I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 82

“Ah, it’s beautiful!” I looked to see Erika admiring the beautiful gown she was in.

The scenery had all changed once again. Erika and I were now in some kind of throne room, and the pair of us were in matching chairs sitting in the front. On my head was a crown, and on hers was a diadem.

A snobbish-looking man in a fine suit made a loud introduction. “My queen, my king, these are the delegation from the Wildmen tribes.”

A group of nearby trumpeters played, and then the doors at the end of the room opened, allowing in a group of people. Compared to the fine and elegant dresses of those spectators in the throne room, this group looked feral. Wildmen was an apt name. These men were broad-shouldered and muscular. They wore thick furs and let their beards grow as they might. Their eyes darted about the room like predators scanning for dangers.

They stopped just short of our throne, though they didn’t bow or give a greeting. Instead, they looked at us challengingly until the guests on the sides started to murmur unhappily.

“You asked us to come.” The one in front spoke in a raspy voice that still managed to fill the hallway. “Something about a peace treaty.”

His presence finally stopped Erika’s innocent surveying of the throne room’s grandeur. In my world, I had seen any number of crazy pieces of architecture, so a rather generic throne room in a rather standard castle didn’t impress me as much.

“Oh, um… I guess this is the next test…” Erika muttered and then shook her head and put on a smile. “Our kingdom of… um… we greet you great leader of the… um… wildmen?”

She managed to get a greeting out based on the few pieces of information she managed to overhear. It was pretty impressive actually. The wildmen leader merely looked back at her. Then he turned to me.

“Why do you let this woman talk?” he growled.

It seemed like this question was rude even for this culture, as many of the nobles to the side let out gasps and murmured angrily.

“You can trust that I and my wife are of one voice,” I replied.

“Wiw-ife…” She looked over at me, then blushed and looked away.

“It sounds like weakness.” He made a face. “Women do not belong in positions of power.”

Despite the increasing levels of angry muttering, I put a smile on my face. “Where do you think you came from?”

He frowned. “I come from the wilds…”

“You came from a woman… as did all of us who would call ourselves men.” I rolled my eyes. “A strong woman makes a strong man. If you prefer meek and listless women, perhaps this is because your men can’t handle someone stronger?”

“You dare!” One of the younger wildmen behind the leader stepped forward, a look of rage on his face.

The leader held up his hand, stopping him. He stared at me tensely for a few minutes, and then he let out a laugh. The other wildmen, other than the young one who stepped out, all threw back their heads and started laughing. The guests looked uneasily at each other as the group in the middle continued their revelry.

When it died down, the leader looked at me. “I like you. We can have peace.”

This time, the guests all burst into applause. Was it that easy? It felt like this trial ended prematurely. Yet, soon, the room was cleared out and then filled with tables and chairs. Like that, a party began to celebrate the newfound peace. Musicians played instruments and a part of the floor was reserved for dancing. The only ones who weren’t moving around energetically were the wildmen who once being seated tore into any food placed in front of them, and me and Erika, who had a table placed in front of us, so we didn’t even need to leave our throne room.

Food was placed in front of us. I usually didn’t eat. I could make my energy and even persist in Photosynthesis if I wanted. I still chose to pick at the food for no other reason than to avoid drawing attention to myself.

“The peace treaty can’t be the trial, or it’d already be over,” Erika spoke quietly, but I was able to hear her nonetheless.

“Do you have any ideas on what the trial will be?”

“This is a trial for lo-lovers, so any event should have to do with our… with that.” She seemed slightly embarrassed.

“We are king and queen, and appear to be ruling together.”

“Even so…”

“Bah! Enough of this!” A voice cut into our conversation, causing even the music to stop.

The Wildmen leader stood up.

“Is this party not to your liking?” I asked.

“Hmph, in the wild lands, when we want to feel good, we drink!” He declared, causing his retinue to cheer. “You… let us drink in celebration.”

“A toast then… to our continued peace.” I gestured and a servant came over and poured me and the queen a glass.

As they poured, they ended up dropping some on the table. Meanwhile, another servant tried to pour some into glasses for the wildmen, but he just yanked the bottle out of their hand. The servant stumbled away as the wildman broke the neck on the edge of the table to open the bottle quickly. Liquid gushed out, but he didn’t seem to mind as he held the broken bottle my way.

“To peace,” he declared.

“To peace,” I raised my glass.

He threw back the wine while I drank the alcohol. As soon as I drank it, I realized something was being absorbed that shouldn’t be. I was well accustomed to alcohol, both the kind I could consume and the kind I made of my own. There was another chemical at play. I quickly blocked absorption and then began to analyze it. However, I barely got a few seconds into my analysis when I heard gagging.

I looked up to the wildman grabbing his throat as he tried desperately to breathe. At that moment, the nervous servant from before pulled a dagger hidden under his serving tray. His expression turned vicious as he lunged my way. At the same time, other servants attacked the wildmen. The youngest one was the only one who didn’t drink. He let out howls as he fought back.

I wanted to do something, but I was still fighting the poison I had just consumed. It left me stuck in place for a moment, and in that moment the servant was about to stab me. The damage he would do was negligible, but I wouldn’t be able to hide my true power.

At that moment, I felt a force grab me and pull me back. I found Erika leaping into my lap. The dagger landed, but rather than hitting my neck, it struck Erika in the back. She let out a cry as she was stabbed. For a second, I saw a vision of myself back when I was stabbed in the back by my little sister. She had left me for dead, while this girl I barely knew had given her life to protect me? I looked at the servant, who was backing away with wide eyes.

Two guards grabbed him before he could run. The other guards were starting to move, but it was too late. I put the bleeding Erika on the table to check her wound, knocking all the plates aside.

“You will pay for this! This is war!” I heard a shout that caught my attention.

All of the wildmen had been cut down except for the youngest. He had succeeded in surviving the assault and even got a weapon out of a table leg. The assassin servants were all dead, and the rest of the people were still hiding to protect themselves, not sure what was going on. The young wildmen must have thought that we had betrayed them. He didn’t notice that our side was attacked just the same.

He was at the doorway swinging his bloody table leg at the guests, who mostly were just trying to flee on their own. After his yell, he spun around and raced out the door. The guards tried to pursue him, but I called them back to secure the bodies and keep the guests from leaving.

Looking at Erika growing paler by the second, I lifted a hand and touched her wound. I had to stop suppressing the poison in order to send cells from my own body into hers. I began to attack any infections and aid in repair. However, I quickly found her body was fighting my cells, so I consumed some of her cells and then modified my own so they looked like hers. Once I forced her body to accept my cells, I began to repair the damage. By that point, she had passed out unconscious.

“You’re both dead…” The servant being held down sneered. “That’s wasting poison. The cure is impossible to find. Without it, you both will die.”

At that moment, I saw it appear across my vision.

[You have been poisoned. -10 HP]

It seemed like I really did fail to block the poison. This new challenge wasn’t going to be easy.