Vander turned and entered the warehouse behind him.
A moment later, Lux finally received a cup of goat milk—though it was only milk powder mixed with water.
Just as Lux took the cup, the entire The Last Drop was quickly emptied. Although the patrons seemed to have some unfinished business, it was clear they were willing and needed to give Vander face.
A disgruntled Vi was also dragged away by Benso. Before leaving, she once again showed Lux her fist and kept muttering, "Show Vander some respect," and so on.
"You care a lot about your reputation and don't want people to know you have a good relationship with the Enforcers, right?" Holding the warm goat milk, Lux, with Klein's help, successfully analyzed the crux of the matter. "It seems you're really a big shot here."
"You don't understand the situation here, and I don't want any accidents. So, as I said before, leave now. It's for everyone's good." Vander didn't answer directly but poured himself a glass of wine. "Besides, I've already shown my sincerity."
"That gold hex also has your share? It seems the situation is not quite what I imagined." Lux took a deep breath, seemingly enjoying the taste of the goat milk. "I thought this was a malicious attack, that the Enforcers were bribed, and the incident would ultimately be defined as an accident…"
Lux's words left Vander dumbfounded.
His surprise didn't seem fake, so Lux could only shrug awkwardly—she wasn't lying; that's what she had thought before.
There was nothing she could do; from her perspective, the whole thing really looked terrible.
A building exploded in the street, but the witnesses received an unknown sum of money, and the owner of the house was arrested for illegal experiments.
Yet, Lux had also seen some figures escaping. These guys were chased by the Enforcers all day, then brazenly appeared in Zaun…
When these things were put together, Lux naturally had some strange thoughts.
Wasn't this a premeditated conspiracy?
Enforcers colluding with criminals, pushing the blame onto the homeowner… and so on.
However, looking at the current situation, it seemed that wasn't the case—just look at those children's attitude toward Piltover. It was probably truly just out of revenge.
The atmosphere was slightly awkward.
"I am an outsider." With one hand on her sword hilt, Lux finally picked up the cup and lowered her head to take a sip of goat milk. "I'm just purely curious about the relationship between Zaun and Piltover."
"It's good for young people to be curious." Seeing Lux willing to drink the goat milk, Vander shook his head with a slight sigh. "But excessive curiosity always brings trouble. Even if you're a mage, these troubles aren't so easy to handle—knowing when to protect yourself is also a good quality."
"Unfortunately, I'm already involved." Lux finished all the goat milk. "Besides, I just want to know what caused the explosion. If I'm not mistaken, those children carried quite a few packages when they escaped. I'm afraid they might have what I'm looking for."
"Since you're willing to remain neutral, I can be direct." Vander also finished the wine in his glass. "The items were lost because they would cause trouble."
"Lost?" Lux blinked, clearly not expecting such an answer. "So, what exactly did that group of children do? Blew up a building in the Academy District, then lost the things they took from inside?"
"…A perfect summary." Vander nodded. "So, this matter ends here."
"Is this the situation you, as Zaun's order maintainer, expect?" Hearing Vander say that, Lux finally frowned. "A house blown up, but no one is punished or learns a lesson because of it?"
"Ha, what are you talking about?" This time it was Vander's turn to be confused. "This is Zaunites' own business. Zaunites follow Zaun's rules. Is there a problem with blowing up a Piltoverian's house? And no one died, right?"
"I was wondering when I faced Ekko earlier who instilled such terrible ideas in him." Lux put down the cup. "It turns out it was you, Mr. Vander. He thinks theft is not a crime, and in your opinion, blowing up a building is not a problem either?"
"Of course, it's not a problem!" Vander knocked on the bar, making a thudding sound. "Ekko and Vi found the wrong person. You're not a Piltoverian, so you can beat them up and teach them a lesson—as for them blowing up a building, that's between us and the Piltoverian, and it has nothing to do with you."
"I'm sorry, I can't understand." Lux shook her head, showing just the right amount of confusion. "I'd like to know what caused all this between Piltover and Zaun."
"Because Piltover took everything from us, but dumped trash, smog, and wastewater on us!" Vander's tone finally rose slightly. "Zaunites built Piltover, but we can only hide in the Dark Alley, hide in the gutters!"
"Did you also build the Sun Gates?" Lux raised an eyebrow, putting on an incredulous expression. "Sorry to be blunt, but in Zaun, all I've seen is a bunch of idle children."
"That's because you came on the wrong day." Vander snorted. "The explosion made the Piltoverians a bit nervous, and the black market had to close for a few days—at this time, only those heartless factories work overtime."
"Heartless factories?" Lux looked interested. "Can you tell me about them?"
"What exactly do you want, outsider?" Vander finally stood up, looking down at Lux. "What are you trying to find out? Or do you think a mage can do whatever she wants in Zaun?"
"Neither." Lux shook her head, her hand caressing the sword hilt. "If I had to say, I'm an investor, hoping to find a suitable investment location."
"Zaun doesn't need sponsors."
"But I think Zaun does." A smile appeared on Lux's face. "Although it's a mess here, at least the salary level perfectly matches what I can provide."
"Explain yourself, what exactly do you want?!" Vander gritted his teeth. "What are you plotting?"
"I told you, I'm just here to invest." Lux let go of her sword hilt and finally spread her hands. "According to your Zaunite saying, this is probably a dangerous experiment?"
"Experiment?" Vander narrowed his eyes. "Human experimentation? Don't even think about it!"
"Huh?" This time it was Lux's turn to be confused. "Human experimentation? What's that?"
"…"
"…"
Finally, when Lux finally put on her filter again and left the The Last Drop, she felt her head had grown a size bigger.
She failed to reach a consensus with Vander, and Vander didn't believe an outsider would actively want to change Zaun's environment.
But at least from Vander, she learned a lot about Zaun.
Even though she had heard many bad rumors about Zaun and many Piltoverians were full of disdain whenever Zaun was mentioned, when she truly saw the city and heard about its past from Vander, Lux couldn't help but marvel at the inadequacy of her imagination.
Lux once thought that the commoners of Demacia were already miserable: they relied on nature for food, had to pay hefty taxes to their lords, bore many invisible demands from nobles, and had almost no upward mobility.
But after witnessing the situation in Zaun, she was startled to discover that, compared to Zaun, the commoners of Demacia lived like gods.
Child labor, excessive work, environmental pollution, scarcity of resources, lack of safety… Zaun's problems were far more severe than Lux had imagined.
Unlike in Demacia, where commoners envied nobles, in Zaun, Zaunites were filled with anger towards Piltover. Lux even felt that these two cities were sitting on a Powder Keg, ready to explode at any moment.
In such a situation, even if Vander seemed to be a good-natured guy, all he could do was maintain order in one tavern, and nothing more.
"Is this Zaun?" Lux murmured. "Klein, you were right, this is practically a ruin…"
Klein's Small Class · Upper and Lower Zaun:
Overall, Zaun can be roughly divided into two parts: Upper Zaun, which is a residential area and connected to Piltover by elevators; and Lower Zaun, which is mostly mines, factories, and underground rivers, where most Zaunites usually work—yes, including some children.