I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism!

“Are you all these bandits I’ve been hearing about?” I asked slowly.

“You all…” Erika’s shocked expression quickly turned to scorn. “What do you think you’re doing here? This is the road between the academy and Stormberg. This is the most highly protected road in this region. If you attack us, guards will ascend immediately and kill all of you.”

“Most protected road…” One of the men repeated her words scornfully and then laughed. “I wouldn’t be worried about the guards. By the time they appear, you’ll be long dead.”

“Impossible!” She declared in disbelief.

Penelope gave her a sneer. “He’s saying he’s paid off the guards, foolish girl. They won’t arrive until after we’re dead, no longer how long that takes.”

The bandit in the front chuckled. “Well, at least you understand.”

I had to look at Penelope with fresh eyes. I didn’t take her as someone who would understand the situation so quickly. I was rather impressed.

“How can that be?” Erika looked taken aback. “These guards are all employed by the Stormberg houses. How could a mere bandit afford to get them to betray the houses?”

Penelope’s expression tensed, but she didn’t answer Erika. I could only roll my eyes. Erika was still the innocent and naïve girl I remembered. As smart as she was about technical details, she had little understanding of how the world worked. She didn’t seem to notice that these guys were dressed a little too well.

Oh, it was true they had baggy commoner clothing on, but most of it was brand new as if it had never been worn before, and it looked like they had hastily thrown it on over nicer clothing. If one looked carefully, they might notice one of them had nicer shoes or a higher quality belt than fit the rest of their outfit. The most damning proof though was the quality of their weapons. These were bandits at all, but paragons sent from some family. They were likely guards themselves.

“Are you here to rob us or kill us?” Penelope asked cautiously. “If it’s just our stuff you want, we won’t resist.”

I glanced at her. Even if it came to stuff, I probably would resist, but I at least respected her calm demeanor. Erika was shaking and still wore an indignant confused expression as if she never could imagine any of this happening. Penelope was acting extremely composed though, only a slight tension at her temples showed her fear.

“Naturally, we just want your stuff. Once you put everything down, we will let you go.” The leader grinned, although since his face was covered with a hood and cloth, all I could see were his lips.

“Spirit…” Erika whispered to me with a worried expression. “Some of the items on me are from the Academy. I can’t just give them away.”

I reached out and patted her head. “It’s okay. There is no reason to give them anything anyway.”

The bandit leader frowned. “Are you going to be difficult?”

“You plan to kill us anyway after you rob us.” I shrugged. “Do you think you’re that good at lying?”

The bandit hissed. “Well, I never preferred sneaking around and deception in the first place. Master only asked me to kill you with the least effort and to take every protection.”

“Master?” Erika blinked and then gasped. “Y-you’re from one of the houses of Stormberg? Are you going to make an enemy of the Academy?”

Although Erika was naïve, she was also very clever and quickly realized the truth as soon as he slipped.

The leader’s expression turned ugly for a moment. “You weren’t even supposed to be here. It was just supposed to be him and the Capala bitch. I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a chance. Walk away and we’ll let you live.”

“Sir… Master said no witnesses.” The guard next to him spoke.

“Shut it!” He snapped.

Erika didn’t even hesitate before shaking her head while clutching a staff in her hand. “I won’t allow you to harm my friends!”

Penelope gave Erika a complicated look. She probably wouldn’t have left either, but only because she didn’t trust them to honor their deal. Erika took them at their word and still chose to stay.

“So, that goes back to killing all three of us. Are you sure you can handle the burden? Are you sure you can even defeat us?” I decided to throw as much doubt into his mind as possible.

The leader sneered. “Do you think you can win? We’re all Flawless. You may have managed to barely scrape a victory before, but this is a real fight. Your tricks won’t work here. Not only do we outnumber you two to one, but you’re all merely evolved. These girls appear to both be high-level evolved, but a realm is still a realm. As for you, can your strange mutation be enough to overcome all of us? I doubt it.”

“You can’t do this…” Erika was looking increasingly nervous.

“Can’t I?” he laughed. “If you want anyone to blame, it should be this man right here. He shouldn’t have stolen from my Master. You have things that don’t belong to you. Master merely wants them back.”

“Oh? So, you’re working for either Jordan or Huntington. Good to know.” I smirked.

I had already guessed as much, but watching his face turn into a grimace as he realized he was giving too much away was quite enjoyable.

“Jordan?” Penelope’s eyes flickered and she glared at me. “What do you take?”

“How could Spirit take something from Jordan?” Erika asked.

Seeing the man’s expression darkened even more, I could almost applaud the girls. By specifically picking Jordan, Penelope was able to give me a hint on which one sent this man. She had to just pick one of the names. If she was correct, he’d grow more upset, and if she was wrong, his expression probably wouldn’t have changed or even grown a bit smug. As for Erika, I doubted her support was intentional, but either this leader was a genius actor or his master was Jordan. Given his age, I leaned on the latter.

“I won in a fight, fair and square. It was a bet.” I explained and turned to the leader. “You probably saw the fight. It was fair and square against Jordan and Huntington. Two on one.”

Penelope snorted in disbelief. “There is no way you defeated both of them two-on-one. Who do you think-“

She started speaking, but when she noticed the ugly expressions on the bandits, her eyes widened in shock.

Erika had already seen me in more dangerous circumstances, so she didn’t look as shocked. She already believed I was a high-level evolved. Rather, her eyes shone with understanding.

“It’s not really what you think. We made a bet, but what I won is not something Jordan cares about. Rather, he wants what I offered. I put out something irresistible, and here he is to take what isn’t his.”

As I spoke, I was naturally watching the guy’s face. His expressions were slight, but even in the dark, I could see his expressions. He tensed slightly, which told me he hadn’t known about that part. That meant he wasn’t so close to a family member that Jordan felt the need to tell him the truth.

“What could you master want so bad that he’s willing to offend the academy?” Erika asked.

I didn’t answer, but Penelope looked at me consideringly. She was likely also curious. If I had something so desirable that it would cause a family to take such a decisive risk, not even waiting a day to strike, then how could that help the Capala family? Although we were standing on the same side it didn’t mean we were allies. She naturally had her interests.

“Enough of this!” The leader seemed to finally realize we were just stalling. “Spirit, if you hand over what my master wants, we will give you a swift death. The girls will become guests of the Stride household until things are worked out.”

It looked like he had dropped any pretense of hiding his identity anymore.

“And if I refuse?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“You will die slowly, but it will be these girls who pay the most.” He looked over at two women and a lascivious look appeared in his eyes. “If their bodies are used and they are left dead, who will doubt that it is all the result of a bandit?”

“Vulgar!” Penelope gasped. “You’d dare?”

“I think they would.” I shook my head.

“The academy will investigate!” Penelope cried out.

“They will… and maybe they’ll find some proof leading to the Stride family. At worst, some words will be exchanged, an apology gift will be passed, and a patsy will be sacrificed.”

“And if you’re the patsy?”

“Enough stalling.” He grinned malevolently. “You won’t be alive long enough to worry about that. Attack!”