I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 191

My eyes snapped open. Standing over me was a woman in full armor. Her eyes were filled with malevolence and anger. She lifted her blade, mana flooding into it to provide a powerful death strike. I rolled to the side just as the strike landed. A shockwave exploded. I could feel the power of her strike burning my back as the wall itself exploded outward. The other people who were sleeping beside me all woke up screaming.

As soon as they laid eyes on the assailant, they immediately parted ways. The guy next to me leaped on the bed as if I was covered in poison. Below, there were the sounds of people waking up and shouting. Outside, it was very early morning, the sunlight only just starting to lighten the otherwise dark sky. I rolled back into a standing position, bringing out Eternal Harmony.

“What is the meaning of this?” I snapped.

Fate snorted. “You’re good at deceiving, I’ll give you that!”

Her sword started to build mana once again. This inn wasn’t all that stable, and a hole had already been blowing out of the side of it. I could look out onto the main street in front of the inn. If she managed another strike, she might cause the entire to collapse, and who knew how many people would be harmed? I immediately leaped out of the entrance. I landed two stories down onto the dirt street below.

Many things were going through my mind. Was the Lou family making a move to eliminate me? Did I offend them in some way, or was this the plan all along? Did they organize this expedition to draw me out to a place in the middle of nowhere and then dispose of me? Was Abigail in on this betrayal? All kinds of accusations went through my head, but I was forced to dodge as another shockwave tried to strike me.

Where I had been standing was now a slash cut into the street three feet deep. Fate was standing in the opening, staring down at me with eyes of fire. Her hair was blowing in the wind caused by her violent attacks, and her mana was building. Was this how a true fight went? I knew that they were all holding back in that martial competition. They didn’t want people to die. However, weren’t these strikes a bit too powerful?

It wasn’t like she’d be able to kill me, but if I was forced to use my abilities, it’d expose my strength. Should I just run? She wasn’t waiting for me to think though. She leaped down to the street, landing in front of me in a way her knees only bit slightly. I noticed a group of guards. I gave them a quick wave to come and help me. Why were they acting like they couldn’t see me?

In the doorway to the inn, two other girls appeared, the ones from our party. They had their arms crossed in front of them and were nodding as if Fate’s actions were righteous. I was growing more and more confused because the guys were all staring out the hole left by Fate, bewildered expressions on their faces.

“Why are you doing this?” I demanded.

Her eyes flashed angrily. “Continue to keep pretending. If you don’t fight back, I will kill you for real.”

“Isn’t that what you tried with the last two strikes?” I cried out helplessly.

“Those were merely warnings. Now, it’s punishment!”

“Fooor Whaaat?” I yelled, but I didn’t get an answer.

Instead, Fate’s mana-infused body moved toward me almost like she was teleporting, although I knew she was just moving incredibly fast. She began to attack, her rapier practically a blur as she delivered dozens of precise strikes all over my body. I had to use Eternal Harmony to block those strikes, and then dodge the ones  I could use my sword enough. For a few moments, the pair of us were at a standstill. I was just considering trying to use one of the other Lou party spectators as a hostage when someone emerged from the inn.

“Fate, what is the meaning of this? Why are you attacking a member of our party?” The person who asked the question was her uncle, Fortune, who was standing there alongside her brother and Felix.

“Last night, I already detected that someone was sneaking around the bath last night.” Fate declared. “This morning, I returned to the scene of the crime and found evidence outside the privacy fencing for our bath. Someone was peaking on us naked last night!”

“Oh?” Fortune blinked.

“Why do you assume it was me?” I yelled.

“Who else can sneak up on me!” She declared. “I recognize you have some ability, but I never guessed you would profane me with your eyes. You do not need to worry. I will not kill you. I will merely cut out your eyes as compensation.”

“How is that any better?” I snapped back. “Look, I didn’t peek at you last night. I haven’t seen you naked. I don’t even know what your birthmark looks like.”

“…”

“…”

“Die!”

I was careful to say I didn’t see her because in truth I hadn’t used my eyes. The way I had seen her body used other senses and so my image of her wasn’t the same as a visual image. That’s why things like her birthmark were hard to identify. However, I only realized upon saying it I probably wouldn’t have known she had a birthmark, given the location.

She raced forward and attacked me again. This time, she was even more ferocious. I was doing everything I could to block her. It wasn’t that I couldn’t move faster, but that I was limited by the level they expected me to be. If I exceeded that level, then I’d blow my cover, and my greatest advantage at the moment was still that no one knew exactly how strong I was, even myself.

“Crap!” I cursed as I made a mistake.

I couldn’t get my blade up in time. Hers was about to strike my throat. It wasn’t a lethal blow, but it was a blow that would put me down. If I blocked it, she would notice, as would her uncle. That’s when I saw a blade coming to save me. I stumbled back and fell to my butt as the blade was stopped by Fortune. He had merely grabbed the rapier at the stem, keeping his niece from continuing any attacks.

“Enough of this. If you children are so energetic, save it for the expedition.” He declared, pulling her rapier right out of her hands.

She let out a cry of protest, but he still took it and started walking away. “H-hey! What about him? H-he-”

Her uncle stopped suddenly. “If you’re talking about the hole located in the back of this inn… I’m the one who used it.”

Fate’s eyes widened. “Wh-what?”

“How else was I going to see how my little niece is developing? I have to say, you have your mother’s genes. They’re already an E. I’m impressed!”

“Y-you!” Fate’s face turned red and she covered her chest, turning away.

Her uncle burst out laughing. The two girls who had been watching shyly stepped to the side as he passed. It turned out that all of the Lou family were strange perverts who lusted after their own family. I stood up and then turned toward Fate in disbelief.

“After all that, you’re just going to let him go?”

She destroyed the inn and tried to kill me in my sleep, but she didn’t do anything to her uncle. This level of discrepancy was unreasonable.

“He’s too powerful.” She responded shyly. “Even if I tried to fight him, I’d only be taken advantage of.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. “Even so-”

“I’m sorry…” She responded, still not looking at me and her face red. “I accused you of something you didn’t do. I apologize.”

“Hmph…” I dusted myself. “At least you have the decency to know when you’re wrong!”

“Wait, if uncle was the one who peaked on sister,” Lot spoke up. “Then why does Spirit know about her birthmark?”

I froze, and I suddenly felt her eyes back on me. I turned to her. Fate was staring at me coldly once again.

“I-it was a guess… I was saying I didn’t know if you had one… it came out wrong.” I smiled.

She tilted her head. “If I had a birthmark… I wonder where it would be…”

Although she said that, her body was completely still. She was staring at me unblinkingly. I stared back. Sweat formed on my brow as the pair stared into each other’s eyes unmoving. Then she shifted slightly, her voluptuous body moving in a revealing way. My eyes dropped to the area just to the right of her hip, just above the pubic region, before flickering back to her eyes.

“You bastard!” Her rage returned.

“Fuck!”

She attacked me, but since her rapier was confiscated, all she had was a fist. She wasn’t brawling, so without something to poke holes in people, her attack was swift but it lacked any power. I caught her fist and then pulled her toward me. She let out a cry as she ended up in my arms. I leaned in and whispered in her ear.

“We both know uncle’s assessment was flawed. You’re undoubtedly an F cup!”

Her eyes widened as her face started to turn red. I gave a side sweep, tossing her to the ground. It was all done so smoothly that no one noticed I whispered in her ear. After tossing her ground, I quickly headed back to the inn while she was still shocked.

“S-sister?” Lot asked.

“K-k-k-” She shook.

“Ke?”

“I’ll kill him!”