Chapter 265: Demacia's Filter
The news delivered by Janna made Levi pause.
He glanced at the pink-haired girl lying lazily in his arms. She hooked her white arms tightly around his neck. She hesitated for a while, but was reluctant to let go.
He just took the time to confirm with Janna: "The Demacians will arrive tomorrow? As I remember, these old guys were going to come by boat. How come they are so much earlier?"
Taking a ship from Demacia to Zaun is almost like crossing from the westernmost side of Valoran to the easternmost side. The journey is so long and the distance is so far that it would take at least two months to complete the journey using the speed of the sailing ships that are still the mainstream.
Levi had kindly suggested before that they could send a "mutated Frog" that was good at long-distance teleportation spells to go directly to Demacia to pick up people to visit Zaun - yes, in order to prevent outsiders from being scared by the word "devil", Tam's official identity publicly disclosed was the "mutated Frog" that the Leader subdued in the sewers of Zaun.
Levi wanted Tam to go over and pick someone up.
If it really doesn't work, he can go to Demacia himself and discuss things there. Anyway, with the Abyss Navigation, it's convenient to go back and forth.
But Demacia was uncomfortable when they heard the word "magic", and resolutely refused to allow any magical creature to set foot on the territory of the Kingdom of Demacia in such an open manner, including Levi, the chosen mage, and the "mutated magic frog" he mentioned.
In addition, Demacia also wanted to conduct an on-site investigation of the situation in Zaun, so they decided to follow traditional practices and send an envoy to cross the sea by ship to visit Zaun secretly.
"But they just set out to sea more than ten days ago. How can they arrive tomorrow?" Levi was puzzled.
"That's right," Janna said. "According to Miss Mel, these Demacians first sailed to Kalamanda on the Gold Coast northwest of Shurima, and then stopped at Kalamanda Port for a whole day of internal debate."
"Debate? All day?" Seraphine raised her head from Levi's arms, her eyes wide with curiosity as she asked, "What are these Demacians debating about?"
"They were discussing whether Hexgate was considered a teleportation spell, and whether riding Hexgate was considered 'contaminated by demons'," Janna said. "If they took the Hexgate from Kalamanda to Zaun directly to save time, would they be arrested by Demacia's demon hunters when they returned?"
Levi, Seraphine: "..."
"And then?" They were really curious about how these Demacians faced Hextech, a new thing that had just been born on Runeterra and combined technology and magic.
"Then the chief ambassador of the secret mission, Madam Ogatha of the Crown Guard family, used her sister-in-law's relationship with the leader of the Demon Seekers as a guarantee, and everyone agreed to save time by taking the Hexgate."
"So they will be able to reach Zaun tomorrow morning."
Levi, Seraphine: "..."
Lady Ogatha of the Crownguard family is one of the most important figures in Demacia.
This is as outrageous as a diplomat having to ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs to personally approve a note when he takes a flight on a business trip.
Levi did not comment on this, but nodded after a subtle silence: "Okay, I understand. I will prepare in advance for the meeting with the Demacia delegation tomorrow."
"Yeah." After delivering the message, Janna flew away from Levi's shoulder knowingly.
The business was finally done, but the topic that had been opened was not so easy to close.
Seraphine was still concerned about the news just now: "Levi, are we really going to form an alliance with the Kingdom of Demacia?"
"This..." Seeing Seraphine so curious, Levi simply stopped rushing to learn music.
In fact, he felt that having a girlfriend who shared similar interests and soul with him, with whom he could talk about his ideals and work... the two of them had endless topics to talk about, and they could always talk together... that was true happiness.
So he carried Seraphine back to the bedroom, tucked in her knee-length ponytail that was a bit of an obstacle to her movements, and gently put her down on the bed. Then he sat down beside her without distraction and talked to her about his views on Demacia:
"Our tentative contact with Demacia began several months ago."
"But... forming an alliance? I've never thought of that."
A few months ago, when the Windleader was still struggling to gain a firm foothold, forming an alliance with Demacia would have been tantamount to seeking death.
Because Zaun is too close to Noxus and too far from Demacia.
If Zaun openly formed an alliance with Demacia, it would only immediately draw crazy retaliation from the Noxian Empire. Demacia was too far away to take care of them even if they formed an alliance.
The specific situation can be roughly predicted by looking at what happened to the Cuban, Su Lian and Rice Grains in the past.
So not only was Levi not interested in an alliance, but Demacia also looked down on these visitors from Zaun at the beginning.
It was not until later, when the goddess Janna descended on the Twin Cities, that Demacia was surprised to discover that Zaun was not a burden that needed care, but a nail firmly embedded in the throat of Noxus, a powerful city-state that even Noxus dared not offend too deeply.
Zaun doesn't even have to take any action; just by existing, it can help Demacia share a lot of strategic pressure.
So after a period of internal discussion, Demacia took the initiative to approach the Leader and asked to establish diplomatic relations.
But at this time...
"We don't really need this ally anymore." Levi spread his hands.
Under the threat of the goddess Janna, Noxus did not dare to go to war with Zuan.
And if Noxus really makes a desperate move, then Zaun's real combat power will not be able to cope with it. But the problem is still the same: you, Demacia, are too far away, and you can't help even if you need help!
"So I sent people to contact Demacia in the beginning, just to do some business with some nobles in Demacia privately and import food from Demacia."
" Seraphone, as you know, all of our food now comes from Noxus and its colonies. This situation is very dangerous. We need more channels for importing food, and this channel, at present, can only be Demacia."
There are many areas in Runeterra that are suitable for growing food, but you only need to open the map to see:
The coastline of the northern Valoran continent is almost entirely occupied by the two great powers, the Noxian Empire and the Demacia Kingdom.
There are quite a few small countries with developed agriculture in the inland of Valoran, but without the approval of the two big brothers, Noxus and Demacia, they cannot transport their food out at all.
Meanwhile, overseas Ionia is in the midst of ongoing war, making it impossible to guarantee a long-term, stable, and abundant food supply.
The Python Islands have many high mountains and few flat lands, which are not suitable for developing agriculture. Otherwise, the Baru people would not be a fishing and hunting nation on the sea, but an agricultural nation on the island.
As for the Shurima continent in the south... it was either high mountains and deserts where the food was not enough for them, or colonies that had been occupied by Noxus. There was also Ixtal, who was isolated from the world in the rainforest, and Icathia, where even plague rats could not survive .
In short, in today's Runeterra, if you want to import large quantities of food over a long period of time, apart from the Noxian Empire, the only country you can talk to is Demacia.
“But…” Seraphine blinked in confusion.
She seemed to remember something: "Hasn't the Demacia government always banned foreign trade? Do they also export food?"
"Haha." Levi couldn't help laughing. "Demacia officially prohibits trade, but Noxus officially prohibits killing people! Do you think this has delayed those nobles from killing people?"
"Hmm..." Seraphine understood immediately.
The official ban on trade in Demacia does not mean there is no trade.
The Ming Dynasty still enforced a maritime ban, but private trade did not decrease at all, and silver continued to pour in like a tide.
However, in this feast of overseas trade, private smugglers and gentry made a fortune, while the government could only follow behind and eat the leftovers, and could not even collect tariffs.
Although Demacia does not have gentry, they have something almost backward - the aristocratic family.
"These nobles firmly opposed the lifting of the maritime ban in the court of Demacia, but they were doing a booming overseas trade business in private."
"How did we get in touch with Demacia? It was through the trade relationship of the Medarda family. Then how did Medarda, a noble merchant from the Noxian Empire, establish trade relations with the closed-door Demacia?"
“The answer is self-evident.”
"This..." Seraphine was a little surprised.
She didn't know much about Demacia, and like most people in the Twin Cities, she just had some stereotypes.
In the stereotype of ordinary people, Demacia has always been the human embodiment of light and justice.
After all, since its founding, Demacia has never set foot outside the Forbidden Magic Forest, and has never physically invaded other countries. Instead, it has made countless contributions in many wars to help its allies resist the invasion of Noxus.
So compared with the greedy and tyrannical Noxus, Demacia's image appears much more glorious.
In the stories of bards and knight novels, Demacia is a perfect country of knights.
Because most of these poets and authors did not write about Demacia, but the place where they were. Demacia on the other side of the ocean was just their spiritual sustenance, a perfect country in their imagination that could contrast with reality.
Such imagination is of course subjective and filtered.
But now as soon as I understand a little bit, this filter will immediately shatter.
Seraphine couldn't help but sigh; "Demacia, it turns out to be just a..."
She had wanted to use some more negative adjectives.
But if you think about it carefully, is there any perfect country in the material plane?
Her original inexplicable yearning for Demacia, believing that there was a country of righteous knights on the other side of the ocean, was an unrealistic fantasy, which was incorrect. She had set her expectations too high.
Now think about it without the filter:
That's right. There is no human kingdom that is not like this. Except for the leader, there is no exception.
Compared to its peers, Demacia isn't that bad, just not that good.
Seraphine sighed: "Demacia, it turns out to be just an ordinary kingdom."
