Chapter 68
Chapter 68
Iron Emperor — Chapter 68
"Taedaehyeong Yeon Hwi-garam requests admission!"
"Enter."
At the voice resounding from outside the Yeolje Hall, Go Jin-cheon answered in a flat tone.
"Your Majesty, Supreme One of All Heavens who embraces all people and all things, your servant Taedaehyeong Yeon Hwi-garam pays his respects."
"Do as you like."
"..."
As Jin-cheon radiated open displeasure while acknowledging Yeon Hwi-garam's salutation, Hwi-garam clicked his tongue. It was obvious Jin-cheon was still sulking because Dae Mu-deok and Hwi-garam had stopped him from personally leading the expedition to develop the eastern mountain range.
"The escort force that accompanied Daesaja Gerard has now returned."
"I have ears. I know."
"..."
Jin-cheon remained a cold wind. But Hwi-garam had not been dealing with Jin-cheon for just a day or two, had he?
Hwi-garam deftly let Jin-cheon's foul mood slide off him and began to say what he had come to say.
"The escort force confirmed the ship was put to sea before returning."
"Good."
"There was a brief delay at a choke point where a Haian Kingdom garrison is stationed, but aside from that, there were no issues."
"Hm?"
One of Jin-cheon's eyebrows crept upward as he received Hwi-garam's report. Right now, Gauri was in a state where its existence absolutely must not become known to the outside world. Jin-cheon had anticipated some kind of clash, but Hwi-garam's tone made it sound as though there had been no trouble.
"Let me see the report."
"Here it is."
"Mm."
Jin-cheon, his expression having shifted from sullenness to gravity before anyone noticed, accepted the report Hwi-garam extended. As he slowly read through it, a peculiar light settled in Jin-cheon's eyes.
"En route, they encountered a small Holy Empire reconnaissance patrol, likewise annihilated them, and scattered goblin corpses about..."
"Yes."
"They used their heads rather well. Hm?"
Jin-cheon had been speaking while nodding, then abruptly fixed his eyes on a particular passage. Wondering if there was something amiss in the report, Hwi-garam tried to recall its contents.
"Summon the Uljeol."
"Right this moment?"
"Now!"
When Jin-cheon asked for Risel out of the blue, Hwi-garam questioned it, but the only response was an order to hurry. Tilting his head, Hwi-garam dispatched a man to summon Risel, and a short while later, a voice announcing his arrival rang out from outside the Yeolje Hall.
"Uljeol Risel requests admission."
"Admit him!"
At Jin-cheon's permission, Risel stepped inside and offered his respects to Jin-cheon.
"Supreme One of All Heavens..."
"That's enough! Come here."
"...Yes."
Watching Jin-cheon cut off the greeting he had been offering, Risel approached, wondering what new matter this was.
"Do you know of hobgoblins?"
"Yes."
"I'm told they differ from the sort we feed to the pigs."
"That is correct."
Risel answered Jin-cheon's questions in his characteristically unhurried manner.
'Now what manner of affair is he setting in motion this time?'
With Jin-cheon casually undertaking things that would make an ordinary person aghast, Risel racked his brain wondering what his scheme might be, but Jin-cheon's thinking remained inscrutable.
"That thing — do hobs speak as well?"
"Pardon?"
Risel still could not adjust to Jin-cheon casually shortening hobgoblin however he pleased.
"The pig feed merely squeal like monkeys, so I am asking whether those with better heads than pigs might speak."
"Yes. They are capable of speech as well."
"That's enough."
"Pardon?"
Having summoned the man and put several questions to him, Jin-cheon wore a strange smile as he rose from the Throne of Yeolje.
"For what reason did you ask?"
"Heh-heh."
Hwi-garam tilted his head and asked, but Jin-cheon stood with his arms crossed, emitting a cryptic laugh.
"Risel."
"Yes."
"You said before that you cannot work communication magic, did you not?"
"..."
Previously, when they had gone to plunder Baron Alvin's domain and Eulji Uru thwarted the wizard's communication magic, Jin-cheon had shown immense interest in the art. But what could be done? Being unable to use communication magic — something any 3rd Circle practitioner could manage — was a painful matter for Risel, the perpetual 2nd Circle wizard. As if sensing Risel's feelings, Hwi-garam stepped in.
"At any rate, was it not said that communication magic requires at least two people to establish a basic connection?"
"I know."
Jin-cheon was still smiling. Clearly, he was not reproaching Risel. At that moment, the hobgoblin's sonic wave ability flashed through Risel's mind.
"No, surely..."
"Indeed. Surely not is what does men in."
"Hah..."
A deflating breath escaped Risel's lips.
Right now, Jin-cheon was proposing to capture hobgoblins by the drove and use them as instruments of communication in place of communication magic. He intended to exploit the hobgoblins' ability to convey meaning through sonic waves over several kilometers.
"Hwi-garam!"
"Yes!"
"Contact the eastern development site at once and relay orders to comb through every goblin village and capture every hobgoblin they lay eyes upon, alive."
"Your Majesty, it shall be done as you command."
Jin-cheon's order fell exactly as Risel had guessed, and Hwi-garam bowed his head to faithfully execute it. But as Hwi-garam turned to leave, a cry halted him.
"Your Majesty! Daehyeong Mong Ryu-hwa has delivered an urgent dispatch!"
"Urgent dispatch?"
Mong Ryu-hwa entered the Yeolje Hall and knelt, shouting at the top of his voice.
"Your Majesty, Supreme One of All Heavens who embraces all people and all things, your servant Daehyeong Mong Ryu-hwa pays his respects."
"What has happened?"
When Yeon Hwi-garam, standing to Go Jin-cheon's left, asked Ryu-hwa, Ryu-hwa held forth the letter he had brought and said,
"Two missives were enclosed together, and it is a report that General Gye and his party have fallen into a situation of considerable urgency."
"What?"
At the word urgency, the question flew not from Hwi-garam's mouth but from Jin-cheon's.
"Bring it here at once."
"Yes!"
Hwi-garam took the letter from Ryu-hwa, and Jin-cheon practically snatched it from him. As he read in silence, two deep furrows carved themselves between Jin-cheon's brows.
"What is the matter?"
"Hrm."
Reading the grave expression on Jin-cheon's face, Hwi-garam cautiously inquired. But instead of an answer, a low groan continued to escape Jin-cheon.
"Hrrrm."
"..."
"This has become troublesome."
Finished reading, Jin-cheon passed the letter to Hwi-garam, who stood beside him with a curious expression written on his face, his own brow deeply furrowed. As Hwi-garam took the letter from Jin-cheon and began reading it, Jin-cheon threw a question at Risel.
"What exactly are the Demon Tribe?"
"The Demon Tribe, you say!?"
"Why are you alarmed? I am told the royal capital is in an uproar hunting demons right now."
"Hurk!"
At Jin-cheon's curt tone, Risel's face turned pale. Beside him, a grim seriousness was beginning to cloud Hwi-garam's face as he read. Seeing this, Risel's lips trembled as he spoke.
"They have not, by chance, said that the Demon King has descended?"
"Not a Demon King; they say it is the Demon Tribe roaming in packs."
"In packs..."
No further words left Risel's mouth. Looking at Risel, Jin-cheon let out a sigh and spoke.
"Is the notion that the Demon Tribe has come forth in droves truly so astonishing?"
"Of course it is! If they have come out not singly but in packs, it may well be the advent of the Demon King!"
"Then they will surely try to catch and kill any demon that catches their eye."
When Jin-cheon asked with a grave expression, Risel nodded as though the answer were obvious and confirmed it.
"Absolutely. This is not merely an affair of the Haian Kingdom; the Holy Kingdom itself may dispatch knights."
"I am told the Holy Kingdom has already joined the chase."
"Is that so? But... what bearing does this have on us?"
"Is the hair of the Demon Tribe black?"
At Jin-cheon's question, Risel nodded.
"Yes."
"And their eyes are close to black as well, I take it?"
"That is how they are known."
"And their skin is not as pale as yours?"
"..."
Risel, who had been answering Jin-cheon's successive questions one by one, felt a creeping sense of dread. And as if to confirm that dread, Hwi-garam passed the letter to Risel.
Then one sentence from Jin-cheon.
"Our General Gye and his party are apparently those very demons."
"..."
Gye Ung-sam and his companions were, at this moment, fleeing.
The letter Risel unfolded set forth that fact in stark terms.
[Having arrived in the royal capital and while gathering intelligence, a Holy Empire envoy ——(abridged)—— thus, we were falsely branded with the bizarre charge of being demons and imprisoned, but we succeeded in escaping. As this may well be our final letter, we urgently relay the intelligence we have managed to obtain.
This is not my personal concern alone but a common predicament of the Gauri forces, and it may become a matter of continental public enmity; therefore, it is proper that you make preparations accordingly. I judge that you must speedily devise countermeasures and, first of all, withdraw our troops currently dispatched to the Gowin Domain.
— Daesaja Gye Ung-sam —]
"Hah."
A deflating sound echoed from Risel's lips. But only for an instant; with a grave face, Risel opened his mouth.
"This is a grave matter."
"What's so grave about it? If we aren't demons, that's enough."
"That is not the problem. The demon hunts carried out in ages past may resume."
"Demon hunts?"
At Risel's words, Jin-cheon's eyes snapped wide.
"Yes. The demon hunts. It means branding anyone — whether truly a demon or not — whose hair is black or whose eyes are black, as a demon without question, and executing them."
"What?"
"Though it happened millennia ago, it was certainly done, and afterward, no one with black hair or black eyes remained. No — one should say they were all killed."
At Risel's grim words, the furrow in Jin-cheon's brow refused to smooth. Hwi-garam, as if struggling to grasp Risel's meaning, asked again to confirm.
"What manner of beings are demons that such a thing would be done?"
"They are a race that leads humans into corruption. It is said they do not dwell in this natural world, but ordinarily live in the Demon Realm and descend in order to seduce humans to corruption."
"And for that reason, they kill even those who are not demons?"
"Yes. That is the practice of the Holy Empire. They even call it a holy war."
"Mere slaughter, they..."
Before Hwi-garam knew it, his brow had begun to resemble Jin-cheon's. But then, amid the grave atmosphere, Jin-cheon abruptly burst into laughter.
"Pffuhahahahahaha!"
"What, suddenly..."
"Then am I the Demon King? No—a Demon Yeolje. Hahahaha, how amusing!"
As he watched Jin-cheon laugh madly, a chill ran down Risel's spine. What shook the Imperial Hall was unmistakably laughter, yet what radiated from Jin-cheon was killing intent.
As thick killing intent laced the laughter, the thought crossed Risel's mind: 'The Demon King might truly laugh like this.' Of course, Risel knew perfectly well that Jin-cheon was no Demon King.
"Heh."
Jin-cheon's laughter stopped in an instant. Risel could tell that the instant the laughter ceased, the viscous killing intent had also vanished. Yet the suffocating pressure did not disappear.
"Amusing."
A single word from Jin-cheon's mouth. He wore a smile as though he truly found it amusing.
A portent of disaster.
A single word that brushed through Risel's mind.
After that laughter laced with killing intent had run wild, silence followed. He could not shake the sensation that his body had plunged into the deep sea in the oppressive atmosphere. Risel had observed Go Jin-cheon for a long while now, but he still could not claim to know him.
Only —
Looking at Yeon Hwi-garam's rigidly set expression to Jin-cheon's left, he had the feeling that something was about to erupt.
Jin-cheon's lips parted.
"Hwi."
"Yes."
The voices of the two men rang through the silent Imperial Hall.
"The military supplies the Holy Empire requested from the Haian Kingdom are flowing to North Roselin?"
"That is correct."
He was speaking of the contents of the other enclosed report.
"The details are not yet known, but war between North Roselin and South Roselin will certainly break out. Analysis of continental sources thus far makes it an obvious conclusion that, even if the Holy Empire does not strike directly, South Roselin will be at a disadvantage. Is that not so, Risel?"
"Yes."
Risel bowed his waist and answered respectfully. Jin-cheon nodded, then turned back toward Hwi-garam and spoke again.
"This evening, summon every general of Daehyeong rank or higher."
"Yes."
"Then both of you may withdraw for now."
Finishing his words, Jin-cheon quietly settled back into the Throne of Yeolje.