Chapter 352
Chapter 352
Iron Emperor — Chapter 352
Over eight thousand troops stood with blue-green spears and swords raised aloft, their eyes blazing with fierce light. Beside them, some fifteen thousand soldiers of the Haian Kingdom and the Malin Kingdom were arrayed in deathly silence. These were the forces that had come to support the subjugation of the Holy Empire's remnants.
Clop. Clop.
In the midst of that held-breath silence, the hoofbeats of two horses rang out quietly.
Prrrr.
The intermittent snorting of war horses.
Two figures, one young and one old—one clad in armor of interwoven gold and crimson, the other in brilliant silver—slowly approached and halted before the ranks. Eulji, who had appeared in her polished silver armor, stepped forward unhurriedly and gazed out over the troops.
"When the Yeolje rode out to battle, he spoke these words."
Her voice, still youthful but clear, carried distinctly to the soldiers.
"He said that now, we march forth to fight in order to protect."
Having spoken, she looked into the eyes of the soldiers one by one.
They were brimming with fighting spirit.
When they arrived following Mu-deok, they had witnessed that desperate, brutal struggle with their own eyes. They were the ones who had seen the Holy Empire soldiers surrounding Buru like a pack of jackals and burned with rage.
They were the ones who had gathered the mangled corpses of their fallen comrades, shedding tears of grief and bitterness.
They had seen with their own eyes that a nation was a bulwark protecting its people. They were not men driven onto the battlefield by the oppression of the noble class.
"The blood shed here."
Her small, fine hand clenched into a fist and slowly rose.
"Remember it. Then march forth and fight to protect."
When her clenched fist came to a halt in the air, her cry burst forth.
"The things that those who fell at Gaemun Mountain Fortress sought to protect!"
In that instant.
At her cry, the mouths of over eight thousand soldiers opened. Yet no one registered the sound of their roar.
The very air shuddered, and the grass and trees shook. Only then did the sound begin to reach their ears.
It was a roar of fury that shook heaven and earth.
Amidst that roar, Dae Mu-deok drew his sword and shouted.
"Advance!"
Dae Mu-deok and the allied forces, twenty-three thousand strong in total, began their advance.
* * *
Night lay shrouded in darkness.
Go Jin-cheon was gazing up at the night sky, feeling the air grow slowly colder. Beside him, Yeon Hwi-garam approached, carrying a teacup from which wisps of steam curled upward in both hands.
"It has grown quite chilly."
Jin-cheon accepted the cup Hwi-garam offered and took a sip of the warm tea. The gentle heat swirled inside his mouth, then slid down his throat.
"Good."
"This sortie..."
As Jin-cheon savored the warmth of the tea, Hwi-garam's voice reached his ears.
"I am told it was a decision made by Her Highness Eulji."
"It would be."
His expression said he had already guessed as much.
It was a decision that only she, raised among generals, could make. It was something only she could have conceived.
"She must have been deeply grieved."
No one was unaware of how closely she had followed Eulji Buru. Jin-cheon nodded faintly and answered.
"She would want to come out onto the battlefield herself."
"Most likely."
"And the one who understands that heart best is none other than Dae Mu-deok."
"That is so."
Jin-cheon, who had emptied his cup in one draft though it must still have been hot, handed the empty cup back to Hwi-garam.
"There is no more room to hold back now."
His voice had sunk ever so slightly,
resembling the growl of a beast of prey before its quarry.
Shing.
Jin-cheon's Hwandudaedo slipped from its sheath, drinking in the moonlight.
"On a grand scale... it is for the protection of Gauri."
Jin-cheon growled, and Hwi-garam replied in a coldly subdued tone.
"It is retribution for those who have fallen... and..."
At the moment Hwi-garam's eyes locked with Jin-cheon's, the words sprang out.
"Privately, it is vengeance for Buru."
Words like a vow, spoken at last from the mouths of two men who had not once mentioned revenge for Buru until now.
In Jin-cheon's eyes, fixed on the blade reflecting the moonlight, flames kindled.
"Without fail!"
Words they had buried in their hearts for the sake of the greater cause.
The two men—no, all those who had fought alongside him—were making that vow.
Chapter 123: The Flames of War Surge Across the Continent
In the allied encampment of the three kingdoms—Roselin, Haian, and Malin—where nerves were stretched taut over the standoff between the empires, the figures who could be called the heads of each nation sat with exhaustion plain on their faces.
It was the ceaseless stream of reports on the situation between the empires, and the weight of the battle yet to come, pressing down upon them day after day.
"As expected, only the fleets of the Maritime Empire and the Federal Empire occupy the seas."
At Marquis Bels's report, King Alsein, Duke Ken, and Marquess Gaun all betrayed complicated expressions despite the fact that it was entirely expected. From the empires' perspective, they were nothing more than easy prey anyway.
"I almost find myself hoping the Three Great Empires will drag out their war for a long while."
When Duke Ken voiced his honest feelings, Marquess Gaun likewise showed agreement.
"Realistically, our strength, caught between the empires, is negligible. And yet—was not the cause of this outbreak of imperial war our very alliance of kingdoms?"
Everyone nodded at Marquess Gaun's words.
In truth, had they not fought so admirably against the Holy Empire, would the Maritime Empire and the Federal Empire have stepped forward?
Perhaps they would have been devising ways to carve the alliance apart in the chaos instead.
The worst-case scenario—the Holy Empire swallowing Roselin, the Federal Empire swallowing Malin, the Maritime Empire annexing part of Haian or the duchies north of the Federal Empire—was entirely plausible.
As the leadership focused on assessing the current situation with troubled faces, a communications wizard burst in urgently from outside.
"A dispatch has arrived from the Gauri main camp."
"I see."
The news was that the Gauri army was returning with the supplies prepared for the sake of the breathtakingly perilous stratagem of thrusting themselves into the struggle between empires. They had consented to the plan, but still could not shake off their unease.
"And word has come from the Gauri homeland that the forces deployed to subjugate the enemy's remnants are now hastening to join us, led by Gauri's Daedaero, General Dae Mu-deok."
"Lord Dae Mu-deok himself?"
At the wizard's words, Duke Baikal and King Alsein, who knew who he was, shot to their feet, unable to conceal their astonishment.
"Leading those aged bones onto the battlefield, how could he..."
A worried murmur escaped Marquess Gaun.
Marquess Gaun and Duke Ken had seen Dae Mu-deok before, too.
Was he not the one who occupied the seat just beneath the Yeolje and above all others in Gauri—by their reckoning, a figure comparable to a chief minister?
Though he was said to have come from a military background, in their eyes he was far too advanced in years. But unlike those who fretted, Duke Baikal and King Alsein, who had spent a period living in exile in Gauri, knew exactly who he was.
"Hoho... Your Majesty, it seems Gauri has truly staked everything."
As Duke Baikal let out a hollow laugh and spoke, King Alsein slowly nodded.
"For even that venerable one to take the field."
When their reactions proved so different from those of Marquess Gaun and Duke Ken, the latter two could only ask with puzzled expressions.
"What do you mean?"
"It is certainly astonishing that Gauri's chief minister would personally lead an army, but should we not rather be dissuading him? If the chief minister of a nation were to suffer grave injury on the battlefield, the soldiers' morale would suffer, and..."
As Marquess Gaun and Duke Ken voiced their concerns one after another, Duke Baikal burst out in great laughter.
"Puhahahat!"
Startled by the sudden laughter, the two men looked at Duke Baikal and King Alsein.
"Have we said something out of turn?"
At Duke Ken's question, Duke Baikal stopped laughing and wore a bittersweet smile.
"It seems I, who was defeated by that aged chief minister, ought to be worrying about my own safety on the battlefield."
"......."
"......."
At Duke Baikal's remark, Duke Ken and Marquess Gaun could do nothing but stand with their mouths agape, unable to utter a single word in reply.
* * *
The sight of soldiers moving like ants among the densely packed rows of tents was more than enough to overwhelm any observer. Though it was called two hundred thousand, it was difficult to truly grasp the sheer magnitude of an army exceeding two hundred thousand men.
Even if each of a hundred soldiers occupied only one mir of width, the line would already span a hundred mir. With two hundred thousand men, the length would reach two kilometers. That, of course, was only a simple calculation. Add the supplies required by that force and the various formations needed to guard against enemy attack while marching, and the column would easily stretch beyond ten kilometers.
And now, that very immense host occupied a broad stretch of the Palancia Plains.
"Haha! A magnificent sight indeed."
As Marquis Millium gazed at the soldiers bustling about to prepare their meals, the laughter-laced voice of Duke Shuo reached his ears.
"You have come?"
Marquis Millium inclined his head slightly toward Duke Shuo, who was approaching from behind, and exchanged greetings.
"How fares the matter of your vassals?"
"The second-wave troops are said to have nearly reached the strait, so they should arrive here within five days, I expect."
At Duke Shuo's words, Marquis Millium nodded with a smile and turned his gaze back toward the soldiers. Because they had brought a considerable quantity of supplies during the initial landing, the movement of the additional forces was bound to be swift.
"Then that makes four hundred thousand in total..."
A smile traced itself across Marquis Millium's lips.
The force before his eyes alone numbered two hundred fifty thousand. The troops arriving as reinforcements amounted to roughly one hundred fifty thousand more. A number on that scale was more than sufficient to contend with even the Holy Empire, reputed to possess the mightiest ground forces on the continent.
"What of the enemy's movements?"
Duke Shuo, who had come to stand beside him and was surveying the encampment, asked Marquis Millium a question, unable to hide his curiosity.
"A large-scale force has yet to enter the Palancia Plains, but it is said that roughly two hundred fifty thousand troops have assembled."
"Oh-ho, two hundred fifty thousand..."
Duke Shuo wore a surprised look at the fact that the enemy had gathered a number nearly equal to their own forces.
It was understandable. From the perspective of the Federal Empire and the Maritime Empire, they could assemble a force of this size precisely because they had no need to worry about enemy incursions elsewhere. The Holy Empire, however, had to maintain defenses against the barbarians in the Maritime Empire's northern territories, and also had to keep a minimum force stationed against the four-kingdom coalition headed by Gauri.
On top of that, for them to have gathered such a force even after the failure of their reckless expedition was unexpected even to them.
As this question flickered across Duke Shuo's face, Marquis Millium went on in a calm tone.
"However, there is no need for excessive worry. According to the scouts, the majority are common folk and mercenaries who were gathered during the earlier Imperial General Mobilization Order. The only cause for concern is..."
"What is it?"
When Marquis Millium trailed off with a worried expression, Duke Shuo's face grew even more curious.
"Nothing else—it appears the number of mercenaries is somewhat high."
"Mercenaries? Our own forces include forty thousand of them. What is there to worry about?"
"Well, yes. But I am troubled that we were ultimately unable to win over Mercenary King Blamir."
At the mention of Mercenary King Blamir, one of the Ten of the Continent, Duke Shuo burst into a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha. You worry too much. The Mercenary King has not been seen for five years already. Moreover, they have never once interfered in battles between the empires. What is there to be anxious about?"
"Come to think of it... that is true."
Marquis Millium gave an embarrassed smile, as if acknowledging he had fretted over nothing. On this continent, mercenaries seldom stirred except in territorial wars.
True, large numbers of mercenaries had indeed taken part in wars between the empires—but the Mercenary King was a different matter.
It was because of the fearsome renown carried by the title of Master.
Battles that required someone of his caliber were not so numerous, yet conversely, if one did win him over, victory was as good as already secured. For that very reason, Mercenary King Blamir had aligned himself with none of the Three Great Empires, nor had he ever favored one side over another.
Because all three empires were his clients.
Not only that, but if he were to choose one empire, the other empires—unwilling to see him settled—would never leave him in peace. In many ways, he was a target of mutual deterrence.
That was why, even though he had been unseen for over five years, Duke Shuo dismissed the matter so lightly.
"Now, all that remains is to wait until the additional troops arrive, maintaining strict vigilance against any possible enemy provocation."
"The long-cherished wish of the Great Slezian Empire and the Federal Empire is being fulfilled."
The supreme commanders of the two empires could not conceal their soaring spirits as they gazed upon their soldiers.
"Though it is somewhat regrettable that the Kingdom Alliance, Roselin included, is pulling back its front lines."
"Hoho, were they not of little help to begin with? Besides, the nation called Gauri has already accomplished a great deed. That alone is a tremendous gain for us."
Was not the very existence of the Holy Empire's Gauri expeditionary force the reason the Maritime Empire had cast aside its pact with the Holy Empire?
And on top of that, that force had been annihilated in the remote reaches of the Reganza Mountains. For them, there could be no better outcome.
"Hahaha, you are right. It has already brought us a result more than overflowing!"
Their laughter scattered away beneath the darkening sky.