I'm so sorry how long it took me to get back to you! I haven't had the opportunity/time to be online lately. ^^' Thank you so much for responding and for the critique!
Lack of context at the start is something I was a bit worried but in the end I decided that it would be best for the story for the info to come naturally through the story itself. There's no "outsider" character who's not in the know about the world itself so there's no reason for anyone to explain how most things work. And the plot questions themselves will obviously be answered as the story continues. But I'm glad it was still engaging and didn't put you off.
I really do need to work on my backgrounds. While they aren't empty spaces they also aren't as lively as they should. That's something I'll be paying more attention! Heh, while I'm pretty sure there are more than 3 different expressions it is true that most of this chapter people keep having mostly negative emotions displayed on their faces. I'll do my best to exaggerate the differences more in the future for livelier feeling.
Thank you again for your critique! It was really helpful to hear about some problem points!