A King is Born on the Road

As Hayer left the bedroom and passed through the hallway, Annamaria, who was waiting, followed.

“Are you going to the Siere?”

“Yes.”

“They’re already waiting.”

The two soon entered the underground dungeon of the Hall family, where Sandra had imprisoned the Siere.

Any great aristocratic family would have set up a prison like this.

The ones who died the most in the dungeons of great aristocratic families were the second sons, who were rivals of the eldest son to become the head.

Hayer, who spent his childhood as the king’s second son, recalled memories he wanted to forget every time he entered an underground dungeon.

“You deceived the king.”

“You will never get out of here.”

His older brother’s voice shook his head, flickering like the embers of a cloudy day.

Hayer shook off his thoughts by shaking his hair, as if it were cumbersome.

Hayer soon found the Siere lying on one side in a dungeon cell.

The Siere, already beaten and tortured by Sandra, was beaten by Hencke for no reason this time.

“Captain, this bastard must have come to another country and hasn’t learned the Luwan language yet. Does this make sense?”

“You beat him because he can’t speak the Luwan language?”

“He didn’t answer…”

Hencke grumbled and left the cellar.

Most people in the Asheri family knew how to speak some Siere. The same was true of Hayer, who was kicked out of the royal palace and raised in Asheri midway through his childhood.

《t/n: couldn’t find a suitable name for the languages the two nations speak so… we’ll stick to Siere and Luwan lol. Luwanese? Luwanian?? idk》

He spoke in the language of that country to the Siere covered in so much blood that he couldn’t even open his eyes.

“You will die anyway, so I have no intention of making you a secret.”

“…You speak Siere.”

“Why are you here?”

At Hayer’s question, the Siere gritted his teeth.

Hayer nodded in understanding and sat down in front of him.

The Siere tried to pull out Hayer’s sword with his remaining strength, but Hayer grabbed his arm and he stopped.

It was a terrible strength. The Siere felt as if he had been bitten by an alligator, and his face turned white.

He was more afraid of this overwhelming difference in power he felt now than when he was being cursed at and tortured by Hencke.

He was not taking any defensive posture even with the enemy right in front of him. It was because there was no reason to do so, and in a short time, the Siere found out that his bones were numb.

Hayer gently lowered his arm and pulled a handkerchief out of his inner pocket. Then, as a parent would do to a child, he wiped the blood off the Siere’s face and soothed him.

“Or you can convert.”

“I can’t do such a thing. Since my family… is at stake. I’d rather die here, Sir, you won’t get anything.”

“Are the monsters rampaging?”

The Siere, who had been adamant that he would never open his mouth, hesitated.

His face quickly turned to contemplation, and the light in his eyes disappeared.

“How much?”

“……”

“The south of Luwan was the same. I had to retreat gradually, though I was proud that my knights were stronger than any other knights on this continent. I came to think that not only the south of Luwan, but also the places where the other four sacred trees are located may be similar.”

“Can… Can you help?”

The Siere’s body began to tremble.

“It’s as the Lord said. The monsters are gradually expanding their power even in Siere. It’s not just one or two, and they’re… They’re killing humans intelligently.”

“So? Are you thinking of moving to Luwan? Are you going to make this country a land of Siere’s?”

“…Yes.”

Hayer nodded at the expected answer. Annamaria and Hencke’s expressions, who were listening from behind, hardened.

After getting enough information, Hayer got up. And after cutting the Siere’s throat so quickly that he was not even aware of his own death, he spoke to the head that had fallen to the floor without even closing his eyes again.

“Thank you. It was helpful.”

After saying that, he got up and left the cellar, and Hencke followed and said.

“I’ll take care of it.”

Leaving Hencke’s answer behind, Hayer left the dungeon.

With the Siere’s story, Hayer’s prediction, which he had hoped would be wrong, was correct to some extent.

The five sacred trees no longer served as a deterrent to monsters.

On the contrary, it played a role in boosting the spirits of monsters with the strange energy that had been accumulated while blocking them thus far.

There was no one on this continent who could decide to cut down a sacred tree.

In order to cut down a sacred tree in the first place, you must enter the land covered with monsters. In addition, you had to embrace all the curses and cut down the sacred trees in that land.

Hayer eventually realized that it was his job.

He must cut down all the remaining four sacred trees himself.

To do that, Iris’s medication had to work.

It was clear that if the curses of the other sacred trees were added to his body as it is now, he would collapse and die even if he cut only two trees.

* * *

Iris was listening to Hayer’s footsteps passing through the hallway without entering a room.

When Hayer’s footsteps returned after a while, she could also smell the scent of blood.

She vaguely realized from the smell that the Siere must have died. Hayer got enough information he wanted, and he seemed to have learned something he shouldn’t have.

“Iris Lepos. Do you intend to become king?”

Ever since she returned from the North Gate, her mind has always been focused on one thing, that Luwan would not be covered with Sieres.

Because she thought it was the only way to escape the guilt of doing nothing as a queen.

As long as the result was met, it didn’t matter who sat on the throne. It was fine whether it was herself or Hayer.

But…

Iris, who was trying to sleep again, muttered, covering her face with her hands.

“No, why do I have to lose sleep because of that man?”

Ever since meeting Hayer, he has been digging into Iris’s head every night. She almost suspected that he was doing it on purpose.

Iris pulled the blanket up again, and went to sleep with the remaining warmth.

The next morning, Sandra offered food and drinks, but the Tejas Knights could not delay their schedule any longer and looked at Iris.

Everyone seemed to be not good at refusing, so Iris had no choice but to say farewell to Sandra.

“I think we really have to go today. We’ve been very indebted to you.”

“You’re leaving?”

Sandra said in disbelief, her eyes wider than ever.

“What kind of guest leaves without breakfast?”

“Ah, that…”

“Now, are you ignoring the sincerity of the head who prepared breakfast?”

“No! I’ll eat and go. I’m going to eat.”

Sandra was angry that she would not have breakfast, as Hayer said, and Iris was finally able to leave the mansion after breakfast.

The Knights of Tejas usually used to get food for a certain period of time here in this territory, but this time Sandra just gave away a huge amount of food in return for helping the territory.

Iris couldn’t keep her mouth shut at the enormous amount of food the Knights of Tejas were loading into the wagon.

“I can eat it for a year.”

At Iris’s words, the knights glanced at her and soon burst out laughing.

“A year? This is the amount you eat in three months.”

The food to be eaten for three months was so much that each wagon was full of bags, and the knights had to set off with one bag on each horse.

Hencke said.

“When you go to the south now, you’ll be in the middle of monsters until this food runs out.”

Iris nodded.

The war she knew will begin three years from now, but now she knows that it had actually been prepared long before that.

The Knights of Tejas fighting the monsters at the southern end was probably not much different from a war.

She left the Hall family with her party, hoping that the capture of Siere’s spy would affect the war even a little later.

When she looked out of the carriage window, Sandra was still watching the carriage moving away.

Iris hesitated, then spoke to Sandra in what was probably the loudest voice in her life.

“Let’s meet again!”

Sandra conveyed something to Dane at her words.

Dane then shouted on behalf of the head, who had to protect her honor.

“Let’s do it! It’s a pleasure!”

Iris burst into laughter at Dane’s words.