I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 146

One of the nice things about various powers owning large estates with various buildings was that there were many entrances and exits, some of which allowed people to come and go with their anonymity intact. After the scene that Abigail made with her announcement, she decided it would be best if we left the banquet early and allowed the majority of the paragon families to stew over the situation overnight. According to Abigail, once the rumors had permeated the public, the damage was already done, and after that, no one would be able to undo the decision Abigail and I made.

The agreement was rather simple. I would be Abigail’s fiancée, and thus live in her estate. Our wedding date would be held off as long as possible, allowing her to do the research she wanted to do. In exchange, I could live in the mansion and have the lavish lifestyle of a noble. More importantly, I’d have a strong enough background so that none of the other families would dare. Even though I was only a fiancé, attacking me would be like attacking the Capala family, and no one in Stormberg would dare to cause a dispute with the Capala family openly. Even her uncle would have to defend my honor publicly should he witness something.

Although I found the paragon’s obsession with appearances and pride to be a bit ridiculous and even hypocritical, it did make some things more convenient. Had things ended up devolving into street fights, I wasn’t frightened of defending myself, but perhaps for Mara’s sake, it would have been better if such things didn’t reach such a stage.

Part of the reason I had never taken my sister with me was that I never wanted her exposed to that kind of life. Living on the street, not knowing where your next meal came from, was something that I didn’t want her to experience. Yet, in the end, I had abandoned her, and we had become strangers. I had started to follow the same path as Mara, but after she triggered that emergency beacon and called me over, I realized that I couldn’t just disappear like before.

It was perhaps this reason above all others that led to me accepting Abigail’s proposal. I was certain that this engagement would have other repercussions, but I ultimately did it for Mara.

The group of us left the mansion in an unmarked carriage. These carriages traveled to and from the mansion all night long, and unless someone saw who boarded the carriage, they’d have no clue of the residence. This was done for safety purposes, so no family was targeted on their way back home. Well, it wasn’t perfect. One could guess who was on a carriage just by the direction they headed. However, every carriage included a small guard contingent, and the magistrate guaranteed anyone’s safe return.

After sneaking out the backdoor of the mansion, our group was no different as we headed off in a carriage. It was just Abigail, Mara, Steward Pierre, and myself. However, there was no talking on the way. Each of us seemed to be lost in our thoughts. When we pulled up in front of the Capala campaign, Abigail whispered some things to the Steward and then headed inside without glancing back at me.

Mara looked between Abigail’s back and me, before giving me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, as her maid, I have to remain close.”

I shrugged, and she ran off after Abigail and a maid opened the door as she approached like they had been standing there waiting for her all along. I started to follow them, but I only made it halfway to the front door when the Steward moved in my way. Although he was an older man, he was surprisingly spry.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked with a sneer.

“Am I not living with my fiancée?”

“Don’t be foolish.” He snorted. “You’re just a fiancé, not a husband. If the two of you slept in the same building, it would be a scandal.”

“Then, where am I sleeping?”

His lips twitched into a dark smile. “You don’t need to worry, there is a fiancé suite.”

A few minutes later, I was standing in front of a small building. It was more like a dilapidated shack than a suite. The size was okay, but the place was in complete disrepair. There was no light. The door was hanging off a single hinge, and the roof had a hole in it. This place was buried back behind the mansion, in an area that had been overtaken with forest. It might have once been a rather nice bachelor pad, but at the moment, it’d provide no better cover than a barn.

“I apologize.” The steward spoke without a hint of apology in his eyes. “We have let the place go a bit. I will assign someone to work on repairing it tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I responded. “Fixing it up will give me something to do, right?”

“Hmm…” His response made it hard to tell if he was unhappy with my lack of complaining. “Then, I will leave you be.”

He turned and walked away. Once he was gone, I shrugged and walked up to the porch. As I tried to open the door, it fell off the hinges. I headed in to see that the place wasn’t furnished either. The wind cut through the place like a knife. It didn’t matter to me. I had slept outside countless nights. I also had all of the stuff packed in the cart we got from the Tanner farm. Since it was all in my Luminal space, I didn’t even need to look through it to pull out whatever I wanted.

They didn’t just pack clothing and bedding, but also tools. These were the same tools he had once used to build his own home. I had watched him do it, so I was somewhat familiar with the process. At the least, I was confident I could do repairs. I waited through the night, sorting through my supplies as I made plans for the future. As soon as dawn began, I headed outside and got to work.

First of all, I cleared out all of the excess trees. I didn’t need to use a saw like Tanner. A single swipe from my hand could cut a tree down. Also, with my enormous strength, I could pick up and move trees without effort. I quickly cleared out the space around the building. As worked, I ended up unearthing a brick path and a formally functioning fountain that sat in front of the building.

Since no one was watching me, I took tricks whenever I could. For example, to raise the path I merely swept off the dirt and then inserted some of my cells under the path. I had them absorb water and swell, pushing the bricks back up, and then I replaced the gap with sand. Like that, the entire path was brought to the surface. It also wasn’t difficult to send cells down the pipe and reestablish a connection for the fountain to work.

I found with my strength, I didn’t need to hammer things. I could just push the nails right in. The only thing I needed a saw for was fine cuts necessary to git clean boards of wood, but my strength and endurance made such tasks easy. The only thing that kept me from working faster was the lack of two people. I would have broken myself into two people, but I had already expended out so many sentinels that I lacked enough cells to do it.

Even so, I managed to fix the front door and the roof. Around the time midday came, I had managed to extract a pigment from a nearby flower and chemically designed a type of paint. I was using a brush to paint the outer walls. I didn’t have a bucket of paint but was directly synthesizing the chemicals and expelling them from my hand. If my calculations were correct, it not only made the outer walls a nice grey color, but it would resist mold and decay, as well as provide a waterproofing layer. I just finished the wall when I realized I wasn’t alone.

“I hadn’t realized this building was so in such a good condition.” A voice drew me over, and I turned to see Abigail watching me. “I was concerned when I heard the steward moved you out here that you’d have a bad night, but the coach house has held up better than I remembered.”

I smiled, deciding it was better not to reveal how much work I had already put into it. “It just needs a bit of tender, love, and care.”

“Ah, that reminds me, you will need a job.” She spoke up.

“Hmm?” I blinked.

“If you thought that being a fiancé would be all leisure and relaxation, I’m sorry to inform you that every adult member of the family must hold some position. Since you’re now my future husband, you will also be expected to work for the Capala family!”

I couldn’t help but shake my head. There was always a catch.