Chapter 55
Chapter 55
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 55
After that, even while resting, Baron Gowin asked Gye Ung-sam no questions.
"So that was it."
"What do you mean, my lord?"
When Rainman overheard Baron Gowin's muttering, he approached with a curious look, and Baron Gowin began to stroke his mustache and unravel the mystery.
"Our guide was not a fool after all."
"Pardon?"
"The man we brought as a guide clearly said it was a safe route."
"Trusting that lowborn scum was a mistake."
Enraged by the loss of soldiers on Baron Gowin's account, Rainman clenched his fist and showed anger. But Baron Gowin's eyes remained calm and sunken; he did not so much as twitch. He simply held his palm in front of Rainman's face, stopping the man's reaction.
"The guide was not wrong."
"Then what?"
"The path we traveled was unmistakably one trodden by human feet. If so many monsters normally appeared there, would human traces have been laid down over such a long period?"
Rainman's eyes flickered. Baron Gowin spoke calmly, as if pronouncing a verdict.
"A dragon."
"Huk!"
"A-a dragon!"
A gasp burst from Rainman's lips. The eyes of the other knights who had been listening nearby shook violently as well, and they stammered out the name of terror.
"Is such a thing even possible unless a dragon's wrath is involved? And after the Orcs, the ones who attacked us were Minotaurs — and in a swarm, no less. Do you believe that happens under normal circumstances?"
"Y-you're right."
Only now did the fragments of the whole story begin to fit together. Large monsters like Minotaurs do not move in packs. At most, one or two gather. In the end, several hypotheses assembled in their minds.
1. The bold Gerard went to plunder a dragon's lair.
2. Gerard got caught by the dragon.
3. The title of Sword Master is not something picked up like peeling off a scab. He fought back against the dragon.
4. But in the end, he's only human, and even the best jumper is still a flea. Gerard dead.
5. In the midst of it, with a Sword Master's skill, he might have inflicted a pittance of a wound.
6. The dragon got pissed. Overwhelmed by its killing intent, the monsters all ran wild together.
7. Baron Gowin is an innocent victim.
"The question is resolved."
One of Rainman's eyes gleamed, having successfully assembled all the facts in his head.
It was the moment Gerard's death was confirmed once more. And Ung-sam, reflected in their eyes, now appeared as a man of honor who had returned with the keepsakes of a younger brother sacrificed to a dragon.
"Once we return to the city, confirm any traces Sir Gerard left behind. He surely stopped there before heading into the Reganza Mountains."
"Yes, my lord."
The knights bowed their heads at Baron Gowin's instruction, yet they glanced once more at Ung-sam, who was being consoled by his sworn brothers and looked to be deep in grief.
'A true man.'
Ung-sam's roar declaring vengeance had not faded from their minds.
Meanwhile, Gye Ung-sam had his men form a human screen around him and was glaring at Samdopyo, delivering a tongue-lashing in a low voice.
'You want to get buried right here?'
'No.'
'The way you're acting, it looks like you're done living.'
'I want to live a long time.'
Every word from Ung-sam flew into Dupyo's brain and lodged there, and Dupyo was desperately shaking his head.
'If you ever run your mouth off again...'
'....'
Ung-sam's eyes narrowed to long slits and fixed on Dupyo, who tensely waited for the next words.
'I'll chop you up on the spot and toss you into the earth as fertilizer.'
"I'll do better— mph!"
Shuddering from the wave of dread, Dupyo began to answer loudly, only for Ung-sam's grip to clamp his mouth shut.
'You're going to shout? You resisting?'
'Mmph mmph mmph mmph!'
The huge Dupyo vigorously shook his head with his mouth still covered. Seeing that, Ung-sam released his grip, stood up from his spot.
"Let's do this right!"
"Yep!"
"We'll achieve our goal, no matter what."
"Yes, Boss!"
Their voices shook the silent forest, and seeing them, Baron Gowin and his knights inwardly applauded this reckless yet deeply loyal vow of vengeance against the dragon.
"Well then, we ought to get moving."
Ung-sam spoke as if he had abruptly turned cheerful, and Baron Gowin rose from his spot and responded.
"Let us do so, Sir Gerard."
"There is no need to call me 'Sir.' To simple warriors like us who live with the sword as our only companion..."
Ung-sam's humble demeanor only began to endear him to Baron Gowin all the more.
"Then let us depart."
"Indeed."
The group had drawn one step closer.
As they resumed walking, Ung-sam surveyed his surroundings and began to scheme inwardly.
'Now, I suppose we'd best get out of this area where monsters keep turning up.'
Ung-sam had deliberately led them along the wrong route he had once taken while avoiding Baron Alvin's soldiers. His original aim had been to grow closer through shared life-or-death danger, but things had gone differently. Even so, improvising with the story of Gerard's supposed death had successfully won their favor, so there was no longer any reason to keep wandering around and suffering in the mountains.
Thwack.
"Hm?"
A small pebble struck Ung-sam's head as he was thinking. When he looked with a puzzled look, there stood a baby goblin that barely reached his knees.
"Kik!"
"Damn!"
The baby goblin's angry glare and its way of hurling little stones gave him a powerful sense that he had seen this one before.
Ung-sam remembered the ordeal he had endured with Darun and Beron when they got out. Having learned through harsh experience that where there's a baby goblin, there's a goblin village, and that you must slip away without tangling with it, Ung-sam quickly warned Baron Gowin's group.
"Ignore the baby goblin—"
Thwump~!
"Kiiiiiiiiii~."
...Baron Gowin's group had stayed still even without Ung-sam's warning. But judging by the sound that rang out from behind Ung-sam, someone had clearly just done something very similar to what he himself had done before. As evidence, Baron Gowin's and the knights' gazes lifted to the empty air and then slowly moved downward.
Plop.
"Kik!"
"..."
The sound of something hitting the ground, timed exactly to Baron Gowin's and the knights' eyes shifting from sky to earth.
A tiny gasp.
With dread creeping over him, Ung-sam slowly — very slowly — turned his head to look behind him.
"Heuheuheu."
"..."
There stood Samdopyo, grinning and showing his yellow teeth as if to say, 'I did good, right?', and in the thicket behind him, hundreds of crimson pupils were aimed this way.
"Everyone scatter!"
Ung-sam's voice shook the thicket. And over a dozen people began their frenzied sprint.
* * *
One great moon and two smaller moons hung quietly in the sky, illuminating the darkness. A Moon Night, when all the moons were visible — the night of the brightest moons, which came once a month — was brighter than any other night.
"Huh?"
"Yansen, what is it?"
Even though it was night, the soldiers on watch could hardly complain about their visibility. Into the eyes of Yansen, who was guarding the back gate of the village facing the Reganza Mountains, burst the sight of over a dozen figures exploding from the thicket.
"Elian, look over there!"
"Ah!"
Clank clank clank!
More than ten people were sprinting at full speed toward the back gate. The clashing of metal rattled uproariously through the moonlit night. The only people expected to come from the Reganza Mountains were Baron Gowin's unit, which had departed not long ago.
"Wh-who goes there!"
Yansen called out in a trembling voice to confirm the uninvited guests charging toward them.
"Open the gate, quickly! It is Baron Gowin! Open it at once!"
"Hut! Sir Rainman!"
Fortunately, Elian recognized the face of Rainman the guard knight, pushed past Yansen, and shouted.
"Open the gate immediately!"
Kya-woong!
"Huk!"
The cry of a saber-tooth tiger rang from the forest, as if in response to Rainman's yell. Feeling his legs go weak from that roar, Yansen screamed desperately.
"It's the lord! Gatekeepers, open the gate at once, and the garrison, grab your bows and get out here now!"
"Kwa-ooong!"
The eleven people standing before the castle's back gate alternately glanced at the seven saber-tooth tigers charging at them and the gate that was beginning to open, and broke into a cold sweat.
"Damn. My lord, please go in first!"
"But—!"
Gye Ung-sam drew his long sword, stepped forward to block the way, and shouted; Rainman's eyes sprang wide open and he spat out a protest, but Ung-sam and the other five men blocked their path as if on cue.
"Rainman, get inside and command the archers at once!"
"My lord!"
Even Baron Gowin approached Ung-sam's side and readjusted his grip on his sword. Having called out to the baron, Rainman trusted in the baron's and Ung-sam's party's skill and dashed inside the fortress.
"U-heo-eong!"
"Hut!"
A roar like a lion's burst from Ung-sam's mouth. At the Lion's Roar, which seemed to vibrate his heart rather than his eardrums, Baron Gowin's eyes flew open in surprise.
Perhaps thanks to some effect from Ung-sam's Lion's Roar, the seven charging saber-tooth tigers faltered. Every one of them bore two fangs longer than forty centimetres, a body length approaching three mir, and a height of 1.8 mir.
"Kyar-r-r-r."
"Kyu-ha-ang!"
Though individually weaker than a Twinhead Ogre, a saber-tooth tiger's attack power far surpassed that of an Ogre. Moreover, they were only "weak" when alone; when there were multiple like this, it was a different story.
With saber-tooth tigers, 1+1 did not equal 2. 1+1 was 2.5. Such creatures had descended in a pack, so even Ung-sam had no choice but to run for it. If his subordinates were with him, they could manage something, but the problem was they could not reveal all their strength. At the very least, since he'd claimed to be Gerard's brother, showing about the level of a Sword Master would suffice. Beyond that, the skill of his other subordinates had to be hidden even more strictly.
Just think!
By their standards, wouldn't it be strange for a pack of fighters at knight-level or above to go swarming around together?
Even so, the reason Ung-sam had stepped forward like this was that he thought he needed to somewhat firmly imprint his skill onto Baron Gowin. And then he could duck back inside the fortress at an appropriate moment. That was the whole plan.
"Eu-ya-a-ap!"
SLASH!
"Kya-ha-woong!"
When Ung-sam's sword scattered out like a flash of light, the seven saber-tooth tigers, despite their huge frames, dispersed in all directions. However, red blood gushed from one of their ankles, as though it had failed to dodge.
"Keu-a-a-ang~!"
A pained cry came from the saber-tooth tiger. Seizing that moment, Ung-sam's party nocked arrows to their bowstrings.
TWANG!
WHIZZ!
Thwack!
"Kya-ang!"
THUD!
A single arrow drove deep precisely into the beast's forehead. With a terminal yelp, the saber-tooth tiger laid its massive body upon the earth.
"Kya-ha-a-ang!"
"Keu-a-woong!"
"Shoot fire arrows!"
Piercing through the enraged saber-tooth tigers' roars, Rainman's voice burst forth.
WHIZZ-WHIZZ-WHIZZ!
Trails of fire split the night sky and flew toward the saber-tooth tigers, but unlike a moment ago, the beasts batted the arrows aside with their tails or dodged them entirely. Yet perhaps due to their dislike of fire and the continuing volley, they slowly began to retreat, and in the end, they turned their backs and vanished.
"Hooo."
"Thank you, Sir Gerard."
"I merely did what had to be done. If those beasts had charged into the fortress, wouldn't the residents have been in danger?"
At Ung-sam's impeccably courteous behavior, Baron Gowin smiled faintly and nodded his head. Then he looked once more toward the direction in which the saber-tooth tigers had vanished and muttered.
"I truly cannot understand it. For saber-tooth tigers to pursue us all the way here."
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
Beskin, who had been guarding Baron Gowin's side, answered and added one more remark.
"And besides, don't they only swarm around in packs like that when their young have been killed or abducted by someone?"
"Hmm. Perhaps it is because of the dragon's wrath..."
"...."
Listening to their conversation, Ung-sam clenched his fist until it trembled and turned to look behind him. Behind Ung-sam, Samdopyo was standing there, watching his expression.
'What is it?'
'Kya-woong~.'
'They gave it to me, calling it a kitten, so I took it along.'
That was the conversation they'd shared just before encountering those great big cats. Right now, a cat was inside Dupyo's pack. A cat with two unusually long fangs, at that.
* * *
"How long has it been since we got here?"
"A month."
"Gya-ong~."
"Dupyo, feed the kitty."
Gye Ung-sam, who had been lounging in the sunlight, heard the cry of the baby saber-tooth tiger and sluggishly called out toward Samdopyo, who was sitting off to one side. At that, Dupyo heaved his large frame up, rummaged around, pulled out some meat, and approached.
"Aww, our little Nya-nyang eats so well."
"With the way you name things."
Ung-sam spoke as if he couldn't believe his ears, and Dupyo rolled his big eyes and grumbled.
"What's wrong with Nya-nyang?"
"Tch."
Seeing Dupyo talk back, Ung-sam clicked his tongue and fired back.
"Oh, so a cat is 'Nya-nyang,' and a dog would be 'Mong-mong'?"
"It'd be 'Mong-yi.'"
"...My apologies."
As if everyone had a full belly, the only thing they did was share idle talk like this. For some reason, eyes that were monitoring them still remained.
'Is it still not over? Ah, whatever. I'll sleep. They can watch or not.'
Ung-sam lay back down, using a lady-in-waiting's lap as a pillow.
Through a window, Baron Gowin, who had been observing their layabout appearance, drew the curtain without a word.
"...."
Knock, knock.
"Enter."
A moment later, the one who stepped into Baron Gowin's room was Rainman, the guard knight.
"The confirmation?"
"It's true. We clearly found traces indicating Sir Gerard had prepared various supplies. And we confirmed that his whereabouts vanished after that."
Baron Gowin closed his eyes.
'This means Sir Gerard's words are true.'
He had been visiting the surrounding cities and verifying everything Ung-sam had said thus far.
No matter how much he trusted them, the man was supposedly a Sword Master. But Rainman's report now confirmed that their account was not inaccurate.
"Are Sir Gerard and his party still the same today?"
"They are. Aside from a rest period in the afternoon, they do nothing but train morning and evening."
"Hmm."
He could sense a note of respect for Ung-sam in Rainman's tone. Still, Baron Gowin issued no reproach. That was because the baron himself knew that Ung-sam occasionally sparred with the knights and told them stories that could be helpful.
"You may go, and see to it that Sir Gerard's party is invited to dinner tonight."
"Understood."
Now that the truth had been confirmed, from Baron Gowin's perspective, experts of their caliber could not help but tantalize him. After Rainman left, Baron Gowin approached the window and once more looked down at the figures of Ung-sam and his party.