Arcane: The Gods Want Me to Pick a Route

Chapter 276: A Lunatic? No Problem—Dealing with Lunatics Is What I Do Best

Setting foot in Bilgewater once again, Logan brought Lissandra with him and took a long, serious look at the surroundings. Then he let out a faint sigh of emotion. Yeah, this place really had changed.

Back when he and Jinx first came to Bilgewater, they had helped Sarah reclaim her turf and run that bastard Gangplank out of town. But Gangplank had immediately gone to beg Illaoi for help, and in the great battle that followed, Illaoi had lost to the Logan of that time, which led to her calling on Nagakabouros itself.

To put it simply, back then, if Logan had run into Nagakabouros, all he could have done was run for his life. But things were different now. If Nagakabouros dared appear in front of him again, Logan would show it exactly what a full Spirit Blossom combo looked like.

He could send Ahri, Kindred, Syndra, Cassiopeia, and Evelynn at it in one five-piece powerhouse set and let it have the full course. With that lineup, forget Nagakabouros, even Volibear wouldn’t be able to handle it.

After all, the Lissandra beside him right now could already go toe-to-toe with Volibear, and if she really pushed herself and used dark True Ice recklessly, she could even gain the upper hand. Ahri had once said she was a bit weaker than Lissandra, but within Spirit Blossom, she wasn’t overwhelmingly stronger than the others. The reason she could dominate there was because the Spirit Blossom core favored her so heavily.

Which meant that Kindred, Syndra, Cassiopeia, Evelynn, and Thresh, that guy who still made the hair on the back of Logan’s neck stand up every time he thought about him, were all on a level comparable to Ahri if you were just talking raw combat power.

After all, those people represented the desires and emotions within the Spirit Blossom core.

So if five Spirit Blossom gods attacked together, even Lissandra wouldn’t be able to endure it, let alone Nagakabouros, a god the Buhru had spent so long building up.

And speaking of Logan himself, after spending a Spirit Blossom point to transform and taking Aatrox in hand, he wasn’t nearly as wary of Nagakabouros anymore, either.

Yeah, he really had grown much, much stronger over the years, but that hadn’t happened in a short span of time. It had already been two or three years since his last trip to Bilgewater.

After the battle in the Freljord, Gangplank vanished from Bilgewater once again. When Sarah got the news, she told Silco what she wanted, then led her forces back to Bilgewater, took control of the place, and became the true empress of this seafaring city-state.

The road that led her to become pirate empress had become more twisted, but the one thing that had not changed was the final result. It still lined up with the official setting, no, actually, not quite.

Because when she put on her uniform, Sarah was Zaun’s naval chief, part of a legitimate military force. Once the uniform came off, she was Bilgewater’s ruler of the seas.

"Lord Logan, this way please."

Logan had only taken a few steps with Lissandra and had not even made it out of the harbor yet when two young men stepped out from the stalls on either side. They wore headscarves and sleeveless shirts, and their bodies were covered in tattoos.

They looked at Logan respectfully and immediately began explaining. "The boss told us ahead of time that you’d be coming to Bilgewater to handle some business, so she had us prepare in advance to receive you."

Logan nodded. Back then, Sarah’s territory had only covered the upper district of Bilgewater, where she held one tavern. But now, her eyes and ears had spread across the whole city.

This place was still chaotic, and the disorder here was like the stench hanging over the docks, something that simply would not fade. In the end, Bilgewater’s main source of income still came from the butchered sea beasts and fish piled up on the docks, along with smuggling and every kind of crime imaginable.

After all, most of Bilgewater’s residents were criminals who had committed offenses in other countries and fled here as desperate fugitives.

Sarah understood very clearly that Bilgewater had a development path all its own. In some ways, it resembled Zaun, but in other ways, it was completely different. The reason came down to one thing, Zaunites had roots in Zaun, but Bilgewater’s people had no roots in Bilgewater.

They came here to make money. If you wanted them to identify with Bilgewater and feel any connection to it, that would take a long time. Which was why, in the short term, Sarah had no plans to crack down on everything or forcibly change it all.

When they reached a certain spot, Logan looked at the structure ahead of him and laughed.

"You built a Shrieker here too?"

"That was the boss’s idea. She thinks Bilgewater has to change the way it used to think. The upper and lower city can’t keep treating each other like fire and water. If Bilgewater wants to become stronger, it has to be united," one of Sarah’s men immediately said.

Then he gave a bitter smile, rubbed the red headscarf on his head, and lowered his voice. "Though it hasn’t really worked. The people of the upper and lower city still can’t stand each other."

"Change takes time. It’s not something you can fix overnight," Logan said as he stepped onto the Shrieker.

"By the way, what’s your name?"

"Chris, Lord Logan. My name is Chris," the young man quickly answered.

Logan nodded, showing that he had remembered the name, and that immediately made Chris visibly happy.

After that, under Chris’s escort, Logan arrived at a bar, one marked with the symbol of a red rose.

Everyone nearby treated Chris with respect, and from the looks of it, he was definitely not just some errand runner in Sarah’s organization. No matter how you looked at it, he was someone with real standing in her group.

But in front of Logan, he remained respectful the entire time, because even if Logan had failed to recognize him, Chris had known Logan for years.

Logan and Miss Jinx had once saved his life.

"Following the boss’s instructions, we already sent people to contact the Buhru in advance, and the Truth Bearer has also arrived. Lord Logan, does that arrangement work for you?" Chris asked.

"Illaoi? Why would you bring her here?"

Logan had just stepped into the tavern when he heard that, and he turned to Chris in confusion.

Wait, what exactly was Sarah doing here? Wasn’t Illaoi on the same side as Gangplank?

As if reading Logan’s thoughts, Chris smiled and explained, "Lord Logan, I think you’ve misunderstood the Truth Bearer. She’s not Gangplank’s person. If anything, it’s the opposite. After Gangplank left, her relationship with the boss became very good. The Truth Bearer thinks the boss has done a far better job than that bastard Gangplank ever did, and the boss also needs the Buhru to help resist sea beast attacks and drive back the Black Mist when the Harrowing comes."

The instant Chris mentioned the Black Mist, Logan understood.

Right, in the original story, Illaoi had indeed helped Gangplank once, but that had been out of old attachment. After Gangplank lost to Sarah again, Illaoi had ended up working with Sarah instead. And in the original plot, hadn’t Sarah also passed Nagakabouros’s trial?

"Besides, when it comes to finding people, the Buhru are much better at it than we are," Chris said to Logan. "Ask the Truth Bearer. She and the god she worships can give you an answer."

"Where is she now?" Logan asked.

"This way, please."

Chris walked ahead, bent slightly, and led Logan into a private room.

When the door opened, Logan and Lissandra entered one after the other. The moment he stepped inside, Logan caught the pleasant scent of incense. Then he saw the woman sprawled openly across a dark, worn sofa.

She had long brown hair and a broad face with strong, striking features. Her eyes were huge, almost like bronze bells, and beneath them were strange green block-shaped tattoos. Her eyebrows were thick and neatly shaped, both aimed straight at Logan.

She wore a green leather chestpiece on her upper body, a green bracer on the left hand that held a bottle, and a pair of green pants below. One booted foot rested on the table in front of her.

"Finally. I’ve been waiting here for a long time."

Illaoi set down the bottle, leaned back, and called out to Logan in a loud, hearty voice.

"I have to ask, are the two of us really the kind of people who can sit down and have a proper conversation together?" Logan walked over and looked at Illaoi as he spoke.

"Why wouldn’t we be?" Illaoi stood up. She was taller than Logan, and broader too.

When she got to her feet, her huge frame looked like it could hide at least three Logans behind it. With her hands on her hips, shoulders squared, and chest out, Illaoi said in a deep voice, "Gangplank lost. He slunk off to drift at sea with a little boat. We have no reason to keep hurting each other now, do we?"

"You’re more rational than I expected. No matter what, Gangplank was your beloved, wasn’t he?" Logan thought for a moment, then said to Illaoi.

At that, Illaoi burst out laughing and boomed, "Learning to adapt is the first step to becoming the Truth Bearer. Not being influenced by personal feelings is the second."

"And as it happens, I’m very good at both."

"Sarah said you need my help with something. Go ahead. I’ll help you."

"Why?" Logan asked, looking up at her.

Illaoi might look rough and wild, but in the official setting she was actually a wise and highly resourceful woman, one who only seemed reckless on the surface while being extremely attentive underneath. When she was younger, Illaoi had also been a great beauty, but after becoming the Truth Bearer, she had transformed into the way she looked now.

Even so, across all of Bilgewater, Illaoi was still the dream woman of plenty of people.

In Bilgewater, she was basically the kind of local legend every grown adult ended up crushing on at least once. The difference was that she was genuinely loved, respected, and admired by the locals.

"Because I already know who it is you’re looking for."

Illaoi smiled, sat back down, picked up the already opened bottle on the table, poured wine into the cup in front of her, then handed the cup to Logan.

"Something that big happened in the Twin Cities, of course the Buhru heard about it too. Our two lands are that close. And right now, you need powerful fighters on your side. As it happens, Bilgewater has plenty of powerful beings," Illaoi said softly. "Demons, spirits, Vastaya, yordles, gods."

"And freaks," she added, putting special emphasis on the last word.

She had already guessed who Logan was here to find. Taking into account what that person had done, and what Logan intended to do, it had not been difficult for someone as intelligent as Illaoi to connect the dots and reach the answer.

"The person you’re looking for has just happened to appear around Bilgewater recently. Even the god I worship is avoiding her right now and doesn’t want to pick a fight with her. I have to admit, she is unbelievably strong, strong enough to be worth your coming here in person to invite."

"To be honest with you, you asked me why, and that’s your answer. My god wants me to find a way to drive her away, because that person only challenges gods and demons. She doesn’t even bother with weak creatures or ordinary humans. But someone like that, how could she possibly listen to me? So if you’re here to take her away, I’m more than happy to see that happen. If you can remove her, it’ll be a great thing for the Buhru. This is a win-win situation."

Illaoi spoke frankly.

There was no point in hiding it. This really was a win-win. Logan needed Nilah as combat support, and Illaoi, along with the god she worshiped, needed Nilah to leave Bilgewater’s waters.

"But Logan, that woman is insane."

Illaoi looked at Logan, pointed at her own head, tapped her temple with a thick finger, and spoke to him with complete seriousness.

Then, in a skeptical tone, she said, "So how can you be sure she won’t turn on you?"

"You’re strong too, aren’t you?"

Illaoi spread her hands and continued, "There are more than ten god-level beings gathered around you. And the one standing behind you right now, I’m guessing she’s also some powerful human with the strength of a god, isn’t she?"

"If she finds that out, she’ll definitely attack her."

"You’re welcome to let her try," Lissandra said lightly, showing no concern at all over Illaoi’s warning.

Illaoi got pushed back with words, but she did not get angry. She merely shrugged, showing she did not care, then took a drink and turned to look at Logan, waiting for his answer.

Why did he think Nilah would help him?

That woman was an uncommunicative lunatic. In just the past two years alone, more than a dozen powerful sea monsters had died at her hands, and there had even been a demigod among them.

That was right, Nilah had killed a god.

A serpent-shaped demigod had hidden inside its own little world, only for Nilah to break in and whip it into more than a dozen pieces while it was still alive. If Nagakabouros had not ruled over that region and also existed within another dimension, then no one would even have known what Nilah had done.

That was just how dangerous she was. If she wanted to, one lash of her whip could split Bilgewater in two.

"You just said she’s insane. That’s true. Mad people are dangerous. They’re hard to control."

"But as it happens, Illaoi, I understand mad people very well, and I don’t dislike them or fear them, because the person closest to me is a little lunatic herself."

Logan sat down beside Illaoi, swirled the wine in his cup, and spoke softly.

"So it’s fine. Dealing with lunatics is what I’m best at."

Logan knew far too many lunatics.

Jinx was one. Vi was one. Silco and Renata were too. Thresh from Spirit Blossom was one, and so was Lissandra, who was now standing beside Logan.

And really, wasn’t Logan one too?

Silco had called him crazy before. Jayce had too.

"So now, tell me where Nilah is."

Logan drank the wine in his cup and said to Illaoi.

The room fell silent for a little over two seconds.

Only then did Illaoi speak.

"Come with me."

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