Into the Mist (5)
While Ragi and Chiria were trading crude jokes laced with coup fantasies, I started building the campfire.
Parlen was busy prepping dinner by the riverbank—catching freshwater fish, gutting them, and whittling wooden skewers.
Paradilan was chanting incantations before bed, preparing some crucial spell for the battles ahead.
"Eek!? What's wrong, Captain?"
I set down the firewood next to Damish.
He was the only one who looked relatively idle around here.
Like Chiria, he was on watch with his weapon, scanning the surroundings.
It wasn't like I'd come over hoping for some Earth Embrace prayer or anything.
As I approached, Damish seemed more wary of me than the riverbank across the water he was supposed to be guarding.
"It's nothing. This spot's perfect for the fire, so I figured I'd prep the kindling here."
I'd come to chat casually while shaving the wood into tinder before lighting up.
There was something I wanted to ask Damish, too.
Something like this.
"Just what about me scares you so much?"
This had been bugging me. I hadn't threatened him or anything, and we had no personal history.
I wasn't the type of captain who picked on people all the time, either.
Even stranger, when I wasn't around, he acted like a perfectly motivated spellsword.
I'd seen him laughing heartily with the others and even getting mad at Chiria and Paradilan's destructive strikes.
But the moment I got close, he turned timid.
"W-Well... I don't know. It's instinctive, that kind of feeling."
"Instinctive, huh. Does it have something to do with demon bloodlines?"
"……."
Oof, even I could tell that was a sensitive question.
Back in my home world, asking a Black guy, "Is it big down there 'cause you're Black?" would probably get me punched on the spot.
"Sorry. No offense meant. We're heading into dangerous adventures ahead, so I just wanted to learn more about you beforehand.
You shrink away so much around me—it worries me."
"Pl-Please... give me a moment... to think, to calm down."
Damish started sorting his thoughts and regulating his breathing, too.
Good, he didn't seem offended by my question.
A moment later, after deep inhales and exhales to ease his tension, he slowly opened up.
"We who bear these horns—what are generally called demons—are also known like this.
[Seeds of the Earth].
When I was young, living among humans who looked and acted nothing like me, I often wrestled with my identity."
Damish kept it brief, but I could imagine the discrimination and scorn he'd faced among pureblood humans.
Prying into the details would be incredibly rude.
"That's when a priest of Pandelsinkarashi gave me a new name and defined who I truly was.
From there, I studied the [Seeds of the Earth].
The more I learned, the more certain I became of myself. That's how I grew confident.
Ah, that was a long-winded explanation. What I mean is... the fear I feel toward you is probably because I'm a [Seed of the Earth].
Just as you guessed—it's because you're connected to demons somehow."
A simple answer, but it opened up a lot.
Anyway, it meant he had plenty he wanted to say to me—and plenty to explain.
This might actually be a good opportunity for both of us, not just me.
"So you see me as someone tied to the [Seeds of the Earth]. Someone linked to demons, in other words."
"Y-Yes... that's right. Just... a moment to relax. Ahem... haa."
Damish regulated his breathing again, like someone confronting trauma and fighting involuntary reactions.
"I know you took down Katona, Captain. You're famous for it.
Some powerful demons can command other demons and monsters. Katona was renowned for that ability.
I came seeking the man who'd beaten such a demon out of curiosity, but this intense reaction? Totally unexpected. The moment I entered the interview room, I wanted to bolt."
And yet he'd stuck it out through the interview and ended up joining us.
Damish had some serious mental fortitude. There had to be a good reason for it.
"Oh yeah, come to think of it, I do have a weird connection to a powerful demon. Who was it again... Pana. This bracelet? She gave it to me—a female demon named Pana."
I held out my right arm, showing off the bracelet made from her shed husk.
"G-Gyaaah!?"
Damish jolted back in terror and toppled over.
I saw Parlen drop his fish-gutting mid-slice and grab his nearby sword. Far off, Chiria—who'd been with Ragi—snapped her Great Bow toward us.
I waved that I was fine, and everyone sighed in relief, returning to their tasks.
"So this is why you fear me, Damish."
His reaction explained why that revenge-obsessed troll had fled without looking back before, and why today's pack of mother leopards had scattered—probably all because of this bracelet.
Pana, thanks, but...
What the hell was your intention in giving me this thing?
Today, I'm starting to fear what all the women I know might be hiding.
"H-How did you end up with... something like that... What kind of connection... ngh..."
His reaction was so intriguing I pressed my nose to Pana's bracelet and sniffed.
Hmm... faint, but it smelled like Pana's floral scent.
No stench, no matter how much I inhaled.
"Damish, sorry, but I genuinely have no clue. Why does everyone freak out over this bracelet's scent? Not just you—other monsters react the same way."
"Ugh... I'm sorry. I wanted to overcome this feeling. To prove my resolve. I'm still not there yet."
"Hmm, that's not much of an answer."
"Ah, well... it's probably this: Lifeforms classified as [Seeds of the Earth] instinctively dread that scent. It's the smell of something that might kill or dominate them."
"Instinct, huh. What does it feel like to you, Damish?"
"Ugh... like something pressing down. Overwhelming... No, more like the gaze of a superior turning into a sharpened blade coming at me? Ugh... just now, it felt like it was right in front of me... haa. Haa..."
"N-No need to force it. Hey, if this bracelet's too much, should I hide it when I'm around?"
"N-No need... for that... If she gave you her shed husk... that'd be... rude of me... ngh. I'll overcome this myself!"
Damish shared more about himself.
As a half-breed—neither fully human nor demon—he'd joined the vanguard to forge his identity as "Damish."
His faith was proof of that self.
That must be why Paradilan rated him as a highly capable mage.
The deeper his understanding and conviction grew, the stronger his faith became.
We talked more about the [Seeds of the Earth].
Demons and monsters were essentially born from the same [Earth].
And that [Earth] was undoubtedly a dungeon.
Demons and monsters emerged from dungeons into the world.
Having just experienced a dungeon and cleaved its core myself, I agreed with him.
Unexplainable aberrant lifeforms had appeared there, seemingly obeying the dungeon core's commands.
My Status Window had even shown a "Being Watched" debuff.
Talking with Damish finally made pieces of this world's lore click for me.
It felt like an epiphany was coming.
Maybe this was the true goal of our journey for him.
"You want to overcome a dragon, don't you, Damish?"
Even as he struggled, he managed a faint smile.
"Dragons are... ngh. Called lords of the dungeons. I want to know... haa. If I can hold myself together before one. Haa... If I can conquer this pressure. I want to challenge it... with my faith on the line!"
Now I got why he wielded that massive two-handed sword as his main weapon. He was the type to cleave through fate with it.
I'd only seen his timid side around me, but he was clearly a bold, courageous warrior at heart.
Someone who confronted and overcame fear like this—that took real courage. Way more than a guy like me, who'd lost his fear of death.
He was struggling so hard I wanted to give him space now. But I'd already piled up the tinder here, and the fire pit was ready.
Couldn't move the fire, so the people would have to shift.
"Hey, Damish, if it's too tough, you can step back. I get it's not because you dislike me, so keeping distance won't bother me."
"Ah... haa. No! Anyway... hoo. I planned to challenge this someday. Ngh... I'll endure. Yes, it's... much better than before... It's fine."
"Al... alright then."
It was admirable, him tempering himself against fear like this. But having a guy panting beside me, flushed and right next to me, felt kinda weird.
Good thing the campfire heat was rising—I could pass it off as that.
Better stabilize the fire quick and get some distance myself.
Suddenly, asking for an Earth Embrace felt terrifying.