Chapter 1
Chapter 1
<Part 1 — Conquest of the Otherworld>
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 1
Prologue
Some called him simple.
Others called him cruel.
Yet others called him a man of boundless greed.
But.......
In a certain light, such words only make him seem all the more human.
Though he occupied a position few could dare approach, whenever invasion came he always stood at the forefront, and rather than simply protecting his people, he fostered in them the strength to protect themselves—a ruler unlike any they had ever seen.
The Gauri Empire.
The most glorious name upon this land.
The hallowed name of Go Jin-cheon, the Yeolje who founded and defended that name, and who, even as he reigned, personally showed later generations the duty borne by those who rule.
We call him......
the Iron Emperor.
— Excerpted from the first chapter of the memoirs of Archmage Siaron Risel —
Chapter 1 — The Land of the Falling Yeolje
"Aaaargh!"
Kihihihih!
"Halt!"
Hell on earth.
What words could better suit the scene?
Against the spears and blades of armored soldiers, men wielding farm tools flailed in futility, while women were stripped naked beneath the greedy leers of reeking enemy troops.
The place where such unnatural landscapes were painted...... was none other than the battlefield men called a living hell.
"Burn it all!"
The man in ornate armor wore a cruel smile; anyone could see he was the leader of those who had created this hellscape.
"G-General!"
"Why are you making such a fuss!"
His brow furrowed as the soldier's call broke through his intoxication with blood and plunder, and he snapped irritably. But the soldier's face was filled with bewilderment.
"A Gauri (Goguryeo) force is coming over the ridge!"
"Hmm....... Their numbers?"
"Estimated at roughly eight hundred Iron Armored Cavalry, plus some two thousand infantry, including shieldbearers and axemen."
Gauri — that is, the land called Goguryeo or Guryeo — had once been the hegemon of the continent. Yet the general's face still held a sneer.
Who was he, after all, but a High General leading the elite of Tang! With Yeon Gaesomun dead and Baekje destroyed, the continent's hegemon was no longer Gauri — it was Tang.
"Losing your nerve over barely three thousand soldiers......."
Counting the troops currently pillaging the area, nearly eight thousand men were concentrated nearby, so his rebuke of the soldier seemed only natural. Still the soldier stammered on.
"Th-that may be, but among the Iron Armored Cavalry, the four hundred-odd riders at the front wear dark iron scale armor and white breastplates. By all appearances......."
"What!"
Only then did the general's eyes fly wide as he shouted.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The rhythmic clatter of armor rang out as some three thousand troops reached the hilltop. The devastation in the village below was obvious at a glance.
"Hwi, what is the enemy strength?"
"Around eight thousand, including some fifteen hundred enemy horse."
"......."
The man sat astride a black warhorse at the very front of the cavalry, silently surveying the battlefield. His gaze was as unfathomable as darkness beneath a cliff; only his excited warhorse moved, snorting toward the battlefield.
"Daesaja, your orders!"
Shhring!
The moment the words ended, a Hwandudaedo slid from the man's flank with a razor-sharp ring of steel.
"Hwi! Take the right wing and circle around. Buru and Uru strike the left with the Left Army."
That was all.
By the time the words were finished, the horses had already begun to move. And as if by prearranged signal, two hundred-odd riders in black scale armor and white breastplates thundered after him with a heavy roar of iron. Then the man called Hwi's voice rang out behind them.
"Let's go hunt Tang soldiers!"
"Waaaah!"
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!
The earth-shaking weight of hoofbeats hammered down upon the battlefield.
The Tang encampment, already milling in confusion as it struggled to form ranks, began to waver at the sight of men and horses charging straight in without warning.
"Cavalry, follow me!"
The Tang cavalry thundered out of their formation to meet the charging Gauri cavalry. Apparently emboldened by their numerical advantage, the Tang general kept roaring to the riders following him.
"A crumbling Gauri is no longer our match! Finish them quickly, and we can grab ourselves a woman too—ghk!"
"C-Commander!"
An arrow punched through the mouth of the noisy man at the head of the charge, and the feast of death began. Arrows plunged down at imperceptible speed. The only way to track them was by the bodies hurled in every direction.
Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh!
"Everyone, get out of the way!"
"Gwaaargh!"
Neigh!
Voices raised to reorder the ranks were swallowed up by the dark-hued cavalry that charged in after the arrow storm.
Black scale armor and white breastplates.
And the Three-legged Crow Flag snapping above their heads had already begun to shatter the Tang army's will to fight. As comrades burst apart spraying blood before his eyes, someone spoke in a trembling voice.
"The Black Armored Ghost Cavalry....... The cursed war demons......."
In his eyes, the black-armored riders reflected terror itself. The sight of comrades skewered on lances and sent sprawling no longer registered. All he could do was pray that this hellish dream would pass.
"Kiry-aaaah!"
"St-stop them!"
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!
After punching through a Tang cavalry force more than twice their size and crashing into the infantry formation, the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry was unstoppable. Their black iron scale armor and white breastplates were already drenched in crimson. As fresh, warm blood washed over them yet again, the Tang troops were no match for them.
"R-run! It's the red Three-legged Crow Flag!"
Thuck!
"M-my arm!"
Only when the crimson Three-legged Crow Flag came snapping fiercely through the wind did the Tang soldiers realize they were facing gods of death. But mercy had long since ceased to descend upon them. A hand axe buried itself in the skull of the first Tang soldier to turn his back, and the hour of slaughter commenced.
The crimson Three-legged Crow Flag and the ink-dark scale armor.
They were gods of death, and Gauri's last pride.
* * *
"Damn Tang bastards are spread out like ants."
"I been tellin' ya there's no gap!"
"Who said anything?"
Eulji Buru and Eulji Uru clicked their tongues as they watched the Tang forces beginning to close in on Pyongyang Fortress. A low voice sounded behind them.
"The state of the war?"
"It's hard goin'."
The voice that answered his toneless question was tinged with gloom. Behind Go Jin-cheon, who was listening to their account, Yeon Hwi-garam stood in quiet attendance.
"Hwi!"
As if to confirm once more, Jin-cheon called to Hwi-garam.
"It is already lost."
"Is that so......."
Yeon Hwi-garam's answer was short, yet it spoke the grim reality of the situation with perfect clarity.
"Heh."
A smile touched Jin-cheon's lips as he looked down upon the battlefield.
"Galloping freely will be difficult from here on out."
Behind Go Jin-cheon, whose smile said he found it amusing, Buru and Uru laughed along.
"Let's bet on who can take down more of those Tang bastards."
At Buru's hearty voice, Uru chimed right in.
"Loser's gotta pluck the beard off King Yama himself!"
"Good! That'll be fun."
As if savoring the present despair, they simply burst into laughter. And Yeon Hwi-garam gazed quietly at the scene, as though determined not to forget it.
Just then, a lone rider came galloping toward them.
"Daesaja Go Jin-cheon, receive the Yeolje's command!"
The herald's booming voice rang out across Jin-cheon's unit.
"Your Majesty! You must escape at once!"
"Your Majesty......."
"......."
Perhaps sensing the scent of death drawing near, Bojangje only kept his eyes quietly shut despite the ministers' cries.
It had been a war lost without ever truly fighting.
The moment Yeon Gaesomun died, the empire had splintered as though it had only been waiting for the chance, and was already racing toward the end of its ruin.
He lifted eyes heavy with regret and looked out at the great hall. The valiant generals who had once commanded the continent were gone; only trash scrambling to save their own skins filled it now. At least the Captain of the Guard, who had always attended him at his side, still remained.
"You must flee before the encirclement tightens, Your Majesty!"
"If I flee, where shall I go?"
"A ship has been prepared. You must board it, sail south, and rally the armies once more."
After Yeon Gaesomun's death.
Yeon Gaesomun's sons Namsaeng, Namsan, and Namgeon fought among themselves, and Namgeon seized supreme power. Afterward, Namsaeng fled to Tang and was now invading as Tang's puppet, and the remaining forces were still locked in infighting for their own gain even at this moment.
As if confessing the emptiness within him, Bojangje asked hollowly.
"If I rally the armies, who will fight?"
At Bojangje's question, Captain of the Guard Dae Mu-deok's face hardened for an instant, but he promptly composed himself and answered clearly.
"We still have Daesaja Go Jin-cheon, don't we!"
"Indeed. He still remains."
For the first time, a smile traced Bojangje's lips, and life returned to his face. Unlike the anxious Captain Dae Mu-deok before him, he even began to show composure.
"Waaaah!"
At that moment, the cry of a baby — utterly incongruous with the surrounding chaos — echoed faintly toward the imperial hall. And Bojangje's face was brightening.
"Captain of the Guard, will you grant me one last request?"
"What are you saying!"
Mu-deok was flustered, at a loss when Bojangje abruptly clasped his hand and smiled gently at him. Tightly gripping the one trustworthy hand around him, Bojangje was delivering his final command.