A King is Born on the Road

Iris stared at the clothes in the room. It was a light leather combat suit.

She changed her clothes with the help of the maid, and went to find the spear she had hidden for a while under the bed. But it was empty.

“Annie, did you happen to see my baggage down here?”

“Ah, the young master took it.”

It was natural that it was taken away since she was hiding a weapon in someone else’s house.

Iris nodded and said to Annie, who grew fond of her over the past few days and had a sad expression on her face.

“Thank you. You are my lifesaver. I’ll never forget you.”

“Ahh, this life saving thing again… Please pay me back a lot.”

Iris smiled and nodded at Annie’s mischievous remark.

Overall, there was always this playful atmosphere in the annex of the Asheri family.

Iris knew, however, that the atmosphere of the main building was distinctly different from this place.

Flodin Asheri, the eldest son of Ritero Asheri, did not fulfill his duty to protect the border throughout the war, and at the end of the war, he completely fell into the enemy’s hands and dealt a heavy blow to Luwan.

Of course, the Asheri family was not the only problem. If you think about it now, many people in Luwan were already dying, and the number of slaves increased.

The increase in slaves meant that more and more people were sold and couldn’t pay off their debts, so Luwan was already in a state where the small citizens, who had to be firmly rooted, began to crumble.

Therefore, Iris needed to check the situation in the port city of Everhart right now.

Annie hesitated for a moment before saying to her.

“Then, can you buy me a handkerchief when you go to Everhart?”

“Which one? What color?”

“Yellow! I want it to be as exotic as possible.”

Iris nodded.

And when Annie tried to hand over the money, she waved her hand and said,

“What? I’ll bring it as a gift.”

“Then… please.”

Iris recalled that she would not have answered like this in the past.

Originally, she didn’t know she had the money she had received. It was not until some time after she became a queen that she noticed that fact.

When she went to the capital and was issued a new plaque that proved her royalty through the archbishop, she could borrow a lot of money from anywhere in Luwan.

From the point of view of lending, if you lend money to the royal family, the royal family will pay you back, so one would lend it without difficulty.

There was also the wealth Iris received just because she was a ‘royal.’ No one told her these facts, so Iris had to live an embarrassing life because she had no money for quite a while.

After promising Annie a present, Iris saw Hayer’s horse.

As soon as she saw the white spotted horse pulled by the stablekeeper, she ran hurriedly.

It was clear. It was the horse that remained until the end of the royal castle, which she rode to head to the North Gate.

“Oh my gosh.”

Six years later, he would be old and poorly managed, but now he looked strong enough to run anywhere in the world.

It was the horse that stayed with her for three months. Iris couldn’t help but to be proud to know this horse well.

What he would like six years later, this horse still liked her, and quickly showed loyalty to Iris.

The stablekeeper said curiously.

“He’s gentle, but he’s not the type to open his heart… It’s the first time I’ve seen this guy act like he’s met his lifelong owner.”

“Sounds like a very good horse.”

The stablekeeper nodded with a proud look at her words.

“You noticed. Yes, that’s a very good horse. His size is as small as a mustang, but his endurance is the best among many horses in Asheri.”

She knew.

As they moved north, the temperature dropped more and more, and even when the horses of the Knights of Tejas collapsed one by one and weren’t able to go forward, he showed no sign of weakness. He took Iris to the end with a tough attitude.

Since they had no choice but to feed on one or two horses, Iris had not given it a name in order to not give it more affection. But now it was different.

Iris asked.

“What’s the name of this horse?”

“It’s Rane.”

“Rane.”

Iris nodded and hugged the horse.

“It was Rane, you.”

Hayer felt a little perplexed at Iris’s affectionate reunion with the horse, and whispered to the stablekeeper.

“They must have loved each other in their past life.”

“Phew. Become a grown-up soon, young man.”

“How much older do you get than this?”

Hayer grumbled and mounted the horse that was pulled together. And said to Iris.

“The road from Asheri to the capital is quite good, but is this more convenient than a carriage?”

“We don’t have much time.”

“What time?”

Iris paused at Hayer’s retort.

She opened her mouth.

“…My lord’s injury.”

“You can just call me by my name. We’ll go far, so stay close.”

“Then… you too.”

“I will.”

Hayer smiled, then his horse started running.

There were two guards carrying the baggage. Iris headed to the capital with them.

* * *

It took another three days to ride from Asheri to the capital.

The capital was surrounded by a huge river called the ‘Moon River.’ Originally, it was a place where snow would fall once every few years, and the temperature exceeded 10 degrees in February.

To enter the capital, one had to cross the wide river, but this long river only had one bridge. As a result, there were several ships that only carried cargo and people on both sides.

Iris soon got on board with the horse.

The sky was like a river, and the river was like a sky.

The view was so clear that she seemed to be able to see the ends of the world. Iris took in a breath of the water, and saw the castle of the Everhart family in the far south.

Hayer, who appeared from behind, waved his hand in front of her eyes and said after making an appearance.

“Everhart is a very strict place with a lot of money coming and going. It’s better to prepare your mind.”

“I will.”

Iris only heard about Everhart, but she didn’t know exactly what kind of atmosphere it was.

The Everhart family served as a safe for merchants to properly exchange the numerous currency that flowed to the port, and stored the gold of the merchants.

When merchants entrusted their gold to Everhart, it was assumed that Luwan was in a stable state, but when Luwan began to stagger, merchants rushed to recover the gold.

As Everhart stumbled like that, Luwan collapsed at once.

In the ‘Game to Save Luwan’ that was played on the way to the North Gate, the first things the knights tried to defend were the Everhart and the Hall families.

The Hall family was the family that grew most of the wheat distributed in Luwan, and being enemies of Everhart, were just east of the Everhart Estate.

Under the influence of the game, Iris also felt the pressure to protect those two families first.

After a while, the ship reached the entrance of the capital.

Even here in the outskirts of the capital, the road was made of solid stone, and the weather was much milder than at the convent Iris had left.

But the stench of the capital, mixed with the air, stung her nose. It was a terrible smell that she had never smelled in the winter of the frozen northern land.

In places other than the capital, no matter how tramp one was, they at least had a hut to lie in, but that was not the case here.

In the capital where there were buildings and roads, the vagrants were lying on the roads and sleeping without mats.

Iris told Hayer.

“First, I have to go to the temple and get the nameplate.”

“I’ve already told the Knights to go to the temple.”

Iris nodded at Hayer’s reply.

In Iris’s eyes, he was a person who didn’t need to read others minds, as he was quite quick-witted and tended to notice what others wanted in advance.

Maybe it’s because he resembles his maternal grandfather, Iris thought.

They moved slowly on horseback, avoiding the carriages passing through the open road to the temple.

Iris entered the temple, where she often visited when she lived as a queen.

The temple consists of three buildings, and in the largest building in the middle, there was a huge statue of the god, Tilla.

The statue is still a mysterious relic that no one knows who or how it was made, and it made any faithful religious person on the continent want to come to this temple at least once before they die.

Iris bowed to Tilla’s statue, put her hands together, and prayed. But for some reason, Hayer stood outside, and did not enter the temple building.

afterword

tbh idk if the horse is called Lane or Rane… Lane just sounds silly and the horse actually likes rain so  creative liberty!