"You flatter me, you really do." Caleb scratched the back of his head, not sure where he was supposed to look. "Feeling better now?"
Janna stepped forward with some concern, studying Caleb's pale expression.
"I'm fine..." Caleb forced himself to stay calm and barely managed an answer.
"Anyway, thank you."
Janna gave him a sweet smile and spoke softly.
"Well... you don't have to be so polite."
Caleb silently tried to steady himself and force his mindset back to normal.
This was a lot. Way too much.
A demigod-tier powerhouse was just standing right in front of him?
It wasn't like he was some chosen-one action hero, so why did he keep running into people so far above his level?
By the system's standards, he was, at best, just some T4-level nobody hanging around the mortal world.
Now that he was face-to-face with a demigod, he couldn't even manage a smart remark.
"So... what exactly do you mean by winds of change?"
Caleb could roughly guess what she meant, but he still wasn't completely sure.
"You changed Zaun and helped its people gain equality."
Janna made no attempt to hide her admiration.
Zaun had existed long before Piltover, but because of that, it had been trapped in brutal labor from the very beginning.
It was only after a catastrophic mistake during a canal excavation blast that Janna first revealed herself, saving hundreds of people who had been swept into the sea.
That was the last time Janna had manifested, though even that was ages ago.
And now, today, Janna had appeared again before Caleb.
"Uh... thanks..." Caleb held it in for a while before finally answering in a muffled voice.
He had only taken advantage of the situation a little, really. What he had done didn't feel like much.
"Would you accept this?"
She held out a bracelet, with a bluebird emblem hanging from it.
Just from the blue-and-white color scheme alone, it was obvious this was an ornament worn by Janna's followers.
So this counted as a charm now?
Caleb couldn't help feeling a burst of excitement.
Even a demigod was still an extremely high-end level of power.
Why had the ancient Shuriman Empire been so powerful? Because it could make people Ascended, turning them into god-warriors.
And wherever those Ascended warriors went became Shuriman territory.
Even when Icathia unleashed the horrifying Void,
the Ascended still managed to drive it back, though at a terrible cost.
With the protection of a demigod, at the very least, you were probably safe almost anywhere as long as you didn't go picking fights with the strongest powers around.
Caleb almost put it on without thinking.
The system had just given him a little background too.
When the ancient Shuriman Empire was expanding, it had once forbidden people from worshiping local demigods, forcing them instead to revere the Ascended.
That was how Janna's power had weakened.
But even so, during the Darkin War that followed, Janna had protected what would become Zaun through her own strength alone.
What was that supposed to mean?
Beautiful, sweet, and strong enough to back it up.
Compared to Camille, Janna was practically perfect.
If Janna weren't more than three thousand years old, Caleb would've wanted to get a whole lot closer.
Janna, however, had no idea what Caleb was thinking. She simply lifted her hand and gave him a gentle wave.
Like a breeze passing by, her graceful figure vanished into the air.
Caleb didn't ask for anything more.
As a deity who watched over an entire city, Janna coming to thank him at all was already her indulging a whim.
If Caleb tried to push his luck any further, he'd need the strength to back that up.
Miss Janna looked easy to get along with, sure, but she was also the one who had protected Zaun from the Darkin and from Void-corrupted Ascended.
Caleb had no interest in being treated like a ball and getting blown all the way back to the twin cities in a spinning blur.
Judging by the time, Ekko and Heimerdinger's pollution treatment device should be nearly ready.
Jayce had been dropping by to help from time to time these past few days too.
And with the money Caleb had demanded tonight from House Medarda and House Ferros, that ought to be arriving soon as well.
He found a random patch of grass, draped his coat over himself, and lay down beneath the glow of the streetlights.
Even if it was only for one night, he wanted one good sleep without worrying about all that damned paperwork.
So Caleb closed his eyes.
And enjoyed the silence that belonged to him alone.
...
"Huh?"
Caleb rubbed his sleepy eyes and realized he was being jostled up and down.
"What's going on?"
Still half-asleep and completely lost, Caleb heard Jinx click her tongue in annoyance as she carried him on her back.
"Get an air purifier installed in your office. Stay out of the topside less."
Jinx's voice sounded muffled with irritation. Caleb was seriously heavy.
That was why she hadn't even brought her beloved gun this time, she'd only come here to pick him up.
Ekko and that little old man were already overwhelmed, and this idiot still didn't come back after dinner?
He had actually gone and slept on a lawn in Piltover. Was the environment there really that great?
Then again, maybe it was. The difference between Piltover and Zaun was just like that line she used to hum when she was little.
"You've got towers scraping the sky, and I've got nothing at all."
Piltover had become the world-famous City of Progress on Zaun's support, and yet the gap between the two cities had only grown wider.
Good thing Caleb had shown up, because otherwise, battered and broken Zaun
wasn't something Ekko, Heimerdinger, Zac, or anyone else together could have repaired.
As for her, she probably would've just blasted another hole in the relationship between the two cities.
"Tomorrow you're still taking me to see Silco."
Caleb gave a vague grunt in response.
Seeing how steadily the much smaller Jinx was carrying him, he simply closed his eyes and fell back asleep.
...
"Hey, thanks. You worked hard."
Smiling, Caleb patted Jinx on the head and stretched his body a little.
He had slept so comfortably in Piltover that he had simply let Jinx carry him all the way back.
But the Undercity was different. This was his turf. There was no way he could let one of his own keep carrying him around once they were back.
"You're on your own."
Jinx tossed out those words and disappeared in a flash.
It was embarrassing enough that she had carried this guy back already. If anyone from the Undercity saw her with Caleb, the rumors would be everywhere by the next day.
After all, Caleb was the Governor, with a glorious record to his name, while she was just a lunatic who loved explosions.
Caleb watched Jinx's retreating figure and didn't bother chasing after her.
With the Hextech shield and Hex Claw on him, he didn't believe anyone in Zaun was still dumb enough to come looking for trouble with him.
And the dumbest hardhead of them all, the one with that brass jaw, what kind of ending had he gotten?
Did these people really not know?
As Caleb wandered through Zaun's streets, he found himself seeing the city a little differently.
Even though the overall color palette leaned dark and gray, Zaun's people still liked to add little bits of bright color here and there.
Those flashes of brightness felt like a longing for a better life.
He had come through too hurriedly before, so he'd never gotten a proper look.
But now that he did, he could see that even if Zaun lacked Piltover's polish, beauty still showed through everywhere.
A few miners who had just finished their shift cautiously approached and called out,
"Governor Caleb?"
They had heard his speech, and with all the unbelievable stories surrounding him,
the truth was that Zaun now respected this Governor beyond words.
"Yeah, what is it?" Caleb asked with a practiced smile.
"You worship Lady Janna too?"
One of the miners had noticed the bluebird bracelet on Caleb's wrist and couldn't help asking.
"I guess so. I actually met her not long ago."
Caleb nodded calmly.
The jaws of the miners nearly hit the floor when they heard that.
That was Janna, the ancient guardian of Zaun, the people's faith itself.
A lot of the time, people wondered how they hadn't all been choked to death by the smog from the topside.
Maybe it wasn't natural selection at all.
Maybe Lady Janna had truly been watching over them.
Caleb had met her?
That was unreal.