Conflict (1)
“You think so?”
Asdin agreed with Urnil’s assessment. Demz Village stretched long between the banks of the Raoras River and the mainland. There was plenty of game nearby, and the river was rich with fish. The soil was fertile enough for crops, and fruit trees grew in abundance. Asdin had managed to survive near the cave, but living here, he felt he might never have to worry about food again for the rest of his life.
Yet, despite the palpable abundance, Asdin felt a hollow ache piercing somewhere deep within his heart.
Caught in that melancholy, Asdin wandered through the village, taking it all in. He occasionally spotted adults, but there were no children to be seen. There were rudimentary defensive barricades, torches being refitted with fresh firewood by the elders, and three watchtowers positioned throughout the village.
Asdin asked if the village’s defenses weren't a bit too sparse.
Thinking back on Urnil’s words, Asdin realized that, wolves aside, he hadn't encountered any beasts that attacked in groups.
“Inherited?”
“Hisoral-ajusshi said he was like that long before, though.”
“Like what?”
Asdin recalled his earlier conversation with the village chief, Lukedi, and asked, “Could it be the military?”
“Ah, come to think of it, everyone in this village is an Exilier. They must have acquired them a long time ago, right?”
Urnil had another theory in mind, but he didn't bother to voice it. Instead, he shifted his focus elsewhere.
Asdin turned his gaze in the direction Urnil indicated. What caught his eye first was a terrain feature forming a high hill. Up on a large tree growing there, children were climbing and shaking the branches.
“You’re right. It looks like they’re picking fruit.”
Asdin started to say he’d only just finished breakfast, but he remembered that he had never once defied Urnil’s words. “Okay.”
Asdin answered obediently and walked up the hill. It was then he realized there weren't many children—two girls and five boys. Their mouths were stained dark from eating the fingernail-sized black berries that fell from the tree.
Asdin was surprised by Urnil’s comment. Mulberries were rare in the desert, a precious snack imported from foreign lands. Yet here, they were so abundant the children could eat their fill.
While he was marveling at the environment, one of the children approached and asked, “Who are you? I haven't seen you before.”
The child had somewhat dark skin. His complexion was so exquisite that if he had silver hair and black eyes, he might have been mistaken for someone of Asdin’s own people. The thin boy’s face was full of curiosity. Asdin smiled brightly and greeted him.
“Nice to meet you. I arrived in the village yesterday. My name is Asdin.”
The boy turned his head back and shouted, “He says he came from outside the village!”
“Where did you say you came from?”
“He says he’s from outside the village.”
The other children behind him muttered with their stained mouths. The boy in front of Asdin looked back at him and asked, “If you’re from outside the village, are you an Exilier?”
“I think so.”
“What do you mean, ‘I think so’?”
“Aren't we all Exiliers?”
Pun’s expression changed strangely. It was the look of someone wondering if there was a serious problem with Asdin’s common sense. “Were you taught wrong?”
The one who had taught him was speechless. Asdin asked, looking confused, “Why?”
“Why would we be Exiliers? Exilier is a word for the bad guys who try to steal from our village.”
As Asdin stood there in confusion, Urnil’s voice echoed in his mind.
Understanding at last, Asdin nodded and said, “So you were asking if I’m a bad guy? That doesn't make me feel very good.”
“I asked because you came from outside the village.”
“So everyone from outside the village is a bad guy?”
“Mostly, yeah. I heard the people who settled in our village were bad guys who changed their ways.”
The conversation was a bit disjointed, but Asdin, having grasped the general logic, loosened his grip on his staff and said, “So, you’re asking if I was bad but changed my ways and entered the village?”
“Um, yeah. You’re a fast learner, aren't you?”
From this conversation, Asdin could tell that the boy in front of him had lived in the village for a long time. He must have asked every new settler the same question.
“I didn't do anything bad. Srem-ajusshi brought me here.”
As it turned out, Asdin’s choice to bring his staff along had been a wise one. As soon as Srem’s name was mentioned, the children’s demeanor shifted instantly. In particular, a boy among those eating mulberries, who had a larger build, approached Asdin with a completely transformed look in his eyes.
He was a head taller than the thin boy, and his physique was sturdier than Asdin’s. His skin was the lightest among them, and his thick, overgrown hair looked like it had been hacked off at random.
While Asdin was bewildered by Urnil’s contrasting reaction, Pun was pushed to the side with a terrified expression. The children who had been busily munching on berries stopped eating and stared at Asdin.
“What did you just say? Srem?”
“Do you know Srem-ajusshi?”
“What’s your relationship with that damn bastard? You?”
Now, Asdin couldn't help but be caught in the crossfire. To Asdin, Srem was a good man. But a "damn bastard"?
“He’s my companion. Why are you talking about him like that?”
The next moment, Asdin was startled and instinctively lowered his body, moving diagonally backward. A fist, thrown without a word, sliced through the air.
“Ugh!”
Asdin shoved the staggering boy away with his free hand, looking at him with a mix of absurdity and anger. “What the hell are you doing!”
“Shut up!”
Enraged by the fact that he’d been attacked, the boy swung his fist again. It was reckless, but the punch was quite sharp. However, to Asdin’s eyes, the trajectory of the fist was perfectly clear.
“Hey, hey. Toby’s pissed. What do we do?”
“What do you mean, what do we do!”
“We have to call the adults!”
As the children scrambled in confusion, a single note of concern flowed into Asdin’s mind.
Asdin moved to respond before the words had even finished echoing.
Essence flowed into his body, reinforcing his muscles, and his already superior dynamic vision locked onto the boy named Toby’s fiercely open mouth and dilated pupils. At the moment his expression twisted the most, Asdin’s hands shot up, gripping his staff with both hands.
The staff, held at an angle, blocked Toby’s torso and the incoming arm.
“Huh? Ugh!”
The moment the attack was blocked, Asdin stepped forward and instantly poured strength into his hands, shoving Toby back. A body reinforced by Pirmo could deliver a blow fatal even to an adult. When he shoved, Toby stumbled back several paces and tumbled roughly to the ground.
“You!”
But Toby rose immediately. He looked at Asdin like a wounded beast. He couldn't understand it. It was incomprehensible that a kid who looked smaller than him could exert this much power.
“Coward, using a weapon! Let’s fight bare-handed!”
Unlike Urnil’s cheerful praise, Asdin didn't feel very good. He’d thrown a punch out of nowhere, and now he was demanding fairness. Asdin’s voice was low and cold.
“You despicable brat.”
“What?”
“You. Toby, was it? You call this cowardly? Is it not cowardly to throw a punch just because you’re angry? Using the word ‘cowardly’ only when it suits you is beyond cowardly—it’s despicable.”
Asdin’s eyes turned icy. “I despise people like you.”
“You little!”
Unable to contain his rage, Toby lunged again. He moved cautiously, wary of the staff, but Asdin let the staff hang loosely, aiming the tip squarely at Toby. That alone was enough to stop the boy from charging.
“Aaaargh!”
Toby finally grabbed the staff. “Trying to take it now?”
Asdin kept his center of gravity low and shook the staff; Toby, losing his balance once or twice, couldn't hold on and fell to the side again. Far in front of the fallen Toby, Asdin slammed the tip of his staff into the ground.
The sound of dry leaves tearing and the staff striking the earth rang out, piercing the ears.
It was a Falling Strike.
Even as the children stared in stunned silence, Toby couldn't bring himself to move. To Toby, who had acted like a neighborhood bully in the small village of Demz, it felt as if a wooden lightning bolt had been driven into the ground before him.
Right next to the mark where Asdin had struck, Toby’s fingers lay. If he had aimed even a fraction to the side, the neighborhood bully would likely have lived with a permanent disability. Realizing this, Toby gasped for air.
“That’s enough. You.”
Asdin’s words pierced Toby’s ears. Toby looked up at Asdin. The expression looking down at him held nothing but anger and disgust.
“I’m not someone who will just stand here and humor your temper. I don't have the time, and I don't have the reason. If you try to attack me one more time, I won't show any mercy. Prepare to have something broken when you come at me.”
Asdin had been thinking about the reason for the attack ever since the first blow. The boy must have been angry about something. Or rather, it was certain that Srem was involved. He’d been so enraged after hearing that name.
But Asdin had no desire to understand the boy’s anger. To him, Toby was only worth that much right now.
Asdin glared at each of the children one by one and said, “I just arrived in this village, and I came here because I wanted to make friends with you. But you all just stood by and watched while you bullied a new friend.”
The children’s gazes shrank. Even the child who had said he’d go call an adult looked too ashamed to meet his eyes.
“If you aren't coming to apologize, don't ever speak to me again. This is your only warning.”
As the children watched him with bewildered eyes, Asdin picked up his staff and walked back down the hill.
Only Urnil, who understood the situation due to his deep insight, could only heave a heavy sigh inside.