Chapter 75
Chapter 75
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 75
Tak-tak-tak-tak!
Mong Ryu-hwa's footsteps toward the Imperial Hall were more urgent than ever. The rolled-up parchment in his hand announced it was a newly arrived dispatch.
"What's the matter?"
"An urgent message!"
The guard officer posted before the Imperial Hall blocked Ryu-hwa's path. When Ryu-hwa raised the parchment and declared it was urgent, the guard officer announced his arrival.
"Enter."
Creeeak!
The door opened and Ryu-hwa rushed in, dropped to one knee, and rendered a military salute.
"Salute!"
"What is it?"
"Yes, Your Majesty...."
Ryu-hwa had lifted his head to report, but his body froze. Go Jin-cheon stood with his arms crossed, as imposing as ever, but the sight of Eulji riding on his shoulders was something he simply could not get used to.
"Kah-hah-hah!"
Tap-tap-tap-tap.
"......."
Delighted by something, Eulji was riding horseback on Jin-cheon's shoulders and vigorously drumming on Jin-cheon's head with both hands. For a moment Ryu-hwa looked at the scene and agonized: Should I stop this, or ignore it and make my report?
"Hand it over."
"Huh? Ah, yes!"
When Jin-cheon extended a hand and asked for the dispatches, Ryu-hwa, slightly flustered, placed the two parchments into his hand.
Flutter.
Unfurling the parchment with one hand, Jin-cheon began to read it slowly.
The very first words that met his eye were: South Roselin capital Roselian fallen. Hebrion Palace occupied.
"Hmm."
[...Thus, the force that passed through the Holy Kingdom and struck the rear was a kind of diversionary attack. With a portion of the forces drawn there, North Roselin's main attack was executed via amphibious landing using ships. The problem is that the force which passed through Holy Empire territory is assessed as a force North Roselin could not have mobilized, and the diversionary force is also assessed in substance as Holy Empire soldiers in disguise.]
"They used their heads."
Jin-cheon slowly lifted his eyes from the parchment.
The Gauri side had expected the enemy to bypass and strike through the Holy Empire, but even they had not anticipated that that maneuver was itself only a diversion.
In fact, when Marquis Baikal examined the bodies of the fallen knights, every one of them was a fake knight order—composed of children, or wandering knights who carried no house seal, or ordinary soldiers who merely knew how to ride a horse.
And once they had confirmed through captured prisoners that this was not the main thrust, they turned back thirty-five thousand of the fifty thousand reinforcements. Yet even those troops were caught by the attack—disguised as North Roselin forces but in reality Holy Empire troops—that invaded the rear of South Roselin.
Jin-cheon unfolded the other report.
[King Dislion Elyuan Roselin assassinated.
Prince Pamilion Esia Roselin assassinated.
Prince Pamilion Alsein Roselin escaped.
Princess Pamilion Yunias Roselin escaped.
All other royal family members assassinated.
The escaped royal family members and troops are currently moving to link up with the Eastern Army, and the Eastern Army is likewise moving southwest to join the escaped royals.]
"Ho-oh."
Jin-cheon read the contents and smiled.
"There's still a chance."
Muttering to himself, Jin-cheon gave an order to Ryu-hwa.
"Dispatch a fast courier at once. Summon every commander currently out on the eastern mountain-range expansion."
"Yes!"
"Go."
"......Yes."
Ryu-hwa rendered another salute at Jin-cheon's command and withdrew, struggling to suppress the laughter bubbling up. Eulji, who had been playing atop Jin-cheon's shoulders, was now sprawled there dribbling drool, fast asleep.
Step. Step. Step.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
The clamor of armored commanders' footsteps echoed toward the Imperial Hall. Under Jin-cheon's orders, every available man had been committed to the expansion of the eastern valley.
As some forty commanders filed into the Imperial Hall in orderly fashion, Yeon Hwi-garam, at the very front, dropped to one knee and rendered a salute as their representative.
"Reporting! Taedaehyeong Yeon Hwi-garam and thirty-nine others have returned after completing their assigned operations."
"Be seated."
"As commanded!"
The forty commanders split to both sides and took their seats. At that moment Dae Mu-deok and Risel entered belatedly and offered their salutes.
"Salute!"
"You're late."
"Yes...."
Dark circles shadowed the eyes of Risel and Dae Mu-deok, and their faces were utterly drained of vitality. That was only natural—there was a severe shortage of civilian officials, so the two of them were shouldering the entire administration of the state.
Once everyone had found their places, Jin-cheon unfurled the parchments he had received earlier that day.
"The capital of South Roselin has fallen. Only a little prince and princess escaped alive. We expected them to attack by way of the Holy Empire, but that was not the case. That side was a diversion—Holy Empire troops dressed up roughly as North Roselin forces. The main thrust landed from the sea."
"......."
The commanders listened to Jin-cheon's words without so much as stirring. Jin-cheon swept his gaze across them once, then continued.
"The current situation is that South Roselin's Eastern Army is advancing southwest to rescue the prince and princess who escaped."
Seu-reu-reuk, cheok.
Jin-cheon laid the parchments atop the council table, folded his arms, rose from the Throne of Yeolje, and stepped forward. He came to a halt in the center of the forty-odd commanders.
"South Roselin collapsed more quickly than I expected. Before it is too late, we will intervene in this situation."
"An alliance?"
"No."
When a general on one side posed the question, Jin-cheon shook his head.
"South Roselin is already spent. The center of gravity has fallen. It will depend on what those who remain do next, but for now, inserting ourselves would serve no purpose—and later we would be endangered as well."
"......."
Unable to guess what Jin-cheon was thinking, they exchanged glances and tilted their heads. Then Jin-cheon slowly opened his mouth.
"We will go to rescue the people of South Roselin, who are being threatened beneath the blades of North Roselin and the Holy Empire."
"......!"
"We rescue them and bring them here."
Jin-cheon emphasized the point twice.
"In any war, the ones who suffer the most damage are the common people. What is it we lack most?"
"......."
"People."
Only now did they begin to understand Jin-cheon's meaning.
'Then why did he use the word "rescue"...?'
In the end, it was the same as saying: since the house next door is on fire and the household goods would be a waste, let's go in and carry everything out.
"And what you must be mindful of is that our identity must not be revealed in this expedition. Of course, you know the reason. The time to endure is still upon us. And it is the time to prepare. We will conclude this war as a thorough surprise attack, and collect intelligence on how they prosecute their war. Understood?"
"We obey!"
As the forty voices resounded, Jin-cheon drew a satisfied smile.
"Hwi-garam will, together with Dae Mu-deok, take charge of the rear—transporting the people we rescue."
"As commanded!"
As Hwi-garam descended from his chair, knelt, and rendered his salute, Jin-cheon immediately looked to the Eulji brothers Buru and Uru on one side and continued.
"Buru and Uru will each serve as modal, advising the Commander-in-Chief."
"As commanded!"
By this point, Mu-deok's complexion had begun to change.
"Giyul will intensify the training of the soldiers who remain."
"As commanded!"
"Ryu-hwa will select fifty soldiers and do everything possible to rescue Ung-sam, who is currently being hunted down."
"As commanded!"
Amid Jin-cheon's forcefully delivered commands and the commanders' resounding acknowledgments, Mu-deok's face went from ashen to downright shit-colored. There was only one reason.
"And the Commander-in-Chief of the South Roselin expeditionary force is...."
Jin-cheon's eyes met Mu-deok's as he let the words trail off. A slight crinkling appeared at the corners of Jin-cheon's eyes. He was smiling.
"I will go."
"Keu-heok!"
"Daedaero! What in the—!"
At Jin-cheon's declaration, Mu-deok foamed at the mouth and collapsed. It was a mixture of accumulated overwork and resentment toward his sovereign, who had stripped away every reason to dissuade him from personally leading the campaign and then declared he was simply heading out.
By the time everyone was looking at Mu-deok with pitying eyes, Jin-cheon had already vanished from the Imperial Hall.
Kang! Ka-kang, kang!
There was soul in the hammer blows old Jang Moo struck with the blazing fire for company. With every descent of the hammer, the muscles writhing over his frame would convince no one that he was a man past sixty.
On an ordinary day he seemed no different from any village elder, but here, in the forge—a sacred ground of fire and steel—he, too, was a warrior and an artisan. Through their accumulated experience, the dwarves had abandoned every preconception they had held. To be sure, in craftsmanship and artistic sculpture, the dwarves were superior. But there was something fundamentally different at work.
Fire.
Fire was etched into Elder Jang's pupils.
Fwoosh!
CLANG! CLANG!
A hammer descending upon a lump of metal heated in the flames.
Steel, fire, and Elder Jang were one. So it was that they resonated, each needing the others.
Harmony.
Though he was forging objects that summoned nature's destruction, he was in harmony—with the nature of fire and the nature of iron alike. The dwarves had come to sense this from Elder Jang.
"Huuu."
The work had seemingly come to an end; he straightened his back and wiped the sweat. At once Hwain Stone came running with a damp towel.
"Here you are."
"Oh, good."
Perhaps because his entire body was overheated from the fire, wisps of steam rose from wherever the damp towel touched. Having wiped the sweat streaming here and there, Elder Jang turned his head to one side, then quietly bent his waist and spoke.
"What brings you in person to this humble place?"
"......."
There stood Go Jin-cheon, silent and still. He had likely been waiting for Elder Jang's work to stop. Jin-cheon slowly stepped inside and looked at Elder Jang steadily before opening his mouth.
"Is there anywhere in the world as magnificent as this place?"
"Heh-heh-heh."
"Everyone has a place that suits them."
"That is true."
Jin-cheon continued as he surveyed the interior of the forge.
"In this place, Elder Jang—are you not the king?"
He smiled gently as he looked at Elder Jang. There was sincerity in Jin-cheon's smile. Elder Jang, who had returned the smile, quietly spoke.
"I heard that you drove a sword into the floor of the Imperial Hall."
"Heh."
He must be referring to the Hwandudaedo buried beneath the Throne of Yeolje in the Imperial Hall.
"Is that what brought you here?"
"That, among other things."
At Elder Jang's question, Jin-cheon nodded and extended the hand that had been clasped behind his back. In it were his helmet and pauldrons.
"These are...?"
"Affix horns to them."
"Pardon?"
"Affix horns of steel. To the helmet and the pauldrons."
At Jin-cheon's blunt words, Elder Jang bowed and respectfully received the helmet and pauldrons.
"How shall I craft them for you?"
"So that once seen, they can never be forgotten."
"Do you mean to make hell?"
An exchange of questions and answers began, as cryptic as a Zen dialogue.
"It is already hell."
"Is it not a path Your Majesty need not see with his own eyes?"
"Heh."
Affection and worry were mingled in Elder Jang's words. He meant that Jin-cheon should no longer stain his own hands with blood. A small chuckle escaped.
"If I do not see it, who will follow?"
"Heh-heh-heh. I shall forge them for you."
"Thank you."
With those final words, Jin-cheon turned his back and walked out.
A few days later, the helmet that reached Jin-cheon's hands bore three horns just like Gangsoe's horse armor, and each shoulder pauldron also carried a single horn.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
The friction of iron scales against one another rang out conspicuously loud. Emerging from the Imperial Hall, Go Jin-cheon was clad in Mukbit Scale Armor and a White Breastplate. A crimson cloak was draped over his back, with the three-legged crow design embroidered across it in black.
Step. Step. Step.
Stepping out from the Imperial Hall, Jin-cheon looked forward. Two hundred Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, there to await him, stood each in full battle-readiness.
"......."
They maintained motionless postures, as if awaiting his command. Jin-cheon approached Gangsoe and mounted.
"Let us run, after so long."
"We obey!"
The two-hundred-plus cavalrymen's eyes blazed at Jin-cheon's words. It was the first step of the march toward the continent.
* * *
"Yiaaaaa!"
The man who came charging with a pitchfork might as well have done nothing at all.
Thwack!
"Keok!"
"Honey!"
"Drag that bastard out!"
One kick from a soldier sent the man sprawling away, and the women were dragged outside.
"Is... is this really permissible?"
The knight clad in plate mail asked his liege in a worried tone. The man, who had been watching the scene of his soldiers setting fires here and there with an amused expression, let out a snicker at the knight's question.
"Sir Hamel, South Roselin has already disintegrated. In a situation like this, it'd be a shame to just watch, don't you think?"
"That may be so, but...."
With a jerk of his chin, he indicated the various trinkets and sacks of provisions his soldiers were hauling out. Alongside them, people were being led out roped together in lines, glaring at the soldiers with venomous eyes.
"Opportunities like this aren't exactly common."
"......."
Sir Hamel looked once more at the village going up in flames. With the death of South Roselin's king and the effective collapse of its capital, the Holy Empire no longer had any reason to tread carefully either.
The lordships along the border had crossed into South Roselin and were now scrambling to seize and drag away people, frantically loading up anything that might be of value—ironwork, gold, and the like. It was plain enough that the people being bound and dragged off would no longer live as subjects of South Roselin but as slaves.
Yet the lords of South Roselin who ought to have protected the people were each acting on their own.
There were lords who shouted defiance to the death even as they swept up their entire fortunes, left the common folk behind, and raced off with their families and soldiers to join the Eastern Army....
Lords who cried "Long live the Holy Empire"—and handed over their entire domains as tribute....
And lords who, able to do neither, merely gathered their families and wealth, concealed their identities, and fled under cover of night....
Not a single one had the luxury to look after the people. More precisely, they had no intention of looking after them.
The people nonetheless gathered their farming tools, shouting they would defend their homes and families to the death, but they served only as rich prey to fatten the bellies of the neighboring Holy Empire lords who had crept in—rather than North Roselin forces.
The baron spoke to his knight as if making small talk.
"Tell the soldiers not to exhaust themselves too much. The women—well, when we hit another village, more will appear anyway. Hah-hah-hah-hah!"
"......."
Hamel surveyed the village as he listened to his liege's laughter. Every man was being bound and led away, and the soldiers who had finished their work were dashing after the women like hounds flushing rabbits.
When plunder cast its shadow, the ordeal of the women at the hands of rutting soldiers always followed. Was it because war softens people's moral inhibitions?
"Eheheh."
"Get away!"
"Heu-heu, you're a funny girl. If you were me, would you leave just because someone told you to?"
A young woman, her clothes half-torn, crawled backward and felt despair wash over her as she watched the Holy Empire soldier approach, pulling down his trousers.
She knew war, too. Hers was a generation that had grown up hearing of it. There were other women besides her. It was only because she was younger than the rest that the soldier's blade had not yet flown at her for resisting; if she resisted further, this soldier might well choose the easier path.
She wanted to live.
"Heuk."
"Heu-heu-heu, what's the matter? Throw another tantrum."
Had she chosen her life over her body? She gave up further resistance, shedding tears and only trembling in the corner. The soldier licked the edge of his dagger, smiled a greasy grin, and approached his prey.
Seu-eu-euk.
"Hup."
"Oh-ho, now you stay still. If you get pricked by the blade doing that—don't blame me."
"Heuk-heuk-heuk."
The edge of the dagger sliced through her skirt.
"Oohoo!"
The woman's pale bare thighs only stiffened the soldier further below the waist.
"Ugh, I can't hold back any more!"
"Kyaaaak!"
Thud!
"Now, now—stay still."
The woman's short scream and the soldier's coaxing tone.
Unable to contain his surging lust, the soldier had finally shoved the woman down roughly and climbed on top of her.
"I said stop shaking."
As he undid his own trousers, the soldier admonished her when she trembled violently. But her trembling only intensified, and the soldier, who had been hoping to enjoy himself, grew irritated.
"Hey, you bitch, I said stop shaking!"
"Heu-heuk, I'm not shaking! The ground is rumbling. Heuk-heuk-heuk."
"What?"
At the soldier's yell, the woman cried even harder as she offered her explanation, and the soldier stared at her, stupidly echoing the question. Looking closer, she actually wasn't shaking much at all.
"Huh, it's definitely rumbling...."
The soldier tilted his head and spoke, then let the words trail off. Because he could distinctly feel the ground vibrating beneath his two knees and two palms, which were planted atop the woman.
"Wh-what the!"
The startled soldier realized this was no time to be covering a woman. He quickly threw himself facedown on the ground and pressed his ear to it.
RUMBLE!
"......!"
The sound shaking the earth was unmistakably the thunder of countless hooves.
Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo.
As hoofbeats that no longer seemed to come from the earth alone but from the very air itself grew louder, the soldier yanked up the trousers he had been lowering and bolted out of the woman's house.
"Which knight order is that?"
Shunk!
Before his question could be answered, the soldier felt something pierce straight through his heart and pass on.
'My body is....'
His body was hurled backward by the tremendous impact. And the sight that met him was the sky—and after that, the soldier could think no more.
Two-hundred-plus cavalry in Mukbit Scale Armor and White Breastplates.
At their head, a horse bearing three horns of steel, and a man—with five steel horns affixed to his helm and both shoulders—roaring as he bore down upon them.
Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo!
"Heu-yaaaaaaaah!!"