“My family did something to hide me from bad humans?”

“That’s about it, yes.” The stern-looking Campmaster, whose name was Magnus, nodded. The only thing that revealed the humour bubbling inside of him was the twinkle in his eye.

Of course, the little girl had basically summed up a thirty-minute long story in a few words, so Gaius could somewhat see why Campmaster Magnus wanted to laugh badly. Nalus’ old man had spoken about the origins of the Second Extermination, went on to describe the major battles of the Second Extermination and the final battle at the chasm of World’s Edge.

It was a thrilling story, but Gaius couldn’t believe it when the little girl listened quietly for thirty minutes straight. She never did that when Gaius was telling her bedtime stories in the past few days.

“So, what will undoing this ‘something’ do?” asked Nakama.

Campmaster Magnus glanced at Gaius, who nodded somberly. “It’ll help restore your lifespan, and enable you to develop normally. You’ll also be able to cultivate qi.”

She looked at Gaius, who smiled.

“Everything’s already settled,” said Gaius. “He’s just here to inform you about it. It shouldn’t be dangerous, and I’ll be at your side the whole way.”

“We have an opportunity right now, given that the Southern Houses have their attention and resources focused against the East-West Alliance forces,” explained Campmaster Magnus. “Senator Alexandre is willing to pour in resources for your sister, since you’ve promised to help groom our elites here in close combat. And besides, your sister might turn out to be equally talented as you, or even more.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes slightly. “We’ll talk about the last part when we get to it. For now, I’ll hold up the end of my bargain as long as Heritage Basestation does.”

“Good enough for me.” The Campmaster turned to Nakama. “There’s this really complex seal that’s preventing your beastfolk characteristic from developing. Only people who are sensitive can sense that you’re part of the beastfolk race, but that’s about it. As a side result, your growth has been stunted, which accounts for you being severely underweight.”

“What will the unsealing procedure be like?” asked Gaius.

“Fairly complex, to say the least. Sufficient food will be required—” he motioned at the downcast Nalus,”— as well as a qi suppressing operation. Someone concentrated enough qi into a small space within her to create a screening effect. Left to its own devices, it would seal her beast traits for a couple of decades, but if five or so Knight-level individuals keep draining the qi within her, the screening effect would run out in a few months.”

“Finally, we would need some medication to activate the dormant beast traits within her. This part would be settled by Miss Ziegler.” Campmaster Magnus glanced towards the Concoction Hall. “It’s a novel medicine, as far as I know, but it shouldn’t be too hard to create.”

“That’s all? You make it sound rather simple.”

“It is, and it isn’t. It’s all about timing, and you managed to strike the jackpot,” replied the Campmaster. “Were it three months ago, your sister’s treatment would be impossible to do, since anyone on the level of a Knight would be out on the frontlines. But there’s a war going on out there, and a sign that says ‘None of our business’ is hung prominently on it.”

“So everyone’s free right now, other than the occasional sortie to catch some spies.” He shrugged. “At least the other lecturers will have something to do now at night, eh? We’ve already ensured that five of us will be available for her treatment, so she just needs to come along every day. You okay with that, missus?”

Nakama glanced at Gaius again, and then she nodded.

“Now that that’s settled, we now want to address your amnesia, Lecturer Gaius.” Campmaster Magnus tapped his forehead. “You see, the thing with your sister’s treatment is that it doesn’t recover lost memories. In fact, memories lost are usually regained only by effort on the patient’s part, or so Miss Ziegler tells me. We at the Congress would like you to work on recovering any lost memories, because when the Second Extermination begun, we lost a great deal of legacies to the Southern forces.”

Gaius could see what the Campmaster meant. If whatever memories Gaius had recovered were potent enough for him to cross a strength and age gap, it was likely that he was exposed to a great deal of legacies and information. Gaius couldn’t really refute those words either, since he had no way of explaining that the memories he had lost were memories of his life on Earth.

It would be interesting to see how the people here would react to a Summoned human, but Gaius harboured no illusions about what would happen after the initial shock, given that twelve heroes from another world just took part in a war to exterminate the beastfolk. Emotions were still running high, and despite the Congress’ best attempts to stamp it out, racism against humans weren’t abating all that quickly either.

And Major Degurechaff had mentioned that factionalism was indeed a thing in the Congress. Add on the signs about how rampant it was, and Gaius could expect at least one political faction to make anti-human outlooks part of their portfolio. Not every politician was a enlightened person, and it would be nothing short of naivety to assume that the Congress was a selfless organisation.

But Gaius couldn’t refuse the Campmaster either. “I’ll do my best,” said Gaius. “That said, please do not expect much from my efforts. It’s been years since I had the leeway to recall about my past.”

“Naturally. I would like to stress the importance of you training the other Harvesters. Senator Alexandre went out on a limb to justify your appointment to the Congress,” said Campmaster Magnus. “It would be devastating to him, you and your sister if you failed to live up to expectations. Some…factions of Congress were adamantly against your employment, after all.”

“I’m just going to ask you straight, but you aren’t one of them, are you?” Gaius asked with a smile.

“Naturally,” replied the Campmaster. “I’m a firm believer in meritocracy.”

Meritocracy…Gaius repeated that anachronistic concept once again in his head, before holding out his hand.

Campmaster Magnus gripped it firmly.

“Good luck, Lecturer Gaius.”

“I’ll do my best to live up to expectations, Campmaster.”

“See that you do.”