Chapter 164 Dual Member
The next day, in the Piltover Capitol, the Parliament Hall on the top floor.
When Mel walked into the parliament hall with her graceful and unhurried steps, she could clearly feel that this regular meeting was different from the past.
As the eldest daughter of the Midalda family, she always received respect, kindness, and even flattery from everyone whenever she appeared.
Of the several congressmen who had arrived, except for Professor Heimerdinger and Mrs. Gilaman who greeted her politely, the rest were staring at her with subtle and complicated looks.
In particular, they noticed that next to her bun adorned with gorgeous gold ornaments, there was a blue bird standing quietly on her shoulder.
Guardianship by the bluebird and blessing by Janna have always been the symbols of Levi, the chosen one of God.
And now, Mel actually appears publicly in this attitude?
The atmosphere became increasingly subtle.
In addition to the attitude of the crowd, a bigger difference is that this time, those present to attend the regular meeting are not only the seven permanent supreme councillors, but also many representatives of major business families who are not permanent councillors.
There were 20 of them in total.
Among them was Mel's old acquaintance, Piltover's most dazzling scientific star, Jace Tallis.
He was standing next to Heimerdinger at this time, chatting with his teacher.
Seeing Mel enter the parliament hall, everyone kept their distance from her with subtle expressions. Only Jace was enthusiastic when he saw her and waved to her happily:
"Senator Meier, you are here."
"Jace." Mel also walked towards him with a smile: "How many times have I told you, you can just call me Mel."
She shook hands with Jace as usual, and asked casually, "I thought you had no interest in politics, Jace. Why are you suddenly interested and come to the parliament to listen?"
"Oh, I didn't come here on my own initiative." Jace answered without hesitation: "It was Lady Camille of the Ferros family who sent me an invitation letter, asking me to attend this regular meeting and discuss it."
"Sure enough." Mel knew what was going on.
As expected, these representatives of the big families of Piltover were all invited by Camille.
After all, there are only seven seats in the Supreme Council, and among the seven permanent members, she, Heimerdinger, and Gilaman are all sympathizers, collaborators, or even his own people.
Three of the seven votes are naturally pro-Jana, so the outcome of the vote is almost a foregone conclusion.
So Camille invited representatives from the 20 most influential families in Piltover to dilute the votes of the Leader.
This is actually illegal.
After all, these representatives of big families are not permanent members of parliament. In theory, they are only qualified to attend the meetings and do not have the right to vote.
But as Heimerdinger realized, titles never give people power, it is people who give titles meaning.
Piltover is the plutocratic Piltover.
Without the unanimous approval of the representatives of more than 20 major families, including the permanent councillors, even if Mel pushed the Piltover Council to make a decision, the decision could not be implemented at all. It was just a piece of waste paper.
"Well, Jace." Mel looked at Jace with some worry. His thick eyebrows, big eyes, and honest face were very different from those of other family representatives. "Do you know what Lady Camille asked you to come here to discuss this time?"
"Hmm, this..." Jace really didn't understand anything: "Is it because they want to discuss the incident a few days ago when the Wind Leader incited riots and trampled on human rights in Zaun?"
Mel raised his eyebrows: "Trampling on human rights? Jace, do you really believe this?"
"That's what the Piltover Daily News said. I also know the author of the article. He is a knowledgeable and moral writer, and also a freelance writer with a very good attitude." Jayce was quite puzzled:
"Is it possible that such a highly respected public intellectual would tell a lie?"
Mel was silent for a moment, just staring at Jace.
"What's wrong?" Jace felt that the way she looked at him was a little weird.
"Nothing." Mel smiled happily: "You are so cute , Jace."
Jace: “???”
Somehow he felt as though Mel was squeezing him.
But Mel really didn't.
Being able to make a fortune and sit in this parliament hall, and still maintaining such a pure mind, in her opinion, Jace is really a great baby who couldn't be cuter.
"So, Jace," Mel asked again, "what do you think of the Wind Leader?"
Jace couldn't say for sure.
He was very repulsive to the Leader at first because his good friend Victor changed his character after joining the Leader and became a "dangerous element" who was obsessed with weaponizing Hextech.
This was completely contrary to his and Heimerdinger's philosophy, so Jayce gradually distanced himself from Viktor and Windleader.
But later, Jayce noticed the amazing changes taking place in the Zaun community and unknowingly began to develop a liking for the Wind Leader.
But later, until now...
"The Wind Leaders Association committed such brutal atrocities in Zaun, disregarded the rules of business, and plundered our Piltover people's important investments in Zaun without a sense of contract, infringed on our sacred private property, and refused to return it..."
"There is no doubt that they are not much different from Hilco. They are both thugs that may undermine the social stability of the Twin Cities..."
"Wait." Mel frowned slightly: "Jace, did you also invest in Takeda Saito?"
"No." Jayce certainly had nothing to do with that scumbag, and he didn't know about the dirty underground dealings between Takeda and Piltover.
"Why are you saying that?" The cow was really taken away, so he was crying out in pain. Why are you complaining too?
"That's what everyone told me." Jace pointed to the family representatives next to him.
"..." Mel rubbed his forehead helplessly.
In the past few years, Jace's social activities were really in vain. Apart from drinking tea and chatting with her to expand personal friendship, the rest of the time was spent being surrounded by the shrewd ghosts of the major families and being toyed around like a spinning top.
"Since you think the Leaders Association is a thug, how are you going to deal with them?" Mel asked delicately , "Will you start a war?"
Jace was speechless for a moment.
He just disliked the leader and never thought of going to war.
Not to mention that war itself is cruel and he hates it. Even for Victor, he couldn't give this answer.
What Mel wanted, of course, was not the opinion of this great scientist whose intelligence was 100, politics 20, and whose abilities were seriously unbalanced.
She turned her head and slowly scanned the entire room with a disdainful look:
"What do you think ?"
Mel hadn't tried to lower his voice when he spoke to Jace just now.
She knew that she was the central figure in this meeting, and everyone was quietly paying attention to her conversation with Jace.
She also knew that the opinions that Jayce had just expressed were instilled in him by these people, and they were the opinions of the Piltover tycoons.
So Mel got right to the point and asked the men, "What are you going to do?"
"To fight or not to fight?"
Everyone was shocked by her firm attitude, which was different from the past.
Coupled with the power of the Midalda family and the confusion and hesitation that already existed in their hearts, no one dared to step forward to answer this question for a while.
But at this moment, a crisp and regular sound of footsteps was heard at the door of the parliament hall.
That was not an ordinary sound of footsteps, but the crisp sound of steel and marble colliding.
Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da…
Finally, the man showed up.
The chief spy of the Ferros family, the Steel Shadow Camille, stepped into the parliament hall under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Her youthful face that had remained unchanged for decades, her cold eyes that shone with a faint blue magical light, and her elegant figure that had been transformed by Hextech machinery were all clearly presented to everyone.
"Senator Mel." Camille's voice was calm, like an absolutely precise machine.
"My opinion is - go to war." She answered Mel's question.
"Yes, yes, yes." With Gray Lady taking the lead, the representatives of the big families who had long been dissatisfied with the leader began to get agitated:
"We tolerated the development of the Leaders Association out of kindness, but they quietly killed our partners in Zaun and even swallowed up all our assets in Zaun in one go."
"If we can tolerate even this, then when they get involved with the Zaun people, won't they go crazy?"
"Madam Camille is right. We must teach them a lesson this time!"
The crowd was excited.
Jace looked at Mel, then at his group of distinguished friends. He felt extremely overwhelmed and was caught in the middle.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Mrs. Gillaman finally couldn't help but speak to cool down the atmosphere:
"I think everyone should calm down..."
Someone interrupted her rudely, "Mrs. Gilaman, your daughter Caitlin is now a senior executive of the Leader, and your family is doing business in partnership with the Leader, making a lot of money. Of course you can calm down!"
"But what about us?"
Camille never said another word, but just by standing there, the pro-war faction became more arrogant.
Lady Gillamane was unable to hold back, so she turned to Heimerdinger for help:
Your student is also a leader, why don’t you say something?
"Um, this..." Heimerdinger had no interest in politics, but for Viktor's sake, he had no choice but to come out and smooth things over: "War will affect the stability of the Twin Cities and our scientific research environment."
"I don't think it's necessary to go to the point of going to war now."
"We can all take a step back, reduce our demands, and ask the leader to return some assets. Isn't it good for us to put aside the dispute and live in peace like in the past?"
This suggestion was actually recognized by many people present.
Firstly, not everyone here has investment dealings with Takeda Saito, so they are not the ones who will lose money this time.
Secondly, everyone knows that the Leader and the Midalda family have a deep cooperative relationship, and they don’t want to offend Mel too much.
Thirdly, everyone was afraid of the legendary Janna, which was also the most important reason for their hesitation.
Therefore, as long as the Leader Association is willing to make concessions, they are willing to continue to be ostriches and turn a blind eye to the Leader's increasingly dangerous behavior.
However, Mel looked at everyone present with a disdainful gaze and said firmly:
"I'm afraid that won't work."
"Your business with Takeda Saito is your business - we have no obligation to inherit this unequal contract!"
"Whether this war will be fought or how long it will last does not depend on us, but on all of you present here."
"Huh?" Everyone was shocked.
They were shocked not only by the leader's sudden change in style and the toughness he showed, but also by the tone of Senator Mel's speech.
They had always believed that Midalda and Leader were in a partnership and Mel was just Levi's investor.
And now...
"Senator Mel, you are also a leader?!" Even Camille couldn't help but frown.
"That's right." Since everyone knew that she was on the leader's side, Mel simply stopped pretending.
She is now not only a permanent member of the Piltover Council.
Moreover, after officially becoming a leader, she was elected as a permanent director of the Leader Association by the Representative Council due to her outstanding abilities, superhuman charm, firm and reliable beliefs, and her great contribution to the Leader cause.
Because the Leaders Association was in dire need of high-level management talent with high-level vision and practical experience, Mel finally got what she had asked for.
She now also holds a high position in the Leaders Association.
"Today - I am here to negotiate terms with you on behalf of the Leaders Association!"
