Although Carpenter was full of questions, she remained silent.
The past she could not let go of always led her to make small mistakes, but those stemmed from flaws in her character, not a genuine lack of understanding of how people worked.
She knew perfectly well that Russell must know some of the inside story. Since he had told her nothing, this naturally meant it had nothing to do with her, and she should not pry.
Secrets were secrets precisely because they were not spoken aloud.
Hill glanced at the girl, who had lowered her head again, and found himself liking her a little more. Although her aptitude was lacking, she really was an exceptionally good child in terms of character.
As for minor issues like her lack of foresight and rough way of handling things, those hardly mattered.
How old was Carpenter, anyway!
Even if children in this world matured relatively early, Hill would not demand that a young girl be mature, steady, and perfect in every respect.
To him, Carpenter's only shortcoming was her aptitude.
It was not merely that Carpenter could not understand what he said.
More importantly, Hill could not understand why she failed to understand. That was genuinely troublesome.
Fortunately, Russell was fairly good in that respect.
Although Hill still had to analyze and explain things very carefully, Russell could understand in the end.
Moreover, Russell was very good at teaching Carpenter.
Perhaps because they had grown up together, he could tell at a glance exactly where the girl was confused.
That worked out well enough, Hill could not help thinking. This was probably why most mages placed such importance on their first apprentice.
The reason Hill had kept standing in the hall, looking outside, was naturally that he had to consider transportation again.