Parliamentary Debates

Chapter 61 Parliamentary Debates

To be fair, Caitlin neither cared about nor was interested in the development of Ixtal.

On the one hand, forest development, resource exploration, and harvesting are not within the scope of the Gilaman family's authority.

On the other hand, personally, Caitlyn is currently focused on Piltover defense or concentrating more of her energy on the lower city of Zaun.

However, there's no way around it—with the advent of Hextech, the political landscape of Piltover has undergone new changes.

I glanced at the newly built Hextech Airport standing on the coast, and the trade airships that sped through the clouds, accompanied by magical light.

Although the airship trade is still in its infancy and cannot yet replace maritime trade, the mere fact that it opens up new and faster shipping routes has caused Hextech-related stocks to surge.

As investors in Jess, the leader of Hextech, the Giraman family naturally gained a first-mover advantage.

The Kumangu Jungle and Ixtal region in eastern Shurima are important sources of Hextech Crystal, and their influence will inevitably cause a serious upheaval in the entire Hextech industry. Those trading nobles who have not yet entered the game or have already entered the game will inevitably tear into the Gilamann family in terms of defense.

Although Caitlin herself didn't care about this matter, as the head of the family, she knew about it from a very young age—

Born in Giraman, she enjoyed these privileges, but also had corresponding obligations.

Thinking this, Caitlin glanced at Vi beside her. Vi's background was also quite good; she was the adopted daughter of a former leader of Zaun, but she didn't care about these issues of power and responsibility at all.

All you need to remember is revenge; you don't need to think about anything else—that's true freedom.

She felt a little envious, but Caitlin didn't express it. Instead, she quickly led Vi, who was her adjutant, to the council chamber on the top floor of Piltover.

The meeting had not yet started. In addition to the speaker and members of parliament, there were many waiters in the inner room. There was no need to worry about leaks. Even outsiders like Wei were allowed to stay for a short time.

As things stand, both Caitlyn and Vi are marginal, insignificant figures in the Piltover Council. Even though they have entered the council as enforcers, they are only sitting on the sidelines watching, and are not yet qualified to sit at the table.

Looking at the round table in the center of the conference room, a hint of surprise appeared in Caitlin's eyes.

"What's wrong?" Noticing the surprise in Caitlin's eyes, Wei asked in a low voice.

"They're all here." Sensing Vi's confusion, Caitlin added, "The Feros family controls the Hextech crystal industry, holds the patent for synthetic Hextech crystals, and controls the energy and technological lifeline of Piltover."

"The Middarda family, a powerful clan from Noxus, controls maritime trade with Shurima and Noxus, is deeply intertwined with Noxus, and enjoys numerous military orders and trade privileges."

"The Chopard family, the main sponsors of Piltover University, control the allocation of most departments and research funds at Piltover University, dominate basic science and Hextech research, and are also representatives of the great inventor Professor Heimerdinger."

"The Tarrios family controls more than half of the trading fleets and are the rule-makers of maritime trade —"

Caitlin rattled off the backgrounds of several members of parliament standing at the central round table in Piltover Parliament, as if reciting a familiar story.

As they were talking, Caitlin noticed that Vi's face was full of confusion.

Seeing this, Caitlin sighed, then said solemnly, "In the past, each family only needed to send a representative to the meeting, but now—the heads of the families are all here."

"Is it serious?" Wei asked in a low voice.

"The last time something like this happened was with the rebellion launched by Hilkor in Zaun—"

Caitlin glanced helplessly at Vi, then scanned the venue. After discovering that almost every family she could name had arrived, she said, "Meetings of this scale often determine the direction of Piltover's development for a long time to come—it seems that the situation in the Kumangu Jungle is more complicated than we imagined."

As she said this, Caitlin paused slightly, then looked at Vi with a somewhat embarrassed expression and said, "Um—I'm sorry, Vi, this meeting is rather special, limited to members of parliament's families—"

Hearing Caitlin's words, Vi nodded understandingly and said, "Okay, okay, no need to explain, I understand!"

Anyway, I have no interest in getting involved in this kind of nonsense. I'll wait for you outside, bye~

Wei appeared very casual, showing absolutely no interest in attending the meeting.

While Caitlyn breathed a sigh of relief, she also felt somewhat helpless—as the adopted daughter of the previous King of Zaun, Vi seemed to have absolutely no sense of such matters, which left Caitlyn feeling bewildered and conflicted.

And Wei really didn't care much about this kind of thing.

She has never had any interest in such things since she was a child, and now she has been in prison for several years. Moreover, the content of the meeting was something that had nothing to do with Zaun, so Wei has even less interest.

Thinking about it, Wei left the meeting room with a completely indifferent expression, showing no curiosity whatsoever about the meeting's content.

Shortly after Wei left, on the other side, the Speaker coughed lightly and then said, "The Speaker tapped his gavel, his face solemn: "It is now confirmed that there is an ancient country called Ixtal in the Kumangu Mountains."

According to information provided by the Explorers Guild, this ancient nation is suspected to be an elemental magic civilization that existed as early as the Shurima Empire, six thousand years ago in the Noxian calendar.

The Trail Blazers have been attacked and wiped out, but the development of eastern Shurima is crucial to Piltover's future development and resource sources. Gentlemen, please vote.

Upon hearing the Speaker's words, the representative of the Giramann family—

She was also Caitlin's mother, the representative of the Giramanen family, and one of the three auditors in charge of customs and border enforcement. Cassandra Giramanen was the first to stand up and say, "The Giramanen family has close ties with the Explorers' Guild. After a detailed investigation, it can be confirmed that Ixtal possesses a systematic magical power far exceeding our expectations. A head-on confrontation will only cause greater losses."

Ixtal has existed in the rainforest for a long time and has a terrain advantage, so it would be unwise to start a war rashly.

I suggest suspending all exploration and hunting activities, and withdrawing all teams. For now, we should focus on observation and probing, sending envoys to make contact, clarify boundaries, and avoid full-scale conflict.

Upon hearing her mother's words, Caitlin nodded thoughtfully.

This coincides with Caitlin's own thoughts.

As soon as Lady Cassandra finished speaking, she was interrupted by a silver-haired old man who looked extremely old and was sitting in a Hextech wheelchair.

Caitlin knew this man—Steván Feros, the head of the Feros family and one of the most powerful and influential people in all of Piltover.

Legend has it that behind it is a secret agent organization that monitors the entire Piltover and Zaun. This organization has all the intelligence trends in Piltover and constantly eliminates and annihilates any potential threats that could destabilize Piltover.

As the old saying goes, if you don't know if something exists, then it exists.

Especially as a law enforcement officer, Caitlin has felt more than once that there seems to be an invisible hand silently pushing her to complete the investigation behind many cases.

Whenever she asked her mother, she would only say, "It's not time for you to know yet."

While Caitlin was still thinking, Stevan stood in the center of the council, his face full of indifference.

Stevan glanced at Cassandra, then looked around at the crowd and said coldly, "Compromise? Pause? Do you know what's hidden in that forest?"

"It contains Hextech Crystal raw materials, elemental mineral veins, various exotic beast materials, and rare magical plants—"

That's not just a forest, it's a treasure trove with its doors wide open to us!

Despite his missing legs, Stevan's face was filled with excitement.

He slammed his hand on the table, his eyes revealing undisguised greed: "Ixtal has been sealed off for thousands of years. So what if it has magic? So what if it's ancient?"

Can they withstand our new generation of Hextech cannons? Can they withstand our airborne fleet?

"Gentlemen, wake up! They are just a group of native mages hiding in the primeval jungle. If they really had great power, why would they choose to hide in such a desolate place?"

Don't be scared by them; they're willing to let these messages out to intimidate us.

"And if we concentrate our efforts, we can bring the entire eastern Shurima into the Piltover system!"

Upon hearing Stevan's words, another family representative stood up and said, "We don't need to be in such a hurry. We can negotiate with them while sending people out to investigate and find out their strengths and weaknesses."

If they're willing to cooperate and develop Ixtal together to make money, that would be ideal—even in the event of war, we need to be prepared, right?

Someone scoffed, "What if they initiate the attack?"

"That would be even better," a family representative replied indifferently. "We can then use 'self-defense' as a pretext to launch a full-scale war and annex that land, making it perfectly legitimate."

Seeing the crowd discussing and already making plans to develop Ixtal, some conservative family representatives fell silent.

In response, Mel, representing the Middarda family, merely glanced at Stevan with an ambiguous expression and simply stated, "The Middarda family approves of sending troops to Ixtal."

Seeing this, Stevan smiled and then said loudly, "Gentlemen, there's no need to hide the fact that Ixtal possesses what we need most!"

Stevan said, "Elemental veins that stably produce magical materials, Hextech crystal ore, magical beasts, plant materials, and their magical techniques passed down through generations."

"If we can make Ixtal a part of Piltover, then Piltover will reach a whole new level."

Even a great city-state comparable to Noxus!

Seeing that the many family representatives attending the meeting had already expressed their inclinations, Cassandra, a conservative, sighed, but still frowned and asked, "What about the people of Ixtal? If it really is war, they won't just sit and wait to die. And is Piltover really prepared for bloodshed?"

"Bleeding? Haha." Upon hearing this, Stevan shook his head and said, "Have you forgotten what I just said? They are just a bunch of natives. Even if they have mastered magic, they are still just mortals and cannot withstand the shells of Hextech weapons."

"They had no choice—either submit and mine and labor for us, or disappear completely."

Upon hearing this, the council chamber fell silent for a moment, and then a public vote was held under the chairmanship of the speaker.

Ultimately, 9 votes were for a peaceful approach, while 4 votes were for expanding influence, waiting for an opportunity to wage war, and dividing Ishtar among themselves.

8. No one abstained, and the motion passed by a large majority.

Following that, the allocation of the plan and the dispatch of personnel took place.

Considering that this is directly related to the future division of profits after the occupation of Ixtal, the competition among the various trading nobles will be more intense than expected.

Just as Piltover's propaganda machine began to operate in full swing, portraying Ischtal as an untapped goldmine,

It attracts explorers from Piltover, Zaun, and even the continents of Valoran and Shurima to come and explore.

With the support of life energy, Nidalee's condition was relatively stable, while Farin was exhausted and still fast asleep.

Sure enough, upon seeing Tarin get up, Nidalee, though still a little tired, quickly got up as well.

Tarlin wasn't in a hurry. After confirming that Farin was in a deep sleep and in a stable condition, he began to draw life spells on her body.

In addition to the wrists, considering that the area that absorbed the most life energy yesterday, Tarin also painted on the lower abdomen.

Once he confirmed that the spell was running smoothly and stably, Tarin nodded in satisfaction. He then gestured for Nidalee to stay still and drew a set for her as well.

Having familiarized myself with the process last night, I was much more efficient in Tallinn this time. Although there was the additional drawing on the abdomen, it only took a little over two hours in total.

After organizing these experiences in my mind, it was already noon.

Tallinn also came to the open space outside the courtyard and took out the materials on the spot to prepare for the ceremony.

Having only completed half of it, Farin emerged from the bedroom, draped in Tarin's robe, and walked to Tarin's side, her long, beautiful legs swaying gracefully.