A King is Born on the Road

“……”

Sandra thought for a moment, then had Dane summon her vassals.

After a while, the vassals stationed near the mansion gathered at the mess hall.

Iris thought that the people gathered and fighting loudly with each other over such an uncertain issue was the power that grew the food to be sent to the entirety of Luwan, which has non-fertile land.

What’s clear was that if this granary here dies, the entirety of Luwan would starve to death. Knowing that, the Hall family had no choice but to be cautious.

Sandra, who finished the meeting with her vassals, returned to Iris and said.

“This reservoir is in danger of flooding if heavy rain falls, so we are building a bank around the reservoir. So if the reservoir is shrinking due to something like landslides, we should check even if it’s doubtful. However, it seems that there will be heavy rain for a while following yesterday, and we have to evacuate the residents, so we will have to check after the heavy rain.”

When she said that, Hayer, who was at the door of the mess hall, said.

“I think I can go.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Of course. You fed me and sheltered me from the rain.”

Hayer said and looked at Iris. She also rose up.

Sandra beckoned at her agent, Dane Hall, who still looked unhappy, to follow.

Dane had an expression that wasn’t quite right, but he followed at Hayer’s words.

* * *

Due to the unexpected schedule, Hayer left three soldiers to survey the reservoir and arranged for the rest of the Knights of Tejas to help prepare for the ensuing downpour.

Sandra was grateful for the unexpected hand and served food again until their stomachs exploded before having the work done. Fortunately, it was the right order for the Knights of Tejas.

After a while, Iris put on her raincoat and ran with Hayer and Dane in the direction of the reservoir.

Iris knew that Rane, her horse from Asheri, especially liked to run through the wet land.

Excited, Rane ran energetically ahead of Hayer and Dane’s horses.

“You have to go slowly… Why don’t you stop her?”

When Dane asked Hayer, who looked laid-back, he shrugged.

“What am I supposed to say?”

“No…”

“You’d better catch up before we get any further away.”

Hayer spoke and urged his horse forward, and Dane ran after him, bewildered and resentful.

Iris closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again as the damp wind brushed through her dark hair.

In the blink of an eye, they traveled a long distance, but the scenery of Mother Nature, which felt endless, did not change.

It was an endless plain. The sky was still cloudy, and the boundaries between the clouds had disappeared.

“When Luwan is safe, let’s go to the end of the world.”

Rane galloped with more excitement as if it understood Iris.

* * *

After riding for five hours without stopping, they reached the reservoir.

Iris fed her panting horse water and looked at the reservoir.

The huge reservoir, which stretched between the woods and the hills, was dangerously deep due to yesterday’s rain.

Farmers within the vicinity had evacuated overnight due to the news of the danger of flooding.

Hayer had his soldiers improve where the reservoir was expected to be reduced, marked by Iris.

Meanwhile, Iris walked up the hill with Dane, who was watching her like a spy.

Dane continued to grumble.

“Safety is important, of course. However, it still applies to the people of the Lepos family, no matter how much they know the land better than the Halls.”

He was grumbling so much next to Iris that her patience, which was like a mountain, was slowly running out, and she couldn’t stand it and replied.

“If the Halls are the farmers, the Leposes are the cooks. It covers the same area, but it’s actually a completely different field.”

“The Hall family is also good at cooking.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I have no idea.”

“Then I’ll look for another example, so please wait.”

Hayer was walking along with Iris and Dane a couple of steps away, telling his men to take measurements.

He was already tired of Dane’s grumbling and was just following a few steps behind, but Iris did not.

At first, he only saw her cold-looking face the whole time, and thought she was just a person with little emotional change.

But after a few days, it wasn’t like that at all. She was often angry, happy, and upset. It just didn’t show very well.

Hayer has suppressed himself for a long time so as not to feel those feelings. It was a characteristic of the Asheri family, and a survival method created by living half of his life as the son of the king and the other half as the son of the queen’s affair.

The three of them went quite deep, where they could not feel a trace of a human being, and there they found a mound of dirt spilled over a fallen tree.

“…It seems clear that the mountain’s soil has been washed away by this heavy rain. It looks like a part of the reservoir has been filled because of a landslide.”

Dane said, as if he acknowledged it.

Then, Iris walked over and brushed off the soil covering the base of the tree with her bare hands and said.

“There are signs of logging.”

Dane’s eyes widened and he approached. Then he checked the bottom and said,

“The wood here is of low quality, so we leave it as it is. Who on earth came all the way here and cut down this tree?”

“Someone who has the intention of deliberately causing a landslide.”

“A landslide… Why?”

“What happens if the size of the reservoir reduces?”

“We should open the floodgates more often.”

“What if you open the floodgates often?”

“The river overflows more. Of course, it’s never a bad thing if you’re prepared for flooding. But this granary doesn’t take advantage of flooding because it rains enough.”

“What kind of people take advantage of flooding?”

Then, as a member of the Hall family, Dane, who knew everything about farming, said.

“I know that the Sieres usually do.”

Iris groaned unconsciously at Dane’s words.

She knew that two years later, the Sieres would cut off trade. And not long after, a serious economic crisis broke out, and the war began a year after that.

In the large and small battles that followed over the next three years, Luwan slowly collapsed.

Shortly after the war began, the war started with occupying the granary, so it was surprising that it (Luwan/the war) had lasted three years.

Hayer, who was checking the base of another tree from afar, also jumped up at the word Siere. The base of the tree he checked also had cut marks from an axe.

Hayer asked Dane.

“Are there any Sieres here?”

“W-well. As you know, the Hall territory is attached to Everhart. Everhart is a place where all kinds of foreigners come and go, so there is no way to check each and every one of them even if they enter this territory. They are Sieres in the first place, so if they keep their mouth shut, you won’t be able to tell them apart from the Luwans…”

Hayer said to the contemplative Dane with a rare hardened expression on his face.

“Go right back. You have to check something.”

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

Dane went down the mountain first, and Hayer said to Iris.

“Let’s go down now too.”

She wanted to check more, but the sky was raining like it was about to pour again.

Iris nodded and followed Hayer down the mountain.

The slippery downhill was much more dangerous and time consuming than the uphill.

Hayer kept looking at Iris, who had been confined in a convent all this time, and seemed to have been bothered by her steps, as he said.

“You walk like a northerner.”

“What is walking like a northerner like?”

“They walk as if they were walking downhill on a snowy road.”

Iris paused at Hayer’s words.

On the snowy road as she went to find the North Gate, Iris fell beyond count, and each time the Tejas Knights stuck right next to her and taught her how to walk. From the direction of the feet to how to apply force.

Iris turned away so as not to be overwhelmed by useless thoughts or emotions.

“If the Sieres are here, why did they come?”

“……”

Hayer was silent for a moment, and then he opened his mouth again.

“It’s probably because they have plans to take this place.”

Iris turned her head in surprise at his words.

afterword 

my smart munchkins (holds them gently)