Chapter 314
Chapter 314
Iron Emperor — Chapter 314
At Marquis Luchia's decision, Earl Pelloman asked no more questions and swiftly summoned his adjutants.
* * *
On the walls of Gaemun Mountain Fortress, soldiers moved without pause, streaming in lines like worker ants.
"Move faster! The Holy Empire's army is at our doorstep!"
They always stockpiled supplies so they could fight at any time, but preparing those supplies for an actual battle took far more time than expected. Everything that could be thrown at the enemy had to be hauled onto the walls, while every kind of fortress-defense weapon needed to respond flexibly to an assault had to be readied as well.
Fortunately, by Geom Muhyul's order, the villagers from the surrounding area had all entered the fortress, rolled up their sleeves, and were carrying combat supplies alongside the soldiers, which was speeding the preparations.
Geom Muhyul himself circled the fortress and personally encouraged both soldiers and civilians. Then a wizard approached him, face dark.
"He has passed."
"Huu."
The words were brief, but a long sigh escaped Muhyul's lips.
The single scout who had returned, his entire body bristling with arrows.
Of the eighty-plus men who had gone out to scout, he was the only soldier who made it back. And now even he had breathed his last.
"Still, his face was peaceful."
"......."
The soldier, who had run like a madman, had bellowed at Muhyul standing right before him, as if the massive blood loss had robbed him of his sight. When he heard Muhyul's voice, he fixed his bloodshot eyes on the empty air and, summoning the last of his strength, shouted:
'Holy Empire forces estimated between fifty and eighty thousand. At least one Magic Corps regiment or more appears present. They seem to have broken through the Reganza Mountains. As for the scout unit, all personnel except myself are presumed annihilated.'
There was no decorum, no formality.
Though no one was chasing him, he had delivered that long report in a single breath. And after collapsing, he never opened his eyes again. But it was enough. With that, the scout unit had more than done its duty.
"Daylight is fading! Everyone, move faster!"
Even after hearing of the last scout's death, Muhyul had no time to grieve. He poured every ounce of his strength into urging the soldiers forward. That was the only way to repay the sacrifice of those who had died.
* * *
A colossal rumbling.
Was it meant to announce their presence across the entire mountain range?
The Holy Empire army, which until now had moved with caution, advanced with unstoppable momentum. At its head rode Marquis Bello von Luchia, his face lost in thought.
"It's dangerous, Marquis!"
The knight standing behind and guarding Marquis Luchia reached for his scabbard as he shouted. From the mouth of Hawk, who had been curled up as if ready to die at any moment, a blade had appeared, clutched between his teeth and slick with crimson blood.
In that instant when everyone was frozen in shock, no one could stop Hawk as he rushed at Marquis Luchia with the blade in his mouth.
Slash!
Hawk’s final attack, driven by the last of his strength, was cut short by a lightning-fast blade.
"Ah!"
Completely unshaken, Marquis Luchia flicked his sword once more—when had he even drawn it?—and sent the blood flying.
Thump. Roll-roll. Thud.
Hawk's head, still biting the blade, traced a long crimson arc through the air and rolled across the ground. His headless body crumpled lifelessly, like a puppet whose strings had been severed.
"We apologize."
The knights bowed their heads in unison, as if ashamed that they had forced Marquis Luchia to act himself.
Cold-Blooded Swordmaster.
That was the epithet of Marquis Bello von Luchia, one of the Ten of the Continent. True to it, the blood on his blade was already cold and congealed.
"Ghastly."
The knight examining Hawk's torso shuddered. When other curious knights approached and looked, their reactions were no different. Hawk had been dragged along with a sharp blade embedded in his abdomen, hidden in the flesh.
Given that he was practically a blood-soaked figure, none of them had imagined that he had torn open his own belly and concealed a blade inside.
"It seems he was targeting you, Marquis, from the start."
At Earl Pelloman's words, Marquis Luchia looked coldly at Hawk's head lying on the ground. His intention of using even the knights to extract information had been thwarted. At that moment, the Marquis's eyes flickered as if struck by a spasm.
He saw Hawk's mouth, still biting the blade, open.
"My Yeolje... in the next life as well...."
The voice was small, yet distinctly resonant.
Only a few syllables, but they had come from a severed head, detached from its body. And the final smile that formed as the words ended.
"This... this is impossible...."
"A head that's already been cut off... speaking...."
The discomfiture of the surrounding knights proved that it was neither auditory hallucination nor illusion. Even Marquis Luchia, cold as ice, could not prevent the light of agitation from seeping into his eyes.
"Marquis?"
"Hm, what is it?"
Earl Pelloman's voice cut through his reverie. The previous day's memory was pushed aside by that voice. Feigning nonchalance, he faced Earl Pelloman.
A trace of concern lingered on the Earl's face; he had clearly called the Marquis several times.
"The day is waning. The soldiers are exhausted, and I believe it would be best to make camp before it gets any darker."
"Indeed. Earl Pelloman, see to it as you think best."
"Yes."
Judging by Earl Pelloman's expression, the previous day's bizarre phenomenon was clearly preying on his mind as well. Even as the massive column halted and the soldiers began erecting temporary shelters, Marquis Luchia was still trying to comprehend the smile that had graced Hawk's lips.
He was a man who had staked his life against countless masters to grasp the ultimate truth of the sword and had never shied away from small wars wherever they erupted.
In short, he had witnessed countless deaths, yet even he could not fathom that sight.
The gazes of the dead.
The multitudes of thoughts contained within them.
Bitterness. Regret. Attachment to life. Fury. Resentment. Shrieking. Curses. He had even seen the laughter of mighty warriors who rejoiced in a satisfying duel even as they met death.
But Hawk's bearing was different.
The severed head speaking was itself unbelievable. Of course, he had occasionally encountered such things when killing dark wizards, but he would not have failed to sense the energy of magic. This voice had been produced by pure physical force.
Yet what truly stirred his thoughts was that final, serene smile.
"What is it he believed in?"
Did it mean he felt no fear, even though he had clearly seen the Holy Empire's vast host? The peaceful smile that had appeared the moment he died lingered in Marquis Luchia's mind as a question mark.
* * *
An attendant's voice rang out, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. The leaders of the Four-Nation Alliance, including Go Jin-cheon and King Alsein, suspended their discussion and turned their heads toward the owner of those footsteps. There were few reasons for someone to rush into this chamber.
"Your Majesty, this subject Mong Ryu-hwa offers his respects."
The instant he entered, Mong Ryu-hwa rendered a brief military salute and lifted his head to face Jin-cheon. Then, without delay, he spoke.
"The unidentified group in the Reganza Mountains has been confirmed as a Holy Empire force numbering roughly fifty to eighty thousand. There are also reports that the infantry are doubling as the supply units, so the actual combat troop count is expected to remain roughly within that range."
"Distance?"
At Jin-cheon's short question, Ryu-hwa's face visibly stiffened.
"They were reportedly spotted moving at the forest's edge, about three days from Gaemun Mountain Fortress. Given the massive scale of the force, the enemy will likely require a little more time to reach Gaemun Mountain Fortress."
"T-three days!"
"Fifty to eighty thousand..."
Even as the leaders stirred in alarm, Ryu-hwa continued his report.
He relayed that of the eighty-man scout unit, only one had returned, and after reporting the scouting results, that man had fallen into a critical condition. The report that the scouts had confirmed the presence of a Magic Corps within the Holy Empire formation while they were being discovered and hunted down only reinforced the certainty that this was an elite Holy Empire legion.
Indeed, if they were not elite, how could they have even conceived of crossing the Reganza Mountains?
"Madness. Crossing the Reganza range."
Whether from shock or the hollow realization that they had been outmaneuvered, a harsh curse erupted from King Alsein's mouth.
"Factor in the time it took the scouts to return, and even a large army would need three or four days."
Having completed his calculations based on the report, Duke Baikal cautiously offered his assessment.
Ryu-hwa then replied in a grave voice.
"The scout who returned covered a three-day distance in a single day. Although, of course..."
"Huh."
Everyone was stunned that he had made it back in a single day over mountain terrain. But Ryu-hwa’s next words were solemn.
"...That soldier still hasn’t regained consciousness. He likely won’t recover."
"......."
As Ryu-hwa finished speaking, the initial admiration instantly gave way to silence.
"Unless the enemy commander is a fool, he will have realized that those scouts were not moving at a normal pace."
Jin-cheon’s grave voice broke the silence.
"If so, then even a large army will certainly take no more than three days."
"The Holy Empire's legion chose to cross the Reganza Mountains, which would clearly inflict significant damage, precisely because they intend to occupy Gauri in a short time. That fits."
Yeon Hwi-garam agreed with Jin-cheon and spoke. At that, the leaders of the alliance, including Alsein, all sank into despair. If the Gauri army—the alliance's strongest fighting force—were withdrawn, there would be no more hope in this war.
At this point, currying favor with the Empire Coalition to preserve their states might be the best possible option.
"Has all the blood we've spilled so far... been in vain...?"
Alsein spoke in a low voice stripped of hope.
"In the end, this seems to clarify the Holy Empire's intentions and the decisive reason the Empire Coalition inserted itself into this war."
Even in a situation where the fate of nations might hang in the balance, Hwi-garam's voice remained steady and composed. That composure was lending the atmosphere a solemn gravity. As everyone listened quietly, Hwi-garam continued.
"We have already discussed the likelihood that the Holy Empire and the Maritime Empire struck some sort of deal. I suspect the object of that deal is likely the Haian Kingdom."
"That would be the case."
Marquess Gaun nodded at Hwi-garam's words, as if he too had anticipated the way events were unfolding.
"That is why they permitted the Holy Empire's Grand Fleet to pass through the Maritime Empire's waters. The Maritime Empire, of course, would have judged that they would land along the Roselin coast."
"Then that means..."
Duke Baikal was unable to finish his sentence, his face aghast. Hwi-garam nodded.
"What you suspect is correct. The Holy Empire's plan was to swiftly seize Gauri, the central axis of our alliance, and thereby annex Haian, Roselin, and even the Malin Kingdom in one stroke. As for the Malin Kingdom, if things proved difficult, they intended to look the other way and let the Federal Empire take it."
"Goddamn it."
At Hwi-garam's words, everyone spat out their fury.
If that came to pass, the empires would no longer hold back. They would launch indiscriminate warfare to absorb every nation on this continent. And the first to be conscripted into that war would be the soldiers and people of the annexed states.
"However, once the Maritime Empire witnessed the Holy Empire's legion being annihilated by us in the first phase, its thinking would have changed. The Federal Empire is no fool either, so they were surely biding their time. Right then, a large army had been slaughtered, and another large army had sailed far away. That power vacuum would have presented them with an opportunity."
"Does that change anything right now?"
Alsein was trying to say that analyzing the current situation offered no help at all.
"I suppose it doesn't."
At Alsein’s remark, Hwi-garam gave a bitter smile and conceded the point. In the end, understanding the situation changed nothing.