Once their inspection at the military shipyard was done, Corco and Fadelio split up. While the advisor went back to the castle to pen down the new privateering laws they had just come up with, the king was still avoiding his home, and with it all the piled up work. Instead, he walked a short distance on the same island, to Chukru Island's medical research center.

Before, this place had simply been called a clinic, a place where Corco's team of Chutwa doctors were collected to fulfill their contracts. However, the clinic had been expanded several times as the doctors inside became more and more professional, until the building had deserved the title of 'research center'.

Several years ago, the place had been largely empty, with only a few rooms for the Chutwa doctors to examine patients, as well as two storage rooms: one for the various herbs and plants the doctors would use in their recipes, and another to write and store the reports they had to hand in to the castle offices at regular intervals.

However, with the development of the microscope and some pointers from Croco in the right direction, the doctors had begun to split up into specializations, which was also reflected in their more varied work spaces.

There were rooms dedicated to treating common diseases like the flu or gout, which Corco dubbed the common practitioner rooms. There, doctors would invite patients from among the commoners of the city who would be part of their experimental, sometimes ridiculous treatment methods.

After several of these experiments had gone awry, the doctors there had received a dressing down from Corco. Since then, they had to make sure that the patients were fully informed of the potential dangers of their methods.

Even more, they would have to be careful about their approach and not try anything too bold without consent from the castle's offices, lest they ruin the reputation of the entire medical society. There would still be cases of heavy side effects from time to time, though at least now the patients would receive compensation for their troubles, so there were a lot fewer misgivings among the population about the doctors.

Besides the common practitioner rooms, there were also spaces dedicated to healing wounds and fixing bones, or anything related to surgery in general. One of the doctors had even enlisted the help of some Medalan cloth makers, to try out new stitching methods to better close wounds and reduce scaring.

Though today, neither of these areas were Corco's goal. No, his goal was an area where the doctors would stare through microscopes all day to identify new microorganisms, grow them in petri dishes, and identify as well as classify them. This was also an area which worked closely with Ronnie's chemical lab, which would send over new, exotic materials from time to time, to test on live samples of all imaginable kinds.

Though still primitive in many ways, it was a proper biology lab. At the same time, this biology lab was also dedicated to the development of new medicines, as well as devising and refining production methods for them. So far, they were often attempts to derive purer forms of old healing plants the Chutwa doctors were already familiar with. This was the place where penicillin had first been invented, and it was here Corco would find another medicine of similar importance today.

Although the king's goal was clear, the biology lab sat at the end of the compound, well protected from anyone who would want to steal their secretive findings or equipment. To reach it, he would have to cross the eeriest place in the research center. Somehow, Corco felt the light around him dim, and a cold and damp air drilled through the surrounding doors and into the hall.

Goosebumps developed all over Corco's body as he imagined the horrors that would happen behind the walls around him. In the distance, he could see the end of this section, and the door that would lead to the biology lab. However, with every step, the lab seemed to retreat back, never letting him get closer.

After a tense eternity, Corco had finally reached the last eerie door and was about to step past. Yet a sudden noise made him jump as the door to his right burst open and revealed a towering figure, who stormed out of the room and stepped right in the king's path before it stopped abruptly and stared down at the visitor.

The monster's mask hid his entire face, except for his eyes, lying deep in their sockets as if to retreat from the light. His barrel-thick arm held a sinister cleaver, shimmering silver in the light, its edge covered in the ruby-red sheen of blood. Drop by drop, the blood trickled down the silvery instrument and stained the monster's originally gray apron even more red.

“King Corco. What are you doing here?” the nightmare figure asked in a light and friendly tone. Annoyed at both the sudden appearance and his own cowardice, the king stepped back.

“Butcher, what the hell are you doing out here!” Corco shouted in anger.

The monster was in fact someone he knew. The Butcher had been among the Chutwa doctors who had followed Corco from Hueatlan back to Saniya, and he was the one who had strayed the farthest away from the Chutwa traditions. Over the years, the man had developed some strange habits and interests, and had earned a fitting nickname in the process.

“King Corco, this physician would prefer if you used his name instead,” the large man said. “The moniker of butcher is wholly unsuited to a great master such as I.”

I think we should install some mirrors in this place, Corco thought as he stared at the blood-stained nightmare fuel. There were so many things to complain about that the king wasn't even sure where to start, so he just started anywhere.

“Either way, have you not seen all the blood on you?” he said. “The fuck are you doing out here, contaminating everything and everyone with who knows what diseases!?”

“But... King Corco, I just finished an autopsy, and the results are fascinating! They need to be written down, and shared!”

“...is that so?” Corco tried to give a noncommittal answer and move on before he got entangled, but the butcher didn't care.

“Yes, I have finally found a concrete connection between the state of the liver and a body's health.”

Although he objected to the use of the term 'body', the king would rather not deal with the matter at all.

“Right. Could you-” Before Corco could finish the sentence, he was interrupted.

“Yes, that is right! Just one more body, and all mysteries of the liver can surely be unraveled. Though it best be a drinker, those engorged livers are more fun to examine.”

Fun? Corco thought, but again he decided to ignore the troubling signs.

“You can't just 'get' a body,” he said instead. “There's limits, you know? Both in terms of supplies, and in terms of morality.”

In Saniya, anatomy would be studied and taught through the use of real corpses, an almost unthinkable idea so far. Though due to religious reasons, the number of corpses they could work with was still severely limited. The doctors in this place mostly used the bodies of spies and other criminals with death penalties, since they wouldn't receive a proper burial anyways. Thus, people like butcher were always asking for more, much to Corco's dismay.

“Then what am I to do without another body?”

“Maybe washing your clothes wouldn't hurt,” the king mumbled in response to the heartbroken butcher.

“Please excuse this physician's poor ears,” the butcher said in a polite tone that didn't match his appearance and made him only seem more eerie. In the face of the man's bloody cleaver, the king would rather not insult him to his face.

“Or how about you go outside for once?” he said instead. “Read a book. Go to the theater. Do something else with your time. Corpses aren't great company, you know.”

“Hmmm... but... this work really needs to be finished,” a troubled butcher said, though Corco remained firm in his manner.

“Well, the rules are there for a reason. If you want another body to experiment on, you'll have to be patient and wait until there is one.”

With a troubled look, the large man searched the hallway for answers for a few seconds, before he turned to his king again.

“But... the contracts for the physicians are about to run out. What if the work is not finished by the time we return to Chutwa?”

“In that case, it seems like you'd have to stay a while longer” Corco replied with a crafty smirk. “This place isn't bad, is it?”

“It is not.” The butcher thought for a second, before his face eased. He pulled down his mask to reveal a frank smile. “This physician needs to thank King Corco. At last, there is some clear direction again, and the haste in his heart has been eased.”

“Sure, any time.”

Their conversation done, the butcher continued on towards the offices, to write down the results of his previous work, while Corco did his best to get some distance between himself and his creepy subordinate.

Although he might regret letting a potential serial killer stay in his country, he was relieved to hear the bucher's last words, though he wasn't surprised. Unlike the Arcavian craftsmen or the wolf mercenaries, most of the Chutwa doctors were expected to stay in Medala once their contracts ran their course. After all, in this place they had learned much about medicine, and there was still much more left to learn.

When it came to the accumulation of knowledge, there was no better place in the world than here, or at least none that Corco was aware of. So far, only two of the doctors were guaranteed to return home after the end of their contract, eager to use their new skills to gain wealth and status back home. All the others would at least consider an extension.

Together with their many Yaku apprentices coming of age, maybe they would soon have so many doctors that building hospitals would start to make sense. Some may also leave the king's direct employ and open up their own clinics in the city, another leap forward on their way to a modern society.

At least as far as modern societies went, the next room Corco entered felt more advanced than almost anything within the city. Petri dishes, microscopes, heat-insulated cooling cabinets filled with ice, as well as various glass tubes and containers to move and isolate anything from solids to gases. They even had some hand-cranked, primitive centrifuges.

In between all those modern tools, a man who looked entirely out of place rushed back and forth. Still in the yellow robe of the Chutwa doctors, he displayed an energy that made it hard for the numerous young Yaku in the room to keep up with him.

“Good afternoon, Doctor Itzali.” As soon as Corco greeted the doctor, he stopped and bowed, showing a bright smile on his face.

“King Corco, you have returned from your journey!”

“Yeah. For once, we're both back in Saniya.”

After completing his mission in Arguna, the doctor had returned to Saniya several months earlier. Although his mission would have been a more surefire success had he stayed until the mercury poisoning of the Grand Ancestor finally took hold, it would have been too dangerous for the doctor. As soon as symptoms became too heavy, Grand Ancestor Viribus' personal physician would have been the first suspect, and the doctors were usually also the first on the chopping block if something went wrong, even if they weren't secret assassins.

Thus, when Viribus had shown his first symptoms, the doctor had taken the chance to flee the Moonlight Zigurrat. Since he had managed to cure the ancestor's past infection, he had gained great reputation and had been trusted to leave in hopes of another cure. Thus, he had left behind the last of his penicillin laced with mercury, and left the city in search of the 'spring of life', to bring back more magical cures and guarantee a full healing of his patient.

Luckily, some cognitive decline and weakness would be expected of a man in his 130s, so no one suspected poisoning up to that point. Even so, Itzali had to leave behind his apprentice Naoka, both as a hostage and to keep administering the deadly shots to Viribus.

Though the ghost warrior would have a bigger chance to escape the castle when the going got rough, Corco was still worried. Hopefully, they would manage to create enough chaos in the city on time to let the loyal warrior escape.

Either way, Itzali had already returned home without any trouble and thus met up with Corco again around two seasons earlier. Although they hadn't met in a few years, the comprehensive changes in the doctor's character had still surprised him. Back when they had first met in Hueatlan, Itzali had owned a small roadside stall near the market, selling his services to the highest bidder. He hadn't seemed too concerned with the well-being of others, and was only eager to make some money for himself, whether or not his cures would be effective.

However, after his return, Itzali had looked like a changed man. All of a sudden, he had thrown himself into the research of new medicines like a madman. And unlike his fellow Chutwa doctors, he had actually begun to train his apprentices in earnest, even taking on more than the three that were required by contract. While Corco wasn't sure why the doctor had gone through such a change, he had no reason to complain. An enthusiastic medical researcher would be of great benefit to the kingdom. Or rather, it had already produced a great benefit a while ago.

“King Corco, are you here for a routine inspection?” Itzli asked.

“No, this time I've come for a specific reason.” He looked around. “So... in what corner do you do the artemisinin research?”

“Oh, I have long waited to hear those words,” Itzali beamed. “This way please.”