I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 259

The commotion outside naturally caught my interest. It was a small village, so to hear so many people clambering outside, something interesting must have been going on. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, my bare feet touching the cool, splintered wood floor. My body was still healing, but I had managed to put it together enough that I could move around without risk.

“Wait,” the girl pleaded, her hands wringing the apron tied around her simple dress. “You should rest. Father said you were badly injured.”

“I’m fine,” I told her. “I’ve been lying down for too long. It’s time I stretch my legs.”

She looked a bit hesitant, but then, noticing the sounds outside, her face went white. “It might not be… safe. Father says to stay indoors.”

I ignored her and stood up, testing my balance. I was steady. Stronger than ever, in fact. I gave myself a shot of Adrenaline, and it excited my body enough that I was able to completely wake up. Although my chemical synthesis skills could always have made Epinephrine, the Adrenaline Release skill made it far quicker. I knew it wasn’t healthy for me to use it all the time. I would definitely have to use it sparingly in the future.

“H-hey…” She cried as she noticed me walking to the door.

However, she didn’t try to stop me and instead followed behind like a frightened bird, her small hands clenched into fists. I pushed the door open and stepped out into the bright morning light. The air was salty, and the breeze was light, but there was a tension in the air. I didn’t have to take more than a couple of steps to find that the entire village seemed to be gathered in the small, dusty square, surrounding a small group of five men.

Their clothing was a stark contrast to the simple, worn garments of the villagers. They wore embroidered cloth tunics, their boots polished to a mirror shine, and fine swords hung at their hips. I could tell instantly that they were paragons; I could feel the aura radiating off them. That said, they weren’t all that impressive to me. The strongest among them was a level nine evolved. He didn’t look remarkable in any way, but everyone in town was staring at him reverentially.

This was especially true of an old man kneeling in the dirt in front of them. He had his head down and was openly shaking in fear. He didn’t look any part the elder of a village, but rather like a chastised slave cowering before his master.

“You dare to feign ignorance?” the man at the lead snarled, lifting his foot and stepping down on the old man.

The old man grunted as his bones made cracking noises, but he still forced himself to speak through the pain. “My lord, I… I do not know how we have angered the glorious Bengal clan. We have always paid our dues.”

The leader spat on the ground. “Your dues? Don’t make me laugh. Your miserable little village has been pushing its luck. Your last tribute was severely lacking.”

“My lord,” the old man gasped, struggling to breathe. “We have paid forty percent of all our earnings, as ordered. Every copper coin. If you wish, I can show you our records.”

“Your records are worthless!” the leader roared, finally lifting his foot and causing the old man to collapse. “What your rotten town needs to do is earn more! How can the Bengal clan raise proper paragons to protect the region if you make such a miserable amount? Next month, it will be sixty!

“S-sixty! We-we can’t survive on-“

“You dare argue with me!”

“I wouldn’t dare!”

“Elara?” a voice hissed.

“Father!” the girl who was following me cried out, rushing from behind me and running to the side of a gnarled old man who was standing near the back of the group.

I followed her at a leisurely pace, although my eyes never left the group of men in the center of the crowd. The man who called us over grabbed Elara’s face, an intense expression on his.

“Elara,” the father hissed under his breath, his voice a strained whisper. “What are you doing out here? You should be inside.”

She glanced at me, her expression conflicted, but then she lowered her head, her gaze fixed on the dirt. “I’m sorry, Father.”

The girl’s father noticed me then. He straightened up as much as he could, his eyes flicking over my form. The clothing I was wearing was something they had given me. Although it was scratchy, I hadn’t bothered to change it.

He gave me a subtle, almost imperceptible nod before speaking to her. “It is… alright. But keep your head down. Stay behind me.”

He then spoke to me, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur. “My name is Elias. I am the one who fished you out of the endless sea. Forgive me for my rude welcome. The Bengal clan… they come unexpectedly, and I’ve been distracted.”

I gave a slight nod in return but said nothing. My focus was on the Bengal clan, just like everyone else in the village. However, I didn’t feel fear. It was more of a curiosity.

“Enough of this coy act!” the Bengal leader barked, his patience clearly worn thin. “Let’s get to the point. A shipment bound for my lord’s estate was raided two nights past. Supplies belonging to the Bengal clan were stolen.”

The village elder looked confused. “My lord, we know nothing of these matters. It is your men who collect and transport…”

The leader’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “Is that so?”

He gave a sharp nod to one of his men. The men grabbed three figures who had been hidden behind them, their heads covered by coarse sacks. They dragged them into the center of the square and pushed them on their knees before ripping the sacks from their heads.

A collective gasp went through the crowd. Three young men, which, going by the reaction, I could only guess were all familiar to the villagers. Their faces were bruised and swollen, their eyes wide with terror.

Elara let out a strangled cry. “Finn!”

Elias clapped a hand over her mouth, his eyes closed in despair.

“Finn, you damned fool,” he muttered like a curse.

“Let’s try this again,” the Bengal leader said, his voice dripping with condescension. “Does anyone in this village wish to speak up about the raid?”

Elias shook his head slowly, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “My lord… I am horrified to learn that some of our youth have been involved in such… such foolishness. They are children. They know not what they do. I beg you, my lord, show them mercy. The village will pay for any inconveniences. We will discipline them severely. I assure you, it will not happen again.”

The leader laughed, a harsh, grating sound. “Oh, you will pay. But there is no mercy for those who plot rebellion.”

Before anyone could react, he moved. It was a blur of motion, a casual display of power. He drove his fist into the chest of the oldest of the three boys. There was a sickening crunch of bone, and the boy’s eyes went wide with shock before the light vanished from them forever. He collapsed in a heap on the dirt.

“Nooo!” A woman in the crowd shrieked, a sound of pure, unadulterated agony, before fainting dead away.

She was caught by someone else, but no one dared to step forward and do anything about the boy dying on the ground. Elias shook, looking down. His son was the last in line, but it was clear to him how this was going to play out.

“He was the oldest. He was likely their ringleader,” the elder said, his voice strained. “The others… they were just led astray. They are innocent.”

Although it was cruel, the elder did the smartest thing he could think of. By putting all the blame on the dead, perhaps he could save the other two. Unfortunately, this leader was far too merciless for that. He turned his attention to the next boy, who couldn’t have been more than eighteen. He was sobbing uncontrollably, his pleas for mercy turning into incoherent whimpers. The leader sneered and raised his boot.

“Innocent?” he scoffed, and then brought his heel down hard on the boy’s skull. “There is no innocence when it comes to defying Bengal!”

Another sickening crunch. More screams from the crowd.

He then turned his gaze on Finn, who was pale and trembling but somehow managed to hold his ground, his jaw set in a defiant line. That was when Elara broke free.

“No!” she screamed, rushing forward and throwing herself at the leader’s feet. She clung to his leg, her body wracked with sobs. “Please, my lord! Spare him! He’s my brother! He’s just a boy! I’ll do anything! Please!”

Elias tried to reach out for her, but he was too slow. All he could do was curse under his breath as she raced up to the front of the crowd. The leader looked over at her curiously at first, but his eyes widened slightly as he took in the girl’s beauty. A slow, predatory smile spread across his face. He reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair, forcing her to look up at him.

“Such a beauty appearing in a village like this?” He grinned. “Our luck must be exceptional, boys.”

A few of the other men behind him also chuckled. The other women in the village turned away, their faces pale. They knew what it meant to catch the eye of a man from Bengal. It was a fate worse than death. However, it was already too late.

Elara flinched but didn’t pull away. She lowered her eyes, her voice a trembling whisper. “If you save my brother. I… I will serve you. However, you wish.”

“Is that so? You should have offered yourself sooner!”

The leader laughed, a triumphant, booming sound. He kicked Finn away, sending the boy flying into the wall with a wincingly loud thud. Finn cried out, his body crumpling in a heap, looking every bit as broken and bloody as the other man who had tried to protect the town before.

“Finn!” Elara cried out, trying to scramble to him.

One of the other Bengal men grabbed her around her waist and picked her up. She cried out in despair.

“You promised!” she sobbed, struggling against his hold. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt him!”

The leader shrugged, a casual, dismissive gesture. “I made no such claim. He’s alive, isn’t he? That already shows how magnanimous I am. Shouldn’t you be thanking me?”

Elara froze for a moment, but then lowered her eyes. “T-thank you.”

“Haha, I like that look, but I’ll like it even more in bed. Elder, I’ll be staying a bit longer. Provide me with the best room in your village for my friends and me.”

“Eh? Now?” The girl looked confused.

“You didn’t think you’re worth bringing back to Bengal, did you? You’ll simply service my men and me until you can pay back all the debt of your useless village. A copper a throw should be sufficient payment. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you pay every last coin!”

“You…” Even the elder spoke up.

Even for a common prostitute, a copper would be an insulting low amount. This was clearly just an attempt to humiliate and ruin this poor girl.

“I expect you to continue to warm our beds each time we visit from now on.” He laughed as Elara’s face turned to horror. “You should be glad. If you’re very lucky, you may even become pregnant with a Bengal runt!”

The five men laughed as they began to drag her away. Elias’s hand became a fist, but after a moment, he collapsed to the ground in surrender.

“Ah… I get it, you’re a bunch of cowards.”

The five paragons stopped in their tracks.

“What was that?” The leader turned back, his eyes falling on me.

Elias was looking up at me with shock, shaking his head slightly, but I stepped forward.

“Oh, nothing much. I just realized you’re a bunch of bottom-feeders,” I said casually. “It’s not that you don’t want to bring her back, it’s that you know she’s attractive enough that if you brought her back, someone would take them from you. You see, you’re the bottom of the Bengal ladder, a bunch of weaklings. You bully these people because you’re so pathetic that they’re all you can bully. Does that sound about right?”