A King is Born on the Road

It was a wooden house that was built with logs in two months. Iris went inside thinking it was a prettier house than she thought.

Then a cold-looking butler, brought by Hayer, greeted her.

“Welcome, Princess. My name is Woods, the butler.”

He was more of a warrior than a butler. He probably lost a leg and seemed to be acting as a butler.

The five servants Woods brought out were also not very welcoming to Iris.

Not knowing that she was treating Hayer’s injury, Iris’s presence seemed to feel more than foreign and unnecessary.

In fact, it was the same with the other knights. Only a few knights, including Annamaria and Hencke, were polite only because Iris was a princess.

After Iris unpacked, Woods handed her a broom and said,

“You did not come here as a princess, but just a member of the Knights. Start by cleaning.”

“That’s also true.”

Woods meant it with the intention of overpowering her limits, but Iris regarded it as reasonable and took the broom.

* * *

When a monster appeared, a trumpet sounded at the border of the forbidden land. However, monsters have strangely not appeared lately, and this year, the trumpet hasn’t sounded even once.

Although it bothered him that there was so little news, Hayer was able to take care of the condition of his subordinates throughout the day thanks to the leeway.

Among those he took care of was Iris.

Iris, who had just come to the mountainous area, was busier than anyone he knew. As Woods said, she seemed to think that she should play the role of the youngest member of the Knights.

Iris wasn’t quick to act, but she was by no means lazy.

First, she cleared up the weeds in front of the lodging, which had never been touched since the presence of the Tejas Knights. That alone gave the garrison a very clean atmosphere.

Hayer approached Iris, who was gathering weeds and burning them.

“You don’t have to work this hard.”

“I want to be of help.”

“What are you talking about? You’re already doing my treatment.”

“Other people don’t know that. I don’t want to be a person who gets by without doing anything in the eyes of others.”

Iris spoke decisively and then pushed the weeds into the fire with a stick.

It was right after all the weeds were burned. For the first time since they came to the garrison, the trumpet sounded.

The gap between peace and war was narrower than expected. The two were in a relationship that could be flipped in each other’s direction at any time.

The trumpet continued to sound in a way that was ominous even for those who did not know the signal.

“It’s a walking monster!”

The name seemed to be of great notoriety to the Kawats and the Knights of Tejas. And the moment she looked up, Iris knew why the name scared everyone so much.

What was called a walking monster was a strange being with two long legs.

It looked as huge as the trees around it, and its face was not visible. The ground shook with every step.

It was different from the beast-like monsters she saw on the way to find the North Gate. The mere sight of it took her breath away.

Iris felt as if she was stunned by the fact that the Knights of Tejas had fought such an existence until now.

The fact that he became weaker after cutting down the sacred tree……

Iris, whose thoughts drifted, drew in a sharp breath and looked back at Hayer.

“There’s something I want to do before that. It won’t be easy, and the throne must come after that.”

The moment Hayer’s voice came to mind, her heart ached.

He already knew that the monsters weakened the moment he cut down the sacred tree, and there were still four sacred trees left on the continent.

“I think the Sieres may no longer be able to live in Siere.”

Now she understood what he meant then. It meant that monsters may be pouring out around the other four sacred trees.

If that’s the case, maybe the cause of the war was that the Sieres went to Luwan in search of a place to live to escape the monsters.

So Hayer was going to cut all four remaining sacred trees, which was the cause.

“Princess!”

The moment Iris heard a voice calling her from behind, she realized the danger and swung the spear she was holding, unfolding it.

At that moment, the spear was lodged into the face of a monster that was about the size of Hayer.

She forgot that the knights were fighting and hesitated to look back.

Iris lacked strength, so she drove the spear into the monster’s head with trembling hands.

The monster stopped moving, stood for a while with the end of the spear stuck, and then collapsed on its side.

The reason why the Lepos family was so good at spearmanship was because they had an unrivaled ability to determine distance.

They could find what they wanted without looking, and know the way without going.

Ironically, when war broke out, it was advantageous for fighting, for recognizing inferiority, and for fleeing.

Iris remembered before crossing the North Gate that the reason why Sid abandoned the royal castle and ran away was because of that ability.

Iris was born with that ability stronger than any other lineage of the Lepos family that exists today.

She had hardly met any other Lepos family member so far, but she realized at that moment, when the knights who saw her and Hayer, who was already standing behind the monster, that it was engraved in her bones.

Since ancient times, the king of Luwan has been made on a road. They grew up to be kings in the process of constantly using their abilities to wander around the world.

Hayer walked over and pulled the spear out of the monster’s face.

Iris asked him.

“What can I do?”

In Iris’s head, the proposition was established that while she was here, she must follow Hayer, the leader.

In response to her question, Hayer returned the spear and said.

“While you protect yourself, tell us the location of the monsters. We don’t know where or what it will come from.”

“I will.”

Hayer soon ran to the largest of the walking monsters pouring out.

It looked like a bunch of long-grown vines twisted together, wet as if it had risen from the sea, and smelled fishy.

An archer shot his bow in line with Hayer’s movement, and he jumped onto the monster, using it as a stepping stone.

Although the appearance was unsettling, Iris decided to carry out the leader’s order.

“Dame Annamaria! North!”

At her words, Annamaria quickly shot her bow northward, then shouted in a playful tone.

“Please say left! Because it’s confusing!”

“Now I’ll say front and back, right and left! I’m sorry!”

“We don’t apologize on the battlefield!”

She shouted and ran north.

The mountains seemed clear, but suddenly the air became humid like water and rain poured down.

The fog completely obscured her view, and Hayer was completely invisible.

The terrible battle took half a day to finish. It was a battle that even had the energetic Knights of Tejas sit down and gasp.

Iris saw that the giant walking monster had stopped in place at some point. The grotesque thing stood there and stopped breathing, leaning between the trees.

Hayer glided down the monster’s body.

The rubble that tumbled down below told them what kind of fight Hayer was fighting up there.

Iris looked around the place where the battle ended. And it was absurd, so she laughed and mumbled without realizing it.

“It’s terrible.”

The rest of the knights understood the reason for Iris’s exhausted laugh, so everyone burst into laughter.

Annamaria, who ran all the way north to catch the monster and returned, said to Iris.

“It’s strange. The princess is strangely like a Knight of Tejas.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Should I say that you know us too well?”

It was natural. Since there was a time they have been together.

Seeing Annamaria rubbing her arms for some reason, Iris smiled just to avoid answering.