I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 51

As I regained control of my senses, the first thing I noticed was a billowing cloud of smoke rising in the distance. The city of Arcford was in flames. It was more than a single building. To create that much smoke, the majority of the city would have to be on fire. The sky was slightly darker under those smoke clouds and there was a red haze in the distance. People had been killed. I quickly checked on the Tanner family.

They appeared to be safe, although that was a relative word. Their cart was set in front of their farmhouse, and they were moving frantically. I noticed that Mara was crying and Carolina was desperately trying to load up their cart with various items and keepsakes.

“Leave the rest! We need to go!” Tanner cried out.

I wanted to ask them what was going on, but after two years of silence, it seemed strange to act like I cared now. It hadn’t been long since I fell into my unconscious stupor. Only a few days, by my best internal clock’s guess. Yet, it seemed like in those few days, everything had fallen apart. Even if I did bubble and squirt water, they were unlikely to see me from the household. Besides, they looked too busy to acknowledge me anyway. They were running from something dangerous. I didn’t care much, but they seemed to.

I realized at that moment that this might very well be the last time I saw them. I felt a surprising pang of regret. I thought myself removed from the world of humans, but a part of me still cared about these Tanners. It might be too much to say they were family, but they were at least neighbors to me. I could be alone from here on out for a very long time.

I watched as the three of them jumped onto the cart. Tanner lifted the reigns to snap them, but then he froze. After a second, he let down the reigns. With a sigh, he got off the cart. Going to the back, he pulled out a sword. It was one he had lifted from the assassins all those years ago.

“Honey?” Carolina asked worriedly.

“If you get a chance… run.” he said, looking around the farm with an ugly expression on his face.

“We won’t give her any chance to run,” a sinister voice stated from nearby.

As the voice sounded out, a group of men appeared all around the cart. They were hidden in countless places as if waiting in ambush for the right moment, but Tanner had spoiled it. I still hadn’t removed all the alcohol from my system, so my senses were still a bit woozy.

I hadn’t noticed them hiding all around the farm. However, they had to at least be paragons to avoid my senses, and they were likely practiced in stealth techniques. Although they were all dressed in cheap armor and scavenged cloth, giving them the appearance of bandits, there was something off about them. They were too clean. There didn’t appear to be any dirt on them like they were men who grew up in privilege. As someone who used to be in a gang, this was something I could tell with a glance.

By the time the last one appeared, there were fifteen in all, but more could be hiding. Mara cried out, and her mother hid her face in her apron.

“What do you want?” Tanner asked, looking unsurprised.

“As expected of a Flawless… to think you reached such heights on your own. I wonder how far you could have gone if you had the support of the court. Your family certainly wouldn’t have been destroyed if you had been the eldest rather than a simple, foolish brother.” The man seemed completely unconcerned with Tanner pointing a weapon his way.

“What house do you herald?” Tanner’s chin rose, and the casual farmer persona seemed to disappear, replaced with a more regal one.

“House?” He let out a chuckle, holding out his hands. “We’re but humble bandits.”

“Humble bandits lead by a Champion?” Tanner made a face.

“Well, we couldn’t have you slipping away again, now, could we?” He looked at Tanner’s sword and grinned. “Those men’s families were well compensated, believing they died fighting you. To think, you would evolve and defeat your pursuers. You should have remained dead.”

“I don’t want any trouble.” Tanner tried to change his tactic. “I don’t want revenge. I just want to live my life peacefully. I don’t even know how you found me.”

“You want to know?” He smirked, snapping his fingers.

Two men came out from behind the barn, and in between them was a young man.

“Markus… how could you…” Tanner looked at him with disappointment.

For a long time, it looked like Markus was going to marry in the family. Tanner had even taught him some footwork and stances.

“This is your fault!” Markus cried out as he shook, pointing his finger at Tanner. “You’re the one who used some monster to k-kill Knight Swallow. It took me over a year, but I got a message to the right people. It’s your fault for committing crimes against this country. I just reported it.”

“Markus…” Although they hadn’t spoken much in the last two years, Mara still had a lingering crush on him, but seeing him now, she looked heartbroken.

“I brought you to them, didn’t I?” He turned to the knights. “You promised me!”

“Yes, yes…” The man in charge waved a hand. “We’ll take you back to the city with us, and you’ll begin training as a knight.”

“A-and the girl?” His eyes flickered to Mara. “I can have her?”

Some of the men chuckled, while Mara gave a horrified look.

“The girl is off limits. However, in the city, there are many beautiful women.” The man grinned. “She is only average there, and they all love a man in uniform.”

This elicited more chuckles, but Markus looked unsatisfied. “That wasn’t part of the deal! I’m owed her! She’s my reward!”

His expression twisted, but then he gave a nod. “Very well, give the boy his reward.”

Markus looked on eagerly, but the two men surrounding him exchanged a look and then pulled their swords. He barely even reacted before two swords were stabbed through his back.

He looked down at the bloody blades with confusion. “W-why?”

“Foolish boy…” Tanner looked away. “They wouldn’t leave any witnesses to their crimes.”

Mara let out a scream. Her mom turned her head and hid her face as Markus collapsed to the ground dead. Nothing of value was lost in my opinion.

“Well, you do understand us best.” The man chuckled, grabbing his belt. “Kill him, capture the women. You guys earned a little fun.”

“Run!” Tanner yelled out as a dozen men surged on him.

The two girls jumped off the cart and immediately headed to the house. Meanwhile, Tanner tried to engage as many of them as possible while bottlenecking them at the front door. This seemed eerily familiar to the event over a decade prior when the goblins had descended on his family. However, goblins were somewhat stupid, and these were all trained knights. Although they were wearing what might be called bandit garb, it was too nice and their movements too uniform for them to be anything but trained soldiers. Not only were they more organized, but they were all paragons, with the lowest evolved and the highest a Champion, a level higher than Tanner. In short, they were too much for him.

It didn’t matter though. As long as any of them stepped into my waters, I could take care of them. Even the Champion didn’t worry me. After all, I had taken care of that other knight. I began getting ready. However, as the fight continued, Tanner acquired more and more wounds. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter didn’t try to sneak down to my pond. It was possible they couldn’t, but at the same time, the family acted like I wasn’t there. They had forgotten me. Two years without speaking would do that. They truly believed I had gone silent. If I was dormant, or worse, dead… then going to me would be their death as well.

I started squirting water and making bubbles. Water splashed left and right. I was creating quite a mess trying to get Tanner’s attention. I had been so foolish. It wasn’t Tanner who noticed me though. Rather, it was the leader.

“It’s as the reports stated!” he cried out, pointing my way. “The pond scourge can’t leave the confines of its prison! Whatever you do, don’t approach the pond, or allow any of them to get near it! We’ll use some poison and kill the scourge once we deal with them.”

Tanner finally noticed me, but it was already too late. These guys were better informed than I could have guessed. They called me scourge.

Tanner continued to fight for his life, and the only thing I could do was watch.