I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 192

After paying the inn for the damages, the Lou family packed up and left Boltshade. Fate’s actions undeniably alerted all of the explorers and quest-takers in town. It even summoned the town magistrate, who while initially angry, became extremely polite as soon as he learned Uncle Lou’s identity. Uncle Lou appeared to be a higher cultivation than the town’s magistrate, and so the magistrate differed from him completely.

This truly showed the principle told to me countless times since I had come to this world. This was a world ruled by strength. Even after partially destroying an inn and causing an unnecessary disturbance, the innkeeper practically was groveling and the magistrate was bowing in apology as if they were the ones who offended the Lou family. When Uncle Lou brought out some kilojoules, easily enough to rebuild the inn over again, they nearly tripped over themselves thanking him like he had done some great service.

As a result, the situation was wrapped up quickly, and as for the instigator of the event, Fortune leaned toward his niece. “I hope you understand your mistake?”

She lowered her head shamefully. “We have lost the advantage of no one knowing what we are doing, and we also lost a good bit of money we couldn’t afford.”

He nodded and walked away. That was the extent of the punishment she received. As soon as he left, she shot me a hateful glare as if her scolding had been my fault, looking like she wanted to pull her rapier and attack me again. I couldn’t help but sigh. One would think that these families would be more evolved with their behavior, but the more I lived in this world, the more I realized they weren’t much different than the gangs that used to operate on the streets. Lifetime grudges could sometimes form for the silliest reasons, and fighting was an inevitability, even among members of the same gang.

“They’re the Lou family…” As we were leaving the town, just about every resident in town was out watching us leave, and as they did so there was countless whispering.

“Nobles really can do whatever they feel like.” One woman stated.

“They must be chasing after that sage beast.” One of the quest takers.

“Then, the rumors must be true… a powerful sage beast is about to die, and one of the paragon families will claim it. This could shift the balance of power in the region.”

“I said there was no point in isomers going. The major powers always get involved.” Another added, spitting. “Ligand paragons sicken me.”

I had learned that the official names of unaffiliated paragons were isomers. Those who weren’t in families or working under larger organizations had to fight sage beasts and go out on dangerous quest missions to be able to get the resources that were usually just handed to the families. This was where the quest board came into play. They prided themselves on being independent and considered those paragons who gave up their freedom to be beneath a stronger power inferior. They liked to call them ligands.

Although a few of them looked at the Lou family unpleasantly, none of them were ligands. A ligand is the name of a molecule that binds to another molecule to be part of something bigger. This didn’t include those who were born into the family or joined at an extremely young age. The Lou family hadn’t sent anyone unrelated to their family directly. As it were, the only one who would most closely be considered a ligand was me, since I was an isomer who ultimately joined a family.

I didn’t see it that way though. First off, I wasn’t a servant but engaged to be Abigail’s husband. Furthermore, there wasn’t a single isomer who didn’t get the majority of their wealth from the paragon families anyway. After all, who were the ones setting up the requests and paying out the rewards if not large organizations and families? To me, these people were just jealous that others had it easier. Meanwhile, it was the families who benefited. They could send out those they considered too weak to be worth protecting to gather supplies for them, and they didn’t even need to pay unless they returned.

Compared to something like this mission, where the Lou family sent out its members, all of which were taking a personal risk to accomplish their mission, a request board wasn’t a bad idea. It is also completely understandable why Lou used only family. At the time, they had wanted to keep things a secret, and they could only use people they could trust.

Naturally, I was not one of those people, but they didn’t seem to think very highly of me. I was only here as a personal favor to Lady Abigail. In my world, people would often need to create reasons to move money. If you tried to just give someone money, the government would interfere, so instead you’d give them a meaningless job with a high salary that required no work or pay them a ludicrous amount of money to give a short talk.

This allowed money to exchange hands and no one to ask questions. I knew this was the only reason I was on the mission. If I survived, Lady Abigail would get one-tenth of the profits and me back. However, even if I died, Lady Fate offered her share in recompense. To gain one-fifth of the profits, all Abigail needed to do was allow me to die.

Of course, that made it sound malicious. She probably had no desire for me to die, and ignoring Fate’s current attitude, I was confident the Lou family wasn’t trying to kill me either. I was still Abigail’s fiancé and her shield against other suitors. They merely didn’t have confidence that I would survive, and probably wouldn’t be too upset if didn’t make it. After all, if Abigail obtained enough profit from this agreement, she might not even need a scapegoat like me any longer.

This was the harsh reality of paragon families. Your life was exactly as important as your existence was valuable to the family line. Since I had hidden most of my abilities, I was seen as having very little value. This was fine for me at the moment.

“We’re going to move a bit faster than before,” Fortune spoke once we were out of earshot of the front gates of the town. “I wish to reach the mountain base by nightfall. There will be no towns, so we will be camping outdoors. The next morning, we will send scouts up the mountain to ascertain the condition of the sage beast. After that, it will be a waiting game.”

“You ready for a jog.” I felt a slap on my back.

It was the younger man who was still flawless. He gave me a grin. It seemed like after spending last night in the hot spring, he was treating me a bit friendlier.

“I think I’ll manage to keep up.”

“Stay by me just in case.” He smirked. “If you’re struggling, I might be able to carry you for a bit.”

“Ah… thanks…  I don’t think I’ll need it though.”

He shrugged. “You never know. The name is Lucky, by the way.”

“Of course it is…” I coughed. “I mean, nice to meet you.”

He put out his hand and I shook it. “The way you dodged Fate’s attacks was impressive. I had heard you beat her in the tournament, but I wasn’t there to see it. They said you used deplorable tricks to force her to surrender, but after seeing your fight this morning, I can see there is more to it than that.”

“Ah… thanks?”

“If we have time later, maybe you can show me some sparring tricks.”

“Let’s go!” Fortune called out.

“Remember, stay close! We can watch each other’s backs.” He turned and began jogging.

I quickly began following him. Although I was used to my solitude, it didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy company. It looked like Lucky had acknowledged my strength as a third-realm or third-realm equivalent. The running order had changed too, putting me in the center. The other three men ran behind me. This also put a space of three people between me and Fate which I appreciated since I could still feel her sharp gazes trying to burn a hole in my back periodically.

We started early in the morning, only an hour or so after daybreak. We hadn’t even eaten breakfast first. I had to admit that if it had been me from before I came to this world, I probably would have collapsed vomiting after the first hour, but for my current stats, this jog felt like a casual walk. I could probably have a normal conversation with Lucky, but that might show too much of my abilities. Lucky, at least, was breathing a bit heavily, so I tried to emulate him.

At that point, “Awooooooooo!”

“Again?” Lot cried out.

This sounded like the same beasts that had chased us the previous night. I thought they would have given up, especially since it was no longer dark.

“It appears we won’t be able to leave this forest without a fight,” Fortune called back grimly. “Everyone, prepare yourselves!”