Chapter 186: The New Laboratory

The carriage came to a stop in front of the reeducation center. The building that Lucius had picked for the reeducation center was an old guard barracks that had been abandoned after a larger one had been built in the time of Count Gabriel's father.

It was large enough that a few hundred people could be easily accommodated within it, and it also had the structures that were needed to keep prisoners. All that was needed was a little modification that was done in a couple of weeks.

Till Lucius had asked for it, this old building was being used to store the surplus supplies and weapons of the guards. But with a little adjustment, the supplies were moved to a different warehouse, and the building was freed up.

It was surprising how much could be done if one just had money. In the case of Lucius, he didn't even need to spend anything for this as it was technically the property of the Inanis family from the start.

The only thing they needed to pay was the cost to get it modified a little bit. But that was nothing compared to the profits they were gaining from the sale of the wine. Plus, that profit will only be doubling since Lucius had decided to increase the price to twenty silver coins per bottle.

~Creak~

The door of the reeducation center opened as Lucius was greeted with the view of the inside. The front part of the area had been changed to a reception and two people sat here at all times to greet people.

The next area after that was the corridor that left to the separate wings of the building. The area where the prisoners were kept was at the very back, behind several reinforced and secured doors. 

While Lucius was sure that the prisoners will have a hard time escaping even from their individual cells, it was always better to err on the side of caution. The wings before the prisoner areas were either the living quarters of the teachers that will be here and also the classrooms where the criminals will be taught.

Of course, Lucius's own personal lab was situated on a different level than all this. It was located underground in the dungeons of the building. This dungeon was originally not even supposed to be a dungeon, but rather a storage area for the grains and food that the guards would use.

But as time went by and years passed, the Inanis city kept on growing and this could no longer keep up with the needs of the guards. The number of guards expanded rather quickly, and they shifted to a new place, leaving this building behind.

The dungeons were in rather bad conditions and even now only a couple of rooms had been cleared out. The rest of them would be fixed up later on, but just those two rooms would be enough for Lucius right now.

"Here's the section where we have put the prisoners," Kiana spoke while gesturing to the wooden double doors that were reinforced with iron bars and plates.

"Hmm… bring in the most troublesome one first. I want to start with the harder parts first." Lucius spoke.

"Okay," Kiana said before going to speak with a couple of guards.

"They'll bring him for us, we can head on ahead," Kiana said after returning.

"Let's head to my lab then… I want to see how it is finally looking." Lucius said, feeling a bit excited.

While he did have a lab in the Inanis mansion, it was not really up to his standards. Plus, there was also the question of privacy and thus he liked this one more. There was less chance of anyone coming to disturb him down here.

In addition to that, Lucius would be surrounded by people who listen to his every order without hesitation. While the servants would do the same in the mansion, at least here, he would not have to answer for his actions to anyone.

Lucius and Kiana went down a narrow set of stairs from the corner and reached the basement level of the building. This area was visibly cold, and the walls were slightly damp as well.

There were corridors where water could be seen dripping from the walls slowly. This was the reason why Lucius was informed that it would be hard to fix the dungeons up quickly. 

"Hmm… this will need more work than I thought," Lucius said.

"We are getting some extra workers next week and they should be able to finish up the rest of the basement. Right now we have done the two rooms as you asked them to be. Hopefully, you'll like them." Kiana replied.

Lucius nodded his head and spoke, "I'll see for myself."

A few seconds later, they reached a set of metal doors that were at least an inch thick. 

"Oh? Just as I asked them to be." Lucius commented upon seeing the dimensions of the doors.

Kiana nodded her head and opened the lock on the door for him. The key was long and had three squat hoops at its end at perpendicular angles. It was a rather unique looking key and the lock was also complex in its function.

But all this was hidden inside the door and could not be seen directly.

~clang~

The metal doors unlocked with an audible clang and revealed the interior to him. In there, Lucius could see the equipment he had asked to be procured. Among this equipment, there were several things that were rather unorthodox and were not available in the territory and thus they had to be custom made.

There were several tables, each with different functions, beds with restraints, hanging chains, large scales that could be used to measure up to several quintiles of weight, hundreds of different tools and containers along with the final addition, which was the large glass tank.

This was something that the Artificers guild usually used and was the most expensive item in the room.