Chapter 173
Chapter 173
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 173
Night falls quickly in the forest.
It felt like early evening, but darkness had already settled inside the forest.
"Move, move, move! You want to sleep on the bare ground?"
A knight strode around barking at the expeditionary soldiers as they set up their tents, and one man grumbled.
"Damn, would it kill him to lend a hand?"
"Do we really gotta pitch it? We could just lay one sheet down, cover up with the other, and call it good enough."
The shouts of the knights and the muttering of the soldiers mingled and melted into the darkness.
Rustle.
"Huh?"
A strange sound reached the ears of the man on watch, fighting off drowsiness. Pitch-black darkness pressed in on all sides. Uneasy, he shook his comrade awake—the man who had set his weapon aside and was curled up beside him.
"Did you hear something just now?"
"Ugh, I'm sleepy, quit talking to me. And are we the only ones on watch? If something happens, everybody'll know. Waking me up for nothing, making a fuss. Tch."
His face twisted with irritation, he snapped at the comrade who had woken him, pulled his collar tight, curled back up, and tried to sleep again.
How much time passed?
A sound of something moving reached them.
Scrabbling, scrabbling.
"There's definitely something now...?"
Crunch, crunch.
At the unmistakable strange noise, the man who had been sleeping grabbed his weapon and rose to his feet.
"What do we do?"
"Let's check it out. Carefully."
The two men leveled their spears forward and moved step by slow step.
They hadn't walked far when they saw something crouching before their eyes.
"Who goes there!"
"Krik?"
Ridiculously, the man had hailed a creature that couldn't understand speech. The crouching monstrosity let out an odd noise and bolted away into the forest.
"Huk—what, what the hell!"
When the strange creature vanished, the two men were trying to calm their startled hearts. Only then did they see what the creature had been eating.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
A huge scream tore through the darkness, ripping more than five thousand men from their deep slumber in an instant.
Corpses with their faces and throats gnawed open lay strewn before their eyes.
A knight who had been staring grimly at the sight turned as a stiff-backed middle-aged man approached from the rear and reported with a grave expression.
"Count Hamon, eight men in total were killed."
"Damned luck, taking casualties on the very first day."
The dead were the soldiers who had ignored the knights' orders the night before, carelessly draping their tents over themselves and sleeping where they lay.
"Judging by the gnawed flesh, it appears to be kobolds."
"To fall to stupid kobolds... this is unacceptable."
The count's scowl was only natural.
Kobolds were low-tier monsters easily driven off with nothing more than a stout club. You only had to watch out for their sharp teeth.
Normally they gnawed on rotting carcasses, but occasionally they preyed on defenseless living creatures.
It was the price of ignoring the veterans' advice.
In the grand scheme of things, eight was a trivial number. But the fact that they had taken casualties on the very first day of the expedition sent small ripples through the soldiers' hearts.
The following night.
The advance halted, and every soldier pitched his own individual tent and slept inside it. But the nightmare came again without fail.
"My lord Count!"
"What is it this time!"
Count Hamon emerged from his officer's tent and, as he washed his face with water his attendant had brought, snapped at the knight with an irritated look.
The knight's face was incredulous as he opened his mouth.
"The supply wagons—some were looted, and others were ripped apart!"
"What!"
This time it was the provisions.
Of course, they had brought ample supplies, so the damage could be considered negligible. But this was only the beginning.
As they marched on, their waterskins were smashed to pieces. Then, as if the food had been poisoned, roughly a third of the men who ate breakfast collapsed with stomachaches and diarrhea.
Men who went off alone to relieve themselves were hunted down almost without exception. Every time they tried to sleep, large monsters began howling as though on cue.
Unable to sleep night after night, the five thousand soldiers grew increasingly edgy.
"Ow!"
"Goblins!"
"Watch the poison darts!"
By the fourth day, monster attacks were happening in broad daylight on the march.
The casualties were mostly confined to the common soldiers.
Perhaps because of that, Count Hamon ordered a forced march, and the soldiers' discontent only mounted.
"They're saying five hundred men have already been killed?"
"Dammit, how much farther do we have to go?"
As they pushed into the heart of the mountain range, sunlight no longer reached them, and the soldiers felt their bodies instinctively shrinking inward. One man, while walking, suddenly pointed behind his comrade and screamed in horror.
"Huk! B-b-behind you!"
"Aagh!"
Startled by his comrade's warning, the man whirled around. Seeing nothing behind him, he realized it had been a joke.
"Hehehehe."
"You bastard, you think it's funny— Huk! B-b-behind you!"
The man, about to vent his anger at the comrade laughing at him, suddenly pointed behind his comrade with a horrified face and began shouting, this time in earnest.
But his comrade only sneered and laughed harder.
"Not falling for it, you idiot. Hehe."
Thwack!
And then the orc that had actually appeared burst the man's head open.
"Orcs!"
"Gruiiiiik!"
"Gruik!"
The savage cries of orcs began to reverberate from every direction. Soldiers, thrown into instant panic, started swinging their weapons wildly in all directions.
"Ogre!"
Monsters burst out everywhere.
As control of the soldiers became nearly impossible, Count Hamon began to panic. Already over a hundred men lay dead, and a considerable number of soldiers had thrown down their weapons and started to flee.
"Stop them!"
A troll with glistening green skin yanked the sword from its split shoulder and charged straight at Count Hamon.
"Stop it, I said!"
Count Hamon shouted at the top of his lungs, but in the chaos, no knight was free to look after him.
He tried every resistance he could muster, but the troll's razor-sharp claws came flying toward Count Hamon's head.
Craaack!
A sound like a tree stump splitting.
"Grwaaaargh!"
"Hrk!"
The troll reaching for Count Hamon's head let out a dying shriek as its body split open from shoulder to waist, and it crumpled to the ground.
"Slaughter the remaining monsters!"
"Uwaaaah!"
The soldiers of the Haian Kingdom began to stare in bewilderment at this unexpected turn of events.
"Shieldbearers, advance!"
CRASH!
Heavy infantry clad in armor resembling scale mail appeared.
Using their shields as weapons, the soldiers began driving the charging orcs to one side. Their momentum was so overwhelming that orcs—stronger than ordinary grown men—were being shoved back without a chance to fight back.
More soldiers who had dashed up behind them thrust their spears over the shields.
"Gruiii!"
Orc screams shook the forest.
The soldiers of the Haian Kingdom, who had been paralyzed by the overwhelming display of force, seemed to draw strength from it. Each man took up his weapon and joined the counterattack.
To call it a counterattack was generous—they were mostly just mopping up in the wake of the heavy infantry in scale mail as they swept through.
"What in the world is going on?"
Count Hamon, having barely escaped with his life, stared with uncomprehending eyes at the mysterious unit slaughtering the rampaging monsters.
Then, his eyes were drawn to a man wielding a weapon unlike any sword—a thin-bladed weapon sharpened on only one side. When the man slashed at a charging ogre, Count Hamon could only gape in sheer disbelief.
SLASH!
"Gruuugh!"
"Grugh!"
KABOOM!
In a single exchange, he had cut down two ogres at once.
Count Hamon was busy pinching his own cheek, trying to determine whether he was dreaming or awake.
SLASH!
"Gruiiik~!"
The final orc's death cry rang out pitiably.
Count Hamon's guard knights had already encircled him, as if bracing for any contingency. But fear was mingled in their eyes.
The martial power that had annihilated countless monsters in the blink of an eye, and the disciplined precision of their movements, were not things to be taken lightly.
They had already formed ranks—the sight of them standing in perfect order sent chills down the spines of those watching.
Clank, clank, clank!
The man who had been at the vanguard strode forward and stopped before Count Hamon.
The guard knights' tension only heightened.
"What is your affiliation?"
One of the guard knights stepped forward toward the approaching man and inquired about his identity in the most courteous voice he could manage.
"I am Gye Ung-sam, Joui-du Daehyeong of the Gauri Empire."
When Gye Ung-sam revealed his identity, Count Hamon and his knights fell into deeper confusion.
It was a nation they had never heard of. Yet they lacked the nerve to turn their blades on these men under the present circumstances.
Count Hamon stepped forward and spoke in a courteous voice.
"I am Count Hamon of the Haian Kingdom."
"A pleasure to meet you."
When Count Hamon introduced himself, Ung-sam naturally extended his hand.
At this point, Count Hamon had no choice but to clasp Ung-sam's hand in return.
"I am grateful you rescued our unit. But in truth, this nation called Gauri is one I am hearing of for the first time. Could you please tell me more about it?"
Count Hamon's question circled around the matter, careful not to offend in the slightest. He could not quite bring himself to attach the word "Empire" and had simply referred to it as a nation.
"The Reganza Mountains are the territory of our Gauri."
"What do you mean by—"
A soldier who had been watching the situation from the sidelines rounded his eyes. A nation, in this godforsaken place?
"What business brings your country's army into the Reganza Mountains?"
At Ung-sam's crisp question, Count Hamon answered naturally.
"We are here on a survey expedition of the Reganza Mountains. Monsters have recently begun descending into the villages and threatening the people, so we set out in haste."
"Then be cautious. Twin Head Ogres have been sighted in this area recently, so you must exercise special care. I take my leave, then."
"T-Twin Head Ogres!"
Count Hamon's eyes went wide.
"We return!"
At Ung-sam's command, the soldiers replied in unison and began to turn away.
Count Hamon hurriedly stopped them. No, he had no choice but to stop them. The recent attack had destroyed all of their drinking water and provisions. He could not even imagine trying to turn back in this state.
"Permit us to stop briefly in your nation! We have lost all our water and provisions in the attack."
At his words, Ung-sam appeared to consider briefly, and then nodded his head in assent.
"You have my thanks."
"All forces, escort the army of the Haian Kingdom. Dispersed formation!"
"At once!"
At Ung-sam's command, the soldiers moved with rapid precision, clustering around the Haian Kingdom's soldiers as if enveloping them.
Even under their protection, Count Hamon's unease left him glancing warily around until they arrived in Gauri.
"Whoa, to think there's a place like this in the Reganza Mountains!"
A soldier exclaimed in wonder.
The place they were now entering was the central lake.
The basin formed around the central lake was fertile and vast. And when a great city began to reveal itself within it, the soldiers of Haian grew increasingly bewildered.
'These are not cities and roads that could be built in ten or twenty years!'
Even as they moved, Count Hamon studied the developed city, carefully forming his judgments.
In truth, Count Hamon's assessment was correct. But there was something these men had failed to consider.
The power of monsters.
And before their arrival, Risel and the dwarf artisans had worked together to treat the outer walls of the buildings so that they appeared weathered by long ages.
Moreover, the path they were being led along was deliberately routed through the most fully complete villages and cities. Naturally, they would judge the whole based on this partial view.
Once they entered the capital city, the soldiers of the Haian Kingdom were able to rest properly for the first time in a long while. Count Hamon, too, was able to unpack in a splendid chamber alongside his guard knights.
"Huk! Isn't this dwarven craftsmanship!"
When one knight exclaimed over a piece of craftwork, Count Hamon finally realized that the room assigned to them was furnished with extraordinary treasures.
'Incredible!'
Hamon naturally concluded that the national power of this country called Gauri was immense.
A well-disciplined army and ornate works of craft... and cities laid out on a precise plan—it was enough to make Count Hamon's head spin.
The houses built in an unfamiliar style clouded Count Hamon's judgment even further.
In a word, they made it impossible to definitively say, "This is what it is!"
Knock, knock.
"Enter."
Their voices had grown noticeably subdued—had they been cowed without realizing it?
"His Majesty the Yeolje of the Gauri Empire wishes to see you."
"Yeol... His Majesty the Yeolje?"
An unfamiliar word.
At Count Hamon's puzzled expression, the attendant provided the answer.
"You may consider it the equivalent of an emperor."
"I understand."
He had his answer, but the bewildered feeling did not leave him.
A short while later, they arrived at the great hall. As they stepped inside, an audience chamber adorned with splendid decorations met their eyes. To the left and right, the warriors who had rescued them—clad in scale-type armor—stood arrayed. The sight was a harmony of splendor and strength.
Count Hamon felt a subtle swelling of pride, as though he himself had been received as an envoy.
"His Majesty the Yeolje enters."
As the booming voice resounded through the hall, the warriors arrayed to the left and right slammed the butts of their spears to the floor in unison and dropped to one knee.
BOOM!
"Your Majesty, Supreme One of All Heavens, we offer our respects! Salute!"
HUMMMMM.
It was an overwhelming roar.
Count Hamon and his guard knights felt as though the crushing pressure would stop their breath.
Go Jin-cheon walked slowly to the splendidly adorned Throne of Yeolje at the center and seated himself. Only then did the warriors to the left and right rise from their places and stand at attention as they had before.
"I am told you are Count Hamon of the Haian Kingdom."
"Your Majesty, Supreme One of All Heavens, I offer my respects."
Count Hamon, who had been taught the ceremony by the attendant in advance, rendered his respects.
Then a deep, weighty voice reached him.
"Raise your head, Count Hamon."
"I give thanks for Your Majesty's grace."
Count Hamon lifted his head and looked upon Go Jin-cheon.
The three-legged crow embroidered in brilliant colors on the crimson ceremonial robe seemed as though it might take flight at any moment.
"I am...."
Count Hamon and his guard knights focused every nerve on Jin-cheon's slowly parting lips.
"I am Go Jin-cheon, the twenty-ninth Yeolje of Gauri."
It was the moment when the spirit of Gauri—severed at the twenty-eighth—declared its continuation upon a continent in another world.