The first thing that Pavor noticed upon entering was the sickly sweet stench, a strong smell of herbs along with something rotten.
The room was completely covered in a clutter of aromatic candles, potpourris of lavender, sunflowers and saffron, and many other knick-knacks one would expect from someone infected by some terrible plague.
But the owner of the room was sitting upright, albeit covered from head to toe. His windows were closed, and the rotten stench came from the untouched, spoiled food on his desk.
He gasped when he saw someone join Davien upon entering his room. "W-Who are you!? I only asked for the priest, everyone else needs to get out!"
Davien pursed his lips. "Do you not even remember your own nephew, Duke Vanus? This is Prince Pavor, your brother's only child."
"I don't care! Is he decontaminated before going here!?" Duke Vanus exclaimed.
Pavor, despite being mortal, could still taste the paranoia and dread in this man's heart. It was like honey to a bee, and it invigorated him.
He went closer, just as Davien was about to say "Yes, I cleansed him—"
Pavor cut it off and spoke in a low tone. "I was inside a slime creature just moments ago. Its color was green like phlegm, and its fluids had that same consistency. It covered me whole, and some even went inside my mouth and nose as I tried to speak."
Duke Vanus stumbled out of his bed as Pavor went closer and closer. "Get away! That is utterly disgusting, leave my chambers at once!"
Pavor's crimson eyes shone brightly as the panic increased in this man's eyes. He could almost hear his heartbeat getting faster, see his throat tightening and sweat oozing out of his pores.
'My, my…..' He thought. 'Fear is such a beautiful thing for these mortals. I love the way they manifest physically on their fragile bodies.'
Pavor prompted the duke: "What made you so afraid of disease, Duke Vanus? You seem to be in perfect condition, and yet you would have your maids constantly change and wash your clothes and bed sheets for you. You would not eat your food and you would cover your whole room in these useless herbs and flowers."
He reached out to grab Duke Vanus' shoulders, wearing a hungry expression on his face. The duke jolted at the touch, wanting to push him away, but he couldn't even move.
He was petrified as Pavor asked the question:
"What memory has chained you into this state of fear and despair?"
Suddenly, the hologram screen appeared once more with a DING! It said:
[Trauma Searching skill activated.]
Soon, Pavor was able to enter the mind of Duke Vanus.
No… He was able to enter inside his past.
Pavor was inside his memory, experiencing things in the duke's perspective. And in this memory, the duke was laying down on the ground with something heavy on top of him.
It was...
A mountain of rotten corpses.
The stench was unbearable that it filled every fiber of his being. They were all wearing armor too, and they were on a battlefield. Soldiers from the kingdom of Erosith and cultists from the Outlands fought for hours and hours.
It seemed that the cultists were having the upperhand this time.
Duke Vanus stayed down, trying not to breathe heavily. But the pungent smell was making him want to vomit, and the heavy pile crushed his large muscular body.
Directly on top of him was the lifeless body of his dearest friend and right-hand man, a knight named Paenitet.
Paenitet was a commoner man, but he rose upon the ranks through genuine hardwork and perseverance. He came from a small, unremarkable village of shepherds and farmers. When he came to the train as a knight, he would always wear an assured smile and face every obstacle on his way head on.
He was... A brave man. Loyal until the end.
"Lord Vanus, I'll take care of it! Lead the others to retreat—"
He was not able to finish his words when a spear struck him directly on the chest!
He fell on his back, bringing down Duke Vanus with him. The edge of the spear narrowly reached through the gaps of Duke Vanus' chainmail and would have impaled him too. When the duke felt that, he was paralyzed with fear.
He almost died.
Everyone was dying, very quickly. There was no hope. Before this, the cultists had already used their dark powers from the Lord of Dread to bring disease into the duke's troops.
Duke Vanus laid on his stomach for a while, with Paenitet laying on top of him, their backs directly upon each other. He felt how slowly his comrade died, blood guzzling down his chest and his mouth.
Paenitet's gauntlet fell off, revealing his hand. Duke Vanus' eyes widened when he saw that hand.
Those black rotting spots….. Like wormholes in a rotten apple.....
That was the telltale sign of the disease that the cultists had cursed their troops with.
But…. Paenitet never told him….. They shared the same meals together, laughed and joked so closely together right before the battle...
So Duke Vanus realized that he almost died way before then.
Even without this defeat in battle, he could have still been infected because of his friend who never told him of his infection! Traitor!
The brotherly love he felt for his right-hand man was gone, and he felt no pity toward the fate he received. How could Paenitet lie to him!? Did he always plan to infect him if he fell into the disease?
After all, he's a commoner! Commoners envy the nobles, and the poor always want to eat the rich!
And so, he pretended to be dead, and let his troops full of treacherous commoners fall one by one. He let them turn into a pile of corpses on top of him, and soon he will escape once the cultists leave.
He will go back to the castle, claiming that he was the only survivor through a stroke of luck. Then, he will have this nasty infection be fully cleansed from his body.
Disgusting! How dare he be defiled by those below him!?
His hatred and paranoia around commoners grew as days went by after the battle, until he had lost it. It first started with having them leave his food outside his room, and then having them pick up his laundry outside his room, and finally kicking and yelling at them every time they tried to get close to him.
That poor maid was already kicked by Duke Vanus before Prince Pavor did, so she was not even stunned by the act. Such was the fate of those in the lower fringes of society, and they must accept it.
This fear turned into a literal monster, manifesting out of the worms he imagined crawling out from the holes in his former comrade's hand.
He could see them everywhere, these slimy things. They come out as pus in the infected soldiers and fill their bodies with thousands of holes like a honeycomb before they perish.
These invisible crawling things within us that will corrupt even the healthiest and fittest bodies like Duke Vanus'....
They crawl into our bodies before we could even notice, much like doubt.
[Mission accomplished. You have gained 50 Points and 5,000 EXP. You have reached Level 2. Gain 10,000 EXP to unlock Level 3.]
Pavor couldn't care any less about this notification. Duke Vanus' mysophobia only got stronger as Pavor triggered his memory. And soon…..
CRASHHHHHH!
A giant 100 feet tall slime monster appeared, creating a large hole in the tower they were in like a worm in an apple!
"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!"
Pavor marveled at the sight. Such a beautiful monster that he had created just from inciting fear into the hearts of humans.
It had limbs this time, thin spindly legs like that of a spider. But due to its size, they might as well be ginormous spikes that could easily impale ten people all in one strike.
This was the actual Mysophobodemon.
Its roar had reached the smaller larvae from earlier. They raised their heads and let out a roar too, returning to the castle to respond to their superior.
Duke Vanus screamed in terror. "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! MY GODS, HELP ME!!!!"
Davien furrowed his brows, still remaining calm despite this development. "I think it's best that we get out of here along with Duke Vanus."
The system also dinged, and gave him a new mission:
[Defeat the Mysophobodemon to get 100 points.]
Pavor snapped out of his trance from his own creation, and turned to the blind child. Right, he must play the role of a hero now...
But that doesn't mean he had to be 'good' right? Just appear like so to others.
"I have an idea. They have manifested due to Duke Vanus' fear, and so..... If he faced his fear, then they might be defeated."
Duke Vanus stammered. "W-What!? What do you mean by that—-"
Pavor pushed the Duke straight into the large Mysophobodemon's body!
Davien didn't say anything for a while. Then…..
"I see it….. Two paths ahead. Either Duke Vanus will learn to abandon his fear of disease and the creatures will vanish. Or...…"
Pavor smirked a little. "Or?"
"Or.... He will become one with his fear, and lose his humanity after losing all the love left in his body."
'I think he's already past that.' Pavor thought, remembering what he had gleaned from the Duke's trauma. 'There is no love left in the body of a man who was betrayed.'
A memory of his own flashed in his mind.
A memory of betrayal.
'There can be no love left and so he can only become a monster.'