"That guy looks scary..."
"He doesn't even look human..."
"But the Governor's with him... so it's probably fine, right?"
As Caleb and Warwick walked down the street together, they drew stares from every passerby.
But with Caleb's presence as Governor, people were not all that wary.
A few brave kids even ran up and tugged on Warwick's tail a couple of times.
When Warwick only turned around to glance at them and did not hurt anyone, the residents finally relaxed.
A few hours later, the two of them arrived at the Firelights' camp.
"Governor!"
Ekko came up and drove a solid punch into Caleb's chest.
"Cough, cough, cough..." Ekko's gloves were made of metal, so Caleb had not exactly been ready for that.
"What's with you?" Caleb asked, noticing the faint flush on Ekko's face.
"Where did you get all that money?"
Caleb rolled his eyes.
"I was just walking down a street in Piltover and it fell out of the sky."
His tone carried a hint of helplessness as he pointed at Warwick.
"This is a new member, Warwick."
"He'll be helping deal with the Chem-Barons from now on."
"Really? That's great!"
Ekko was clearly excited. The werewolf looked fierce, sure, but for some reason, he also felt strangely familiar.
At this point, as long as Caleb's decision was not wildly wrong, Ekko was happy to support it completely.
"How's Viktor doing? Is everything going smoothly here?"
Even though Caleb was always running all over the place, he had not forgotten to check in on the others.
"Pretty well. Ever since he got here, the design work's practically been completed."
There was no hiding the admiration in Ekko's eyes.
A real point of pride for Zaun.
"I'm counting on you to handle Zaun's public safety from here on out too."
Caleb patted Ekko on the shoulder, his tone carrying a deeper meaning.
Vi was still better suited to working with Caitlyn. Whenever she operated on her own, she was just too reckless.
Rather than being a leader, she was better suited to being the heavy hitter.
So for Zaun's day-to-day security, Caleb needed someone else.
And the person he had in mind was Ekko.
The Z-Drive was practically a cheat, giving Ekko the advantage from the very start.
It was not just violent incidents either, a lot of crises could be defused in time because of him.
"Seriously? Well, speaking of that, we just had a new recruit join the Firelights."
Ekko suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Okay? A recruit's a recruit." Caleb did not think much of it.
After all, once Caleb became Governor, the Firelights had basically become the first gang officially recognized by him. They were effectively his right and left hand.
Of course it was normal for a gang like that to expand.
"You don't get it. We stopped recruiting the day you became Governor."
Ekko wore a strangely mysterious expression. "Mairen will take you to meet her."
"Fine. You take Warwick around, help him get used to the place, and set him up with somewhere to stay."
Caleb did not overthink it. He simply followed the fish-man at the side and left.
Warwick was not stupid. In fact, even if that body still held the Vander from years ago, he had not survived as the boss of the Lanes by being clueless.
If he lacked even that much sense, Caleb might as well have sent him out to do charity work across Zaun.
"This is the room."
Mairen led him to a door, pointed to it, then turned and left.
As the Firelights' second-in-command and a medic skilled at treating wounds, what he felt toward Caleb was more awe than anything else.
A giant rat had been found near the sewers, carrying all kinds of chem toxins.
People had seen flashes of laser light there. Others had seen Caleb heading in that direction.
So how had that giant rat been dealt with?
The answer was obvious.
Just looking at the mix of toxins involved, even Mairen himself was not confident that, if an ordinary person had been wounded, he could have saved them by amputating the limb in time to stop the poison from spreading.
And that was not even detoxification, just containment.
Everything Caleb said and did had been good for Zaun.
And on top of that, the money from those two great houses had been delivered straight to the Firelights instead of passing through Caleb's hands.
What did that say?
Of course, Caleb had no idea what Mairen was thinking as he headed back downstairs.
He lightly knocked on the door twice.
Just like every other visit he had ever made.
"Come in," a woman's voice called from inside.
Caleb was a little curious now. What kind of talent did it take to get accepted into the Firelights after they had already stopped recruiting?
The girl in front of him wore a loose jacket, and most of her outfit was made up of the dark colors common in Zaun.
The only real splash of brightness was her hair and the tank top underneath, both of them a vivid yellow.
"I'm Zeri. I'm guessing you're the new Governor, right?"
"That's me." Caleb nodded, stepped into the room, and pulled over a chair to sit down.
"I heard you were hunting down Chem-Barons, so I figured I'd come join you!"
The girl flashed him a bright smile. Compared to most people in Zaun, she was like a streak of color in the middle of the gloom.
"So why did they let you in?"
Caleb's curiosity had not faded at all. At first glance, she just looked like an ordinary Zaun girl with some familiarity with chemtech gear.
Though she did not seem to have any prosthetics.
"Because of this."
A spark leaped between Zeri's fingers. With a light flick of her hand, the arc of electricity cracked into the wall.
Caleb narrowed his eyes immediately.
Now he knew exactly why they had brought her into the Firelights.
Plenty of people in Zaun could manage a burst like that.
Generating electricity once was not all that amazing.
But Zeri's real strength was that she produced electricity through her own will.
In other words, she was naturally gifted with magic.
Caleb practically launched himself out of the chair and grabbed both her hands tightly.
"You absolutely have to join us!"
What was this?
This was rare talent.
No matter how miraculous Hextech was, the power source behind it was still the Hextech Gemstone.
Zeri could generate electricity on her own. To put it bluntly, she could save Zaun a fortune on utilities all by herself.
"And what's with this outfit?"
Only after getting closer did Caleb realize there was something special hidden under Zeri's oversized jacket.
It was covered in dense, intricate patterns.
This thing was basically a battery.
He had struck gold.
Caleb suddenly felt the same rush as pulling an ultra-rare from a gacha.
"I lose control sometimes. I made this jacket so I wouldn't accidentally hurt the people around me."
"And then my neighbors built me a gun too."
Zeri smugly waved the pistol in her right hand.
"I'm gonna make something of myself here."
Looking at the bright-eyed girl in front of him, Caleb could not help smiling.
"No problem. But we're going to need to upgrade your gear."
Seeing the look in Caleb's eyes, Zeri could not help smiling back.
Then she seemed to realize something and quickly pulled her hands away.
Her face growing warm, Zeri had no idea what was about to happen next.
The Shadow Isles.
Green fire burned within Thresh's skull.
Earlier, his old enemy Lucian had actually reunited with his wife.
Not only had the two of them escaped from beneath his lantern, but after that battle, Thresh's strength had been diminished as well.
The sword that once might have at least quivered a little now seemed nailed in place, utterly unmoved by Thresh's power.
Thresh's range of movement was limited to the Shadow Isles, unless...
"The souls from Bilgewater still aren't enough..."
He muttered to himself, carrying the lantern that held countless souls as he slowly disappeared into the distance.
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