Chapter 260
Chapter 260
Iron Emperor — Chapter 260
The saying "blessing in disguise" fits Risel to a tee.
"If I may be so bold..."
One of the newly promoted 4th Circle wizards managing the magic circle cautiously interjected. Seeing him fidget nervously, Jin-cheon gave a slight nod. When it came to letting subordinates voice their opinions, Jin-cheon was a model commander. If making his men feel free to speak their minds in any situation was a talent, then it was one of his strengths.
Of course, the Eulji Brothers usually earned themselves a beating rather than merely offering opinions. Because the wizard knew Jin-cheon's character well, he was cautious but still voiced his view.
"The might of the Holy Empire's Magic Tower is unrivaled on the continent. Elsewhere, wizards' free-ranging activities are generally guaranteed, but the Holy Empire consolidated all wizards into a single body from the start and has operated them at the national level. High-ranking wizards and all grimoires are likewise held by the Imperial Household... though..."
"Go on."
When he trailed off while gauging reactions, Jin-cheon nodded as if to say "don't worry," encouraging him to speak freely. At Jin-cheon's gesture, the wizard regained his confidence, his voice growing clearer.
"Magic of lower Circles naturally has a limit to its power. That is why, in the previous Roselin wars, wizards were primarily deployed in siege battles, reinforcing the command element's defenses, or bolstering security — that is a simple fact. However, you must also understand that deploying wizards is not entirely different from deploying troops. Neither the Kingdom of North Roselin nor the current Roselin Kingdom is ignorant of that. Their lack of strength is what prevents them from acting on what they already know."
"Hmm."
An expression of interest formed at the corner of Jin-cheon's mouth. The wizard failed to notice and became increasingly carried away by his own argument.
"The Holy Empire, however, as I said earlier, is on a completely different scale. In terms of numbers alone, they have close to five hundred 3rd Circle combat wizards. To that, add nearly two hundred who have reached the 4th Circle. And according to what is known, they also have as many as ten 5th Circle users."
"Oh-ho."
Admiration was laced into Jin-cheon's voice.
"Speaking plainly, 3rd Circle or even 4th Circle is not the issue. Because those Circles have range limitations, they will not risk placing them at the front line. But if there are ten-odd 5th Circle wizards, the picture changes. With them present, wide-area magic reaching a range of roughly a hundred mir becomes possible. That alone can blunt the spearhead of any force."
Wizards are a race that delights in debate. That is why outbursts like this one can occasionally happen. The problem being that the wizard himself is completely unaware of it.
Pausing briefly to catch his breath, the wizard was now using not just words but his arms as well, continuing his explanation animatedly.
"Furthermore, whereas the Federal Empire and the Maritime Empire each have only two 6th Circle Archwizards, the Holy Empire has four. Naturally, they may not be committed directly to the conflict, but their mere existence is a threat in itself. One thing is absolutely clear: if the Holy Empire mobilizes a force exceeding three hundred thousand, the Magic Corps will definitely be positioned on their main axis of attack."
"And the Magic Corps's organization?"
Dae Mu-deok, who seemed to have been drawn into the wizard's fervor as well, now asked a question and gave him his full attention.
"It is composed of five regiments. Each regiment is commanded by two 5th Circle wizards, under whom are twenty 4th Circle and eighty 3rd Circle wizards. That is to say, two 5th Circle wizards lead roughly a hundred wizards each. And each regiment divides into two battalions, in which case the personnel are generally split equally. A single such regiment matches the entire magical power of a typical royal palace. By contrast, our Gauri's magical strength depends utterly on the presence of the Great Archmage, Lord Risel. If Lord Risel is tied up with logistics, our magical power is quite literally only enough for communications or defensive spells to block enemy offensives."
"Hmmmm."
"No, let me correct that. Even defense would clearly be inadequate. Do we know where they'll decide to pour their magic so that we can position our defense? And with our limited numbers, we can't possibly plug every critical point, can we? Likely, the moment an attack commences under the lead of 5th Circle wizards, we'll be flat on our backs from mana exhaustion without even getting off a single spell, doing nothing but raising shields. Of the roughly twenty Gauri wizards at 3rd Circle or above who are actually useful in war, ten would be assigned to logistics. That leaves only ten. Eleven including me. If we scrape the bottom and pull in 2nd Circle Masters too, well, they can at least raise shields a few times even if they can't attack. That makes fewer than thirty all told. That's utterly hopeless. Agh, my throat is dry."
"Here..."
"Thank you."
When the wizard grimaced, his throat parched from the lengthy explanation, someone beside him quickly handed over water. Having quenched his thirst and moistened his lips, the wizard continued in a lamenting tone. At this point, it had ceased to be an opinion and had become more of a venting session.
"The result is that whether we're talking about knight orders or ordinary soldiers, they have to charge to break the enemy, which means the spearhead comes under attack from a hundred mir out. Our soldiers' long-range arrows might create some balance, but what are we supposed to do about large-scale magic? You must understand the enormous psychological effect as well. If every spell they cast lands and men keep dropping dead, what are our soldiers supposed to trust as protection? They can block arrows with shields and knock aside blades with swords, but they can't do that with magic. Tch..."
Now he was simply running off at the mouth.
Not even noticing that the surrounding area had fallen silent, he sighed as if lamenting, shaking his head from side to side.
"To put it bluntly, our wizards can't exactly stand in front of the knights and run while raising shields. And attacking is also practically impossible — if they take flight, it's a matter of getting shot down and killed, and... tch! A little more water, if you don't..."
"Drink your fill."
The moment he saw Buru smiling gently as he offered the water, the wizard snapped back to reality. And he also realized he had gone way too far.
A river too wide to cross...
* * *
A swarm of bright lights zigzagged through the void, tracing patterns like the Milky Way in the night sky. Everyone captivated by that beautiful trajectory could not tear their eyes away.
Thump! Tumble, tumble.
"Ah! Lord Kairos!"
"H-he fell from the horse!"
"Quick, use healing magic...!"
A fleeting thought passed through Kairos's mind as he tumbled across the ground.
'I feel like I've seen this scene somewhere...'
The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was the wizards and soldiers rushing toward him in alarm.
"..."
"Mm."
Even amid the bustling activity of wizards and soldiers, there were those who maintained an unmoving posture: none other than Go Jin-cheon and his party. Risel was also with them, watching Kairos's limp body being carried off like a corpse and recalling an image of his own past self.
"Hoo."
Risel sighed.
At that moment, he felt the gazes of Jin-cheon and the party.
"Did I not tell you it was absolutely impossible?!"
"Ahem."
When Risel's voice burst out, now somewhat rebellious from the repeated experiments of earlier, Jin-cheon and the other commanders averted their eyes, perhaps feeling a prick of conscience.
The wizard being carried off was the very same wizard who, not long before, had so vigorously insisted before Jin-cheon upon the might of the Holy Empire's Magic Corps and the harsh reality of Gauri.
Though called Kairos and the sole 4th Circle wizard beside Risel, when even Risel was being sacrificed in experiments, Kairos could hardly expect immunity.
"I only thought that since that fellow was going on about shields while riding, maybe he could pull it off. Just on the off chance, you know..."
A shameless excuse—barely an excuse at all—slipped from Jin-cheon. Faced with his artless words, Risel could only crumple his face. Poor Kairos had simply fallen afoul of Jin-cheon's compulsion to test everything that came to mind.
"But what was it this time? He was going along fine then suddenly just toppled over..."
As if curious about the cause, Gye Ung-sam tilted his head and asked. Naturally, it was Risel who answered.
"..."
"Ahem. I shall go make a round of the training grounds."
Of course, what he got in return was not an answer but a murderous glare. There was no way Risel was going to look kindly on Ung-sam for asking so innocently now.
That was the power of rank.
Under Risel's heavy stare, Ung-sam promptly took his leave. Then Risel sighed and explained things to Jin-cheon, whose curiosity was obvious despite his silence.
"Of course it's impossible. Even with lower-Circle magic, casting while running is extremely difficult. Arranging mana while the body is being jolted around is itself fundamentally unreasonable. It's obvious: our friend Kairos... his mana must have twisted and backflowed. He'll likely need a good half-day of rest."
"Hmm, but they seem to manage it well enough while flying."
Jin-cheon rubbed his chin as if puzzled, his tone tinged with regret, so Risel hurriedly continued the explanation to prevent a second victim.
"The Fly spell requires nothing more than a steady supply of mana after the initial casting. And during aerial movement, there is no vibration. The mana array therefore remains comparatively stable, and the movement itself, even while moving, is smooth."
"I see."
"But trying to arrange mana while being jolted up and down on horseback is essentially the same as deliberately setting out to entangle it. Why did you order this in the first place? You surely knew it was impossible."
Risel's voice turned reproachful, and Jin-cheon turned his head slightly with a dry cough.
"I can, at a stretch, account for my own case as testing a possibility and thus experimenting, but this instance is different!"
"Ung-sam ordered it. We just watched."
Grrrind.
The sound that followed Eulji Buru's hasty interjection was thick with resentment. A murderous light even flickered in the eyes of Risel, who was normally only gentle. At the sight, the rest of the party were like well-behaved children, eyes sparkling as they silently proclaimed, "We're innocent."
A moment later, Risel clenched both fists and walked off in the direction Ung-sam had vanished, and only then did the party breathe a collective sigh of relief.
"Even Master gets scary when he’s angry."
"Mm."
When Eulji Buru glanced toward where Risel had gone and remarked with a note of surprise, Jin-cheon nodded in agreement.
"But whose idea was it to spin such a lie?"
When Eulji Uru scolded Buru, Jin-cheon shot Uru a brief glare, then moved off, leaving a single remark behind.
"Well done, Buru."
"See? Didn’t His Majesty say I did good? Great causes need sacrifices."
Even if Ung-sam's position is high, could he really push Kairos into the grave alone?
This was entirely the handiwork of Jin-cheon and Buru.
Buru, half in jest, had told Kairos — his errand-runner — to try it; Jin-cheon, figuring it would be good if it worked and fine if it didn't, had semi-coerced him into it. And Ung-sam became the sacrificial lamb for the great cause. He had already been marked once, after all.
* * *
"What the—?"
Gye Ung-sam's whole body suddenly shuddered.
"Hmph, feeling weak? Why’d you shudder like you’d pissed yourself?"
Samdopyo, observing the soldiers' training, cracked a joke at Ung-sam's sudden tremble. But Ung-sam's expression remained uneasy.
"I've got a bad feeling."
In the past, something bad had always happened after these premonitions. Without even realizing it, he was well on his way to becoming a public enemy of wizards.