Vi looked awful. Even her well-trained body seemed completely drained.
"Are you really the same Vi who once slammed a heavy punch into a prison wall?"
Caleb thought about it for a moment, then gently patted her shoulder. Ever since arriving in the twin cities, Caleb had helped Jinx quite a lot. Looked at that way, he had more or less ended up standing on the opposite side from Vi.
"Meet him. A lot of things will be fine once you talk them through."
Caleb did not go out of his way to comfort her. If she wanted to become a guardian of peace for the twin cities, then she had to show some resolve and determination. At the very least, if Vi could not do it, Ekko was still there as a fallback. Even if Jinx could not really be considered a stable fighting force, she at least lived and died with Zaun.
As for the messy old score between Warwick and Silco, Caleb had no intention of helping them sort out who had been right and who had been wrong. More or less, every person involved in that old story had already paid the price they deserved.
So Caleb's opinion was basically, just make it work. What else were they supposed to do?
Silco had indeed given Caleb the capital he needed to turn things around. The money had not exactly been clean, but in the end, it had truly contributed to the people of Zaun.
Vander had backed down in the past, but Caleb's assassination attempt had also taught him that compromise between the twin cities was basically no different from surrender. Politics might be the art of compromise, but Zaun had no room left behind it. If it was pushed back step by step again, the end would be total ruin.
What was even more frightening than having nothing was once having something, only to fail to hold on to it.
Of course, Caleb believed that with Renata keeping things under control and himself there as the final safeguard, the situation in Zaun was still fairly stable. After all, even if relations with Piltover to the north completely fell apart, Caleb could still turn south.
Down there were the two massive pillars of Shurima and Ixtal. In terms of history, population, resources, and territory, they were both true giants.
If Piltover wanted to gain any advantage now, it was impossible for them to refuse respect to the Zaun where Caleb stood. Everyone in the city now knew exactly what had happened to the nobles who once could not stand watching the beggar dependent on them rise back up.
Aside from the Ferros family, who had placed bets on both sides and possessed the most spies, only two families had come out of it well, Kiramman and Medarda.
Everything Caleb had obtained now had come partly from his own hard work, but even more from standing on the shoulders of those who came before him. If Zaun had truly been beyond saving, he would not have been able to reverse the situation all by himself.
Janna's willingness to appear when he took control of the city was proof of that.
"All right. I'll think about it later."
Caleb's words were gentle, and he did not force Vi to do anything. But he also knew that once Vi had her PROJECT mecha, her combat power would rise by another level.
Zaun would need her then. After all, there was never enough fighting strength.
The candidates were finally settled. On Caleb's side, Zaun would have Warwick, Renata, and Zeri serve as councilors.
On Piltover's side, Lucide, Orianna, and Morton would take on that heavy responsibility.
The last guy was a merchant. Of course, on the surface, he was just the owner of a common general store in Piltover. Behind the scenes, Camille had already told Caleb that he could basically be described as a heavyweight who controlled the prices of goods across the black markets of both cities.
Camille had already discussed that point with him, and Caleb had met the man once, too, this person known for being cold and inhumanly distant.
To Caleb's surprise, talking with him had gone rather smoothly.
At the end, that expensive dinner had even been paid for by the other party.
Caleb felt that this kind of junior had a very bright future.
And the people chosen by Piltover and Zaun were unexpectedly representative.
Piltover's three members represented the aristocracy, the artisans, and the merchants.
Zaun's three members represented the mechanical ascenders, the factory owners, and ordinary people.
With Heimerdinger joining as a giant of the scientific community as well, this council's lineup was indeed far more satisfying to the public than the previous one.
"Hey, why do you think the Governor isn't one of the councilors? If he became one, who would dare say anything?"
"Keep dreaming. I said it before, Governor Caleb is so busy, how could he possibly waste time sitting through meetings with them?"
"Get real. Weren't you the one who swore up and down that you'd definitely follow Councilor Caleb's lead? Did he even notice you?"
When Caleb woke up, every scrap of quiet conversation outside fell clearly into his ears.
While his eardrums could now capture sound with greater sensitivity, they could also withstand noises that would almost tear an ordinary person's eardrums apart. And it was not just that. He could even pick out faint movements inside a massive roar.
This was probably the system's final gift.
Caleb did not think much about it. He looked at Kai'Sa, who was idling at his desk, then at Jinx, who was unusually quiet as she stayed up on the ceiling, and sensed the faint atmosphere of a romantic minefield.
Caleb slipped silently through the wall and went out onto the street, where he ordered a snack.
Zaun had more varieties of street food now, though the ingredients were a bit simpler.
That was fine, too. Caleb looked into the distance, wondering how the mech being assembled by those four people was coming along.
It was different from Mecha Malphite and Mecha Kha'Zix, which were basically complete once built. Even their transformations only involved the same body mass.
But Shyvana's Super Galaxy mech had to transform from a human form into a dragon form, and it also had to perfectly fit Shyvana's body in both her human and dragon states.
Caleb withdrew his gaze. The people in the Freljord had basically stabilized.
From here on, what he needed to do was mostly hold the line.
After all, there was still that mysterious mass of Black Mist wandering around the Shadow Isles. Caleb was still thinking about how to send it back to the death realm and completely close that door.
Noxus should have been breached while Viego, the Ruined King, was searching for the fragments of Isolde's soul.
With Ruined Pantheon and Ruined Karma serving as guarantees of fighting strength, the Immortal Bastion really could not be considered that sturdy.
The badly weakened Noxus would probably still use its favorite method, war, to hide its exhaustion.
In the end, Noxus and Demacia were no better than each other.
In one, you could live in peace, but nobles and princes rode on top of you, enjoying everything you could not even imagine.
The other did claim equality, but it threw children, elders, and strong young adults all onto the same starting line, making every one of them risk their necks to fight for status.
And what was the result? Warlords and politicians. Was Ambessa not a living example?
Other than a Grand General like Swain, or someone like Darius, the Hand of Noxus, who would she ever stay beneath?
Noxus lets you stand upright? What about the deathsworn soldiers raised by those old nobles? What about the fighters risking their lives in the arena just to make the audience laugh?
Only simple-minded fools would believe that kind of lie.