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 seen would not leave my mind, rising before me with vivid clarity.
"Divine punishment, a curse, a trial..."
Those words kept lingering in some corner of my heart, and 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 eerily still.
A wondrous river where not even the common fish could be seen in the water...
Then, from behind me, a human voice reached my ears.
"Excuse me... are you able to cross?"
At the voice from behind, I turned and looked to see who had spoken.
The owner of the voice 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 lowered 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 bent my knees without hesitation.
At my action, 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.
Before long, the old woman's weight felt like a mountain.
Even so, I did not stop and kept moving forward.
"...Young man."
When I had reached about the middle of the river, the old woman on my back spoke.
"Why are you helping me, young man?"
At that, 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 burdens."
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."
At that, 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 that had been bearing down on me vanished like a lie.
The current, the depth, everything became light as if it had all been false.
I crossed the river as I was and reached the opposite bank.
I carefully bent my knees 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.
And in her place remained a being of divine presence, with beautiful features and red hair.
The moment I realized who she was, I dropped to one knee without hesitation.
"...I greet you, Lady Hera."
My voice was far more respectful than before, and came out naturally so.
Lady Hera looked down at me.
"One who bears burdens..."
Her voice was low, but I felt it piercing through everything I was.
"I have confirmed that you are not merely a king in words."
At that, I kept my head lowered and replied.
"...You honor me beyond measure."
A moment later, Lady Hera slowly raised her hand.
At that instant, the air trembled faintly, and a single shape manifested.
A bow of silver and gold intertwined.
It was a weapon that seemed to contain divinity in its very being.
"Take it. It is what I give to you."
I held my breath for a moment and looked at it, then received it respectfully with both hands.
"...Thank you, Lady Goddess."
The moment it touched my hands, a subtle tremor ran through the bow and into my arms.
"...And why would you give me something like this?"
"Because your conviction pleased me after a long time, this is my reward for entertaining me again after so long. Use it to shoot the serpent."
"How am I to repay this kindness..."
At my words, Lady Hera cast a cool glance over the back of my hand that held the bow, then drew a strange curve at the corner of her lips and said, "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 Artemis's hidden trial, and the offering that will prove the weight of the 'heart that seeks to protect' you bear."
Lady Hera slowly lifted my chin so that I met her eyes directly.
And within those eyes, it felt as though the rise and fall of heroes flashing and fading over tens of thousands of years were contained there.
"If you wish to entertain me, then walk that path of the 'protecting king' you have proclaimed to the end. In this game of fate the gods have arranged, I wonder how far you will insist upon your own order... That is what interests me greatly. That is the greatest amusement you must repay me with."
With those words, Lady Hera's form scattered and vanished into thousands of red petals.
Left alone, a fierce river wind swept over me once, and when I came to my senses, only the bow radiating a mysterious glow remained in my hands.
After that, I stood there for a while, feeling the cold touch of the bow in my grasp.
Lady Hera's final words lingered in my ears.
"A game called fate."
I pressed my lips together. If the gods moved human lives as though placing stones on a board, then I would have to become the stone that shattered the board itself. That would be the proof of the 'protecting king' I had chosen to be.
I tightened my grip on the bow and moved once more toward the forest's depths.
After traveling like that, I arrived at a cave and entered it.
As I went deeper inside, from the abyss where even light could not reach, there came the chilling sound of a massive scale scraping against stone.
Then, with a roar that tore the air apart, the enormous serpent Lady Artemis had told me was the cause of this hunt, the basilisk, revealed its hideous form.
The beast's eyes gleamed with a rotten golden light, and between its split tongue a vile acidic venom mist continuously poured forth, enough to melt even the surrounding rocks like liquid.
I took the bow Lady Hera had given me into my hands. Keeping my distance, I drew the string again and again, aiming for its eyes.
Whizz-!
Whizz-!
The steel arrowheads cut through the air and flew, but the instant they struck its scales, they were repelled helplessly, sparks scattering uselessly.
The beast swung its enormous tail as if mocking me.
Bang-!
"Ghk...!"
Before I could evade, the blow sent me crashing into the cave wall.
The taste of blood filled my mouth, and I felt the unpleasant sensation of several ribs shifting out of place.
The basilisk did not miss the chance, opening its massive maw to swallow me whole.
Spraying venom brushed my shoulder and thigh, and my armor hissed as it melted away, biting into raw flesh.
"Guh... Haah... Do you really think you can break me with only this much!"
I suppressed the burning pain and rolled away to avoid its attack.
But its body was so enormous it filled the entire cave, and the pressure of its coiling torso seemed ready to crush my ribs.
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 heart.
At the same time, I thought I could hear Lady Hera's arrogant laughter like an illusion.
—Now, show me. Show me the weight of the king you spoke of. Show me whether what you seek to protect is heavier than this death.
I gathered every last ounce of strength, broke free from the basilisk's grasp, and clutched the golden bow as though seizing a shattered pride.
I took up the last arrow and prepared to launch it.
All the oxygen in the cave was drawn into a blaze.
The bowstring screamed as it was pulled taut, and at its tip a radiant yet cruel golden sun was born.
I stared straight into the basilisk's eyes and, with a voice boiling up from the deepest part of my lungs, released its 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, and 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 great dragon of flame that instantly burned away the cave's darkness.
Even the brush of that arrow shattered the serpent's scales like glass, and the venom mist it spewed evaporated without a trace before the sacred blaze.
Fwoooosh-!
The golden arrow pierced straight through the basilisk's forehead and drilled dozens of meters into the bedrock deep within the cave.
The monster could not even manage a death cry, and was instead consumed from within by flames until it became a heap of ash.
Having poured out all my strength, I exhaled raggedly. As the cave collapsed 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.