"I got the stuff ye asked for…" mumbled the grumpy dwarf as he took a quick glance at Moros from the bottom of his soles to the top of his dark hair.
"Kid…you are asking for trouble with the stuff you're looking for." He puffed on his expensive cigarette, blowing a waft of smoke into the air.
On Moros' face, there was a smile unlike one had ever seen. One could think that this was the happiest moment in his rather short life.
"...why would you even ask for these hellish shackles here?" A hint of concern flashed over the dwarf's face, since his best customer always had some questionable hobbies.
He threw some chains to Moros' feet. With a heavy thud, they landed on the ground, a sharp, piercing shriek escaped them as the metal grated on the stone floor.
Moros quickly moved down and grabbed these chains…their heavy weight caused him to shutter in excitement. He was more than happy, that he would be able to live and actually not die tomorrow.
"You are a lifesaver, Poppycock," Moros said with tears almost streaming in his eyes.
Without any more words, he lifted his pants and took off similar chains that were wrapped around his angles…however the moment they left his body, these chains exploded into countless tiny pieces.
"Your body truly is trying to kill ye, ain't it?" Poppycock's question was rhetorical in nature. Why else would his dearest customer willingly wear such torture devices around his body?
He certainly was not the type to use them for kinky purposes.
Few people knew that the anti-magic chains that absorbed the mana from living organisms had a capacity limit. Moros' body brimmed with magic, so much so, that he could only live by suppressing it through the use of highly illegal and dangerous tools.
After he put on the new shackles around his ankles, he almost let out a moan of pleasure as he felt his body returning to a normal state, it was truly blissful to him.
The puffing Poppycock still looked at him like he had just escaped out of the zoo or out of the circus. Moros on the other hand could not help himself and decided to give his bro a deep, long hug.
After a few seconds of forced bro embrace the dwarf gave Moros a shove and pushed him away.
"Don't stretch your luck boi. Or else I am going to shove your unmentionables so far up your arse, you will see your Mom's dick through your mouth."
Seeing the wisdom behind these words, Moros did what he did best and just went fully quiet. He knew Poppycock by heart, he was not a liar…especially after what he did to that poor bloke who dared to call him a midget.
He was still pooping his fingers to this very day.
After waiting for a few seconds of awkward staring, Moros mustered his courage and decided to talk business, as people from this hellhole said.
"What do I owe you, friend?"
Poppycock did some mental calculations before he held up 3 fingers.
Three fingers, meant three big magic stones. A nearly criminal price given the peanuts he made working for his clan, yet it was more than worth it to pay the price.
Wordlessly Moros' hand moved to his pants and took out the three big magical stones that he had spent a month of work for. It hurt his soul to see his savings go up in flames.
But the alternative was dying a most miserable death and he certainly had no interest in that just yet.
Seeing the stones, a happy expression appeared on Poppycock as his little legs wobbled to the magic stones Moros had dropped before him.
"Lad, lemme tell you, you are dealing with dangerous stuff. These things had been used on the most evil, bad guys during the extinction war." Poppycock's words might have seemed generous at first, less so however as he was currently salivating at the money.
"Don't die on…I can't lose my customer so early," the dwarf added, full of concern for his cash cow and golden goose. His money-maker should not die on him, not before he had made enough cash to finally leave Elysium for good.
Besides, the requests that the kid before him made were almost the most fun things that people asked him for.
Truly never a boring day with him around.
As Moros turned around to leave a thought struck the small dealer of choice.
"Ah, I forgot me wife told me to give you some of her famous hoecake, you best make sure to savour every bite….or else."
Moros turned around in a heartbeat, he would kill for that delicious hoecake. "God damn," he thought, he would have jumped off of a bridge for them and now he got them for free?
Life truly was great.
He was handed a small package with Miss Poppycock's finest hoecakes.
"They are very toothsome, ma boi." Poppycock beamed with a smile, clearly willing to kill him should he say otherwise.
Moros gave his dealer of choice a bow and turned around to leave. Without his dear friend, he would have been in a pickle more times than he could count. Now, he only needed a spoon and a doppelganger to go to school for him and his life was saved.
"You do not seem out of kilter friend, keep being that way," Poppycock screamed after Moros…his helpful advice fell on deaf ears, since Moros did not even know what "out of kilter" even meant.
Likely something about food, or maybe a threat? He did not know, he did not care. He had good food in hand and now it was time to get his butt home.
Work awaited the worn-out soul and clearly he wished for nothing more than to be
able to work right now. Other than wishing to be dead, that is.
After walking a few more minutes he passed the old door of a building that seemed as down as his will to life.
"Terra family dungeon," stated the shield in front of the building, with some letters threatening to fall down at any given moment…
With a heavy sigh, he kicked open the wooden door, took a few steps forward, grabbed a pair of scissors from the top drawer of his sparse furniture to munch on the food given to him.
The sweet taste on his tongue could not hide the pain of being forced to work for his terrible family.
It's an honour some fools might claim. Just that such an honour left him covered in monster guts and blood. Moros shook his head.
He swore at Malissa in his head, just because he was covered in all sorts of nasty stuff and had to clean it daily by hand, did not make him an expert on cleaning clothes.
Taking out the bikini top and shorts from his pockets, he threw the clothing articles into the wooden water basket to soak in.
As much as he would love to drown them in yummy monster innards, he had no doubt that Melissa would run around school without them on. Once the rumours spread that Moros Terra had led the infamous vixen of the school to run around "free-spirited" all hell would break loose.
He could not afford to let his father hear such a rumour…his precious money was on the line.
After eating the last hoecake, he took a few deep breaths and steeled his mind to what he was raised and born for…preparing the dungeon for the visitors.
It was the only thing of worth he could do.