Gaius’ eyes were dim, devoid of any life as he flipped through another piece of paper and signed it. If he had his way, he would have just signed all the papers without looking at them, but the presence of the lieutenant beside him made it impossible to do so.

           Well, he had tried. But the lieutenant then gave him an hour-long seminar on contract safety and why reading contracts one wanted to sign was a Very Sound Policy. 

           “Ah, I’m done,” Gaius said in a monotone voice. ”Wait. I’m done. I’m done!”

           “Yes, yes. Good job.” Lieutenant Ornielle smiled. “Now, this here is the timetable for lessons and lectures, if you want to attend them. Naturally, little Nakama here is free to do so as well.”

           “Do I need to sign anything to attend?”

           “…no?”

           “Excellent.”

   The lieutenant picked up the multitude of documents. “Now, most Harvesters enter Heritage on Saturday and return on…oh. Speak of the demon.”

           She turned to the tent entrance. “They’re back. Do you want to have a look?”

           “I don’t see why not.” Gaius got up and headed outside with Lieutenant Ornielle.

           Distinct groups of people were walking together, their laughter and chatter filling the evening sky. It was a stark difference to the atmosphere in Ark City after the war, and for a moment, Gaius could feel a liveliness he hadn’t felt ever since he woke up in Orb.

           “The group of five on the right is backed by Warmaster Chamberlain’s faction. His son, Winston, is the leader,” whispered the Lieutenant. “That over there is…”

           In a short minute, she had introduced every single group of importance. Gaius frowned slightly. He had forgotten somewhat in his interactions between Instructor Aziz, Lieutenant Ornielle and Major Degurechaff, but Ark City was a place where humans were the minority.

           And well, the important groups were all led by beastfolk. Would there be any problems for him if he stayed here? As that thought flashed through his mind, a girl with rabbit ears headed over. She wasn’t particularly exceptional in looks, but there was a lithe grace within her movements that Gaius associated with dancers.

           “It’s rare to see you here, Lieutenant Ornielle.”

           “I’m here to get the new Harvester settled in,” replied the Lieutenant. “The Major has gone back to the surface, and I won’t be staying too long either.”

           “New Harvester?” She turned and then hopped backwards in shock. “A human? And it’s a male?”

           “Human?” The same word echoed through the entire group. The lively atmosphere scattered, and Gaius could feel a cloud of hostility descend around him.

           “Why is a human here?”

           “Isn’t the war enough?”

           “I knew that the Major was shifty, and his secretary too!”

           “Enough of us have died, and we’re giving even more resources to the humans?”

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           The rabbit girl covered her mouth, as she heard the whispers. Apparently, she just realised the enormity of the words she just uttered.

           But again, thought Gaius, it won’t take long before they found out anyway. That said, I was hoping that they would know me on a personal level before they found out I was a human. Nothing I can do about it now.

           Like a deer caught in a car’s headlights, Gaius found the atmosphere too odd for him to physically move. He had the feeling that the moment he twitched a finger, beastfolk would swarm him and beat him up, which was in all honesty an experience he could definitely go without.

           An invisible pressure began to build up as the whispers mounted. Gaius couldn’t tell the principle behind such a phenomenon even on Earth, and it was even less likely that he would be able to find out now.

           What he did know, however, was that he needed a single person to move to shatter this scheme cooked up on the spot.

           “—kama.”

           The lieutenant furrowed her brows, and then a thought dawned on her. Retreating slowly, so as to not draw attention, she retreated back into the tent. Gaius exhaled slowly. It was time to put a show.

           “What of it?”

           The crowd bristled collectively, and the whispers died out for a moment, before manifesting with a vengeance.

           “How dare you, human!”

           “Your kind killed so many of us, and you dare waltz into this sacred place? Do you not have any sense of shame?”

           “Get out of here, human spy!”

           “First,” replied Gaius, his voice cold enough to rival the current temperature. “I’m just an eleven-year-old boy. If I had to take responsibility for a war that decided on by the humans, I would be a King, and not a Harvester working for Ark City at that.”

           “Second, just as I don’t treat the action of a crazy…” Gaius glanced at the offspring of Warmaster Chamberlain for a moment, who had been very vocal with his protests. “dog as representative of the wise wolves, so should everyone not treat the bloodthirsty Southern Continent Humans as representative of all humans out there.”

           “Sophistry!”

           “Major Degurechaff sure has gall to let such an insolent human become a Harvester, doesn’t he?”

           Gaius frowned as he heard the last response. There were some implications to these words — did the speaker intend to suggest that the major was interested in forming a human-centric faction in Ark City’s politics? That was insane, by any measure. But if this rumour were to gain traction…well, humans won’t have a place in Ark City in the near future. Was this the disaster that his intuition was warning him about?

           Just then, a little figure hugged his leg. “Don’t hurt my big bro!”

           The sky was just bright enough to cast light on her features, and murmurs broke out.

           “That’s…not a human. But one of us calling a human ‘big bro’?”

           “She’s indeed one of us…but what is she?”

           “Gaius,” whispered Lieutenant Ornielle. “What’s going on?”

           The boy replied back, in an equally quiet voice, “I’m not sure. I just wanted to get Nakama to dispel these rumours about me…but I think I just started something far bigger.”

           A teenager, taller than Gaius by a head or two, walked out. His movements were eye-catching, but what drew the most attention was the silver streak of hair in the middle of his scalp. He looked human, for the most part, but Gaius was beginning to understand that these were forms they used for convenience’s sake.

           “That’s the Campmaster’s son, Nalus!” The lieutenant whispered in shock. “What’s he doing here? He’s not a Harvester!”

           “Girl,” said Nalus, his baritone voice addressing Nakama, “Who’s that boy to you?”

           “He’s my big brother! He’s been caring for me for years!” Nakama shouted back, her anguished voice stirring up sadness in Gaius’ heart as he heard it. “He worked hard to bring me here to study!”

            “He brought you here to study?” The teenager repeated thoughtfully.

           Gaius heaved a sigh inwardly. Now that Nakama had laid it out clearly, the more intelligent people here had begun to connect the dots. The worry that he was going to be assaulted on the spot dissipated, as well as the hostile atmosphere.

           But he wasn’t out of the frying pan yet. Not by a long shot.