By the time Levi had helped everyone correct their misguided ideologies, perfected the organizational structure, established the factory sub-branch, and finalized the cadre selections...
Vi was already on the verge of falling asleep.
She had thought that in this legendary "Windguide Headquarters," she would see a battalion of well-trained soldiers, a squad of high-spirited warriors, or at the very least, a gang of murderous Zaunite tough guys.
Instead, all she saw were naive students, undisciplined workers, and a Piltovan chick with a cutesy singing voice.
In Vi's imagination, the process of their struggle should have been Levi raising his arm in a rallying cry, with the masses rising up in vigorous response to start a rebellion.
Then, the whole gang would march grandly toward Piltover, armed with shotguns, grenades, rocket launchers, machine guns, cannons, and Gatling guns.
But the reality of their struggle was:
Meetings, meetings, and more meetings.
"Levi!" She had been left on the sidelines ever since arriving, dozing off while watching them hold their meeting.
Seeing that Levi and the others had finally finished, Vi could no longer hold back. She marched up and asked, "What are we doing next?"
"Well," Levi answered without hesitation, "we're going to the other Windguide working groups, of course. We'll use this factory as an example and help them establish their sub-branches too."
Vi's face darkened. "So you're saying we have to keep having meetings?"
The Windguides had several other working groups. Didn't that mean they had to sit through several more of those obnoxiously long meetings?
"Are we not doing anything else today?"
"Yeah," Levi nodded. If he could clearly and thoroughly conduct these meetings today and successfully establish the sub-branches for every unit, that would already be a great accomplishment.
"Then what about tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow, I plan to assemble all the Windguides, all 521 official members..."
"To fight the Pilties?" Vi's eyes instantly lit up upon hearing that Levi was calling for backup, especially such a massive number all at once.
"No... I'm going to assemble all the Windguide members to hold a crucially important general meeting."
"Another meeting?" Vi felt a little dizzy.
"This meeting is extremely important," Levi stressed with a serious expression. "Vi, you are now an official member of the Windguides too. You must be present at tomorrow's general meeting, understand?"
"Important for what?" Vi curled her lips impatiently. "When Vander was the boss in Zaun, he never held boring meetings like this."
"He just needed to give a shout, and everyone was willing to lay down their lives for him."
Levi cast a quiet glance at her and said, "And that is why Vander failed..."
Vi fell silent.
"Furthermore, when Silco launched his armed coup, out of all those good brothers who would 'lay down their lives with a single shout,' very few actually showed up to back him up."
"There were barely any who came to help, but there was a whole crowd that betrayed him."
"You?!" Vi's breath hitched.
Levi's words were quite harsh for her to hear.
"Of course, this wasn't Vander's fault. But Vi, you have to understand:"
"A ragtag group built entirely on personal prestige, without the guidance of ideology and theory, is destined to fail when it matters most."
"Look at what happened. The moment Vander 'died,' the policies of compromise he championed died with him. The various factions that relied on him scattered like rats from a sinking ship. Some ran away, and others defected to the enemy."
"The former 'Vander Faction' vanished as if it had never existed at all. It left nothing behind and changed absolutely nothing."
"Zaun is still the exact same Zaun."
Levi's earnest admonishment caused Vi, a muscular Zaunite girl who had always let her fists do the talking, to fall into deep thought.
She began to consider the difference between these two types of leaders: Vander and Levi.
Vander never preached grand principles. What drew people to follow him was always his fists and his loyalty.
Levi, on the other hand, was as talkative as a bald Ionian monk. No matter who he met, he could ramble on endlessly.
In the past, Vi had admired a big brother figure like Vander much more.
But Levi told her, "The reason I explain so many principles, hold so many meetings, perfect the organization, and clarify the discipline, is to ensure one thing:"
"Even without me as the leader, our organization can still function normally, and our cause will not cease."
"Even if I die, or even if this entire generation of Windguides dies, our cause will continue to advance endlessly through the continuation of the organization's life and the inheritance of our ideology and theory."
This was something a grassroots hero like Vander could never achieve.
That was why he couldn't change Zaun.
"Only ideology can change this world."
After hearing Levi's words, Vi remained speechless for a long time.
She finally realized that those meetings she found incredibly boring were actually the true advantage that distinguished the Windguides from other organizations.
"I get it... We still have to keep having meetings today, right? Fine... I'll go with you!"
Vi tried her best to express her determination.
But Levi smiled and shook his head. "There's no need."
"I'm going to the other working groups next to hold meetings with pretty much the same content as the last one. I've already explained all the necessary principles in the previous meeting. It'll just be repeating them a few more times."
"If you have the heart to learn, just remember what I said during the meeting earlier. It doesn't matter if you tag along or not."
"Yeah," Vi nodded earnestly.
"You should stay here and rest. Take a nice hot bath and change into some clean clothes."
Vi had been locked up in that dark, damp dungeon for so many years, and unlike Levi, she didn't have the privileges of Caitlyn's family protecting her to request a bath whenever she wanted.
Her current personal hygiene could easily be imagined.
That smell... those who knew would recognize it as Vi. Those who didn't might think Singed had just wandered over with his Q active.
"Seraphine?"
Levi was about to call Seraphine over to have her take Vi home to bathe and freshen up.
Vi was a girl, after all. Having Seraphine help take care of her would be more convenient.
But he suddenly remembered that Vi's orientation seemed to be...
"Ahem, Seraphine, I wasn't calling you."
The pink-haired girl had already eagerly leaned in, but Levi abruptly turned his head to look at her father.
"Mr. Ivern?"
"Could you help take my friend to your house for a bath and a change of clothes?"
"No problem," Ivern agreed gladly.
Because everyone had been busy with the meeting just now, he didn't know much about Vi.
He only knew that she was a fellow inmate Levi had brought out of prison, and her name was Vi.
Although he didn't know why Levi had gone out of his way to fish this kid out of jail, Ivern certainly wouldn't be stingy with a set of clean clothes and a tub of bathwater.
"Then, Mr. Vi, please come with me."
"My house is right next to the factory." As he spoke, Ivern warmly looked over Vi's scruffy men's clothes, her stylish short rose-red hair, and her boyishly handsome features.
"You're quite a handsome young lad, haha."
"I still have the clothes from when I was young. They'll be perfect for you to change into."
Ivern praised her from the bottom of his heart.
But Vi looked entirely exasperated. "Mr. Ivern, I'm a woman..."
"It doesn't matter if you're a woman, you can still wear them... Eh?" Ivern was laughing, but suddenly he couldn't laugh anymore. "W-What did you say?"
"I said, I'm a woman," Vi emphasized.
She unconsciously puffed out her chest. In truth, her size was already quite substantial.
If one looked closely, anyone could tell that this "handsome lad" in short hair and men's clothing was actually a beautiful girl.
Although she was a bit boyish, it was simply a different kind of beauty.
"What?!" Ivern's face instantly darkened.
However, this reaction was directed at Levi. "Levi, care to explain..."
"Why the hell did you manage to conveniently kidnap a pretty chick while serving time in prison?"
Levi was speechless.
"Mr. Ivern, please calm down. I brought Vi out with me simply because she is my friend and a comrade who has accepted the Janna faith."
"Is that so?" The old father remained highly suspicious.
That gaze made Vi very uncomfortable and gave Levi a bit of a headache.
He was just about to waste more breath explaining.
But someone perfectly resolved the issue:
"Dad! Stop talking about Mr. Levi like that!"
Seraphine pouted her rosy lips, glaring angrily at her father.
Then, without waiting for her father or Levi to react, she grabbed Levi's hand without a word of explanation.
As their skin touched and their minds connected, Seraphine's face flushed slightly red:
"Dad, look—"
"I-I 'heard' it clearly..."
"In Mr. Levi's heart, there really is only me!"
Ivern fell silent.
Levi was speechless.