Zaun.

Piltover also extended a friendly gesture to Taliyah, jokingly saying that whether you're in business or science, who wouldn't be envious of Taliyah's abilities?

This girl is practically a multi-functional crane, okay?

Therefore, Taliyah is experiencing both pain and joy in Zaun. Taliyah is happy because she has found a sense of belonging Zaun. Yes, although Taliyah has loving parents, she lacks a sense of belonging within her tribe due to her overly powerful magic. She comes out to gain experience in order to better control her magic and then return to her tribe to help her fellow tribesmen.

The painful part was the exhaustion. It was just too exhausting. If it weren't for Lux recharging Taliyah would be mana-depleted five days a week.

Zaun is not inhuman. Taliyah only needs to work five days a week, with 7-10 hours of work each day, and Saturdays and Sundays are allowed for Taliyah to rest.

Therefore, if she hadn't been treated to lavish meals and hadn't had ample rest, Taliyah would likely have lost a significant amount of weight during this period.

She's actually already super thin!

She's even thinner than Jinx. Taliyah and Jinx are about the same height, but Taliyah is actually about six kilograms thinner than Jinx, which is twelve pounds. This is because Jinx looks thin, but in reality, Jinx has a lean and muscular physique.

Her thighs are full and powerful, her arm muscles are clearly defined, and even when she poses in a bodybuilding style, Jinx's back also has muscle definition.

That makes sense. Jinx is a girl who spends her days hammering heavy objects with a wrench and moving iron and ore to develop weapons. How could she not build muscle?

"Don't worry too much. Didn't we know from the beginning that Swain would do something like this?" Li Ke leaned on the table, looked at Silco, and continued, "We've known about this since the first time we went to Noxus."

"That's true, but if Demacia really joins forces with Noxus, it will indeed cause us considerable trouble." Silco sighed, rubbed his temples, and continued softly:

"Now I finally understand why we humans have never been able to become the masters of Runeterra."

Humanity has spent tens of thousands of years evolving, splitting, uniting, merging, and waging war.

Yet they have never been the masters of Runeterra. Why is that?

This is right here--

With a formidable enemy at hand, and even though they clearly knew how powerful the Void was and how dangerous Runeterra's future enemies would be, they still managed to sabotage the Twin Cities at this crucial moment.

Are you angry?

That's not the case, because Silco has long been well aware of the complexities of human nature.

Moreover, from Swain's perspective, it's not surprising that he made such a choice, because if Swain waited until the Void issue was resolved before trying to suppress the Twin Cities, it would be too late.

Because at that time, the Twin Cities had already established themselves in terms of strength, reputation, and power, which Swain and Noxus could not withstand.

Therefore, he could only choose to launch an attack at this time, making advance arrangements and laying the groundwork for the future.

"Relax, Demacia didn't agree, did they?" Li Ke chuckled, also expressing some surprise at the matter. "But this surprised me quite a bit. I originally thought that Demacia was stubborn and inflexible, and that even if Jarvan III disagreed with the cooperation with Noxus due to his stance, he would still do the same thing as Noxus."

"But I never expected that the old emperor would actually persuade Swain, not only rejecting Swain's request but also taking our side in everything. When the Federation issues a policy, Demacia is the first place to implement it. This really took me by surprise."

"Indeed, Jarvan III is almost sixty years old now, isn't he?" Mel nodded and continued, "For someone in such a high position to still have such thoughts and decisions at his age is truly remarkable."

Mel praised Jarvan III, and she truly believed that it was remarkable that Jarvan III, at such a young age, could make such decisive decisions.

According to investigations by Piltover's spies, Jarvan III has even been secretly working to abolish forbidden magic. What does this mean? It means that Jarvan III is committed to changing Demacia's centuries-old founding principles.

He's currently rebuilding the foundation of Demacia!

To outsiders, forbidden magic is nothing but garbage, but in Demacia, where forbidden magic is the norm, the Demacia naturally don't see it that way. They firmly believe in the convenience that forbidden magic brings them. At this time, Jarvan III wanted to reform forbidden magic, and this determination impressed Mel greatly.

Because this reminded Mel of her own mother; if her mother had the same mindset and abilities as Jarvan III, she wouldn't have ended up like this.

"What's so great about that?" Jayce muttered under his breath. He felt a little jealous of the expression on Mel's face when she praised Jarvan III.

Mel had never used that expression to say he was amazing.

Not in any situation!

"However, we do need to do something to put Swain at ease." Li Ke thought for a moment and then continued, "How about this, the Federation will be set up with five seats in the future, with the Twin Cities as the first, Demacia as the second, followed by Noxus, Freljord, and Ionia."

"When making a decision, the chief has two votes, the other seats have one vote each, and each of the five seats has a veto power. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Silco immediately objected, feeling that Li Ke's idea was inappropriate, and said, "Having voting rights is fine, but I disagree with giving them veto power."

"Their vision is far too narrow. They always focus too much on their own small territory. Giving them veto power will only hinder our development and the future of Runeterra," Silco said coldly.

Once upon a time, both Demacia and Noxus were great nations that Silco looked up to, but now the situation has reversed, and now Demacia and Noxus have to act according to his wishes.

Silco has many flaws, but he also has a very strong advantage: he adapts to his role and position extremely quickly.

Just like now.

But Mel had a different idea from Silco. After thinking for a moment, Mel said:

"I think it's feasible. How about this: we can impose some restrictions on their veto power. For example, any place that wants to use the veto power must pay the Federation two years' worth of Hextech Crystal taxes. I don't think they'll refuse this proposal. It's just a matter of making them return some of the benefits that Twin Cities once gave them while exercising their rights to protect their interests."

Mel stood up, placing her hands on the table. A beautiful gold ring adorned her dark wrists. With a smile, she continued, "I understand what Councilor Silco means. Centralization is important. Although we don't intend to conquer the world, if we want to change it, power cannot be relinquished. But we must reassure them and give them the 'weapons' to limit us, mustn't we?"

Silco's eyes flickered. He took out his cigar case and placed it on the table, wanting to light one, but then he considered the current situation—it wasn't just the Zaunite having a meeting—and refrained from doing so.

"If that's the case, I agree to give them veto power," Silco said after a moment's thought.

Silco understood what Mel meant.

They were given a weapon, made to believe it could protect them, but in reality, Twin Cities had willingly handed it over. The material and its lethality were entirely determined by Twin Cities.

Li Ke laughed, his fatigue dissipating considerably. He looked up at Mel and said teasingly, "Anyway, we decide how the rules are played, right?"

Mel was smiling too; she nodded and said, "Yes, that's exactly what I meant."

"Alright, it's decided then. Send the message to all regions. The land reclamation project is almost complete. In a few weeks, Zaun will be relocated to the new land. Let them witness the changes in Zaun and finalize this matter."

"Who should we invite? How do we choose?" Viktor, who had been silent all along, asked.

He disliked politics, but as an indispensable figure in the Twin Cities, he was naturally present at such important occasions.

Viktor came to replace Professor Heimerdinger. Since his semi-retirement, Science Poppy has stopped interfering in the policies of the Twin Cities. Heimerdinger used to like to interfere in order to maintain the peace between the two cities. He didn't want the Piltover people and Zaunite to actually fight.

He wasn't greedy for power, and now, while the people of the two cities might not be entirely united, they were at least on the same page when it came to external threats. Naturally, Heimerdinger no longer clung to the power he held onto.

He now prefers to stay in his lab as a cat, tinkering with dangerous weapons.

It's ridiculous that he was the one who most opposed developing Hextech weapons.

"Alright, then it's settled. I'll ask Taliyah to speed things up a bit more. She'll have to work a little harder, maybe half a day off a week. Once this period is over, everything will be finished before the local leaders arrive." Li Ke stood up and said.

"Understood. I will issue the order as soon as I get back, inviting leaders from all countries to Twin Cities. The date will be January of 991. What do you think?" Mel said.

"Isn't it a bit too rushed? They'll definitely be very busy after the New Year. Are you sure they'll come?"

Jayce snorted and said, "Busy? As busy as us? Kai'Sa is helping Shurima research Void creatures with a group of Singed scholars, Jinx and Ekko are developing the latest weapons with their teams, Viktor and I are working on the latest communication tools, not to mention you guys, do you have any less to do than them? Right now, even Zeri is acting as a human power plant on the coast!"

Jayce said directly, "No matter how busy they are, they have to come!"

"They'll come after the New Year," Silco said.

"Then it's decided. Um, let's call it a day."

Seeing that the meeting was almost over, Li Ke spoke first.

Don't think this meeting only discussed this one issue; it covered many things, such as the system of New Zaun, the selection of the first people to relocate to New Zaun, and whether to build Piltover next to New Zaun, etc.

The meeting had been going on for almost three hours. Li Ke was already tired, and the intense concentration he had been under had made him want to leave.

Before anyone could speak, Li Ke raised his hands and waved to them, then disappeared with a grin.

"This guy"

When Li Ke disappeared, the dozen or so members of parliament in the meeting were stunned for a moment. Silco shook his head, feeling both amused and annoyed.

"Li Ke has been really busy lately. On one hand, he's helping Kai'Sa and the others research the Void and providing them with ideas; on the other hand, he's negotiating with Freljord; and finally, he has to help Taliyah gather sand and slime every day. He probably hasn't slept much lately, has he?" Auntie Marna said softly.

"Alright, let's call it a day. Everyone, get some rest these next couple of days. There's more trouble to come." With that, Silco led his men away.

Renata bent down and picked up the briefcase that was placed next to Silco's stool, then followed closely behind Silco, taking on the role of her attentive little secretary.

Vander, completely bewildered, yawned and climbed out the window to leave.

Jayce and Mel exchanged a glance, then left together.

Viktor glanced at Jayce, opened his mouth, then closed it again after a long pause. He had wanted to talk to Jayce about that matter, but now, seeing this, he decided against it.

It's best not to be a third wheel.