Chapter 77
Chapter 77
Iron Emperor — Chapter 77
"Wh—what the hell!"
Suddenly one man had walked out, and moments later, another man followed. Then, bellowing a war cry, just two men came charging straight at them. And right after that, the soldiers who they'd thought were only encircling them at the rear began surging forward like a tidal wave, howling and storming in. At the sight, soldiers who had managed to steady their nerve moments before began to tremble with unease.
They had been completely overwhelmed at the opening.
Hamel shouted again, trying to rally his hesitating men.
"No one panic!"
But as morale visibly began to crumble, Hamel fixed his gaze on the two soldiers sprinting at the front. Behind them, a mounted man came into view.
'I should eliminate those two first.'
Hamel judged that if he could take out the two soldiers who had come screaming out of the enemy lines first, his men's morale would surge again.
"Follow me!"
Neeeeigh!
Hamel vaulted onto a horse and galloped out to the front.
Clop clop clop.
"That bastard's mine!"
"Hut!"
As Hamel spurred his horse and came charging straight at him, Buyeo Gi-yul quickened his pace even more and sprinted to meet him. His speed was so tremendous that by the time Hailon let out a shocked cry, Giyul was already dozens of mir ahead.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
Watching Giyul tear forward like a raging gale, the Gauri soldiers grew even more fired up and surged ahead with shouts. Giyul had personally overseen all the training of the new recruits to this point. Because of that, the recruits knew his martial prowess more keenly than anyone, and even watching him charge on foot against a mounted opponent, they drew strength from it rather than seeing recklessness. But in the eyes of Hamel, who was closing from the opposite direction, shock and bewilderment rose.
'How can a human move at that speed!'
This was absolutely not the running speed of an ordinary soldier. The instant Hamel sensed his miscalculation, Giyul had already arrived right in front of him. Acting on instinct to exploit the advantage of horseback, Hamel swung his long sword in a great arc.
"Hyaaat!"
Fwoosh!
The long sword, ripping savagely through the air, slashed nothing but empty space.
'Gone?'
Giyul, who had been right before Hamel's eyes even as he began the swing, had simply vanished. But before Hamel's gaze could even sweep his surroundings, a crushing impact slammed into his side.
THWACK!
"Guuuhk!"
The Holy Empire soldiers following behind Sir Hamel swallowed empty air.
"Ahk!"
"How can someone do that!"
Because a single enemy soldier who had been barreling toward them at terrifying speed had seemed to slip under the horse's belly, then — like an acrobat — whirled up from the belly toward the horse's back, kicked Hamel bodily off, and seated himself in the saddle. It was a maneuver that would have been difficult even on a stationary horse, and he had pulled it off while hurtling toward them at a full run.
"H-he's charging this way!"
Clop clop!
When Buyeo Gi-yul, having unhorsed Hamel, spurred his mount and came thundering toward them, the soldiers' faces turned the color of mud. With the baron dead, their sole remaining commander being thrown off his horse in such an absurd fashion had doused their morale with ice water once again. Clutching at a last thread of hope, the soldiers turned their eyes to Sir Hamel, who had hit the ground and was now struggling to his feet.
"Krrgh. This is beyond absurd."
Tap tap tap tap!
"Hmn?"
As Sir Hamel, rising awkwardly as though his arm were broken, reached his feet, the sound of someone else charging toward him reached his ears. Instinctively, he raised his sword with his remaining arm — but that was as far as he got.
THOOOM!
Flump.
"Kwahahahaha! A wagon-load of wheat is mine!"
It was Hailon.
A fist-sized rock smashed into the top of Hamel's helmet, and he toppled absurdly to the ground. He had never imagined that the man would pick up a rock and hurl it instead of using the axe in his hand. And that ludicrous sight was more than sufficient to snuff out the last ember of fighting spirit in the Holy Empire soldiers.
Thooong!
"Kuaaak!"
"Ahk!"
While the soldiers were floundering in confusion, a single soldier soared up over a rooftop at the rear and then crashed back down to the earth. In the time they had been hesitating, the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry that had descended upon the village had closed in right behind them.
A dilemma with no way forward or back.
Behind them, the Demon King's(?) horde was bearing down; ahead of them, the ones who had swatted their commander, a knight, aside in a single blow were closing in.
Clatter.
"I want to live!"
"You're insane!"
Clang!
"I surrender!"
A unit with no commander and completely broken morale is no longer a unit. It is merely a mob left with nothing but the will to live. The moment one man threw his weapon to the ground, the clatter of falling weapons began to ring out from all directions. That was the blind spot of a crowd.
"Spare us! We surrender!"
"Surrender!"
Eyes filled with terror, the mob threw down weapons everywhere and pressed their foreheads to the ground. Buyeo Gi-yul, Hailon, and the others who had ridden up to them could only stare back with deflated expressions.
"Well now."
Mong Ryu-hwa, who arrived later, likewise lost all words at the sight of the mob(?) who seemed to embody all the world's wretchedness. The leaders, who had intended to give the new recruits a reasonable taste of field experience, could only stare at the mountain of prisoners their cleanly missed plan had produced.
"Uhm... I do still get the wagon-load of wheat, right?"
"......."
At Hailon's question demanding a clear answer, Giyul could only remain silent.
"The amount those kids eat is no joke, either...."
Letting Hailon's final words pass in one ear and out the other, Giyul entered the village proper while Ryu-hwa organized the prisoners.
"Uwaaaaak!"
"Hmn?"
Giyul registered puzzlement at the screams still ringing out.
The fact that the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry was reforming its ranks meant that the battlefield cleanup was already over. Even so, the screams of more than ten people were still echoing through the village.
"There... where is His Majesty the Yeolje?"
"Krhmm."
At Giyul's question, the Ghost Cavalry trooper who had been reordering the ranks turned his head and gave a dry cough. Giyul began to feel a distinct foreboding.
"Don't tell me...?"
"That 'don't tell me' has caught quite a lot of people, actually."
"......."
Giyul had no choice but to harden his expression.
He turned his steps toward the source of the screams, and it did not take long before the figure of their Yeolje, Go Jin-cheon, came into view.
Clop clop!
"Keuheuheuheuheu!"
"Aaack! Spare us!"
"......."
Giyul raised one hand to his forehead and let out a small sigh.
Clop clop!
"Kwahahahah!"
Pound pound pound pound!
"Uwaak! Demon Kiiing!"
The Holy Empire soldiers who had been fleeing from Giyul's left to right were screaming once more and now bolting from right to left, and Jin-cheon was chasing after them like a man herding rabbits.
Clop clop!
"Krrgh, still calling me Demon King? Fine! Let's run all day then!"
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
"Aaaack!"
From the mouth of Jin-cheon — who had briefly misplaced his reason — a ghastly laugh escaped once more, and the fleeing Holy Empire soldiers, bleeding from their backsides, were running beyond human limits.
Jin-cheon pursued them, jabbing their rear ends with his sak (槊: the Gauri cavalry's charge lance, four to six meters long. While typical Eastern sak measured around four meters, the Gauri army employed a 5.4-meter sak), and the ones he stabbed screamed and ran harder.
"Tch. He obviously got called Demon Tribe or Demon King."
It was a scene they had witnessed constantly while cutting through Holy Empire territory along the Reganza Mountains' pioneer roads. Even without Yeon Hwi-garam, who had at least served to check Jin-cheon's madness until now, this rampage would cease roughly around the time the word "Demon King" transformed into "Heavenly God" or "Angel." Because it always had, up until now....
"Uuugh. Angel...."
"Hee-hee. Long live the Heavenly God!"
"......."
Once the frenzy had ended, Giyul ordered that the Holy Empire soldiers' wounded backsides be treated—from the half-mad to the semi-conscious men babbling delirious nonsense—and began clearing the battlefield. They had been tasked with using this place as a base to gather the surrounding populace and evacuate them.
The mere two hundred-odd Black Armored Ghost Cavalry led by Go Jin-cheon alone absolutely could not handle the evacuation as well, and the top commanders had made the additional decision that the new recruits needed to see the battlefield now. The location had been chosen because it was somewhat removed from the Holy Empire's border, but by coincidence, the ones who had pressed in deep had all been captured.
Having reaped this unexpected harvest(?), they were straining to soothe the village survivors and restore order. They needed the villagers' help because they would have to establish a temporary foothold here.
Clank clank clank.
"Salute!"
"Hm."
With the clinking sound of iron scales from his plate armor, Jin-cheon emerged from the command tent. Whether because he had vented his fury in that frenzy, his expression was somewhat relaxed.
"Friendly casualties?"
"Fifteen of the new recruits sustained light wounds from enemy archers. No other problems whatsoever."
"Hm. Treat them so nothing festers. I will inspect the village."
"That may be...."
At the trailing timbre of Giyul's voice, Jin-cheon cocked one eyebrow. And as always, Giyul quietly averted his head, powerless to place any restrictions on Jin-cheon's actions. Watching Jin-cheon's back as he strode once more toward where the villagers had been gathered, Giyul could only exhale an ambiguous sigh.
* * *
"Salute!"
"Hm."
With a movement, he revealed himself in the plaza where the villagers were gathered. When a sentry guard snapped a military salute toward Go Jin-cheon, Jin-cheon merely inclined his head, then folded his arms and surveyed the scene. Where the villagers' corpses lay, the sighs and weeping of children and women continued without end.
"......."
It was not a sight he was seeing for the first time.
Wherever war existed, this was the sight one always saw. Sometimes they themselves had created such scenes, and sometimes the enemy had created them. Now, of course, they stood in the position of saviors, but it was only natural that such a sight never became familiar — no matter how many times one saw it.
As Jin-cheon slowly looked around, the form of a child who had fallen while running caught his eye.
Perhaps six years old?
"Up!"
When someone lifted him from behind and set him upright, the child turned his head in curiosity.
"......!"
And then came the child's horror-stricken face. In chain reaction, two vertical furrows carved themselves into Jin-cheon's brow.
"Uwaeeeng! It's the Demon King!"
In response to Jin-cheon's kindly(?) gesture born from tender consideration for the child, the child repaid him by wetting himself in terror, and in that instant every soldier plunged into tension.
"......."
"Uwaaaeng. I'm gonna turn into a demon!"
Crrrrick!
An intense grinding sound escaped from Jin-cheon's teeth. And the child reacted instantly to that sound.
"Huaahk! He's gonna eat me!"
"......."
The child's vocabulary and imagination were impressive. The child Jin-cheon was holding wailed as though he were dying and thrashed furiously, and the villagers could not readily step forward. On top of that, among the soldiers here, there was absolutely no one capable of stopping Jin-cheon. Even if Uru and Buru had been present, it would have been impossible. If they had been here, they would probably have simply knocked the child out cold.
"Huaaeeng."
"Hm, do not cry."
"Uwaeeeeeng!"
Jin-cheon's mouth barely opened, and a soothing sound came out. But the child's wailing only grew louder.
What good would soothing him do? With a fierce furrow carved into his brow and only his mouth shaped into a smile, Jin-cheon was driving the child into ever deeper terror. Even so, perhaps because the victim was a child, Jin-cheon continued holding him and tried once more to soothe him in a quiet voice.
"Uweng!"
"I'll do something fun for you."
"Ahk!"
"Hup!"
At the action that followed Jin-cheon's words, the soldiers and the villagers all snapped their eyes wide open.
"Uwaeeeeeeeeee!"
The child's piercing shriek rang through the sky, and the astonished eyes of soldiers and villagers alike turned toward the space above Jin-cheon's head. A child who had been tossed roughly ten mir into the air....
"It is the Air Throw game."
Plop.
With pride, Jin-cheon repeated the act of hurling the child into the sky and catching him three times in succession. And by the third time Jin-cheon caught him, the child no longer cried. He simply hung completely limp, foam bubbling from his mouth.
"Hm."
"......."
Only then did the furrow in Jin-cheon's brow finally smooth as he looked at the limp child. Carefully handing the limp child to the soldier behind him, Jin-cheon did not forget to add a word of instruction.
"The child seems tired. He fell asleep so quickly, you see. Krhmm."
"Your Majesty, I believe he has fain—..."
One of the Ghost Cavalry troopers, receiving the child, opened his mouth with a worried voice, but upon reading the killing intent flaring across Jin-cheon's face, he promptly changed his answer.
"He is sleeping soundly, Your Majesty."
"Naturally. Our Uji children also slept well like this."
A single shared thought rose in all of the soldiers' heads.
'Put the kids to sleep like that twice and they might never wake up....'
Having handed the child over, Jin-cheon continued on, observing the villagers. The earlier clamorous atmosphere had vanished, and everyone was holding their breath. Except that mothers were hiding their children behind their backs or clutching them tightly to their chests.
The people of South Roselin knew well that Jin-cheon was no Demon King. They had been the only ones still resisting the Holy Empire, and as a result, this was a place where the Demon Hunts had barely occurred at all.
Because of that, the villagers did not react with the same violent hysteria as the Holy Empire, but the problem was that after witnessing the rampage Jin-cheon had cut through their village, they were cautiously beginning to suspect. Only a very faint suspicion, that is.
"Hm. Fewer men than I expected."
At Jin-cheon's comment, the Ghost Cavalry trooper following quietly behind delivered his report.
"A large number of men were conscripted for the war against North Roselin, and with the Holy Empire's forces barging in this time, it appears that a considerable number of the able-bodied men who remained were killed."
"They look like they have spirit."
That was what Jin-cheon said as he looked into the villagers' eyes. Even after seeing their families butchered and such horrific sights, the villagers' eyes were still alive. Had the common people not possessed such a will to resist the Holy Empire, South Roselin could never have held on until now.
"Do your best to stabilize them, first of all."
"Yes."
"The Eulji Brothers?"
"They have not yet returned."
They had taken soldiers and gone out to scout for any enemies in the vicinity. Jin-cheon nodded, then tilted his head again and posed a new question.
"Where are Giyul and Ryu-hwa?"
"They are here... consoling the people."
"Consoling?"
The moment Jin-cheon saw the Ghost Cavalry trooper's hesitation in answering, a sharp light began to fill his eyes.
Wordless pressure.
Guided by the Ghost Cavalry trooper who had surrendered under that pressure, Jin-cheon was able to witness the comfort-visitation scene of Buyeo Gi-yul and Mong Ryu-hwa firsthand.
"Don't cry. I'll protect you."
"Madam, you must be utterly heartbroken from losing your husband."
And....
"This Hailon will become a father to you all. Will you follow me?"
The lifetime soldier Hailon had joined the comfort-visitation scene.