After the deal was struck, Levi went "offline" to busy himself with his own affairs.
Meanwhile, on this side:
Janna began accompanying Seraphine in studying magic, teaching her the basics of controlling her talent.
Mr. and Mrs. Ivern, after a long wait, finally met their second business partner as they had hoped: Professor Viktor of the University of Piltover.
Viktor was gentle, refined, and possessed an extraordinary bearing. His speech and mannerisms carried a strong scholarly aura. Thus, the moment he appeared, he won the favor of Mr. and Mrs. Ivern, both being technology-oriented entrepreneurs.
After an in-depth discussion with Viktor regarding the relevant technical issues, and having confirmed and admired his background and academic prowess, Ivern finally let go of his last shred of wariness.
"Professor Viktor, we can sign the contract with you right now. Here's to a pleasant cooperation!"
Ivern showed his sincerity.
But Viktor shook his head. "There is no rush. The contract can be signed later."
"Why?" Ivern was puzzled.
Viktor gave him a deep look.
'Because once this contract is signed, this guy will officially be dragged onto our pirate ship.'
'If anything happens to the Windguides later, Ivern's family will definitely be implicated.'
'The Windguides are not Bilgewater outlaws; we shouldn't use such deceptive methods to trick people into joining our cause in a daze.'
'Otherwise, once Ivern discovers the truth, the hard-won trust between us will completely shatter.'
'Whether he would make the best of a bad situation and take a seat among us, or look for an opportunity to surrender and accept amnesty from the authorities... that would be hard to say.'
'In short, the Windguides need like-minded comrades, not ticking time bombs with hidden agendas.'
Therefore...
"Mr. Ivern, I hope we can deepen our mutual understanding first, and then officially confirm our partnership only with your complete consent," Viktor explained with a sincere attitude.
"This..." Ivern assumed Viktor simply wanted to conduct a longer on-site inspection of his factory. "That works too. Both sides will have more time to consider."
"Then, Professor Viktor, would you like me to accompany you for a tour around the factory right now?"
"I was just about to bring that up," Viktor smiled. "I hope the factory can temporarily halt production for a day. I want my students and me to go deep into the front lines of the factory and understand the situation on the ground."
"You and your students?" Ivern was a bit curious. "Are there students from the University of Piltover involved in this project as well?"
"Yes, quite a few. Consider it a sort of social practice for our academy."
"Alright." Ivern thought for a moment. "Then I will halt production now and let the workers go home to rest."
"No, you only need to send the local Piltovan workers home."
"What about the Zaunite apprentices?"
"They need to stay. My students and I are here for them."
Hearing this answer, a strange look flashed through Ivern's eyes.
In truth, he had already sensed that something was off.
Because he already believed in Janna's existence and believed that Levi was the Divine Selection of the Goddess Janna.
That desperate night twenty years ago, his tears, his helpless prayers... aside from himself, only the Goddess could have known about them.
Then, one only needed to think about it to realize:
Would Goddess Janna descend to the mortal realm again after hundreds of years just to open a factory in Piltover, make music, and earn some pocket money for herself?
Levi, Viktor, and the Goddess Janna behind them definitely had a grand and magnificent goal.
Students, workers, professors... these people were all going to unite under the Goddess's banner. What exactly were they trying to do?
Ivern did not dare to think too deeply about it.
But after some hesitation, he still reached out his hand to Viktor.
"No problem, Professor Viktor."
"Although I don't know what you and your students want to 'practice' here, if this is the will of Goddess Janna..." Goddess Janna was the patron deity of Zaun, a symbol of kindness and mercy. "...then I am willing to believe in it."
"This factory is temporarily in your hands."
"Thank you!" Viktor shook his hand gratefully.
Then, he pulled two small booklets from his coat.
One was written by Levi yesterday and printed by him this morning: *Where Did Zaun Come From?*.
The other was compiled by Viktor based on Levi's speech this morning: *Where Should Zaun Go?*.
The former explained the 'what' and 'why', while the latter explained 'how' to do it.
The contents of the latter were obviously a bit sensitive.
Viktor thought for a moment and temporarily only handed the first booklet to Ivern.
"Mr. Ivern, perhaps you could read this article."
"Once you understand it, you will know what we are doing."
An afternoon passed, and night quietly fell.
Ivern's Hextech Audio Factory was still brightly lit and bustling with activity. But the ones busy here today were not the workers, but the group of Zaunite students Viktor had brought.
They were trying to face and solve a problem:
How exactly should the Windguides' work be carried out?
No one knew.
It was everyone's first time; they had to rely on practice to accumulate experience.
Fortunately, these students all came from bitter backgrounds and could easily converse with the apprentices.
They were also future scientists, knowing how to conduct investigations scientifically.
As for the Zaunite apprentices, seeing that they could get paid today without having to work, and knowing these students were introduced by Boss Ivern, they were happy to chat with them.
For these still green and inexperienced students, this was undoubtedly the best starting point for their future work.
And after this afternoon of communication and investigation, everyone finally had an understanding of the specific situation in this factory.
"Professor Viktor!" Lina, carrying the summarized opinions of the group, found Viktor, who was in charge here.
She reported the results of everyone's investigation from the afternoon in full detail:
"The investigation shows that this Ivern Hextech Audio Factory has a total of 51 local Piltovan employees and 148 Zaunite apprentices..."
"Wait." The report had just begun when Viktor noticed something amiss. "Why are there so many Zaunite apprentices?"
"Doesn't Piltover have a regulation stating that the ratio of local employees to foreign laborers in an enterprise must not be less than fifty percent?"
In order to prioritize local employment, Piltover did indeed have such a regulation.
"But those are just rules on paper..."
When Viktor was a youth in Zaun, he had studied under a teacher. Therefore, he hadn't suffered much in the factories before successfully testing into Piltover.
After coming to Piltover, he hadn't stepped out of the academy gates for over a decade, never even seeing what a factory looked like.
Compared to Viktor, who had stayed in the ivory tower for so long, it was actually Lina, a poor Zaunite girl, who better understood the social realities of Piltover.
"Zaunites are cheap and work hard."
"Who wouldn't want to hire fewer spoiled Piltovans and more hardworking Zaunites?"
"So even though Piltover has this regulation, these business owners can secretly expand the proportion of foreign laborers in their factories through various methods like underreporting, ghost employment, and contract labor."
"This... underreporting? Ghost employment? Contract labor?" Viktor was completely baffled.
Having been a scholar for so long, he truly didn't know what these practices were.
"Underreporting is the simplest," Lina explained. "It means hiding smuggled individuals who don't even have legal apprentice qualifications, and hiring them to work illegally in the factory at half the price of a normal apprentice."
"Mr. Ivern is probably a bit timid, so he didn't dare do this."
"But out of the 148 Zaunite apprentices in his factory, 32 are 'ghost employees'—"
"In name, they are registered as 'domestic servants' affiliated with Mr. Ivern's household and the households of a few of his acquaintances, but in reality, they are doing the work of apprentices in Mr. Ivern's factory."
"Additionally, 65 of them are 'contract laborers'—"
"That is, they sign contracts with labor contractors in society, and those powerful, well-connected contractors dispatch the workers under them to work in the factory."
"These people are also not considered official Zaunite apprentices and don't take up the factory's headcount."
"So if you calculate it carefully, the factory only has 51 official apprentices in name—exactly a one-to-one ratio with the local Piltovan workers, making up fifty percent, which doesn't violate Piltover's local employment protection regulations."
"This..." He wouldn't have known without investigating, but the findings were startling.
Viktor truly hadn't expected that Mr. Ivern, who appeared kind and honest on the surface, could actually pull so many tricks behind the scenes.
And to think his expression was so sincere when he mentioned Goddess Janna.
'Oh no, did I give that booklet to the wrong person?'
"No, you really can't blame Mr. Ivern for this," Lina shook her head helplessly. "All Piltovan business owners do this. He is already considered honest."
"This is considered honest?"
"In Piltover, yes."
"..."
Viktor remained silent for a long time before sighing.
"I thought that in this practical exercise, I was the teacher."
A great professor, a great intellectual—at first glance, he should be everyone's leader, the enlightener of the masses.
Even the gentle and humble Viktor had previously instinctively believed that he stood higher, saw further, and was wiser than those students and workers.
But now, having truly stepped out of the campus and into the factory, Viktor finally realized:
"It turns out I am the student."
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