I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 203

Fate wasn’t dragged far before she was shoved into a large tent. The tent was warm, a brazier in the corner kept the chill and dampness of the night at bay. There was a thick rug on the ground, which made a soft landing when she fell to her knees. She looked up. The tent was fully furnished with polished wood furniture. A bed, a dresser, and the most notable item was a large table covered with plates of roasted meat and glazed root, and glasses of fragrant wine.

“Lady Fate.” A man sat on one end of the table. His voice was deep and silky. “Please, sit. Eat. We have much to discuss.”

Fate scrambled to her feet, but rather than follow his command, she crossed her arms defiantly. “I’m not hungry.”

At that moment, her stomach betrayed her with a low growl. She couldn’t help but wince.

The man stroked his oily mustache and chuckled. “I insist. Negotiations always go better on a full belly.”

She hesitated for a moment, watching him. He reached and picked up a knife, skewering it into a cut of meat. He brought it up to his mouth and took a bite, closing his eyes and making a noise of satisfaction.

Fate slowly walked to the chair. “You know who I am?”

“Of course!” He chuckled, taking a sip of wine. “How could I not be aware of the beautiful and talented Lady Fate. I wonder… what are you doing so far north of Stormberg?”

“You don’t already know?” She paused as she was sitting down.

He shook his head. “I was only paid to capture you all and hinder your progress, as well as lock down Stormhollow. Employers rarely give us more information than we need.”

“And… who happens to be your employer?” she asked, taking her seat and discreetly taking a piece of fruit in her mouth.

He shook his head. “I’m not at liberty to divulge that information.”

“Then I’m also… not at liberty…to divulge.” As soon as she tasted the fruit, her hunger got the better of her, and she began to pop one fruit after another into her mouth until her cheeks were practically puffed out like a squirrel’s.

The commander watched with amusement. “You have quite the appetite.”

She couldn’t find a napkin, so she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and took a sip of the wine. “Don’t flatter yourself. I just didn’t eat yesterday.”

Fate couldn’t help but remember everything that had happened. She had woken up determined to find out who had been peeking at her in the hot spring. Despite Uncle’s claim, it had been Spirit. As a result, she didn’t get to eat anything in the morning. Then, they spent the whole day on the run fighting fleshhowlers. Then, Spirit had to go sacrifice himself. After that, she didn’t feel like eating dinner. In other words, her current predicament was all Spirit’s fault.

“You don’t need to hold back. Eat as much as you want.” He gave a toothy smile, showing his gold canine tooth.

She slowed her eating as a thought came to her. “I suppose all of this food was stolen from the people of Stormhollow?”

“Stolen? Hardly! We paid for every crumb. Goldtooth mercenaries are honorable traders.”

“You kill for coin.” She narrowed her eyes.

“So? It’s all just trade. The paragon families are the same. They trade in honor, prestige, and bloodlines. How many people have paragons kill for some familial profit? The only difference is we prefer our payments in something tangible.”

“You kidnap people!”

“And you bind them with contracts and arrest them if they step out of line. Come now, Lady Fate, you’re too smart to pretend you don’t understand.”

She scowled as she ate. “If it’s wealth you want, then we’ll pay double what you’re being offered if you let us go!”

He laughed, looking genuinely amused. “I admire your confidence, but I doubt the Lou family has the financial capital to keep that promise.”

“So, the family is rich?”

That was all Fate had determined so far. She wanted to keep him talking, hoping he would slip. However, this wasn’t much of a revelation. Most paragon families were wealthy. The leader wasn’t put off guard by her provocation and only smiled.

“Where are the rest of your people?” he asked. “Weren’t there supposed to be ten?”

“Wh-what?” She had been working on her next vector of attack when his words caught her off guard.

“I guess that they stayed back to block the fleshhowlers while the rest of you continued forward? How noble.”

Her mouth tightened. “What do you know of it?”

“I ordered the fleshhowlers to be pushed into the forest myself. It was a good way to keep anyone from coming from the south. I was surprised you still chose to force your way through. I have to say, I’m somewhat impressed. When one of them unexpectedly evolved into a howl demon, even I lost control of them. I never expected a small team to make it through his territory.”

She masked her alarm. There was a howl demon among the group? That must have been why Felix had to use the last of his lifeforce into one last attack. He must have given his life to give them all a chance to escape.

“Don’t look too worried. I sent a squad to destroy the howl demon and anyone who might have survived. It would bring too much attention to this area if it were allowed to exist.”

A sharp pang passed through her. Deep down, some part of her had hoped that at least one of them would survive. She had even thought that they might come and rescue her and her family, as nonsensical as that was to believe. Strangely, though, when she pictured rescue, it wasn’t Felix. It was Spirit. How foolish. What could he do to fix their situation?

She cleared her throat. “The family that hired you… They hired you to keep anyone else from going up the mountain.”

“This I know…” He finally leaned forward, his interest piqued. “What is on that mountain other than a powerful sage beast. Don’t tell me they plan to hunt it down.”

Fate licked her lips, feeling a bit hot inside. “They don’t need to. The sage beast is going to be dead soon. As soon as the safe beast dies…”

His eyes lit up. “Its body alone is a treasure, but it also has a cave… a lifetime of gathered materials.”

Fate nodded, leaning back, feeling even hotter, so she reached out and downed the rest of her wine.

“Anyone who obtains that wealth has enough to form their own paragon family!”

The leader smiled. “I’m very glad you told me this. With it, I can negotiate a larger sum of money to keep quiet.”

Fate looked at him in shock. “You… just that?”

“What?” He chuckled, drinking the last of his wine. “Are you surprised? What did you think? I would drop everything and run up the mountain to fight for my life against paragons and all manner of sage beasts? I’m greedy, not stupid. Let the families fight for prestige and honor. I’ll just take the watts.”

“This… even if you…”

Fate fiddled with her shirt. Her cheeks were hot and her skin was prickling. The leader seemed to notice her discomfort, and a smile formed on his lips.

“It looks like the effects are finally starting to kick in.” He spoke with a satisfied smile.

“What?” She blinked and then shot up, knocking over her chair as she stumbled back. “What did you do to me?”

The food is laced with Lustblossom. It’s a potent aphrodisiac, especially on an empty stomach.”

“Y-you ate the food too!” she accused, her breath coming out in hot pants.

“I built up resistance to it. Well, you don’t have to hear about that. It still affects me a little, but I know I’ll get to relieve my symptoms shortly.”

“Relieve…” Her eyes widened. “No! I would never!”

“You’ve already eaten more than I expected. You were quite the little glutton. Soon, I’ll imagine you’ll be just as gluttonous with that. I can’t wait! I was ordered not to touch you, but if you beg for it, that changes things…”

She collapsed to one knee. “When the Lou family finds out…”

“Finds out?” He laughed. “Will you tell them? Make sure to mention how much you begged for it. However, I actually would like the Lou family to know. Believe it or not, I quite respect a family of knights and generals. When you’re pregnant with my child, I wonder what narrative the Lou family would prefer. Would they reveal their young and bright daughter was drugged and violated by a mercenary? Or… would they rather tell everyone that their headstrong and foolish daughter fell in love with a mercenary leader on one of her first expeditions, and ended up pregnant with his child? I know which story I’d want everyone to believe…”

“N-no…”

“You know it’s true. That’s why I love paragon families. You’re so prideful, so easy to manipulate. Once you become my wife, I’ll have the complete support of a paragon family. You don’t need to see it as a loss, though. You’ll also have the support of an entire mercenary unit. I’m sure your grandfather would hand me your hand in a heartbeat. I hear he’s struggling to hold the line on the border. A granddaughter is a small price to pay for victory.”

“Y-you even know about papaw…” She looked in disbelief, noticing him walking to the flap. “W-where are you going?”

“Hehe… already so eager?” He grinned back at Fate, causing her to look away shamefully. “The aphrodisiac takes a bit to reach full potency. I’m a gentleman. I won’t touch you until you beg me yourself. That will take about an hour. Of course, if I wait any longer, your brain might break.”

“Please… anything… the cure.”

He shook his head pitifully. “There is no known cure. Well, I should say there is only one cure, and you already know what it is…”

She looked at him in horror as he turned his back and stepped out. The flap closed.

Fate clawed her fingers into the rug, body trembling, fury and shame warring inside her. Her limbs refused to listen. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps. And yet, deep down, beneath all of it, she still wanted to be saved.