The path that cut through the deep forest was so quiet it seemed as though it had long been waiting for someone’s footsteps.
I walked that road slowly.
The scenes I had just witnessed refused to leave my mind, rising before me with vivid clarity.
Divine punishment, a curse, a trial...
Those words kept lingering in a corner of my heart. As I walked with my thoughts still unsettled, my steps soon came to a halt.
Before my eyes lay a vast river.
Wide, deep, and without any visible end.
The current was not fierce, but instead, it was eerily still.
It was a wondrous river where not even a single fish could be seen in the water...
Then, from behind me, a voice reached my ears.
“Excuse me... are you able to cross?”
At the sound, I turned to see who had spoken.
The speaker was an old woman with a bent back.
Her clothes were shabby, yet her eyes were strangely clear.
I looked at her for a moment, then bowed my head and answered.
“Yes, I am.”
“If you do not mind, could you help me cross to the other side? This old body finds it difficult to wade through the water.”
“Of course. Leave it to me.”
Hearing the old woman’s request, I knelt without hesitation.
At my gesture, the old woman carefully climbed onto my back.
At first, she felt light.
But the moment I stepped into the river, that weight began to grow heavier and heavier.
One step.
Then another.
The water rose to my waist, and I felt my legs sinking deeper and deeper into the riverbed.
Before long, the old woman’s weight felt like a mountain upon my shoulders.
Even so, I did not stop; I kept pushing forward.
“...Young man.”
When I had reached the middle of the river, the old woman on my back spoke.
“Why are you helping me, young man?”
I steadied my breathing and answered.
“Because you asked for help.”
“...Is that truly all?”
“...Because I believe a king is one who does not turn away from a burden.”
At my words, the old woman’s eyes wavered faintly before she spoke again.
“A burden, you say... Then what is it that you carry?”
I thought for a moment, then answered her question.
“...I am still learning the weight of it.”
A very faint smile brushed the old woman’s lips.
“Then what is the path of kingship that you seek?”
“...I wish to become a king who protects.”
“...And what is it that you mean to protect?”
“Those who are precious to me.”
At that moment, the immense pressure bearing down on me vanished as if it had been a lie.
The current, the depth—everything became light, as if the struggle had been an illusion.
I crossed the remainder of the river and reached the opposite bank.
I carefully knelt and set the old woman down.
“...We have crossed safely.”
The instant I bowed my head, light burst forth.
The form of the old woman standing before me slowly blurred and vanished.
In her place remained a being of divine presence, possessing beautiful features and flowing red hair.
The moment I realized her identity, I dropped to one knee without hesitation.
“...I greet you, Lady Hera.”
My voice was naturally more respectful than before.
Lady Hera looked down at me.
“One who bears burdens...”
Her voice was low, yet I felt it piercing through my entire being.
“I have confirmed that you are not merely a king in words.”
I kept my head lowered and replied.
“...You honor me beyond measure.”
A moment later, Lady Hera slowly raised her hand.
The air trembled faintly, and a single shape manifested.
A bow of intertwined silver and gold.
It was a weapon that seemed to embody divinity itself.
“Take it. This is my gift to you.”
I held my breath for a moment, staring at the weapon, before receiving it respectfully with both hands.
“...Thank you, Lady Goddess.”
The moment it touched my palms, a subtle tremor ran through the bow and surged up my arms.
“...But why would you give me such a thing?”
“Because your conviction has pleased me for the first time in ages. This is my reward for entertaining me. Use it to slay the serpent.”
“How can I ever repay this kindness...”
Lady Hera cast a cool glance at the back of my hand holding the bow, a strange curve forming at the corner of her lips.
“To speak of repaying kindness—how bold for a human. But Astellon, a gift from a god always carries a fitting price. The prey you will hunt with that bow is no mere beast. It is a trial hidden by Artemis, and the offering that will prove the weight of the ‘heart that seeks to protect’ which you carry.”
Lady Hera slowly lifted my chin, forcing me to meet her eyes directly.
Within those eyes, it felt as though the rise and fall of countless heroes over tens of thousands of years were contained.
“If you wish to entertain me, then walk that path of the ‘protecting king’ you have proclaimed to the very end. In this game of fate the gods have arranged, I wonder how far you will insist upon your own order... I am dreadfully curious. That shall be the greatest amusement you repay me with.”
With those words, Lady Hera’s form scattered into thousands of red petals and vanished.
Left alone, a fierce river wind swept over me. When I came to my senses, only the bow radiating a mysterious glow remained in my hands.
I stood there for a long time, feeling the cold touch of the bow in my grasp.
Lady Hera’s final words echoed in my ears.
A game called fate.
I pressed my lips together. If the gods moved human lives like stones on a game board, then I would become the stone that shattered the board itself. That would be the ultimate proof of the ‘protecting king’ I had chosen to be.
I tightened my grip on the bow and moved once more toward the depths of the forest.
Eventually, I arrived at a cave and stepped inside.
As I ventured deeper, into an abyss where light could not reach, I heard the chilling sound of massive scales scraping against stone.
Then, with a roar that tore the air apart, the hideous form of the basilisk—the great venomous serpent Lady Artemis had described—revealed itself.
The beast’s eyes gleamed with a rotten golden light. Between its split tongue, a vile, acidic venom mist poured forth, melting the surrounding rocks into liquid.
I gripped the bow Lady Hera had given me. Keeping my distance, I drew the string repeatedly, aiming for its eyes.
Whizz—!
Whizz—!
The steel arrowheads cut through the air, but the instant they struck the scales, they were repelled helplessly, scattering sparks.
The beast swung its enormous tail as if mocking my efforts.
Boom—!
“Ghk...!”
Before I could evade, the blow sent me crashing into the cave wall.
The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, and I felt the sickening sensation of several ribs shifting out of place.
The basilisk did not miss its chance, opening its massive maw to swallow me whole.
Spraying venom brushed my shoulder and thigh; my armor hissed as it melted away, searing into my raw flesh.
“Guh... Haah... Do you really think you can break me with this!”
I suppressed the burning pain and rolled away to avoid the attack.
But the creature's body was so enormous it filled the entire cave. The pressure of its coiling torso tightened around me, threatening to crush my ribs completely.
Just as my breath was cut off and my vision began to stain red in that moment of mortal peril...
The golden bow in my hands began to throb like a beating heart.
At the same time, Lady Hera’s arrogant laughter echoed in my mind like a hallucination.
Now, show me. Show me the weight of the king you spoke of. Show me whether the value of what you seek to protect is heavier than this death.
I gathered every last ounce of my strength, broke free from the basilisk’s grasp, and clutched the golden bow as if reclaiming my shattered pride.
I notched the final arrow and prepared to launch.
All the oxygen in the cave was sucked into a roaring blaze.
The bowstring screamed as it was pulled taut, and at its tip, a radiant yet cruel golden sun manifested.
I stared straight into the basilisk’s eyes and, with a voice boiling from the depths of my lungs, released the true name.
“Behold, this is the majesty of the gods held in human hands, and my will that rejects fate! The queen’s stern judgment dwells in this arrow; it shall pierce even the watch of heaven and purify all falsehood! Hera's Arc—Queen’s Judgment!!”
The arrow that left the string was no longer mere light, but a colossal dragon of flame that instantly incinerated the cave’s darkness.
The mere brush of the arrow shattered the serpent’s scales like glass, and the venom mist evaporated without a trace before the sacred blaze.
Fwoooosh—!
The golden arrow pierced straight through the center of the basilisk’s head, drilling dozens of meters into the bedrock deep within the cave.
The monster could not even manage a death cry; it was consumed from within by the flames until it became a heap of ash.
Having poured out all my strength, I exhaled raggedly. As the cave began to collapse around me, I transferred the beast’s heart into the pouch I had received from Lady Artemis and sealed its blood in a small vial.
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