Chapter 184
Chapter 184
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 184
Obaite.
In the Continental language, it means vomit.
As the word suggests, it refers to expelling ingested food in its previous form.
"Keurgh! Huff, huff, huff!"
"Bwaaagh!"
Among the gasping sounds everywhere, the occasional splatter of vomit.
"Goddamn Oba-road!"
Road means path.
What on earth was this Oba-road mixed into the curses?
A soldier spat the curse, glaring back at the path he'd run. His eyes caught new recruits collapsed by the roadside, fervently spilling their guts. The veterans had named that death-run course, drenched in countless loads of vomit, the Oba-road. For soldiers forced to run twice as hard as usual because of Unified Roselin's declaration of war, the Oba-road was simply turning into Hell-road.
"Hmph. Anyone coming in from now on goes back and does it again."
"Keurgh!"
"Bwaaagh!"
The soldiers who'd staggered, stumbling toward the finish, collapsed in front of Samdopyo's massive frame, which was planted squarely in the center. But thanks to repeated conditioning, even while spewing vomit, they used the spot where Dupyo stood as a turnaround point, pivoting to head back the way they'd come.
That was their lot in life. What could they do?
"Tch, these bastards, the whole lot of you..."
Dupyo let out a disbelieving laugh as he watched a late-arriving mass of soldiers running toward him. They were running hard, sure, but their gait was slower than the rest.
Dwarves.
"Huk, huk, huk, huk!"
"Krhk!"
Renowned for their stamina, the dwarves at least had fewer soldiers vomiting, but their short legs meant they were always last. Normally, dwarves should be faster than adult men over long distances, but the soldiers who'd endured Gauri's hellish training were nothing like ordinary adult men.
In the end, the dwarves too had to pivot around Dupyo and head back.
"I knew this'd happen, I did."
"Hup!"
A peculiar way of speaking.
To dwarves, that manner of speech was an object of reverence and, simultaneously, an agent of terror. Eulji Buru and Uru had appeared at some point, advancing with deeply set scowls. The dwarves, sensing disaster, tried to pick up speed and loop around Dupyo to head back, but their fears materialized.
"Halt, now!"
"W-we... can still run!"
Faltering but accurate Gauri speech emerged from the dwarves. But it was already too late.
Ultimately, the dwarves had to hoist sandbags on top of their already full combat gear. And so they only grew stronger.
The maps of the Reganza Mountains they had been compiling were spread across a table in the great hall.
"The Yudonno emplacements."
Go Jin-cheon's brief question.
Yeon Hwi-garam set small models onto the marked fortress positions on the map.
"We've placed them first at these two points where the enemy is expected to advance. Since we've been manufacturing them continuously, quantity is sufficient."
"Good."
Jin-cheon nodded at Hwi-garam's explanation. At this moment, he was not the Yeolje but a single commander. And to one side, King Alsein listened attentively. Of course, Marquis Baikal was also participating in the council. He was, after all, the one who had fought Unified Roselin longest, right up until this attack.
"Any concerns about an enemy landing?"
When Jin-cheon pointed to the south of the mountain range and asked, Marquis Baikal shook his head.
"Virtually none, in my view. Naturally, they attempted a landing during the last war, but just as that was not their main thrust, they'll be unable to do so this time either. Though preparing for contingencies would be wise."
As Marquis Baikal finished speaking, Gye Ung-sam picked up the thread.
"Commander-in-Chief Gerard has dispatched twenty-odd warships to the southern region. Not a large number, but sufficient for defense. They'll arrive in fifteen days at the latest, so full preparations should be possible before the war begins."
"Good."
Go Jin-cheon nodded, signaling approval. Confidence filled his commanders' eyes. Watching them, a pang of envy stirred in King Alsein's chest. Then, as if he'd made up his mind about something, he carefully opened his mouth.
"I too wish to accompany His Majesty the Yeolje and take the field in this war."
"Your Majesty!"
Marquis Baikal's voice shot out, startled by the sudden declaration. But Alsein's eyes were already set with resolve. He meant to participate by any means necessary. Jin-cheon, looking into that determined gaze, spoke in a deadpan voice.
"Naturally, you'll earn your keep."
"......."
...Alsein's deployment had been decided all along.
Meanwhile, the five thousand South Roselin soldiers who had been "training" (?) alongside the Gauri army were also confirmed for this battle, and the total troop strength participating in the war began to take rough shape. The training conducted after the troops assembled focused, unlike before, entirely on defensive warfare. From Tang and the dynasties before it, Gauri had been the sovereign of defensive siegecraft.
Even if a fortress were isolated, stockpiling enough provisions to fight while eating for months was standard, and the fortresses were positioned for mutual support such that bypassing any one guaranteed an attack from behind.
What eight years of concentrated effort had achieved was the completion of an iron fortress. And the ruggedness of the Reganza Mountains compounded its defenses even further.
* * *
King Bera Han of Haian stared at the missive in his hand and could only exhale a heavy sigh.
"Open a path... they say."
King Bera Han muttered in disbelief.
The letter flown in from Unified Roselin literally stated that they would be moving to strike Gauri, so clear the way for the army to pass. At this absurd letter demanding he open a road to attack another nation, he felt not fury but sheer despondency.
Beneath the letter, three seals were stamped side by side.
The seals of the Three Great Empires. Naturally, they weren't the imperial seals, but the seals of the legations stationed in Haian Kingdom's concession territories—yet he could not refuse them.
"Our Roselin Kingdom army will begin its advance one month from today. By that time, Your Majesty, we request that the first supply shipment be ready. Payment for those supplies shall be rendered."
Once the noble who'd delivered the letter finished, King Bera Han looked over the appended list of supply items. Truthfully, Roselin, having endured prolonged warfare, was in no position to raise sufficient supplies on its own. The war had nearly laid waste to its entire territory, after all.
"Hrmm."
Even a groan escaped King Bera Han's lips.
The supply request kindly annotated prices for each item—prices that were absurd. The implication was that they intended to seize all supplies at cost, effectively using Haian Kingdom as a supply base to wage their war.
"In truth, His Imperial Majesty of the Holy Empire indicated that the supply issue should be entrusted to Your Majesty."
When King Bera Han's expression darkened ominously, the envoy cautiously added a word. Meaning: this was the Holy Empire's command, so behave accordingly.
"Hoho, worry not. The Kingdom of Haian shall provide every convenience for you all. It is rather we who regret being unable to offer military assistance."
"Hahaha, you speak too kindly. This much is perfectly sufficient."
"......."
As Duke Perisman, Chief of the Central Noble Council, received the remark, the Roselin envoy beamed broadly and answered with exaggerated gestures. Witnessing their conduct, King Bera Han no longer wished to remain in that hall.
"Duke Perisman."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Handle this yourself."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Not the slightest error shall occur."
Seeing Duke Perisman bow deeply in reply, King Bera Han began to leave the great hall on strengthless steps.
'Is that how you run a nation's affairs!'
The words had risen to his throat, but he could not bring himself to utter them as he stepped outside, self-derision the only thing left on his face.
A month later, the Roselin army that began crossing Haian Kingdom's border numbered fifty thousand strong. Adding twenty thousand more soldiers for logistics, a full seventy thousand troops entered. Beside the ornate command flag stood three magnificent banners. They were the banners of the Three Great Empires.
No matter how much Roselin proclaimed this a mop-up of remnants, they couldn't quell the empires' objections. In the end, a compromise was reached only after each empire was handed the sop of dispatching military observers. They were called military observers, but they were nothing more than a smokescreen to carve up the postwar spoils.
"Hahaha, is such a massive force even necessary?"
Marquis Mandonel, Supreme Commander of the Roselin army, laughed as if victory were already won, and his adjutant Viscount Isle smiled back, adding a remark.
"Do not even ogres bring their utmost strength when hunting goblins?"
"Exactly! What matters in this war is how quickly we can end it with supreme force."
At Viscount Isle's words, Marquis Mandonel puffed his chest and declared in a grand voice. All around, his staff and knights burst into laughter, each chiming in with a quip as they spurred their horses onward.
"To think the fools who couldn't even dream of subjugating South Roselin without our help are strutting about so arrogantly."
Viscount Mabel, the Holy Empire's military observer, scowled at the sight of Roselin's command laughing. As the former captain of the envoy's guard detail, he had scores to settle through this war.
'Wretched bastards....'
Granted, the Holy Empire had not been the only one humiliated in that clash between the Three Great Empires and the Gauri escort force, but to Viscount Mabel, the disgrace had been unparalleled.
'If not for that spit, I would never have suffered such indignity!'
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined someone would spit into his eyeball. No—what human being in the world even conceives of such a thing?
He was fully healed now, but the arm and thigh wounded that day still throbbed for no reason.
Thanks to the three empires' gag order, that day's events hadn't reached the Roselin forces. For once, unified imperial consensus had prevailed. There was nothing to gain by letting it be known, and the troops involved were, practically speaking, hard to classify as a proper knightly order.
Since most of them were garrison troops from the concession territories stationed permanently in Haian Kingdom, the empires refused to acknowledge the disparity in force that day. The amusing fact was that every single military observer from each empire had personally suffered humiliation in that very incident.
Through the efforts of Duke Perisman, Chief of Haian's Central Noble Council, everything proceeded smoothly until the Roselin army arrived at the entrance to the Reganza Mountains—even as the peasants were stripped even of the seed grain meant for next year's sowing and sunk into despair.
"Hm, are these the soldiers from the earlier expedition?"
"They are."
When Marquis Mandonel, Supreme Commander of the Roselin army marching to subjugate Gauri, looked at the troops paraded forward as guides and asked, Count Hamon, who had led the expedition, answered with a slight bow of his head.
'Damn it all. To have to go back into that hellhole.'
The existence of Count Hamon and his men, who had been to Gauri before, was one factor accelerating the Roselin army's deployment.
No matter how flimsy the enemy appeared, you couldn't wage war blind to the terrain.
In the end, Count Hamon and the Haian soldiers had to head into the Reganza Mountains once more. But Count Hamon wore an uncomfortable grimace as he stared at the Reganza forest. No matter what, wasn't Gauri the place that had saved him, and even sent him off with gifts?
"Hoo."
Yet Count Hamon had no power to refuse.