Lord of Arcane

Chapter 2524 Arrived at Severton

But Niya doesn't fully understand it. In her view, lords are naturally higher than citizens, and mages are naturally higher than ordinary people. It's only after getting in touch with Xia Duo that they change.

The reason why she wants to spread the Great Xia Law Code to the whole of Netheril is more because this is what Xia Duo wants to do, and she knows what Xia Duo wants, and she also wants to see the one that allows everyone to fully enjoy it. What does the new world of development look like.

But as to why she had to do this, in fact, she didn't fully understand it. She wanted to do it just because she wanted to, rather than "treat every individual equally and respect their rights" as Xia Duo said.

There is always a gap between ideal and reality, and as the person next to her, she also understands that Xia Duo may not be able to achieve that ideal state, but Xia Duo consciously takes the initiative to do it, and she is more just following Xia Duo and go.

Thinking in this way, Niya's expression gradually became serious and even serious. She knew that if she still couldn't figure out why she had to achieve that ideal world, then she and Xia Duo would have differences sooner or later in the future.

Thinking of this, she was not in the mood to consider what new topics to submit to the first meeting of the Severton Council. Instead, she stared into Xia Duo's eyes and asked a very solemn question:
"Why did you choose this path? Is there no other path?"

Hearing this question, Xia Duo secretly sighed in his heart, how could he be content with darkness after seeing the light!Regarding this issue, he had actually discussed it with Niya a long time ago.

It's just that his level at that time and even now was not enough to answer this question thoroughly, but he still wanted to answer it again, not only to win over Niya's fellowship, but also to remind him of his true heart.

After thinking about it, he told Niya: "Is there any other way? There should be, but I still prefer the current choice. As for the reason, I can explain it from three angles.

"In terms of selfishness, I don't like the current environment of Netheril and want to change it. This reason is okay for me, but it is not enough to persuade others.

"So I have another perspective. From the perspective of fairness and justice, if you are an ordinary person, if someone is superior to you because you have learned magic, are you willing to accept it?

"Or, we are all human beings, as human beings, are you willing to accept that elves are superior to us because of their natural longevity?

"Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and we cannot ignore the ideas of the weak and the fairness, justice and respect they want just because we are now the strong.

"Is it so difficult to choose a path that liberates and fully develops all people? Of course, this reasoning may convince you, but it still won't convince some people.

"So I have another angle to explain from the perspective of the development of the times. It's just that I am still trying to understand this aspect. If you are willing to listen, then I will tell you."

"Yes, I am willing." Niya nodded quickly.

As Xia Duo said, she can be persuaded from a moral point of view, at least she can be persuaded by such reasons now, but she can't guarantee what will happen in the future, so she still wants to hear other explanations from Xia Duo.

"Before explaining this angle, let me ask you a question. Do you think slaves are efficient in doing things?"

"The efficiency of slaves?" Niya suddenly fell into deep thought.

At present, there are no real slaves in the Great Xia Territory. Even those Mulan people who bought from Imasca in the name of slaves actually treat them as quasi-landers.

As for Savile Land, there are indeed slaves now. Niya recalled the several types of slaves that existed in Savile Land—orcs, humans, and dwarves that existed in the past and still exist now but are gradually redeeming themselves.

Needless to say, the orcs were mostly captives from the orc wars in the past few years or single orcs that could not be caught by clearing the forest. It is very difficult to make the orcs obedient, and they are also dishonest.

Humans were mostly people who violated the lord's prohibition in the past. During the process of the Great Xia Code being popularized by Savile, most of the human slaves were liberated.

Only a very small number of vicious criminals were not released from their slave status. Some of them were directly executed according to the new law, and some were sent to the mines to continue to work as slaves they had done before.

Niya didn't know what kind of orcs were like when they were in the tribe. After becoming a slave, the efficiency of doing things was indeed not high, but without the previous comparison, it's hard to say whether it has improved or decreased.

As for humans, those slaves who have not been engaged in mining before, it is difficult to make an intuitive comparison.

Only dwarves, the contrast between before and after is very strong. The dwarfs in the slave period were more efficient than human miners, but they were all slaves, and the difference in race alone was not much higher.

In the past, the reason why the Savile Land used dwarves to mine was more because of the longevity of dwarves. As slaves and tools, they were more durable than human miners.

However, after the Severton Council promulgated the decree prohibiting the use of dwarves as slaves and allowing dwarf slaves to redeem themselves, Savile was unable to refuse, and with Xia Duo's support, the decree was also implemented.

Then a strong change occurred. At the beginning, the dwarves did not believe in the existence of this decree, but when the first dwarf successfully redeemed himself and got the travel expenses presented by Savile, all the dwarf slaves seemed to go crazy. .

The amount of mining in a single month has quadrupled compared to the past. If it weren't for Xia Duo's request to limit the amount of silver and iron mining, the output might be even higher.

Thinking of this, Niya seemed to have an answer, "If the cost is not considered, it is indeed more efficient to not use slaves."

"It's good that you can think about the cost, but the gains from efficiency can fully cover this part of the cost, so I think that even without the enactment of laws by the Severton Council, with the development of the times, slaves will eventually be gradually abandoned everywhere. "

Seeing Niya's thoughtful expression, Xia Duo continued: "If there is only one country and one territory in this world, then whether it uses slaves will not have obvious and foreseeable consequences.

"But the reality is that there is more than one country in this world, and even Netheril has more than one territory. Slaves are inefficient in doing things. Can it be understood that the use of slave territories to produce various resources and commodities is inefficient?"

"Yeah." Niya nodded.

"This is just the production of resources and commodities. What if there is a war? Can it be understood that the lord who treats the people from the perspective of slaves is more likely to lose the war because the slaves do not have a strong will to fight?"

"Yes, but there is magic in this world. What if the lord who uses slaves is a great arcanist, and the lord who is hostile to him who does not use slaves has not even passed the threshold of casting spells?" Niya also put forward her own point of view.

Xia Duo couldn't help shaking his head when he heard this, "You're just sophistry. When we do thought experiments to demonstrate the pros and cons of slavery, we naturally have to smooth out other factors as much as possible. Of course, the enemy of the Grand Arcanist must also be the Grand Arcanist."

"Okay, then I still have a problem. Even if the slaves are not active and the normal citizens are active, it will be difficult to affect the battle between the great arcanists, right?" Niya continued to argue.

"Why not? Since it's a thought experiment, anything that works can be used as evidence. I'm talking about a scenario where the two leaders each hold a large number of universally activated 10-ring directional spell scrolls. Who do you think will win?"

"Of course it depends on when both parties use the spell scrolls! How can we generalize!" Niya said without hesitation.

"Think again!"

"It's the same when you think about it."

"Hey. Have you forgotten what I said just now? Where there is oppression, there is resistance. Once slaves are given the weapon to determine the fate of slave owners, do you still expect them to be willing to continue to be slaves?"

"This--"

Niya was speechless for a moment.

(End of this chapter)