I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 83

[You have been poisoned. -10 HP]

I sighed. Every time I lost 10 HP, it wasn’t to my current HP, but to my total HP. In other words, I couldn’t regenerate lost HP. Every minute while the poison was in effect, I lost 10 HP permanently. This was quite the nefarious poison. Presuming the King in this scenario was truly a king in evolution, he would have had 10,000,000 HP or more. The poison wasn’t fast-acting. In fact, for someone with that much HP, it would take close to fifteen years to reach a critical state, however every minute that passed would see him weaker than the last. The wasting poison was an apt name.

When I was originally poisoned, I had managed to keep it from spreading, but then Erika had been stabbed and without thinking, all of my attention had been on saving Erika, giving a window for the poison to spread. Perhaps, being poisoned was unavoidable. Just like with the restriction that halved my status during the last trial, this trial would poison me regardless of my actions.

Thankfully, that restriction had been let up at the end of the last trial, so I had my full status to pull from. For me and my HP level, the wasting poison might take centuries to have any major effect on me. In the meantime, I was confident I could neutralize it. I had already tried to just flush the poison from my body, but once I had let it spread, I seemed to have lost the ability to recollect it.

It had a strange magical component to it which kept it from obeying strictly biological strategies. My mana level was far too low to resolve it magically, even if I knew how. I had a feeling it was a high-level magical poison too, so even if I found someone, they likely couldn’t cure it. In the end, that left me with one conclusion.

“I need more of it.”

My sample size was too low, and it had already been diluted throughout my body. I had already checked the servant, and the vial he had been given had been emptied into my cup, which I had subsequently emptied into my stomach and absorbed. At this rate, it might take decades for me to develop a cure, but if I could find the vial, I could shorten it to weeks.

“Hm? My lord?” An advisor asked.

The night had passed by, and dawn had arrived. We were in the king’s chambers, where I had taken and placed Erika after tending to her injuries. No one present had asked how I had healed her. They seemed to take it as a secret only the king was allowed to know. An advisor had arrived to give me a report based on his investigation into the situation. I had used that time to focus inward on the poison, but I was still able to listen to his assessment.

It was a rather predictable story. A rival nation would have been placed at a disadvantage if the wildmen and our country were at peace, so they bribed various servants who prepared to attack both sites hoping to not just cause conflict, but also weaken both sides. Through the night, all the remaining unloyal servants had been caught and interrogated. The young wildman and I were given wasting poison while the rest of the wildmen elders were given a deadlier poison.

The idea was for him to escape. He was the son of the elder, and by witnessing his father’s death and escaping, he’d be filled with rage. Meanwhile, I’d be too consumed with the poison to worry about peace, allowing full war to break out. If I was killed too, the young Wildman might have come to his senses and peace might follow. It wasn’t a bad plan, but I probably could have done better.

“I’m just thinking about what it would take to cure the poison.”

“My lord, there is a cure.” The servant flushed when I raised an eyebrow. “The ingredients are well known, but one ingredient is nearly impossible to find. It grows only on the top of the forbidden mountain, at the foot of the cave of the red dragon.”

“Of course it is…” I sighed.

“My lord?”

“Hm? Huh?” We turned back to the bed just in time to see Erika’s eyes flutter open.

She was a beautiful woman. While traveling, she kept her hair up in a bun. She didn’t wear any makeup, and while her outfit was superior in cut and fit, it wasn’t designed to be alluring. In this world, she was placed in the role of a queen and was dressed to match. Although her face was a bit pale after her brush with death, the rose color was returning to her cheeks giving her a lively appeal. She had long eyelashes and full lips, and her black hair was silky and smooth. She could easily be considered as beautiful as Mara.

“My queen.” The attendant spoke with concern in his voice.

Erika blinked a few times, and then her almond-colored eyes settled on me and a smile broke out on her face. “You’re alive.”

I could hear the relief in her voice. It left me feeling a bit awkward. When I had died, I had cut myself off from the world. People were bastards who would stab you in the back if given the chance, and women were twice as likely. However, Erika had done the exact opposite. She had taken a blade for me. It was probably for that reason I had abandoned protecting myself to save her. This left me not knowing how I felt about her.

“It seems I made it.”

[You have been poisoned. -10 HP]

I made a face before I could help myself, but she was quick when it came to social cues, and she noticed immediately. “What’s wrong?”

“My lord has been poisoned…” The attendant spoke up. “Wasting poison.”

Erika took in a low breath which sounded a bit like a hiss. However, she then gave me a strange look. I could only let out a sigh. I knew that she was intelligent. It seemed like she had managed to piece something together.

“Please leave us alone for a minute,” I asked the attendant.

“Ah, of course, my apologies.” He gave a bow and then left the room.

Once the door closed, I glanced back at her. “You have questions.”

“You are not a mortal, are you?”

“Why do you think that?” I responded, hoping that I could poke holes into her reasoning.

“I already suspected something before, when you survived the fog. Although it is possible to avoid the spatial cracks, that is a feat no mortal could accomplish. Then, there was the fight with the ogre. Your speed was far too great for any mortal I have ever seen. Finally, the wasting poison would have killed a mortal instantly. Even an evolved wouldn’t last long. By my guess, you’d have to be a Prestiged. I have heard when you reach that level, you’re capable of hiding your mana to the point lesser evolved cannot determine your level at a glance. You appear… mortal… unless you’re fighting.”

I let out a sigh, letting her believe I was confirming her guess. “What are you going to do about it?”

She shook her head slightly. “Every Prestiged is a powerful figure capable of shaking a region. I know the names of every Prestiged in Arcford. I do not know how you’ve been able to hide your identity… unless you came from somewhere else…the only reason a Prestiged would be hiding is if someone more powerful, like a Lord, was hunting him…”

Her eyes widened and she gasped.

“You’re a bit too clever for your own good!” My eyes flashed, but when her face showed a bit of fear, I dropped my shoulders. “I come from a farm, that’s all you need to know.  Before that is meaningless.”

My mood couldn’t help but sour as I thought back to my life before. Glancing at Erika, I knew I should kill her. She knew too much already. If she told others, it could bring a lot of trouble. Even as Mara’s friend, I still might have killed her. However, then she had gone and jumped between me and that knife. I was no longer as certain. At the least, we were in the middle of this trial, and I was certain if she died, then I’d fail the trial, and I didn’t want to know the consequence of that.

“I won’t tell anyone, I swear! Even my brother! Ah…” She had sat up, reaching out and grabbing my hand, only realizing it a second later and pulling away. “Sorry, if your past is painful, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“For now, let’s just focus on getting out of here.”

“Thank you…” She spoke quietly.

“Huh?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

She blushed. “You asked what I’d do about it. With the mercenaries before… there was no sage beast, was there? You took care of them by yourself. That means you also likely dealt with the threat of that knight. You must have entered the Schrodinger’s box for me, not knowing if you would make it out alive. I don’t know why I was lucky enough to be protected by you, but thank you.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea.” I looked away. “I only helped you because Mara asked me to. It’s because you acted as her friend. No other reason.”

She continued to look at me, her eyes filled with a mysterious twinkle. “Then she’s lucky too…”