I wake up with a leaf brushing against my face. My eyes remain closed, unwilling to open, while my body seems to have no energy.
After a while, I realize something is wrong and force my eyes to open slowly.
As my vision returns, I notice the vegetation in front of me, finally bringing me fully awake.
— …Where am I?
Despite my aching, exhausted body, I force myself to sit up slowly and take a better look at my surroundings. My scythe and bucket are lying on the ground, as if I’d just dropped them.
— It doesn’t seem to have been an insect, at least…
Even though I know there are animals besides giant insects on this island, most of what I’ve seen have been insects, so I still believe it’s an island of insects.
— Just what happened to me?
I remember going to fetch water as usual, but after that I don’t recall anything. It’s as if I blacked out at some point and fell here.
I feel a little dizzy, and when I put my hand to my forehead, it feels like I have a fever.
— And I was just starting to feel better from feeling sick lately... Now I feel even worse.
I pick up the bucket and see that it’s still empty, which means I didn’t make it to the spring before passing out. When I hold it, I notice something strange, the wound on my hand has a different texture.
— No, no, no…
I look at the palm of my hand and see something that must be the main reason for my current condition. A small root is growing out of the palm of my hand, mixed with my blood.
Without thinking, I grab it with my other hand and pull, causing me to feel excruciating pain in my arm.
— AAHH!! — I scream, falling to the floor again because of the pain.
I don’t know how deep it went, but seeing that I’m still in control of my body, it probably didn’t get very far.
— Ah… Ha… Hahahaha… I barely have any food, and now there’s a parasite in my body… This world really wants to kill me.
I still have control of my arm, even though the root is embedded in it. That means that as long as it doesn’t get close to my brain, it probably won’t be able to take control.
— Is there any way to remove it without losing my arm? — I think, staring at the root that has poked out a little further. — And is it really just in my arm, or has it gone deeper already?
I need to find a way to kill it or remove it, but to do that, I need to understand how this root works.
— …My only option would be the ants.
If I go into the ants’ territory, maybe I can find a way to remove it.
— That reminds me, it’s attracted to the ant’s magic stone… I wonder if any stone attracts it?
If that’s the case, then my absorption of the magic stones might be the reason it was attracted to me. Also, because of my lack of magic power, maybe it can’t grow very well and is slowly spreading.
— So the reason I fainted is… a lack of magic power.
These are just theories, and I’ll only be able to be sure by finding other victims.
— I could even try using a magic stone to lure it out, but there’s no guarantee it can sense the stones’ magic, or that if it touches the stone, it won’t use its magic to grow inside my body.
I look at my hand again before picking up my scythe and standing up. As long as I don’t try to remove it, the root is just a nuisance in my hand.
I stand up slowly and, along with my bucket, continue toward the spring. First, I’ll get my daily water and store my things in the cabin before heading to the ants.
— Little plant, don’t grow in any way…
I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but it seems a little bigger now.
[…]
Somehow, I managed to get my daily chores done, and now I’m heading toward the ants’ territory.
As I walk, I notice the destruction of the vegetation, due to the amount they must eat.
— I don’t see any around… How far is their colony?
I keep walking until I come across some strange flowers scattered on the ground.
— …That’s the flower that was in the ant’s eye.
As I observe them, the thought that these flowers are ant corpses crosses my mind. Judging by the number, there must be hundreds, but I keep moving forward.
— These flowers aren’t helping at all… In fact, they’re just making my path more dangerous.
Venturing deeper and deeper, I come across a huge hole that must be the entrance to the nest. Looking around, it’s full of flowers in every direction.
I’m cautious not to touch any of them, since just one on my arm is enough.
— It was total annihilation…
I make my way slowly toward the ant nest, trying not to fall, but just reaching the entrance is my limit.
— … It’s useless.
What lies just inside is a huge flower, indicating that there is no life left there at all.
— Is this the end for me?
I turn around and start heading back, trying to come up with any idea, even if the chances are minuscule, that I might survive.
As I walk back, out of the corner of my eye, I see an insect standing still. It isn’t an ant, but a ladybug almost the same size.
It stands motionless, like a statue.
— Is it infected?
When I get close enough, I notice it’s dead, with flowers sprouting from its body.
— …A specimen!
I grab my scythe and cut it open, tearing off its wings and shredding its body. As I do this, I notice something strange.
— It doesn’t have a magic stone?
I keep cutting its body and see how the flower’s roots run through it, but there doesn’t seem to be any magic stone. The only thing I notice is that it’s stuck to the ground, since the flower’s roots are already underground.
— Did the flower bury the stone? Is that a way to protect it, or…
A disturbing thought occurs to me, but one I’ll need to investigate.
— Should I dig? But it’s too risky… And I still have to get rid of this plant on my arm.
With no other option, I set the idea aside and return to the cabin.
As I lie there, thinking through some possibilities, an idea comes to mind, but there’s no guarantee it will work.
— Now it’s all or nothing… And my suffering will be even worse.
I activate my first and only spell, [Protective Membrane], for a few seconds on the finger of my injured hand, and when the spell ends, I feel a headache that makes me take a deep breath and close my eyes.
— Really, having to feel this all the time is going to be horrible…
I open my eyes and see that nothing seems to have changed in my hand, but I already expected that from the start. I want, first, to deplete my magic power so as not to feed this flower, and second, to try to lure it to the tip of my finger.
I don’t care if it starves to death or gathers entirely on my finger, as long as I can get rid of it somehow.
— Help…
[To be continued…]
[???]:
— Just as I thought, someone is interfering… This plant shouldn’t even exist in this place.
— Well, I’ll just have to recalculate, even though it won’t be very accurate.
[+++]:
— Recalculate? Are you going to predict the future again?
[???]:
— I don’t predict the future; I just calculate the odds of something happening.
[+++]:
— And isn’t that predicting the future?
[???]:
— It would be if I had more time, but now there’s a chance I might be wrong.
[+++]:
— Huh? You can get a prediction wrong?
[???]:
— Yes… With the time I have, I believe the chance of getting it right is only 99.9%
[+++]:
— …