Chapter 24
Chapter 24
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 24
Ung-sam, having shoved Baron Alvin into the holding area with the able-bodied slash-and-burn farmers, scowled and grumbled.
"Ah, damn it all. The man's got a loud mouth, too."
"You locked him in?"
"Yes."
Eulji Buru chattered on, clearly amused, and Gye Ung-sam allowed himself a smile as well.
"Well, for the moment I've warned the farmers that he's a noble and told them not to lay a hand on him. Think they'll actually keep their hands off, though?"
"Tch. If they don't, they don't."
"Hmm."
Baron Alvin was on the verge of exploding with rage.
"How dare you do this to me—the man who is to be your lord! Open this door at once! There has clearly been some mistake!"
"......."
The resentful glares of the farmer conscripts flew at the back of Baron Alvin's head, but that was all. Not one of them could so much as open his mouth at him.
"Tch. There must have been some sort of mistake."
Giving up on shouting, Baron Alvin surveyed the interior. It was a relatively clean space, but the farmers themselves were in such wretched condition that his brow soon furrowed.
"Lowborn filth."
Baron Alvin settled himself in one corner, putting on airs. Still, no one stepped forward. Clearly these men had lost family and neighbors to Baron Alvin, yet not one of them clenched a fist or uttered a curse. The only thing they could manage was a gaze full of resentment.
"Some water."
"Here."
When one of the men asked for water, the man who had received the food handed over the remaining water bottle. Just as he was about to wet his throat, Baron Alvin spoke haughtily.
"Bring me water, you!"
"......."
The man about to drink glared at Baron Alvin with eyes full of hatred. Baron Alvin was not the sort of person too stupid to recognize that look. In the end, his face flushed scarlet and he stomped over, cursing.
"You piece of trash!"
Thwack!
"Aghk!"
Baron Alvin's kicks were crushing the resentful gazes one by one. And yet, not a single person tried to stop him. The self-loathing rooted deep within them had robbed them of even the will to challenge the towering wall of social status—the way herbivores are instinctually incapable of resisting carnivores.
"Eeeek!"
"Hold back, Hawk!"
But inside Hawk's chest, something was rejecting that. That instinct had not yet taken root in his heart.
His name was Hudson Hawk.
Though a commoner, he possessed a surname. His family had been a fallen noble house of a ruined minor kingdom, and while circumstances had driven them into a slash-and-burn farming village, he had not been domesticated down to his instincts the way these others had.
"I'll kill you."
"Endure it, I said. Did you not hear what that soldier said earlier! Did they not warn us that anyone who touched Baron Alvin would be killed!"
Ung-sam's warning held them back even more. Even so, fire blazed in Hawk's eyes. The sight of the young man groaning, being kicked half to death, overlapped with the faces of the villagers who had been slaughtered before his very eyes by the subjugation force.
A roar of fury welled up from the depths of his throat and burst out.
"Are you not outraged!"
"What was that, you wretch!"
As Hawk's voice rang out, Baron Alvin's irascible voice erupted once more. Yet Hawk showed no sign of shrinking back. On the contrary, he began to advance, radiating killing intent.
"You dare glare at me—a baron—with such... Aaargh!"
Crash!
"You pig."
"Heeek! Guards!"
Baron Alvin's authority collapsed under a single punch from Hawk and a single coarse curse. Sent sprawling, Baron Alvin scrambled to the door and shouted for the guards. But the guards he was calling for never came.
"Die and apologize, you swine."
"Hurk!"
Hawk's voice, as he walked forward with his fist clenched, carried both finality and a deathly chill.
"Hm? Getting noisy in there?"
"Leave it."
Kreeeeek!
"Let's have another drink."
As screams erupted intermittently, the Gauri soldiers chuckled and passed cups back and forth as though the noise were music.
GraaAAAAHHH~!
Baron Alvin's screams, rising up now and then, were swallowed into the victory feast.
The previous night's feast had been raucous, but by morning all trace of it had vanished. As if it had never happened, the grounds were already cleared, and from daybreak soldiers bustled about preparing to march out.
Creeeak.
"Hawk, I'm here. Breakfast..."
The sight that met Beron's eyes as he pushed open the rough wooden door was the gruesome state of Baron Alvin.
"Wh-what in the...!"
Beron rushed over to Baron Alvin, whose face had been battered beyond recognition, and checked for breath—but the man had long since severed his ties to this world. Standing over Baron Alvin's cold corpse, Beron's voice trembled.
"Who in the world...!"
"Me."
At the sound of Hawk's voice coming from the darkness, Beron lost his words. Hawk, the man who had practically led them, had gone and done something like this... The repercussions were not going to be small.
"Alvin is dead?"
"Yes, General."
At the report from the soldier who had rushed to the command building early that morning, Eulji Buru issued his order.
"Deal with it. Drag them all out."
"Yes."
As the soldier sprinted off, Yeon Hwi-garam wore a look of surprise.
"I didn't expect him to turn into a lump of meat in a single day."
"Hm."
"What now? There was still more information we could have extracted."
"Let's go see."
With that short reply, Go Jin-cheon's steps turned toward the outside.
The people who had been dragged out since early morning sensed the unease in the air and stood in deathly silence, like mice. Before them lay Baron Alvin's corpse, wrapped in a straw mat.
"Shut dawaen! (Silence, all of you!)"
When Gye Ung-sam's voice thundered loudly, even the faint murmuring died away and every gaze turned toward the platform. As always, Jin-cheon drew Risel's Ring and spoke the Activation Word. A brief flash of light passed, and then Jin-cheon's mouth slowly opened.
"Bring him out."
At Jin-cheon's command, Hawk was dragged out, bound by soldiers. Seeing this, the people could only grow more uneasy.
"Why did you kill him?"
"......."
Thwack!
"Guhk."
When Hawk kept silent in the face of Jin-cheon's question, a soldier's kick flew at him. After several more kicks had landed, Jin-cheon posed the question once again.
"Why did you kill him?"
"Grrk... Are you saying I should have stood still before my enemy!"
Seeing Hawk cry out, the blood pooled in his mouth bursting forth, Jin-cheon let out a scoffing laugh.
"Revenge."
"......."
"Is a right granted to humans."
At the icy voice, Hawk felt his entire body constrict. Jin-cheon paused briefly, then continued.
"Are you human?"
"What—!"
"Vermin do not get to speak of revenge. Who else, besides you, laid hands on Baron Alvin."
"What are you talking about! I acted alone!"
Jin-cheon gestured toward Hawk with his chin. At once, soldiers rushed in and dragged him off somewhere. As Hawk was being hauled away, Jin-cheon spoke to him with scorn.
"One noble's life is worth ten vermin. Now then, if the remaining nine vermin volunteer their own deaths, I will use the rest as slaves."
"Kill only me! Just me!"
"Buru."
"Yes."
Even as Hawk was dragged off shouting, Jin-cheon's scorn did not fade. Buru slung his great axe over his shoulder and headed toward the place Hawk had been taken.
Jin-cheon slowly swept his gaze over the able-bodied men, then wet his lips with his tongue.
Graaahh!
"Now. Let the remaining nine come forward."
A scream that seemed to tear the earth apart shook the ground, and Jin-cheon spoke the words that demanded more blood.
"None?"
Jin-cheon's voice rang out through the frozen air, as though simply confirming a fact.
"If nine more of you sacrifice yourselves, I guarantee the lives of everyone else."
"......."
As the men exchanged wary glances, one middle-aged man stepped forward. It was the man who had tried to stop Hawk the night before. He walked out with a composed step and opened his mouth.
"Can my life alone not spare these people?"
"Eight remain."
The reply that came back to the man's earnest-sounding voice was a reduced number. One soldier stepped forward and began to lead the middle-aged man away. A woman and a young man—apparently his family—screamed toward him as he was taken without resistance.
"Darling!"
"Father—!"
"Spare my family. I will trust you!"
The middle-aged man's voice rang out, and the sounds of soldiers restraining the family members who tried to rush forward could be heard. Amidst it, Jin-cheon's urging fell once more.
"Eight more. Come forward."
While everyone hesitated, trembling and gauging each other's reactions, the middle-aged man's son was glaring at Jin-cheon with bloodshot, reddened eyes. And then a horrific sound followed.
GraaaAAAHK!
"Fatherrr!"
"Darliiiing!"
How could they not recognize the voice of the father and husband they had lived with their entire lives? The enraged young man burst from the crowd and charged at Jin-cheon, cursing.
"You son of a bitch!"
Thwack!
"Heri!"
But a soldier's kick produced a dull impact and sent him sprawling to the side. The mother's anguished cry burst out. Then Jin-cheon's mocking voice rang out.
"Seven."
Heri, dragged away unconscious toward the rear, opened his eyes at the jolt of someone throwing him face-down.
"Hurk!"
The first thing Heri's eyes registered, sprawled as he was over a tree stump, was Buru's great axe.
"Hold him down."
"Gassen! (Son of a bitch!)"
"Shut your mouth. Not like you can understand me anyway."
With the soldiers pinning his body down as he lay face-first, no further curses or resentment could escape him. As a black cloth covered his eyes, terror swept over him. And then a shock arrived—one that forcibly severed the cord to this world.
"GruuuAAAH!"
Thud.
Heri's scream burst forth, announcing the third sacrifice. Once the scream was cut off, Heri's body shuddered as if in a final convulsion, then slumped limply over the tree stump.
"Clean it up."
"Yes, General."
At Buru's order, the soldiers pulled Heri's body off the tree stump.