Chapter 37
Chapter 37
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 37
The encampment along the lakeshore had changed so much that it was now more fitting to call it a city than a mere camp. It was taking shape under the joint command of Yeon Hwi-garam and Dae Mu-deok.
Clank. Clank.
Heavy footfalls echoed into the conference chamber. Jin-cheon, clad in full armor from head to toe, strode slowly inside.
"You have come."
"Mm."
Hwi-garam bowed his head to Jin-cheon, offering the greeting on behalf of the assembled generals. It was the fourth day since their return. Go Jin-cheon, who had kept close to Eulji's side for some time, had attended a meeting of the commanders for reasons unknown. Having skipped every meeting except strategic councils, his presence left everyone silently wondering, Why?
"Mu-deok. Hwi-garam."
"Yes."
His voice was no different from usual, yet Hwi-garam sensed something else. He could feel it because he had spent so many years at Jin-cheon's side.
"Immediately summon every commander under your banners, deputy-level and above. Every last one. Risel and Gerard as well."
"As you command."
They were orders given without explanation, but no one questioned them.
Soon the command post was packed with over forty commanders. Yet despite the crowd, there was not a rustle of cloth or a single mouth opening unbidden. Gerard and Risel could only marvel once again.
Even in the Noble Council and elsewhere, they had never witnessed discipline sharp as a blade like this. And yet here were these commanders, arrayed around Jin-cheon, looking for all the world like common soldiers before their king.
"Are they all assembled?"
"Yes."
Hwi-garam answered Jin-cheon's question. Jin-cheon observed a few more seconds of silence, then slowly rose. He walked deliberately to one side of the chamber.
Clank. Clank.
Perhaps because he was in full armor, the sound of his plate echoed unnervingly loud through the stillness.
Thoom.
When Jin-cheon opened the wooden chest resting reverently to the side, Hwi-garam's eyes wavered. So did the Eulji Brothers'. And the commanders arrayed behind them showed the same reaction. A suffocating current swept through the room.
'What the hell is this pressure?!'
'What in the world is inside that chest...?'
Only Risel and Gerard, who understood nothing, were rattled by the sudden shift in the atmosphere. While they reeled, Jin-cheon lifted a thick bundle of cloth from the chest with both hands. He walked slowly over to Hwi-garam and, with the utmost care, handed him the folded cloth.
Hwi-garam received it with equal reverence. Jin-cheon returned to the center and stood still, and every gaze converged on his lips. A single second seemed to drag on for years.
"......."
Jin-cheon slowly swept his eyes across the chamber, from left to right.
One by one, he met the eyes of the commanders standing at attention in their ranks. His gaze was as though he was confirming something with each of them, drawing out their silent vow. Finally, his firmly sealed lips began to part.
"There is no place to return to. Nor can we go."
His words were short, but everyone except Gerard already knew them. As Jin-cheon's voice swept through the room, as if reconfirming the reality they all faced, the current wrapping around them only intensified.
Sorrow, fury, regret, despair...
"Here..."
Piercing through those swirling emotions, Jin-cheon's voice rang out clear.
"...I will continue Gauri."
Flutter.
Rumble—!
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
"Loyalty—!"
"Hah!"
The moment Jin-cheon's words fell, the cloth in Hwi-garam's hands unfurled from a pole and rose into the air. At the same instant, every commander stamped their feet, roared their loyalty, and prostrated themselves on the ground. The only ones still standing were Gerard and Risel, who let out a deflating breath.
The same space. Voices united as one...
The earlier swirl of individual emotions scattered somewhere, and every thought in this place coalesced into a single purpose.
The Samjoko unfurled once more.
The mission laid upon them was the reconstruction of the Empire.
"Hand me the banner."
Jin-cheon's majesty-laden voice was directed at Hwi-garam. Hwi-garam reverently passed the flagstaff to Jin-cheon, then bowed and withdrew.
Step. Step.
Jin-cheon walked through the ranks of prostrate commanders, and starting from the front row, they rose from their places and began to follow him. Gerard and Risel too were drawn along by something they could not refuse.
"Hm?"
Haidia, who had been conversing with small animals, rose in surprise at the surging wave she felt. The sensation was not Mana, nor a dragon's Fear. Yet she could sense it because the energy emanating from that place was overwhelming.
But neither was it terror.
"This cannot be!"
Every small creature around her—squirrels, rabbits, all of them—had fixed their eyes in the direction she was looking. What could it be, to hold even the wills of such tiny beings?
Clang! Clang!
Clang! Clang!
"Stop."
"Huh?"
The Dwarves in the forge, where scorching flames roared, had no choice but to halt their hammering at Elder Jang's command. Even though the metal would have to be reheated once the heat faded, Elder Jang stopped the work without a second thought.
Clatter.
"What the— hup!"
Hwain Stone and his group, about to call after Elder Jang as he tossed aside the blade he had been hammering with all his soul and turned his back to walk away, had to shut their open mouths. They felt an immense force shaking the world around them. And that same force was now billowing fiercely from Elder Jang as well.
While they stood speechless in shock, Elder Jang had already donned a resplendent suit of armor and reappeared, reverently carrying a long steel chest in both hands. The imposing dignity radiating from him, so unlike anything they had ever seen, left the Dwarves unable to even address him.
Step. Step.
Elder Jang strode slowly toward the source of that immense force.
"We should..."
"Y-yeah."
"......."
Mawin Stone and Galling Stone forced their trembling mouths open and dragged the frozen Hwain Stone along.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
As if in unison with Jin-cheon's heavy footsteps, the footfalls of the forty-odd commanders following behind him rang out as a single sound, advancing toward the heart of the village. There stood a platform that had been built for training and other practical purposes.
As though they had sensed it already, every soldier had donned their armor, taken up their weapons, and fallen into formation. Behind them, people with hair of every hue gathered as if spellbound.
Step. Step.
The sound of Jin-cheon climbing the platform drove itself distinctly into every ear.
Thud.
"......."
Whish—.
A wind swirled around Jin-cheon where he stood erect atop the platform, spreading the Samjoko Flag fixed to its pole across the air.
Boom!
When he drove the flagstaff hard into the platform, a deep, weighty resonance thrummed out.
"Gae-cheon—! (Opening of Heaven!)"
Rumble—!
As Yeon Hwi-garam's battle cry shook heaven and earth, every soldier prostrated themselves as one. Swept up in the momentum, the villagers too all followed suit, dropping to the ground.
"I, Go Jin-cheon—though born of a concubine—am the undoubted descendant of the Yeolje."
"We obey!"
Jin-cheon's cry tore across the sky, and as if answering his call, the voices of over two thousand soldiers erupted from their very cores in unison.
"I, Go Jin-cheon, will uphold the ideals of Han, Baekdal, and Jusin, and according to the will of Hongik Ingan, I shall broadly benefit all humanity. To those who defy this and persist in vice, I shall show no mercy and will bring down the iron hammer of judgment!"
"We obey!"
"Thus do I proclaim before the heavens, beneath the banner of the Three-legged Crow: I, Go Jin-cheon, as Yeolje, upon ascending to this place, shall always stand at the forefront wherever the hammer is brought down upon the enemy. Until the day this life ends, I swear to be a shield for the people!"
His relentless, thundering proclamations shook the very hearts of the soldiers and rooted themselves deep in the hearts of the prostrate villagers who understood nothing.
Hwi-garam roared with all his soul.
"To His Majesty, Supreme One of All Heavens who embraces all people and all creation—I swear before Heaven, before Earth, and before all mankind that I shall follow his will, even if these white bones turn to dust and only my soul remains!"
"Loyalty—!"
HUMMMMM!
Hwi-garam's oath and the soldiers' oath merged with Jin-cheon's oath, reverberating through heaven and earth.
Bound together by faith alone.
Into the stillness, as if the very air had stopped, Elder Jang ascended the platform bearing the steel chest. Every step was steeped in solemnity and reverence.
Clack.
CREEEAK!
With a harsh rasp of metal, the steel chest opened, and Elder Jang, kneeling humbly, raised it before Jin-cheon.
A blade white enough to sting the eyes.
Wave-like patterns flowed across the steel as if forming the shape of the three-legged crow. Jin-cheon slowly grasped the silver Hwandudaedo, its edge radiating a sharpness that seemed ready to cut by sight alone. The sharkskin grip clung to his hand as though it would not let go. He slowly raised the sword toward the sky.
With the gleaming radiance of reflected light in one hand and the Samjoko Flag billowing into the air in the other, the sight—arrogant to the point of being domineering—felt, somehow, entirely natural.
"The Gauri Empire..."
His voice rang far into the open sky.
"...shall not be a nation ruled by the Yeolje, but a nation protected by the Yeolje."
"We obey!"
"I proclaim the Opening of Heaven of Gauri!"
As Jin-cheon's voice pierced the heavens and soared upward, a roar that shook the world rose in answer. It was not only the soldiers shouting—men and women of every description, children too, were caught up in it. And among them, Gerard and Risel were also shouting, swept away by an inexplicable elation.
"Just what in the world is Gauri?!"
"Hah..."
The three Dwarves could barely string words together in the fevered atmosphere. Yet even they could feel their hearts stirring. But even this astonishment was nothing compared to what came next.
"Worship be to the one who embraces all creation."
"Huh!"
"N-no!"
Before their very eyes, one of the High Elf tribe—who knelt to no one, not even a dragon, and knelt only to the Goddess of Harmony—was on her knees, prostrate in worship.
Elves were seekers of harmony.
For a High Elf, a race that reads the inner self, to kneel was as close to impossible as a dragon fawning before a Dwarf. Yet Haidia of the High Elves was offering her worship with a serene voice.
"What is his essence, to make this happen...?"
At Hwain Stone's astonished murmur, Haidia slowly turned her head and spoke.
"One who transcends harmony and embraces. The one who shall illuminate the world."
"One who embraces..."
They found themselves repeating Haidia's final words. Everyone here was offering worship, raising a toast to the occasion.
Gerard stared at the Samjoko Flag dyed crimson by the sunset glow, doubt flickering in his eyes. Standing before the banner emblazoned with a three-legged bird, he kept questioning the afterimage lingering in his mind. It felt unmistakably like something he was seeing for the first time, and yet something in his brain was screaming at him to look closer.
"Something's strange about this."
Someone cut into his muttered words.
"What're you on about? Bullshit."
"It's Gerard!"
Buru, having apparently overheard Gerard's mumbling, snapped at him curtly. But still haunted by the memory of their first encounter, Gerard made no effort to hide his irritation.
'A mutant Dwarf who shows up out of nowhere and tosses other people's names around like nothing—honestly.'
Gerard's brusqueness wounded Buru's tender heart. In his own way, he had only come over to offer a drink, feeling a little bad about having jumped Gerard and beaten him without warning. But with a grown man sulking like that, there was no way Buru was going to take it well.
"You sulking?"
"......."
Gerard thoroughly ignored Buru's interruption and sank back into his thoughts.
"Not even a little brat, and the bastard's just downright too much, I tell you."
"You."
When Buru grumbled, Gerard glared at him with flaring eyes. At that moment, Gye Ung-sam, flushed and tipsy after a drink or two, ambled over.
"Gerard!"
"Ah! Ung-sam!"
Gerard, who had been thoroughly impressed by Ung-sam's skill, could not help but be delighted to see him. But his expression soured again when he spotted Buru clinging close. In the end, rather than dealing with it himself, he turned to vent to Ung-sam, who at least seemed capable of reasonable conversation.
"Ung-sam, do me one favor, would you? Get this mutant Dwarf here away from me. He keeps pestering me, and honestly, I can't take it."
"Mutant Dwarf?"
Holding his cup, Gerard smirked at the perplexed Ung-sam and pointed a finger at Buru.
"Him!"
"This stubby fellow right here. Far too noisy. I can't stand it."
"Now, hold on..."
Feeling his buzz vanish in an instant, Ung-sam hurriedly opened his mouth. But Gerard's tongue was faster than the swordplay that had earned him the name Thunderbolt.
"Ah, Ung-sam, I understand you're fond of Dwarves, but you still have to discipline them when they need it. Let them run loose and they'll walk all over you."
"That's not—this person is..."
"I'm not saying you need to thrash him. I'm only asking you to keep him out of my sight. An ordinary Dwarf wouldn't even catch my eye, but a head that size bobbing around is impossible to ignore. Hahaha! Just picture it—you open your eyes and there's that head, bouncing around right under your nose. Puhahahat!"
"......."
Ung-sam, who had been desperately trying to stop Gerard, finally gave up. His shoulders slumped, his face twisted into the most pitiful expression he could muster. Only then did Gerard, sensing something off, slowly let his laughter die.
"Hahaha... haha... ha... Huh!"
Following Ung-sam's gaze, Gerard turned his eyes and beheld the most horrifically contorted expression in the world.
Hatred, fury, and killing intent blended into a face so drenched in every humiliation known to creation that words utterly failed to describe it. Buru's expression froze Gerard solid, and his mind began racing. The thought even flickered through his head: if a warrior capable of defeating him—a Sword Master—was standing there with tears in his eyes, then the person who had reduced him to that state had to be at least as strong.
"Gurajaengi."
"Yep!"
"Plant it."
"Yessir!"
Having received and repeated the order with textbook precision, Ung-sam moved at lightning speed and planted his head into the ground. That one action told Gerard everything he needed to know about the situation.
'I'm dead.'
Instantly rearranging his face into the most agreeable expression he could manage, Gerard donned a broad smile and tried to salvage the situation.
"Haha, well..."
"Bullshit."
"No, I mean, my name is..."
"Bullshit. Shut your mouth and plant it."
"Yep."
Gerard, who had been attempting a peaceful resolution, surrendered to the overwhelming killing intent and planted his head beside Ung-sam. Then he heard the verdict he had not wanted to hear.
"Bullshit. Gurajaengi. Both of you are marked. Got it? I'll come check in the morning."
"......."
While everyone else celebrated, the two of them began their night that way.
"Dammit, what did I do...?"
Ung-sam could only feel aggrieved.
"I'm sorry."
And Gerard could only follow up with an apology he had no choice but to offer.