Chapter 217
Chapter 217
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 217
Thwoong!
The arrow tore through the air.
Thud!
The thick iron plate rang as it was pierced, turning yet another painstaking creation of some young dwarf into a target.
"Tch."
Whether it was Dae Mu-deok's efforts or simply her own natural growth, Eulji, now twelve, had already begun to develop curves, and her height had shot up to nearly match Princess Yunias's.
Surpassing the height of Eulji Buru and Uru was, of course, a given.
She seemed even to have grown bored with her usual archery practice, loosing a few shafts before stopping and twitching her lips as if something displeased her.
"Is something troubling you, Yeolhu?"
Dae Mu-deok appeared, his skin glistening with the luster of youth despite his seventy years, as if he were aging backward.
"Grandpa Dae Mu-deok!"
The moment Dae Mu-deok—the one who understood her heart best—appeared, Eulji's face lit up and she ran to him.
"Heh-heh-heh."
"Oh! I heard yesterday that your wife is expecting your fifth child? Congratulations."
"Heh-heh..."
Mu-deok surpassed young men not just in the condition of his skin, but in health and other physical aspects as well. For a moment, Mu-deok had felt embarrassed by Eulji's congratulations, but now he gazed at her with warm eyes.
"Sigh. Here I am, practically a widow."
"......."
Her dazzling command of language, befitting her twelve years, often left Mu-deok at a loss for words.
"Wh-where might you have heard such a thing?"
"Hmm? From Sara, General Buru's wife."
Mu-deok made a brief mental note to have a word with Sara, then continued walking while watching Eulji chattering away in front of him.
"And then His Majesty made the flying girl do it..."
"It seems you miss His Majesty the Yeolje very much."
Eulji's lips, which had been chattering without pause, clamped shut like a clam shell.
Even that expression was so endearing that Mu-deok wore a broad smile and spoke to comfort her.
"He will likely return soon."
"Hoo."
Eulji let out a sigh despite Mu-deok's reassurance.
Mu-deok tilted his head, but a moment later, the words that burst from Eulji's mouth made his legs go weak.
"When am I ever going to have a child?"
Mu-deok shook his head slightly.
As if she had noticed his reaction, Eulji pouted and fired back.
"I know everything there is to know!"
Leaving those words behind, Eulji dashed off toward the Yeolhu Palace, her attendants chasing after her.
"Goodness."
By now, the handmaidens assigned solely to Eulji had developed physical stamina surpassing that of ordinary soldiers. That was how exceptional Eulji's athletic ability was.
Princess Yunias was passing the time tending her garden. Occasionally she would glance worriedly toward South Roselin, but soon return to tending the flowers she raised with affection.
"Sis!"
"Eulji, you're here."
As they had spent more time together, they had begun speaking informally to one another when alone with just the handmaidens, away from other company.
Under Yunias's instruction, incidents like indiscriminately shooting arrows as in the past no longer occurred, but Eulji's cheerful, irrepressible nature seemed to be innate.
"Hmm."
Eulji fixed her large, jet-black eyes on the flowering plant Yunias was watering, staring intensely before asking a question with an expression of utter incomprehension.
"I can't understand it."
"Understand what?"
Princess Yunias, watering another plant, turned her head to look at Eulji.
"Is it fun watering something you can't even eat?"
"......."
There were parts that even Princess Yunias's efforts could not change. The damage done by Eulji Buru and Uru's early education was one thing that simply could not be undone.
"You can think of it as similar to how you feed the baby orcs because you think they're cute."
"Is that so?"
"Of course. Orcs aren't food, after all."
Eulji nodded along to Princess Yunias's explanation, then looked as though something had just occurred to her.
"Now that I think about it, His Majesty the Yeolje said that when he first arrived here, General Buru tried to eat an orc."
"......."
Of course, there were things even Yunias found difficult to adjust to.
"Sis, you miss His Majesty the Yeolje, don't you?"
"Huh? Mm-hmm."
Yunias's face had turned red before she knew it. Eulji, finding that sight amusing, giggled and circled around her.
Eulji, no longer a child, understood well what feelings Princess Yunias harbored for Go Jin-cheon, and she felt no jealousy over it.
Nor was it simply because she was young.
Seeing Yunias flustered and helpless, Eulji thrust her own face right in front of hers and, as if enjoying it, did not stop teasing.
"Look at how red your face is."
"You little..."
Thanks to Eulji's relentless teasing, Yunias's face, fair as white jade, had turned as red as a ripe persimmon.
Eulji, who had been teasing Princess Yunias with a mischievous expression, turned her gaze toward the sky in the direction of Roselin and asked her a question.
"He's all right, isn't he?"
"Yes."
"He'd better not be chasing other women."
"......."
In the young heart of a girl of just twelve, one blunt but dependable man filled every corner.
Chapter 68 — The Siege of Partean
Yeon Hwi-garam approached Go Jin-cheon, who stood like a statue, followed his gaze to the sky, and spoke.
"Are you thinking of the Yeolhu?"
"Heh."
Embarrassed that Hwi-garam had read his thoughts, he merely let out a laugh and gave no reply.
"Well, it will be over soon."
Jin-cheon turned away, leaving those words behind. Before him loomed the massive walls of Partean, the capital of North Roselin.
The allied forces of Gauri and South Roselin had marched all the way to the capital, Partean.
First, cavalry units were dispatched to key points to cut off their escape. As a result, several North Roselin scouting parties sent out to reconnoiter were annihilated, and thereafter there was no movement from the capital.
Once the encirclement was in place, the very first action taken was to establish a mana field to block teleportation, as a contingency.
To be precise, it only diverted the trajectory slightly, but even that made escaping from the capital out of the siege lines a nearly impossible task.
Of course, if someone could perform two teleports without the aid of a magic circle, it would not be a problem, but there was not a single person on the continent with that level of skill except Risel.
"Move fast!"
The soldiers' movements were sharper than ever.
Along the march, the command staff's response to Viscount Roun's ambush had finally hammered home to the soldiers that this was a battlefield, and even the knights did their utmost to tighten up the slackened ranks.
Was that why?
Even before the imposing majesty of Partean Castle's walls, the soldiers were running about energetically here and there without flinching.
Troops assigned to rear-area security split off and occupied the surrounding hills, while hastily constructed watchtowers were raised on the broad plains to establish a watertight perimeter.
"They've arrived!"
"Good!"
In the fortress sieges fought up to now, they had relied solely on South Roselin's siege engines, but for the assault on the capital, Gauri's own siege weapons made their appearance.
The power of the Yudonno, their representative siege engine, had already been clearly demonstrated at the Battle of Gaemunsanseong Fortress.
Among the wagons that arrived with the supply goods, cages made of iron bars were packed with adolescent orcs. Even after the bars were opened, the orcs followed the Gauri handlers obediently.
On one side, they began assembling the Yudonno, which had been transported in pieces.
As King Alsein observed the troops preparing for battle, the fortress of Partean, standing firm upon the earth, came into view.
"At last..."
At first, his thoughts had been only of reclaiming his country. But now, the time had come not only to reclaim his country, but to exact vengeance upon the North Roselin Royal Family, who had driven the previous king and his brothers to their deaths.
"At last, it has come."
A pounding heart.
King Alsein was so stirred that he had not known his own heart could beat this fast. At the same time, his mind grew cool.
Repeating to himself, just as Jin-cheon had taught him: a hot heart and a cool head...