Chapter 13
Chapter 13
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 13
Whinny!
"Damn it all, this won't do. Strip the horse armor!"
Yeon Hwi-garam, who always smiled or wore a serene expression, shook his head, letting his frustration show.
The reason was the warhorses. The storm had killed more than half the horses they brought, leaving them with 213. Then they lost one more in battle—down to 212. With 382 Black Armored Ghost Cavalry troopers and five general-grade officers including Go Jin-cheon, that left 175 of the 387 men as cavalry without mounts.
When they first captured the 23 mercenary horses that had raided the slash-and-burn farmers' village, the dismounted cavalry had cheered. The reason: the captured horses stood a head taller than their original mounts and ran considerably faster.
However...
"These things are all show and no go."
"Prrrr."
The horse the soldier was leading was exhausted. As Yeon Hwi-garam said, it looked good but was useless.
For the mounts of the Iron Armored Cavalry to wobble when they were actually put in iron armor—that was unacceptable. They lacked the most crucial qualities: endurance and strength. According to Elder Jang's apprentices and the locals here, they had never seen horse armor that covered the horse's entire body the way Gauri cavalry barding did. The captured horses might be big, but they were useless as Iron Armored Cavalry mounts.
"Still, deploying them as light cavalry or mounted archers is a bit..."
Even if you ordered the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry to serve as light cavalry, would any of them actually do it? More to the point, you wouldn't slaughter a chicken with an ox-butchering knife.
The bigger problem was breeding. They had brought their own horses, but only a measly five mares. A normal horse herd ratio was about ten mares to one stallion; 116 stallions to 5 mares was a hopeless figure.
Worse, Go Jin-cheon's cherished steed Gangsoe (剛釗: "steel-strong") was the dominant stallion among the warhorses and had monopolized every mare. The other stallions couldn't even get close. Of course, they could isolate them and let nature take its course, but the outcome was common sense—if only each mare dropped three or four foals at a time and only fillies at that...
"Too much to ask?"
Go Jin-cheon had approached at some point and was standing behind him, his brow furrowed. Hwi-garam let out a small sigh and answered while watching the horse being led away.
"Yes. It is."
"Hm..."
"For now, how about we try crossbreeding them with horses from this world?"
Hwi-garam cautiously offered his opinion. But Jin-cheon's response was negative.
"Horses are no different. If you plant good seed in just any soil, do you get good stock?"
"You're right."
"In the end, we can only increase their numbers with the five mares..."
"Yes."
That was the best they could do without any clear solution. In the middle of this, a commotion arose from where the horses had been turned loose.
Whinny!
"What's going on?"
The horses' cries kept coming, and moments later, a soldier who had gone to put the horses in came running back, his face deathly pale.
"General! There's trouble!"
"What happened?"
Hwi-garam asked, looking curious, and the soldier's face went ashen as he spoke in a trembling voice.
"I—I went to put the horses away, and... those ones were attacked by our warhorses. Their legs are broken."
"What! Let's go see."
For men who valued horses so highly, this was utterly unexpected trouble. No matter how useless the captured horses were as armored cavalry, they were still a key resource. When Go Jin-cheon and Yeon Hwi-garam ran over, the disturbance had settled somewhat and the horses' cries were dying down.
"Mm."
The soldiers had quickly led them out when the trouble started, but two of the horses had broken legs, and one had its back torn open, blood running down. Even though they had been brought outside the enclosure, they kept trying to bolt away from the Iron Armored Cavalry mounts. Seventeen horses had been brought out.
"All of them are local horses."
"Yes, General."
"Hm? Weren't there originally twenty-three?"
"Well..."
The soldier pointed, and there were the remaining six horses, surrounded by the Iron Armored Cavalry mounts and trembling. The soldier pointed at the injured horses and spoke.
"These injured ones are all stallions..."
In the end, the problem had blown up. The mares among the new arrivals had gone into heat. So the native stallions had been singled out and attacked.
"Hwi."
"Yes."
Jin-cheon, who had been watching, shook his head and began issuing orders to Hwi-garam.
"First, isolate all the mares. There could be worse problems. And the only option is to breed them one by one to the stallions, starting with the most aggressive."
"Yes, sir."
"For now, we'll need to buy mares even if they're local horses."
"No way around it."
The problems piling up were becoming a serious situation.
Men or horses...
It was giving Jin-cheon a headache.
After a week of preparation, they loaded monster bones, hides, and other goods onto two carts. Go Jin-cheon, Yeon Hwi-garam, and Ung-sam, who would serve as interpreter, were going. Beron and Darun accompanied them as well.
Mu-deok wanted to send more men, but the group's unusual appearance made that difficult. Moreover, since they did not formally belong to any nation, they couldn't openly move large numbers of people.
"We're heading out!"
"Be careful!"
"Don't worry."
Dae Mu-deok's worried voice followed them, but Jin-cheon was not the type to fret about things in advance. Besides, up to the edge of the mountain range they were escorted by some thirty Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, so they were safe enough for that stretch.
"It's quiet."
The route they took was one the slash-and-burn farmers had long used, so monster activity was low. When they had first settled their current base, which lay alongside a lake, orc-led monster attacks had come for the first month, but archer-based defenses had easily held them off.
Occasionally large monsters appeared too, but Buru—a humanoid monster himself—took the lead in dealing with them, so it had never been difficult. By now, the monsters had come to recognize human territory. The path they traveled served as something like the boundary between various monster domains.
"General, we'll be heading back now."
"Very well. I'll see you in three days."
"Yessir!"
Upon reaching the edge of the mountain range, the cavalry wheeled their horses and began returning. The journey here alone had taken four days.
"So we simply wait here?"
"Yes."
"Then go on ahead."
Beron and Darun went out first to meet the outer sentries. They had bribed the guard sergeant, which was what made a deal like this possible in the first place. From the sergeant's standpoint, arresting these men would only bring him a small reward; it was far better to keep pocketing a steady profit.
By evening, Beron and Darun returned.
"He says we can go in during the last guard rotation—when they change shifts."
"Mm."
Beron and Darun's speech was still halting, so Ung-sam's interpreting was indispensable. Not that a man like Go Jin-cheon was going to learn their language anyway.
They drove the two carts and slowly headed toward the gate.
"Nwaen GulRein ga mansirude. (You've worked hard, my lord.)"
"Biken neuga. (Go in quickly.)"
Jangle.
When they reached the entrance, Beron bowed and offered a pouch, and the gate captain took it deftly and grumbled at them. Just as Beron's carts began to enter, the captain's eyes suddenly took on a strange light and he abruptly stopped them.
"Tu tania. (There are two of them.)"
"Iku jensullu. (Oh, my apologies.)"
Greed flickered in the captain's eyes—he had realized there might be more coin in this. Beron quickly handed over another pouch and bowed his head again. But Beron handed over the money too readily, and the gate captain gave a strange smile as he looked over the wagons.
"Eung? Tuin ninnegu. (Hm? What a peculiar bunch.)"
"..."
Approaching the rear cart, the gate captain frowned at the unusual looks of Go Jin-cheon's party and spoke. Not stopping there, he used the shaft of his spear to poke at Jin-cheon's face as if he were handling some curiosity.
"Blackhene galan sekuwin? (Black hair and brown skin?)"
Tap-tap-tap.
"..."
For Jin-cheon, a military commander of the Great Gauri Empire, this was the first such insult he had ever suffered. As the spear shaft tapped against his face and head, Beron and Darun began to be overtaken by anxiety. Jin-cheon, who had kept his head slightly lowered, slowly raised it to look at the gate captain.
"...!"
"Hup!"
In that moment, the gate captain stepped back and spat out.
"Sikallen nin nainnaga! (They've gone mad!)"
...Jin-cheon, Ung-sam, and Hwi-garam were grinning widely, drool running down their faces.
"Pwei! Tul! (Bah! Go on through!)"
With a foul look on his face, the gate captain shouted for them to pass, and the two carts made it safely inside.
Crack.
As they moved away from the gate, Jin-cheon's hand, which had been gripping the edge of the cart, gave off a dull sound. Crushed splinters of wood trickled out between his fingers like powder.
The truth was, Go Jin-cheon was not the sort of man to lose his temper in such a situation. He knew when to stand firm and when to step back. And so he had endured the disgrace and acted the madman.
Yeon Hwi-garam, fearing Jin-cheon's temperament might ruin things, had put on a crazed act. Ung-sam, the lowliest among them, had had the sense to act mad as well. In short, it had been coincidence—and the three men turned into lunatics.
A cold chill radiated from Jin-cheon, and a low, somber voice came out.
"Beron."
"Yes!"
Beron hurried over, answering in faltering tones.
"What is that bastard's name?"
"Name? Ah, I-It's Kalsuman."
"Grrrind."
In place of acknowledgment came the sound of grinding teeth. The gate captain Kalsuman became the first target of Jin-cheon's vengeance after arriving in this world.
Although it was evening, the city lights shone here and there—perhaps because this was a proper town. In truth, it was little more than a slightly large village, but it still had everything a town would.
"Daeulgai nawainmaru shwil hodelrude. (This is the inn where we'll be staying.)"
When they reached a somewhat shabby inn, Gye Ung-sam translated Beron's words for Jin-cheon. This must have been where they always conducted business, because the innkeeper exchanged warm greetings with Beron and led the party inside. Jin-cheon and Hwi-garam, of course, did not linger in the common room but went straight to their rooms. Any trouble over their appearance would be a headache.
"Daesaja, I've drawn your bath water."
"Understood."
Ung-sam had prepared Jin-cheon's bath and reported, and Jin-cheon got into the tub to wash off the travel fatigue—preparing for the next day.
Go Jin-cheon's party took their breakfast with bread and soup—food they were seeing for the first time—and then left the inn. The first thing they did was obtain traveler's hoods.
Black hair with brown skin was simply too conspicuous. In these parts, black hair itself was not unheard-of, but people with it either had dark skin or entirely white skin. A skin tone that was neither one nor the other could only look strange.
"That's better, isn't it?"
"Yes, General."
When Hwi-garam pulled up his hood and spoke quietly with a more relaxed face, Ung-sam grinned and chimed in. Jin-cheon said nothing, but the easing of his brow suggested he was more comfortable too. Once they no longer felt people's gazes on them, they pulled the carts into a general store to sell the goods.
"Ossapssyo. (Welcome.)"
"Herrison!"
"Beron, Darun!"
As they entered the general store, the owner's voice called out, and Beron's delighted voice quickly followed. Apparently close, Darun and Beron shook hands, then left Jin-cheon's group to browse inside while they dragged Herrison out to where the carts were.
"We've got quite a lot of goods this time."
"Is that so? Let's see..."
"Oho, this is truly remarkable! How on earth did you get so many monster hides!"
"Heh. Just tally them up for us."
Herrison kept breaking out in exclamations as he inventoried the goods. In the middle of it, his eyes began to grow wider and wider. The second cart held ogre hide and minotaur hide—and not just one or two pieces, but several.
An ogre was among the mightiest land monsters—one it took twenty soldiers to even think about engaging. And here were close to ten ogre hides.
"H-How did you bring these down! And don't tell me you caught them yourself!"
"Good heavens, with a friend like you. I'll tell you everything later once we're inside; for now, just give me a price. Ah—also, do you not need any ogre blood?"
"Would you find a wizard in a backwater like this? Such a waste. Ogre blood is expensive..."
"Hmm, then we'll have to go through a merchant caravan?"
"Most likely. You'd have to sell it in a bigger city."
At Beron's words, Herrison shook his head ruefully.
As far as he knew, ogre blood fetched 2 Gold per bottle—a costly and hard-to-acquire commodity. That was because capturing an ogre required at least two seasoned knights working together. But knights had no particular reason to hunt them, so the blood was quite rare. The problem was that here, even finding a wizard was difficult.
"I-I'll buy it!"
"Huh?"
"Who...?"
Beron, Darun, and Herrison turned toward the voice from behind them. There stood an old man in the classic wizardly garb: a robe and a long white beard flowing down.
He was unmistakably a wizard. However... in all his life, Herrison had never heard of a wizard wearing patched, ragged robes—let alone seen one. Except for the old wizard standing right in front of him.
"How much?"
"Well then, let's see here."
Never mind his shabby appearance; Beron retrieved the glass bottles of ogre blood from inside. They had originally just thrown it all away, not knowing its value, but Beron, who understood its worth, had collected and stored it like this. Even so, for three bottles combined—3 liters—they could receive 6 Gold (with 1 Gold worth roughly one million won).
The wizard accepted the bottle, examined it slowly, and then broke into a satisfied smile. At that, Beron smoothly spoke up.
"What do you think?"
"The quality is excellent! I'll take all three bottles for 1 Gold and 50 Silver..."
"Excuse me?"
The old wizard tossed out a ridiculously low price, crashing straight through Beron's will to haggle.
"Not even 1 Gold 50 Silver per bottle..."
Under the withering glares from Beron and Herrison, the old wizard seemed to shrink a little even at his own words. Herrison's suspicions began stirring at the wizard's behavior.
Could he be a fraud?
On a continent where warfare never ceased, wizards were precious beings. Even a 3rd Circle wizard was someone people came throwing money at to recruit; a 4th Circle wizard would be treated like nobility and it still might not be enough.
Yet the old wizard before them wore robes patched all over, and showed none of the typical wizardly arrogance or haughtiness. Herrison's suspicion was natural enough. In the end, he spoke carefully.
"Er... Sir Wizard, forgive me, but that price will be difficult."
"Ah..."
He didn't have the nerve to come right out and ask, "Are you really a wizard?"—not to someone who might actually be one—so he gently expressed his refusal.
"..."
The instant Herrison finished speaking, the old wizard's shoulders drooped like a rain-soaked puppy; it nearly made them want to just give him the bottles. Just as the doubts about whether he really was a wizard were mounting, a cautious voice came from the old wizard.
"J-Just a moment, please."
"Yes?"
Then, all of a sudden, he took off his robe and began shaking it out. After turning out his pockets and going through the rest, the old wizard had in his hand 1 Gold, 92 Silver (1 Silver worth roughly 100,000 won), and 5 Copper (1 Copper roughly 100 won).
It was enough for a family of four to live on for a month, but barely enough—or not even enough—for a single bottle. The sight of the old man holding out all that money in his hand, his head half-lowered and eyes trying to read their faces, was extremely hard to ignore.
"This... it's everything I have..."
"Old man, are you really a wizard?"
"He-Herrison!"
"Beron, can't you see what's in front of you?"
Beron hastily tried to stop him, but Herrison's face was unmistakably displeased. The old wizard before them began to look flustered.
"Hey, you swindler! If you're going to run a scam, at least do it properly—you go fish a robe out of some garbage heap and put it on, then try to swindle three bottles worth at least 2 Gold each for less than 2 Gold total! I'll kill you today!"
"See here, Herrison!"
Unlike Beron, Herrison, who lived in the city, wasn't so naive. Beron tried to hold him back while Herrison raged. The old wizard's face turned scarlet, then darkened close to black. A low voice drifted out of him.
"Oum Sala di Krei Um Taha. Fire of fury coalesced through the yearning of flame..."
"Huk!"
"A wizard!"
Thinking you could insult a wizard and just walk away was sheer folly. The old man they had dismissed—lacking self-confidence, displaying no arrogance, looking just a cut above a beggar—really had been a wizard after all.
And then, above his raised hand, a scorching heat began coalescing in the empty air. Beron and Herrison felt as if they were in hell. Here, it was a reality that even if common folk died, a wizard would not be punished.
"Gather that will, and form into purifying flame. Fire Ba—"
Thwack!
Plop.
"..."
"Huk."
A stone flew like a flash and struck the old man's forehead. The fireball in his hand dissipated, and the old wizard collapsed onto the ground, facing down, twitching just slightly.