“Judging from the three grandparents you had around you earlier,” said Jusis, “I presume that the meeting wasn’t all that advantageous to you.”

“How did you arrive at that conclusion?” Gaius asked.

“Well, when the teachers looking after my kid punish him for bullying others, I usually spend an hour or so trying to cheer him up, much like the Paragons did to you.” Jusis cupped his chin. “Of course, that is after my wife teaches him about the seven core values of being a good person, so I’m not enabling bullying.”

“That’s what you say, but I’m sure that isn’t the case. How about you lay off the coddling for a while?” Gaius replied. The boy could remember some vague nugget of wisdom that went along the lines of “Spare the rod and spoil the child”.

“Hmm.” A conflicted look flickered through Jusis’ face. “Spare the cane and spoil the brat, huh?”

Wait, that’s how it’s phrased in Orb? Gaius, despite that moment in which his instincts wrestled with his brain over his mouth’s control, managed to keep his face straight enough to reply, “Yes, that’s exactly it. One day, he might end up bullying a Paragon’s child, and then you’ll be in trouble.”

“You…have a good point there.” The man sighed. “I keep reading stories about how jumped-up little masters in Feng-Lang kept provoking a Lord or a Paragon’s family, only to get crushed in return a few days later. I’m really scared that when I’m pushing up the daisies, my kid’s going to go down that line.”

“Exactly,” said Gaius. “You’re the one protecting him at the moment, but we’re all on the frontlines. If anything happens to you, but your child continues to be as stuck up as ever…”

Jusis shivered. “I shouldn’t spoil him, then? But what if he starts getting angry at me?”

“Well, maybe…you could bring him to see the other case studies you mentioned earlier,” said Gaius. “Choose the gorier ones, the ones that will definitely scare him. Your wife’s probably going to beat you up for that, though. But it’s a worthy sacrifice!”

Gaius looked at the indecisive father, and sighed. “Look, the best person to know how a kid acts is someone like him. In this scenario, that person is me.”

“You?” Lord Jusis’ suppressed a smile. “If my child was like you, I wouldn’t be worried about him. And that’s not even counting your exploits at the front either.”

“I got lucky,” Gaius replied. “I’m a Knight capable of putting out Lord or Paragon levels of destruction. If I was in a different combat zone, my achievements wouldn’t be this varied and extensive.”

“You’re a child who’s fighting for us. I think that’s as adult-like as it gets,” said Jusis. “And you’re even commenting on my parenting. Have you seen another kid like you do that? You’re the first one I’ve seen, at least.”

Gaius reflected on his own behaviour, and after a few seconds of pondering, did indeed arrive at the conclusion that his actions were decidedly…that of an adult’s.

“Anyway,” continued Jusis, who was clearly unaware of the few seconds Gaius had spent on introspection, “what happened in the meeting earlier? We kinda got sidetracked.”

“Oh, nothing much. They gave me an Engine, and then got into a little quarrel, which changed into a briefing afterwards,” Gaius replied.

“That’s a rather barebones explanation, isn’t it?”

“It’s a military secret,” Gaius said. “Probably.”

“Fair enough.” Jusis pushed open a door, and led the boy down a hallway that he didn’t remember passing by earlier on. And as for how he knew that…anyone would remember passing through a hallway where the walls on both sides were decorated lavishly with lifelike works of art that depicted culinary dishes.

“Where are we now?” Gaius asked.

“As you might be able to tell from the paintings hung on the walls, we’re about to enter the most expensive area of the HQ,” Jusis replied. The two turned another corner, and with a little flourish, the man presented a huge, crystalline arch.

“This is the entrance into the over-funded restaurant that passes for a canteen in this giant building,” said Jusis. “Unfortunately, we don’t really have the right to eat here, so we’ll just pass through it and make for the exit over there.”

Gaius inhaled deeply, causing a thick, savoury scent to flood his olfactory organs, and immediately realised why Lord Jusis wanted to walk through this area. The boy had the feeling that even plain bread would taste heavenly if he chewed on it while walking through this area…and by the looks of a few others making their way through the intricate tables and chairs, his guess wasn’t too far off.

“This place is reserved for Paragons only?” Gaius asked.

“No, members of the Plenum are also included,” Jusis replied. “There are a few members that are Lords, but they are few and far between. And of course, anyone who forks out enough money gets to eat in here too. Two hundred gold a month.”

“You…don’t really get paid much, do you?” Gaius asked.

“From your words, either I have a misconception about how valuable gold coins are, or it’s you.” Jusis glanced at a table laden with neatly-cut slices of well-seasoned meat, before producing a small biscuit and stuffing it into his mouth.”

“Or maybe,” said Gaius, “I’m rich enough to say that.”

“A child that’s rich enough? Please. I earn around four thousand gold a month for my services, and most of that goes into paying off my outstanding loans,” Jusis replied. “You have to have your own money-generating machine if you are to live like one of those Paragons. I don’t have spare cash to place on good food.”

Gaius rubbed his nose at those words. How Orb’s economy actually worked he had no idea, since he didn’t have much time to look into that particular topic, save for shopping sprees at luxury shops for items like ice-cream.

After lingering for longer than usual in the dining hall, Jusis chased Gaius out of the headquarters, and the boy returned back to his room. Gaius, having understood how operating on a rather-empty gas tank now felt like, washed up for a few minutes, before tossing himself onto his bed. There were only a few days left to Spring Fury, and Gaius didn’t want to participate in it while feeling drained.