Storm's Fury, at Your Service

"Heh, still in the mood to read novels?"

"You and your sister have owed me rent for months. Are you planning to never pay it in this lifetime?"

The fat landlord jingled the long string of keys hanging from his waist as he barged through Li Wei's door—if this dilapidated rental room of less than five square meters could even be called a home.

Li Wei had no choice but to put away the old book and crooked-nib pen on his lap, pulling his legs back onto the bed to leave the landlord somewhere to stand.

At the same time, he carefully shielded the little blue bird perched on his shoulder.

"Hm?" Seeing the adorable blue bird, which somehow looked strangely familiar, the fat landlord frowned deeply. "Li Wei, you're keeping a bird too? Didn't I say pets aren't allowed in the apartment?"

"Sorry, Mr. Bill."

"Forget it, forget it. I won't fuss over such a minor matter. Tell me, when exactly do you plan to make up the rent you owe me?"

"Mr. Bill, I'm sorry, I—"

"All my money went to my sister's medical bills~" Mr. Bill impatiently cut him off again. "Your Zaunite pals extorted you again lately~ The Enforcers harassed and blackmailed you again~ You accidentally damaged something at the factory, and your boss demanded compensation~ Blah blah blah."

"Oh, Janna above—"

"Why are all you Zaunites so shameless? You lie without even blinking!"

Li Wei had no answer.

He wished those things were lies.

But according to the memories he had inherited from this body, the bizarre stories in the eyes of Mr. Bill, a genuine old Piltover native, had always been everyday life for Zaunite Apprentices.

With no other choice, he spread his hands. "But I really have no money right now, Mr. Bill."

"Then write home to Zaun and ask your parents for some!"

"My parents died long ago."

"What about your grandparents?"

"Not many people in Zaun have grandparents. They don't live that long."

"Then relatives? You must have relatives!"

"I had an uncle. He wanted to sell my sister and me to a brothel, so—"

"I sold his corpse to the Alchemy Shop. That was how I got enough money to come to Piltover as an apprentice."

Mr. Bill: "..."

"You Zaunites really are... really barbaric. Hmph, I'll consider this an act of charity. I'll... I'll give you one final day!"

He huffily backed away from the bed and out through the doorway.

"Li Wei, tomorrow afternoon, I'll bring the Enforcers here myself. If you still can't make up the rent you owe, then wait to be forcibly evicted by the Enforcers!"

"By then, you'll no longer be qualified to stay in Piltover as an apprentice. You'll have to pack up and get the hell back to your Zaun hometown. Do you understand?"

Those words gave Li Wei a headache.

The original owner's hometown, Zaun, and Piltover, where he currently lived, were two city-states separated by only a river.

But being close did not mean they were alike.

The difference between Zaun and Piltover was probably like that between Mexico and America. One river separated the two cities—and separated hell from heaven.

Li Wei had been lucky. He had managed to bring his sister to Piltover alive. He had neither sold his ass nor his kidneys, and had made it here whole.

But he had come as an apprentice worker.

An apprentice worker was roughly equivalent to the foreign trainees Japan recruited from places like Vietnam—legally imported cheap labor.

Except the lives of Zaunites in Piltover were a hundred times harder than those of real-world Japanese trainees.

Even so, no Zaunite Apprentice ever wanted to leave Piltover and return to Zaun.

Because no matter how bad life in Piltover was, it was still far better than Zaun, that criminal city so terrible even Gothamites would pity it to tears, where staying alive depended on luck.

And now, because of overdue rent, Li Wei was about to be forcibly evicted by the landlord with the Enforcers—

For an apprentice worker to commit such an "act of bad faith" in Piltover meant the Enforcers would immediately revoke his apprentice status and deport him back to Zaun.

Of course Li Wei did not want to go back.

He was still too weak, and his looks were worth far too much. Returning to Zaun would be dangerous.

"Mr. Bill, one day is really too short. Could you please give me a few more days? I'll do my best to find the money."

"And you know my sister is very talented. She's studying at Piltover University right now, in the popular Hextech Mechanical Engineering program. Once she graduates—"

"Enough!" Mr. Bill impatiently interrupted him. "I know your sister got lucky last year and was admitted to Piltover University."

"But how many years will it be before she officially graduates? Do you expect to eat and live here for free, then pay me rent three or four years from now?"

"Not to mention—"

"Piltover University isn't some place any stray cat or dog can coast through. A Zaunite? Heh, who knows whether she can even graduate!"

Mr. Bill grumbled sourly, his attitude growing even worse.

"In short, one day is the final deadline!"

"Either you pay the rent you owe, or you take your sister, pack up, and get out!"

With that, without waiting for Li Wei to answer, he cursed as he slammed the door and left.

Li Wei wanted to say more, but all he could hear were the heavy thud-thud-thud footsteps in the corridor and the clinking keys. Clearly, Mr. Bill had already gone to open another tenant's door.

Then, not long after, through the thin wall that barely blocked any sound, Li Wei heard Mr. Bill's booming howl again.

"Oh, Janna above—why are all you Zaunites so shameless? You lie without even blinking!"

"Ha ha." Li Wei could not help laughing.

But he said nothing else. He merely retrieved the old book, notebook, and crooked-nib pen, reading while carefully writing something down.

The landlord had thought Li Wei was reading a novel, but he was not.

Because the title printed on the cover of that old book was A Brief History of Piltover and Zaun.

Yes, he had been reading a dull, tedious history book, and he had been reading it for a long time before the landlord arrived.

Piltover people were always dreaming about the future.

Zaunites struggled to survive in the present.

So the residents of the Twin Cities had no time to study the past. Historical research was not a popular field here.

Yet Li Wei studied with utmost seriousness. He not only read books, but took notes as well.

And not only did he take notes, he consulted his teacher as he wrote.

"Janna."

Li Wei called out his teacher's name.

If Mr. Bill the landlord had heard him, he would surely have been surprised that this man shared a name with the legendary Storm Spirit, the goddess Janna, whom he so often invoked.

And if he saw that history teacher's true form, he would be even more shocked.

Because Li Wei's teacher was not human at all.

She was a bird—the adorable blue bird perched on Li Wei's shoulder.

"Janna?"

"I'm here." The blue bird actually communicated with Li Wei through her thoughts.

She lazily stretched her wings on Li Wei's shoulder and asked again,

"What strange question are you going to ask me this time?"

"Mr. Summoner?"

A new book is out~ Please bookmark, vote with monthly passes, and recommend it~

Thank you all for your support _(:з"∠)_

Also, I only wanted to write a straightforward utopian fantasy story. At its core, it's just wish fulfillment. Please enjoy it for what it is, and don't connect it too much to reality. I hope the review section can stay peaceful, so please don't argue about politics.

Thank you all for understanding.

PS: Some passages in this book may have been automatically altered by the censorship system. Since the system gives no notifications, I do not know exactly what has been deleted or changed.

If new readers find parts of the story that do not connect properly or have missing paragraphs, please leave feedback in the comments.

For the record: this book has only one female lead, and she is Seraphine.

Janna is a main heroine, but not the female lead. She will always be with the protagonist, but they are not lovers. They are comrades united by the same ideals.

In my setting, Janna is an eternally fair and selfless goddess of utopia, an immortal sacred soul who guides change. She will not possess such mundane romantic desires.

In short, this is a wish-fulfillment novel, but its wish fulfillment is a fantasy of utopia in another world, not a stallion harem in another world. Those who are interested are welcome.