It was lunchtime, and a space had been cleared out in the canteen, forming a circle with a radius of three tables. Only three people were sitting in the middle of the circle, and a brother-sister pair was currently staring at a teenage boy’s plate.
“Her plate’s polished off, and she’s staring at your share,” said Gaius. “You should give it to her if you’re hoping for her to cooperate with your questions.”
“No can do,” came a muffled reply. “I haven’t eaten at all today.”
“My sister hasn’t eaten today either, other than this meal. You should take the initiative and offer her yours.”
The little squabble between the small human and the mid-sized beastfolk with a streak of silver in his scalp continued with no end in side. Fortunately, they were speaking softly, which meant that all that the peanut gallery could see was the son of the Campmaster seemingly conspiring with a newly appointed assistant lecturer in the canteen, with a little beastfolk girl watching curiously at the duo.
Gaius watched as a shiver ran down the crowd’s collective spine with a smile on his face, but no one wanted to turn their eyes away. He could make an informed guess as to why, given their reputations. Everyone here feared that some dastardly scheme would arise after this meal — the Campmaster’s son had a penchant for coming up with weird jobs that he would appoint people to willy-nilly, while Gaius had bested the Advanced Combat instructor in a duel.
For a moment, Gaius tried to imagine what they were thinking around now. Perhaps, something like ‘Punching bag? No, that’s too un-Nalus-like. It’ll be something like…combat research subject’. The boy wasn’t too sure about their thoughts, but from the whispers he could hear, he probably wasn’t that off the mark.
Nakama made a sad little noise in her throat as Nalus placed the remnants of a cheese sausage in his mouth, and as he stood up, plate in hand, the watching crowd parted to form a path. Gaius rubbed Nakama’s little head, and then led her down the path with one hand, the other hand occupied by two plates.
After placing the plates at a designated corner, the three headed back to Gaius’ tent.
“Nakama, can you come over and let me examine you for a moment?”
“Bad guy!”
Nalus scratched his head. “Why am I a bad guy? Lecturer Gaius, have you been pouring poison down her ears?”
“No, it’s because you didn’t give her your food.” The little lecturer harrumphed stylishly. “What made you think she would cooperate with you after you leisurely ate in front of her?”
“But you did the same thing too!”
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“I’m her brother. It’s a privilege.”
“Privilege my father’s ar—”
“My what?” A stern voice cut in from the tent’s entrance, and the three turned around to look. A well-built man stood there, his scalp similarly split in two by a silver line of hair. At first glance, he was eccentric to the eye, but once someone went in for a closer look, an intimidating air would burst out. A billowing cloak added to his impressiveness, and Gaius raised his guard mentally.
He inclined his head to Gaius. “Assistant lecturer Gaius. Pardon me for dropping in on you like this, but I’ve received reports that my foolish son has been trying to create a … ‘Combat Research Subject’ job, to be assigned to you. The other Harvesters are naturally concerned, so I had to come down to see what’s going on.”
“‘Combat Research Subject’?” Nalus’ eyes lit up. “That’s actually a very good idea! Think about it, Gaius, this position can potentially unearth more relevant memories!”
The little lecturer, other than noting Nalus’ use of his name without any title appended, was about to fall into deep thought when the Campmaster intervened.
“That’s out of the question, son.” He turned to Gaius. “I apologise for this, but the other Harvesters have vehemently appealed against the creation of such a position.”
Turning back to Nalus, he said, “So, if you weren’t talking to the lecturer about this topic, then what were you speaking to him about then?”
“His sister, father.”
The Campmaster picked at his chin. “I do recall hearing about a sealed bloodline from Senator Alexandre…”
He glanced at Nakama, who promptly noticed the brilliant streak of silver hair on his scalp. Her eyes glittered as they shifted between Nalus and the Campmaster, and it didn’t take long for her to create a connection.
“Big baddie?” She tilted her head.
The Campmaster coughed in rapid succession. “Baddie? Nalus, did you do something to her? She’s half your age, for crying out loud!”
“What? Father, I can explain!”
“You can explain? So you did do something to her?!” The ground shook, and with a backhanded blow, Nalus flew out of the tent entrance. There was another minor earthquake as the Campmaster’s son smashed into something hard, and then the Campmaster bowed a full right angle towards Gaius. “Rest assured. I will deal with my useless son according to regulations. I'll string up his body for three days after his execution.”
“Ahem.” It was Gaius’ turn to cough awkwardly. “Campmaster, I’m not sure what you had in your mind, but nothing happened to my sister.”
“Did that bastard threaten to make you and your sister’s life hard here?” The Campmaster’s eyes glittered with flame, and qi exploded out of his hand to form an executioner’s blade.
“Campmaster, if something really happened to my sister, the culprit wouldn’t be talking to me right now,” Gaius reasoned calmly. “Rather, what really happened was…”
Gaius hastily explained to the Campmaster the events of two nights ago, where Nalus and a group of beastfolk were picking on him because he was a human. “…and well, he was bullying my sister by not giving her his lunch, so Nakama defaulted to calling him baddie.”
“F-father…”
“You better give her your lunch from now on, got it?” The Campmaster was unapologetic about his backhanded blow, but clearly his son wasn’t going to say anything about it.
“Father?”
“You have a second opinion?”
“No, father.”
Gaius glanced at Nalus’ face, feeling somewhat guilty as a complicated combination of being betrayed, maligned and relieved simultaneously appeared there.
“Make sure it stays that way.” A genial smile appeared on his face as he addressed Nakama. “Sister of Lecturer Gaius, I’m actually here on Senator Alexandre’s behalf…”