Lux was greatly enlightened by her conversation with Vander at The Last Drop.
She could not have imagined that Zaun, a place so chaotic, morally ambiguous, and utterly disorganized, could actually be recognized as a city-state, and that Zaunites were quite proud of it!
Here, as long as it involved Piltover, it seemed that everything was justifiable and permissible, short of direct murder.
Yet, when Lux asked why they hated Piltover and considered them irreconcilable enemies, they stammered, unable to provide a clear answer.
Zaunites knew there was a problem, but they didn't know what the problem was, nor could they solve it.
"Is this what you imagine Zaun to be like?" Lux asked Klein, her hand on her sword hilt, after leaving the tavern. "Completely chaotic, with no sense of direction at all?"
"There might be some slight deviations in the specific details," Klein thought for a moment and replied, "but overall, the difference isn't significant—as it stands, this is indeed a ruin."
"What, you think that guy Vander wasn't lying?" Lux suddenly grew curious. "Back at the tavern, you specifically asked me to drink that goat milk. That's not like you."
"Goat milk from the plate-horned goat is good stuff," Klein chuckled at her words. "Plate-horned goats are also called mammoth goats, a specialty of Belzhun. Their milk is the most famous tonic there. He didn't intend to poison you by offering that—besides, Ino didn't drink any."
"Alright, that stuff did taste good, just a bit cloying. I need to move around and digest it," Lux smacked her lips. "What should we do now? Go check out the Chem-Barons' factories? Vander said the workers haven't finished their shifts yet."
"Good idea," Klein affirmed Lux's suggestion. "Although I think what that guy said is likely true, it's always good to hear both sides. While we have the chance, a visit to a Chem-Baron's factory might reveal another side of Zaun, who knows?"
"It's settled then!" Lux tried to snap her fingers like Vi did earlier but failed. "Do we need to put on some makeup—like we did back in Silvermere?"
"In Zaun, makeup probably won't truly help you blend in here," Klein said with a hint of helplessness in his tone. "As long as you wear a filter mask, they'll treat you as a Piltoverian."
"Oh, this is—" Lux blinked a few times. "But if I breathe freely here, I'm afraid I'll start coughing."
"So, my suggestion is to simply not pretend to be Zaunites," Klein chuckled, offering a completely different suggestion from their time in Silvermere. "Let's just pretend to be Piltoverians."
"Pretend to be Piltoverians..." Lux blinked, then quickly understood Klein's meaning. "You mean, if Vander and Vi weren't lying, and those Chem-Barons are Piltover's lackeys, then being a Piltoverian would be more useful?"
"Exactly," Klein said, as if she were a teachable student. "Perfectly, you can't fake this kind of dazzling appearance as a Zaunite, and Ino can simply play the role of a maid. Perhaps we can see another side of this city from a different perspective?"
Inside the closest alchemical factory to The Last Drop, Chem-Baron Finn was sitting in his office, fiddling with an exquisite lighter.
Finn loved lighters.
He loved the feeling of creating something from nothing, igniting a flame.
The sensation of rubbing the flint and turning a spark into a flame captivated him—in Finn's view, his alchemical factory was a lighter, the workers were the gas, the roaring machines were the flint, and his wealth was the bursting flame.
Every time he lit his lighter, he recalled the day he left his hometown.
On that day, he had rubbed the flint, igniting the spirit willows in the village, leaving those stubborn elders who said he had no talent and was unworthy of being a ranger without protection, facing the swords of the Noxians.
Amidst the raging inferno, Finn's village was burned down, and the Noxians who invaded the village were also strangled by the forest's wrath. As for Finn, the instigator of it all, he had already left the village and escaped to Wei Li, setting sail from that port.
Then... he was hijacked by Bilgewater pirates and sold to Zaun.
When he first arrived in Zaun, Finn was an indentured laborer, responsible for mining.
At that time, he didn't understand the Zaunite language, nor could he comprehend their culture, but for Finn, these things weren't important.
At least in Zaun, no one would determine a person's future based on a few strange rituals.
Even as an indentured miner, Finn had always strived to climb up.
However, unlike other honest Zaunites, Finn's method of climbing was somewhat unconventional—he didn't work hard at mining, nor did he come up with any good ways to improve efficiency. His method was more direct: if he wanted to be a foreman, he'd just eliminate the current foreman.
Through this method, Finn climbed to the position of tunnel manager in a mine, and then he realized that at this level, fists alone could no longer solve problems.
But fortunately, Finn had a brain in addition to his fists.
By this time, he had learned Zaunite, and could even curse more like a Zaunite than actual Zaunites. Realizing his fists were no longer enough, he sought out a few individuals whose fists were hard enough.
Although Finn thought the guy named Vander was a fool, he had prestige and strength, so following him seemed like a good idea.
Thus, Finn followed Vander, getting to know more and more Zaunites. They were all similar to Vander, all foolish, and Finn just followed behind these foolish guys, cheering them on. When they thought they had taken control of Zaun, he watched them lead their forces charging towards Piltover, towards the Sun Gates.
Then... those foolish guys were mowed down by the Piltoverians' firearms, falling one by one as if cut by a scythe, their blood staining the seawall red.
Ultimately, only a few managed to escape back to Dark Alley, licking their wounds like stray dogs.
Finn, observing coldly from the sidelines, had already realized that Piltoverians needed Zaun; they needed Zaun's ore, Zaun's metal, Zaun's black market, and Zaun's intelligent people. Vander and that group of fools had scared the Piltoverians, and now was his time to rise.
After silently lighting his lighter from afar and sharing a cigarette with those foolish guys, Finn approached the Piltover Council—he gave the Piltoverians the promises they wanted, obtained a large sum of low-interest gold hex, and built his own factory, specializing in processing the highly polluting products that Piltoverians were unwilling to process themselves.
Finn transformed himself, becoming a new Chem-Baron.
However, Finn's ambitions went far beyond that.
He craved more gold hex, more power—if possible, he hoped to employ workers at an even lower price and discharge wastewater directly into Zaun's underground rivers.
If that were the case, Finn would earn enough gold hex to buy a house in Blue Smoked Manor, or even a seat on the Council, becoming a true Piltoverian.
But unfortunately, he couldn't do that yet.
Vander was still alive, and he wouldn't allow Finn to do such things. If Finn defied Vander, his alchemical factory wouldn't be able to recruit workers.
Even though Vander was foolish, other foolish Zaunites always trusted him.
Even though many unfortunate souls who once believed in him had died on the seawall of the Sun Gates.
Just now, someone had brought news: a Piltoverian who seemed to be of significant status, accompanied by a mage guard, had visited Vander's The Last Drop, and after an unpleasant interaction with Vander, was now heading towards Finn's factory.
A Piltoverian with a mage guard...
Were they finally planning to bypass Vander?
Finn leaned back in his spacious chair.
Under his right hand, beneath the table, the lighter's lid was opened again.
Click—
The orange-red flame was ignited once more.
Klein's Small Class: Chem-Barons:
Chem-Barons are not nobles; they are the owners of various alchemical factories in Zaun. Their factories undertake the most important production tasks of the city, from mining to ore washing, from rough forging to acid pickling. Many highly polluting projects that Piltoverians do not undertake are handled by their factories.
In addition, these alchemical factories also undertake some special research and development unique to Zaun. Zaunites' lives are cheap enough that they can skip animal testing and apply many concoctions directly to test subjects—because of this "advantage," Zaunites' alchemy and potion-making levels are among the few areas that surpass Piltover's.