Chapter 43
Chapter 43
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 43
"Heh heh heh heh heh."
Eulji Buru, who had been watching the scene unfold, wore a strange smile. Even as Hwi-garam and Uru drove the soldiers forward and took prisoners, Buru had done nothing but tighten the encirclement—and now he called over Buyeo Gi-yul, who stood beside him.
"Ppaenjiri, come here."
"Yep."
Giyul, who had once approached Sara and been through hell for it, darted over the instant Buru summoned him.
"Let's get ready too."
"Yep! He says get ready!"
"Uwaaaaah!"
Clatter. Clatter.
The Axemen roared as they came running from the wagons, carrying something in their hands.
"A man’s gotta use his head to be a real man, I tell ya. You get me?"
"......Yes."
In contrast to Buru's smug self-satisfaction, a flicker of unease passed over Giyul's face.
Around that time, people were moving about at their leisure in the city, from which nearly all the troops had departed. And the sailors were bustling to catch fish, one of the village's food sources.
"Huh?"
"What?"
A sailor suddenly cocked his head and began scurrying about as if searching for something, so another sailor who had been outside came in and asked. Even so, the sailor kept tilting his head and muttering to himself.
"That's weird."
"What're you doing not getting ready?!"
"Ah, Fleet Commander."
While the sailor was still darting around searching every which way, the voice of Fleet Commander Jang Bogo rang out. As Bogo stepped inside, the sailor ran over and stood before him with an awkward expression.
"Are you making nets or what?!"
"That's not it, sir. The nets are..."
"The nets are?"
The nets had flown off into thin air. And instead of fish, the flung nets had caught orcs, who were thrashing inside them.
"Kuahahahaha! Now that's more like it!"
"Um, but won't the naval fleet commander say something?"
"Fleet Commander Jang? Don't you worry. Long as we catch plenty of fish—or pigs—that's all that matters!"
Giyul's cautious words vanished, buried under Buru's hearty laughter. After seeing Hwi-garam's unit toiling to make iron nets, what Buru had thought of was fishnets. Iron nets were hard to weave and took time.
Fishnets, on the other hand?
You just had to bring them. And his choice was superb. Lighter and wider than the iron nets, the fishnets flew farther and proved even more effective than the iron nets of Hwi-garam's unit.
"Squeeek!"
"Squeeeeeeek!"
"Kuahahahahah!"
The more the orcs struggled, the more entangled they became in the nets, and the louder they squealed. Even when the nets tore, they were so tough to begin with that they just knotted up tighter with the orcs. Once the orcs were completely snared, Buru wore a satisfied smile.
"Now thresh 'em!"
"Yep!"
"Uwaaaaah!"
At the sight of the Axemen charging in furiously, clubs in their hands instead of axes, the orcs began to thrash and resist in a cascade of terror.
"Eat this!"
Thwack!
"Squeeeeeeeeeeek!"
Thwack thwack thwack thwack!
The sound of pigs being slaughtered by the scruff filled the air. And as it happened, the spot they had been assigned was right below the palisade of the slash-and-burn farmers' village. As the threshing blows rained down relentlessly onto the pigs, one of the people watching from the palisade opened his mouth, voice trembling.
"Brutal."
"Don't tell me... we're gonna..."
Gulp.
The sound of someone swallowing rang out. Warriors skilled enough to finish them all off with blades were instead beating the screaming orcs to death with clubs—the sight was so savage it chilled the onlookers. Someone among them spoke in a voice that sounded utterly resigned.
"They could at least kill them cleanly..."
And so, because the soldiers carrying out Jin-cheon's orders had been so frantically competitive to catch more orcs than their comrades, the work was wrapped up faster than the fighting itself had taken.
From the orcs tied up and trembling off to one side to the ones knocked out cold by tranquilizer arrows, roughly four hundred head had survived. The soldiers' casualties were light, yet Jin-cheon's glare was enough to make his commanders' knees go weak.
"......."
"The operation... is complete."
"......."
Even at Hwi-garam's cautiously delivered final report, the two deep furrows etched between Jin-cheon's brows did not relax. As the silence stretched on, Eulji Buru and Uru could only hang their heads lower and lower, like guilty men.
Jin-cheon's gaze turned to Uru.
"Uru."
"Yep! Daesaja—no, Your Majesty!"
Uru was even prostrating himself, something he never normally did.
"......."
With Uru lying face-down before him, Jin-cheon wordlessly turned his head. Over a hundred orcs lay collapsed there. The problem was that every single one of them was still breathing.
"Are you defying me?"
"......."
"I asked—if you put every last two-legged creature to sleep, are you going to carry them back on your own back?"
"Please, have mercy......"
"Hoo."
"Just this once."
The broad-shouldered giant suddenly seemed so small that he looked like a rain-soaked puppy. Jin-cheon let out a sigh as he looked at Uru, a man who thought about one thing and never the second. At that sigh, Uru's shoulders, as though admitting guilt, shrank even smaller.
"Buru."
"Yes, sir!"
The arrow passed through Uru and aimed straight for Buru. At Jin-cheon's call, Buru stiffened like a raw recruit who had just entered boot camp, every inch of him rigid with discipline. Jin-cheon raised a hand, pointed to one side, and spoke.
"What is that?"
"Nets......"
Where Jin-cheon pointed, shredded rags that had lost all semblance of nets lay scattered. The two vertical lines carved dark between Jin-cheon's brows showed even greater fury than he had directed at Uru.
"Those are nets?"
"Yes......"
"To my eyes, they look like rags."
"......."
Never mind how tangled and knotted they were—they were smeared everywhere with orc blood and filth from the thrashing, and the stench was utterly foul. Worse, they were torn to shreds, forming gaps so large a fish could use them as a vacation home if you put them in water. They had been reduced to something usable only as cord.
"These nets are for catching fish. They were not made to catch pigs."
"......."
Seeing Buru maintain his silence with his head hung low, Jin-cheon spoke in a quiet voice.
"Buru."
"Yes."
"Until these rags are repaired back into nets, Buru's unit is forbidden from eating fish."
"Hurk!"
At Jin-cheon's command, despair clouded Buru's face. Being punished through food was one of the things he hated most. Leaving behind men who knew no moderation, Jin-cheon turned his steps toward the slash-and-burn farmers' village, which his encirclement had surrounded.
Million was watching the army that had encircled his village without making a single move. The able-bodied men who had at least swung weapons when fighting the orcs were now merely staring blankly. How could they possibly have the will to resist troops who had displayed such monstrous strength—killing half the orcs and capturing the other half in the time it took to eat a single meal?
"Hoo."
"Mi-Million!"
"If they attack... there's nothing we can do. And those people... I've never seen clothing or faces like theirs before."
At Million's calm voice, a young man asked again as if to confirm, his voice trembling.
"So they're not a Haian subjugation force?"
"If Haian had troops like that, they wouldn't have been crushed under the empire's heel."
"That's—!"
At Million's explanation, the young man nodded. Just then, the formation encircling them began to part.
"Huh?"
"Wh-what is it?!"
As the ranks split open, Go Jin-cheon slowly rode out astride his beloved horse Gangsoe. Gangsoe's horse armor and Jin-cheon's own armor, revealed inch by inch, lent them an overwhelming massiveness. The three horns on Gangsoe's helm and the horns on Jin-cheon's helm together called to mind a War God or a demon god.
Gulp.
The sound of someone swallowing rang out like a thunderclap.
"He's—he's coming this way!"
"Million, what do we do?!"
Frozen by the imposing majesty of Jin-cheon and the heavy cavalry advancing as though escorting him, the young men could only look to Million.
"Who is the commander here?!"
When Ung-sam's fluent continental tongue rang out, the young men all turned as one to look at Million. Under their gazes, Million had no choice but to rise to his feet and answer.
"That's me. I am the commander here!"
"Hm."
Million's answer was deferential. Who in their right mind would act bold in this situation?
Jin-cheon moved past Ung-sam and urged Gangsoe forward. Yet no one tried to stop him or warned him of danger. When Jin-cheon drew near the base of the palisade, Million unconsciously stepped back, unable to withstand the suffocating intensity pressing through the gaps of the visor. The force radiating from Jin-cheon was simply too much for Million to bear.
"Name."
"Mi-Million Sailor."
"Hm."
Clop. Clop. Clop.
At Million's answer, Jin-cheon nodded and slowly rode Gangsoe around, surveying the broken palisades here and there. As he did, his eyes passed one by one over the people peeking over the palisade with nothing but their heads showing, fear plain on their faces.
"Million."
At Jin-cheon's unhurried voice, Million could not hide the tremor in his own as he answered.
"Sp-speak."
"I have come to take possession of this place."
"......!"
The words were tossed out as casually as if he were collecting something he had lent out, but the slash-and-burn farmers began to panic as if something long expected had finally arrived. Million spoke, his voice unsteady.
"We have no strength. If you set your mind to it, seizing this place or whatever else you please would be easy. But just who are you—what nation's troops are you?!"
"Million!"
"If you—if you say it like that......"
"......."
At Million's words, people flustered in alarm, but even as they tried to hold him back, he stood his ground, looking straight at Jin-cheon. Yet for all his apparent boldness, his legs were trembling, and sweat was streaming down his back like rain.
"Gauri."
"......?"
"That is our empire."
"Uuuuoooooooooooh!"
Neeeeigh!
As if in answer to Jin-cheon's words, every soldier raised his weapon high into the air, producing a strange reverberation. At that majesty, the people inside the palisade felt themselves shrink even smaller. Just then, something caught Million's eye.
"Beron! Hawk!"
Hunters often crossed paths, and Million, who was a mercenary but also hunted, recognized them. Their different skin color made it all the easier to pick them out.
Million's cry was swallowed by the immense roar, but the expressions on their faces were utterly unlike the worn, day-to-day exhaustion they had shown until now. They were lit with life.
Go Jin-cheon did not miss the wavering in Million's eyes. His deliberate decision to position the new recruits at the front was paying off. As if granting one final chance, he spoke.
"If you follow me, I will teach you how to fight."
"Then you're no different from all the others who use us as slaves!"
A desperate retort burst from Million. He loved his freedom. All he had left from his life as a mercenary were dying comrades and a deep distrust of nobles and nations. That was why Million was so desperate.
"We are different."
The words that came from Jin-cheon's lips were quiet but powerful. Gazing into Million's eyes, from which tears had begun to flow, he conveyed his unshakable will.
"Even if you must live on the battlefield, the rest—your children and families—will gain peace and freedom. Now! Choose. Will you die here, or will you win your freedom?!"
"......."
Seeing the faces of the people gripped by terror and torn by inner conflict, Jin-cheon gave a faint scoff and called out.
"Even if you do not follow us, we will not strike you. Choose wisely."
With those final words, Jin-cheon turned his back and rode toward camp. Behind him, Hwi-garam's voice rang out far and clear.
"Do not slacken the perimeter watch! Prepare to make camp!"
"Ha!"
The soldiers' vigorous voices echoed, and the men busied themselves making camp. Even that sight, the people inside the palisade watched with fearful eyes, unable to bring themselves to leave the barricade.