Chapter 60: The Husbandman
With so many people passing the night in his house, Theo did not get a proper sleep. So he woke earlier than usual, at a proud 4:40 AM. And because the [Domestic Manager] skill was an A-rank utility passive with a mastery of zero point zero percent and absolutely no sense of proportion, Theo woke already knowing where everything was.
He had unpacked exactly one box in his life in this house, and yet lying flat on his back on a mattress on a bare floor at four in the morning he knew that the spare fuses were in the second crate by the boot room, that the kettle had gone into the wrong cupboard, that there were nine forks and eleven knives, and that somewhere in the west wing a tap was very slightly dripping into a sink he had not yet seen. He knew the sink was steel. He knew the drip was landing off-centre, on bare metal instead of the water already standing in the basin, which was why it carried all the way down the corridor to a man lying on the floor with his eyes shut.
’This is a nightmare. This is a genuine, actual nightmare. Go to sleep.’
The tap dripped.
’It’s four in the morning.’
The tap dripped.
Theo got up and fixed the tap.
By seven he had swept the whole ground floor, sorted the kitchen into a system that would have made a restaurant weep, found the water heater and bled it, discovered that the previous owner had left a garden hose and a jar of assorted screws in the boot room, and cooked breakfast for a household of six plus the two men who had slept in a car outside because they refused to be put in a bedroom. The hose he coiled and hung on a nail he found in the same room. The screws he sorted by length into the lid of the jar, because the jar was there and his hands were already moving.
At seven fifteen Doctor Nischov came up the stairs from the sublevel, stopped in the kitchen doorway, and looked at a table laid for eight.
"How long have you been awake."
"Not long."
Theo smiled at the man.
"Are you hungry, do you maybe want to eat anything, there’s not a lot of appetizers but I can work something out for you..."
The man shook his hands shyly.
"Oh please no, no, no, don’t do that."
He took a step back, holding onto the doorframe, and looked at Theo the way a doctor looks at a chart with the wrong name on it. Internally he was questioning whether this was the same guy he had known a year ago.
***
In the morning, the agents who had assisted all started waking up, and they looked for things to help with only to find, to their surprise, that everything was already done by the time they were on their feet. One of them stood in the middle of the hall with his sleeves pushed up and nothing to put his hands to.
One agent muttered to another.
"This is so weird, I feel so useless."
"Did he even sleep..."
"I observed the tap yesterday and thought I was going to fix it this morning only for me to wake up and it’s fixed. I thought SS-ranks are bullies like Chainsmoke."
"Bro, this guy is a breath of fresh air."
Frank passed the agents, heard what they were saying, and formed a small smile of his own before he could think better of it. Of course, he shared the same opinion with the agents.
To him, too, Theo was a breath of fresh air compared to what it had always meant to be conventionally strong.
’I just hope the tower does not change him.’
Lance woke at the same time as the rest, but he came out fresher than any of them. He walked into the kitchen and found everywhere already neatly kept, the counters bare, the chairs squared, the pans stacked from largest to smallest.
"Good morning, Mr Theo."
Theo beamed a smile.
"Theo is fine."
Lance did not take the smile lightly.
’Please stop giving me that disarming look, one will think you can’t harm an ant.’
He sighed.
"Allow me to address you formally until I am worthy enough to call you friend."
He leaned against the island of the kitchen and asked, looking around.
"Don’t you need a maidservant around? Someone to help you with your wives and housework, especially when you’re in the tower."
Theo was doing the dishes from yesterday. He paused with a plate in his hand, the water still running over his knuckles, and looked distant before responding.
"Yes, Aide Lance. I actually have plans to hire someone."
"Then if you don’t mind, I can recommend someone that will be very useful."
Theo tilted his head, looking at the Aide coldly.
"To watch me on your behalf or to help me?"
The Aide paused for a moment, then chuckled shyly and scratched the back of his head.
"I’m sorry if my behavior back then was offensive, we have only had one SS-rank, another one coming around, we just had to be sure what you were like."
Theo scoffed.
"I hope you were satisfied."
Aide Lance gulped.
And Theo added:
"As for the help, I appreciate it, I’d like to evaluate whoever you suggest, myself."
The Aide nodded and leaned away from the island. His white sleeves were folded back to the elbow, and he had not put his tie on this time.
"Will you be fine on your own?"
Theo gave him a reassuring smile.
"Yes, I will be."
He added:
"Will you stay for breakfast before leaving?"
Aide Lance shook his head with what looked like real regret at the table laid for eight.
"Nahh, I can’t... moving things around for your measurements without being under the radar of the moguls from the Tower is difficult, and majorly what is delaying your measurement. I have to return and see that things are in place so you can come for proper measurement and your ranking will be decided then."
Theo nodded at the man, and saw him off afterwards.
Aide Lance, Frank, and the other Agents from the Hero Association all entered their cars and drove off that morning. The gravel held the tyre marks for a while, and then the wind off the lake took the dust away.
After that Theo went into Estea’s room. She was already awake on her bed, seated up and leaning slightly on one arm, the blanket pushed down to her waist where her legs lay exactly as someone had left them.
Her crimson hair spilled messily. The morning sun came through her curtains and caught in her amber gaze, and it fell across her porcelain skin as well, so that the line of her shoulder held the light like something polished.
Theo’s heart gasped for breath the moment he entered, and following that was an unreasonably loud heartbeat.
Estea was in a night wear with thin straps, so most of her shoulders, her slender arms and the outline of her breasts within the wear was somewhat impossible not to notice.
’God, the sun is so beautiful today, I wonder how the sun is so beautiful today? How can heroes fly? Can I fly too if I put my heart to it? Hmm, my rice has been tasting the same recently, I wonder if I can get a cooking skill from the system, maybe I should try adding sugar in the rice?’
Theo stopped in front of her and raised both his hands.
"Routine, massage. Can I?"
Estea was glaring at him, but the next moment she looked away, at the curtain.
"It’s not like I can run away from you."
Theo chuckled and knelt down, setting his knees on the floorboards beside the bed.
"You could stare me to death though."
***
[System Notice]
[The Author has announced a severe starvation of Chapters incoming if readers do not vote power stones and Golden Tickets. This is not within the Author’s powers. Golden Tickets, Power Stones are the fuel that the Author’s creative energy runs on, if you give so little how else will Author be able to pump more Chapters?]
[This is a Call to Action if you enjoy this series. Vote more!]