After going through the front gates, I found myself in the Pawn Tier area.

  There were a lot of people around, the area was kinda dirty and the living quarters were pretty shabby. There were plenty of carts and weapons like axes, hammers, spears and shields. Some of the pawns here looked lifeless and robotic, while others looked like they were trying too hard, probably attempting to work their ways up to the Lapdog Tier.

  The cart continued further for a while, before reaching the gates of the second outermost wall, and going through it, entering the Lapdog Tier area.

  This area was much nicer than the Pawn Tier area, the ground was paved and cleaner, and the buildings looked a lot better too. There was a large shooting range, where a few of them were practicing with guns. There were a few pawns as well, being dragged around by the lapdogs……well, the guy I'm posing as did mention that lapdogs could take on a pawn as a slave, looks like most of them took advantage of that.

  The cart drove further in, till we reached the gates of the third wall, leading into the Research Tier. Time to dismount. I grabbed the bag filled with the minerals and hopped off the cart, heading for the gates. The pawns turned the cart around and headed back, as the guards by the gates opened them and let me in after I showed them the ID card of the guy I'm posing as.

  Alright, now just act natural. I'll go for a slightly nervous demeanor, since I am playing the part of a lapdog.

  I walked in and looked around. Unlike the previous two areas, the entire Research Tier area was a facility, taking up the entire space between the second and third walls. There were three floors, the lower floor had a bunch of labs, while the two upper floors were the residency quarters of the researchers.

  There were boards along the walls with arrows and directions, kinda like a hospital in my old world. Honestly, this entire area looked out of place in this world.

  It gave off a very……laboratory vibe. You know, that sterile smell, low temperature, glass panes on most of the rooms……of course, there were no wiring or computers or any technology, although if there had been, we'd be totally screwed if they had advanced to that extent. Also, while the pawns and lapdogs had been wearing robes, the Research Tier members wore white labcoats.

  Anyway, according to the guy whose appearance I stole, the person he assisted directly under worked in 'Lab 7'. I checked out the signboards……this place was big, so there were a whole lot of them, there was even a small floor plan map. I spotted a board with an arrow pointing to the right, labeled 'Labs 5-10'.

  Seriously, this area's so out of place in this world.

  I followed the arrows till I found myself in front of Lab 7. I could see inside since the front wall was glass, but I better just knock instead of peeking in. I walked towards and stopped in front of the door, before taking a deep breath and knocking on it.

  "Enter!" Came a muffled reply from inside.

  I opened the door and entered. It was a small lab, with two people inside. A woman in the corner, hunched over a row of beakers with various liquids in them. The other was an old man, appearing to be in his sixties, with short gray hair and a thick mustache. I nearly got startled as he looked at me, he had compound eyes.

  As in, insect eyes, both his eyeballs were like insect eyes, with all those numerous, tiny dots all over them, and a slight red tinge. Ugh, creepy. But more importantly……he matched the description I got from this guy.

  "I have returned, Dr Reel. I hope I did not keep you waiting long?" I greeted, with a respectful bow.

  I had seen plenty of pawns bow like this to the lapdogs they ran into, I had asked this guy about it before I stole his appearance, and he confirmed that it was how they were supposed to greet anyone who was in a higher tier to them. No gonna lie, it was pissing me off, but in a hierarchical structure like this one meant that if I showed my dissatisfaction, it could end with my death. So I have to play the part.

  "Hm, you are rather late, however I shall excuse that so long as you got the minerals I requested?" He responded coldly.

  Good, looks like I hadn't drawn any suspicion from him. His name was Sihbal Reel, and he appeared to be the condescending type……this is going to be tough.

  "Of course, sir! Here they are," I replied, handing him the bag.

  Okay, I had enjoyed acting like a total dick towards the pawns, but acting like a total pussy towards this guy was humiliating and infuriating. But since he was showing no signs of skepticism or suspicion, it looks like I was on the right track with how to act around him.

  He snatched them from me and opened up the bag, inspecting the contents carefully, before nodding in satisfaction.

  "Not bad at all, this is a fine haul, it would appear that your eye for quality has improved. Using these, creating the 'truth serum' that was requested of me should not be a problem at all," He smiled to himself slightly.

  Truth serum, huh?

  Well, considering that the Retribution Tier had at least two members with their previous memories intact, I guess it wasn't surprising. Not good, if they capture anyone, it won't matter how unwilling to talk they are, if this truth serum turns out to be the real deal. Huh, I wonder why they didn't just make a spell for it……

  "Wouldn't it be easier to create a spell that brainwashes someone into telling the truth instead of making a serum?" I blurted out loud.

  "Hm? Are you trying to say that my work is pointless, dog!? I ought to have your head for such a foolish statement!"

  Crap!

  "Oh, uh……forgive me, doctor, I overstepped my bounds, it will not happen again!"

  "See that you do, know your place!"

  Seriously, these people definitely do not take this tier system lightly. As he took the mineral rocks to his work table and began grinding them into a fine sand-like state, a loud crash echoed across the room as the woman in the corner accidentally knocked over one of the beakers near her.

  Huh, that had almost startled me too. As for Dr Reel, he looked pretty furious……

  "Be more careful, do not waste any valuable ingredients!" He snapped angrily.

  "Hey, I'm in the Research Tier too, so you can't talk to me that way, you old fart! And besides, it was just an accident! Seriously, what is with you today, you're in a really bad mood, old man."

  That voice……it couldn't be……

  "Do you truly believe we are of equal status? I am senior to you, I have been a researcher for years, while you have barely been a member for a few months. Must I remind you of your collosal failure during your Goldway assignment, Dista?"

  No way……I thought she was dead! How……

  "Tch, that's a low blow, and hardly my fault. Whatever. Hey, lapdog, clean up this mess, would you?"

  Damn it, that bastard Imsret didn't mention her! Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now, he was dead and she was here……I just need to play it cool. She's a member of the Research Tier too, so I guess I should do what she says.

  As I began moving towards a closet with cleaning supplies……

  "What do you think you're doing, dog? In case you forgot, you are assigned to me, remember!?"

  Ughh, give me a break, you old shit!

  "Yes, I know, sir……but she also outranks me, I cannot disobey."

  God, what a pathetic thing to say……but I reckon it was exactly what someone of this rank would say.

  "Yeah, stop being unreasonable, doctor, this is why you get saddled with pointless work," Shrugged Dista with a laugh.

  Well, she certainly hadn't changed, that unhinged vibe was very much intact. She was missing her left arm, and walked with a slight limp, her left leg also appeared to be busted.

  Her long, wild blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she was wearing glasses over her brown eyes. She had some deep scars on the left side of her neck of face. Looks like she must have gotten partially buried under the rubble, but not fatally so……it also meant that she must have been found within a few hours of that cave-in, otherwise she would have died of blood loss for sure.

  Anyway, back to the matter at hand……should I clean that mess up or not?

  "Well, what are you waiting for, brat……clean it up, or I'll give you a taste of torture that'll make you wish you were dead!" Snapped Dista impatiently.

  Ugh, too bad she didn't die.

  I glanced at the man, he clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned away, but didn't say anything. Guess it was okay.

  I picked up a rag and bucket out of the closet and walked over to the mess, mopping up the liquid and carefully lifting the broken shards of glass of the beaker. I can't afford to get cut, even if I suppress my Healing Factor, I can't keep up the suppression when I'm sleeping.

  I was careful not to get any of the liquid on my skin, in case it was corrosive or something. I finished cleaning it up and put the bucket and rag back in the closet.

  Over the next eight hours, I had to play the role of lab assistant and janitor to these two. It was……ugh. By the time they let me go, the sun had already set and it was dark. And since Dr Reel clearly had no intention of answering any questions I might have, I didn't really find out anything about what he was working on. I knew he was working on creating a truth serum, but I had no idea of how he was actually doing it. I tried to get a close look, but he snapped at me to give him some space, so that didn't work.

  I left the Research Tier building and strolled around the Lapdog Tier area with a sigh. Hm, should I do some snooping around? No, it's only the first day, and I did tell the others to spend a week just focused on blending in and not doing any investigating, so I'll do the same for about four or five days.

  And besides, I had learnt some other fairly useful info so far. Dista and Dr Reel had been snapping at each other back and forth all day, and in between the snarks, the doctor complained that this wasn't his specialty and was looking to get it over with as soon as possible so that he could get an assignment in his preferred lane, assisting with the creation of spells.

  He mentioned something that caught my attention……Spell Cards. At first I thought it was just a slip of tongue and he meant to say Spell Scrolls, but he mentioned that term multiple times, and Dista didn't react or correct him, so……it looks like they had discovered another way to activate a spell.

  There was still a lot that I needed to find out, the identities of the rest of the Retribution Tier, more of what the Research Tier was working on, and a whole lot of other stuff, but there's no sense in rushing this. For now, I'll focus of familiarization and making sure that I fly under the radar.

  There was a weapon forge that was closed right now, I'll check that out later. There was also a small building with a few people streaming in and out of it. I walked in to see what it was……huh, looked like a place to do laundry. There was a row of pairs of scrolls all along the space. To use it, you press your dirty clothes up to the left scroll of one of the pairs and activate it, the clothes disappear upon activation and then you activate the scroll on the right, and the clothes emerge, clean and dry.

  Woah, that was convenient, basically an instant washing machine. Maybe I'll steal a pair if I can when I go back……if not, I can ask Elina to make it.

  As I began to walk away from the laundry building, I saw a lapdog appear from behind it, holding a gun. After he left, my curiosity was piqued, and I snuck around to the back of the building. There was a massive trapdoor on the ground……should I go inside? It wasn't locked or anything……I'll chance it. I opened the door and walked down the stairs, finding myself in an underground chamber……where they were manufacturing guns. There were a bunch of lapdogs walking around, assembling the guns and stacking them in boxes.

  One spotted me and walked over, asking me if I needed something. I took out the gun on me and claimed that it felt a bit off after I fired it today, the guy inspected it and said nothing was wrong, and that maybe the recoil numbed my hand or something. I decided to get a few more rounds of ammo before leaving the chamber. Not good, they had already made a ton of pistols……and it looks like they had also begun production on rifles.

  Now, then……I need to find my living quarters. Let's see, according to the guy I replaced, he lived in the third building on the right in the residential section of this area. I decided to explore the area a bit more first, and get familiar with the layout.

  Not that there was much to see. There was a small building with packets of food and water bottles, I walked closer to it and observed. Hm, looks like they didn't use any form of currency. It seemed to work by showing the person at the counter the ID card with your name and tier on it, they then check through a list and make a mark next to your name, before handing you one of those food packs and a bottle of water.

  I see, it's a pretty interesting system, they don't trade using money, probably to keep the members of each tier from forming a hierarchical pecking order within the tier. After all, if a wealth gap within each tier became significant enough to be noticeable, it was likely that the richer ones would lord over the poorer ones, so even if they were of the same tier rank, they wouldn't be treated equally, and, in an organization where everyone was desperately looking to climb higher, that could lead to rising tensions further down the line.

  I walked over to the counter of the building and handed the cashier my ID card. Based on his robes, he was a lapdog too, so I'll play it neutral. He took my card with a bored sigh, glanced at the name and began flipping through the book, stopping when he found my name.

  "Oh, you have not taken even one meal today yet. Would you like to take all three of your share now?"

  Hm, so that means the maximum meals per person is three for a day. And if you miss out of breakfast and lunch, you can make up for it by taking three packs for dinner.

  I probably can't eat three of those, but……

  "Could I get two food packs and three water bottles?"

  "Yes, coming right up," He replied half-heartedly, putting a couple of ticks by my name, or rather, the name of the person I was posing as.

  He then handed me the packs and bottles in a paper bag. Did this guy have to do this all day? Looking at how dead his expression is, that might very well be the case.

  I decided to make my way to the living quarters and find the place I'll be staying at for the next two weeks. It took me about half an hour, and thankfully each door in the residential buildings was labeled with the name of the resident. And I already knew which building it was, so it was just a matter of searching. I finally found the door with the name 'Imsret Seinonm' and twisted the handle. It was locked.

  I checked my pockets, and after a couple of minutes of searching, found a key in a small hidden compartment inside my armor. I put the key into the lock, and……let out a sigh of relief as it turned. I opened the door, and did a double take.

  It was a small room, with just enough space for a bed and closet, though it was clean enough, so it wasn't all bad. There was a door on each of the left and right walls, one probably led into the bathroom. But what really caught me offguard was that fact that……

  there was a woman inside the room. She stood up in fear and bowed as I walked in, her demeanor was very nervous and jumpy. Huh, based on her robes, she was a pawn. Was I in the wrong room? No, only lapdogs are allowed to live in this area, not to mention the name on the door. Taking all that into consideration, there was only one explanation……

  "W-welcome back, Master Imsret," She greeted me in a timid, nervous voice.

  As I took off the robe, she quickly took it from me and carefully hung it in the small closet in the room. She flinched if I so much as glanced at her. No doubt about it……

  she was a slave.

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

  Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.