Chapter 229
Chapter 229
Iron Emperor — Chapter 229
The sound of orderly footsteps pierced the silence that had settled over the great hall. Behind King Cadel, seated upon the throne, his family watched with anxious eyes as Alsein, the King of South Roselin, entered.
Cha-rang!
Clang!
The few remaining royal guard knights of North Roselin drew their swords and blocked King Cadel from the intruders.
"It has been a long time, King Cadel."
"Come in, Prince Alsein. Or should I say King Alsein?"
Greetings were exchanged that were not greetings at all.
At King Cadel's impassive reply, Alsein, his face cold, turned his head and jerked his chin.
"Let us go! Let go, you bastards!"
"Ughn."
King Cadel's face twisted and a groan escaped his lips. Dangling in the grasp of several knights were the First Prince and the Third Prince, whom he had sent into hiding for the sake of the future.
Thud. Plop.
"Gck!"
The moment the struggling princes were hurled to the floor, they scrambled to King Cadel's side. As Alsein watched them, a cold smile played at his lips.
"I found a few little rats."
At Alsein's cold mockery, King Cadel raised his head and stared at the ceiling. He was surely feeling the sky come crashing down. Slowly lowering his head, King Cadel fixed his eyes on Alsein. His lips parted.
"Dismissing you as a mere boy and letting my guard down has cost me."
"Heh heh."
"What will you do now?"
King Cadel directed his question at the smiling Alsein in a brittle voice. Alsein's gaze flickered slightly, as though he had not expected such a direct question. Noticing that moment of wavering, King Cadel leaned back leisurely against his throne and continued in a voice that had regained a measure of its composure.
"Even if the capital has fallen into your hands, a considerable number of troops still remain in the northern regions. How do you intend to deal with them? And how do you intend to escape the wrath of the Holy Empire?"
"Your mouth is still alive, I see, King Cadel!"
Alsein's eyes blazed with fury. The fact that he could not strike down the murderer of his family on the spot, even with the man standing before him, only fanned his rage further.
"We have lost this war. I acknowledge that. So let us negotiate a peace before it goes any further."
King Cadel was laying out his gambit.
In truth, Go Jin-cheon had been able to seize the capital precisely because he had ignored everything else and driven straight for it. Had they conducted a proper war of occupation, this would not have been possible.
On top of that, as King Cadel had pointed out, the exhaustion of South Roselin was beyond description. The very fact that they had managed to reverse the situation like this was a miracle.
At that moment, a tumultuous yet vigorous tread resounded from outside the great hall.
"Ah!"
Clank. Clank. Clank.
A fine metallic friction sounded as it approached. Even the sound alone made the gait recognizable: forthright, disciplined, and utterly distinctive. Without a word of command, the knights and soldiers who filled the hall parted to both sides and opened a path.
"His Majesty, the Yeolje, enters!"
When a Gauri officer at the rear bellowed the announcement, the soldiers of Gauri origin prostrated themselves as one and raised their voices.
"A cry of victory to His Majesty, the Yeolje, supreme sovereign of All Heavens!"
"Salute!"
Following someone's lead, the great hall thundered with a single voice.
"Hmm."
Receiving the soldiers' salute as he entered, Go Jin-cheon was covered all over his body in quickly cooling, drying blood that had congealed into thick, tangled masses. Even beyond that, brains and scraps of entrails—whose origin was impossible to tell—and strands of hair still attached to what appeared to be a torn-off patch of scalp were stuck to him. The same was true not only of him but also of Eulji Buru and those who followed him in.
At the sight of them, Alsein and the knights and soldiers of South Roselin could do nothing but wear expressions half awe, half terror. King Cadel and his household felt this even more acutely, not less.
"That man is the... King of Gauri?"
King Cadel looked at them with eyes that refused to believe what they saw, murmuring as though speaking to himself.
"So that bastard just sits there right in front of us?"
"What!"
Buru, who had been walking alongside Go Jin-cheon, roared, and the North Roselin royal guards standing before King Cadel flared up.
"Even in a defeated nation, how dare a mere general spout such insolence! King of Gauri, are all your subordinates so devoid of courtesy!"
Before King Cadel's rebuke had even finished, Jin-cheon issued a command with an expressionless face.
"Drag him out."
"W-What!"
King Cadel's face contorted as though he found this preposterous. But Samdopyo, Mong Ryu-hwa, and Buyeo Gi-yul answered curtly, strode forward, subdued the blocking knights in a single exchange, and hurled King Cadel and his household to the floor. Only then was King Cadel forced to realize this was real.
"Gck! Have you dogs no decency!"
"Losing, and still talking this much. King Alsein, what are you waiting for? The seat is empty, so take it."
"You mean me?"
Having casually dismissed King Cadel's protest, Jin-cheon urged Alsein to take the throne. Alsein hesitated and asked back.
"We only assisted as allies. This war was yours from beginning to end, King Alsein."
"......."
At Jin-cheon's urging, King Alsein allowed a smile to touch his lips and slowly ascended the throne. The moment he sat down, as though the reality of victory had finally struck home, the cheers of the allied army shook the great hall.
"Waaaa! Long live His Majesty Alsein! Long live His Majesty Go Jin-cheon!"
"Long live South Roselin! Long live Gauri!"
"Uwaaaaa!"
As the shouts of knights and soldiers roared loud enough to lift the great hall off its foundations, King Cadel's household bowed their heads limply—perhaps only now feeling the bone-deep sting of defeat.
"Alseiiin! Do you not fear the aftermath!"
King Cadel's shout tore through the clamor. Before long, the cheering began to ebb, and every eye gradually converged on him.
"Do you truly say you are not afraid!"
When his cry erupted a second time, Alsein's face hardened into ice. But the reply came from Jin-cheon.
"Anyone listening would think you were the victor."
"Tchk, shall I start by mashing his mouth shut?"
"Say the word, I'll beat him down like kindling."
Dupyo and Buru's voices followed Jin-cheon's brusque retort. Then Uru, who had caught up belatedly, added his own piece.
"How about stringing him up on one side and using him as a target dummy?"
"So in Gauri, street ruffians become king, I see!"
As King Cadel spat the words with shaking jowls and a voice seized by venom, Jin-cheon looked at Alsein.
"Do as you wish."
"Thank you."
Alsein, who had easily read his intent, gave a slight nod and entrusted him with the disposal of King Cadel. The corner of Jin-cheon's mouth edged slightly upward and he approached slowly.
"Say that again."
"You think I won't—!"
THWACK!
"Guuaaack!"
What answered his venomous cry was Jin-cheon's kick.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Highness!"
"Guh-rok! Guh-horrrk!"
The royal guard knights pinned to the floor and the North Roselin royal family screamed his name in horror.
"If you lost a war."
THWACK!
"Guuhaaack!"
Crash!
As Jin-cheon growled and kicked again, King Cadel's body hurtled through the air like a kite with its string cut and crashed into the floor.
"Uweh-eeeeck!"
Even at the sight of King Cadel vomiting blood, Jin-cheon did not so much as blink. He walked over and continued in a low voice.
"When you lose, you admit it. What about the aftermath?"
THWACK!
"Guh-hurk!"
"I heard everything on my way to the hall earlier. What? Something about troops up north?"
THWACK!
"Guk!"
The Hwandudaedo, swung still within its scabbard, slammed across his back. His body, bent like a bow, snapped backward the other way.
"Something about the wrath of the Holy something?"
CRUNCH!
"Kkiaaaaaagh!"
The bones of his wrist crunched beneath the steel hobnails of Jin-cheon's boots, drawing an agonized scream from King Cadel. Unable to bear the sight any longer, the North Roselin knights shouted as though screaming themselves.
"You sons of bitches! Beat me instead!"
"Granted. Give him what he wants."
Thwack!
"Guhk!"
No sooner had Jin-cheon's order fallen than Gye Ung-sam, who had plenty pent up, charged in and opened the beating with a flying kick. They were acting as though no one else in the world mattered.
"Did you say peace treaty?"
"Grugh..."
Jin-cheon stared down with apathetic eyes at King Cadel, who had been reduced to groaning with his eyes half-rolled back. Then he spat on the man.
"Ptew."
After the excessive act, Jin-cheon glanced once at him, turned away, and finished coldly.
"Unfit to be the king of a nation."
When Jin-cheon returned to King Alsein's side, Alsein quietly opened his mouth, feeling a certain exhilaration but also thinking it might have gone a little too far.
"Still, the treatment proper to the king of a nation..."
"A king should act like one. And I heard that the former King of South Roselin and his family were killed by the front-line supreme commander. Even this is more than they deserve."
"Mm."
Venom entered Alsein's eyes even though he had been speaking in King Cadel's defense a moment earlier. Sensing it, Jin-cheon fanned the flames with his next words.
"You reap what you sow. Besides, if the Holy Empire meant to interfere, they would have done so already. Isn't that right?"
"Grugh, guh-rock. The Holy Empire... abandoning North Roselin would be... guh-rock, a laughing matter. Gk-heh-heh."
Having recovered some of his senses, King Cadel spat out the scornful words even as he continued to vomit blood.
"That part is true."
Alsein wore a frustrated expression but could only nod. Jin-cheon, too, had anticipated as much and had no choice but to remain silent.
"But even if we negotiate a peace, would not the embers remain?"
A voice that seemed to ease their worries reached them from the entrance of the great hall.
"Mm. You've come."
"I offer my congratulations on the victory, Your Highness Alsein."
"Oh, Lord Yeon Hwi-garam, you've arrived."
Yeon Hwi-garam, apparently having recovered somewhat from his exhaustion, arrived at an unhurried pace as the fighting was ending. Smiling, he came to the foot of the dais, rendered a military salute, glanced at King Cadel sprawled on the floor and glaring, and spoke as though it were nothing.
"Given that we have intervened and the war has turned out this way, the Holy Empire will inevitably move. In that case, since we would be unable to annex all of North Roselin anyway..."
"Guhruck, what?"
At Hwi-garam's statement that they would not annex all of North Roselin, King Cadel stared at him with stunned eyes. That they would not carry out a full annexation even after the king had been captured and the capital had collapsed came as a complete shock. The other members of the royal family also felt hope rekindle. Hwi-garam accepted their hope with a bright smile.
"...It would be better to kill them all."
The hope turned to despair.
"Lord Hwi-garam, what do you mean?"
Marquis Baikal, the War God of the East who had been standing at attention behind Alsein, was even more shocked and could only ask again.
"That would certainly be simpler."
"Your Majesty!"
When Jin-cheon nodded gravely, Alsein cried out in surprise this time.
"Ahem. Hwi, and the reason?"
Looking slightly embarrassed, Jin-cheon cleared his throat and asked. Hwi-garam answered with an expression that was almost genial.
"Even just the territory south of the capital is too much for the South Roselin of today. Governing occupied territory will be anything but easy. And as King Cadel said, the embers of the Holy Empire still remain, so we need to buy a certain amount of time. But in my view, the Holy Empire likely did not foresee this exact situation either. From the moment we began to cross the border, they would have anticipated a war of occupation."
"Indeed."
"They probably realized their mistake only once the capital was surrounded.... In any case, in my opinion, we should kill every one of these people first. Fortunately, thanks to the measures you took, Your Highness Alsein, the entire royal family is already in custody. Only a handful of distant collateral bloodlines should remain."
"That is so, Lord Hwi-garam."
As Hwi-garam spoke and looked toward Marquis Baikal for confirmation, Marquis Baikal nodded and gave him a firm answer. Every major member of the royal house was in custody, and only one or two far-removed collateral lines remained in the north.
"Then isn't the matter settled? Kill them all, and afterward make a great show of spreading the news."
"In what way?"
Alsein, clearly impatient, shifted in his seat and asked.
"We would naturally have to search for King Cadel and the princes who fled."
"Ah!"
"Guh-rock, what kind of nonsense is that!"
An exclamation of sudden understanding burst from Alsein's mouth, and a blood-flecked cry erupted from King Cadel's lips at the same time.
"If we do that, the nobles in the northern part of North Roselin who do not know the truth will be able to do neither this nor that. And while we pretend to search, time will naturally be bought. Then at some point they will begin to rally around a collateral royal. A civil war will break out on its own. Ah! We, of course, will issue a proclamation that we will wage war no further even as the civil war unfolds."
"Then even the Holy Empire'll have to deal with the North Roselin remnants!"
"Hut."
At Hwi-garam's suggested countermeasure, Alsein looked at King Cadel and his household with eyes aflame with vengeance.
"Guheugh."
King Cadel's eyes sank into despair.
"What are you all doing? Go after the escaped King of North Roselin and his family!"
Alsein's rebuke, mixed with laughter, descended upon the knights and soldiers who had been listening with pricked ears within the great hall.
"Waa! Seize them!"
Despite their exhaustion, the exhilarated soldiers cheered and rushed outside. They would keep the secret rigorously for a while. Then Alsein, the sword of vengeance drawn, rose from the throne with a cold blade in hand and slowly approached King Cadel.