Chapter 180
Chapter 180
Iron Emperor — Chapter 180
Emperor Shau Hwan Millior's eerily enigmatic smile amplified the unease rippling through the assembled nobles of the great hall. He who wielded the most absolute power of any emperor in the Holy Empire's history. By his word alone the course of this affair would be decided.
"What do you suppose that indecisive old man in the Federal Empire will do?"
He meant Emperor Bish the Khan of the Federal Empire.
Unlike the Holy Empire, where all power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor, the Federal Empire conducted every affair through the consensus of the nobles of each federation.
It might appear rational at a glance, yet it was an unavoidable choice — for the Federal Empire, founded late unlike the Holy Empire which had risen through blood, had adopted this method as a means of mustering strength and forging agreement for the wars of survival on the continent.
"We have received reports that the matter has already been forwarded to the Federal Assembly within the Federal Empire as well."
"Heh-heh."
At a noble's report, Emperor Millior smiled with evident amusement and nodded toward a wizard at one side. The wizard, as though forewarned, approached the wall, took up a crystal orb, and chanted an incantation.
"Um ta-ah!"
A blue-green light projected onto the wall, and immediately the map of the continent was drawn upon it. Emperor Millior, who had been watching silently, turned his gaze toward the nobles.
"Do you sense nothing?"
At the emperor's words, the nobles maintained a moment of silence. It was Duke Schung who broke it.
"It seems the time has come for the Empire's might to be made widely known."
At Duke Schung's cautious remark, Emperor Millior brought both palms together.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Three claps.
Wearing a satisfied smile, Emperor Millior rose from his seat, walked over to the wall upon which the map was drawn, and stopped before it.
"As expected of Duke Schung."
"I merely offer my loyalty to His Majesty."
At the emperor's praise, Duke Schung bowed at the waist. Emperor Millior surveyed the nobles, who were all swallowing dryly, then slowly shook his head and began to speak.
"Look at this. Hah. This map here... it hasn't changed."
Emperor Millior even let out a sigh in a voice that sounded almost regretful. Toward him the nobles held their breath and fixed their gazes. Sensing their intent stares, Emperor Millior quirked one eyebrow slightly upward and continued.
"Should this map of the continent not change by now?"
A declaration of war.
The domineering Emperor Millior's eyes began to gleam. He extended a hand to the royal guard knight standing behind him. Then, into his grasp, came the cold grip of a sword.
Gr-r-ruk.
As a child walks dragging a stick, Emperor Millior dragged the royal guard knight's sword along the floor and drew close to the wall.
SLASH!
Upon the sword's cold blade, blood-colored Aura coalesced and began to gouge the wall.
Scrape-scrape-scrape!
"Hmmm."
Exactly like a child drawing a picture, Emperor Millior proceeded to redraw the map with blood-colored Aura. Shards of stone flew from the wall and the grating noise continued to ring unpleasantly, but none frowned or moved to stop him. The beautiful surface of white marble was becoming hideously disfigured, yet Emperor Millior's eyes flickered with light.
"Keh-keh-keh-kehk!"
Was he pleased with his creation?
Emperor Millior withdrew the sword and stood looking at the wall before bursting into delighted laughter. Upon the wall his ambition had been rendered: the border between the Holy Empire and the Haian Kingdom had been erased, and instead the border touched directly against that of the Federal Empire.
"Has the continent not been far too peaceful all this time?"
To Emperor Millior's smile-laced question, no one could utter a word. If the Haian Kingdom — neutral territory among the three great empires — were absorbed by the Holy Empire, it meant a bridgehead for the invasion of the Federal Empire would be established!
"Gwa-ha-ha-ha-haht!"
As Emperor Millior roared with laughter as though thoroughly enjoying himself, the nobles had no choice but to remain silent. Not only the nobles — even Duke Schung, who in ordinary times always signaled his agreement with the emperor's words, could not easily open his mouth.
This carried a meaning on an entirely different order from the Roselin War they had waged tacitly until now. In a word, the annexation of the Haian Kingdom meant continental war.
"Your Majesty."
"Oh, Duke Schung."
As the emperor's laughter subsided, Duke Schung, who had been briefly too shocked to speak, stepped forward and silently made his obeisance.
"It is not that I fail to understand Your Majesty's grand design, but we lack sufficient cause to strike the Haian Kingdom. Should we be careless, we may find ourselves under the combined attack of the two great empires."
"True."
Emperor Millior, who had by now wiped away all trace of laughter, answered the moment Duke Schung finished speaking. Duke Schung and the nobles, who had feared they might offend his mood, waited for what he would say next. As if aware of their wish, Emperor Millior touched the sword to one part of the map.
"Roselin..."
A noble's voice murmured quietly.
At the tip of the sword lay the Unified Roselin Kingdom. Emperor Millior returned the sword to the royal guard knight, slowly walked back to his throne, and parted his lips.
"Whether there is a nation in the Reganza Mountains or bandits is none of my concern. The island nation lot could not dream of it anyway, but between the Federal Empire and ourselves, it is different. Whatever cause we proclaim, we will tear through the Reganza Mountains and turn them inside out. Yet neither the Federal Empire nor we can help watching the other's every move. And while the Maritime Empire cannot insert itself, it can certainly obstruct us. No doubt the Maritime Empire will exploit our war of nerves to come begging for a single scrap of rice cake."
Emperor Millior's explanation, delivered as he sat with his chin propped on one hand, was something they too had already foreseen. And now they were beginning to sense what explanation would come next.
"Then...?"
When Duke Schung asked cautiously, Emperor Millior lifted one corner of his mouth slightly and concluded his explanation.
"The subjugation of remnants of the South Roselin royal house whose life or death is unconfirmed."
Truly a cunning contrivance. Whether those remnants were among the Gauri lot or not mattered nothing at all. He needed only a cause to preempt the Federal Empire.
"Wizard. Summon Kadel."
It was time to collect what he was owed from Kadel Din Rossini, King of Unified Roselin, for all the support the Empire had granted.
* * *
"An envoy is coming?"
A startled voice leapt from the lips of King Bera Han. In a brief span, thoughts too complex to define by any single word swept across his face. The reason for his astonishment was that he had just heard that a Gauri envoy had sent word to the border garrison. The King of Haian knew well what outcome their visit might bring. Yet King Bera Han also knew very well that no matter what outcome emerged, the Kingdom of Haian could do nothing at all.
Two days after word arrived that a Gauri envoy had crossed the border, envoys from the Federal Empire, the Holy Empire, and the Maritime Empire's leased territories arrived in the capital. No separate notice that envoys were coming had been delivered; yet they already knew everything. That their intelligence was not swift — even a street puppy would know that. Ten days passed, and word came that the Gauri envoy had arrived at the royal palace.
"Hmm."
That King Bera Han's heart was troubled was plain from his face alone.
It was only natural.
At the first audience where one kingdom received the envoys of another, envoys of other nations were brazenly taking seats alongside them. Yet the only ones whose hearts were unsettled were King Bera Han and one or two nobles; Duke Perisman, head of the Central Noble Council, and Marquis Iwaen, the deputy head, stood with expressions that said this was only to be expected.
"The envoy of the nation of Gauri enters!"
As the voice of the Inner Court chamberlain rang through the great hall, every eye turned toward the entrance. At the same moment, the chamberlain's voice rang out again.
"Yeon Hwi-garam, Taedaehyeong of the nation of Gauri, enters!"
The nobles and envoys, upon hearing the unfamiliar title, tilted their heads — yet they could not tear their eyes from the entrance. When at last a man with silver-white hair stepped through the doorway, King Bera Han's eyes wavered slightly. But as men with black hair and black eyes — and features clearly distinct from those of the northern peoples — followed behind and strode in after him, his wavering eyes flew wide open for a moment, then settled.
Led by Yeon Hwi-garam at their head, the four members of the envoy group followed in and formed a line. In King Bera Han's eyes as he beheld them was mingled a trace of envy. From their broad-set chests radiated dignity and pride. Their bearing was unmistakably different from that of the imperial envoys, who wore expressions of arrogance. Hwi-garam, at the front, slowly offered his salute and spoke.
"Yeon Hwi-garam, Taedaehyeong of Gauri, pays respects to King Bera Han of the Haian Kingdom."
The form of his salute differed from their customs, yet it was a manner that conveyed deep courtesy.
Yeon Hwi-garam lifted his head and surveyed the great hall.
Awkwardness.
King Bera Han and the Haian nobles came into view at once, but off to one side nobles in peculiar attire also caught his eye. A single glance sufficed to tell that they were not nobles of the Haian Kingdom. The proof: unlike the other nobles, they held their backs rigidly straight and wore expressions of faint arrogance.
"What does 'Taedaehyeong' signify as a rank?"
King Bera Han's question fell.
Inwardly, Hwi-garam found King Bera Han's question interesting. This was not the situation he had assessed and predicted before coming here. To King Bera Han, who had posed the question with calm composure, Hwi-garam answered slowly.
"It denotes a rank equivalent to a duke or a princely duke of this land."
Hwi-garam's answer immediately brought about a side effect.
"What! A princely duke? How dare such impertinent nonsense be uttered!"
"... ..."
Hwi-garam could only be dumbfounded.
Now at last it resembled the Haian Kingdom he had assessed beforehand. The one who had shouted in anger was a noble in flamboyant attire. An imperial personage, no doubt. Hwi-garam did not answer immediately; instead he turned his eyes and surveyed his surroundings.
A noble of another nation had interjected and was shouting during an occasion where their own king was directly questioning someone — and no one was restraining him. When Hwi-garam's eyes at last reached King Bera Han, King Bera Han was glaring, face flushed red, at the noble who had shouted.
"Do you ignore my words! Why is there no answer!"
When no answer came readily, the resplendently dressed noble once again pressed him with threats. Only then did Hwi-garam's lips part.
"The king himself has raised a question here. Who are you to intrude so freely?"
A courteous yet stern voice.
Now that Hwi-garam had spoken words of reproach toward him instead, the atmosphere within the hall shifted moment by moment. Hwi-garam then inclined his head slightly toward King Bera Han and addressed him again.
"I have presumptuously committed a discourtesy before Your Majesty, the King of Haian."
King Bera Han accepted Hwi-garam's courtesy while struggling to feign composure. Yet the imperial envoys were not the sort to mind their manners merely because they were before the eyes of King Bera Han.
"How dare you behave so toward a noble of the Great Holy Empire! Is that what they teach the barbarian rabble dwelling in the Reganza?!"
Count Heinjeuman of the Holy Empire, who had been the one to speak from the very beginning, poured derision and mockery toward Hwi-garam as though the King of Haian were beneath his notice. But Hwi-garam was not one to remain silent.
"How dare a noble of another nation intrude and shout in the presence of the King of the Haian Kingdom! Is such conduct reserved for those who are not barbarians?"
These were words the nobles of the Haian Kingdom should have spoken. As the noble who had been rebuked by Hwi-garam's scolding looked more flabbergasted than anything, the King of Haian spoke toward him in a composed voice.
"That will be enough, Count Heinjeuman."
"The Holy Empire can never recognize the existence of those people!"
"I concur with that opinion."
"Indeed. The will of the Maritime Empire is likewise!"
When Count Heinjeuman of the Holy Empire, disregarding even the words of the King of Haian, denied Gauri, the nobles of the Federal Empire and the Maritime Empire followed suit in agreement. This occasion was incontestably a matter between Gauri and Haian, yet it had somehow become a spectacle where the guests were running wild.
'Quite the opera they're putting on.'
'Tsk. They're even more excessive than I thought.'
Mong Ryu-hwa, who had been watching the wretched display from behind Hwi-garam, clicked his tongue and muttered under his breath. Beside him, Samdopyo answered, sounding equally dumbfounded.
The nobles of the Haian Kingdom, watching their behavior, were offering nods without speaking a word. As for the Haian Kingdom, it was as though its diplomatic sovereignty existed in name only. From the beginning, the Haian Kingdom had not become neutral territory because it was strong. Because none of the Three Great Empires could possess it, it had been little more than a border demarcation line from the start.