The Exchange building was noticeably more crowded than last week. A few Harvesters, having poured their gains from their Harvest into the chute-like machines that lined the walls, were now shaking their boots and clothes what seemed like a last hope in shaking out an odd gemstone or two. Gaius, still invisible, walked around the place, and after finding a spot that was out of sight, turned back to normal.

He walked towards the counter and rapped it, revealing a rather modest bag of gemstones. Some of the other Harvesters had noticed someone walking up to declare gains of more than fifty gemstones, but upon noticing the white cloak draped around Gaius’ small frame, they stopped showing any signs of aggression.

I should have taken off this cloak before I did the exchange. Gaius was a bit disappointed that the would-be extortionists had backed off. There was a charm in the cliché of being bullied for having more stuff before putting the bullies in their place, but it seemed that he wouldn’t be experiencing that anytime soon.

The lecturer had wanted to make a scene to throw Congress off, but it seemed that his reputation was now working against him. Gaius was fairly sure that virtually most of the Harvesters had heard his name, at least, and would be able to recognise him on sight.

The counter rattled, and the same passage from last time opened up. Gaius turned behind to look at the other Harvesters, who were working really hard at avoiding his gaze, and entered the forbidding darkness.

“Lecturer boy!” Once the passage closed, these words rang out, and the old man popped up…or down, as the case was, from the ceiling. “I see you’ve brought another round of loot again. Hurry up and turn over the ether cores!”

Gaius smiled wryly. “Looks like you’re feeling the heat.”

“From the entire damn Congress no less.” The old man stomped around angrily, clearing up the clutter on the counter. “They all want the ether cores. And they all want to know who bought the Stellar Core.”

“You didn’t tell them?” Gaius raised an eyebrow. He could understand why the old man wouldn’t comply with factional demands over the distribution of ether cores, but there was little reason for him to hide the identity of the Stellar Core’s purchaser. Refusing would just increase the pressure, after all.

The old man snorted. “Tell those swill-gargling meatbags with holes where their brain should be the identity of a pseudo-mythical weapon’s buyer? Surely you jest, lecturer boy. I know this lot. Watched them go up and scheme like chickens against each other as children.”

Gaius was silent for a second, and then inclined his head silently.

“Now, now,” said the old man. “No need to be so thankful. The humans say we beastfolk are upright and honourable, which clearly goes to show that they haven’t spent a single day sitting in the Congress. You would behave the way I did after a single session, trust me.”

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The boy wasn’t too sure how to reply — he owed a bunch of debts towards Senator Alexandre and the others aligned with him, so it would reflect badly on him if it was later revealed that he’d agreed with the old man’s assessment, as true as it might be. He trusted the old man to keep this conversation silent, but he wouldn’t trust the Congress to ensure the Exchange’s privacy any further than he could kick them.

He was suddenly reminded of why he hated these sorts of politics. It was necessary now, but that didn’t make it any more palatable. He exchanged gazes with the old man, and in that moment, Gaius had the feeling that the other party knew exactly what he was thinking and empathised with him for it.

Picking up his bag, Gaius produced a hundred or so gems, and then forty ether cores and placed them on the wooden counter that had stored the Stellar Core up till last week.

Gaius had added on an extra twenty cores from the ones he didn’t hand over last week, having decided that he should at least maintain a limited and steady supply of these baubles. Sure, there were ten less than last week, but it was within the acceptable range of deviation.

He also wanted to send a rather subtle message to those watching the market. Senator Alexandre’s faction probably knew about who the supplier was, and armed with that knowledge, Gaius wouldn’t believe it if even the senator himself told Gaius that no one had been sent to spy on him. The decrease in supply was his form of protest.

After placing the gemstones and ether cores on the same machine that Gaius had used last week, he took out his Exchange Plate and pondered slightly.

“One hundred and ten moonstones, no bonus appended...and forty ether cores,” said the old man. “Subtle, eh? That’s too exact to be otherwise. Total’s fifty-six thousand and one hundred points, the ten percent bonus included. Check your balance.”

Gaius looked down as the numbers on his Exchange plate shot up to sixty-four thousand. “That’s plenty enough.”

“Indeed. Unfortunately, a person can only bond with one Engine throughout his or her natural life, or else I would have egged you on to buy the other Engines,” the old man lamented.

And piss off every single person in Heritage Basestation? I’ll pass…Gaius glanced at the catalogue projected in his mind, just as an Engine that was seventy-three thousand points to purchase vanished from it. Gaius looked at the blank entry wistfully, like a collector who didn’t win at an auction.

“Ah, another Engine’s gone.”

“Yeah.” Gaius rubbed his nose.

“Don’t be too sad,” said the old man. “You got the best one out there, so let these little babies slide.”

Gaius grunted in response, and decided to browse the catalogue for anything that looked remotely interesting. Names flashed by his eyes, but there were entire areas where the words didn’t make sense to him.

“Say,” asked Gaius, “do you have you any recommendations?”

“Hmm.” The old man took out a pair of glasses and peered at Gaius. “You’ve progressed quite well as a Squire. Well, everything but the area you’re supposed to advance in, anyway. Your digestive system remains as fragile as that of a non-cultivator, for some reason, while most of your body are now impervious to bladed weapons.”

He took off the glasses. “What an odd person. Did you happen to eat anything odd in Heritage?”

A miniature sun, formed from the destruction of the Divine Ladder, but Gaius could only shake his head in denial.

“Maybe it’s because you’re human, then.” The old man tapped the wooden counter repeatedly. “I should go and capture some for closer research.”

A chill ran down the human boy’s spine, but the old man didn’t notice anything as he then said, “There’s a bunch of human corpses that are rather well preserved. These should do for this week.”

Gaius coughed lightly, and then started asking the old man about other commodities on the Exchange.