A King is Born on the Road

KBR. Chapter 86

* * *

At the bonfire surrounded by the Knights of Tejas, vice-captain Hencke Haywin shouted, raising a glass.

“Cheers to commemorate the captain gaining immortality!”

“How can you misrepresent this so wrongly, you bastard?”

No matter what Hayer said next to him, the excited knights toasted until their glasses broke.

The drinking party was noisy and late at night. Hayer raised his hand and touched the wound on his shoulder again. He let out a sigh of relief when the hard scab still touched his finger.

“Ah, I lived…”

His subordinates burst into laughter when he talked to himself with sincerity.

Hayer, who was laughing along with them, gradually stopped laughing and muttered while looking at the floor.

“I’m alive.”

The leader’s words made the knights quiet for a while.

Ato, the vice-marshal Kawat, raised his glass.

“Let’s toast to our departed comrades.”

The knights clashed their glasses once again.

Only death remained in the mountain village where the monsters trampled on, and there were many experiences of losing comrades.

Hayer had the names of his subordinates who had left first engraved in his head one by one. They were names he will never forget until he dies.

Even before the wound healed, he had no regrets about cutting the sacred tree. He just regretted not cutting it sooner.

Shortly after, Hayer quickly stood up from his elated subordinates.

Seeing him get up, Iris got up together and followed Hayer and asked.

“Where are you going?”

“Temple. It’s a thank you, so I’d like to say hello.”

“Can I come with you?”

Hayer motioned for her to take the lead, as if asking for something natural.

The capital was at the end of the summer while the two returned from wandering the Traitor’s Labyrinth and desert.

Summer in Luwan was dry, both in the north and south. Therefore, it is better to prepare an umbrella in advance if you feel the damp air when you breathe in on a summer day.

The air was damp today. Hayer packed an umbrella for Iris.

The Great Temple was on top of a low hill. After each of them rode up the hill with their horses and arrived at the Great Temple, Hayer stood in front of the temple.

There was a considerable distance from where he stood to the statue of Tilla, the pride of Luwan’s Great Temple.

Hayer stepped into a building that he had not been able to enter for a long time.

The Great Temple, like many buildings in the royal palace, has windows made according to the movement of the moon. When the full moon rises, this temple was able to show its best beauty.

Iris was staring at Hayer walking into the central façade.

He strode forward and knelt before Tilla’s statue. Then he put his hands together and began to pray to Tilla.

She thought he had come to say thank you since he was freed from the curse. From a distance, however, he was praying for forgiveness, not thanks.

Why?

Iris, who had doubts about Hayer’s back, stepped towards him.

As she got closer, Iris’s thoughts became more firm.

Feeling her approach, Hayer lifted his head, looked at the statue, and opened his mouth.

“If Tilla exists, why can’t the sacred trees protect the continent anymore?”

“……”

“If God really exists… why do you let those grotesque things kill us?”

Iris looked at Hayer muttering like that and pretended to think about it.

Iris, who had been like that for a while, came next to him and whispered very quietly with her hands together.

“That must be why you were sent.”

At her voice, Hayer was absent-minded for a moment, then laughed lowly.

The people of Luwan thought that God would surely protect them.

On the contrary, it was the Kawat people’s idea that God would no longer protect the sacred tree, and that they should protect it.

Now, Iris’s words were close to what the Kawats thought. To say that you have to save it yourself.

Soon Hayer said with a smile.

“You are always flexible with religion.”

He was born a prince of Luwan and was baptized here in this temple after a year, and learned to always thank Tilla.

He still loves Tilla, but he never thought God would protect this land.

In Hayer’s world, the Luwan people’s faith no longer worked. If the sacred tree is left unattended, monsters may come rushing up at any moment.

Already, the Sieres have met monsters in the capital.

The distance between the two sacred trees and the capital was close, but the distance to the forbidden land was quite far. But the fact that there is a monster that appeared beyond that land, through the forest, and even into the capital is…

There were times when Hayer had a pessimistic thought that even if he cut the tree now, it might be too late. However, he thought that if Iris were put in this situation, she would make a firm decision.

If there is only one answer, Iris Lepos does not worry. She’ll be leaving for Siere right away.

Hayer got up and said to Iris.

“I think I’ll have to go to Siere.”

“Yes.”

Iris nodded.

“You’re going after all.”

Hayer laughed at her anxious voice.

“If you were the captain, you would have asked to go anyway, right?”

“…That’s, well.”

“Will you be my guide?”

Iris nodded at Hayer’s words. Then she looked worried.

Cross the border.

The border of a neighbouring country that knows that it will cause a war in the not too distant future.

It’s okay because merchants are people who go to and from both sides during the war, but the two were particularly members of the royal family, so it would be even more difficult to cross the border.

He thought he would have to get help from the Asheri family on the border or Everhart, which has a port. If they chose to use the port, they had to make a long voyage around the continent.

It would be difficult to cross the border, so it was already far behind that. But this time, there was no choice. It was a must-do.

It was highly likely that Siere was covered with monsters, and the Sieres poured into Luwan in search of a place to live. Therefore, first of all, it had to remain a place where people could live.

They returned home from the temple, thinking about this and that, and fell asleep for a while. It was morning when they woke up. Iris and Hayer were ready to go to the royal palace.

* * *

Sid Lepos was informed that Iris had escaped from the Traitor’s Labyrinth faster than planned.

Originally, he intended to swap Iris for Madeleine—who looked like her—if she disappeared in the maze. However, she came out too soon that everything failed.

He went on a rampage, unable to contain his anger, and then approached Madeleine, who was trembling at one side of the office, and vented his anger.

“I taught you well enough. But why do you still have no confidence, no pride? My uncle is not like that, so is the mother who gave birth to you the problem?”

Madeleine couldn’t answer anything and just stared at the floor.

Sid continued.

“Then the kid in your stomach is obvious too. They’ll be born trash like you.”

Madeleine put her hands together and closed her eyes tightly.

She wanted to live.

Can she?

Will this child be born safely…

When she thought so, she heard a trumpet outside.

Sid looked out the window and saw the Knights of Tejas approaching across the side road in the huge garden of the royal palace.

Madeleine was the first to find just one of them, Iris.

She was still passing through the palace with a beautiful face and indifferent eyes.

Throughout her time in the maze, Madeleine tried to be like Iris. Hearing about her, she tried to like the things she liked, and dislike the things she didn’t like.

After trying so hard, she stopped feeling like Iris was a stranger.

Madeleine unwittingly walked toward the window. And thought she wanted to be Iris Lepos.

* * *

Cadella, wearing a hood, was a witness that Iris Lepos had returned safely from the Traitor’s Labyrinth, and had entered the royal palace with the Knights of Tejas.

The boy looked around, worrying that there might be an executioner to execute him in the middle of the royal garden. He couldn’t see anything, but he still wasn’t relieved.

As Cadella continued to sigh deeply, Annamaria, the marshal of the Knights of Tejas, scolded him.

“Why do you sigh so much? Like a guy who carries all the hardships in the world.”

“I’m scared. I’m a traitor… I thought that the only time I would enter the royal palace would be when the executioner cuts my throat.”

“Puff out your chest. I’m also a commoner, but I enter confidently.”

“You should stop being so confident…”

“And if anyone says something to you, cast a spell. I’ve never seen you actually do it, but you can do it, right?”

“I can! These bastards don’t believe me because I left them without showing my strength.”

Cadella grumbled.

In the meantime, the party got closer to where the king was standing.

King Eswa came out to the garden to greet them. Hayer dismounted first, escorting Iris, and she dismounted as well.

King Eswa said.

“Welcome.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Iris walked towards the place where King Eswa was.

She must have felt the stares of royalty and nobles paying attention to her, but she didn’t care.

Iris Lepos passed the test to prove she was eligible to succeed the throne.

They didn’t know what her intentions were, but she was showing off the fact with an arrogant look and posture. Iris was a person who knew exactly how to behave in the royal palace.

With the completion of the test, she has risen to the fore among the contenders for the throne.

King Eswa, of course, was thinking the same thing. So he was even afraid that he might lose the throne to his niece. Nevertheless, he welcomed Iris proudly like his own child on the outside.