“Damn… w-what am I thinking about?”
Lin Xiao quickly looked away from Claire and forcibly suppressed his palpitations. In order to divert his attention, he bent down and picked up the papers from the floor and gently placed them on Claire’s desk.
“Sigh, it seems like I still have things to teach you?”
“Teacher Lin! Please teach me!”
Lin Xiao couldn’t just stand by and ignore her pleas. So he sat down and patiently helped Claire with some of the more difficult documents. Like a teacher, he taught her how to analyze complex information and how to find the useful bits of information to help her make the right judgments.
Although the person next to Claire made her heart beat faster and made her blush, she forced herself to concentrate and take his teachings seriously. Then she followed his instructions to take care of the difficult problems.
Claire’s problems may have been solved, but Lin Xiao suddenly realized that he had forgotten his own goals. He realized that he was sitting close to Claire, shoulder to shoulder, even holding her hand because of the teachings from earlier. They were more like lovers than student and teacher!
Lin Xiao quickly let go and coughed as he stood up.
“Cough… okay, the rest of the documents should be easy to deal with, so you can take care of them without my help.”
“Oh, o-okay.”
When she noticed that Lin Xiao wasn’t willing to continue instructing her, Claire found it a bit unfortunate. But she didn’t push him. She took off her comically large glasses and placed her hands on her lap as she looked up at Lin Xiao.
“Please, don’t look at me like that… otherwise I’ll really see you as my student!”
“Hehe, but I am your student! … Lin Xiao, you’re amazing, come teach me some more when you’re free!”
“Hm, okay, I… wait, no, no! Why do I have to come and teach you?”
“Hm? Do you not want to?”
“Of course not! I’m nobody to you, I have other things to do, I don’t have time to be your teacher!”
“But why do you have the time now? Hehe, Lin Xiao, are you getting shy?”
“Shy my ass! … I came today to ask something, not to be your tutor!”
“I see, I thought…”
“You thought what? Did you think I was a savior sent by the goddess?”
“Hm, I did think that.”
“Ah? Um… I… uh… cough.”
It was the first time that Lin Xiao met such a direct girl that he couldn’t even speak properly anymore.
Claire still acted like a man in some ways, saying whatever was on her mind, and didn’t understand a woman’s discretion. Her directness did made Lin Xiao feel comfortable, but when he thought about the stuff that happened earlier, he still felt a bit awkward and could only change the subject.
“Hey, have you heard of the sacred crystal fruit?”
Following Snow’s warnings, Lin Xiao didn’t talk about the relationship between the fruit and the black core and just said he was collecting it so he came to Claire for information.
Claire was enthusiastic about helping but unfortunately there was no use for the fruit. The palace used to have some but it was already thrown away, so Claire didn’t have any.
“Sigh, then what should I do? I heard that Barrett found some before… do I have to go to the frontlines to find him?”
“Barrett? … Oh, I remember, actually, you don’t have to go to him.”
Claire smiled and could tell that Lin Xiao was being lazy, so she explained to him what she remembered.
From what she knows, the person who found the fruit wasn’t Barrett. It was one of his friends, a person called Deborah.
“Deborah? Who’s that?”
“Hehe, she’s responsible for the logistic officers, so you naturally wouldn’t know her.”
Deborah was a capable middle-aged woman, although she wasn’t that strong, she was smart. She was responsible for material transport and resource transfer. She was one of the reasons that Barrett was able to last so long.
“A while ago, she happened to find some on the top of a short mountain when she was passing through the plague zone, so she brought some back. She should still have some, so go find her if you want them.”
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