Divine Punishment (3)
After the meeting ended, the 1st prince tucked the crown into his bosom and went to find the 2nd prince. The 2nd prince, lying casually in his own room and resting at ease, didn't look anything like the man who'd driven his country into crisis. He seemed like a total dimwit with zero grasp of reality.
"Hmm? Brother. What brings you to your little brother's room? The meeting wrapped up smoothly, I take it? No need for me to know the details, right? You handled it just fine on your own."
The 2nd prince drawled lazily from his bed. Not a hint of regret or remorse in his voice. Not a shred of facing reality.
Hearing his brother's words, the 1st prince replied calmly. "How's your condition?"
"My body? Limbs still throbbing like hell. They were smashed to bits—how could they be fine?"
The 2nd prince said it oh-so-nonchalantly. But the 1st prince knew the truth. He'd gotten the full story from the guard who'd nursed him in the doctor's stead. The 2nd prince's body had healed ages ago. During the announced six-month recovery period, he'd been back to full strength by the end of the first month. The other five? Just lounging around his room, using the injury as an excuse to slack off.
That's why the 1st prince could speak in a voice like ice. "Set out on a pilgrimage of atonement."
"Huh? Why me?"
"Why? Why?"
Suppressing his rage at this foolish brother who couldn't see reality if it bit him, the 1st prince said steadily, "Because of what you did, this country—this land—and our people are suffering famine and plague. You need to go on that pilgrimage, reflect on your sins, and atone. Only then can this nation revive."
"Why should I have to? I'm the 2nd prince of Acad Kingdom. Anything I want is mine for the taking. If anything, the problem's that sword and that woman—they should've been mine too."
His words falling on deaf ears, the 1st prince swallowed another surge of anger and enunciated clearly. "The kingdom can't even collect taxes properly right now. Food production's at a standstill. We're at the limit of buying grain from neighbors with the treasury. Leave on your pilgrimage immediately."
"No way! I'd sooner die!"
The 1st prince snapped, slapping the 2nd prince across the cheek.
"You hit me?! Even Dad never laid a hand on me!"
"Father made a grave mistake! Spoiling a moron like you! He raised you without a single spanking, and now look—you're a spoiled brat who can't tell right from wrong!"
Furious, the 2nd prince lunged at the 1st prince, but the 1st prince easily pinned him down.
"Father agreed. You're being sent on that pilgrimage of atonement! Until you've atoned for every sin and earned the Life Goddess's forgiveness, you are no longer part of the royal family!"
"What?! You're lying!!"
"I hope you finally grasp how grave your actions were, foolish brother."
And so, the 2nd prince—Orkus—was exiled, sent off on his pilgrimage of atonement.
The 1st prince—Stur—mobilized every last soldier, gathering all survivors from the cities and villages. Thousands in total.
"Everyone assembled?"
"Yes. We've collected every survivor from the villages and cities. But our stockpiled food has limits—we don't have much time."
"I know. We'll wrap this up fast."
Stur ascended the platform, facing the gathered masses.
"I am 1st Prince Stur. I ordered everyone gathered to address this crisis."
"Ooh, Your Highness. Reliable as ever. But what of the king? Why are you directing this instead of His Majesty?"
"Father... has collapsed."
"Pardon?"
"He blamed himself for my fool of a brother's actions and fell ill. That's why I'm handling things in his stead."
"Ah, understood."
The king had doted on the 2nd prince, so this must have hit him like a thunderbolt.
"I apologize for the suffering my foolish brother caused our people. Once that idiot completes his pilgrimage of atonement, this land will revive—but it'll take ages."
"Does that mean we're all doomed?"
"That's why I've prepared one solution."
Stur drew something from his bosom. A silver crown. The priceless treasure passed down to the kings of Acad Kingdom.
"This crown is a cherished heirloom of our Acad Kingdom, symbolizing the right to rule the world. Its value is beyond measure."
"Why bring out such a treasure now...?"
"I'll pawn it to borrow land from another nation."
"What?! How could we..."
"In this situation, we have no choice. We use whatever we can. If this crown ensures our nation's survival, I'll gladly hand it over as collateral."
The people and retainers fell silent in awe.
"With this crown's worth, we can secure enough land to save all our people. I'll visit the neighbors and get the best, broadest territory possible. All of you—survive."
And so, Stur mounted his horse with a few escorts and set off.
The Acad Empire... ahem, it's recorded as a kingdom in the histories, but given its scale, it was practically an empire—keep that in mind. Compared to other nations of the era, with their diverse ethnic makeup, Acad's territory was two to six times larger. Honestly, considering those were mostly city-states, controlling six times as many qualifies it as an empire.
Ahem, got sidetracked there. Back to it.
The fall of the Acad Empire was swift. Barely a year. Despite its vast lands and population—the largest among nations—it crumbled under famine and plague without lasting even that long.
Some say the Life Goddess was behind it... but that's hard to buy. Think of all she's bestowed on humans and non-humans alike. What massive sin could turn an entire nation to wasteland?
Well, eventually she forgave them, and the land became vast grasslands, slowly recovering. Not long after the empire vanished, nomadic tribes rose on those plains. That tribe's name—
The boy who had once been a prince set off aimlessly into the wilds. Endless rage burned in his chest. Rage at the brother who'd banished him on this "pilgrimage of atonement." Rage at the father who hadn't stopped him. And rage at the goddess's proxy—the woman and her sword that had slipped from his grasp, sparking it all.
Clutching that aimless fury, the boy wandered lonely roads. Plenty of close calls with death... no, he'd died several times. But his life wouldn't end. Death itself rejected him. As if rest was denied until atonement. As if he was doomed to suffer endlessly.
He died and revived, wandering without atoning an ounce. Time passed; the boy became a youth. Still, the pilgrimage dragged on. No reflection stirred in his heart. No forgiveness from the Life Goddess. How could a goddess absolve what even he couldn't accept? He was a fool who didn't know his own wrongs. A idiot who thought the world was his for the taking. How could he be forgiven?
Thus, the youth kept wandering. Slain by monsters one day, executed by suspicious guards the next. Still he wandered.
In time, he sensed the curse upon him—his life force ebbing and surging. An arm severed by a blade would reattach on its own, blood knitting it back in grotesque regeneration.
Witnessing this endlessly, he instinctively learned to wield blood brimming with life force. He could replenish his own by drinking from others. Feed his blood to them, and they'd become like him. Step by step, he grasped these powers as he roamed.
With Acad Kingdom gone, its lands a wasteland, its people renamed and scattered to other nations—the last true Acadite wandered the world.
He would come to be known as the Wandering Acadite.