Seeing the mood in the room was a little off, Caleb made up a random excuse and slipped out as fast as he could. Before leaving, he didn't forget to tell the kitchen to send his meals to the office from now on.
Naturally, put it all on House Medarda's tab.
A former Stillwater inmate like him definitely didn't have the money to eat like this.
What kind of nonsense was that?
There was still plenty of time left tonight. Once he went back tomorrow, he'd be buried under endless problems again.
Caleb wanted to rest too, but the second he opened his eyes, all the miscellaneous business of a massive Zaun came crashing down on him.
Even after Sevika and Ekko had filtered things for him again and again, every single matter that reached his desk was still enough to give anyone a headache.
Caleb finally understood why people in charge tried to dodge their morning briefings.
Forget morning briefings, he didn't even want an 8 a.m. start.
Right now, his plan was to find somewhere to sleep until late tomorrow morning, and not move until Camille or Ekko came to drag him back.
Otherwise, absolutely not.
He'd finally managed to get out and have a decent meal for once.
How could he just go straight back?
No, no, if he kept going back like this, in a few days he'd be shopping for hair plugs.
He wondered how good Zaun's hair restoration tech was.
As Caleb walked down the street, he looked around at everything. The last time he'd come to Piltover, it had been an emergency.
After settling little Ren in, he'd had to persuade the Council, then head right back to Zaun to work.
Because of that, he'd never had the chance to slow down and really appreciate the city.
He had to admit, compared to Zaun's rough steampunk feel, Piltover was far more orderly.
As a major crossroads, it was also remarkably welcoming.
Whether you were a bloodstained soldier from Noxus, or a fur-clad traveler from the Freljord,
whether you came from Ionia, like one of the beast-featured Vastaya,
or a weathered merchant from the old lands of Shurima,
here, you could still be treated with respect and equality.
Looking at it that way, Piltover being called the City of Progress wasn't just because of the Hexgates.
It also had everything to do with the city's atmosphere of accepting anything and anyone.
Without realizing it, Caleb found himself in front of a familiar estate.
Of course, the Enforcers on the road didn't dare provoke him. In fact, they were happy to take it easy now that they no longer had to go down to the Fissures.
Now that Zaun stood on equal footing with Piltover, they didn't dare act out anymore.
These days, if you went down to the Undercity and called people gutter trash, no one would care if you ended up dead.
What kind of easygoing people did they think could snatch territory away from Silco?
Marcus had been left alive, sure, but according to rumor, that wasn't because of anything he'd done himself.
And now?
He got to stay home with his daughter, living on less than a tenth of what he used to make.
On top of that, he had to work himself half to death processing piles of administrative documents sent over from Zaun.
Naturally, they didn't dare complain about any of this, and couldn't.
Zaun's true rise had all happened because of one man, and he now stood on equal footing with the Council.
He even had someone as important as Heimerdinger at his side.
So all they could do was sigh and admit that beneath the tide of the times,
most people were really nothing more than grains of sand carried along by the current.
...
Knock, knock.
Two knocks, neither too light nor too heavy.
As the door opened, a small figure came into view.
"Caleb!"
Ren threw herself into his arms the moment she saw him and gave him a huge hug.
"Hey there, little Ren. Have you been behaving lately?"
Caleb's face was full of warmth as the little girl took him by the hand and led him inside.
"Did you come to talk to Daddy about work?"
Ren tipped her head up and asked.
"No, I just stopped by to visit."
Caleb looked up and saw Marcus, who had grown a little thinner.
Still, he seemed to be in good spirits.
"Governor..." The moment Marcus saw Caleb, he immediately tried to stand, only for Caleb to motion for him to stay seated.
"Getting used to the work?" Caleb glanced at the documents piled on Marcus's desk, a thick stack, even heavier than the ones on his own.
"It's busy, but I'm gradually getting the hang of it." Marcus gave a small smile.
Working with Silco, the worst-case outcome had always been dying for nothing.
Fortunately, Caleb had not only kept him out of prison, he'd even found him a job.
That had something to do with the fact that Marcus hadn't truly harmed that many people over the years. Of course, little Ren was the biggest reason.
"Your daughter's adorable." Caleb reached out and pinched Ren's cheek, making the child burst into giggles.
"Thank you for last time..." Facing the man in front of him, Marcus felt like no amount of gratitude would ever be enough.
"No need for that," Caleb cut him off at once. "I was just short-handed, that's all."
"Sooner or later, I'm going to leave Piltover." Caleb stared out the window at the stars for a moment, distracted.
"When that time comes, you can find yourself another job."
"Brother, where are you going?" Ren looked up at Caleb in confusion.
The city she lived in was already so big you couldn't cross it in a day. Was he really planning to go even farther than that?
"I'm not too sure yet." Caleb smiled and rubbed her little head.
"All right then, I still have a few friends to visit." Caleb stood up and straightened his clothes.
"Take care, sir." Marcus escorted him to the door.
...
When Caleb arrived at Viktor's hospital room, Jayce and Vi happened to be there too.
"The gauntlets fixed?"
Vi rolled her eyes and snapped, "Maybe if you came earlier next time, they wouldn't need fixing!"
"Have a little sympathy for a frail man like me, would you?" Caleb clearly had no intention of being nice about it either.
Viktor had already completed the replacement of his heart and lungs, and his complexion looked much healthier now.
What came next was the replacement of the external tissue, what Zaunites revered as the Glorious Evolution.
After all, Zaunites lived under constant exposure to toxins. Even if their body parts still worked, there were always hidden problems.
Compared to that, replaceable mechanical parts that worked better were naturally much more popular with the public.
The process was so painful, though, that people regarded it with a kind of reverence.
"How's Zaun been lately?"
Viktor had heard some of the news too, about the giant purple monster, and about the explosion in the Dredge.
"Pretty good. Most of the trouble's been dealt with."
Caleb looked at the delight in Viktor's eyes, then asked, "So when are you coming back to help me?"
"Probably... tomorrow." Viktor gave him a weak smile.
"Tonight, they're replacing the areas that were warped by the Hexcore with prosthetics."
Even though he tried to sound unconcerned, Caleb could still hear the faint tremor in his voice.
"Have they caught that lunatic who treats murder like art yet?" Caleb turned and asked.
"Not yet."
Jayce had been getting headaches over that one lately too.
"That guy's slippery. The Council unanimously agreed to leave it to intelligence agents."
"His name's Jhin," Caleb added, but he didn't say anything more.
After all, he didn't know that champion especially well. In this universe, there was no way Caleb could just come out and say the man used traps and long-range sniping.
The crime scenes would already tell them that much anyway.
"The topside ought to solve a few problems of its own too, otherwise it can't compare to the Undercity."
Jayce nudged Caleb in the side with his elbow, and the meaning couldn't have been more obvious, Caleb had solved quite a few problems in both Zaun and Piltover.
"There's one more thing."
Caleb couldn't help sighing as he said it.
"I want to take Jinx to Stillwater Hold to visit Silco."
Vi's brows twisted so hard they practically tied themselves in knots, but in the end, she gave up on saying anything.
"As long as you're not breaking him out, everything else is negotiable." Jayce's response was brisk and direct.
"Besides, you're recognizable on every street in both cities now. The prison guards definitely aren't going to miss who you are."
"If Progress Day hadn't just passed, they probably would've wanted you giving a speech to the whole world."