The following morning... - King's Laboratory - Klaus' Point of View...

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Back on Earth, I used to spend a lot of my time pondering the concept of retribution, particularly on the point that justice and vengeance are but two sides of the same coin. And like every other time this sentence is used to describe something, people tend to ignore or outright be unable to comprehend what is even truly said.

For instance, once upon a time, I heard someone say how Chaos and Order were just two sides of the same coin and, while this may be true, just because they're opposite sides, does not magically make them not the same coin! In other words: they are not separate from one another, meaning that even if one side 'wins', it will simply become the other.

Chaos becomes the new norm and thusly, the new Order, while rebelling against Chaos becomes deviancy. Much the same way, there can be no justice without revenge. Even if the 'victim' itself does not participate, the sinners loss is still the victim's revenge. Of course, it all matters mostly to how one sees these things in the first place!

Anyhow, the reason I'm currently pondering this is due to my recent discovery of the fact that human slaves do not exist within Exuperia, meaning that the aforementioned slavery is limited solely to the difference in race. This works the same way in the entirety of Terravest, allowing for a massive cycle of unending hatred, with each side of the party giving the others credence to commit ever grander atrocities upon the other, using past sins as an excuse.

How many millions of lives have already been lost due to this, I wonder? And to think, the entire continent supposedly worships a 'god of Justice'. Rhothmir must be quite the opportunistic bastard since he dares to claim that particular title. And his church? They just ignore this.

Honestly, it makes me sick to the core, but truth be told, the churches back on Earth did the exact same thing, even when the slaves proclaimed to worship their gods. Its all quite amusing to ponder~.

"Your 'order' has arrived, your majesty." A hoarse voice echoed from behind me as I turned to look behind me. The shivering slaver was quaking in his boots as I observed the goods he brought; two healthy, young dwarf males. And while one certainly did look healthy enough, the other clearly had a back problem, standing slightly crooked. "I do believe that my order was for two healthy dwarven males? I only see one."

"U-uhm- I-I, your majesty!; I d-don't see a-any difference! T-the dwarves all look the same to me!" What is this fool talking about? First of all, the left one is bald and has unfocused eyes while the other has twice the darker tone of skin and a beard that reaches his nether.

I merely sighed towards the man. "So your eyes are useless, is what you're telling me, right?" With a flick of my fingers, I promptly made the boys eyes pop out of their sockets as my unflinching guards knocked him out and threw him outside, with one of them squashing the eyes into the ground with a plated boot.

Poor sod didn't even get enough time to scream. "Should we go look for better stock, your majesty?" One of the guards asked with a snort as I shrugged. "Its fine. These two will do well enough for what I have in mind."

"... and what do ye have in mind for us, your majesty?" The room went quiet as everyone present stared at the dwarf that just talked, his beard swaying as he did. I quirked an eyebrow at him and smirked. "I shall perform an investigation. An experiment, if you will."

He grimaced and then nodded. "Aye. That part we heard when your cronies went around looking for 'volunteers'." I merely beamed an innocent smile at the dwarf. "And you wouldn't be able to comprehend what I am about to do, even if I explained in more detail."

Turning back around, I opened up a drawer and began to sort my tools, as well as set up the sewing kit. "Oh? Is that so? I'll have ye know that I am a former priest with a decent education. Why don't ye try me?"

A smile etched itself on my frame as I looked at my two guards, who were both wearing uncertain expressions, each man knowing full well that I tend to enjoy arrogance and bluster in the face of death from my test subjects. After all, their pride makes their screams all the sweeter. "A priest? Hmm..." Shrugging towards him and pointing towards a stone slab in the middle of the room, I chuckled at the dwarf. "I'm going to do something that will end up causing you a massive amount of pain! Oh, by the way, would you like to live or to die?"

He blinked at the suddenness of the question, but answered instantly nonetheless. "I'll take life, thank ye very much." It was then he noticed my smile turning sadistic and cruel. "Oh? Life, is it. Tsk, that means I'm going to have to work quickly!... and more painfully."

My gaze turned back towards the guards. "Put him on the slab and the other one in chains." Within seconds, the two guards wordlessly split their tasks, one dragging the bearded dwarf by the beard and slamming him onto the slab, which caused the magical runes on the stones to activate, promptly pressing down onto the drawf with unseen force and pinning him down, making my dear subject unable to move, while the other basically walked to the nearest set of chains on his own and let himself be bound. Hmm, what a good boy!

Anyway, I walked over to the slab and flicked my fingers, causing the bearded dwarf to be twisted around and laid down stomach first, exposing his naked back to me. I licked my lips in anticipation as my beloved shadowy scalpel formed in my left hand and grinned savagely. "Now then.. let us begin the live autopsy~!"

"Autops-ARUGH!?" The stunted one screamed as soon as my scalpel reached his skin, yet despite every single twitch and movement of the muscles, the binding runes kept him down as the other dwarf watched on in silence and an expressionless frame. With a click of my tongue, I promptly turned towards the nearest guard. "Earplugs." He wasted no time grabbing six pieces of prepared cotton, giving me two before handing another set to the other guard and putting his own in.

Nevertheless, having secured my ears, I continued my work. Blood pooled on the dwarf's back before being collected into glass vials which were then stored on the shelves around the room, as the blade of my scalpel cut in deeper. Already, I could see some differences in the anatomy in comparison to a human. The shoulders in particular, were very much thicker as both the bones and the muscles were constricted, indicative of an evolutionary design meant for physical labour, particularily the kind that requires one to possess a strong back. The lean cuts of meat were not wasted either, as I stored them away to the side on a rune of cold, something to keep the meat fresh for the time being, though this was not exactly a sanitary environment.

Either way, the dwarfs flesh twitched with every scream, causing spurt upon spurt of liquid to escape the confines of his opened back, but there was less and less blood by the moment, causing him to stop trying to move. Hmm.. It seems to me as if most of the dwarf is just a more constricted, thicker version of a regular human.

I should remember to catalogue the amount of bones!

Putting the scalpel down for a moment, I accelerated the dwarf's healing capabilities, putting his carved up back together and then sewing the wounds shut before observing some of the sped up, but still quite natural healing process and documenting the results, which were incredibly disappointing. Seems like the way a wound heals is the same for the dwarves as it is for humans.

I certainly hope the elves will prove more exciting!

Next up were the arms. Already, I could see that each limb was about forty to fifty percent shorter than that of the average human, but remarkably, the joints of the body were not! In fact, the joints within the dwarfs arms had some form of excess plating, causing the vulnerable part of the connective tissue to be well protected, but likely also not as nimble. Dwarves are said to be slow but tough, after all. Perhaps, bone plating such as this is the true reason why? In any case, this skeletal and muscle frame is still very similar to that of a man.

Hmm, perhaps, humans and dwarves share a common ancestor on this world? Oh. Wait, that one is easily solvable. "Hey, can dwarves and humans reproduce?" I threw this question towards my guards, who noticed I was addressing them, then removed their earplugs. "W-what? I'- could you repeat that please, your majesty?" I only barely heard what he said through my own, so I removed them too, causing the soft sobbing of the test subject to fill my ears, already making me want to put him out of his misery. But hey, the fool chose life, so life it is.

I rolled my eyes at the guards antics, but before I could say anything, the other dwarf answered. "Half-breeds exist, but they're born wrong. Always." Quirking an eyebrow at him, I tilted my head in confusion. "Born wrong? You mean as in, with disabilities?"

He nodded, very slowly. "Aye. Not right in the skull. Bad bones. Spotted skin. That sort of crag dung."

With a shrug, I put my earplugs back in and returned to my work, writing down what I had just heard. Being able to interbreed, even when the result is genetically unstable offspring, means that there certainly was a common ancestor somewhere down the line. Hmm, I wonder if the same can be said for the elves? And, if so, does it apply to every other sapient race?

No, there's some that are too different. Like goblins. There's no way humans are related to goblins, is there? Oh well, an experiment for the future!

---

One hour later...

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"Uuu-aaa-.. eeiiii...aaaa..." Sounds of utter discomfort meekly resounded in the room as my test subject was allowed to finally leave, his tormented frame shaking and shivering with every step he took, his once robust, healthy frame befouled with paling skin and hollowed cheeks, with wide-open eyes, flinching at everything that moved. The other dwarf in the room stared at his ruined comrade with disdain and then sighed. "So.. it is my turn now?"

I shrugged at him as I compiled the results of my current work into an empty book. "Sadly, no. I do believe that I've learned enough about dwarves for one day. You may be freed and go back to the mines or whatever else you're meant to do around here."

"Uh, that's great but uh, ya kinda blinded our owner an' all a while a' go." Quirking an eyebrow at him, I blinked and replied. "So what? Do you want to serve me instead or something?"

"Better that than be 'set free' and then brutally murdered by the first person that dislikes dwarves around here." He turned to look at my guards and snorted. "Like these two buggers, for instance."

Letting out an amused chuckle as I washed my hands, I asked the crooked dwarf. "Do you have a name, my fine fellow?" He seemed slightly alarmed as the two guards walked over to him and released him from his bindings, causing the dwarf to rub his sore wrists before answering accordingly. "Iralius, your majesty... I'm uh, a Hillock dwarf, so I ain't have a surname or clan-name or whatever else comes after yer normal name.. uh, yer majesty." He did an uncomfortable bow, audibly wincing as his back clearly caused him intense pain.

Shrugging, I walked over to the dwarf and inspected his back. "Hmm.. if I compare what I see here with what I just learned, your spine seems to have been damaged irreversibly."

"Aye. When I was but a wee laddie, I fell off of a tree and slammed my back onto a rock. Couldn't 'alk straight without pain ever since." Iralius let out a jaded sigh, seemingly completely unaffected by the horrors he had just witnessed. "Used to suffering, are you?"

He gritted his teeth and nodded. "Aye, your majesty." Turning to look at the shivering wreck that was my prior test subject, Iralius grimaced with hate. "All o' me life, I was bullied and mistreated by my fellows for my disability." Then he turned back towards me and smiled. "I came here expectin' ta die. Instead, I got the most wonderful gift o' me life; watching this kinless bastard sufferin' as if he was already in 'ell."

Oh my.

How spiteful!

How hateful!

How... potentially useful. "Hmm.. I see." Looking at my guards, I shrugged and nodded my head in the direction of the slab. "I changed my mind. Put him up."

"A-ah, I was e-expectin' this! Ain't no way that a bloody human would be -mhmph?!" One of the guards slapped a cloth into his mouth. "On his back." I commanded the two and placed my right hand onto the wounded spine of the dwarf, commanding my crimson tendril to reset it back into proper position, promptly shattering the bone and causing the dwarfs lower body to go fully limp as his head rocked upwards from the pain, his teeth, half-rotted as they were, biting hard onto the cloth and ripping through it in the process.

But my work was not yet done, as I refashioned the flesh and the nerves from the inside, causing quite a lot of bleeding as I tore apart his muscle and ingrown meat. Alas, it was done as quickly as it had started and I finished healing the dwarfs back, wiping the sweat from my hands with a blood-stained piece of cloth just as a guard removed the tattered remains of what was now in the dwarfs mouth. Having caught on to what I was doing, they put Iralius comically onto the ground and let him go, causing him to grab onto the slab in an effort to stability himself.

He tenderly reached for the scar on his spine with disbelief etched into his frame and, with blinking eyes, he then turned towards me with an utterly flabbergasted expression. "Ye.. ye.. ye fookin' healed me back!?" He straightened himself, standing a few centimetres taller than he ever could and even performed some stretches, which was rather comical to watch considering his size. "It.. it don't even 'urt any more!"

"Indeed. With the knowledge I gained from ravaging your friend, healing your back was child's play!" The ruined dwarf twitched and shook as he turned towards us, staring at his formerly crooked friend in disbelief. "That... that wicked ritual.. was to gain powers o' healin'..?"

"Your sacrifice here was done in order to gain knowledge, my stunted friend! My understanding of dwarven biology grew and with it, I have gained much power, but it is up to me if I want to use it to heal or to wound another." Granted, I could probably do most of the work correctly even if I didn't perform the live autopsy since much of their inner structure is akin to that of humans, but having legitimate information on the matter allows me to create a far superior spell than what would have been born out of mere imagination.

The priest seemed to swallow down in fear, resentment and disbelief, but said nothing more as Iralius seemed to become full of excitement and life. "Yer majesty! I owe ye everything for this! I swear, I'll serve ye as whatever ye need of me for the rest of ye human life!"

Human life? I blinked and tilted my head at Iralius. "Eh? Do you dwarves live longer than humans?" He blinked right at me, threw a look at the two guards, who shrugged at him, before turning towards me in disbelief. "Ye.. ya didn't know that? Uh, I mean, ye. Dwarfs like us live for centuries. Not as much as the elves, but certainly more than 'ou humans."

I see.

"Hmm.. looks like more experiments will be required." I added another tidbit into my autopsy book before finally closing it and placing it on a shelf. "But, perhaps for another day." Then I turned towards Iralius and rubbed my chin in thought. "Hmm, you'll serve me with anything I need, eh?"

"That's right! A true dwarf never goes back on his word!" He seemed quite adamant. Looking around at my laboratory, I suddenly realized a very crucial detail; I have yet to find an assistant! And what better assistant than a former test subject? "Alright, I think I know what to do."

Then I turned towards the guards. "Go and tell Percival to add living quarters to the blueprint of the Laboratory." A grin etched itself upon my frame as I turned towards Iralius. "You are from now on my laboratory assistant. It'll be your task to help me document and perform my experiments here!"

With a blink, Iralius shrugged and nodded. "Aye, I'll do my best boss.. just uh, could I maybe ask you for some clothes? Don't really think I'll be that useful with my dingy bits prancin' around all the time." That's a good point. "I'll get someone to get you some clothes. For now though, make yourself useful and clean up the place. There's a broom, some rags and a source of water in the cellar."

The jaded dwarf nodded with a smile and got to work. "And what o' me, your majesty?" The ruined one spoke with a shaking tone as I snorted and extended my right hand towards him with a smile. "Oh you?" Then I flicked my fingers, causing a terrible sound to echo through the small room. "You can just die now~."

And with that, his spine popped out of his flesh, beheading him in the process and covering the ground in blood, bile and gore alike.

"O-OI!?" Ah.

Looks like my assistant is back already, with cleaning tools in tow. He promptly took one look at the sudden splatter of extra work and gave me another look of disbelief.

Erm.

Oh well, shit happens~.

After all, its the employers job to make sure his employees have work to do, right?