“Let me clarify this,” said Aziz, whose eyes were narrowed, “are there any standing orders that clearly denote that my pay must be given out in silver coins?”
“Sir—"
“You do know that I’m a senior officer, then. I do not see the grounds for harassment on this level,” Aziz replied, leaning over the counter and glaring at the staff working there. “Or do I really need to make an example and write a complaint directly to the War Minister and the Minister of State? I would prefer not poking the lion, but against you hyenas…”
“We did receive a provision stating that, so—"
“So you obeyed it blindly, without thinking about what it actually does,” Aziz replied. “Looks like Pauline’s auditing wasn’t strict enough, if things like these are still going on. This isn’t the first time I’ve brought this up either, no?”
He glanced at the clerk, who was wearing a mask of seeming neutrality. It was the same nearly everywhere he went; Interregnum, this forward base, even the First Aerial Division’s headquarters. The process was the same too: if he was the only one in the room, they would fob him off by saying that they didn’t have enough funds. If there were other people, they would say that the only way he could receive his pay was in silver. And if he came with some companions, everyone in the room would abruptly vanish for an emergency meeting.
This time, however, he had outplayed them.
“Hans, you got that?” Aziz said, flashing a smile at the suddenly-still clerk.
“Yes, sir.” The captain, who was pretending to read through some brochures, waved his first-generation Display merrily. “I’ll send it over to Manpower now.”
“Make sure to flag it as important,” Aziz replied. “Use the ‘Discrimination’ label — Pauline made it for a reason. After that, send relevant copies to both Marie and Eventide, just to make sure that it doesn’t get lost.”
“Already done.” Captain Hans walked over to the counter and turned to the pale clerk. Patting the clerk’s shoulder twice, he said, “You know, I thought Colonel Aziz was joking when he told me about this, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.”
The clerk gulped. “I was ordered to—”
“You can save your excuses for later,” Captain Hans replied. “From how you tried to fob the colonel off, I get a feeling that this isn’t the first time. I’m curious, really. How are you so daring? Do you really think that your backer is enough to save you from being tried and dismissed?”
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The clerk was silent. Aziz ignored the clerk and yanked his ID card away from the artefact it had been slotted into, before stepping away from the counter.
“C’mon,” said Aziz, “let’s go. Marie has enough money on her to compensate you for now. I’m sick of dealing with this bunch.”
The two of them walked out of the room.
“Blighted Night, I can’t believe this was true,” said Hans. “How did I not notice? Does this happen to the other humans in the military too?”
“They thought I came alone today too, so they felt that they could pull this game off,” Aziz replied. “I believe it’s targeted at me, though. After all, trying to pull off a system of non-payment for all humans is too extensive to be done properly.”
“Targeting you, eh? Doesn’t seem all that hard, then,” Hans mused. “On paper, it might be a direction for all humans to be paid in silver. It seems innocuous, until you realise that they’re actually harassing high-ranking human officers, which is pretty much you.”
“Joy.” Letting out a small sigh, the colonel said, “Let’s go find the marshal to reimburse you first. The second-generation Displays are quite expensive. Can’t have you go hungry for our sake, after all.”
“On the plus side, if I didn’t come along…”
“Let’s not talk about that any further,” Aziz replied gloomily. “There’s always hardliners in any country, apparently. Let’s hope Pauline sifts through the people in Finance a bit more thoroughly. She should understand the potential problems of having such people in important areas.”
“True.”
Silence fell, only to be broken a moment later by Aziz. “Come to think of it, your beastfolk trait doesn’t manifest physically, right?”
“You could say that, yes.” Something like discomfort crawled up Hans’ face, and Aziz didn’t miss it.
“Do you dislike me discussing your trait?” Aziz asked. “You can be frank with me, you know.”
“I do dislike it, sir.” Hans ran his right hand through his golden hair. “It is something quite personal to us, after all. It’s something typically shared only with loved ones and all, not to your colleagues.”
Aziz reflected upon his previous interactions with Marie and the other beastfolk officers; he didn’t know about their beast traits either. “I apologise. No one bothered telling me about it, so…”
His voice trailed off once again as he made a sheepish smile.
Hans grinned. “Understandable, really. You were born and raised in Ark City, so you probably didn’t care about the differences between beastfolk and humans all that much. Otherwise, you would have asked that question long ago.”
“Is that a good thing?” Aziz asked. “Normally, I would call such a person insensitive.”
“Of course,” said Hans. “This means that in your eyes, humans and beastfolk are the same. I find that infinitely preferable to the sympathy we faced back when we were stationed at the East. Just asking, though…do you treat familiar spirits like anyone else too? You’re quite chummy with a particular Demigod, right?”
“Now where did you hear that from?”
“It’s a rumour flying around,” Hans replied. “The great vice-commander who really gets around.”
“That’s just being rude.” Aziz flicked Hans’ nose, glossing over the subject smoothly. “Really shouldn’t say that, yeah? Anyway, we should hurry up and get to Marie, before more work comes down from the War Minister.”
“And then we’ll get assigned some of it if we so happen to show up at that time.”
At that sentence, the two shuddered together, and in silent concord, picked up their pace. Both of them had enough work to deal with, without their boss giving them even more to do.