Unlike the bloodstained City of Day.
Looking up from the lower city, the shining and glamorous Piltover Council stood high above.
The nobles sat elegantly in their chairs, discussing recent events.
"Why are those filthy Zaunites still not working? My goods have been piled up at the port for days! The grapes are turning into wine!"
Hoskarl, sporting an ultra-Mediterranean hairstyle, threw the documents in his hand onto the seat.
He cursed without restraint.
His family traded goods with Noxus and other nations, relying heavily on the Day River trade and the cheap labor of Zaunites.
Once again, those damned Zaunites stirred up trouble for no reason, causing his family's shipment to Noxus to be delayed!
Who knew how much money would be lost this time.
Hmph, damn Zaunites—clearly lower city people, why couldn't they just do their jobs obediently? Truly despicable!
"A bunch of troublemakers! Do they not know that every day of absence costs me a mountain of Gold Gallons?"
Just thinking about how those damned Zaunites still hadn’t gone back to work made Hoskarl itch all over.
Heimerdinger furrowed his brows upon hearing the word “filthy.”
"Ahem, are you saying the Zaunites are protesting and on strike again?"
As the builder of Piltover, Heimerdinger didn’t see a distinction between the upper and lower cities, so he was a little displeased.
“It’s not just a strike. They gathered in force and stormed the bridge. If it weren’t for the enforcers’ brave resistance and great sacrifice to push them back, the Day Bridge would’ve been breached.”
Old Cake, Kassanmanla Gilamann, spoke up.
Gilamann’s power base lay in military tech and the enforcers, so she naturally had to highlight the enforcers’ contribution.
“Then why did they storm the bridge?”
Permed Poppy Heimerdinger stroked his beard before asking.
As the Father of Piltover and a Yordle, he was really only interested in scientific development.
Now, he was merely asking out of scientific curiosity.
“Does that matter, Professor Heimerdinger? My goods were ruined because of their strike! Piltover’s trade suffered serious losses!”
Hoskarl skipped the answer entirely. He didn’t care why the Zaunites had stormed the bridge.
He only cared about his family's interests!
Of course, outwardly he claimed it was all for Piltover~
“Fellow council members, this is no ordinary riot. We must strike hard. I propose that we reinforce the enforcers and quell this Zaun uprising.”
He glanced at Councilor Polpok of the mech race. Wasn’t this Zaun riot ultimately caused by their machines spewing unprocessed waste gas into the lower city?
Polpok nodded in agreement.
Then Hoskarl looked toward Councilor Gilamann again—reinforcing the enforcers, huh? That would be a big win for your family.
Old Cake nodded knowingly.
In just a few breaths, the three of them had formed an alliance. After all, it was all about profit~ no shame in that.
The other two councilors glanced at the reports and didn’t care at all.
It hadn’t affected their own businesses yet, so chaos was chaos, whatever.
The deaths of enforcers and Zaunites—what did that matter to them? As noble lords of Piltover, why should they care about the lives of these graceless mud-stompers?
If it doesn’t concern them, they turn a blind eye. There were other issues that concerned their own interests! Pass, pass, pass.
Council President Heimerdinger furrowed his brows, sensing that something was off, but lacking information, he could only serve as a mascot.
“Then let’s vote.”
Hoskarl smiled faintly and waved his hand.
At his words, President Heimerdinger activated the mechanism.
With the hands raised by Hoskarl, Old Cake, and Polpok, three beams of light shone down.
No objections.
So great was the fair and open Piltover council system.
“Motion passed.”
"Alright, let's move on to the next item."
Seeing this, Saro, who wasn’t paralyzed yet, quickly spoke up.
They couldn’t let such trivial matters of commoners waste too much time—if it delayed his family’s profits, the loss would be huge!
In an instant, the entire council became lively again.
Casually dividing up the Piltover pie.
……
"First of all, where are we attacking, and what is our objective?"
After having eaten and drunk her fill, Luo Huan came out,
and sat down in the tavern with Silco and Vander.
Renni, Sevika, and the others also sat nearby, listening.
There weren’t many people here now—everyone had gone back under Silco’s orders to bring up their families who were trapped under the toxic fumes.
That was also why this bridge assault had broken out.
After all, those damned upper city folks had extended their pipes underground, and a massive amount of untreated toxic gas had been released just like that.
Before anyone in Zaun could even react, it had already spread up.
If Silco and Vander hadn’t noticed in time and quickly rallied everyone to move upward, they’d all be dead by now.
Even so, many Zaunite children and elders had no chance to awaken and were simply put to eternal sleep by the gas.
"What do you mean?"
Vander didn’t understand.
"I mean, after we cross the Day Bridge, then what?"
"Which areas do we occupy, what do we want to get, and how do we deal with Piltover's retaliation and blockade?"
Luo Huan pointed to the map on the table as she spoke.
It was a very rough map of Zaun and Piltover—something only Silco could have bought from some old folks in Piltover.
And in her eyes, the structure between Piltover and Zaun was absurdly distorted.
Just one blast at that canal had sunk the entire Zaun district.
Aside from a few narrow paths below and at the edges, the only real connection between Zaun and Piltover was that single Day Bridge.
As long as the Piltover enforcers held that choke point, Zaun could barely resist.
It was truly the epitome of "one man holding the pass, ten thousand unable to pass."
On top of that, fighting uphill, with reinforcements for the enforcers right at their doorstep, while Zaun had to climb heights to transport supplies—
What the hell, wasn’t this literal hell difficulty?
No wonder those noble lords weren’t worried at all.
If Luo Huan hadn’t sensed her own power, even she might have despaired.
"After all, we’re not done just by charging across—we at least have to seize the Day Bridge, otherwise we can’t transport any supplies."
Luo Huan casually drew a circle, wrapping up the entire Day Bridge and some taller buildings on the Piltover side.
Silco glanced at it and nodded.
"I’ve already sent people to scout their defenses over there. As for the buildings..."
He turned to Renni,
"Renni, do you remember the size and layout of these buildings?"
Renni worked at the docks, so she often had to go to that area.
"Mhm."