A King is Born on the Road

“I think I had to use the roots…”

She was gibbering to herself as if she had not escaped shock. At the same time, however, her face gradually brightened with excitement as she trembled.

Iris was clearly convinced that the hallucination she saw had answers.

Cadella, who was listening to Iris’s mumble, asked again.

“What kind of hallucination was that?”

Tamati asked, as if it was strange that Cadella had no idea.

“Cadella, even though it’s the purple flowers that induces hallucinations, isn’t the hallucination yours? Can’t you control it yourself even if you’re in danger?”

“I can do it with one or two people. But I can’t with many people… Plus, when I’m on the verge of death, I can’t control my hallucinations. So what’s that hallucination? I’m so curious about what I can’t control.”

Iris, who had been thinking about how to explain in words to Cadella for a while, opened her mouth.

“There was a talking monster.”

“Talking monster?”

“Yes. The monster asked for help. It wants me to find it. The sacred tree can no longer protect us, it said.”

“Help me. Find me, child of Lepos. This tree can no longer protect us…”

Iris recalled what the monster had told her.

The monster possessed sufficient intellectual ability and seemed capable of conversing with humans. But that voice, begging for help, sounded so sad.

At Iris’s words, Tamati and Cadella nodded, thinking it was an interesting dream.

“You had a really strange dream.”

Cadella agreed with Tamati’s words.

“I’ve never imagined that a monster can talk, but having the sacred tree protect them is a really strange dream.”

There are different religious groups within the continent. However, there was something all those religions believed in the same way.

The god Tilla gifted the sacred tree to humans in order to ward off monsters.

So it was very strange and creative nonsense that the monster said, on the contrary, that the sacred tree would protect it. In other words, it was a story about the river being salty and the sea being bland.

So the two thought Iris had ‘just a little bit of an unusual dream,’ and said that, but Hayer was different.

He remembered the first time he encountered a walking demon.

At that time, all the members of the Knights were looking up at the monster in astonishment.

Huge things were often awe-inspiring. What the members felt at that moment may have been awe, Hayer thought.

Having had such an experience, Hayer took Iris’s words much more seriously.

“Iris, could you tell me where the talking monster is?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Iris, who answered so, pondered for a moment.

She slowly closed her eyes and tried to recall the tree she saw in the hallucination in as much detail as possible.

The tree was very big. She was lifted higher than any other tree in the forest by the sacred tree. The place was obviously a tree, and at the same time part of that monster.

Iris carefully recalled the memory and drew a large circle on the floor with her finger.

“If this is the continent, it’s here, in the southeast.”

“…Isn’t that where the capital of Siere is located?”

As Tamati spoke in a bewildered voice, Hayer also muttered.

“Unlike other places, it is also a place where two sacred trees are adjacent.”

His words quieted the party of three for a moment.

Tamati said with a complicated sigh.

“The place where two sacred trees are adjacent… the damage from the monsters may be worse.”

Hayer replied to Tamati’s words.

“To avoid the damage of the monsters, the Sieres may be willing to go to war.”

Tamati let out a groan at Hayer’s words.

He spent all his youth on the battlefield. Both Tamati and those around him always had the same opinion about war. No matter how greedy you are, it’s better not to go to war if possible.

After a while, Iris stood up.

“The door to the sacred tree is nearby. Let’s move quickly.”

At that, Hayer rose up with Cadella hanging.

As he was carried on his back, Cadella asked.

“Are we really going to cut down the sacred tree? I’ve lived for a long time, but I don’t understand. What if we get cursed?”

Hayer replied at the remark.

“I’ll cut it, and I’ll take the curse.”

“……”

Cadella rested his head on his back and asked stealthily.

“…Aren’t you scared?”

“How can I not be scared?”

“What if it’s too scary?”

“I’ll just do it before I get scared.”

“……”

“I have to do it.”

Iris looked back at Hayer, who said so.

Tamati whispered softly to her.

“It’s unfortunate for the princess, but he’s a relatively useful man.”

Iris smiled softly at the joke, affection, and sincere words.

Before long, the four of them stood at a fork in the road.

Iris said, stepping to one side.

“This is the last one.”

“What is the last?”

When Cadella asked, Iris replied.

“If you pass here, you will go outside.”

After wandering in the maze for many days, Iris’s words made everyone tense and catch their breath.

As Iris entered the path she had chosen, her vision gradually blurred halfway through, and then completely blacked out.

The four did not talk to each other. They just walked forward before they felt scared.

While walking like that, Hayer said.

“There’s a wall.”

At his words, the party stopped, and Hayer went first and pushed the door as hard as he could.

At that moment, the door fell out and light poured in.

Cadella was the first to jump off Hayer’s back and walk outside.

“It’s the outside.”

Cadella looked around and ran frantically to feel the desert sand in front of him. Then he smiled brightly and looked back at the party.

“There’s sand!”

The rest of the group also came out one by one and faced the sun, which seemed to dry the whole body.

Cadella ran barefoot across the hot sand.

“It’s hot! It’s really hot, really! Really hot! Hey, you punk! Take off your shoes and step on it!”

Hayer was dumbfounded by the sound of Cadella running around happily.

When he took off his boots and stepped barefoot on the sand, the dry sand contained enough desert heat even though the sun was passing.

Tamati, who watched the two running around on the hot sand with their feet, said.

“They’re young.”

“That’s right.”

“Princess.”

“Yes.”

“I came out thanks to the princess.”

“Thanks to me…”

“I, in 170 years—stone, rocks, sky, and trees… I’m looking at none of that.”

Tamati was admiring the vast desert as if it were the most beautiful scenery in the world. Iris smiled without replying.

Cadella, who was running around excitedly, shouted at Hayer that his feet were hot. Eventually, Hayer’s arm lifted him and he put on his shoes again.

Iris said.

“If you’re done playing, let’s go now.”

Then Hayer said politely.

“Yes, Captain.”

“Captain! How far do we have to go? Is there water? I want to see a place with a lot of water. Hayer said that where there is the sacred tree in the desert, there is an oasis!”

Then Iris replied.

“It won’t be very far.”

“I see it over there.”

Tamati squinted his eyes and said as Hayer gestured somewhere in the distance.

“You must be seeing something.”

“If you were 20 years younger, you would have seen it.”

“Bastard, you mischievous boy.”

Tamati responded like that to Hayer’s prank and laughed heartily.

Cadella was the first to start running to the oasis, and Tamati also followed Cadella.

Hayer returned to the tottering Iris and asked.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“I can carry you on my back.”

Iris thought for a moment when she heard that.

For her, who grew up in the north, the desert was too hot to bear. She felt like she had a fever.

When Iris hesitated, Hayer eventually pulled her onto his back and started running to the oasis.

Iris rested her head against his back, wondering whether it was the desert wind, Hayer’s neck, or herself that was hot.