Chapter 179
Chapter 179
Iron Emperor — Chapter 179
The dwarves gathered as soon as the wall construction was finished.
"A man's done in one swing."
"......."
Eulji Buru held up the great axe in his hand, showing it off to make his point. Countless young dwarves kept silent, their gazes fixed on Buru's great axe.
"No need for a second swing. Smash the skull with the axe, that's it."
Even as Buru's voice went on, the dwarves kept their silence. For dwarves who mainly use axes, Buru's explanation was something they could fully sympathize with, but now was not the time for that.
Clank.
The metallic sound of someone briefly shifting their body, Chalgap armor plates knocking together.
The gathered dwarves all wore Chalgap armor and had huge sandbags strapped to their backs. Buru's voice came to them again.
"If you want to finish it in one blow, you need strength. I was moved by your decision earlier. Now we're gonna work hard to find our freedom and worth."
That settles it!
The dwarves had been dragged out for military training right at this moment. Moved by their resolve, Buru had stepped up to personally drill them. The satisfied look on Buru's face handed down a death sentence to the dwarves.
"See that mountain over there?"
The dwarves' eyes swung in unison toward where the great axe pointed. The mountain that cut through two cities and rose high behind them.
"First hundred!"
At Buru's words, the dwarves' eyes filled with bewilderment. As if the shock was too great and they didn't know how to move, Buru bellowed at them.
"Run!"
"Uwaaaaah!"
Clank clank clank!
The dwarves' chaotic shouts and metallic clamor shook the ground. Buru watched with deep satisfaction as the dwarves, looking half-deranged, kicked up clouds of dust and ran.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
"A man's done in one shot."
"......."
Eulji Uru stood before a group of dwarves, holding up a bow.
"One arrow straight into the skull!"
"......."
Behind those dwarves, each one had an iron cart.
"If that's the case, you'll need good arm strength, won't you? Each of you, pull your iron cart and go five laps around the city. First hundred."
Another group of dwarves, fully armed, started running while dragging iron carts.
Did they call this all roads leading to the same place?
From that day on, the dwarves began organized group military training for the first time in their lives. Under the warm gazes of Buru and Uru...
* * *
Yeon Hwi-garam, who had come to the audience hall, stood before Go Jin-cheon with an unusual expression. A brief silence followed.
"How could it spread across the whole continent in less than a month..."
When Dae Mu-deok broke the silence with a baffled voice, Gowin, who was off to one side, replied with a bitter smile.
"That is the current state of the Haian Kingdom. According to intelligence, it appeared the expeditionary soldiers and knights who visited the homeland last time had been keeping it secret, as if a gag order had been issued. From that, it was assessed that the Haian Kingdom intended to keep it confidential, but..."
"So you're saying the bastards all ran their mouths."
"...Yes."
"A country in name only."
As Gowin trailed off, Jin-cheon summed it up, as if reaching a conclusion. A country where the king has no power. A country dragged around by foreign powers against its own will. Jin-cheon's one remark was the perfect description of the Haian Kingdom.
While Gowin kept his head down out of pity for the Haian Kingdom, the other ministers let out empty laughs.
"I figured it would get out eventually, but this..."
Risel looked at Jin-cheon with a worried face. But as always, Jin-cheon showed not the slightest change.
"No need to worry. From now on, it's a tightrope walk. In the end, it's something the Haian Kingdom can't stop meddling in."
As Jin-cheon spoke, Hwi-garam nodded and voiced his agreement.
"Most likely. It will be a different situation from the war the Holy Empire waged in the Roselin War. Just as the Haian Kingdom is a buffer zone for the Three Great Empires, our Gauri is in a position where it is awkward for any of them to act alone."
"That is so."
"It would be good if we could avoid war and expand through trade, but we must prepare our defenses."
They did not want war either, but judging from the intelligence gathered so far, avoiding war would be an extremely difficult task. Even if they avoided it, they might end up a second Haian Kingdom. However, the Gauri people would not tolerate that, and neither would Go Jin-cheon.
"Watch for the right timing and prepare to send envoys."
"Understood."
At Jin-cheon's words, Mu-deok and the other officials bowed their heads in reply. Jin-cheon rose from the Throne of Yeolje and continued speaking in a curt tone.
"Avoid it as much as possible if we can, but if we cannot avoid it..."
As Jin-cheon's sentence trailed off, the officials raised their heads and slowly met his eyes. The corner of Jin-cheon's mouth lifted.
"...we will smash them to pieces."
The scent of blood hidden within Jin-cheon's words wafted out thickly.
The continent's greed aimed at Gauri.
They did not know the nation called Gauri, a country that had fought desperately for over a thousand years. They merely thought of it as a tasty-looking piece of prey.
Chapter 55 - The Land of Betrayal
A large bed draped with golden curtains and light glowing from ornate candelabras. In the midst of it, a man was swaying back and forth. And completely mismatched with the splendid décor of the chamber, liquor bottles rolling around everywhere were evidence proving the swaying man was drunk.
"Huh?"
When he tipped the bottle all the way upside down and no more liquor came out, he scowled and bellowed at the maids standing to one side.
"Bring more!"
Even though he couldn't properly control his body, he paid no mind and searched for more drink. The maids, not knowing what to do, bowed their heads and approached him, then spoke in earnest voices.
"We fear for Your Majesty's precious health."
In short, they meant he should stop drinking.
The drunken king.
He was Bera Han, the King of the Haian Kingdom.
"Heh, even you wenches look down on your king's commands."
King Bera Han raised the corners of his eyes and glared at the maid who had shown concern as if he would devour her; his voice was tinged with murderous intent. It was only natural that a mere maid could not handle it.
The face of the maid who had spoken up turned pale. How could she not know that a single word from the king could send her head flying?
Just because he was drunk did not mean his royal commands would not be carried out. If he commanded her killed in a drunken rage, she would die then and there. And once he sobered up, he would not even remember that the maid had ever existed. Whether she knew it or not... that was the nature of their lives. But if they pretended not to know, then perhaps all the maids in this chamber would end up dead.
No matter how mild-mannered King Bera Han might be, they would not be able to bear it.
"What crime do you lot bear? It's because I am a scarecrow... Hehehehehe!"
No one could say a word to him as he burst out laughing, his shoulders heaving up and down.
How long did he laugh?
When his heaving shoulders settled, King Bera Han waved his hands dismissively and shouted in an annoyed tone.
"Get out! You're all annoying, get out!"
As soon as the order was given, the hesitant maids and the escort knights bowed their heads and slowly exited.
The king's bedchamber always had defensive magic and life-detection magic active, so no one remained. There was no reason to remain.
In the now-quiet bedchamber, King Bera Han straightened his staggering body and stood up. Perhaps due to the liquor, there was a wobble, but it was different from the swaying he had shown before the maids left. He was not dead drunk, only slightly tipsy.
Swish.
King Bera Han climbed onto the bed, closed the bedcurtains, and grabbed the candelabra behind the headboard, murmuring something.
"Blood Gate."
There was a small needle on one side of the candelabra, and as he grasped the needle, the blood that seeped from his hand began to react along with King Bera Han's murmur. A magic door that responded to a specific person's blood opened above the headboard.
"......."
After staring at the magic door in silence for a moment, King Bera Han walked inside with practiced ease.
The space he stepped into was a chamber with a domed ceiling.
Like a person who had lost his wits, King Bera Han's gaze slowly traveled toward one wall. Where his eyes stopped, there were countless people.
Not just people. All the races of the continent were gathered there together, laughing and enjoying themselves. It was a faded mural, but not so faded that he could not grasp its meaning. Starting from that image, King Bera Han's eyes slowly moved along.
People with black hair were sharing fire.
Many humans and various other races received the fire they gave. And in the following picture, there were scenes of people and the other races eagerly competing to create new things.
Step.
King Bera Han's feet carried him toward the wall.
Where he approached, there were humans fallen into greed, staring at piled-up gold. Humans whipping other humans and fastening iron chains to the ankles of the different races.
Swish.
King Bera Han's hand passed over, stroking the wall surface. There, the black-haired humans were cutting the chains bound to the different races' feet, and punishing the humans who were wielding the whips. They were throwing the gold that had driven men to greed into the fire.
They were furious.
The black-haired humans who had given fire and given culture were looking at them with fury.
At their fury, the humans who fell into greed, the humans who enslaved other humans, and the humans who bought and sold the other races all bowed their heads and begged. But in the pictures that followed, the world was being turned upside down. Humans with hair of every hue drove their own swords into the bodies of the black-haired humans with the very blades they carried.
Rain of fire fell from the sky, and a rain of blood flowed across the earth.
Even among those who raised the swords of betrayal, there were black-haired humans leading them.
Again the pictures continued.
At the center of a place where mountains were layered over mountains, there was a massive lake, and there the surviving black-haired humans were assembled. Every one of them stood weeping crimson tears. They were vanishing into the lake, and the humans of many colors were cheering as they watched them disappear.
King Bera Han's gaze, which had been observing the mural up to that point, stopped as if nailed in place.
The final picture...
A giant black bird soared up from the lake. And the people who had vanished were riding on the back of that black bird, while some were making clouds from the lake water, riding them, and ascending into the sky. Faced with this sight, the humans who had been cheering were burying their heads and trembling.
King Bera Han's eyes turned toward the ceiling.
There was a sun blazing red, and in the midst of it was a black bird with three legs.
There was the grief of those who suffered betrayal.
There was the fury of those who suffered betrayal.
...And there were sorrowful eyes gazing upon those left behind.
"So the legends of the ancient people and the Divine Bird are true."
King Bera Han's trembling voice echoed toward the ceiling.
'They will return together with the Divine Bird. The king of all men, the king of all things...'
It was a story he had heard on the knee of King Bera Han's grandfather—that is, the king two reigns prior—and it was also the story he had heard when he followed his predecessor and first saw this place.
They called themselves the seeds of betrayal.
It was said they were the descendants of those who had stood at the very front in driving out their own kin, swayed by the tempting of the greedy ones. And it was said that after those kin left this world, they were the descendants of the fools who were brought down by the other humans of the continent, just as they themselves had once done.
It was said they were the descendants of betrayers who had bowed their heads for their own safety even when their kin, who failed to depart in time, wandered the continent suffering the Demon Hunt and were dragged around as mercenaries.
Thud.
"Keuheuheuk."
Overcome with surging emotion, King Bera Han collapsed. Tears streamed ceaselessly from his eyes. His heart pounded as if it would burst, and his rage tried to leap out of his mouth.
"Why did you place me on this scarecrow's throne? What was it you wished to show me!"
It was resentment toward the late king.
"Was this what you all wished for!"
It was resentment toward his ancestors.
"If the legend of the Divine Bird is true, then tell me to overturn this rotten country!"
King Bera Han. The cry of the powerless shook the cavern.
The magic lights embedded here and there in the ceiling illuminated him as he slumped and sobbed. Caught in that light, King Bera Han's hair showed not the usual blue hue it always did, but a black shade.
He was a descendant of the betrayers.