"Governor, hot soup."
A sturdy man handed Caleb a bowl, his face full of sincere warmth.
"Thanks."
Caleb took the bowl and nodded to him naturally.
It was the first night after leaving the twin cities.
The caravan kept rolling south.
To the east lay Ixtal, with its dense jungles, and to the west lay the once-glorious ancient Shurima.
The caravan was heading for the Marrowmark Market.
Rumor had it the market was built atop the ribs of some ancient desert beast, and that you could find anything under the sun there.
Naturally, the caravan's chosen goods were handcrafted wares made by the people themselves, along with little curios pulled out of old tombs.
The merchants from Piltover had the better eye for quality, but when it came to grit and hard work, the people from the Undercity were better.
This was the first time the two sides had joined forces, so they all treated Caleb with an unusual degree of awe.
In northern Shurima, some of the cities and ports had pledged themselves to Noxus, providing a not insignificant share of its food supply.
In return, part of the Noxian army was stationed there to keep raiders from causing trouble.
That was exactly where Caleb and the caravan were stopping tonight, one of those cities.
Because the twin cities bordered Noxian territory, their caravan enjoyed the protection of the army here as well.
Once they pushed farther south into the wasteland, that was when the caravan's own guards would have to earn their pay.
As for Caleb, he planned to leave the caravan once they reached the market and continue on alone to search for Bandle City with Ziggs.
Heimerdinger had told him with absolute confidence that if he wanted to find a portal leading to Bandle City, Shurima was the best place to look.
Sitting in a corner, Caleb studied his map by the glow of the campfire.
The caravan was making good time. It was not as fast as Caleb traveling alone, but it was still decent enough.
More than a city that existed on Runeterra, Bandle City felt like a city that existed independently within the spirit realm.
There were portals to Bandle City in the twin cities too.
But those portals only opened to people who understood the yordle language, or under certain specific conditions.
Heimerdinger could not open them, and even if he could, the old professor would never have been able to keep Ziggs under control.
What Caleb needed to find was a portal that could be opened with a specific sequence of hand gestures.
Heimerdinger was certain there was one somewhere in Shurima.
But because it had been so long, all he could give Caleb was a rough area to search.
The gesture sequence would be carved near the portal in a special set of symbols.
And because Caleb possessed a token tied to a demigod, he could understand those symbols.
"Sigh."
Caleb let out a long breath.
The air here really was far better than Zaun's, but the moment he thought about Shurima and Bandle City, he felt drained.
If nothing else, Shurima was the kind of place where beings at the level of demigods really did appear, and not just one of them.
And farther west was Mount Targon, while far to the south, the Void still lay dormant in what had once been Icathia.
The more Caleb thought about it, the more his head hurt, but he had no choice except to go.
He knew Azir would awaken eventually.
The rebirth of the ancient Shuriman Empire would become an indispensable source of strength in every major crisis to come.
In the end, Caleb made up his mind.
"What's the Governor looking at over there? He looks like the weight of the world's on his shoulders."
"Come on, if you could understand it, you'd be Viktor or Ekko instead of out here earning hard labor pay."
"But having the Governor out here with us really is amazing."
"Yeah. We don't even have to worry about bandits anymore. If only he'd travel back to the twin cities with us too, man..."
"Oh, keep dreaming. Quit flattering yourself."
Caleb heard every word of the merchants' whispers in the distance, but he had no intention of saying anything to them.
As the former governor of a city, he was happy enough to protect his people.
As long as they did not go out of their way to get themselves killed.
"Ziggs."
Caleb opened the cell door with a cold look in his eyes, a trace of menace flickering there.
That little man loved explosions, and Caleb had already asked Heimerdinger about it.
If something really went wrong, killing him would not actually be that big of a problem.
For ordinary people, killing a yordle was difficult, since their homeland lay in the spirit realm.
But for Caleb, that really was possible.
Sensing the killing intent coming off him, Ziggs did not dare make a move. He obediently raised both hands.
Caleb searched him from top to bottom without missing a thing.
Ziggs's theories on hextech demolition had grown out of Pow-Pow's old explosive designs. If Caleb had not arrested him in time, who knew how many more ruins would have ended up scattered across the cities?
"Good."
Caleb tossed back the clothes he had confirmed were safe, then shut the cage door again.
After that, he hoisted the whole cage up into the air.
Caleb had always hated people who screamed and caused endless trouble for an entire city just to satisfy themselves.
Then he lay down in his sleeping bag on the spot and stared blankly up at the sky full of stars.
In his previous life, he had either been staring down at a screen or looking at other people's faces.
Even when he occasionally looked up at the sky, he could barely see any stars.
Sometimes, when the pollution was not too bad, he could at least catch a glimpse of the moon.
He had only been gone for a single day, and Caleb already found himself worrying a little about Zaun.
...
Knock knock.
After two knocks, Ekko stepped into Caleb's office.
Viktor still lived in that little house down the alley and stubbornly insisted he was only the "acting governor."
Over the past few days, the Firelights had smashed apart quite a few Chem-Barons, along with the factories they had opened.
Of course, those factories needed new people to run them, and that opportunity now sat squarely in the hands of Zaun's people.
The engineers from Piltover had the technical knowledge, while Zaun had the land.
Creating wealth was easy, all you needed were hands.
And even that was not strictly necessary.
The problem was that one person had locked herself in here the whole time.
Jinx.
"You need to snap out of it."
Ekko looked helplessly at the two long braids hanging down.
Jinx had not spoken a single word since Caleb left.
Her relationship with Vi had improved a little, though. It was no longer as tense as before.
"Do you think... he'll really want to come back?"
There was a helplessness in Jinx's voice. The people she depended on kept leaving her behind.
When she had to face the world alone, those monsters would sometimes crawl out again and make her feel like danger was closing in.
"He'll definitely want to come back. He just has more important things he needs to do first."
Ekko spread his hands and kept trying to talk her around.
"I heard the caravans leaving later are going to bring them newspapers."
"Perfect..."
As soon as she heard that, Jinx's eyes lit up at once.
...
Another clear, sunny day.
In the sweltering desert region, Caleb and the others in the caravan had all put up parasols.
Their clothes had changed too. The fitted garments that were good for movement had been swapped out for loose, breathable, light-colored clothing.
Caleb was laying out the ingredients in neat order. He had decided he was finally going to eat the hot pot he had been craving from his previous life for ages.
Mildly spicy, or full numbing heat.
That was the question.
Caleb hummed a few bars of "Five Hundred Miles," an old tune from his previous life, as he prepared to slice some meat and swish it through the broth.
"Governor————!"
That peaceful little moment was shattered by a shout.
"I already told you, don't call me Governor out here!"
Caleb frowned, annoyed. How could this guy have so little sense?
"No, Governor, you need to come look!"
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