“I thought you said that they were going to withdraw?” asked Nalus.

“Yes, I did,” replied Gaius. “But there’s no sense in giving them an opportunity to take us by surprise.”

He glanced at the gloomy Winston, who was sitting cross-legged and giving off an air of ‘don’t go near me’, and sighed. “I take it that he didn’t find the concept of politics and negotiation in war very well?”

“I did drill it into his head that it was necessary, however," said Nalus.

Gaius followed the Campmaster’s gaze.. He’d told Nalus what had went down during the three of them talked, but even Nalus’ words had little effect on the disillusioned Winston. The teenager was sitting in a corner, or whatever passed as a corner atop the walls of the makeshift fortress. His left arm, which had been broken earlier, had been splinted and placed in a sling, but even a fool could tell that the left arm wasn’t the issue that was bugging him.

“Before the Second Extermination,” said Nalus, “us beastfolk had a martial culture. Fighting, and supporting those who fought, formed the foundations of our society. The Congress of today, for instance, would never have found a foothold before the South marched on us. Oh, there was emphasis on winning through tactics, strategy and diplomacy, but only so much of it.”

Nalus looked at Winston. “We were taught to fight. Not to win a fight. Unlike his father and his family in general, Winston was at Ark City when the humans of the South attacked and conquered our cities. If he’d seen the Extermination up close, Winston would have been long disabused of his traditional ideals.”

The silver streak in the middle of Nalus’ scalp glittered slightly as he turned back to face Gaius. A faint smile danced on his face, one tinged with grief.

Gaius looked at the expression on the Campmaster’s face. Was it his way of mourning the end of their traditional ideals? He didn’t know. But these were the sort of thoughts that probably haunted the survivors of the Second Extermination when they were alone or vulnerable.

For some, however, the impact came later. Like Winston.

He shook his head and continued to watch the other humans retreat from the field of bodies. “It seems that our crisis is over, at any rate. But we should stay on guard until orders come from outside.”

“I agree.” Nalus’ reply was curt, and Gaius suddenly got a feeling that none of the beastfolk sitting with him right now was interested in conversation anymore. Behind the walls, Harvesters continued to check their equipment, lying down on the snowy ground or the beds when they were done. Some of them, especially those who had followed Winston, were staring into the skies.

Winston wasn’t the only one affected, apparently. Some of them, like Nalus had told Gaius, had clearly not participated in the Second Extermination. Winston at least knew why half of their enemies were turned upon by the other half, but it must have been particularly confusing to those who couldn’t fathom why.

The little lecturer’s joints were still painful and burning up by the time the small body of troops vanished into the horizon. None of the Eastern troops had shown any hint that they wanted to turn back, and they hadn’t taken that long to vanish out of sight either. He was about to close his eyes and call it a day when Mai came running along and shouted from below the wall.

“She’s awake, Lecturer Gaius.”

It took a second before the boy processed the meaning of her words. “Excellent. I’ll go interrogate her, then.”

Leaving the two broody beastfolk behind, Gaius leapt off the wall. “How’s our captive?”

Mai rubbed her forehead. “Bound, embarrassed and really not willing to see anyone.”

“What’s the point of me going over then?”

“Since when did prisoners have rights?” Mai retorted immediately. The boy thought over these words, and then nodded in agreement. It didn’t take long before he was inside the area enclosed by multiple partitions. His captive was wriggling under the obscenely tight ropes, and when the boy strode in, she yelled.

Gaius couldn’t really make out what she was trying to say, but after a second’s worth of flinching, he whipped out a wad of cloth and stuffed it into her wide-open mouth.

“My ears…” Mai glared at the white-haired Knight, who was still trying to break out of the robes, and rapped her head. The Knight’s muffled yells grew more intense, and the rabbit-eared girl rapped the Knight’s head even harder.

The captive fell silent, but her eyes were now entirely fixated on Mai.

“Good job, Mai.” Gaius peered at his captive’s head, but failed to find any hint of an injury. “We’ll be playing good cop, bad cop from here on.”

“Good cop?”

“Yep, that’s me.” Gaius sat down on the ground, and felt someone’s eyes follow him. The Harvesters had gotten used to Gaius and his little frame, but he was very aware of the gazes that had followed him around earlier from the human forces, when he was fighting off the Knight who’d attacked him.

He stroked his chin, and said, “If you don’t shout, I’ll remove that gag. Nod once, if you agree.”

She nodded frantically, and Gaius tilted his head. Mai removed the gag, and the first thing that the two heard was a long, deep breath.

“I’m glad we can have a civilised discussion.”

The Knight twitched violently. “Didn’t know ‘civilised’ included tying people up to a bed.”

“Can’t have a Knight attacking us from behind when we’re facing an army, can we?”

“You — army?!” She glanced at Gaius, and then turned to Mai, whose rabbit-ears were swaying slowly. Comprehension dawning in her eyes, she said, “You’re…beastfolk! Where are we!”

“Now, now,” Gaius crossed his legs. “You’re at…Ark City’s base in Heritage. You were captured, or rather, abducted on a scouting mission. There’s a lot of people who have beef against Southern…ers like you, so you should really cooperate.”

“South?!” Mai’s eyes flashed, and the Knight flinched. “Give me a reason for us not to butcher you right now.”

The Knight on the bed flinched. “No, I wasn’t part of the war! We were too young for it!”

Gaius coughed lightly. “Uh, looks like my guess was accurate. Right. You can start by reporting your name first.”

“I’m…”

The look of defiance on her face faded as the sunny smiles on Gaius’ and Mai’s face entered her field of vision. The former was holding on to more rope, and the latter some knives.

“You wanted to say something?” The boy asked innocently, his hands playing around with the thick rope. “Go on. Mai here will be very happy to indulge you.”

“I’m Isabelle,” muttered the Knight, her voice soft. “Um, nice to meet you?”

Nice to meet your captors, eh? Maybe we’ll let you go if you ask nicely enough, heh. Still, a French name? I can’t remember what it means, but that’s not the first time anyway… Gaius kept the thoughts in his head from affecting his expression, and said, “Well, you’re the politest prisoner I ever captured so far. Maybe we won’t throw you into a musty prison after all.”

She exhaled visibly, while Mai’s face fell somewhat. Gaius tugged at Mai’s cloak gently, with a cute smile on his face, and the darkness plaguing her face vanished. Mai took a deep breath, and said, “Lecturer, we don’t need to follow the Reiwa Accords though. Since the South didn’t uphold their end, we don’t need to bind ourselves too. You can deal with her however you deem it.”

Gaius wanted to ask what the ‘Reiwa Accords’ were, but he didn’t want to seem particularly uncultured in front of his student. “I’ll have her as a personal maidservant or something, then, depending on how cooperative she is.”

He turned to the Knight, whose face was pale and bloodless. “You can start by spilling out everything about this attack.”