Chapter 36
Chapter 36
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 36
The moment Jin-cheon vanished before his eyes, Gerard began surveying his surroundings. Despite being called a village, it looked unmistakably like a military fortification. Then he spotted an unusual sight. The children were holding wooden bows. The arrowheads had their points wrapped in cloth so no one would get hurt.
"Hey there, little one."
"Huh? Mister Horse."
"......."
Word of him charging in had evidently already spread; the child rolled his eyes and promptly bestowed a nickname without hesitation. Gerard exhaled a deep sigh and spoke again.
"Who gave you this bow?"
"This? The soldiers handed them out."
"Why?"
"Mister, are you dumb? So I can protect my mom, duh."
Watching the children pass by after dismissing him as dumb, Gerard sank into thought. He asked the question several more times, and the answers were similar.
'They said they're not supposed to tell.'
'They said if you can't handle this, you don't even deserve to eat.'
'They said to take up arms if you want to live doing what you want.'
'They said if you want to live freely like now, you have to know how to fight.'
Gerard felt his mind growing tangled. What the continent treated as taboo was taken for granted here. They were providing literacy and arms training to everyone alike, and even planting ideas that could easily prove dangerous in the minds of young children.
To rule the people, it is only natural that letters and arms remain solely in the hands of the nobility. If the common folk were to possess letters and arms and come to know them, who would quell the rebellions, and how would the nobility endure? For Gerard, who had lived in such a world, this was a novel experience.
On top of that, the women here stood on equal footing with the men.
It was Gerard's second day staying here, and the shock he received from asking questions in person and seeing with his own eyes only deepened. No matter how free a knight he'd been, he had always been treated as a noble wherever he went, so from his perspective, this was incomprehensible.
'What in the world is he thinking...?'
That question filled Gerard's mind.
"Ho ho, hello there."
"Ah!"
Risel's hearty laugh rang out from behind Gerard as he gazed at the sunset, lost in thought. Gerard offered a brief greeting and turned back to the sunset.
"Where in the world did those people come from...?"
Gerard asked briefly. Risel smiled faintly and spoke.
"What I can tell you now is that they are people just like us. The only difference is that their way of life is different."
"A way of life?"
A respectful question, as if seeking an answer from a sage, went to Risel. At that question, Risel nodded as if in understanding and stepped closer, speaking.
"They place great emphasis on martial might. Yet at the same time, they always see to it that people are enlightened. I asked them. Why do you educate and make even ordinary people learn to fight? Are you not afraid of riots? What do you think they said?"
"......!"
Gerard's eyes widened. That was the very question that had tormented him. Risel slowly continued his explanation.
"Riots? Simply don't let them happen."
"Excuse me?"
Risel asked again, as if to confirm the absurd answer.
"If you don't know why you took up the sword, you cannot win. If you don't know what you are protecting and why you must win, then even if you win, it is not truly a victory. Therefore, you must know."
Risel looked up at the sky, which was just beginning to darken, and continued.
"The answer was, 'Only when the people become wise will the sovereign make no mistakes.'"
"What in the—!"
At an answer that was the exact opposite of the continent's perspective, Gerard raised his voice without realizing it. Facing him, Risel smiled quietly and said,
"At least, that is the thinking of the master I serve. One who rules bears commensurate responsibility and duty. He says that the foolish act of making the people into idiots to cover up your own mistakes will, in the end, destroy yourself and destroy the country."
"......."
Gerard felt his mind go blank.
"Waaaaah."
"......."
"Waaaaaaaaah!"
"He's soiled himself."
Go Jin-cheon looked at Eulji wailing in his arms and delivered a terse verdict. Jin-cheon, holding Eulji, had identified the source of the warmth spreading in his arm. Of course, the nursemaids and attendants standing nearby, at a loss, had already figured it out the moment Eulji started crying.
"Daesaja, let me take Eulji...."
"Mm."
"Uweeeeh."
Jin-cheon, having handed over the ear-splittingly crying Eulji, wore a slightly sheepish expression.
It had been three days since they visited Baron Alvin's mansion. Where before Jin-cheon had only occasionally shown his face and passed through, for these three days he had been practically attached to the child. And the thing he did most was hold Eulji and stare at her with a blunt expression.
Naturally, at first Eulji had screamed fit to die, but now, perhaps having built up immunity, she only cried when she was hungry or had soiled herself.
"Hmmmm."
"What worries weigh on you...?"
When Jin-cheon's concern showed on his face, the head of the maidservants asked cautiously. That suddenly seemed to remind him of something, and Jin-cheon turned his head and spoke in a low voice.
"Even if Buru or Uru come, do not let them near the child."
"Pardon?"
"I don't trust those bastards either."
To the head maidservant, the words were incomprehensible. But for Jin-cheon, it was a matter of displeasure.
'What in the world do those bastards have that's better than me...?'
His face crumpled by the question looping in his head, Jin-cheon walked outside and promptly drew two deep lines between his brows at the sight before his eyes.
"You've come out?"
"Come get some fresh air too. Let's go."
"Yes."
Having exchanged brief greetings with Jin-cheon, Buru and Uru were strolling along, chatting away delightedly with what company—none other than Sara, the greatest beauty of the encampment, and Haidia, whose beauty could not be compared to any human.
"Seems even grubs have their talents. To land beauties like that, one apiece."
"Khm."
Whether he knew the pain in Go Jin-cheon's heart or not, Yeon Hwi-garam sidled up grinning and spoke. As Hwi-garam stood there smirking, Jin-cheon's eyes took on a wary cast, and he spoke.
"Training the soldiers?"
"Finished today's schedule."
"Strengthening the village security?"
"Done."
"Positioning the large ballistae to be mounted on the stone walls?"
"Completed."
Hwi-garam had already finished all his tasks, so even Jin-cheon's relentless barrage of questions held no power.
"Hmm."
"Whoops, I need to go see Neria."
"And who is Neria?"
"Ah, the daughter of Hawk who just joined us. She asked to see me all of a sudden."
"......."
There it was.
Hwi-garam was the idol of the encampment's maidens. Not that Jin-cheon was lacking, but the oppressive pressure of being at the very top kept women at a distance, and the maidservants, well aware he was a descendant of the Yeolje, never even attempted to approach. And to top it off, even Buru and Uru, whom he had considered in the same boat as himself, had betrayed him right before his eyes.
'Wretches who know no hierarchy.'
Jin-cheon was sexually frustrated.
A scene on one side caught Jin-cheon's eye: a soldier was stroking a girl's hair and handing her something to eat.
"Eat well."
"Okay."
"Call me Giyul oppa. Even if others give you things, don't trust them rashly. All men are wolves."
"What about you, oppa?"
"Present company excluded."
Buyeo Gi-yul was, as ever, investing in the future today too.
"Hoo."
Jin-cheon, having watched this, let out a sigh, turned around, and went back inside Eulji's residence.
"......."
Perhaps thanks to a fresh diaper, the sight of Eulji beaming and gurgling softened Jin-cheon's expression somewhat. Jin-cheon received Eulji from the nursemaid, and a faint smile touched his lips as he spoke.
"Say 'Jin-cheon oppa.'"
"Kyaa-haa~."
"......."
"......."
The maidservants instantly stiffened. Despite that, Jin-cheon kept teaching the child the word "oppa," and Eulji soon worked her little lips and opened them.
"Ah-boo ah-ppah!"
"......."
The smile on Jin-cheon's lips froze just as it was. Far from "oppa," the unwelcome word "appa" was driving a spike into Jin-cheon's heart.
"Daesaja! A man named Gerard seeks an audience."
"I'm coming out."
Emotionally wounded, Jin-cheon exited the residence with somewhat dejected-looking shoulders. And from that moment on, having roughly deduced the situation, the maidservants began an intensive course of linguistic education for Eulji. In particular, the word "oppa" became the top-priority subject of concentrated drilling.
When Go Jin-cheon stepped outside, Gerard came into view, standing as if he had made up his mind about something.
"You asked to see me?"
"Yes."
At Jin-cheon's blunt question, Gerard's reply had grown respectful. Jin-cheon's gaze as he stood with his arms crossed, looking down at Gerard, was filled with authority.
"You've decided."
"Yes."
After another moment's silence passed back and forth, Gerard opened his mouth as if reaffirming his resolve.
"I shall remain."
"Good."
Even Gerard, for all his speaking, had apparently had his fill of Jin-cheon's curtness, because he let out a chuckle. Gerard smiled and posed a question.
"You told me I could stay or not stay as I wished, correct?"
"That's right."
"If I had chosen to leave, would you have sent me off in peace?"
"No."
The smile on Gerard's lips trembled as if in spasm. He asked the question again, cautiously, as if to confirm.
"You meant to kill me."
"That's right."
Gerard had already expected it. He had clearly been told he would be let go, but as time passed and he came to learn more about the man, he could tell that he would not have been allowed to leave alive.
And yet, because he had thought this was not a man who would lie carelessly, he had asked on the off chance. So how did he reply? He stated with complete nonchalance that he would have killed him.
Gerard had expected him to at least talk around it. But he needed to resolve his curiosity: why a great man who had no reason to lie would make such an offer and lie to do it.
"Then why didn't you tell me from the beginning to choose between dying or serving here? Why did you speak falsely?"
At Gerard's question, Jin-cheon replied with a sullen expression, as if spitting the words out.
"Because I have no use for a coward who prizes only his own life."
"Pfft."
At Jin-cheon's matter-of-fact answer, Gerard looked up at the sky and let out a hollow laugh. The man was relentless: even when choosing people, he demanded their hearts as well. Gerard could somehow understand why he'd demanded genuine conviction even from those lowly slash-and-burn farmers. If everyone who gathered under him was like this, Gerard found himself wondering what would come of it in the end.
Wanting to see his own path confirmed, Gerard spoke.
"Where will you use me?"
"I won't use you for anything like digging up other people's graves."
"......."
Jin-cheon had already learned from Risel what a treasure hunter was and had grasped that Gerard was no grave robber. Gerard's knee slowly bent to the ground. Gerard, kneeling on one knee, cried out in a loud voice.
"I, Gerard of Lightning, a free knight of the continent, do swear upon heaven that from this moment forth I shall become a single sword acting according to my liege's will."
Though the form differed, Gerard's dignified oath of loyalty was fully conveyed to Jin-cheon. Jin-cheon spoke to the kneeling man in a low but clear voice.
"I accept your conviction. If I should ever go down the wrong path hereafter, then in accordance with that conviction, cut me down."
As Jin-cheon's voice swept over him, Gerard slowly rose to his feet, bowed his head, and headed for his lodgings. His steps were composed, but his heart was welling with an overwhelming elation. In his mind's eye, he could already see himself charging across the continent, driving soldiers before him.
"......."
Watching Gerard's calmly retreating back, Jin-cheon let a small smile touch his lips.
'Dungeons, is it...?'
Grave robbing was distasteful, but Risel had explained that what these people did, unlike plundering tombs, was breaking open treasure vaults called dungeons. In Jin-cheon's head, all his worries about money were already flying away.