Chapter 427 Sivir: Will the leader give me a husband?
The setting sun cast its afterglow on the ridgeline of the desert, dyeing the endless yellow sand into a deep red sea.
The sky gradually darkened, the clouds changed from orange to dark red, and then gradually dimmed. The wind was still howling in the desert, but the air it brought was no longer scorching hot, but rather freezing cold and unbearable.
"Stop." Xiweier looked up at the sky: "The wind may be very strong tonight."
"Yeah." Taliyah nodded secretly.
It is common sense for every Shuriman not to travel in the desert at night.
It is easy to get lost at night, and it is freezing cold. Some dangerous desert creatures also like to roam under the cover of darkness.
And the sandstorm that the fierce night wind may bring at any time is a natural force that ordinary extraordinary people cannot resist.
Therefore, the merchant tribes walking in the Shurima Desert would drive the Skarash - a creature similar to a camel but several times larger - to form a giant circular "camel wall" at night to block the sandstorms at night and provide them with a desert haven where they can build temporary camps and light warm bonfires.
These safe havens are like mobile cities in the desert, ensuring that the Shurimans can survive tenaciously in this cruel land and safely spend one cold and merciless night after another.
But Taliyah couldn't use this trick.
She has a more convenient way:
"Rock Protrusion - Civil Engineering Technique!"
Taliyah jumped lightly off the rock "skateboard" floating on the sand sea, and lightly touched the ground with her toes. The earth began to tremble slightly in the ochre-colored magic halo.
Soon, the underground rocks protruded from under the endless yellow sand and reached the surface.
They constantly shifted, deformed, and reshaped their structures, and unexpectedly, on this endless desert with nothing in it, they created a series of rough yet sturdy stone huts.
"Wow, this is really convenient." Although it was not the first time that Shiver had seen such a wonder, she still couldn't help but marvel at it.
She had dealt with many mages in her long mercenary career, but it was rare to see such mages using magic to create things rather than destroy them.
"Because this is the magic of our leader." Taliyah answered proudly.
The Leaders have been committed to studying how to apply magic to daily production and life, so that mages can play their special role as extraordinary people in other places besides the battlefield.
To put it in a high emotional intelligence way, this is called further liberating productivity;
To put it in a low EQ way, this is called preparing for the employment problems of future mages in advance.
Otherwise, when the world becomes peaceful in the future, they will not be able to find suitable jobs that match their talents, and they will be too ambitious and unwilling to do the same job as ordinary people, and eventually they will be collectively unemployed and laid off, becoming an unstable factor in society.
Levi wanted to organize a League of Legends sports league for the same reason.
In short, to the Leader, a mage is more than just a humanoid weapon of war.
A fire elemental mage can be a good cook who can control the fire perfectly;
A water elemental mage can be a firefighter who protects people’s safety;
Wind elemental mages can work in the aviation profession and serve as safety guardians of airplanes and airships;
Spiritual mages can follow Seraphine's example and shine in political propaganda positions...
Among the many categories of extraordinary people, the employment issue of earth elemental mages is the least worrying.
Prospecting, mining, ore dressing, archaeological excavation, disaster relief, civil construction... there are so many places where they can be used.
"When I was a grassroots cadre in Zaun, I worked on construction sites," Taliyah recalled proudly. "Many magic used in the construction field was developed by me and my fellow workers through trial and error."
"Yeah." Sivir nodded casually in response.
Using magic to carry out production and construction does sound interesting.
The enthusiasm of Talia and others to work together to build a better life, as well as the various achievements they have made, also make people instinctively yearn for them.
But after these days of getting along, Xiweier already had enough understanding of the leader. She had begun to be immune to all the good things that the leader showed.
She realized that her yearning for the Leader was not much different from the Shurimans' yearning for Piltover.
Ultimately, it is a yearning for a better life and better material conditions.
However, Sivir still could not accept the truly valuable things of the Leaders - their ideals and beliefs, or the Leaders' ideology, from the bottom of her heart.
If she could accept it, she would not have refused the "free" divine power and would have spent every day in the desert watching Skaras grinning and practicing boomerangs at the air.
"Okay, okay." Sivir looked at the sun that had completely set in the sky, feeling the gradually fiercer sandstorm, and she had no interest in listening to Taliyah's introduction to her career as a leader in Zaun.
"It's night. Taliyah, come inside and take shelter."
As she spoke, she tied her scarash casually outside the stone house and walked into the house carrying her luggage.
After arranging accommodation for her companions, Taliyah followed them into Sivir's room.
There are only two women in the entire investigation team and mercenary group.
In order to have someone to look after them during the dangerous desert nights, they have always lived in the same stone house.
After entering the house, Taliyah saw Sivir wolfing down several large pieces of dried meat and naan with water.
Then she took off the leather armor and cloth boots that had long been stained with sweat, and used her toes to rub off the pair of wet and torn socks.
Without waiting for Taliyah to call her, she lazily wrapped herself in a dirty windproof blanket and collapsed on the simple stone bed.
His eyes closed, his nose trembled, and it seemed that he would start snoring in the next second.
"You...are going to sleep now?" Taliyah hesitated and installed the alchemical battery in the camping light, illuminating the room.
"What else can you do if you don't sleep?" Sivir raised his eyelids lazily: "On a desert night, there is nothing else to do except sleep."
"Don't worry. My mercenaries will stand guard for you. If there is anything unusual, I will wake up at the first time."
As she spoke, she turned over in the blanket, ready to fall asleep to the whistling sound of the wind outside.
"Don't you read?" Taliyah asked with some concern.
She had been silently observing Shiver's thoughts and learning situation.
Sivir used to be very enthusiastic about studying, but in recent days, not only has Sivir become more and more obsessed with practicing boomerangs during the day, but he has also read less and less at night.
Today...
"I don't want to watch it anymore." Sivir gave up : "I don't understand it."
"What's wrong with you?" Taliyah approached enthusiastically and sat down on the single stone bed next to her. "You can ask me if you don't understand something, just like you did a few days ago."
However, Sivir did not rush to ask questions like before, but fell into silence and thought.
After a long while, she shook her head seriously and said, "Forget it, I won't ask anymore."
"I found out that it's not that I can't understand your book."
The book "A Brief Account of Janna's Thought" in Sivir's hand is the most people-friendly version after many iterations by the Guild of Leaders in order to take into account the per capita cultural level of Runeterra.
This is at most an introductory guide to Janna Prime, and the threshold for understanding is not that high.
So Sivir actually understood it.
"I just can't accept it." Sivir replied with a frown.
"Why can't you accept it?" Taliyah was puzzled: "Isn't our faith as the Wind Leader bad?"
"Okay, of course." Sivir took out the crumpled booklet from her chest and sighed, "It's just too good. It makes people feel unrealistic."
"What do you mean?" Taliyah thought.
"That's your ultimate ideal!" Sivir pointed directly to the core point of the Leader's theory: "The so-called Great Harmony Society."
“Taliyah, I believe in the abilities and character of you, the Wind Leaders. I also believe that you can make Zaun, Shurima, and even the entire Runeterra better.”
"But this is better, just a little better at best."
"For example... no matter how well you do, it's impossible for everyone in Runeterra to live the same wonderful life as in Piltover, right?"
"Well..." Taliyah nodded frankly: "At present, it is indeed impossible."
Piltover and Zaun are the only two developed industrial cities in Runeterra today.
If we use the leader's definition of the quality of human life, then in the vast area outside the twin cities, more than 99% of the world's population is actually still in a state of extreme poverty.
Just two cities are going to lead the whole world out of poverty and into prosperity. This is easier said than done.
“Just because we can’t do it now doesn’t mean we can’t do it in the future.” Taliyah said confidently: “As long as we stay on the right path and keep working hard, we will definitely be able to make people all over the world live a life as good as that of Piltover.”
"How long will it take?" asked Sivir.
"Uh..." Taliyah was speechless.
Although the Wind Leaders are good at making plans and setting out to complete them, their influence is far from spreading all over the world. They don't know enough about the overall situation of Runeland, so how can they make a long-term plan that can help the whole world get rid of poverty and become rich?
“Look.” Sivir slumped back down in her blanket, looking like a wriggling caterpillar. “You can’t even tell us when we can live like Piltover people.”
"Then how can you dare to promise that you can definitely realize a Janna-dominated society?"
Sivir's questioning was powerful.
But Taliyah's expression became firm: "Sivir, of course we dare to promise."
"Because this is the truth, it is the objective law of human social development, not our wishful thinking."
"The rule of Janna will definitely come true. Just like the slave society replaced the primitive society, and the feudal society replaced the slave society in history -"
"The society dominated by Ziben that emerged from the Twin Cities still has a certain vitality, but it will eventually be completely replaced by the Great Harmony Society dominated by Gana in the future!"
"Impossible!" Sivir retorted.
She believes that the harmonious society that the leader talks about is simply a fairy tale that is impossible to achieve.
"I would rather believe that Eagle King Azir will rise from the grave and let the Shurima Empire rise again than believe in your so-called universal society! If nothing else, there is only one thing -"
“How can this be achieved?”
Miss Shiver had obviously thought it over carefully.
She gave an example and questioned, "Taliyah, you also saw what happened in Beljum a few days ago."
"After being freed, the slaves were still not satisfied. They wanted revenge. But after revenge, were they satisfied?"
"No! They will rush into the streets to rape and plunder, and to divide up the slave owners' wives, and to put more money into their own pockets!"
"Human desires are endless. How can we distribute them according to need?"
"How high does this 'high development' of productivity have to be in order to satisfy the endless needs of everyone?"
Sivir asked confidently.
But Taliyah smiled instead.
She was not afraid that Sivir had problems, but she was afraid that Sivir would read without thinking and really not understand anything.
The question raised by Sivir is actually a common fallacy among beginners in their understanding of Janna's Lordship.
So Taliyah replied with ease: "Sivir, you made a mistake."
“When we leaders talk about distribution according to needs, we mean satisfying people’s reasonable needs, not their unlimited desires.”
This is a very important distinction.
If a harmonious society can only be achieved by satisfying the infinite desires of mankind, then the harmonious society is just like the paradise that religious people talk about, which is a pure fantasy.
If we look at Janna's thoughts with this kind of fantasy, we can only draw a wrong conclusion -
Only when productivity is extremely developed and material wealth is extremely abundant, so abundant that almost unlimited resources can be used to satisfy human desires, can a true harmonious society be achieved.
But the reality is that human material resources can never be abundant to the point of being infinite.
Therefore, the Great Harmony Society cannot be realized now, nor can it be realized in the future. The future of the future is also impossible to realize.
"Vested interests will always have good reasons to resist change, and the day of achieving a harmonious society will be postponed indefinitely."
"But Miss Sivir, is the harmonious society in the Leader's theory really what you have misinterpreted? No!"
Distribution according to needs means distribution based on people’s reasonable living needs.
Human desires are infinite, but reasonable needs are limited.
"Just like you want to eat delicious food, even if you imagine it in the most luxurious place - you want to eat the top-quality sea beast steak produced in Hong Kong."
"Even if you can eat a ton by yourself, you should be able to eat enough, right?"
Since we can eat our fill, there is an upper limit to our demand.
Since there is an upper limit to demand, these demands can theoretically be met through the development of productivity.
For example, a ton of top-grade sea beast steaks may be more expensive than a ton of gold today.
But with the development of science and technology, it is entirely possible for humans to invent large-scale marine animal breeding technology in the future, allowing everyone to eat marine animal meat until they vomit.
"A harmonious society means that when material resources are abundant enough, they are reasonably distributed according to everyone's needs. Do you understand, Sivir?"
"Uh..." Sivir was a little confused.
She stopped and thought carefully for a long time, but still felt something was wrong.
“No, no, no…” She wiped her face with her hands and said, “Not all needs can be satisfied this way, right?”
No matter how much a person eats, he can only eat a few bowls of rice at a meal; no matter how much a person wears, he can only wear a few pieces of clothes at the same time; no matter how much a person lives, he can only live in one house at a time; no matter how much a person travels, he can only drive one car at a time.
It seems that there is a reasonable upper limit to human's normal life needs.
In a harmonious society with great material abundance, people can eat whatever they want, wear whatever they want, live in whatever house they want, and drive whatever car they want.
As long as there is no extravagance and waste, and no excessive demands, these reasonable needs seem to be met.
"Where is that woman?" Xiweier asked carelessly.
When people are well fed and clothed, they think about sex. Sexual needs are also basic human needs.
Thinking of her and Taliyah's gender, she changed her words and said, "There are also men."
"If I want your President Levi to be my mistress - not more than one, just him alone, is that reasonable?"
“Can the Great Harmony Society distribute food according to my needs?”
Sivir felt as if she had grasped the weakness of the Leader's theory.
Unexpectedly, Taliyah looked at her with a helpless expression as if she was looking at a nitpicker: "It seems that you still don't understand, Miss Sivir."
"Treat people as objects, sex as resources, and spouse as one's own private property. These are the values of a private ownership society and are the most naked alienation of people by Ziben."
"In a harmonious society of public ownership, everyone is a free person with equal social status."
"If President Levi is willing to be your mistress, no one can stop you; but if he is unwilling, no one can force him to do so."
Still expecting the leader to give you a husband/wife? You are dreaming!
The life of your husband/wife is also a life. Why should they be treated as objects and sent back and forth?
As she spoke, Taliyah looked helplessly at Sivir and the terribly dirty blanket on her body.
Although Miss Sivir was a beauty, her years of life as a desert mercenary had apparently blurred her gender.
Generally speaking, although Shurimans rarely bathe due to lack of water, they will try to clean themselves as much as possible when conditions permit.
But Sivir, who had been with a group of rough mercenaries for a long time, didn't care about this at all - after all, even if she washed herself clean, she would soon become dirty due to high-intensity combat and training.
So Sivir simply gave up on personal hygiene completely.
Her leather armor, boots, and blankets looked like Zaun's alchemical weapons. The two stinky socks thrown aside could be used as alchemical grenades.
Every time Taliyah lived in the same room with her, she had to secretly use magic to isolate herself from the space and ventilate it before she could sleep peacefully.
For this reason, she once vaguely mentioned to Sivir that there was actually a water elemental mage accompanying their investigation team, so taking a bath in the desert would not be difficult.
But Sivir told her generously that a desert mercenary would never need to take a bath in his entire life.
If the "shield" on her skin was rubbed clean, she would not be able to ignore the scorching sun and dust of Shurima.
"Miss Sivir." Just at this point, Taliyah couldn't help but remind him: "Even in a harmonious society, people are not absolutely equal. After all, people are born beautiful or ugly, and their living habits are also acquired."
"If you are always so sloppy and untidy, no man will like you even if you live in a harmonious society."
"If you don't work hard to change yourself and expect the leader to give you a husband, it will definitely not work."
Sivir: “…”
…
While Taliyah and Sivir were discussing Janna's theory and Miss Sivir's personal hygiene:
At a distance so far that even the most elite desert mercenaries could not perceive it, in that lonely and vast endless sea of sand, between the biting night wind and violent sandstorms where mortals could not survive at all—
There was a figure walking alone in the desert in the dark night.
He was extremely tall and burly, not like a human.
However, this burly figure was completely covered by a dirty coarse cloth robe, making it impossible to see his body outline.
His face was also hidden under the stretched turban, and his fingers were wrapped in leprosy-like bandages - as if he really had some incurable disease and dared not show even an inch of skin in front of others.
But this person is obviously not a terminally ill patient.
Because the desert storm that could blow the huge rocks in the Gobi Desert to the ground could not even shake his body.
A heavy weapon wrapped in rags, with the outline of a giant axe vaguely visible, was also carried on his shoulder effortlessly by him.
And the most terrifying thing was that he could actually hear the voices of distant travelers across the howling night wind and at an unknown distance.
"Someone is resting there... Is he a traveler?" He murmured to himself in a weathered voice, and let the voice dissipate alone in the thousand-year-old wind of Shurima.
Then he stopped.
Listening to the conversations of travelers in the desert is his only pleasure now.
Or maybe it was the only thing he still cared about.
He was not interested in the private stories of these little people, nor did he want to find out any treasure secrets or current affairs from the conversations of travelers.
Treasures had long lost their meaning to him.
He no longer cared about what happened in the world outside the desert.
The only thing he cares about is knowledge.
Yes.
Don't be fooled by his tall and strong figure and the huge axe he carries, which makes him look like a berserker.
But he is actually a scholar and a great intellectual.
He had an instinctive interest in all knowledge.
He really wanted to know whether the ancient knowledge had been passed down to the Shurimans today; and whether the Shurimans today had created new knowledge that would amaze him.
The answer to this question has always disappointed him in the past.
Since the fall of the Shurima Empire, the civilization of this land has completely regressed.
The cultural heritage of Shurima has almost been cut off, and the Shurimans have long lost their thirst for knowledge - after all, for the Shurimans today, survival is enough for them to do their best.
Over the centuries, the conversations he heard from travelers always made him extremely disappointed and sigh.
The Shurima Empire fell.
The Shurimans no longer had the ability to look up at the stars.
Until now…
"Datong...society?" He heard the conversation between the two girls.
This was an extremely unfamiliar word, and also an extremely unfamiliar knowledge to him.
At the beginning, he thought, like the little man named Sivir, that this was an unrealistic fantasy of religious people.
He was also curious about how the goddess Janna, whose temples they easily destroyed and whose faith was exterminated, could make a comeback three thousand years later with such a ridiculous invention.
But as I listened...
His pointed ears stood up uncontrollably.
His eyes also glowed green in the night.
"This... this is not a fantasy."
"This is knowledge, knowledge I have never seen before!"
He stopped completely and looked far away in the direction where the sound came from.
He hadn't had any contact with humans for many years. Seeing Shurima's current state only made him feel more guilty and remorseful.
But this time...
"Knowledge should be sought even in Ionia."
Nasus muttered to himself and walked towards the biting wind.
