A King is Born on the Road

Hayer’s boot, Dylan, pointed to Iris’s spear and asked.

《t/n: 시동/boot is a young man working under a Lord》

“Do you want me to wipe it off?”

“No.
I’ll try.”

“Yes, it’s better to take care of your own weapons.”

Dylan said and handed over one of the tattered towels he always carried with him.

Iris received it and wiped the spear clean.

It looked like wood at first glance, but there was black flesh* on the tip of the spear.
The floor was covered in blood mixed with rainwater.

《t/n: *black flesh from the monster》

Then, Hayer approached, and Iris unknowingly avoided his gaze.

Her emotions became complicated when she thought Hayer was trying to cut down all four remaining sacred trees.

With just one curse on his body now, he was suppressing constant pain with terrible drugs.
However, he was thinking the absurd idea of putting four more curses on his body.

But it wasn’t that she didn’t understand.

Indeed, who, on this continent, could have the heart to cut down the sacred tree?

Iris thought that maybe there never had been such a hero, and there never will be one.

* * *

Hayer was a quick-witted person, so he immediately noticed that Iris was avoiding him.

Even after taking a bath and spending the night at the accommodation, she didn’t talk to him.

She wanted to keep pretending not to know, but Iris was applying the homemade ointment on Hayer at regular intervals, so she couldn’t avoid the obligation today.

Iris came out into the hallway with a candle from the small room that Woods, the butler, was very displeased about but reluctantly gave.

All the people who moved around all day, fought, and trained at night fell asleep, and only the servants were walking around late into the night to organize the things scattered by the knights here and there.

Iris knocked on Hayer’s door, trying to pretend that nothing was wrong while under the servants’ gazes.

“Hayer.”

At the sound of her call, Hayer opened the door.

“You’re here?”

Unlike usual, Iris did not make eye contact with Hayer.

Hayer, who normally doesn’t speak directly, fiddled with his earlobe and took off his shirt, then headed to a chair.

“Are you going to start right away?”

“Yes.”

Hayer sat down in his chair at her short, blunt answer.
And when Iris touched his back without saying she would start, he couldn’t help but look back at her.

“If I made you angry, I’ll reflect on myself.”

“……”

“If you tell me why you’re angry, it will help me reflect better.”

At Hayer’s words, Iris shut her mouth and looked at the ointment instead.

Hayer tilted his head and somehow made eye contact with her, who lowered her gaze.

“Hm?”

“…I’m not angry.”

“Then?”

Iris thought for a moment before opening her mouth.

“I know what caused your wound.”

At her words, Hayer stopped all movement.

Iris continued calmly.

“It’s because you cut the sacred tree.”

“……”

Hayer stared intently at Iris as she confessed.
Then he took a step closer to her and opened his mouth.

“How do you know that?”

“I knew that you were hurt in the first place.
I said I knew the cure, so it’s not surprising to know how you got hurt.”

At Iris’s words, Hayer pondered for a moment and then nodded.

“Come to think of it, that’s also true.”

Hayer sighed and turned his head to the direction where the rain was still pelting the window.

“The one who had been in a convent all her life stayed in the same space*, even though she knew that I had cut the sacred tree.
To be honest, I was feeling guilty.”

《t/n: *stayed in the same space as hayer》

In fact, words could not describe Iris’s shock when she saw Hayer cutting the sacred tree at the North Gate.
It was something she had never imagined in her life.

However, she knew that Hayer had endured the actions that she had never imagined for the sake of the people of this continent.

“I know you did it out of necessity.”

“……”

Hayer unconsciously smiled faintly at her words.
He was more relieved than he thought that there was a person in the world who recognized that.

Seeing Hayer’s smile, Iris soon got to the point in a rather heavy voice.

“I want to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Is your dream to cut down all the sacred trees and die?”

Hayer froze, unable to answer the completely unexpected question that caught him off guard.

Iris continued.

“I guess you never had a future.”

“……”

“Well, there are people like that.”

Hayer blinked with a stunned face at Iris’s words.
Then he asked in a rather bewildered manner.

“How much do you know?”

“I don’t know.
I really don’t know most of the time.
The question whether you intended to cut down all the sacred trees came to mind in the battle earlier.”

“I see.”

Hayer nodded and then laughed.

“This is how I treat myself.
Do you think I’ll die?”

“You’re already hurt like this, do you feel optimistic?”

“That can’t be true.
I’ve also thought about the very negative part.”

Hayer crossed his arms and continued in a playful tone.

“I wonder how far the curse for cutting down the trees will go.”

“What?”

“Does it end with me? I was wondering if the curse would spread elsewhere if I didn’t die.”

It seemed like he was trying to cover it up as a joke, but she could feel the tremor in his strong eyes.

“What do you mean?”

When Iris frowned and asked back, Hayer continued.

“I don’t know anything, so I’m just wondering in case.”

“What would you do if it really is like that?”

“Well.
Then I can’t… Wow.
Is it like this?”

When Iris unconsciously hit his arm on the uninjured side, Hayer yelped.

He tried to act cute, but it only ignited Iris’s anger.

She said.

“Look, you’re the one who cut down the tree for the sake of your subordinates.
You seem loyal, but on the other hand, you think too little of your life.
You then…”

“…Then?”

Iris, who was angry, blurted out her words.

Then.

She wanted to talk about Hayer, who took her to the North Gate, so she closed her eyes, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get it out of her mouth.

While she was at such a loss, the corners of Hayer’s eyes that were looking at her, were absurdly crinkled with laughter.

“…Why are you laughing?”

To laugh in front of an angry person made her feel like a fool.

When Iris asked tearfully, Hayer replied.

“Because I’m pretty when I smile.
I was wondering if it would help you relieve your anger.”

“…I’ll get really angry if you keep joking around.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“……”

“Relieve your anger.
I am a person who values my life.”

“…Really?”

Hayer nodded, still smiling.

It certainly wasn’t a joke to say that his smile was pretty.
His brightly smiling face with crinkled eyes was really, really like the sun.

Even in the northern lands, even when her toes were frostbitten, Iris felt like she was facing the sun when she saw Hayer’s smile.

Hayer took a deep breath and said.

“Then, we can celebrate to our heart’s content that the Kawat monsters have been faltering thanks to the sacred tree being cut.”

“Are you sure it has been faltering?”

“Yes, if you ask the knights, they’ll be excited to tell you.”

“I’ll ask them at the drinking party.”

“Yes.”

Iris said and looked at Hayer’s back.
Iris, who was looking at his wound that was hardly healing, opened her mouth.

“Could it be that the wound doesn’t heal because you don’t rest too much?”

“Hmm.”

“You trained and fought every day without a chance to let the wound heal.
Try not to do anything for about ten days.”

“We’ll see.”

Judging from Hayer’s dubious reply, he seemed to have no intention of doing so.

Iris had no intention of blaming the impatience in his heart of thinking that he should cut the trees, either.
However, it was also clear that this should not be the case.

It rained heavily throughout the day, and he often rushed into the rain quickly even after applying medicine.

After Iris applied the medicine, Hayer took a sip of his drink and offered it to Iris.

Iris took a sip of Hayer’s favourite drink and told him.

afterword 

indirect kiss at the end or what… anyway sorry for all the t/n’s there was a lot of vague stuff i felt needed to be cleared up lol also took way longer translating this chapter i was too busy grinning like a fool (and dialogue is one of the harder things to translate imo)