“…but we didn’t go in to help.”

The wall of flames throbbed as Gaius’ fought to keep his face impassive. He glanced at the group as he resisted the urge to kick them a few times, opting to rebuke them calmly instead.

“It isn’t a crime to not help someone in trouble,” began Gaius, “but it’s the height of cowardice to hide the fact that someone asked you for help. You can’t help — fine, but in keeping mum about it, you may have effectively killed them. And all for what? Your ego?”

Silencing the group with another stern glare, Gaius shot up into the skies. Mai and her group had chosen to leave, when a smaller group was surrounded by snowpyres, instead of helping them. It was practical, and frankly speaking, Gaius would have done the same if he wasn’t capable enough to help them.

But he was, and his instincts were telling him that he should help these people. Gaius was beginning to see what political aspects lay beneath this act of his, and as his flew, he briefly mused upon the probabilities of having his instincts take over his ego instead.

His mind turned to the group who had been surrounded, and then abandoned. If they had paid attention in his class, these people might have a fighting chance at survival. But if they didn’t…Gaius would never make it in time. The lecturer harboured no illusions about the quality of his lectures. He wasn’t an able teacher by any stretch — only students willing to learn would benefit from him.

These thoughts vanished as the sounds of combat entered his mind. After making sure that the silver-haired snowpyre wasn’t here, Gaius plunged down from the skies.

He’d made it in time. The small group of beastfolk, despite being surrounded by ten or so snowpryes, had managed to hang on so far. Of the three, one had lost an arm, and the rest were bleeding badly. But they had clearly used their brains in fighting off their assailants — they had managed to retreat into a corner, where the danger of being flanked was essentially none.

The monsters froze as he descended upon the valley like a thunderstorm. Qi was emanating from the Stellar Core tucked under Gaius’ tunic, and the snowpyres broke ranks a second later, fanning out to flee.

Gaius looked at their retreating backs, but he didn’t give chase.

“Miss Ziegler should have taught you the appropriate measures to prevent bleeding,” Gaius said, his head surveying the environments continuously. “Use them, and prepare to return. I’ll be escorting you back.”

The group of three — Gaius vaguely recognised them as a group that had attended the previous session of Advanced Combat — broke out of their reverie, and then began to apply medicine. The next few minutes that followed were filled with nothing but occasional grunts and sobs.

Having spotted a mangled corpse thirty metres away, Gaius could understand the reason behind the sobs. But he wasn’t obliged to cheer the group up.

“Sir.” One of the three spoke out loudly, his voice laced with panic. Gaius turned, and saw the problem instantly. Of the three, one of them had their arms sliced off. Whatever mixtures the others had used weren’t helpful in stemming blood flow from the arm stump, which meant that death would follow swiftly.

Without another word, Gaius picked up the armless Harvester, and said, “Make the way back yourself.”

Clutching the fallen Harvester close, Gaius soared back into the skies. Minutes flew by, and as the casualty’s face turned deathly white, Gaius finally reached the azure rift that led to Heritage Basestation. Mercifully, the sentries didn’t stop him as he left Heritage, and chaos ensued the moment he stepped out of Heritage.

Medics rushed over to the diminutive lecturer, relieving him of the casualty he was carrying, while the other Harvesters standing around the area broke into chatter. Among them were Mai and her group, who had clearly taken the initiative to call for help the moment they left Heritage. Gaius didn’t need to think to hard to figure out why the sentries let him through, or why there were medics stationed around the area.

It seemed that Ark City and the Basestation should have trained more medics that were under twenty years old, but this was the next best option. At any rate, Gaius could sense looks directed at him. He’d revealed a portion of his strength, which the Congress was bound to be interested in. And for all the ideals that they supposedly professed to hold, the human boy knew that parts of the Congress had just found even more reasons to act.

How could they not? Senator Alexandre’s faction was bound to use this incident as essentially propaganda; the Human lecturer saving some beastfolk Harvesters would be essential in changing public perception about the humans in Ark City. Their opponents, those who championed human discrimination would be increasingly backed into a corner, given that Gaius alone had shown exemplary results even before this incident.

Gaius believed in many sayings, and not backing an enemy into a corner was one of them. But if things went the way he predicted it would, Gaius may no longer be able to stay in Ark City for long. Although he didn’t know the details about the multiple factions within the Congress, it was natural that any faction within it had its own sphere of influence, areas in bureaucracy where they had dominion over.

Anyone harbouring ill-thoughts and intentions towards Gaius didn’t need to publicly persecute him. And he had another weak point, Nakama. He’d seen it before, on Earth, the extent to which people would go to in persecuting others; the lies and fallacies they perpetuated to turn even segments of their own people into an outgroup. It would be all too easy to claim that Nakama was a human, or a traitor to her kind…the list goes on.

These eyes on him had made him remember, what it was like to be seen as a minority and treated unjustly from there.

His right hand holding his head, Gaius left the scene. He had made his choice here, and if things played out as he predicted it would, the young lecturer had no qualms bringing Nakama with him into other places within Southern Continent. Even if he couldn’t take Nakama with him, Gaius would not leave the factions arrayed against him alive and functioning well before he left.

With a shimmer, Gaius’ body faded from view. He gave another glance at the crowd around the wooden pavilion, his hands now playing with a pair of knives, before making his way to the Exchange building.