In the end, Lux and Ino waited the entire day at The Last Drop, but Jayce and Viktor never showed up.
Their absence greatly surprised Lux. She wanted to know what had happened, but considering that explorers in Piltover were already showing interest in Kallikan's, the laboratory containing Klein's research was more important than a promising young scientist.
Therefore, after visiting the ruins of Jayce's laboratory and finding nothing, Lux had no choice but to abandon that lead. She retrieved all her luggage from the Ecliptic Vaults and returned to Zaun.
In this situation, the only thing she could do was find Vander and ask for his help in inquiring about Jayce and Viktor—especially Viktor. He was originally from Zaun; although he was now a member of Piltover, his connections in Zaun had not been completely severed. Vander should somehow be able to find him.
If it weren't for the fact that no deposit had been paid, Lux might even have suspected that the two had absconded with the money.
Vander readily agreed to Lux's request, initially even refusing payment. It was only when Lux insisted that he reluctantly said, "You can order two more cups of goat's milk."
"Then let's make it six cups," Lux thought for a moment, then handed a gold hex to Vander. "The extra money can be considered pre-paid rent."
Vander did not refuse this time, but simply accepted the money.
In reality, Vander found every one of these coins familiar, as they were the very ones he had given Grayson to appease the situation. Now, Lux was merely returning them to their rightful owner.
Then, as the two were talking, Ekko arrived at the tavern with four children.
"Yo, Vander, can we finally move freely?" Although her expression was a little unnatural when she saw Lux, Vi's steps were light, and her whole mood seemed very good. "The previous matter... is it settled?"
"It's mostly settled," Vander didn't elaborate on the matter, but pointed to Lux. "To prevent you four rascals from causing such trouble again, for the next half a month, you'll follow Miss Lux and learn to do something proper..."
"Follow her?" Vi's eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you alright, Vander? I understand you don't want us to cause trouble, but why do I have to follow her?"
"Consider it supervision," Vander pulled Vi to his side and lowered his voice. "She hired your Uncle Benso and them to dig something up. You can help keep an eye on things and take shelter in Lower Zaun for a while."
"The Piltoverian still won't budge?" Vi frowned with some dissatisfaction. "Didn't no one get hurt—"
"So keep a good eye on things, Vi," Vander reached out and patted Vi's shoulder. "You're a big kid now; you can't just wander the streets every day, can you? I don't want you to become a Chem-Baron's enforcer when you grow up."
"How could I ever associate with those gatekeepers?" Vi couldn't help but raise her voice. "I'm not like them—Vander, I've decided! When I'm an adult, I'll open a tavern across from yours and compete with you for referral business. The name will be..."
Vi, on a whim, wanted to give her tavern a resounding name, but after much thought, she couldn't find a good option. Just as she felt a little awkward, Lux, with her hand on her sword hilt, offered a suggestion.
"Violet Dream, how does that sound?"
"Great name!" Vi subconsciously nodded. "Violet Dream..."
"Suit yourself," Vander shook his head, not continuing to argue with Vi. "Anyway, do a good job!"
"Watch me!"
.....
With ample manpower and reliable "supervisors," Lux's excavation work finally officially began.
Guided by Janna, she led a group of workers over one ditch after another, across one mine pit after another, finally arriving at an inconspicuous cave entrance.
"This is it," Lux pointed to the half-collapsed cave. "Our job is to clear the cave passage and remove all the rubble and such."
"Just like when Piltoverian prospectors?" Benso examined the cave, stroking his chin. "With all due respect, Miss Lux, this looks like nothing but an abandoned mine shaft."
"It is indeed," Lux shrugged. "What I need to excavate is underground, and digging through this mine shaft is easier—if we were to dig a brand new vertical shaft, it wouldn't be something a few of us could handle."
"I see..." Benso nodded, not dwelling on the issue. "At least for now, we just need to clear the mine, right?"
"Exactly!" Lux nodded. "That's the first phase."
"Then, I think we'll need some explosives," Benso discussed with the other miners and offered a professional suggestion. "This mine is quite old, and the layers of rubble have already solidified. We won't be able to dig it out with just pickaxes."
"In terms of breaking through, you can leave it to Ino," Lux pointed to Ino, who had been quietly standing behind her. "She can create parasitic ice crystals to push the rocks apart—compared to explosives, controllable magic is much more convenient."
"She can do that too?" Hearing Lux say this, Benso's eyes widened in astonishment. "Using magic... to mine?"
"Why not?" Lux retorted. "If using magic makes excavation easier, then why not use it?"
Benso blinked, saying nothing more.
From Benso's perspective, Lux's view was undoubtedly very strange—a noble mage lady personally participating in dirty work like mining... Under normal circumstances, shouldn't she be using magic to gain more profit, and then hiring more people to mine?
Although Ino looked like Lux's maid, Benso had seen Piltoverian butlers and servants before, and many of them were even from Zaun. Even if their status in Piltover was negligible, in Zaun, every single one of them had their noses in the air.
Those servants who were merely flaunting their masters' power were already so arrogant, yet Ino, a genuine mage, could participate in mining work and use magic to speed up the excavation...
This was simply too unbelievable!
However, even with his doubts, Benso didn't ask much—for him, the most important aspects of this job were earning money, understanding Lux, and guiding these four unruly children. So, he, who usually enjoyed joking, was determined to listen more and speak less this time.
Since Lux said Ino would help and no explosives were needed, then no explosives were needed.
You're the employer, you call the shots!
Klein's Small Class · Mining:
Klein was very skilled in agricultural work, but only had some involvement in mining—Shurima's mineral resources were relatively abundant, but mostly concentrated on the continent's edges. By the time Shurima expanded there, Klein no longer needed to personally go down into the mines.