Chapter 1: First Experience (1)

“Do you know who I am?”

The Demon shook her head at my question. In the sky, flames brighter than stars left embers, and the cheers were dying down. Even in the pitch-black darkness, the Demon’s red eyes steadfastly gazed at me.

“I don’t know who you are, but I know what you are.”

“What?”

I couldn’t grasp the situation. When I didn’t open the window for her, the Demon opened it herself and slid into the attic. The creaking floorboards and the scurrying movements of baby rats fleeing proved she wasn’t a hallucination.

I just kept silent, staring at the Demon.

The Demon, placing her hands on the dirty floor, approached me like a cat. With every step she dragged her knees, her chest swayed like a pendulum, tempting me.

“You know what I am?”

When I asked again, she tilted her head and smiled right in front of my nose. Her red eyes and plump, moist lips were things that naturally stirred lust in my exhausted body. She wagged the tail extending from her backside, then nodded and settled down in place.

Just her proximity brought forth a strong floral scent. It was like the perfume Madam often wore, or the fresh scent from working in the garden. The scent was so intense it buried the attic’s stench; I took a breath blankly, then coughed and snapped back to reality.

“Haven’t you ever thought things like this? Why was I abandoned on the streets without knowing my mom or dad? Or, why am I living such a messed-up life looking like this? Why do I have nothing?”

“….Are you here to mock me?”

Every word was cruel, pricking my heart. So, I unconsciously hugged my knees and burrowed deeper into the corner. It felt really bad hearing this even from a Demon now.

“Mocking you? No. So, I want to tell you a story like this. What if a child living at the bottom… was actually of demonic blood? And what if they could use demonic power?”

She flapped her hands flamboyantly like a clown at a festival and nodded.

I had to let go of the hands clutching my knees. She was waiting for her words to seep into my body like paint. I let out a hollow laugh. Me, a demon? I was a demon’s child? Now?

The world is making a fuss about the Hero killing the Demon King, and now I’m supposed to use demonic power?

Seeing her grinning face and flamboyant gestures, I could only think she was mocking me. Because the world had never shown me any favors. As always, everything was someone else’s business, and there was no one who did anything for me. If humans were like that, how much more so would a Demon be?

“What are you talking about? Me, a demon? Then I should have been able to use demonic power long ago. When I was beaten up by that thug bastard, if I had that demonic power or whatever, I would have killed him. At the very least, if I had that power when I was sold into slavery, I could have run away and lived somewhere far away.”

Talking about the past is like throwing firewood into a volcano. The more you talk about it, the more it boils up until it finally glows bright red and explodes. I was truly on the verge of exploding.

“If you were going to do this, you should have at least pretended to look for me once while I was suffering like this! There should have been something! I lived miserably for years! Fuck! What good is having demonic power! The world is going crazy because the Hero killed the Demon King! Should I just go out and do one more corpse job?”

The Demon’s beaming smile only fueled my anger. She had the look of someone who genuinely thought I’d be happy about this news.

Was this even true in the first place?

Was the Demon just messing with me?

“I…!”

The Demon’s shoulder brushed softly against my lips. Her hand held me tightly, embracing my back. One hand rested on my head, stroking it down like petting an animal. She bent down, hastily pulling me into an embrace, then straightened up, holding me against her chest.

“I…!”

I tried to curse, but it got stuck in my throat. My chest felt blocked, making it hard to breathe, and the emotions threatening to burst from the depths of my heart were subsiding.

“So….”

I hugged her back tightly and buried my face in her chest. The woman’s body was so warm and soft. The Demon’s voice was clearly flustered.

“I’m sorry.”

Such an unfamiliar word came from the Demon’s lips. When I lifted my head, her eyes were wavering. Seeing her expression, as if she truly hadn’t known, I couldn’t stay angry. The warmth. The gentle tone. And the sensation of her stroking my back.

“I thought you… you would be happy when you heard this news. Huh? I didn’t know you’d get so angry. Everyone else was happy.”

I couldn’t stay angry.

The first one to embrace me wasn’t human, but a Demon. Only an unknown Demon, crawled up from the depths of the Demon Realm, embraced me as a human and apologized for my rage. Just like the saying that Demons deceive people, this apology might be a lie too.

“Don’t be angry. Only good things will happen from now on. There’s no need to be angry.”

But it didn’t matter. The humans I’d met so far had only offered me genuine contempt and hatred. What did it matter if the first love offered to me was a lie? The truth wasn’t important. What mattered was that someone reached out to me and held me.

Even if someone suffered from the demonic power I received, that would ultimately be someone else’s problem.

Tears were the only thing replacing my anger. I couldn’t help but sit there blankly, unable to wipe away the tears streaming pathetically down my cheeks. I hugged her back even tighter and sobbed.

I cried my heart out, thinking it would be fine even if the day broke like this.

Coincidentally, along with the flames, my crying subsided. No more cheers could be heard from the quiet street. I couldn’t even tell why I had gotten angry anymore. A personality twisted from the bottom up tends to change a person so much that they can’t even grasp the reason for their anger.

My chest felt refreshingly empty, and despite my heaving breaths, my heart felt calm.

“Are you done crying?”

The Demon asked me. ‘Are you done crying?’

I nodded and swallowed. Her chest was damp with my tears. It was an even more revealing and lewd sight, so I had to turn my head away.

“……Yes.”

“Okay. Then, may I tell you the story now?”

She asked for my permission in a soft tone. I nodded, and she smiled and began her story.

“First off, it’s natural that you can’t use demonic power. Because when Demons plant their children in the human world, they seal their demonic power. Otherwise, they’d be caught and killed by priests. So, it’s not strange that you haven’t awakened your powers.”

It still sounded like an unrealistic story. But now, I felt like I could nod along. As I nodded to her words, the Demon said this.

“You believe me now?”

“……Yes.”

“So. Now, if I break your seal, you’ll awaken and be able to use your demonic power. How about it? Aren’t you already excited?”

“Are you going to break the seal right now?”

“If you want.”

I hesitated for a moment, thinking about breaking the seal right away. It was because even this remote village had a temple. What if the temple guards stormed in the moment a Demon awakened? I asked cautiously.

“They won’t suddenly barge in, right? Because they sense the demonic power… once my seal is broken….”

“Oh my, there’s no way a priest in this backwater village is perceptive enough to sense demonic energy, is there? Besides, unless you directly curse someone or unleash your power to do something, there’s almost no way for them to know you’re a Demon.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

The Demon nodded and said so. Her words eased my mind a little. Come to think of it, this Demon is walking around just fine, so there must be some way. I said.

“Then, please break the seal.”

“Okay. I understand.”

The Demon carefully traced my neck with her finger. She must have felt me swallowing and my heart pounding like crazy through her fingertips. She gave a seductive smile, her eyes turning red, and let out a light breath.

“Haaa…!”

Her voice, thick and sticky like the moans of lovers making love, made it feel like heat was rising in my lower body. No, heat was actually rising from my body. Along with something like black steam, it was heating up intensely from the inside of my chest down to my lower body.

“Nnngh…!”

I had to cover my mouth and endure the pain. The pain, like something burning from the inside, subsided just as quickly as it had come. Like burnt firewood cooling instantly, only a slight fever remained, pricking my chest with aftereffects.

“Ghk…! Hhh…!”

It was the dead of night, when everyone was asleep. If I made too much noise, someone was bound to come up. I let out a light breath instead of a scream. The Demon remained seated before me in a seductive pose, and I asked, panting.

“Is it over?”

“Yes. You did great.”

I checked my body again. Nothing seemed to have changed. Even concentrating or stretching my arm forward, nothing was different. The Demon was laughing as if my reaction amused her.

“You’ve lived like an ordinary person until now, so you haven’t used this power before, right? You’ll be able to use it with just a little training.”

“Really?”

“Let’s finish it today, okay? I’ll teach you thoroughly from start to finish.”

The Demon stood up. I grabbed her fingertip and said.

“But, what kind of Demon am I?”

“You?”

There are different kinds of Demons. Some Demons boast huge muscles and terrifying physiques, while others wield wicked magic. What kind would I be? What kind of talent did I possess?

The Demon said.

“An Incubus.”