A nice warm fire was crackling within the partitions that Mai had set up. The teenage girl hadn’t taken more than five minutes before she bounded back with a bag of wood, which Gaius had promptly set on fire after building a small pile of kindling on the snowy ground.

Mai and Gaius, however, didn’t just leave after setting up the fire. The Warmaster and Campmaster of this little fortress had either forgotten about them or didn’t want them to do anything in particular, so the two were now squatting near the lovely warm flames and roasting some meat that Mai had produced from somewhere.

“You’re quite prepared for random events like this, eh?” Gaius turned his skewer of meat over, revealing a glistening allure. Meat juices reflected the light of the Primordial Land into his eyes, and Gaius had to mentally restrain himself from biting down on meat that was cooked only on one side.

“My group’s always setting up small fires like this to cook things,” replied Mai, who clearly had more self-control and professionalism. She was holding five skewers at once, turning them over at a measured pace like a skilled chef. “And they never share meat.”

Gaius didn’t know what to say to that, other than a mumbled word of appreciation.

“Nice smell.”

The two turned to regard the newcomer — Nalus — who had slipped past a small gap in the partitions. Mai passed one skewer over to him naturally, and the Campmaster accepted without much of a fuss.

“How much more time do you think we have?” asked Gaius.

“No need to think.” Nalus bit down on the meat skewer, hard enough to send some meat juice squirting out. “They’re already here.”

Gaius sighed slowly as he wiped the cheek of the unconscious Knight. “Do we have any idea on how long we need to defend?”

“Half a day, tops.”

“With them outnumbering us three to one, it’s going to be a rather hard fight,” replied Gaius.

“We’re in a defensive position. We’ll manage.” Nalus licked his lips in anticipation, and licked them again to savour the last of his meat skewer. “They’ve travelled light, without any equipment, which means that they intend to scale the walls with their own power.”

Gaius furrowed his eyebrows, as he tried to comprehend the meaning behind those words.

Mai, however, had beaten him to the punch. “It’ll be a battle of endurance on our part, then, if the enemies are of similar strength to us.”

“Oh?”

Nalus and Gaius turned to look at the rabbit-eared girl.

“Go on,” said Nalus. “I didn’t expect anyone to understand the Warmaster that quickly — let’s see if your explanation is as good as his.”

“If they’re attacking with their own strength, it is of paramount importance that they take us down as swiftly as possible,” replied Mai, her eyes gleaming slightly. “Squires are able to scale the walls of this fortress, but not in rapid succession. Therefore, they will strike without any reserve forces…and the crux of our victory lies in enduring this decisive blow. We need not kill — simply forcing them back down is more than enough.”

“A rather succinct summary of what Winston took ten minutes to explain,” said Nalus. “Why have we not spotted your talent before?”

We? But Gaius didn’t have much time to ruminate on this word.

Mai shook her head. “I’m more interested in fighting on the field. Everyone has a few axes to grind against the humans, after all.”

Gaius let out a small cough.

“You’re the exception, Lecturer Gaius.” Mai smiled ruefully. “You’ve saved enough of us to be an honorary beastfolk.”

“Honorary? Is there even such a thing?” Gaius racked his brains for a few seconds, but nothing came to mind. He’d never even heard of the term before.

“It is, in our little circle.” Mai gazed at the little boy, her eyes now tinged with a hint of sorrow.

The little lecturer abruptly remembered the incident a few weeks ago, where he’d forced Mai and her group to tell him about the Harvester group they’d abandoned. The ‘little circle’ she was speaking about…probably was her followers, as well as the few people he’d managed to save that day.

His chest grew warm for a moment, before the fact that one had still died doused his heart in cold water. Gaius shook his head, unable to understand his feelings in that moment.

It was as though as he felt inadequate.

The little boy bit his tongue lightly, dispelling the thoughts that had begun to swirl within him. There was no point in dwelling over the past — especially when the thinker had nothing to do with the mistakes made. Such feelings of doubt may come back to haunt him one day, and these feelings were most likely to strike when one was at their lowest.

Whether he liked doing so or not was another question entirely, however.

Gaius placed his skewer down, and looked at the unconscious Knight on the bed. After pulling out some rope from his pockets, the little boy bound the hands and legs of the captive together tightly, to prevent a scenario where the defenders suddenly got backstabbed by an awake Knight.

He didn’t really think that was enough, though, so he used another rope to tie the captive to her bed.

“Demon…” Nalus whispered.

Mai nodded in agreement, prompting the little lecturer to scowl at the two.

“Fine, be that way.” Gaius snorted. “In that case, by the authority vested in me as a Lecturer of Heritage Basestation, Mai is to guard over this prisoner until such time that we leave the Five Lands. Happy?”

The next few minutes passed by with the regular sounds of flesh smacking flesh, as Mai unleashed the closest thing to workplace violence on Nalus repeatedly. The little boy watched the show and clapped, and only when Campmaster Nalus’ head turn into a black and blue mosaic did the enraged Mai desist.

“Well, no matter how you beat him up, you’re still going to remain here and watch her,” Gaius stuck out a tongue.

Mai made a sad noise, and was about to speak when bugles sounded throughout the camp.

“They’re beginning, eh? Gaius, Mai, let’s go.” Nalus beckoned, and left the impromptu roofless hospital ward. Gaius rolled his eyes, and motioned at the rabbit-eared girl to follow. She got up immediately, her ears wriggling happily on the spot, and chased after Nalus immediately.

Gaius looked at the sick, unconscious Knight on the bed. After confirming that the ropes were just tight enough, he followed Mai into the tent that Winston Chamberlain was now using as a command centre.

It was time to fight.