Arcane: The Gods Want Me to Pick a Route-Chapter 180: Getting Married? Sure, sure!

"Councilor Logan!"

"Miss Jinx!"

"You're finally back—Councilor Silco has been looking for you. Um, you see—"

A group of Sump Enforcers rushed up, chattering at Logan and Jinx all at once.

Jinx made a couple of annoyed little noises. Back in Zaun—back in familiar territory—she was like a fish returned to water. Her cute face was practically radiating swagger. With one hand on her hip, she turned slowly to look at Sarah.

"Come on," Jinx said to Sarah. "I'll show you around."

Sarah nodded and followed. One of the Enforcers froze, then quickly looked at Logan with hesitation on his face. "Councilor Logan, this—"

Logan smiled at him, then went up on his toes and called forward, "Jinx!"

"What?!"

"Aren't you going to see Silco first?"

"Mmm, I do wanna see him," Jinx yelled back while running forward with her hands behind her back, absurdly cheerful. "But I wanna eat something good even more!"

Ionian food really was tasty—fresh fruit and vegetables, crisp and sweet—but the problem was… you couldn't live on that forever.

She was a carnivore. A carnivore.

Back in Zaun, she ate frog and chicken all the time. Then they went traveling for months and she'd been stuck eating mostly greens day after day—how was she supposed to endure that?

And besides, Ionia's food was sweet and pleasant, but compared to Zaun cuisine—loaded with spices and punchy seasonings—it didn't even come close. With chemtech manufacturing as advanced as it was, Zaun's spice industry was better than Piltover's. Sure, it wasn't exactly healthy, but the flavor was unbeatable.

So as early as yesterday, Jinx had been throwing a fit on the raft, demanding swamp-frog meat.

Seeing Jinx charging forward with her ears covered and her head down—Sarah and Akali behind her, plus Rafen and the rest of the pirates following like a full-on entourage—Logan chuckled and told the Enforcer beside him, "Go back and tell Silco I'm taking Jinx to grab food. If it's urgent, he can find me at the market."

The Enforcer nodded, saluted Logan, then turned and led his group away.

From the docks to Black Lane, it was about a half-hour walk. Along the way, Logan was welcomed by countless Zaunites.

Jinx walked up front, and plenty of people greeted her too. She answered with a bright grin and even gave them a sweet smile.

When she was in a good mood, Jinx could actually be very pleasant.

Sarah and Akali, meanwhile, kept studying Zaun's streets. Akali was fine—she didn't show much—but Sarah was another story entirely.

She stared in disbelief at Zaun's clean roads. They were cramped and narrow, and the light was scarce, but the air smelled good—and the state of the residents was beyond anything she'd imagined.

Zaun was supposed to be what, exactly?

In Sarah's mind, Zaun was ruined, backward—just like Bilgewater, one of those "worst, wildest, most lawless" city-states in the world, with a reputation as rotten as Bilgewater's.

A few years ago, plenty of Bilgewater traders who'd visited Zaun came back talking with nothing but contempt. They claimed the undercity's people had even less hope and worse living conditions than Bilgewater.

But what was Sarah seeing now?

She saw smiles—real ones—on everyone's faces. In the alleys, kids in not-quite-new clothes ran around playing with toys. Zaunite enforcers in uniforms patrolled with weapons in hand, yet the residents didn't look afraid of them at all.

People even lounged by the roadside. Some were outright napping beneath trees.

Trees.

Wait—wasn't Zaun's environment supposed to be too toxic for plants?

Sarah jolted, inhaled hard, and realized Zaun's air felt even more comfortable than Bilgewater's.

"You…" She couldn't help it—she slowed and drifted closer to Logan. "How did you do this?"

Logan looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"The change is… insane," Sarah said, her face full of envy. "I've never been to Zaun, but Rafen has. Before I met him, he did liquor business with a chem-baron—buying Shimmer-infused booze in Zaun and selling it in Bilgewater."

"But what he described to me… and what I'm seeing now… it's not even the same place."

"Selling Shimmer liquor, huh…" Logan thought for a moment, then smiled at Sarah. "That would've been two or three years ago. Once I took over, Zaun banned processing Shimmer into alcohol. Now Shimmer is only used for new energy and medical work. It's way too addictive—but in controlled doses it's an excellent anesthetic and a useful medicinal catalyst."

Sarah shook her head. "I don't really understand the details. I just want to know… how did you pull it off?"

She looked around again, her eyes lingering on everything, visibly relaxing. If Bilgewater could become like this…

"No one wants to sink into the gutter on purpose, Sarah," Logan said gently. "If you ever end up in charge of Bilgewater, I believe you can reshape it too."

"Impossible." Sarah shook her head, laughing at herself. "Bilgewater doesn't have its own culture. It doesn't have a faith that truly belongs to it."

"We chase Buhru culture, but the Buhru never really look at us. Even our faith is something we 'borrowed.' In a Bilgewater person's head, the ideas of nation and identity barely exist at all."

Logan listened and—honestly—she wasn't wrong.

But wasn't unification always like that? No culture—build one. No faith—forge one.

If he thought about it that way, Zaun and Bilgewater really were alike in a lot of ways. The difference was that Zaunites had something in their bones already:

Janna.

Logan was about to say more, to encourage her—when Jinx shouted ahead, pulling his gaze forward.

"Silco—!!!"

Jinx suddenly broke into a run, then slammed straight into the arms of a thin man.

He wore a red vest and black trousers. His hair was messy, his face pale, sweat beading on his forehead. Half his face was scarred so badly it looked brutal, and one eye—dark sclera, crimson pupil—paired with his cold aura made him look like the living definition of Keep Away.

He was frightening.

But the moment Jinx crashed into him, his expression changed.

That icy face softened. Even that terrifying eye carried warmth.

He rubbed her back, and Silco—who had a hundred things he wanted to say, a hundred scoldings and complaints waiting—ended up saying only:

"Good. You're back."

"You want food, right?" Silco said, still holding her. He lowered his chin to the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her hair. "I already had it arranged. Come on. This way."

In truth, Jinx's hair didn't smell good at all. After drifting at sea for that many days, how could it?

But Silco didn't seem to care. He only hugged her tighter.

If Jinx's cheeks hadn't looked a touch fuller—if she hadn't looked less thin—Silco would've been ready to interrogate Logan on the spot.

"Hey!" Logan had been watching that father-and-daughter embrace with a complicated feeling, but the second Silco took Jinx's hand and started walking, Logan couldn't take it anymore.

What was this supposed to mean?

He was Zaun's ruler.

"Silco," Logan called out from behind, "what about me? What's the idea here?"

Sarah hurriedly looked over, curiosity blazing. She desperately wanted to see what the man who had reshaped Zaun actually looked like.

Silco never publicly called himself Zaun's ruler. If anything, he constantly said Logan's name—binding Logan and Zaun together in everyone's minds.

But in Bilgewater, people were still more curious about Silco.

Because for nearly five years now, when Bilgewater merchants did business in Zaun, the first dock they paid their respects at was Silco's.

This man had been Zaun's uncrowned emperor long before that.

"Hm?" Silco turned, blinking at Logan with a genuinely puzzled expression.

"Seriously?" Logan strode forward, closing the gap, and stared at him with a half-laughing, irritated look. "Yeah, taking Jinx out without telling you was on me. That part's fair."

"But it's what Jinx wanted."

"Right?" Logan looked at Jinx.

Jinx looked between Silco and Logan. After a second of hesitation, she released Silco's hand, grabbed Logan's hand instead, and announced loudly, "Yeah. It was my idea."

"…" Silco's face darkened instantly.

Ten minutes later, in Zaun's market.

This stretch of street was basically a food strip. You could eat dishes from all over the world here—though the most famous, of course, was Zaun's own.

A crowd gathered around a stall. Sump Enforcers stood packed around the perimeter to keep things from turning into a jam.

Logan, Jinx, Vi, Silco, Vander, Viktor, Heimerdinger, Ekko—Zaun's most influential figures—plus Piltover's Jayce and Mel.

Sarah and Akali were pulled into the table as well, with Logan personally introducing them to the Twin Cities' leadership.

At this grimy little stall, Mel frowned, but still picked up her chopsticks and ate—because right beside her, bearded Jayce already had one hand on a beer and the other on a spoon, digging in without hesitation.

Jayce really did look like a Zaunite now—in appearance, and in spirit. He blended right in.

"So," Silco said softly, placing a piece of frog leg onto Jinx's plate, "Bilgewater's situation is resolved?"

Logan nodded, chewing a roasted chicken leg. After swallowing, he said, "Yeah. Ionia has someone extremely strong. She'll help handle Bilgewater's defense."

"And what do we have to pay?" Silco asked.

"Diplomatic relations with Ionia," Logan said with a smile. "Honestly, we wanted that anyway. Don't worry—we're not getting the short end."

Silco nodded. "Good. I was worried Bilgewater would drag Zaun's development down."

Logan then introduced Sarah to Silco, and Silco gave Sarah a polite nod.

Akali, on the other hand, looked cool and distant—but she was actually a complete eater. From the moment she sat down, her mouth never stopped. She didn't talk; she just ate. If she wasn't chewing, she was on her way to chewing.

Logan told everyone about what he'd run into, presenting his experiences in Ionia like stories. Jinx shared the magical materials she'd found in Ionia with Jayce, Viktor, Ekko, and Heimerdinger.

Then Vi opened her mouth, and the casual talk finally got derailed.

"Can we talk about something real?" Vi said, impatient.

She couldn't participate in these topics. In the past, she might've flirted with Sarah just to entertain herself—but not anymore. Now if she flirted with Sarah, that tall blue-haired cupcake would be on her immediately, demanding answers.

So Vi found all of this boring.

Logan's stories didn't do it for her—she wanted to witness things herself, not hear them.

And Jinx's science talk? Please. That was even less something Vi could join.

So she cut in.

"Vi," Logan said, amused, "and what exactly do you consider 'something real'?"

Vi knocked her knuckles against the table, legs spread in a posture that was anything but refined, and declared loudly:

"Something real is this: when are you and Jinx getting married?"

"Didn't you say you went out on a honeymoon? Well, the honeymoon's over. You're back—so you should get married already."

"Getting married?" Jinx blurted, eyes wide.

"Yeah! Yeah!" she immediately added, practically bouncing in her seat.

Logan froze, then turned to look at her.

Jinx—who had just been arguing with Jayce about naming a second-generation Hextech project after her—now had cheeks flushed bright red.

She stared at Logan with huge eyes, blue irises sparkling with excitement.

"…Fine," Logan said after a beat, then looked around at everyone. "Then we'll… set a date."

After thinking about it, Logan realized he really should marry Jinx.

Jinx was already an adult. He was close to twenty. That wasn't young anymore.

In old Zaun, it wasn't even unusual for teenagers to have kids. It was only because living standards rose, social standards rose, and because Logan pushed marriage laws modeled after Piltover's that you didn't see girls becoming mothers at fifteen anymore.

And besides—Logan and Jinx had grown up together. Their feelings had been settled for a long time.

Other than not having made it "official" in the most literal way yet—and a few things they still hadn't done—Logan and Jinx knew each other inside and out. Not marrying her at this point didn't make sense.

And also… if they got married, Logan was finally going to take care of it.

He was a normal guy. Having a sweet little beauty constantly rubbing her legs against him, sneaking touches here and there—after enough time, it was starting to feel like psychological torture.

"Too early," Silco said, frowning.

Vander hesitated, then added, "I also think that this is a little—"

He didn't finish, because Vi suddenly slammed her palm on the table and barked, "Early? Early what?"

"Jinx only looks young, alright? She's practically twenty!"

"And what—are you two telling me you don't want grandsons and granddaughters?"

Silco and Vander both froze.

Especially Silco. The muscles at the corner of his mouth twitched upward, but he kept his face dead calm, which made him look… extremely strange.

Silco turned his head away so Logan and Jinx wouldn't see his expression.

But Sevika, sitting beside him, sighed.

"Boss," she said flatly, "you should just smile."

"I'm not smiling," Silco said coldly.

"Stop," Sevika sighed again. "Your mouth already sold you out."

Any time it involved Jinx, Silco lost half his brain. And now they were talking about Jinx having a kid?

Just imagining Silco holding Jinx's child made Sevika shiver.

Honestly, she couldn't picture Jinx as a mom at all.

Jinx herself was still basically a kid.

Vander was the opposite of Silco. He didn't try to hide it—he got excited and started discussing timing, guests, and arrangements with Logan and Jinx.

Then Mel spoke up.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your celebration," Mel said, "but what I'm about to say is extremely important."

Everyone looked at her.

Mel continued, apologetic but firm. "Logan—your wedding with Jinx may have to be delayed. There's something you need to handle first."

"What?" Logan asked.

Mel answered:

"Lady Medarda—meaning me—received an invitation from Noxus this morning. It describes a banquet, formally inviting Zaun's ruler and the councilors to attend a Noxian noble dinner."

Without waiting for questions, Mel explained further:

"It's a masked ball. The organizer behind it is most likely connected to me—or to my mother. So I have to go."

"If possible, I want you to accompany me."

"A banquet?" Logan frowned. "But isn't Noxus still falling apart?"

"Falling apart?" Mel shook her head. Jayce, beside her, shook his too.

Silco spoke quietly. "While you were gone, a lot happened in Valoran. A few days before you returned, Swain took power in Noxus and overthrew Darkwill."

"Now Noxus is under Swain's rule. He founded the Trifarix and intends to split the old monarchic power into three—but he hasn't chosen the right people yet."

"But the banquet we're talking about isn't being hosted by Swain," Silco added, looking at Logan. "Mel believes it's being hosted by an organization called the Black Rose." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Logan listened, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

So the Twin Cities' timeline had moved on, and now the big events had already reached Noxus?

Swain seizing power, founding the Trifarix, pulling Noxus back onto the rails—

And then LeBlanc, for her own plan, starting to stir trouble without end.

Releasing Renekton and Xerath. Reviving Azir.

LeBlanc's shadow sat behind all of it.

"Alright," Logan said. "I get it."

"Then we'll talk about my wedding with Jinx after we attend Noxus's banquet."

Jinx frowned, unhappy—but she didn't explode. Instead, she stabbed a big chunk of frog meat with her fork and chewed aggressively.

Fine.

If the wedding was later, it was later.

Logan wasn't going anywhere.

And besides—she still hadn't had enough fun.

So… next, Logan was taking her to Noxus?

The thought made Jinx perk right back up again.

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