Chapter 7
Chapter 7
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 7
"What's going on?"
"Mm."
Hwi-garam, who had just returned from patrol, asked in puzzlement as he entered the tent. Jin-cheon's brow twitched faintly, and Mu-deok, who had been stifling a laugh off to one side, explained what had happened a moment ago.
"Hmm, let me give it a try."
After hearing the explanation, Hwi-garam smiled slightly and approached Sara, who was still bewildered. He seemed to find her quite endearing as well, stroking his chin as he spoke.
"Hmm, blonde hair and distinct features. Quite adorable."
"Grrm."
Jin-cheon's twitching brow now carved a deep furrow across his forehead. Even so, Hwi-garam remained completely unbothered, offering a relaxed smile before pointing to himself.
"Yeon Hwi-garam."
"......?"
"Yeon Hwi-garam."
"Ah!"
When Hwi-garam pointed to himself and said his name a second time, Sara finally seemed to grasp something and let out an exclamation.
"Uwaen irun Yeon Hwi-garam? (Your name is Yeon Hwi-garam?)"
Nod.
When Sara pointed at him with her finger and spoke, Yeon Hwi-garam nodded. At that, her face finally brightened, and at the sight of her cute smile, Buru's mouth naturally stretched from ear to ear.
Hwi-garam nodded as if to say he understood, then posed another question.
"Now, let's see....... What's your name, young lady?"
"Nawaen irun? (My name?)"
Sara tilted her head slightly at Hwi-garam's question as he pointed to himself. When Hwi-garam, sensing the meaning had gotten across, nodded, Sara's face lit up and she broke into a smile.
"Sara."
"Sara!"
"Sara......."
At the sound of the name Sara, Buru exclaimed more vehemently than Hwi-garam. Jin-cheon, too, nodded and repeated the name to himself.
Sara flinched slightly at the sudden loud voice, but since she had come to regard Buru as a good dwarf, she even gave him a soft smile.
At that, an elated Buru beamed and opened his mouth.
"You know my name, don't you? You called it twice already. It's Buru."
When Buru suddenly made a fuss, pointing at himself, Sara tilted her head.
"Buru? Nawaen ige Burunas? (Thank you? Why would you be thanking me?)"
"See, you remember it well!"
Watching Buru carry on while Sara kept tilting her head, Jin-cheon muttered quietly.
"Even I can tell at a glance she doesn't know Buru's name — it's just something she happened to say."
"......He's enjoying himself. Let him be."
"......."
Hwi-garam and Jin-cheon exchanged quiet words off to the side, then looked at the grinning Buru and said nothing more. He was so happy they couldn't bring themselves to pour cold water on it.
After that, Hwi-garam conversed with Sara using gestures and pantomime to learn more, and it was not until evening that day that it finally came to an end.
"Let's stop here for today. Have quarters assigned for her."
"I'll take her there."
"Go ahead."
Buru stepped forward first and helped Sara out. As she left, Sara glanced back with a vague unease, but she had no choice but to follow where Buru led.
"For now, we'll need to find out more by tomorrow."
"Mm."
Hwi-garam spoke quietly as he watched the two leave, and Jin-cheon simply nodded in reply.
"Je nawaen-neun....... (Um, I'm.......)"
"......."
At the voice coming from one corner, Jin-cheon and Hwi-garam turned their heads — and there was Beron, who had ultimately been forgotten without receiving a single question.
"......He really has no presence."
"Not so much no presence as...... we forgot him."
Hwi-garam wore a bitter smile.
"Nawaen irun Beronde. (My name is Beron.)"
"......."
When his eyes met Jin-cheon's, Beron gave his own name first, just as Sara had done. Jin-cheon then spoke in a low voice.
"Take him too."
"......Will do."
Beron's will to cooperate — whatever he'd been eagerly trying to do — was swept aside by Jin-cheon. At that same moment, outside the barracks, the mournful voice of a certain man echoed as he circled the encampment wearing two sets of steel horse armor.
Sara and Beron were treated quite well. Jin-cheon needed information about this place, and thanks to Buru's devoted (?) efforts, they were laughing and enjoying themselves even in conversations that didn't fully connect.
But there was no reason for them to stay here forever, and the Gauri camp likewise had reason to learn about their village. They needed more information.
From Beron's style of clothing and his hunting bow, they'd learned that this place had some level of civilization, that the name of the mountain range embracing this lake was the Reganza Mountains, and finally — that the pigs they had captured and were raising were called orcs, and that they were animals unfit to eat.
In the end, the orcs, who had earned Uru and Buru's wrath, were bound by the arms and gagged, being used as pack-animal substitutes.
"Turn, you little bastards! What're you doing! Get your ass out here now!"
"Yes! General!"
Every soldier except those on sentry duty and the sailors-turned-fishermen were undergoing intense training. Naturally, Buru and Uru were in charge of the training. At a gesture from Buru, one soldier who'd been trying to slack off scrambled out in a panic.
"You, pick up your warhorse and run."
"Sir?"
"Should I throw in the horse armor while I'm at it?"
"Gah, no, sir!"
The consequences of slacking were brutal. Off to one side, groups of men for whom the roles of man and horse had already been reversed were drenched in sweat, carrying their horses as they ran. It would have been unthinkable before, but having noticed that they were brimming with unusual strength in this place, Jin-cheon had offered a single piece of advice — and Uru and Buru were now testing the limits of humans. The soldiers were the ones being tested.
"You goddamn whelps! I can still see your feet! Can't you run faster?"
"Huff, huff, huff, huff."
"Kkeuheok."
Clank! Clank! Clank!
In truth, there was a reason the soldiers were being put through such trials.
Jin-cheon's Black Armored Ghost Cavalry and the rest of his soldiers were the elite of the elite, men who had lived side by side with death on the front lines. Naturally, their lives consisted entirely of battle and, afterward, as much rest as they could manage.
Nearly all of them were soldiers without families, so even when the fighting ended, they had no home to return to. Their rest consisted of women and drink.
For men who did not know whether they would live to see the next day, living by their instincts came naturally. That did not mean they pursued women like beasts. Being alone only made their loneliness more acute, and the women of the pleasure quarters had understood these soldiers well.
To these soldiers, those women were like sisters and wives, letting them feel, even briefly, the warmth of family. The women understood them best because they too were alone. The soldiers dreamed that, once the war ended and the women retired, they would build homes together. That was how Jin-cheon's forsaken troops lived.
But at the war's end, their haven was burned to ashes. Violated beneath the feet of the Tang forces, and in the end, thrown into the fire.
As a result, the Tang soldiers who had done it — along with every other Tang soldier in the vicinity, guilty or not — were flayed alive, every last one of them, and cast aside.
For men who had lost the home of their hearts, the only relief left was to burn off their pent-up energy. The only women here were one wet nurse and some dozen maidservants who had escaped with Dae Mu-deok. The side effect appeared immediately: fights broke out over the sentry posts guarding the maidservants' quarters.
Every single day.......
The problem was that this would not end here; it could lead to even bigger incidents later. When Hwi-garam reported these concerns, Jin-cheon's decision was a single sentence.
"Work them until they're just short of dead."
"......."
In short — if you're exhausted, other thoughts don't arise. And the effect was outstanding, and Buru and Uru were delighted.
* * *
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes, General."
Jin-cheon spoke to Hwi-garam during the meal. It had already been four days since Sara and Beron had stayed at this encampment. They were treated comfortably enough, but being separated from their village was still a considerable source of anxiety for them.
"Buru and Uru are to accompany them. Strangely enough, those two follow the brothers well."
"The girl named Sara and those fellows share certain traits, so perhaps that's why."
"What traits do you mean?"
Clink.
Having finished his meal, Jin-cheon set down his spoon and glanced at Hwi-garam as he spoke.
"Innocence and simplicity are two sides of the same coin."
"I see."
At Jin-cheon's answer, Hwi-garam nodded without realizing it. Just then — speak of the devil — Buru's voice rang out from outside.
"I'm here!"
"Come in."
When Hwi-garam answered, Buru entered with a grin, and beside him was a blonde girl with a small smile. Hwi-garam looked at the sight for a moment and murmured to himself, "As expected......." Suppressing a chuckle, Hwi-garam turned his gaze to Buru and spoke.
"So, the interpreter?"
"Yessir! Here he is, General."
The deputy who'd been dragged off by Uru for his interpreting failure last time was being sent along again to interpret. However it had happened, that soldier's foreign-language learning ability was exceptional. No — it bordered on genius.
He'd stuck to Beron twenty-four hours a day and had already learned a great many words. Though of course, that had involved a few more one-on-one sessions with Uru along the way.
Jin-cheon gave them several instructions before they set out, then asked once more as if confirming.
"For now, go and let them know we come in peace."
"Understood! Just leave it to me."
"......."
Jin-cheon's brow furrowed slightly as he watched Buru pound his chest and make bold assurances.
"No. Captain of the Guard Dae Mu-deok will accompany you. Cooperate well with him."
"Huh? No, why all of a sudden? You don't trust me?"
"No — you focus on looking after the girl Sara beside you. You need to make a good impression. And since Uru will be organizing information about their side with the one called Beron, I'm attaching Captain of the Guard Dae Mu-deok to you."
"Oh—I thought you didn't trust me. Understood!"
Watching Buru and Uru with their pleased smiles, two furrows carved themselves into Jin-cheon's brow.
As if he could trust them? Outside of battle, that is.
The next morning, the Eulji brothers — Buru and Uru — set out with some ten riders of the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry and twenty soldiers. Regrettably, Dae Mu-deok was stopped by Hwi-garam and could not go. There was a mountain of work to do in the camp as well.
And once the brothers departed with Sara, the entire encampment seemed to grow suddenly quiet, and the soldiers were able to burst out in voices of liberation and delight.
"Thinking about how training's gonna ease up for a while — I feel great."
"Damn, if I'd known, I would've tried to get off duty today."
Two soldiers walking a patrol around the palisaded encampment were grumbling as they went.
Squeee!
"Huh? What's that pig squeal?"
"Isn't it one of the pigs they've got working inside?"
"Nah. That direction......."
Squeee! Squeal — squee-squeal!
The soldier who turned his head at the pig squeals and pointed toward the edge of the forest felt his eyes grow wider and wider. From that direction, easily over a hundred of the walking pigs called orcs were crawling out, every one of them clutching a stone axe or a rusted axe. And the sound of metal striking metal could be heard.
"Sound the alarm, quickly — huh? That axe!"
It was hard to see clearly at a distance, but the short, solid build, and the axe as large as a man's torso gripped in the figure's hand — it looked similar to Buru's axe.
"Looks like General Buru's party is fighting. Sound the bell at once and inform the Daesaja!"
"Damn!"
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
At the banging of what was closer to a tin can than a bell, the soldiers' faces changed and they began seizing their weapons and falling into formation. Go Jin-cheon, as if he had sensed the sounds of fighting first, was already outside in full armor.
"General!"
The soldier who had run to report dropped hastily to his knees and spoke.
"Report."
"About a hundred or so of the walking pigs — someone's fighting alone in the middle of them. It's far, but judging by the size of the axe, it seems to be General Buru."
"What!"
Hwi-garam's voice rang out loudly, and Jin-cheon's brow furrowed once more. Buru being alone could mean something had happened to the rest of the party.
"Open the palisade."
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, led by Go Jin-cheon, displayed their martial grandeur as they fell into formation with the ponderous clanking of steel armor. And at their head, as always, Jin-cheon took his place.
"Open the gate!"
Kreeeeak!
The palisade gate lifted with a harsh screech. Jin-cheon, looking ahead, slowly gathered his breath. Then he shouted to the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, who awaited only his command.
"Fifty riders follow me. Thirty riders under General Yeon will scout the perimeter."
Clang!
"Ha!"
As if in answer to Jin-cheon's words, the cavalry struck their spear shafts against their white breastplates with a resounding clang. Jin-cheon fixed his gaze on the dust cloud ahead and shouted again.
"Pigs you can't even eat — slaughter every last one. Any man who gets so much as a scratch will be carrying his horse on his own back from now on. All units, forward!"
Clop-clop!
"Forward!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
"Uwaaaaah!"
As Jin-cheon surged out, the cavalry bellowed the final command in unison and charged. The pounding of hooves shook heaven and earth like an earthquake.
"Squee!"
"Squee! Nigan squee, badude! (Squee! Humans squee, a unit!)"
"Squee squee!"
The orcs, seeing the black mass charging toward them — the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry with their chests gleaming white — snorted and their eyes gleamed.
"Durar squeeee! (Kill them squeeee!)"
"Squeeee!"
When an orc with a head at least one size larger than the rest bellowed a command, one group stepped forward. The Black Armored Ghost Cavalry was bearing down on the orcs like lightning with gathering speed, yet there was no fear in the orcs' eyes.
"Gguiii tuhein! (Gguiii throw!)"
"Squee!"
"Squeee!"
Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh!
The stone axes hanging at the orcs' waists and the axes gripped in their hands flew toward the cavalry, who had now closed to about a hundred meters.
"If even one so much as grazes your armor, no meal! Hyah!"
"Haiyah!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
As if answering Jin-cheon's bloodthirsty voice, the fifty riders increased their speed even further and drew the back-shields — shields woven from bamboo and the like — slung across their backs.
Tudak, tak!
CLATTER-CLATTER!
"Little pig bastards!"
"Hyah!"
When things they considered little more than potential food started hurling stone axes at them, curses erupted from the rear of the cavalry. Most of the axes struck the back-shields and bounced away, while those that flew toward the horses were deflected by their horse armor.
Naturally, this only made the horses more ferocious. As if sensing their riders' hearts, they snorted fierce gusts of breath and charged with even greater force.
"Squee!"
Crunch!
"Kryah! Out of the way."
THUD-THUD-THUD!
THUD-THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD!
The slaughter began with the scream of the orc at the very front. Those run through by thrusting spears were the lucky ones. The ones trampled beneath the horses clad in massive steel armor were reduced to unrecognizable handfuls of minced flesh.
"Squeee dura kasereu nigan! (Squeee die, human!)"
"Shut up! You pig!"
Crunch!
"Gguiiiiiiii!"
The orc that dodged a spear and swung its axe at a cavalryman while screeching had its face stomped by the rider's kick, spewing blood. The steel studs densely driven into the sole of the cavalryman's steel boot turned the orc's face into a mass of holes. Dodge the spear, and a steel-studded boot crushed your face. Turn your back and flee, and the hand axe at the cavalryman's waist flew into the back of your skull.
At the end of the indiscriminate slaughter, the battle was concluded in five minutes, and the hundred-some orcs had all been turned into chunks of meat, strewn in every direction.