Although it was a port city, Bilgewater was absolutely not small by any means.
Similar to a place like Zaun, due to the haphazard, chaotic construction piled up by countless outlaws, Bilgewater itself was a highly vertical, multi-layered city.
And within it lay Rat Town, the main gathering hub for all the bounty hunters across Bilgewater.
And today, Graves was visibly thrilled.
Sitting at the tavern table, Graves said with bubbling excitement, "Catching just one Yordle is like picking up solid gold off the street. And now, we've got three in one haul!! Haha, we struck it rich today!"
Hearing Graves's words, Twisted Fate, sitting beside him, merely wore a face full of boredom and disinterest. Twirling a blue card nimbly between his fingertips, his brows furrowed deeply:
"No matter how high the bounty on a Yordle is, I'm not touching it. You're kicking a hornet's nest; all your luck is going to run completely dry."
As a gambler, Twisted Fate believed deeply in concepts like destiny and luck. Especially after one time when he actually caught a Yordle and sold it to a Demacian noble. Although he made a massive windfall, he proceeded to lose every single coin of it immediately after.
He consulted some experts and found out that Yordles were the lucky charms of Runeterra, and anyone who abducted them would inevitably meet with sudden misfortune.
Ever since then, Twisted Fate refused to take on any jobs involving Yordles.
"What are you being such a coward for!" Hearing this, Graves slapped the cage:
"This thing is made of runic iron from Demacia. I spent an absolute fortune to get my hands on it—magic is completely useless against it!"
To this, Twisted Fate simply shrugged calmly, clearly showing absolutely zero signs of being persuaded.
For a pure gambler like Twisted Fate, asking him to put his life on the line? No problem, it was just another form of gambling. But if you were going to ruin his luck? Sorry, but even if we're best pals, I can't help you with that.
Knowing Twisted Fate's gambler personality all too well, Graves could only shrug helplessly: "Such a shame. Looks like I'll just have to enjoy all the money from this 'bad luck' all by myself~"
"I sure hope so~" Twisted Fate said unhurriedly. "Either way, I'm not touching a single piece of it."
Meanwhile, inside the cage, hearing Graves's words, Corki turned his gaze to Tristana:
"Hey, Tristana! Do you have any plan to break out of here? If we don't figure something out soon, we're really going to be sold off!"
"Stop nagging me! I'm thinking!" Tristana scratched her head, looking utterly anxious.
They didn't really need to worry about any immediate threats to their lives, because while one couldn't say every Yordle was immortal, actually managing to kill one was an incredibly difficult feat.
Because in every city-state across Runeterra, in every nook and cranny, and even in uninhabited badlands, there were usually Yordle teleportation marks hidden away.
These marks were mysterious and complex, often blending seamlessly into their natural surroundings.
For example, it could be the fleeting trace formed by sunlight shining through leaves onto the ground at high noon, existing for only about ten seconds every day. Or a specific rune naturally etched into the sand by the retreating tide at an abandoned hour. Or even more straightforwardly, a battered, discarded helmet someone threw by the side of the road—
Any of these could potentially serve as a portal into Bandle City.
As long as she got out of the cage, Tristana had plenty of ways to return to Bandle City. And if they truly faced mortal danger, the elders and parents back in Bandle City would sense it and use a portal to rescue them directly.
But the problem was, she had sworn up and down earlier that she was going to personally rescue Teemo and bring him back.
And what was the result now? Her entire squad had been wiped out and captured. Tristana felt like her pride had taken a massive, critical hit...
But right at that moment, suddenly, Tristana noticed something glowing faintly not too far away.
It was an old cast-iron diver's helmet from Bilgewater.
It looked like it had been around for ages. Its design was somewhat clunky, covered in rust spots, and it had probably been sitting there for god knows how many years. If it weren't for the magic activating, even Tristana would have almost forgotten that she herself had stepped out of that very helmet portal.
As the gateway opened, from amidst the golden glow of light leaped a figure completely unfamiliar to Tristana, alongside another figure she knew all too well.
Lulu, and a human man.
It was just that right now, Lulu was riding on the man's shoulders, her two little legs dangling down on either side of his neck, swinging back and forth in an incredibly cute manner.
Upon arriving in the material realm, Lulu curiously peered around. When she spotted Tristana and the others in the cage, she angrily waved her staff and shouted:
"Tristana! You're so mean! You make me guard rocks every single time. Faen told me everything—this is workplace bullying! If you keep doing this, I'm going to file a complaint against you!"
As she spoke, Lulu excitedly kicked her legs and wiggled her body, allowing Faen to clearly feel her soft pussy lips rubbing and grinding directly against the back of his neck as she rode on his shoulders.
Although Lulu herself probably didn't even realize it, with all this squirming around, the sticker had likely started peeling at the edges. Faen could even feel a slight, cool wetness slowly secreting against his skin.
However, now wasn't the time to bring up such things. Faen simply played along with Lulu's words and held up the rock in his hand to show it off, proving that Lulu was right—it really was just an ordinary rock.
But Tristana clearly couldn't care less about the rock. She yelled excitedly, "This is great! Captain Lulu! Quick, figure out a way to get us out of here!"
"Hold on a second! Who the hell are you people?!"
Seeing these goofy characters just start casually chatting as if he didn't even exist, Graves grew impatient. Gripping his massive gun—which was less of a double-barreled shotgun and more of a double-barreled hand-cannon—he aimed it directly at Faen and said:
"Listen here, kid! Hand over the Yordle on your shoulders too! Otherwise, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
To this, Faen simply patted Lulu on the head and said, "Alright, next up is Lulu's showtime."
"Right, right, it's my showtime!"
Reminded by Faen, Lulu quickly snapped back to attention. Her eyes sparkling, she hopped off his shoulders and ran straight toward Graves.
Initially, Graves was quite pleased, thinking the man in front of him knew what was good for him; after just a casual threat, he practically handed the Yordle right over.
But immediately after, Graves realized something was terribly wrong.
As she walked, the purple-garlic-like Yordle began to grow bigger and bigger. By the time she stood right in front of Graves, she had ballooned from her tiny stature of about 1.1 meters to towering over five meters tall.
Standing there, she looked like an absolute giant. Graves looked left and right, feeling that even if he fired his gun point-blank, he probably wouldn't even be able to break her skin. He froze on the spot, utterly at a loss for what to do.
But Lulu clearly still wasn't satisfied. With a light flick of her staff, Graves—along with his massive gun—was instantly polymorphed into a palm-sized toad.