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Arcane: TTB: Ch. 53
🕑 Added 2025-02-23 20:04:59 +0000 UTCCipher launched into a philosophical argument, successfully pushing Viktor into deep thought.
Perhaps perfection wasn't the absence of flaws, but the harmony of contradictions. Viktor wrestled with the concepts.
After all, everything he said was objectively true, leaving Viktor without a counterpoint.
Desire might have its dark side, but if properly restrained by law, it could also serve as the driving force behind progress.
Eliminate human nature, remove desire, and people become nothing more than machines without ambition, unable to advance any further.
In the end, the world would become just like the timeline in the original story, devastated and devoid of hope, with everyone reduced to mere puppets.
There was no reward for achieving perfection, only an end to the pursuit of it.
Perfection itself was flawed. A perfect world just did not exist.
Cipher had just finished his conversation with Viktor when Mel rested her interlocked fingers under her chin and made a suggestion. "Cipher, since Professor Heimerdinger and General Lester are both here, I think we should have a discussion about the future of Piltover and Zaun."
"Shouldn't we finish breakfast first and then head to the conference hall? A great day always starts with a good meal," she added, her tone carrying just a hint of proper nobility.
As Mel spoke, Heimerdinger was busy using a knife and fork, sipping his soup while cutting into a fried egg. His small face showed pure delight with each spoonful.
The rich aroma of the mushrooms blended perfectly into the broth, and the seasoning was just right. Even in Piltover, he had never tasted such a delicious soup.
The fried egg was cooked to perfection, not too greasy, fragrant but not overwhelming, a dish clearly prepared by a master chef.
The meal was so exquisite that when Heimerdinger heard Mel's suggestion, he instinctively recalled all the times meetings had to be held in the council chamber. Stuffy rooms and endless debates seemed particularly unappealing right now.
He wasn't ready to abandon this amazing breakfast just to attend a meeting, that would be terrible.
So, he raised his small paw, signaling his desire to finish eating first.
"Agreed!"
Curled up in Cipher's lap, Powder had been dozing off, but at the sight of Heimerdinger raising his paw, she instantly perked up.
She lifted her tiny hands, her large blue eyes blinking as she looked at Heimerdinger. "Professor, can I touch you? You're just too adorable!"
"Now?" Heimerdinger attempted to maintain his dignity.
"Please? Just one pat?" Powder's eyes sparkled with hope.
"No, you can't—"
Heimerdinger instinctively refused, but when he saw the hint of disappointment in her bright blue eyes, his resolve softened. His long ears twitched.
"Alright, you may, but only if you complete today's studies and pass my test."
"After all, you're still a child, and children always have special privileges."
He shrugged, his small face showing a large expression of helplessness, unwilling to refuse a child's request.
"Got it, Professor! I'll definitely do it!"
Powder clapped her hands excitedly, bouncing in Cipher's arms.
"Alright, Powder, eat first," Cipher said, gently pinching her chubby cheeks, signaling her to stop pestering Heimerdinger for now.
"Professor, let's just have the meeting while we eat. In the end, isn't all our pursuit just about having a full meal? Discussing things over breakfast still sounds good to me."
His words carried a double meaning, and he deliberately emphasized "a full meal."
Among the adults present, only the ever-straightforward Heimerdinger failed to pick up on the underlying message. He simply raised his paw and nodded in agreement. "That's an interesting perspective. A meeting doesn't always have to be so formal."
Mel frowned slightly. Having been raised under strict noble etiquette, she found it difficult to accept discussing official matters at the dining table, it was far from proper.
Yet with two of the three leaders already in agreement and Lester merely observing for amusement, offering no opinion, she had no choice but to go along with it.
Fortunately, she was flexible and a seasoned politician, quickly adjusting to the situation without letting it affect her composure.
"Cipher, let's start with you. From Viktor's description, Jayce and I have come to understand your grand vision."
She glanced at Lester, a faint, almost imperceptible smirk of mockery playing on her lips.
In front of Heimerdinger, she wanted to poke at Cipher's weaknesses, carefully observing his reaction to determine whether he was truly a pioneer of change or just another manipulative fraud.
After a brief pause, her smile remained, but there was no warmth in her voice. "Your words paint a beautiful future, Cipher. Yet your actions..."
"Speak louder than words?" Cipher met her gaze steadily.
"Leave trails of blood across Runeterra." Mel's voice carried the weight of accusation.
"The remains of one of your weapons. Found in the ruins of a village. There were children there. Children just like her." She nodded toward Powder, who had gone very still in Cipher's arms.
"You speak of oppression, of Piltover's crimes against Zaun. Yet here you are, profiting from death and suffering across the continent." Her lip curled slightly. "How many orphans have your weapons created while you sit here preaching about saving them?"
"Your actions just don't seem to match your so-called grand vision. Would you care to explain? This will determine how I choose to treat the Undercity."
Like a skilled fighter exploiting an opponent's weak spot, she went straight for the jugular, delivering a strike meant to be lethal.
Beneath her composed, graceful exterior was the immense pressure of a political powerhouse representing Piltover's elite.
No matter how sound Cipher's arguments were in The Book of Revolution, no matter how beautiful the future he depicted, none of it could change the fact that he was selling weapons to Noxus.
The label of a war profiteer was set in stone.
Demacia, Freljord, Shurima, Ionia, countless innocent lives lost to the weapons he supplied.
He preached about Piltover's oppression of the Undercity, about how the topside fed off Zaun's lifeblood, yet was selling weapons to Noxus somehow more noble than what Piltover had done?
The number of Zaunites who perished because of Piltover's oppression might not even come close to those who died by the weapons he supplied.
Piltover was ruthless, but was he any better? The pot calling the kettle black... that was this kind of atmosphere right now.
Viktor's expression darkened. Cipher's involvement in arms dealing was undeniably a stain on his record, but at its core, this situation was caused by Piltover's economic blockade.
Regular trade had been strangled, essential industrial materials strictly controlled, there was no viable way to sustain Zaun's economy through conventional means.
Viktor was about to stand up and defend Cipher, rising from his seat. "You don't understand—"
Cipher's hand on his arm stopped him. The touch was gentle, but his eyes had taken on a distant look, as if seeing something far beyond the breakfast table.
"Let me tell you a story, Councilor Medarda." His voice was soft, but it filled the room. "When I was young, I once saw a mother rat with her babies in the depths of Zaun. They were starving, trapped in a maze of toxic pipes with no way out."
"The mother could have abandoned them, saved herself. Instead, she chewed through a copper pipe to reach food on the other side."
He stroked Powder's hair absently. "The copper poisoned her. She died bringing that food back to her children."
"Was she wrong? Should she have chosen a more... noble path?"
Mel's expression didn't change, but her fingers had stopped their tapping.
"You see, Councilor Medarda, when you're trapped in a maze of someone else's making, morality becomes a luxury. The mother rat didn't want to destroy the pipe. She didn't want the poison at all. She wanted her children to live."
Cipher stood slowly, still holding Powder. "You talk of the villages my weapons have destroyed."
"But how many children in Zaun died last month from toxic fumes. How many were crushed in collapsed tunnels. How many simply starved because Piltover's embargo meant their parents couldn't afford bread."
"Your 'close to home' crimes have a body count too. You just don't have to look at it during breakfast."
"Yes, I sell weapons to Noxus. Yes, blood stains my hands. But with that blood money, I've built hospitals in Zaun. Schools. Shelters. Places where children can breathe clean air, even if their parents had to make dirty deals to buy it."
"You see only the destruction my weapons cause. But you don't see the Zaunite children who no longer have to scavenge in toxic dumps because their parents work in my factories. You don't see the families who can afford medicine now. You don't see the future we're building from the ashes of necessity."
A smile appeared on his lips as he dismissed the accusations in her words with complete indifference.
"Power is only accountable to its source. Right now, I am merely Zaun's leader. My responsibility is to the people of Zaun. I answer only to their future."
"The principle of power being equal to responsibility, surely, you understand that well."
"I have set the winds of revolution in motion, and my foundation is the Zaun that I govern."
"My duty is to ensure that Zaun's children have milk and bread to eat, cars to drive, and homes to live in, to fulfill the dream of Zaun's rise and make it a true City of Progress."
"Only then will I have the qualification and capability to spread this revolution beyond Zaun, to bring the winds of change to the world, and to crush every force that stands in the way of progress."
"When that day comes, only then can we truly extend a hand to those yearning for change, liberate them from physical suffering and mental shackles, and invite them to join the glorious evolution!"
"Every child with bread, every home with hope."
"At what cost?" Mel challenged.
"Remember the mother rat, Councilor Medarda. Sometimes we chew through poison to reach tomorrow." Cipher's voice carried absolute conviction. "I will take full responsibility for every choice I make."
"Mock me, curse me, even try to assassinate me, it doesn't matter."
"Blood and struggle belong to us."
"Laughter and hope belong to the children."
"Our generation must bear all the battles, so that those who come after us will never have to."
"We will create a world without oppression, without exploitation, a world where even orphans can grow up in happiness."
"For that, we will spare nothing! The mother rat died, Councilor Medarda, but her children lived. Sometimes, that's the only choice we get."
