I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 116

“Thank you for having us.” The man spoke, his eyes flickering to the young lady wearing a servant outfit while pouring his tea with desire. “This has been an enjoyable visit. Daughter, don’t you agree?”

“Ah! Yes.” A young woman put down her spoon and then put on a rich smile. “You have been a wonderful host.”

The servant moved to fill the young woman’s cup, but her smile became a sneer as she looked at the maid.

“Does m’lady need something else?” The servant asked worriedly.

“Sugar?” She snorted, looking at the servant with disgust.

“Ah! Y-yes… I’ll go get it…” She put down the kettle and began to run for the kitchen.

The Stewart cleared his throat, and the woman came back and grabbed the kettle she had left next to the lady before heading the other direction, where the kitchen was located.

“Is this the best help you can find? I suppose she’s pretty, but if cousin’s suffering so much monetarily, you should just ask father for help.”

“Haha…” The man chuckled, still eyeing her behind until she left the room. “Every servant must start somewhere. As long as the starting material is good, then you can mold her however you want.”

Abigail wore a small frown as she put down her silverware. “Uncle, can we perhaps discuss why you’ve returned so soon after your last visit?”

She didn’t like the way that uncle was leering at her cousin. She wondered how he would react if he knew that she was his sister’s daughter. Eyeing Mara wasn’t much different than eyeing Abigail herself, as they were both nieces to the man. She couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of him looking at her with such indecent eyes. At least, he had enough propriety to not lust after family.

It confirmed to Abigail that he didn’t know Mara’s true identity and bought the story Abigail had put out. She hadn’t been confident that Pierre wouldn’t slip the information. She knew that her Stewart was loyal to family, but he considered the other branches as family too and seemed to have a high opinion of Uncle Richard. Yet, he had kept his mouth shut or Uncle definitely wouldn’t be acting so crassly. It seemed her Stewart could be trusted in this respect.

Mara had been there for a week now. Although she was hard-working, her behavior was rather crass. It was clear that she was a girl who grew up on a farm. She had very few mannerisms of a noble, but that only helped sell the story. After all, if her identity as the child of that man was known, it would be a disaster for everyone involved.

Abigail had even carefully sent people to investigate Mara’s upbringing. She confirmed the death of Mara’s parents. All that was left of their farm was ashes. The other farmers were already in the process of dividing up their land. The investigation even discovered a farm boy who had disappeared around the time Mara would have left which might have been Spirit. It had all matched up.

Only one thing put Abigail in a difficult situation. She had asked a couple of questions to ascertain Mara’s relationship with Spirit. She had presumed that he was her lover, a farm boy who had grown in love with the pretty noble girl and chose to flee his life to follow her. Given the loss of her family, he had arrived at the perfect time to worm his way into her heart as some kind of hero that arrived during her moment of despair. Abigail had read about such things in books all the time. However, life wasn’t like a fantasy.  He was likely more enamored by her wealth and status and wanted to use her to propel himself into a paragon.

Although Mara had never indicated that her relationship with him had progressed to that point, her affection for the boy was clear to Abigail. She asked about him daily and even tried to get Abigail to send him some joules to help him with his debts. She wasn’t so bold as to ask Abigail to pay herself, but she wanted her stipend working as a servant to go to him. It was the only situation in which Abigail had to put her foot down with her new servant.

Abigail had just been thinking about how she could disenchant her cousin when the worst news possible arrived. It appeared that the boy had died. Her information network revealed that a week prior, the same day he had brought Mara, he had accepted a difficult request. Even though a city guardsman and a young lady advised him against it, he went to the dangerous Infernal Valley and was devoured by an infernal wolf.

There was even a rumor that a wolf king had appeared, so the chance of a mortal like him surviving was nothing. A higher-level paragon group was already sent to deal with the aftermath, so it was none of Abigail’s concern, but she didn’t know how to break things to Mara. She was afraid that his death would only martyr him in her heart. At the least, it would devastate the young girl.

“My lady?”

“Hmm?” Abigail’s mind had been wondering, and she realized she had missed Uncle Richard’s answer.

She needed to focus on the things at hand. Her uncle might be an ally, but he had his ways of doing things that didn’t match her own, such as his insistence that she get married. He wasn’t the only one who wanted her to get married. The reason she fled the capital and came to this branch location in the first place was because of the number of suitors. Although Stormberg was far enough away to decrease the number, there were still countless offers.

“I said that I got wind of your looking for a magic tutor. Isn’t that true?” Uncle Richard asked. “I’m glad to see you attempting to learn magic. Although your innate trait was strength, it isn’t suitable for a woman to learn to use weaponry. Knighthood is for the work of men.”

“Mother knew the sword.” Abigail frowned.

“Your mother… bless her heart, might not have been out with your father on that expedition if she didn’t believe she could take care of herself. At least, then you would have someone who can play matchmaker…”

Abigail couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “I thought I already gave you an answer to the marriage issue.”

As they were speaking, Mara finally returned with the sugar. She put a few scoops into my cousin’s tea.

She waited for her to finish, and then looked up with a fake smile. “It’s cold. Poor a new one.”

“A-apologies!” Mara’s face flushed as she grabbed the cup.

“Yes, yes,” Uncle waved his hand, ignoring the servant for the moment. “This so-called tournament. It isn’t necessary. My son will win.”

“You were talking about a magic instructor.” Abigail cut in with displeasure.

“Ah, right, you wish to learn magic?”

“You are mistaken,” Abigail responded. “The magic instructor is for my servant here, Mara.”

Mara stopped, nearly spilling the tea. “Huh? Me?”

His eyes flashed in surprise. “You want to hire an instructor for your maid?”

“Mara has an innate talent for magic,” Abigail responded. “Mara, show him.”

“Ah! Y-yes…” She blinked and then looked down at the cup. “Fier.”

The water in the cup she was holding quickly started to steam and even bubble. A moment later, the cold tea had been heated. She blushed, putting the cup back down next to Abigail’s cousin. The cousin looked at it briefly and then sniffed.

“It’s adequate.” She looked like she didn’t want to admit that much. “My specialty is alchemy though.”

“You know magic?” Mara looked at her with surprise.

“My daughter Penelope was just taken as an apprentice under Grandmaster Bai. He’s the best alchemist in Stormberg. You asked why I returned, it was natural to bring my daughter, but she also has some attainment with magic. She’s been learning since she was ten, so she could do as your magic tutor.”

“This…” Abigail finally realized why her uncle had come. “Of course, she can remain here while she’s studying.”

“I will take you up on that offer then.” The woman raised her chin proudly.

It wasn’t surprising that her uncle knew Grandmaster Bai. His entire branch had their wealth tied into alchemy. He knew dozens of grandmasters. Grandmaster Bai was probably not the best, but he specifically sent his daughter to Stormberg to slip her into Abigail’s mansion. She was naturally there to help assert her uncle’s will. This was just another headache coming on.

“Can you help me with magic?” Mara asked.

“Watch your mouth, servant.” The girl made a face, but seemingly liking the way Mara was looking at her enviously, she continued. “However, I suppose I can teach you some things while I’m here, as long as you respect me properly as your teacher.”

“I will! I promise!” Mara bowed excitedly. “Spirit will be so happy. I can’t wait to tell him.”

“Spirit?” The Uncle gave Abigail a look.

She couldn’t help but grimace. “Just a commoner boy she fancies.”

“Hmph…” He looked displeased by that. “A young girl like her should focus on her studies, not on boys.”

“I will! Studies… I mean.” Mara blushed.

His perverted look returned. “That’s a good girl.”

Abigail couldn’t help but get a bad feeling. She already had enough problems managing the failing branch and keeping back her suitors. This was just one more problem she had to deal with. At least, it’d all be resolved in a month. The tournament would resolve everything.