Having discussed the time that they had till the arrival of the arbitrator, Lucius felt like this plan could be executed safely.

"If we are lucky, two weeks would be enough to gather a sizable number of criminals. As for the rest, they will probably go into hiding and avoid any crimes till things cool down. This will still help us as the Arbitrator won't be able to find any faults then either." Lucius spoke.

​​

"Mmmhmm, that will be for the best." Gabriel agreed.

They discussed a few more things before finalizing what needed to be done. Gabriel straightway wrote down the orders and passed them to the steward to be executed. Starting from tomorrow, the servants would be given some quick combat training that specialized in apprehension and restraining.

After that, they would be assigned to the various places in the city and they would be sent to find jobs there. With the skill they are already taught, they would be able to get most jobs.

It was also specified that the pay of the job did not matter. What mattered was the location that the job was based in, as the Inanis family will be paying them their wages anyway.

"Come with me Kiana…" Lucius whispered to her while leaving.

Kiana didn't question and simply followed him to the lab. Once they were inside, Lucius locked the door and sat down on a chair.

"What do you want to talk about?" Kiana questioned, knowing that Lucius must have had some reason before calling her here like this.

"I do yes… tell me, what do you think of those criminals?" Lucius questioned.

"The Criminals? They're just criminals that need to be punished and put in prison." Kiana answered quickly.

"Indeed. But what of the more… vile criminals… the murderers, the rapists, and the treasonous wretches?" Lucius asked further.

"They… they are not worth being put into prison… the best is to swiftly behead them and free this land of their presence," Kiana said with a stern look in her eyes.

It was evident that she had not had a good experience with criminals such as those and there was more hidden behind here than she had let on. Lucius noted this and nodded his head.

"I completely agree! But… what if I told you there is a way these vile criminals can help us better the lives of our people? By letting them live…" Lucius asked.

Kiana had a confused look on her face upon hearing this.

"Why would you want to let them live? And how can they help? They are the worst of the worst and shouldn't be allowed to live!" Kiana said, her voice getting agitated by the end.

"Of course, even if they live… they won't be living a good life. Rather, they would be wishing they were dead instead. I believe this would be far more fitting for their crimes, wouldn't it?" Lucius replied.

Kiana finally understood what Lucius meant by his words.

"You want to… torture them?" Kiana asked with apprehension.

"In a way yes," Lucius answered.

"But that is prohibited by the Church of Alana. Only under specific conditions is torture allowed, whether it be for interrogation by the inquisitors, to weed out spies, or to take confessions from the sinners. Even for sinners, the church stops the torture when they have confessed and beheads them." Kiana said, feeling a bit uneasy.

"I understand that. But I don't want to torture them without a reason, of course. Like I said, I want to better the lives of our people and these criminals could be put to some really good use as test subjects." Lucius said in a calm tone.

"Test subjects?…" Kiana repeated, not understanding it fully.

"Let me show you," Lucius said before turning around.

He moved to three square objects that seemed to be covered with a thick canvas sheet.

~shua~

Lucius lifted the covers on all three cages, revealing the eight Bore Shrews that were currently sleeping in them. Kiana's eyes fell on them and she felt confused at first, but then her eyes went wide.

"What… what are these?" Kiana questioned, feeling a bit queasy upon seeing the strangely mutated beasts that bordered on horrific.

The muscles of the bore shrews were all too bulky and looked unnatural. A thick layer of skin that looked like patches of shell covered them and there were veins protruding from their bodies as well. Two pairs of sharp incisors jutted out of their snouts too, looking dangerous.

Lucius didn't tell her right away what they were, but instead spoke.

"LINE UP!" Lucius ordered.

~SKEWEEEE~

As soon as Lucius's voice entered the ears of the eight bore shrews, they woke up with a cry. Their thick limbs propped their bodies up as they hurriedly moved towards the small doors that were made on the cages.

They expertly opened the latches on the cages before walking out of it. Then, like a trained squadron, they lined up in a straight file, looking towards Lucius with gleaming red eyes. Kiana slightly shuddered upon seeing these actions of the beasts and didn't know what to think of it.

"Behold, the new and enhanced Bore Shrews!" Lucius revealed.

The moment Kiana heard this, she was surprised.

"These are… Bore Shrews? How… how did they get this big… and grotesque?" Kiana couldn't help but question.

"Yes, they are indeed bore shrews. These are my current 'test subjects' and as you can see they are far different from their normal kin." Lucius spoke.

The cogs in Kiana's mind moved and meshed before she finally understood.

"The upgrades you did with my gift… did you do that with them too?" Kiana asked.

"Well… while it is an upgrade, it wasn't directly to their gift, but rather to their bodies. Not only are they many times stronger than their original kin, they are also obedient to me and listen to my orders.

If I want them to die they will die, if I want them to kill they will kill." Lucius said, as a wide smile appeared on his face that made Kiana tremble.