Chapter 1279 (2/2)

“What…? Please…” Derek trailed off, somewhat unsure of what he wanted to ask her to do. Stand up straight? His heart was pounding strangely.

Luckily, she quickly straightened. Her hair settled perfectly around her face once more. “I’m Gertrude Collins. I am… I used to be one of your son’s teachers. And because I let the principal intimidate me, your son-”

“Oh! Miss Collins.” In a split second, the situation with Lucy Rowel came flooding back to Derek’s mind. Although the principal had named two teachers that had spoken up for Lucy, there had been one teacher who had apparently seen everything and but been suppressed from speaking in Tim’s defense. This must be her. Yet still, Derek was confused by the situation. And he suddenly felt very bad about his sudden attraction to the younger woman. “But what are you doing here at this time of night…?”

“I’ve decided to leave Zone 1; I want to become accepted into Kharon. It seems like that is the only place that is willing to teach children what is necessary to live in our world… and as a teacher, nothing is more important than me than preparing our children for the world we live in.” Despite the low light of Derek’s porch, he abruptly realized how blue Gertrude Collins’ eyes were. “But before I left, I wanted to tell you about your son. I wanted to come here and stand up for him, because I didn’t in the past.

“Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered five years ago, but Tim the most magical green thumb that I’ve ever seen in anyone. Over the course of the two years that I arranged for him to be on garden duty, the school’s produce output has been transformed. Our vegetables were always large and tasty, but your son has the ability to guide their growth in a way that even the System has difficulty explaining. Our peppers are tart and fresh. The tomatoes are juicy and rich. The carrots are slowly developing red stripes and they are the best thing I’ve ever had.

“He is really talented. Truly blessed. I expect he has a rare Skill related to plant cultivation that he is too shy to share with a teacher. And… and I’m the reason that he began to be bullied.” Gertrude’s mouth twitched. “I… I was the first person to notice Tim’s talent and gave him some free time after lunch to work in the garden. Lucy started to complain that she wanted to have free time as well, but I told her that free time was something she needed to earn. She threw a tantrum, but I’m used to that sort of behavior. But I didn’t realize that she was cruel enough to start bullying Tim in revenge.”

“That’s…” Derek blinked. It had already been such a long day, so he was feeling a little lightheaded as Gertrude Collins began explaining the circumstances of his son. Tim liked to garden…? “I can’t believe… you know, Tim’s mother, before she passed, loved to garden. And Tim asked to plant some flowers for her, but I never thought-”

Gertrude’s eyebrow quirked upward. She took a step backward onto the porch and gestured sideways to the neat line of flowers on the front lawn. “Did you think that flowers like this were normal?”

“Well…” Derek hesitated then stepped out onto the porch next to Gertrude Collins. The air was extremely cool on his skin. Now that he looked forward, he supposed the fact that the roses grew to a height of a meter and bloomed with buds the size of softballs was a little strange. “...the System affected the growth of a lot of plants.”

Gertrude laughed and Derek’s lips quirked upward naturally. It seemed his earlier exhaustion disappeared as he said in a low voice, “Hell, who cares? My son the genius gardener huh. And thank you so much for coming to tell me. If you hadn’t… I…”

But suddenly, Gertrude’s expression turned bitter. “It’s the least I could do, considering I caused this…”

Derek reached out and touched Gertrude’s arm. Her skin was very warm. “No, this isn’t your fault. You were just trying to give Tim the opportunity to grow-”

“I failed as a teacher.” For a second, Gertrude’s blue eyes were clouded. But then she rolled her shoulders and her eyes cleared. “So before I left, I needed to rectify it. Your son is so talented; don’t let a corrupt school ruin that. Don’t let them waste his time like they’ve made me waste mine.”

“Thank you, again.” Derek’s expression softened as he felt Gertrude’s words hit the complex emotions that had been clouding his mind and leave a deep crack in them. Without thinking about the movement, he stepped forward and hugged Gertrude Collins, one arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist. She stood up on her tiptoes and squeezed rather firmly back, both people pulled together by their care for Tim.

After the hug had stretched for a few seconds, Derek abruptly thought that perhaps he should have chosen a more… chaste hug. Miss Collin’s body was pressed very tightly against him. And it seemed that she had a similar thought at the same time because the two hastily disentangled themselves from each other.

Gertrude Collins wouldn’t look at Derek at all, just staring at the ground with a flushed face. Her dark hair once more swung downward and screened her eyes. “I… well I guess I’ve… said what I wanted to, so… It’s been… so nice talking with you… so…”

“Yea, we… should do it again…” Derek managed to force out, slightly shocked by what his mouth was saying. And Gertrude Collins responded by nodding.

*****

After Tatiana had left, Randidly continued looking up at the sky for a long time. Then he flexed his fingers and began writing a letter to Vualla.

Hey, Vualla. It’s been only a week since we’ve spoken, but I miss your presence next to me. I can still feel you, obviously, but… It’s different when you aren’t here.

I let a lot of people die so that the people of my planet would realize the flaws in the way they have been trying to cope with the System. Fourteen thousand people. It was the largest single loss of life that occurred since my world first became a part of the Nexus. I could have prevented it.

I can’t stop thinking about that. I could have prevented it.

The worst part is… I can feel my Nether changing because of it. Growing more powerful. Because I am putting so much emphasis on this decision… the Nether is responding. I am being rewarded even further for letting people die.

Good luck with your Xyrt Brigade training. If it’s you, I have no doubt that you will crush everything in your Path.

Randidly Ghosthound.

Then Randidly released a long breath. But even if it made him slightly uncomfortable, the foes he planned on facing were too powerful to let such a benefit simply lay fallow. So Randidly turned his focus inward and began to examine his changing Nether core.