Lux and Ino stayed in a room in the backyard of The Last Drop, adjacent to the tavern's storeroom.
And from the furnishings and decorations of the room, it seemed... quite a few people had lived here before.
The walls of the room were covered with a lot of graffiti. Although the room seemed to have been specially tidied up, there were still many traces left by previous occupants—to Lux and Ino's surprise, the mattress and bedding in this room were quite good, completely exceeding their expectations.
"The environment here is pretty good," Klein commented after Lux meticulously inspected the entire room. "However, from a decorative perspective, this doesn't seem like a hotel; it's more like a private residence."
"A private residence?" Lux thought for a moment, then agreed with Klein's point. "Now that you mention it, it really does look a bit like that—if it's just a double room, this place is really a bit too big."
"It's even more than enough for a whole family," Ino added. "Four or five people would be no problem."
"Say, could the people who lived here before be those children who committed the bombing in Piltover?" Klein reasoned. "I remember one had red hair, and one had blue hair?"
"What, are you going to look for any stray hairs?" Lux rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Forget it, Klein, this place has been cleaned very thoroughly, and even if there were hairs, it wouldn't prove anything... Comparatively, what I'm more concerned about right now is how to proceed with the investigation in Zaun. Your data should be almost ready, right?"
"It's ready," Klein said, smacking his lips when talking about the Piltover investigation data. "The data is astonishing. If our investigation isn't too watered down, then currently, the entire Piltover is a huge transit port; it seems everything about it is built upon the three sea gates of the Sun Gates."
"What do you mean?" Lux was stunned, not expecting Klein to come to such a conclusion. "Built upon three sea gates? The Sun Gates?"
"From an overall perspective, Piltover is a city heavily reliant on imports, with almost no exports of its own," Klein explained. "Even Piltoverian merchants merely use Piltover as a transit station. Piltoverians seem to produce nothing."
"But I remember Piltover maintaining an astonishing number of various laboratories, as well as an impressive scale of academies," Lux blinked. "And it also sponsored a large amount of cultural and artistic research?"
"But these are all consumed internally. Almost all of Piltover's wealth comes entirely from the Sun Gates," Klein explained. "From the information we gathered from porters at the Sun Gates and the data obtained from port authorities, the three Sun Gates bring Piltover an astonishing net profit of over thirty thousand gold hex a day."
"Thirty thousand gold hex?!" Even Lux was stunned by this astonishing income. "Are you sure you didn't miscalculate, Klein—or that our statistics have some problem...?"
"I've been rounding down. Unless everyone we met at the docks was bragging, the actual figures can only be higher, not lower," Klein sighed. "To put it in a not-so-apt way, the Sun Gates alone bring each Piltoverian nearly over one gold hex in income every month."
"But the Sun Gates are not controlled by every Piltoverian," Lux pondered for a moment. "We inquired for a long time and couldn't figure out where the income from port operations ultimately flowed, only knowing that a portion of this income should belong to the council, and a portion to private individuals."
"No matter whose pockets this money ultimately flows into," Klein continued, "most of it will eventually flow into Piltover's market, ultimately contributing to its astonishing prosperity."
"But this money hasn't flowed into Zaun," Lux continued, following Klein's words. "Piltover is even making money from Zaun."
"This isn't making money from Zaunites," Klein used a more serious term. "For this kind of relationship, I usually call it exploitation."
"Ah, this—" Lux was taken aback. "Is it that serious?"
"From the current perspective, it will only become more serious."
......
Lux's stay at The Last Drop was not kept a secret.
Soon, Silco, who was contemplating how to make Ino see Piltover as an enemy, received the news.
"They're staying with Vander?" Silco was quite surprised after Mr. Shadow gave him this answer. "What are those two doing?"
"..."
Mr. Shadow didn't speak—evidently, Silco was just talking to himself and hadn't asked for his opinion.
"How interesting," Silco reached out and touched the scar on his chin. "I originally thought these were two audacious brokers trying to play a double-dealing trick, but now they've colluded with Vander... However, it's also a good thing."
"..."
"The Piltoverian won't let those rascals off easily, right?" Silco returned to his seat. "I remember Vander's dog kennel doesn't have any guest rooms, which means those two young girls are staying in the place where those rascals lived before?"
"..."
"Perhaps we can make Vander push out the one named Lux?" Silco casually picked up the eyelash curler on the table. "Hmm, it seems we need to think of a reliable method—"
"I'll listen to you, you're the boss," Mr. Shadow finally spoke. "You call the shots."
"In that case, then don't run to Dark Alley every day. Keep a closer eye on Vander," Silco exhaled a long breath. "Once the Piltoverian comes looking for him, tell me immediately."
"No problem," Mr. Shadow shrugged. "However, those two young girls are not simple—mages cannot be judged by common sense."
"You're absolutely right, mages are not ordinary people." Mr. Shadow rarely spoke proactively, and Silco was stunned for a moment, then showed a smile. "Isn't that even better?"
"...Alright, suit yourself."
Mr. Shadow silently left the room.
"However, I'll remind you of one thing: this matter is not simple. Lux's origins cannot be traced at all. Perhaps she is a terrifying 'crossing-the-river dragon'—this world is far bigger than you think."
"Before you remind me, you should pay more attention to yourself!" Silco scoffed indifferently. "I don't want to have to collect your corpse in Dark Alley, on some woman's belly, one day."
Klein's small class · Zaun-style Space Utilization:
In the concept of Zaunites, a city not only has front, back, left, and right, but also distinct up and down. They are always able to use various methods to dig themselves a cellar warehouse, build an attic balcony, or whatever. Anyway, no one will manage the 'city appearance' here.