Chapter 84
Chapter 84
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 84
Hawk of the Battlefield.
It was an epithet for Baron Gowin. But in the current situation, it held no more meaning than a sneer at a man abandoned even by his own country. Even so, Baron Gowin kept his expression blank as he spoke slowly, one deliberate word at a time, toward the Holy Knight Order.
"This is the Haian Kingdom. Searching the guesthouse and taking custody of my person are matters for Haian to handle. Guests from another land would be well advised to simply count the tribute they've been handed and go home."
"The knights of the Lord God take precedence over any authority, in any land."
"Spout that nonsense at the Federal Empire or the Maritime Empire."
Baron Gowin shot back the moment the guard knight finished speaking. That one line must have struck deep, because the faces of the Holy Knights flushed red.
"This man refuses to see reason."
"Indeed."
As one of the Holy Knights stepped forward and spoke, the guard knight nodded, his expression equally rigid.
Was that the signal?
They spread out wide as if encircling Baron Gowin's party, hands moving to their swords.
'Is this as far as I go?'
Baron Gowin closed his eyes, watching them surround him, and ground his teeth — in fury... and in bitter regret.
"Take them into custody!"
"Over here, you bald tub of lard!"
"......."
A moment of silence descended.
Had the voice that cut in been louder than the guard knight's command? The Holy Knights furrowed their brows and turned toward the direction the voice had come from.
"Who dares raise their voice while the Holy Knight Order is carrying out its duty—Priest Palo!!"
"Priest!"
The solemn voice naturally curdled into shock. The man being dragged along like a dog on a leash by a hulking figure wasn't immediately recognizable, but the tattered priest's robes, the head that was bald and gleaming despite having taken a thorough beating, and that tortoise-like build made it easy to identify him as Palo II, priest of the Lord God. The Holy Knight Order's attention naturally shifted away from Baron Gowin's party.
Shing!
Shing!
Blades rang sharply as the Holy Knights drew their swords from their scabbards.
"Release Priest Palo!"
"Hmph."
A particularly loud snort.
It was Samdopyo.
The place he had crossed into with Gang Yuwol was, by sheer coincidence, the temple of the Lord God. On that sprawling plot of land large enough to fit a hundred buildings, where a single temple sat all alone, Dupyo and Yuwol had slipped inside to steal clothes to hide themselves.
And Dupyo, who had happened upon Priest Palo, promptly beat the man senseless and dragged him all the way here. The blades of the Holy Knights were now leveled at Dupyo and Yuwol, but the two of them showed not the slightest agitation. If anything, they wore looks of open mockery.
Thud.
"Oof!"
"Priest!"
When Dupyo dumped Priest Palo, whom he'd been holding, onto the ground, the Holy Knights shouted in alarm. Yet seeing the oppressive dark-hued iron staff gripped in Dupyo's hand, they could not rashly advance.
A strange standoff took shape.
BOOM!
"H-hiik!"
"What are you doing!"
The iron staff in Dupyo's hand rose into the air and then drove into the ground right between the legs of Priest Palo, who had collapsed onto his backside. Priest Palo's body flinched once, and the Holy Knights' eyes blazed, poised to charge. Seeing that, Dupyo opened his mouth with a face that looked genuinely pissed off.
"Hmph! Me, what I hate most is bullshitters."
"Bull...?"
Someone who hadn't understood Dupyo's words reflexively echoed him. Whether he heard it or not, Dupyo scratched at the back of his head and went on.
"Ahh, lies. I mean lies. But this guy here went and made me out to be some kind of monster. A man's leg is shattered and in agony, and all he does is flap his gums to squeeze out coin, and then instead of a word of thanks to the man who healed it, he comes at him swinging a blade. Hmph!"
Dupyo's voice continued on, thick with displeasure.
"And what's this? I look like that picture? D-Demon Tribe? Digging into kids' skulls, assaulting women, and what—I did what to whose genitals? Hey, you tub of lard. Should I cut it off, like you said?"
"Hiiik! No, please!"
"Or you want me to burst it?"
"Hurghk!"
At Dupyo's words, Priest Palo clung to him, all dignity lost. The sight made the Holy Knights' faces crumple miserably. A priest, an emissary of the Lord God, on his knees and begging — that was no pretty picture.
Tap.
"Tch, you damned liar."
Tap tap.
"Lies are what I hate most in this world. You damned liar!"
"Hiiik!"
Dupyo kept on talking, rapping Priest Palo on the head with the iron staff.
"Hmph. A man's got to be honest. How is it you go around lying with a god strapped to your back, you damned liar?"
"Heh heh heh heh."
From behind the Holy Knights who were watching Dupyo lecture Priest Palo while thumping him on the head, Baron Gowin's laughter trickled out. The guard knight of the Holy Knight Order ground his teeth at the laughter, which sounded almost like mockery.
Crrk.
"If Priest Palo is not returned unharmed, then Baron Gowin — who is clearly your associate — will not remain unharmed either."
Ssssk.
The moment the guard knight's voice rang out, the Holy Knights began closing in around Baron Gowin as if on cue.
"Hmph, well shit..."
"Oh my. Oh my, oh my. What to do? The thing is, Baron Gowin has nothing to do with us."
"Sir Gerard!"
Just as Dupyo's face twisted into bafflement, Gye Ung-sam's voice cut in. Sir Rainman's voice burst out at almost the same instant. While they had been in the standoff, Ung-sam and Mu Handae had circled around via the windows and come back from the rear. Ung-sam walked slowly over beside Dupyo, shook his head, and spoke.
"Sorry about this, using you. Well, we didn't have much choice. For our purposes, traveling here attached to you, Baron Gowin, was the right move. Now that things have turned out like this, I think it's best we part ways here."
"......."
The atmosphere went quiet in an instant. The Holy Knights still had Baron Gowin surrounded. But it was Baron Hessen, who had been sidelined to one side, who interjected.
"A lie! That man Gerard has been in collusion with Baron Gowin since his domain!"
At Baron Hessen's words, fury clouded Baron Gowin's face. The man was saying that not only had the central nobles driven him out, they had been watching his every move.
"Oh, that's not right."
Ung-sam's voice came out dripping with sarcasm.
"My name, you see, isn't Gerard. It's Gye Ung-sam."
As the eyes around him widened, Ung-sam's long sword slid from its sheath with a crystalline ring.
Shrring!
"And I'm no demon tribe — I'm a military commander of the Great Gauri Empire."
"What!"
CRACK!
"Urghk!"
As if Ung-sam drawing his long sword had been the signal, from one side came the sound of armor splitting and a scream. Geolgeol Jungsang and Gwan Muru, who had already donned hoods and lain in wait, had struck.
"St-stop them!"
The hall instantly dissolved into chaos. Dupyo hurled Priest Palo at the Holy Knights, and then everyone drew their weapons and began rampaging. In that split-second opening, Ung-sam slashed at Baron Gowin.
CLANG!
"Nngh!"
"Oh, you blocked it."
Baron Gowin groaned at the monstrous force he felt through his hands. And he also saw Ung-sam's face, smirking.
'Stay safe. And remember what I said earlier. I will return.'
Baron Gowin caught the words Ung-sam murmured low into his ear. And before he could even respond, he felt his body sent flying by Ung-sam's kick.
THWACK!
"Nngh!"
CRASH!
"My lord!"
Sir Rainman's voice rang out through the chaos. Baron Gowin's eyes caught the backs of Ung-sam's group as they slipped through the encirclement as if it were child's play and vanished.
'I won't forget this, Sir Gerard.'
Baron Gowin murmured as he watched Ung-sam's retreating back. Sir Rainman, too, understood that Ung-sam's actions had been for their sake.
'To give a false name like Gye Ung-sam, and tell a lie about being from Gauri or whatever... Sir Gerard, thank you.'
There are always people who refuse to believe the truth, even when it's told. Gye Ung-sam was a man of misfortune whose truths were always taken for lies.
Whatever the case, that was how they began their flight, and while on the run, they had heard the news that Baron Gowin had been hauled before the Noble Council and thrown into prison.
* * *
"...Ah, now that I think of it!"
Gye Ung-sam, who had been mulling over the events in the capital, suddenly shouted as if something had just occurred to him and turned his head. Keun Namu's group, who had been resting their bodies in the cave, and the rest of Ung-sam's party all looked at him at the same time. The direction Ung-sam had turned — Samdopyo was sitting a good distance away.
"......."
"Hmph. What is it...?"
Dupyo had been grinding his teeth when Ung-sam, who had been staring blankly into space, suddenly fixed his glare on him, and a chill ran down his spine.
"A word I'd forgotten for a moment just came back to me."
"......."
Ung-sam's eyes narrowed.
"Dupyo. You said you hate liars, didn't you?"
"......!"
He had only now recalled the words Dupyo had shouted while holding Priest Palo. Watching Ung-sam slowly approach him, Dupyo had the distinct feeling his future was about to get even more tangled than it already was.
Chapter 21 — Breaking a Rock with an Egg
"Don't run! Stand and fight!"
Shunk!
CRASH.
A small hand axe buried itself in the skull of the man who had been shouting at his soldiers as if coughing up blood. Once the soldiers saw their commander collapse with an axe lodged through his helmet and into his head, whatever fight they had left vanished completely.
"Where did this knight order even come from!"
"Aaargh!"
Nothing in the chaos could stand as an obstacle to the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry.
THUD-THUD-THUD!
"Hyaaah!"
"Stop them!"
CRUNCH!
"Cough!"
Even the last desperate struggle for survival of the lone North Roselin knight who had stayed behind to command the soldiers was snuffed out — by a Hwandudaedo that shattered his shield and plunged through. Men who had been savoring the taste of victory just moments ago were now swallowing the ashes of defeat. The dying knight, his gaze drifting between his broken shield and his split-open chest, let out a hollow voice.
"It wasn't someone else's problem after all..."
He realized now that he had made a fatal mistake, dismissing the reports of attack forces vanishing without a trace from the villages as mere rumor. With that, he drew his final breath.
* * *
The war between South Roselin and North Roselin had begun to show unexpected signs of becoming a protracted struggle. When the capital fell and even the King of South Roselin was killed, people had thought the war was already over. But the escape of South Roselin's princess, Pamilion Yunias Roselin, and the crown prince, Pamilion Alsein Roselin, and their reunion with Marquis Helios Baikal's Eastern Army — which had broken away from the front lines — turned the war into a prolonged conflict.
Of course, the tide of the war had not reversed. It was merely that the South Roselin royal bloodline had not been severed, and the fact that the man leading the fight against North Roselin was none other than the War God of the East, Marquis Baikal — that alone became a rallying point that lent strength to the resistance forces across all of South Roselin.
North Roselin understood this as well. So when the signs pointed toward a war of attrition, they dispatched Duke Camillien Perren Roselin — the very man who had first initiated the war against Marquis Baikal — to take charge of securing the region.
Fortunately, the Duke proved more adept at regional pacification than at conducting warfare, and he succeeded in coaxing a considerable number of the resisting South Roselin nobles into submission. This, in the end, gradually cut off the support flowing to Marquis Baikal's Eastern Army.
The nobles who ultimately refused Duke Perren's overtures were isolated one by one and occupied by the North Roselin forces under his command. No matter that Duke Perren's army had been assembled from expendable pieces — once reinforced to thirty-five thousand troops, it was a force no single domain could hope to repel.
But it was precisely in that situation that the North's grip on the region had begun to slip, little by little.