Chapter 218
Chapter 218
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 218
"Bring the molten iron!"
"Stack the stones!"
The soldiers' movements as they prepared the defenses were frantic.
The oil they had stockpiled boiled in great cauldrons, and a solemn determination hung over the soldiers who sharpened wooden spears with taut expressions.
No matter how much they cursed their nation, cursed their leaders—wasn't it still their country?
The sight of the soldiers, resolved to defend their capital of Partean, was almost sublime.
A silence cloaked the great hall.
King Cadel of North Roselin stared down at the boxes placed in the center of the hall, a troubled expression on his face.
Fury.
King Cadel's face, flushed crimson, was consumed with a fury greater than ever before.
Seven—one-third of the nobles residing in the capital—had been left with nothing but their heads, packed in salt inside square boxes.
"Keu-heuk!"
Had his fury overflowed?
A sob-like sound escaped King Cadel's lips. The nobles watching him could not bear to meet his eyes.
"So this was the end of those who were shouting for a final stand just days ago!"
King Cadel's voice, thick with rage, echoed through the silent great hall.
The severed heads of the seven nobles in the boxes had been delivered from the Gauri army camp that morning.
Every one of them had advocated for the unification war and held ties with the Holy Empire.
They had done their utmost to draw on the Holy Empire's power and had enjoyed their share of wealth.
Yet those very men, who fled even as the king prepared a final stand, had been captured by the Gauri army, killed, and sent back.
King Cadel forced himself upright on trembling legs and approached the seven boxes.
"Your Majesty..."
Though Duke Palsieon had often opposed the king's policies, it was not from a lack of loyalty. On the contrary, it was precisely that loyalty that had driven him to keep the king in check for so long.
Duke Palsieon spoke in a voice full of grief as King Cadel, his legs trembling with rage, moved toward the seven boxes. But even that grieving voice could not halt the king's steps toward the heads, drained of all color and grotesque in death.
"Kkeuk."
With a trembling hand, he seized the hair of Marquis Hulio's head, which had been placed at the front.
Slowly raising the head, King Cadel brought Marquis Hulio's ghostly pale face up to his own eye level.
Terror.
Groveling.
Those were the expressions to be read on the face of Marquis Hulio's severed head.
"Uwaaaaah!"
With a shriek fit for a madman, King Cadel hurled Marquis Hulio's head to the floor with all his might.
SMASH!
The head struck the polished marble floor, spraying pale brain matter in all directions as it rolled away.
Heavy, ragged breaths!
Was he reining in his fury?
King Cadel breathed harshly.
Once he had steadied his breath and straightened his back, his face was etched with venom.
"Did you see?"
When a few nobles looked bewildered by the sudden question, King Cadel moved to another box, lifted another head, and thrust it before their faces.
"Huh-eok!"
For a noble from the civil bureaucracy, the severed head thrust before his eyes could only be terrifying. The head, its tongue lolling out, passed right in front of him.
After showing the heads one by one before the nobles' eyes, King Cadel hurled it to the floor again and roared.
"I asked if you can see what they look like!"
SMASH!
Another head shattered and rolled across the floor. It seemed not even a hard skull could withstand King Cadel's fury.
"Every single one of them, in their final moments, bore that look—a mixture of groveling and begging!"
The nobles' gazes shifted toward the remaining heads in the boxes.
"Groveling! Terror! Begging!"
King Cadel's shout continued to shake the great hall.
"This is how the nobles of our Unified Roselin Kingdom faced death!"
Just as King Cadel said, not one of the seven heads showed composure or dignity—not even a trace of resignation could be found.
Most likely, they had clung desperately to preserve their lives until the very moment they died.
"They abandoned the capital and its people, couldn't even manage to escape, got themselves caught and killed, and came back looking like this!"
The nobles could understand King Cadel's heart. They, too, felt fury rising as they looked at the heads.
"Feed them all to the dogs! And if any of their relatives remain—don't miss a single one of those bastards! Kill them, cut off their limbs, and hang them from the castle walls!"
"As you command."
Duke Palsieon bowed his head in answer to King Cadel's order.
King Cadel returned to his throne, slowly surveyed the nobles, and spoke.
"We just have to hold out!"
The nobles raised their heads at King Cadel's voice.
"The lords of the north are already leading their forces down. Ten days until they arrive! Just ten days—we only need to hold out for ten days!"
The nobles' lips pressed tightly shut.
"Forget all the defeats so far. We are a nation tempered by over a hundred years of war with South Roselin! Shall we be no better than the trash of the south, who once fell and only recently rose again?"
"We are not!"
A young noble stepped forward boldly, echoing King Cadel's voice. The king's voice then grew even louder.
"Then shall we be no better than those savage barbarians called Gauri, whose origins we don't even know?"
"We are nothing like them!"
Another noble stepped out and shouted.
King Cadel drew high the sword set beside his throne and cried out to the nobles for a final, desperate stand.
"This war is only beginning!"
In that moment, at least, he was once more the young King Cadel who had ridden out in pursuit of unification.
* * *
"Mm."
"It seems King Cadel is quite enraged."
Go Jin-cheon and Alsein watched the magic projection illuminating the far-off walls and spoke as they observed the severed heads and body parts hung atop the battlements.
"King Cadel, huh...."
The corner of Jin-cheon's mouth rose.
They had sent the heads to heighten the enemy's confusion.
It was also a gift carrying the message that they would not escape this place alive. But for once, Jin-cheon had to admit his mistake.
"A mistake. We shouldn't have sent the heads."
"What do you mean?"
Alsein, who had readily agreed to the plan, asked curiously at Jin-cheon's murmur.
"Fear makes people easy to control, but...."
Jin-cheon watched the North Roselin soldiers moving busily and energetically atop the walls. He trailed off before slowly continuing.
"When fear goes too far, it drives people to desperate resistance."
"Hmm."
Alsein fell briefly into thought before his expression grew grave.
"With no way to escape, their resistance will become all the more fierce."
"That's right."
At Jin-cheon's reply, King Alsein's expression became tinged with worry. Fierce resistance would inevitably lead to friendly casualties.
No commander would welcome that.
"What's done is done. We'll just have to change our approach from here."
Unlike Alsein's worried expression, Jin-cheon's face was almost indifferent.
"Don't let it trouble you."
"Huh?"
As Alsein raised his head to question him, Jin-cheon left the command tent with a parting remark.
"A great commander shouldn't make such mistakes, but once a thing is done, you shouldn't dwell on it. You just find a way to make even that situation advantageous."
"Mm."
Left alone in the tent after Jin-cheon departed, Alsein turned his words over in his mind, trying to understand them.
Another day passed.
The two sides, as if ready to assault each other, stood in a hair-trigger standoff radiating razor-sharp tension.
The combined Gauri-South Roselin allied force: seventy-three thousand.
The North Roselin garrison defending the city: thirty-five thousand.
It was not an overwhelming numerical advantage for a siege.
However, considering that a significant portion of the garrison were conscripts, it was possible to see it differently.
An envoy from South Roselin approached the city of Partean.
A short while later, the envoys' heads were catapulted back from the fortress.
As the South Roselin nobles and King Alsein flared with fury, Go Jin-cheon pulled on his helmet and muttered.
"There was no need for words in the first place. That was a pointless act."
Sending an envoy to an enemy bristling with hostility?
In a situation between two nations where Continental Law no longer existed, sending an envoy was nothing but a useless action in Jin-cheon's eyes.
"There are enemies who need envoys and enemies who do not."
Jin-cheon's parting remark served only to convince the South Roselin nobles that North Roselin was an enemy deserving no further mercy.
In the allied forces' command tent before the attack, Go Jin-cheon sat in the seat of honor with Alsein naturally positioned beside him.
When about fifty major commanders filed in, the tent felt completely full. Daesaja Gowin of the Hawk Corps, who oversaw perimeter defense as well as reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, stepped forward.
"The enemy reinforcements from the northern territories are now roughly eight days away."
"Mm."
"This makes it clear that our allied army does not have much time to capture the city of Partean. We must break them within eight days to achieve victory in this war. However, if the relief force arrives before then, the battle could turn into a prolonged one regardless of victory or defeat."
The nobles nodded along at Gowin's explanation.