Chapter 40
Chapter 40
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 40
As they were dragged away, Jin-cheon slowly opened his mouth.
"Hmm. If a mine is eventually established here, that would solve the supply problem."
"Master, even so, the Dwarves do not compromise with humans."
"Indeed. They're a tribe that loudly proclaims its pride. They may even go to war over it."
Risel and Gerard both offered Jin-cheon their opinion that it was impossible. But Jin-cheon simply tossed out a single word as if there were no problem at all.
"I'll leave that matter entirely to Buru and Uru."
"......."
"......."
Risel knew that Buru and Uru were not the Titan Clan the dwarves believed them to be, but he kept forgetting to mention it.
"Then what do we do right now?"
"Gerard."
"Yes. What is your command?"
Jin-cheon's eyes glinted as he looked at Gerard, who answered him with strict deference.
"I am giving you your first mission."
"Yes."
Gerard bowed his head and awaited Jin-cheon's command, and the order fell upon his ears.
"Go steal it."
"Excuse me?"
Gerard brazenly questioned Jin-cheon's command. Not only him—even Risel momentarily froze and had no choice but to stop in place. And within Risel's mind, several thoughts crossed at once.
'Just what kind of life was he living before he came here...? We aren't even a bandit gang.'
Risel could feel the excitement of the day Jin-cheon had proclaimed he would rebuild Gauri gradually fading away. Then Jin-cheon's voice reached their ears.
"Then just steal the iron."
"But the Haian Kingdom will not have enough to be worth sacking."
"Who told you to steal iron from Haian?"
"Then...."
At Gerard's question, Jin-cheon turned his head toward the sky and spoke.
"We simply need to take what is being sent to the Empire along the way."
"......."
To Gerard's ears, the suggestion that they turn bandit against an Empire sounded as simple as snatching taffy from a neighborhood child. At Jin-cheon's unfathomable and boundless confidence, Gerard momentarily lost the words to reply, then finally stammered out a question as if to confirm.
"Do you mean me?"
"Yes."
"Why must it be me!"
"Well. Who else is there?"
At Jin-cheon's words, spoken as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Gerard's expression was beginning to crumple. But then, as if a thought abruptly struck him, his face began to brighten.
"It's impossible!"
"What is?"
When Jin-cheon questioned him, Gerard began explaining the reason with a triumphant voice.
"Tribute goods, including iron, make use of the harbor. That is to say, they are moved by ship. If you intend to seize them before they are loaded, you must enter the interior of the Haian Kingdom, and even if you do enter, returning safely after the seizure is difficult."
"......."
Gerard's cheerful voice crawled into Jin-cheon's ears and violently rattled his mood before emerging. As a result, as always, two furrows formed between Jin-cheon's brows. Gerard, now wearing an expression as if he had recovered his peace of mind, spoke to Jin-cheon once more.
"Your Majesty, whether you command me to act as a mountain bandit or a sea pirate, I, Phillian Gerard, was prepared to stake the name of Lightning and carry it out. But the current situation makes it absolutely impossible."
"What did you just say?"
"Huh? I said it was impossible."
As Jin-cheon suddenly pressed him, Gerard began to feel unease creeping in. While he was floundering over what it meant, Risel, standing beside him, opened his mouth with a startled look.
"Do you mean pi-piracy?"
"That's right."
"......."
At the abrupt turn in the conversation, Gerard spoke up, half uneasy and half suspicious.
"No, where are the ships that you would issue such an order!"
"On the lake."
True to Jin-cheon's words, there were certainly a dozen or so boats there.
"But the lake is connected only by a small tributary, and I know it is impossible for boats to pass throoough!"
Gerard's protest was verging on desperate. From what Gerard had seen, his liege was a man who got things done by any means necessary. Jin-cheon calmly spoke to Risel, who was standing beside him.
"I heard that fish that live only in the sea and fish that live only in lakes live together in this lake."
"That is because this place was originally a sea."
"Right. The sea is not far away."
"That is true."
At Risel's bewildered answer, a deep smile spread across Jin-cheon's lips.
"We will drag the ships to there."
"......!"
"......!"
Jin-cheon had made them forget any further words to say. In theory, what could not be dragged?
"Dragging ships there is not a matter of a day or two, nor is it an easy task with the personnel here. And do you even know if hauling over a single lone boat is a reasonable thing to do!"
A desperate outburst followed immediately from Gerard. And then came an unsparing reprimand from Uru.
Thwack!
"Kugh."
"Fix yer talkin'."
Uru had smacked the back of Gerard's head with the bow staff for openly talking back. Gerard opened his mouth as if deeply wronged.
"Uru, isn't this absurd?!"
"Ya do what yer told."
At Uru's simple answer, Gerard was swimming in a sea of despondency.
Leaving behind Gerard, who was still floundering in chaos, Risel cautiously asked a question.
"Dragging the ships is all well and good, but do we even have the manpower for such a thing? Furthermore, judging by the shape of the vessels, I believe simply securing a tilted ship to drag it would be no easy matter."
"We are taking only the flat-bottomed boats."
"What?"
At Go Jin-cheon's answer, Risel, who did not know what a flat-bottomed boat was, opened his eyes wide.
"Follow me."
Since Jin-cheon disliked explaining things at length, he had decided to show them directly. Following him in silence, Risel and Gerard could see the boats anchored at the lakeside.
"Call the Fleet Commander."
As soon as Jin-cheon appeared, the sailors who had been working all bowed their heads deeply. A moment later, the fleet commander came running out at Jin-cheon's command.
"Supreme One of All Heavens, who embraces all people and all things......"
"Enough!"
"Excuse me?"
"Did the Captain of the Guard put you up to this?"
"......Yes."
Fleet Commander Jang, who had been reciting a greeting that did not suit him at all, stood quietly, gauging Jin-cheon's mood. Usually, silence at a time like this meant yes, did it not?
Shaking his head as if it was a headache, Jin-cheon got to the point.
"How many flat-bottomed boats do we have at present?"
"There are six flat-bottomed boats."
"Hmm, their condition?"
"There are no problems."
The fleet commander was curious about Jin-cheon's questions concerning the warships that had been converted into fishing boats. But curiosity was only curiosity; he diligently continued answering the questions.
"Fleet Commander."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
At Jin-cheon's voice, he bowed his head.
"Before long, we will sail the open sea. Train the navy and discuss the armaments required for the warships with Elder Jang."
"Is this truly so?"
Showing a small smile to Fleet Commander Jang, who had opened his eyes wide, Jin-cheon confirmed it once more.
"Yes."
"I, Jang Bogo, shall dedicate my conviction and my life according to Your Majesty's will and become the master of the sea!"
The dream of a man of the sea naturally lay upon the sea. At his words that they would finally leave this lake, Fleet Commander Jang Bogo knelt and cried out at the top of his lungs. He did not ask how they would go, as Risel or Gerard had. Because the Jin-cheon they had watched was a man who kept his promises.
Seeing Jin-cheon turn his back and leave, Bogo rose to his feet and looked upon his subordinates. Every single one of them had been holding onto nets, but now their expressions had transformed into those of warriors roaming the seas. As their gazes gathered, Bogo, feeling their spirit, roared out loudly.
"We are returning to the sea!"
"Waaaaah!"
"The ocean is ours!"
Though Gauri was not a maritime kingdom like Baekje, it had been a nation whose seafaring skills were developed enough to make voyages to Waeguk. Even setting all of that aside, a man of the sea was a man of the sea. Their hearts were already sailing the great ocean.
Curious about what a flat-bottomed boat was after the earlier exchange between Jin-cheon and the fleet commander, Gerard quietly approached Uru.
"Uh... what is a flat-bottomed boat?"
"A boat with a flat bottom."
"......."
It was a simple and clear answer. But any further questions came to an end as his steps halted.
"D-don't tell me!"
"O-oh my!"
Risel and Gerard had stopped and opened their eyes wide. They had just realized why they didn't need extra men.
"Squee-eeek!"
"Catch that one!"
"Squee-ee-ee-eek!"
They spotted the orcs fleeing for their lives inside the pen, and the soldiers taming them by beating them with clubs from behind.
"Those are monsters! Continental custom dictates that demon beasts must be killed on sight!"
Gerard's voice burst out. Yet Jin-cheon's eyebrows did not so much as twitch. Only a simple answer came out.
"Demon beast or livestock."
"......."
Gerard's common sense was being thoroughly shattered here. Above all, the sight of dozens of orcs, known to surpass the strength of an ordinary adult man, running away from two or three soldiers was already beyond common sense. As if resolving Gerard's doubts, Uru provided additional explanation.
"Whether it's a demon beast, livestock, a person, or a horse, it's all the same, see."
"What do you mean?"
At Gerard's question, Uru continued explaining with hand gestures and an expression that said it was no big deal.
"First off, see. Ya beat 'em to a pulp. Reason? Ain't one. Ya just beat 'em."
"......."
"After a bit of that, ya give 'em food. But usually they charge right at ya. Then ya beat 'em again!"
"......."
"Ya beat 'em within an inch of their lives like that, then later ya put 'em to work. But that don't mean ya stop beating 'em. They work, ya still beat 'em. If they mess up, ya beat the hell out of 'em. If they do good, ya only beat 'em enough not to kill 'em."
Watching Uru explain earnestly, his eyes filled with murderous intensity as he made the motions of swinging a club, Gerard felt his back growing damp with sweat.
"Then they start working as if their life depends on it. Only then do ya beat 'em less, see. Y'know? No one stands up to a good beating."
"Yes."
"Well, if one or two die in the process, the effect's real good."
"......."
It was cruel but not inaccurate. Gerard felt once again that these people's thinking was different from his own. Risel, too, had grown pale at Uru's vivid explanation. The two of them were thinking that they themselves might have ended up like that.
"But the numbers are small...."
"Hmm."
Gerard, who had begun to show a positive attitude rather than outright opposition, cautiously posed his question. At this, Jin-cheon nodded his head slightly in an affirmative gesture. There were about fifty creatures inside the pen.
They had initially been captured for use as food. There had been more orc attacks afterward, but they already had enough orcs for menial work, and once they learned orcs were inedible, they simply killed the rest. The number they still had was nowhere near enough to drag six ships, and recently the orcs had stopped attacking altogether, making them hard even to find.
"Hmm."
As Jin-cheon's contemplation lengthened, Gerard began to feel a small sliver of hope.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Right then, a noisy metallic sound began to ring out from the watchtower.
"Archers, aiiim!"
T-t-t-tik.
The drawn bowstrings let out a sound as if they would snap forward at any moment. As soon as all the strings were drawn, Buyeo Gi-yul's signal rang out.
"Loose!"
T'ing, t-t-t-ting.
"From here on, fire at will according to your judgment!"
WHIZZ-WHIZZ-WHIZZ.
As the bowstrings snapped back into place, the arrows flew toward their respective targets. Thus, after a single volley, the archers' hands swiftly moved to the next targets.
"Open the gate! All guard squads, including the current watch, follow me outside!"
"Open the gate!"
Ruuuumble.
The soldier's voice rang out loudly, and the gate swung open with a heavy sound. The moment the gate opened, as if they had been waiting, the horses neighed and surged outward.
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.
"Gurajaengi!"
"Yes!"
"Take twenty horsemen and scout the surroundings!"
"As commanded! Left wing, follow me!"
Having heard the command of Eulji Buru, who stood at the vanguard, Gye Ung-sam led the cavalry forward. They soon passed the fallen, blood-soaked figures and galloped toward the forest.