Chapter 38
Chapter 38
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 38
"But why did you suddenly make up your mind?"
"......."
Hwi-garam approached Go Jin-cheon, who was gazing out over the festival atmosphere, and spoke as he poured him a drink.
"Eulji is fetching."
"Excuse me?"
At Jin-cheon's inscrutable reply, Hwi-garam questioned him back.
"Buru and Uru have found their mates as well."
"Yes."
Hwi-garam's voice, as if in assent, quietly supported Jin-cheon's words.
"The soldiers too are each making an effort to live in this place."
"Yes."
As Jin-cheon continued speaking, his eyes took in the soldiers mingling with the locals and enjoying themselves.
"It was to safeguard their freedom and the families they will build anew. Nothing grandiose."
"......."
Unexpectedly, Jin-cheon's answer was simple. But for Hwi-garam, he could only nod at his choice.
'That is why I chose to follow you.'
A ruler who understands the importance of small things.
He lacked brilliant eloquence, rhetoric, and flexibility, but at the very least, Jin-cheon was a man who understood the importance of small happiness and possessed the conviction to protect it.
"And... I cannot bear to watch even the powerful vanish into futility. Since I am to live in this land, I will reign."
Jin-cheon's muttered words reached Hwi-garam.
'Even the powerful vanish into futility.'
At these words, Hwi-garam too could read the heart concealed deep in Jin-cheon's eyes—his thoughts on Gauri's futile end.
In Jin-cheon's eyes as he watched the joyful people, a parental tranquility dwelled. But only for a moment—Jin-cheon's expression instantly twisted.
"What, why all of a sudden?"
"......."
Hwi-garam voiced his puzzlement at Jin-cheon's change, then turned his head to follow his gaze. There, a soldier was pressing a chicken leg into a little girl's hand.
"Thank you!"
"Good girl. From now on, just call me Giyul oppa."
Jin-cheon, two deep furrows carved between his brows, opened his mouth.
"What's that fellow Giyul's branch of service?"
"Ah... he's an Axeman."
Crrrrk.
The sound of grinding teeth came from Jin-cheon as he scheduled special training for the Axemen.
Chapter 11 — His Life and Theirs
Around the dim light of early dawn, Go Jin-cheon was walking slowly. The previous day's revelry and Buru's boisterous voice had faded, leaving only a quiet scene. Seeing soldiers, new recruits, and village men sprawled in the streets clutching wine casks, Jin-cheon allowed a faint smile to tug at his lips.
"Nngh."
"Hngh."
But the sounds of strained effort drifting from somewhere wiped Jin-cheon's smile away in an instant. At the source of the noise, Ung-sam and Gerard had their heads planted into the ground.
"......."
Judging by their condition, they'd been holding out for quite a long time. Jin-cheon let out a small sigh and walked slowly toward them.
"Gah, damn."
"The feeling in my head is...."
Even time, usually swift, seemed to crawl slower than a turtle at this moment. Gerard had already lost all sensation in his head, and even Ung-sam, who had been bearing the posture with composure, had begun to sweat.
There was no feeling in his head, but the real problem was his neck and spine. To lessen the mounting pain even a little, Gerard undertook a gamble. He released his hands from behind his back and stealthily pressed them against the ground.
'Phew, saved. Should've done this sooner.'
As the pressure that had been bearing down on his head dispersed into his two hands pressed on the ground, Gerard felt a surge of elation.
Step.
"Hup."
The unmistakable sound of footsteps. Gerard let out a short yelp and swiftly returned both hands to his lower back, clasping them behind him.
"......."
The footsteps stopped right in front of Ung-sam and Gerard. But when no words came, Gerard felt a creeping anxiety. Then, in the midst of that, a voice from above.
"I saw everything."
It was Jin-cheon.
At that single sentence, scenes of being tormented by the mutated Dwarf flashed through Gerard's mind.
Thud.
"Ah, my bag!"
What broke Gerard's train of thought was his own magic backpack, dropped beside his head. Jin-cheon's voice followed.
"You may rise."
"I'm... I'm saved."
"Ugh, my head...."
Though it was but a single line, to them it struck the heart more keenly and desperately than any words of comfort from those who had passed by while they were being punished the night before. Ung-sam and Gerard rose from their spots with brightening expressions.
"......."
Even after they rose, Jin-cheon's words did not continue. Just as a flicker of unease stirred in them, Jin-cheon spoke.
"Gerard, take your bag and follow."
"Yes."
Leaving only those words, Jin-cheon turned his back and headed for his own quarters. Just as the two liberated men met eyes and were savoring the moment, another word rang out.
"Gurajaengi."
"Yep!"
"Return to position."
"......Yes."
Jin-cheon was not a man who arbitrarily used his authority to halt a punishment his subordinate had decreed. Gerard had merely been needed, but....
Watching Ung-sam lower his head back toward the ground with a mournful expression, Gerard felt the shared sorrow of companions in misery.
"Enter."
"Yes."
Gerard, who had followed into Jin-cheon's quarters, stood shifting his eyes around.
"Sit."
"Yes."
At Jin-cheon's word, Gerard seated himself across from him. Jin-cheon fetched a few things and laid them out on the table. Food and drink.
"Receive it."
"Yes."
Gerard felt a pleasant warmth as he accepted the drink Jin-cheon poured. He had been in the middle of drinking when his head was driven into the ground, so the drink Jin-cheon poured now looked more inviting than ever.
"Let us drink."
"Yes."
When Jin-cheon lifted his bronze cup and offered the toast, Gerard raised his in return and brought it to his lips. They passed the cups back and forth in silence for a while before Jin-cheon spoke to Gerard.
"Henceforth, we will establish Gauri centered on this place."
"Yes."
Gerard, having already heard the gist from Risel, offered no counter-question to Jin-cheon's statement. More than that, the thrill from the previous day still held sway over his body. He had witnessed the coronations of many kings and even the enthronement of an emperor, yet the reason he engraved this impromptu declaration of national foundation into his mind was simple.
Unlike coronations adorned with every splendor, here the ones who led and the ones who followed had been one. And he had been able to see their bond with their ruler and their fierce will. Deep inside, he had even felt proud to have become part of this place.
"Going forward, you and Risel will need to teach me much about the situation of this region."
"Yes. However, may I ask why you did not directly occupy Baron Alvin's city?"
"For my soldiers, a city of that sort could be struck a hundred times over."
Gerard nodded at Jin-cheon's words. It didn't seem impossible for them even to take the head of this country's king, the King of Haian, let alone Baron Alvin's domain. It meant they possessed that level of mobility and latent strength.
"But if we occupy that place, we will be exposed, no matter how chaotic things are now."
"That is true, but...."
"If that happens, we cannot grow our strength."
"Pardon?"
It was only natural for doubt to arise at Jin-cheon's mention of growing strength, when their current forces were already formidable.
"I rose to build an empire, not a sandcastle."
"......."
At Jin-cheon's grandiose words, Gerard's head nodded of its own accord. In short, their current forces were strong, but these forces were all they had. Even if they seized one corner of a kingdom, the kingdom would keep sending armies, and their strength would slowly bleed away, like clothes growing damp in a steady drizzle.
Only then did Gerard grasp exactly why they were putting bows into the hands of children.
"Then the reason you distributed the food stores...."
Another question from Gerard surfaced. He was asking why they had given the remaining food to the poor. At Gerard's trailing question, Jin-cheon set down his cup and spoke.
"Even if we give them food, the next noble who comes will try to fill the emptied storehouse. Unless an honest man is sent, that is."
"Yes."
"But nine times out of ten, a rotten one will come. From what I have discerned, this country is already rotten."
Gerard signaled his agreement to Jin-cheon's words. The Haian Kingdom was a nation that survived through frantic appeasement diplomacy alone, maintaining its existence in name only. As his thoughts reached that point, Gerard felt a chill run down his spine.
"Then...."
"We gave while knowing it would be taken."
Gulp.
The sound of Gerard swallowing echoed loudly at the back of his throat. The poor were people who could become slash-and-burn farmers at any time. By giving them grain, Jin-cheon and his people would be seen as righteous bandits—as people who had done right by them.
Meanwhile, the newly dispatched noble would plunder again. Even if they didn't take everything, with the chaotic whirlwind of war now raging, the state's plundering was as plain as watching a fire.
If so, the poor's resentment toward the nobles and the state would only grow deeper. In the end, if the poor broke away and came into these mountains, they would become members of this place. And someday, when we charge out and seize that territory, the vast majority will be allies.
In other words, Jin-cheon's force would become a liberation army in their eyes.
"How terrifying."
It was an honest admission from Gerard. To him, Jin-cheon drained the last of his drink and spoke.
"In the end, I merely helped the poor."
"That is so."
Gerard gave a faint smile.
As they once again shared their cups in silence, Jin-cheon glanced at Gerard's bag and casually broached the subject.
"That thing."
"Excuse me?"
"I am told it is the sort of item that holds things without limit."
"......."
Gerard began to feel a sense of foreboding. Had he not barely managed to reclaim the translation magic bracelet that had been fitted onto his own wrist!
"I was curious as to what is inside it. Will you show me?"
Only then did Gerard understand why Jin-cheon had held onto the magic backpack. It had been enchanted so that only Gerard could use it.
"I am merely curious."
"......."
In Gerard's ears, Jin-cheon's words sounded like 'Dump it all out right now.'
"......."
Gerard stared at the minotaur-leather backpack before him, steeped in despair. The day before, Jin-cheon had said....
'Hmm, I might forget about something like this, so I shall keep it. Use this for now. Should you need it, speak. I will lend it to you.'
Why must he borrow his own property! He had shouted that countless times, but that ship had already sailed. The odds that it would now become communal property were high. He later heard that one of Jin-cheon's traits was that when he saw something curious, he would play with it for a while.
"Damn. Shouldn't have taken everything out...."
Around the time the items from the bag began overflowing the tabletop, he had sensed Jin-cheon's eyes change in a subtle way. By then, of course, it was already too late.
"Tsk, shall I go have breakfast?"
Gerard felt his throat becoming strained from having stayed up all night. As he was leaving his room, Ung-sam abruptly came to mind.
"Tsk, will he be all right...?"
He'd probably held that pose until morning. No, if he was unlucky, he might still be at it. At the thought, Gerard felt a chill run through him. Shaking his head to cast off the stray thoughts, Gerard opened the door and stepped outside for breakfast.
Creeeak.
"......."
Gerard, who had stepped through the door, froze on the spot. Just below his eye level, a broad, sturdy, and familiar back had spread out before him.
"Yer out, I see."
"Ah, about that. At dawn...."
"Ran off, didja?"
At Buru's misunderstanding, Gerard took a step back and began to explain.
"Ask my liege and you'll know!"
"......."
It was a concise and clear explanation. Watching Buru fall briefly into silence, Gerard was inwardly flashing a triumphant smile. But only for a moment—the strange upward curl of Buru's lips brought dark clouds with it.
"I shoulda gone and paid my respects this mornin'."
"W-well, the thing is."
"His Majesty said yer under me."
"Hurk!"
For an instant, Gerard felt the sky turn yellow. Just as Buru's smile began to feel like a demon's grin, he asked another question in a trembling voice.
"D-did he say anything else...."
"Nope. Let's get started on basic physical training."
A single word flashed through Gerard's mind.
'Irresponsible bastard.'
Repeating that to himself, he stood frozen as if turned to stone. Buru's shout shattered his reverie.
"Damn it, Jeral, Bullshit—get over here. Yer dead!"
"Yep!"
At Buru's yell, Gerard—internally screaming, 'Which of those words is my name?!'—dashed forward like a well-trained pup.
Phillian Gerard.
He was one of the ten great warriors called the Ten of the Continent. Until he caught the eye of these people, at least.