But had she been responsible
Heh Randidly shook himself gently right as his emotions caused his image in the surrounding area to intensify Truly his control over his image wasnÆt as steady as he had thought The shouting of the applicants outside the building immediately fell silent Randidly could sense their throats had been frozen before his aura Their eyes bulged He felt a flash of guilt These are innocent parties And people that Kharon is trying to recruit No reason to bear my fangs here
IÆm actually not here for you Randidly said giving Hydie what he believed to be a winning smile From her pale expression it was clear she didnÆt believe him it seemed his cutting off of his chilled anger was a single beat too late His smile faded to a small grin IÆd like to talk with one of the applicants here One Gertrude Collins Can you bring her into the tent please
For several seconds Hydie was motionless as she coped with her fear Gradually her hands began to twitch Randidly was content to wait She soon dethawed enough to pull at the edge of her collar Ah I wish I could help you Mr G g ghosthound but Miss Collins isnÆt here She completed the image challenge yesterday and has sixteen hours’ worth of training off
Randidly frowned I thought the challenges were purposefully designed to be almost impossible to pass
They were Even Ajax was surprised when she did it Hydie explained nervously SheÆs the first person to ever do it Besides never being willing to spar sheÆs probably the most capable image user in all the applicants So IÆm sorry but
No thatÆs fine Randidly said Inwardly he was sighing He hadnÆt bothered to check for Gertrude CollinsÆ location because he believed that he knew where she would be Now finding out that wasnÆt correct it felt like a certain kind of karma
So as to not subject himself to anymore stammering or touch upon TatianaÆs scheme further Randidly produced the PhilosopherÆs Key and directly portaled out of KharonÆs interior From high up on his island RandidlyÆs Grim Intuition spread outward to cover the whole of Kharon Then when he had located Gertrude Collins he descended quietly from the sky and landed nearby in the sprawling park in which he found her
Randidly watched Gertrude Collins for a long time She was younger than he had expected probably very close to RandidlyÆs age Her long dark hair was in a heavy braid down her back and she was dressed in jeans and a grey button up shirt In addition she was pretty in a way that suddenly made Derek MossÆs vehemence about her talent make a certain sort of sense But more than the details of her person Randidly watched her as she tested out of KharonÆs examination in order to come to these parks and gather a group of unruly children
She was reading them a childrenÆs story Toward the beginning the older kids rolled their eyes but as the story went on they began to gather in larger and larger numbers First twenty then fifty then a hundred As more people came over to figure out what was happening they asked the people already there what was going on and were quickly shushed
In addition to simply reading her story she used illusions to draw out what was happening above her head so more children could see But to put it mildly her illusions were quite bad
The characters were blocky and somehow vague Rather than facial features she relied mostly on each characterÆs signature color to distinguish them
Or at least thatÆs what Randidly thought at first But as he watched her continue through her story Randidly realized that it wasnÆt color that made him so sure of what he was looking at it was because Gertrude CollinsÆ characters practically sung with their own images and motivation
Slowly Randidly nodded So this is the woman that Derek Moss thinks is the greatest teacher in the world Good Still the question now is why she didnÆt come forward when the Order Ducis inquired about individuals with teaching experience
Chapter 1420
By the end of her story Gertrude Collins could barely suppress the tremors in her body Underneath her shirt thick drops of sweat were trailing down her spine The combination of using the Mana for the illusions and doing her best to imbue them with poignant images had completely depleted her Willpower She was even a little bit dizzy
As she let the final image fade her smile was bitter I can see why the Order Ducis insists that we train our bodies as well as working on the images itÆs not enough just to be able to conjure a clean image if you cannot wield it oof I need a chair
Of course she didnÆt have the chance to sit down The surrounding kids surged forward bright eyed and full of questions about the characters in the story The bitterness in GertrudeÆs expression vanished and she turned to each child in turn and tried to explain her own thoughts on the story Secretly Gertrude felt quite a bit of pride at their interest to see the children so enthralled with a story that she had written herself was an amazing feeling It was sufficient sustenance for her to endure her exhaustion By the end of it she probably had a little over two hundred kids of various ages gathered around to listen
But as the groups of children started talking amongst themselves and conversations drifted into her ears GertrudeÆs eyes twitched
If I was the fire I would have just stayed as a cold flame One girl insisted stubbornly So what if it made other people cold I love the snow Snowball fights are so much fun
It was dumb to switch an older boy agreed Much better than being a fire made entirely of light like she ended up at the end Even if the fire could then be with the candle without melting him as light whatÆs the point of just being light
My dad has light Skills and they are actually pretty powerful Light can be cool A chubby boy cut into the conversation But this action of speaking just seemed to draw a target on the boyÆs back
Oh shut up orphan
We know heÆs not your real dad
DonÆt try and act cool just cause you got lucky who adopted you
The boy in question reddened and looked toward the ground There was a young girl with red pigtails next to Gertrude that was asking her a question but most of GertrudeÆs attention was focused out of the corner of her eye on that particular interaction amongst the kids Her heart ached They canÆt just be let to run wild like this for all of the good in Kharon it doesnÆt understand the travesty that is happening underneath its nose
So many of them orphans Maybe even most of them Yet there is a part of them that hates themselves for that
If they donÆt step in these children are going to develop into gangs There are already rival factions that fight against each other ItÆs all play fighting now but as soon as one person gets seriously injured this could escalate into something dangerous Why would the Order Ducis allow this
After balling his hands into fists the boy that was ridiculed for being an orphan turned around and fled from the crowd of children With the laughter of his peers at his back he pushed his way out of the gathering Some part of Gertrude wished she could help him but another part of her knew that a teacherÆs comfort was exactly not what the kid needed now Plus she had come to this park to instill the spark of curiosity by showing them images To address all the internal problems
Yet as she saw him run all she could think about was Tim Moss and when she had previously failed as a teacher
Gertrude Collins blinked Because as that sad child charged out of the group he ran directly into a man that rather suddenly appeared in his path
With his lowered eyes that were probably tight with tears he wasnÆt paying attention at all he bounced off the man and fell on his butt With a trembling lip he looked upward The man became the center of everyoneÆs attention and the surrounding laughter died as was though he had come and devoured it The man squatted down in front of the kid and smiled at him WhatÆs your name