"...It's been a very long time since I was here as well..."
On the road back, after killing the lion, I followed the path once more and thus arrived at my homeland, Eirene.
Before the city gate, a great crowd had gathered. I pulled my hood low over my face and slipped into the throng.
People entered the city one after another, and when my turn came, the gatekeeper looked at me and said, "Present something that can prove your identity."
At his demand for identification, I answered, "Hmm... I don't have anything suitable on me right now."
At my reply, the gatekeeper's eyes turned cold, unlike before.
"Then get lost. We don't have the leisure to take in people like you."
At that sneering gaze, one thought took root in my mind.
'First... I'll clear these pests out and set things in order. Their manners are... terribly lacking.'
To the gatekeeper's mocking words, I gave no answer and slowly lifted my head.
From beneath the hood I had pressed low, silver hair colder than moonlight and eyes that had once frozen even the beasts of the forest were revealed.
"We don't have the leisure to take in people like you."
The gatekeeper was still snickering as he reached out to shove my shoulder.
But before his hand could touch me, a chilling pressure, as though the air itself were screaming, crushed the plaza before the gate.
Shhk-
"Huh...?"
The gatekeeper looked down at his own hand.
The tips of his fingers trembled faintly, and then the spear he had been holding split cleanly into two and fell to the ground without a sound.
No one saw me draw my sword.
The sword Teacher Chiron had given me was already sleeping quietly within its scabbard.
"Did you tell me to prove my identity?"
I spoke in a languid voice, yet with a majesty that could not be defied.
"There is no custom by which a subject asks the master of this land for directions when he enters his own home. Since when has the law of Eirene become so murky?"
The people around me and the other soldiers held their breath. The force in my voice was not merely the pressure of violence. It was the authority of royal blood passed down through generations, and the true dignity of a king forged through eight years of walking the line between life and death.
"Y-you... c-could it be... you are...?"
The gatekeeper's face went white.
At last, he seemed to remember the back of the young prince who, nine years ago, had departed for the forest under the send-off of the king, queen, and their retainers.
"P-Prince Astellon...?"
He dropped to his knees and slammed his forehead to the ground.
The soldiers nearby also threw down their weapons and prostrated themselves at once.
In the eyes of the people starving outside the gate, awe and a thread of hope began to glimmer.
I looked down at them and muttered inwardly, 'I wanted to live a normal life, but this is already a lot of work from the very start.'
Those who had been gnawing away at this country in place of my sick father. Corrupt officials who hid behind the games of the gods and squeezed the lifeblood from the people. As I passed through the gate and stepped into the city, I made my decision.
'First... I'll clear these pests out and set things in order.'
"...Move aside. Or is there still something left for me to prove?"
"N-no! This way! Please, come in, Prince!!"
Wherever my steps fell, dust shook loose from the city walls, and the soldiers' cowardly gazes turned to fear.
Then I whispered to the gatekeeper who had mocked me only moments before.
"This time it was your spear, but next time you'll have to prove your neck."
At my low voice, the gatekeeper could not even scream, and simply flattened himself against the ground.
With his back rigid from terror, I stepped into the city without hesitation.
Inside the gate, the people were laughing brightly, yet to my eyes it all felt like a play manipulated by someone else's hand.
I went straight into the castle, and those inside, upon seeing me, were struck dumb and rushed to me as though their feet were on fire, asking about all that had happened in my absence.
"Where is the king?"
But I had no time to focus on any of that, and under a retainer's guidance I arrived before the room where my father was staying.
Standing before the door, I opened it and went inside. There, lying on the bed, was my father, and beside him my mother, tending to him.
My mother saw that I had returned safely, her eyes reddened as tears spilled down her cheeks, and she embraced me.
And my father, lying upon the bed...
"...Astellon."
"...I'm listening."
"...As I wrote in my letter, a few years after you left, I went with the soldiers to subjugate a monster that had appeared in this region."
He greeted me in a precarious state, like a dying ember, and with eyes growing ever more blurred, he seemed to strain to hold my image a little longer.
"That monster is a giant venomous serpent with black scales. I took its right eye, but in exchange I was poisoned by its venom and ended up in this state..."
With a trembling voice, he spoke to me, and I could do nothing but stand there and listen.
My father's gaunt hand clutched at my clothing.
The mighty strength that had once lifted me high nine years ago was nowhere to be found now; only a pitiful warmth, burdened even by the smallest tremor, remained.
The curse of the black serpent.
The identity of that poison, which had stolen my father's color and gnawed at the vitality of Eirene, flashed through my mind in fragments from the ancient books I had read in Teacher Chiron's library.
"Astellon... I'm sorry. To place such a burden on you... so soon..."
My father continued, swallowing a groan of pain.
My mother, silently wiping away her tears beside him, gripped my hand tightly and shook her head. Within the room, along with the heavy air of grief, the faint reek of that vile poison that was devouring my father's life lingered.
I laid my hand over my father's. It was cold.
Yet within it, the will of a king who still loved this country trembled faintly.
"Do not apologize, Father. A burden? Hardly."
I answered as calmly as I could, then took the bundle of parchment Teacher Chiron had given me from within my robes and handed it to my mother.
Then I slowly rose and looked around the chamber.
Unlike the city outside, which was putting on a peaceful act, this room was steeped far too deeply in the shadow of death.
"A black-scaled serpent... So the wound it left on Father is not merely one that sickens the flesh."
I brushed my hand over the sword at my waist.
That strange presence I had felt when entering the gate.
The peculiar atmosphere that had clung to the eyes of the people was likely proof that the miasma exhaled by that monster had already begun to consume the entire nation.
"Astellon... Be careful. That thing is no ordinary beast. It is... cursed by the gods... or perhaps sent by them..."
My father could not finish his sentence and instead erupted into violent coughing.
Black blood mixed with phlegm stained the white bedding. I looked down at that black blood with a cold gaze.
'I came back after so long hoping to rest a little... and there's an obstruction.'
The corners of my lips twitched faintly.
It was not fear, but a cold loathing toward those who would disturb my peace.
The price for ruining the order I must protect and the tranquility I am meant to enjoy would never be light.
"Mother. Please take care of Father. I'll be back shortly... I need to step out for a moment."
"Where are you going at a time like this?"
At my mother's question, I smiled softly instead of answering. But that smile was already like frozen moonlight, stripped of all human warmth.
"...It seems insects have gathered in my absence, so I'll go and clear them out for a bit."