I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 202

Fate’s boots pounded against the soft earth as she continued forward down the forest trail. In front of her, nine other men kept up the pace, and behind her, the sounds of flesh howlers thirsting to sink their teeth into them. However, her thoughts weren’t on the flesh howlers anymore. Their howls were now growing further and further away. This was undoubtedly because three people had chosen to stay behind.

“I’ll go as well.” Those had been Spirit’s words, and they had taken Fate off guard.

Of anyone who should stay behind, he was the last one. He wasn’t even part of the Lou family, so his sacrificing himself and the expedition made no sense. Yet, her uncle Fortune had made the call, and she had no choice but to respect it. Yet, his actions had disturbed her, and even now, it was bothering her more than she expected. She could only tell herself that it was because of the bet she had made with Abigail.

“He’s a trouble-maker,” she had said. “A philanderer. You asked me to watch him at the academy, and his actions are problematic. He will only get in the way.”

This was a few days prior, when she had first approached Abigail and asked her if she wanted to go on the expedition. She had only asked her due to their friendship, and it had mostly been an empty request. She fully expected her friend to turn her down. When, instead, she suddenly put up Spirit’s name, she had rejected it immediately.

“You’re protesting too much.” Abigail smiled, causing Fate to frown. “I trust him.”

“Why? You barely know anything about him!”

“He’s… made me promises.” She looked off distantly, her expression kind of odd.

Fate didn’t understand what her friend was on about. Promises were easy to make. Keeping them was the difficult part, and he hadn’t been around long enough to keep any of them.

“Abigail…” She wanted to adjust her argument.

“Want to bet?” Abigail asked, smirking suddenly.

“What? Bet?”

“If Spirit survives to the end of your expedition, I don’t just want his share of the rewards, but yours as well.”

“My share!” Fate took a step back.

“And, if Spirit dies, I’ll pay you two shares out of my coiffeurs.”

“That…” Fate looked uncertain. “You can’t afford that bet.”

“I’ll honor it. If push comes to shove, I can just go back to the main family and let them control my future. They’re more than good for my debt.”

“Why would you give up so much?” Fate looked shocked.

“I’m not giving up anything.” Abigail shook her head sadly. “If Spirit dies, that will happen anyway. I might as well bet against it.”

“I-is that why you’re doing this?” Fate asked. “You know, I-I could just kill him and win the bet!”

“Would you do that to me?” Abigail asked.

Fate looked away. “I don’t know why you’re doing this…”

“You don’t need to think about my motivations.” She chuckled, “Just think about how you’re going to pay me my shares.”

Later on, in Boltshade, it was this bet that made her stop from killing Spirit then. As soon as she started attacking him, she felt a bit guilty. If she did kill him, she’d be destroying her friend. Of course, she also had noticed how Spirit had dodged and avoided all of her strikes. She had even attacked him by surprise and unarmed, and yet he didn’t have a scratch on him. For a moment, she was starting to believe Abigail’s assessment of him had some merit.

“We’re clear.” Fortune’s voice cut through her thoughts.

They all slowed to a stop. They had already left the forest, and the territory of the flesh howlers was behind them. Everyone had been moving at full speed almost since that morning, only stopping to fight against waves of flesh howlers. They all needed a break.

“Do you think they’ll survive?” One of the younger men asked the question Fortune and Lot knew better than to voice.

“Felix has a chance…” Someone else answered confidently. “If he was just watching after Lucky, they might survive… but with Spirit?”

The group grew silent. They had watched Spirit fight against Fate, but they likely presumed she wasn’t trying very hard. None of them expected much from him, and he had done very little to alleviate that during the fighting earlier that day. He certainly didn’t impress them to the point that they believed he could turn the tide of battle.

At just that moment, the ground tremored. A massive plume of dust rose from the forest behind them, as if there had been a sudden, horrific impact.

Fortune closed his eyes and lowered his head. “That must have been Felix. He burned the last of his life force to execute one final strike.”

“Then… that means…” Lot looked shocked.

“Come on.” Fortune turned stone-faced. “Let’s keep going. We must finish this expedition. Make their sacrifice worth it.”

He started moving, and the other got up from their resting positions and continued. Being in the rear position, Fate hesitated and looked back. The cloud of dust had already dissipated. She felt strange inside, like she had just lost something. That feeling slowly turned to anger. She didn’t know why, but she felt angry at Abigail. It turned out he wasn’t worth her trust at all!

The group reached their rendezvous point come night. The men immediately began to open their packs and start setting up their tents. They cooked a big meal, but it was rather somber. Even though they had completed the first leg of their journey, they had already experienced a great deal of loss, losing nearly a third of their team. Fate didn’t touch any of the food. She wasn’t hungry. Fate felt particularly in a foul mood, but she couldn’t exactly understand why.

Fortune called for a meeting, and everyone except the younger men put on early watch, sat around the fire, and waited for him to talk.

“In the morning, we’ll send scouts up the mountain,” He explained. “We need to figure out the condition of the sage beast, and if possible, find out if what other parties we’re competing against. It’s a shame we lost our best tracker, but we’ll just have to continue…”

“What about Stormhollow?” Lot asked.

“We’ll keep our distance. We don’t want anyone to determine we’re here.”

“What about the rescue team?” Lot demanded stubbornly, looking at the other guys as they put their heads down.

Fortune sighed. “There would be a rescue team. You saw it the same as I… Felix died. The rest… undoubtedly joined him.”

“W-wait, we’re not going to send anyone to check?”

“Listen, this is an order.” Fortune became stern. “Under no circumstances is anyone to enter the city. Our only advantage is that no one knows we are here!”

At that moment, a horn blew, and one of the men let out a shout. “Enemy!”

Fortune pulled out his sword and stood as men burst out from the dark all around them. Some of the men were slower and knocked unconscious before they could even react. Fortune immediately began battling three men, but Fate detected a sudden rise in energy.

“Watch out!” She put herself between him and the surge.

A powerful force struck her. It was at the level of a champion. Fate didn’t even have a chance as she was instantly knocked unconscious. For a while, she floated in groggy blackness. She vaguely felt she was being carried somewhere. However, when she finally woke from unconsciousness, she could tell some time had passed.

She sat up, immediately grabbing her head as it bounded. She heard the jingle of metal and the pull of weight on her wrists. She looked to see that she was bound in chains.

“You’re awake.” A familiar voice caused her to feel relief.

She looked around to see Fortune sitting near her. He wasn’t the only one. Everyone else was there too, although some had bruises and wounds that had only been tied up and stemmed with what they had within this barren tent.

“What happened?” She asked, realizing her mouth burned with dryness.

“Mercenaries. Goldtooth, I think. A rival hired them to capture us.” Fortune explained.

“Why?” She croaked.

She found herself wishing she had eaten with the men when she had a chance. Who knew when these mercenaries would give them any food?

“To keep us from getting to the sage beast.” He shrugged.

“Which family?”

“That… I’m still working on it.”

Footsteps were approaching, and a flap opened a short time later. A mercenary of rank poked his head in and immediately pointed at her.

“That one.”

Two more men came in behind him and then grabbed her arms and hauled her to her feet. Her head still hurt, so she couldn’t put up too much resistance.

“No!” Fortune tried to get up, but one of the men kicked him back down. “Take me!”

“Mind your business. Commander wants a word with her.” The man responded.

They dragged her out of the tent and through the camp. Fortune and the rest could only watch helplessly.