Chapter 70, Tell Me What Two Plus Two Is

Chapter 70, Tell Me What Two Plus Two Is

The next day, after a quick stop at a nearby hardware store, Kreig had set up his small shrine. It really wasnt much to look at. A wooden chalice standing beside one of the bottles of blood of oath. A metal pendant Sam had seen fit to gift him (I found it on the ground, you can have it if you want!), and a small silver spoon George found in a cupboard (We never use it.) and gave him. All because Kreig had told them small pieces of precious metal were fit for the shrine.

Apparently, to Sam, a precious metal was just a piece of metal that was precious to her. The pendant seemed to fill that purpose. Scavenged off the ground or not, the little gleam on it told Kreig that it truly was a precious metal.

He didnt mind. Back in the other world, iron was about as precious as silver was here. It made little difference to him.

The shrine was set up in his room, right on top of his desk. Erica noticed it pretty much that very Monday the very moment she entered the room. Being the kind of woman who didnt mind blurting out her inner thoughts, she wasted no time asking about it.

Kreig was hesitant, at best. Speaking openly of his religion was just not something he did, but after the most general description he could give, she, astonishingly, didnt question it any further. Kreig might have assumed she wasnt thinking about the shrine any longer if it wasnt for her fleeting, almost longing glances at his bottle of blood of oath.

Now, it wasnt as though normal humans couldnt drink pure blood of oath. It was about as intoxicating as wine, and it didnt do much else than that. It could in rare cases give the drinker some energy, or, even rarer, make them hallucinate. But it was mostly harmless.

That didnt mean Kreig was about to let Erica drink a drop.

This day was bad as it was. Not because of Erica, of course not, but rather what she brought. Namely, math.

After a week of avoiding it, he was finally smacked in the face by necessity.

If you dont do well in math, you cant graduate! Which is bad! she had insisted, but even then, Kreig felt no real need to so much as try. The later he dealt with this, the later he had to accept that there was no saving him. As his previous tutor had so kindly informed him, he couldnt put two and two together with a three-week period of preparation. The scars that man had carved into Kreig were not easily healed, and Kreig didnt even want to try.

But where Kreig was childish in his dismissal, Erica acted like a toddler.

That day, Erica reluctantly let Kreig do his favourite two subjects, namely history and social science.

And then, the next day, she only brought the math textbook.

But her smile widened. Right! So, then, she leaned down, right by his side, and he could see her dainty neck right there, and with a little pen, she wrote 11 on the page. The answer is eleven! Good work. Now, how about the next one?

The next one was a similar problem. So was the next one. When divisions started being factored in, all he had to do was ask her, and she helped. Not a single word of humiliation. Only a pure, calm joy in showing him how it all worked. They worked quickly and carefully, and it was only a few pages in, when Kreig was solving a somewhat complex equation on his own, that he realized what was happening.

He could understand it.

The numbers, the signs, the functions and ideas They made sense.

He glanced over at where Erica sat. Since he had been able to work on his own for a while, she hadnt had to add any explanation for a while. She gave a small smile and tilted her head. For just a moment, Kreig wasnt sure what to say. Thank you, he finally choked out. For helping me. With this.

Her smile deepened. Anything to avoid the minimum wage.

Kreig had no idea what that meant, so he just nodded and got back to work. She seemed to really mean it.

In reality, she only partially meant it. Sure, she was working hard to pay off her debts and remain alive, but that was no longer her main aspiration. Well, completing her second degree was clearly what she wanted to do - teaching was a horrible job - but there were always things to do outside education, right? Right now, could she really say she hated teaching?

She only had to deal with one (adult) student, she was being paid quite a lot above minimum wage, and - well, in all honesty, Kreig was a good student. He listened, he did his work, and although he was very hesitant to ask questions, he never did anything she could consider uncouth. Shed had many students before, intelligent and noisy and mischievous and deviant. None of which Kreig was. But he was diligent and careful, and a very pleasant man to be around.

If every student she had was more like him, she wouldnt mind returning to teaching.

Though, of course, that would never happen. Shed been burnt on that already.

But, maybe, someday

That was for the future to decide.