“New students?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

A woman with shoulder-length, golden hair, wearing a white dress and lab coat, rubbed her nose. “Well, it seems that I need to denote a couple of minutes before I go back to the lesson material. I hope the rest of you don’t mind.”

Gaius glanced at the two distinct groups of people as a chorus of assent emanated from them. As he turned his head, he could feel some stares stabbing into his back, and he turned his head back to the front.

“And…oh my, there’s a little cutie as well.” The bushy tail behind the woman quivered. “Are you also a Harvester?” she asked, addressing Nakama.

Nakama gulped and tugged at Gaius’ cloak. “No, I’m with my big bro.”

Her eyes lit up with a faint surprise as her gaze swivelled over to Gaius. “Well, he’s a caring one. Good for you! Now, I’m Lecturer Ziegler, and I’m in charge of teaching people how to identify and use natural resources to heal wounds and concoct mixtures useful in Heritage. We’ve covered a lot of material already, so do stay back if you want to know about past stuff. But first…”

She looked at the three other people sitting near Gaius. “The four newcomers here, when did you arrive?”

“We came just a day ago,” replied Gaius.

“We came last Wednesday,” replied the trio. “We then went to check out Heritage on Friday, and just returned yesterday night.”

Gaius could feel some odd bravado at their words, and then one of them — the ringleader, maybe — shot a triumphant glance at Gaius and Nakama.

“The three of you went to check out Heritage?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t ‘ma’am’ me, idiots! You went there without coming to my class first? Do you not value your lives? Are you in a hurry to reincarnate, or do you guys find life that boring?” Lecturer Ziegler ranted. “If you wanted to prove something to me, then congratulations, you lot just proved your idiocy and recklessness! I won’t even be surprised if your names show up on the Missing List!”

“Idiots, the whole lot of you!” She jabbed a finger at the ringleader’s chest. “You three better pay attention in this class, or I’ll have you sent back to Orb! Am I clear!”

“Y-yes, ma’am.” The trio’s voices were clearly deflated, and as Lecturer Ziegler walked back to her desk, laughter could be heard from the back of the class. Surprisingly, she did nothing to stop it, instead opting to let the laughter subside on its own.

“We should avoid them if we see them in Heritage. Who knows what other idiocy they might get up to?”

“Look at the sibling duo. Even the human boy knows to bring his little sister here to study.”

“To think the day that beastfolk are dumber than humans finally arrived.”

Hey, leave me out of this, Gaius complained inwardly. He didn’t even do anything, so why were people lumping him together with them?

From the corner of his eye, he could see the trio bristle in anger, and then glare angrily at Gaius and Nakama. Gaius could only sigh at this sight, which riled the trio up even more.

With such reactions from them, Gaius could not imagine them getting through selections of any sort. At best, they were people convinced of their own invulnerability, and then sent here under their family connections. Gaius could not imagine them having the social skills sufficient enough to convince the instructors to let them into this program. He was suddenly reminded of Major Degurechaff’s warning about politics, and perhaps, the three in front of him had something to do with it.

The lecturer rapped her knuckles onto the desk, and the whispers faded away. While the class had gotten busy over mocking the trio, Lecturer Ziegler had drawn a lifelike herb on the blackboard behind her with a piece of chalk.

“This here,” she said, “is a ruby stalk, a fairly common herb in Heritage. Does anyone still remember what it can be used for?”

“It’s usually used as a poultice to stop bleeding,” someone replied.

“Correct. Ground to mush, mixed and then dried with water,” said Lecturer Ziegler, “and you get something that stops bleeding and helps in scab formation. However, today’s topic is a more advanced use.”

She swept her gaze around the classroom, and after she was convinced that everyone was listening, she drew another herb beside the depiction of the ruby stalk. “Mush a ruby stalk and at least five opal leaves together, and the resulting mixture can attract snowpyres within a hundred metres, up to three hundred downwind. However, heavy processing is required for this effect to appear. This is the processing method…”

Gaius and Nakama scribbled on their notebooks frantically as the lesson pace picked up, and watched closely as the lecturer demonstrated the exact methods in which to mix, process and boil the mix. After another bout of stirring and straining, Lecturer Ziegler spread out the resulting mixture with a flourish.

“When done right,” she said, “the resulting product should look dark red. Other common results include a red as light as your blood, a pinkish mix and pure white. The first occurs when the mix was heated for too long, diminishing the mixture’s strength; the second when straining is insufficient, which decreases the effective time of attraction. The last one is if you accidentally included the stalk of the opal leaf into the mix, which turns the mix into a weak snowpyre repellent.”

At the last words, the class broke out into a murmur. Gaius wasn’t too sure what it meant, but it did seem that repelling snowpyres was something everyone wanted.

“That said,” continued Lecturer Ziegler, “it’s rather unreliable. This discovery of ours is currently being processed by alchemists, to see if we could strengthen the effect. Otherwise, it can only nudge snowpyres into avoiding certain areas, and won’t discourage pursuit.”

She erased the board. “That marks the end of today’s lecture. Same time next week, as usual. As for the newcomers…”

Her eyes lingered on the trio, Gaius and Nakama. “Read this by next week. It covers all the basic mixes and intermediate concoctions. If I were you, I’ll prepare some of them before you lot leave this Friday.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Gaius and Nakama clutched the books she handed tightly, and then watched as she left. Without waiting for their classmates, the little duo left the classroom quickly, avoiding the resentful gazes of the trio behind them.

.