After Northern's discussion with Headmaster Gilbert, a few things were established.
The most important one however was that he was able to maintain his independence.
Northern managed to negotiate his way out of being directly associated with them or joining any parties while still securing certain benefits.
Of course, Gilbert was an experienced drifter, a sage at that. He wasn't the kind of man Northern could simply manipulate to his own ends.
In fact, Northern even suspected that Gilbert had accepted some of his terms because the old man had his own cunning plans afoot.
The thought made him incredibly uneasy. 'I need to be very wary of him going forward...he's a runaway train headed for a wreck.'
Northern believed Gilbert's heroic ideals were utterly nonsensical.
He didn't understand why anyone would want to play the selfless savior amid this disaster when they could simply focus on finding a way back home.
