Chapter 98
Chapter 98
Iron Emperor — Chapter 98
"Heh... hehehe."
A smile escaped Baron Bels's lips. Before he knew it, he too was carrying a cask of liquor on his shoulder, heading toward the platform where his own soldiers lay sleeping. As if drawn along behind him, the soldiers of Vihanen Fortress followed.
"Won't be enough liquor."
Baron Perse spoke from amid the thousands of corpses, sounding dumbfounded.
"What's it matter? We can drink next time."
Behind Baron Bels, a soldier smiled as he poured out the liquor that had been in his own cup.
"Indeed."
As if following suit, the liquor of the living soaked the bodies of the dead. Watching the sight, Baron Bels turned his head toward the Gauri army's camp.
Their laughter rang out especially loud. Their dancing grew more intense, their songs louder and louder.
"To be mourned like that... I suppose even in death they'd have no regrets."
A tear slid down one of Baron Bels's cheeks. The sounds of grief contained within the songs, laughter, and dances of the Gauri army shook Baron Bels's heart.
Chapter 26 — Fleecing the Pirates
Azure waves.
The blazing sun and sea breeze harmonized, sweeping across the bodies of the men of the sea.
"Come on, come on, a little further and we're back at the home base!"
"Kiyaa-ho!"
At Fleet Commander Jang Bogo's booming voice, the sailors' cheers spread across the vast expanse of ocean. The skin of men who had lived under the sun for the past several months was once again tanned to a coppery bronze, and their arms, hauling on the rigging, looked like solid steel.
"Are we almost there?"
"Yes, Commander-in-Chief Gerard."
The man who emerged from the cabin—Gerard of Lightning.
The color had returned to his face, and now, reasonably sun-darkened, he looked every bit a man of the sea. He no longer fed the fish whatever he'd just eaten over the gunwale, nor plastered himself flat against the deck.
If one thing had not changed, it was his habit of speaking casually. But since he was the king out here, no one said a word. And his swordsmanship was more than enough to back it up.
"Siren lasses in sight!"
The crew had grown familiar with the denizens of these waters—they no longer leaped overboard to rescue Sirens, nor prostrated themselves calling them Dragon Palace fairy maidens.
As they entered the Sirens' territory, the distinctive song began to reach them.
Aaah-aaaah~ aaah-aaaaah~.
"Heh, hearin' this often enough, it really does grow on you."
"Right? Look over there! The Siren lasses are waving at me!"
"You loon!"
The sailors, returning from a long voyage, painted peaceful expressions onto their faces, welcoming the drifting melody as a sound of homecoming. Here and there, a sailor waved back at a singing Siren, enjoying himself.
"Thought it was too quiet today."
"No way my man's comin' and I'd just sit still."
One sailor grumbled and pointed off to the side. There, a Siren was cutting through the water toward them.
Splash!
White foam burst up near the hull.
A sailor who had leaped into the sea toward the approaching Siren was swimming out to meet her. Gerard, who had once lectured them at length on the dangers of Sirens, now offered no interference whatsoever—merely watching the sailor swimming like a swallow skimming the water with envious eyes.
"Damn, I'm jealous."
"Haha, the Commander-in-Chief will have his chance too."
"Tch."
There is a continental proverb: Elves on land, Sirens at sea.
It referred to their extraordinary beauty. In the case of Sirens, however, their danger also made them something every man of the sea was especially wary of.
The sailor and the Siren who met midway embraced each other tightly. Watching the scene, the other sailors clicked their tongues and kindled their jealousy toward the man swimming together with a Siren.
"I should've been in that spot back then."
"Agh!"
The sailors' regretful voices spilled out.
It had been a couple of months ago.
Entering one stretch of the Siren seas, they had discovered an island in an ideal location, warded by the natural barrier of the Sirens' song. All around, the rocky islets where Sirens lived were scattered, so no ship could approach the island—and because the Sirens' song did not carry all the way here, there had been no incidents of captured slaves drifting lifeless in the sea either.
It was while they were building a dock and dwellings and preparing to settle into this natural fortress.
"Eh? What the hell is that!"
Chunsam's eyes went round. He had come out with a harpoon, figuring he'd catch some fish and grill them during his break. At the edge of the shore where white foam lapped, a half-naked woman was being chased by an enormous crab. The woman seemed to be trying to flee into the sea, and the enormous crab was cutting her off with terrifying speed.
"Damn it!"
Chunsam couldn't stand by and watch any longer. He flung aside the harpoon and snatched the bow from his back.
"Dammit, why the hell is everything in this place so goddamn huge, birds and all!"
For Chunsam, who had gone out to hunt birds right before they first arrived here and ended up hunting a wyvern instead, everything was just bizarre. The crab chasing the woman was a Giant Crab—a rare creature. Its height stood at two and a half mir, and with its long legs its width stretched to nearly six mir.
Kii-kiik!
"Go on and die!"
Twang!
The arrow loosed from Chunsam's hand flew toward the Giant Crab.
"Kiri-kiri-kiri-kirik!"
"Kyaaaah!"
Splash!
The half-naked woman, her legs apparently giving out, collapsed into the shallows and screamed in despair. The Giant Crab was advancing, slowly extending a colossal pincer.
WHOOSH!
CLANG!
"Kiri-ri-ri-ri!"
"Ah!"
Something flew in and hammered the Giant Crab's carapace with a tremendous noise. The impact was so heavy that the creature's body lurched and was knocked backward. The woman, recovering her wits, tried to scramble to her feet—but like every heroine in an old tale, she clutched her ankle and could not rise.
The enraged Giant Crab shook off the blow, shrieking as it turned toward the direction the attack had come from.
CLANG! CLANG!
"Kiririk! Kirik!"
Arrows hammered its body in rapid succession! But disappointingly, they failed to pierce it, bouncing away with metallic clangs. The Giant Crab's target shifted.
"What the...?"
A dumbfounded expression spread across Chunsam's face.
It had deflected every one of the three arrows he'd fired in succession.
"What kind of crab has a shell like cast iron instead of a crab shell?"
Clicking his tongue and muttering, Chunsam looked down at his bow. The first shot had been from two hundred and fifty meters. He'd loosed the other two while running. The third arrow had been fired at a hundred and twenty meters. At his level of skill, that was a range where even steel plate shouldn't have been an issue—so he'd glanced down to check if there was something wrong with his bow.
"Kiririk! Kirik!"
WHIZZ!
"Dammit. And I don't have any Pyeonjeon arrows."
Watching the Giant Crab shrieking as it charged straight at him, Chunsam felt a sinking sense of trouble.
THWACK-THWACK-THWACK!
Chunsam's feet moved. He couldn't shake the Giant Crab's tremendous speed, but his two legs—tempered by running the white-sand beach every day—were plenty fast.
WHIZZ!
With practiced hands, Chunsam drew three arrows at once and nocked them to his bow.
"Let's see you deflect 'em with your eyeballs!"
Twang-twang-twang!
Three arrows tore through the sea breeze toward the Giant Crab's eyes.
"Kirik!"
A warning cry rang from the Giant Crab's mouth. Contrarily, Chunsam clenched his fist and cheered.
"Hell yeah!"
Whizz-whizz-whizz!
"Huk!"
Regrettably, however, all three arrows failed to find the Giant Crab's eyes. At the very moment they should have struck, both eyes simply flopped over to the sides.
"Kirik!"
"Gonna be the death of me."
But the effect was there—the Giant Crab had halted and was glaring at Chunsam.
A momentary standoff.
The Giant Crab's legs broke the equilibrium and moved at speed.
"Ah!"
The direction the Giant Crab bolted in was not toward Chunsam but toward the half-naked woman. Chunsam grew frantic. Judging by the speed, it was obvious he would be too late.
"Fine!"
Chunsam worked his feet and drew two more arrows.
Twang!
THWIP!
Arrows flew at the Giant Crab's eyes once again. But even with its back to the arrows, it flopped its eyes sideways to dodge, then raised them back up.
THWACK!
"Kiri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri!"
But it was a rapid follow-up shot with staggered timing!
The second arrow, tracking the same trajectory as the first, had skewered the eye as it rose back into place.
"Hey, lady—get on my back, quick!"
"A-ah!"
While the Giant Crab writhed in agony, Chunsam sprinted to the woman and urgently thrust his back toward her. But the woman only stared at Chunsam with flustered eyes.
"Kri-ik!"
With an arrow lodged in one eye, the Giant Crab came charging madly.
"Goddammiiiiit!"
Seeing the woman gazing at him with frightened eyes from behind, Chunsam shouted and nocked a single arrow once more.
[Aim for its mouth!]
"What the—!"
Startled by the woman's voice ringing inside his head, Chunsam nonetheless loosed his arrow instantly.
THWIP!
THUNK!
"Kiiiiiiih!"
As the arrow lodged into its mouth, the Giant Crab shuddered violently in place. Seizing the opening, two more arrows punched in.
Thud!
"Is it... dead?"
The fallen Giant Crab did not stir. It merely spewed foam from its mouth.
[Thank you.]
"Huk!"
Chunsam spun around at the voice that rang in his head once more. As he did, the woman's fragrant, sea-scented lips pressed against his own.
"...!"
The half-naked woman pulled her lips away from Chunsam, who had frozen in shock, and spoke.
[Call me Iruel.]
"Uh, Geom Chunsam!"
[Chunsam, would you carry me out to where the water is deep enough to submerge my body?]
Unable to utter a word, Chunsam nodded and carried her into the sea. At once, a bluish light shimmered around her, and her lower body transformed into the shape of a fish.
She was a Siren.
After this incident, Chunsam set up a newlywed home on the shore, and according to Siren custom, the Siren called Iruel took Chunsam as her mate and lived with him from then on. Once his comrades learned of this, it went without saying that they were no longer treated with hostility by the Sirens—and the number of sailors who voluntarily patrolled the perimeter of the island bearing bows, swords, and spears steadily increased.
"Tch. What a waste."
"It's fate."
Returned to the present, the sailors watched Siren Iruel and Chunsam heading toward their newlywed home and endlessly cast wistful glances after them.
Splash!
"Commander-in-Chief Gerard's gone and jumped in again!"
"Throw the net!"
Suddenly the rear of the fleet grew clamorous. Fleet Commander Jang Bogo clicked his tongue briefly at the sight and let out a sigh.
"There he goes again. Every single time we make the return voyage...."
One of Gerard's unchanging antics. Having seen that the Gauri sailors were completely unfazed by the Sirens' song, he had made a habit—under the pretext of training—of stripping away the mana protecting his ears and flinging himself into the sea as well.
Into Bogo's ear, as he clicked his tongue, came a captain's voice.
"Isn't he, perhaps... enjoying it?"
"...."
Bogo stared wordlessly at the captain who'd spoken, then turned his gaze back ahead and muttered.
"...Could be."
Many things had happened, but they had brought in unexpectedly enormous revenue.
First, every local pirate around was right here in the vicinity.
Of course, none of them were inside the Sirens' territory the way this group was. But because these waters were so hazardous, the empires' navies seldom ventured near, so a significant number of small- and medium-scale pirates had gathered in the area. Among them were those who belonged to the Slegian Maritime Empire's navy while wearing the mask of pirates.
Second, their home was safe!
None of them had known the Sirens' territory would be this secure. On top of that, the slaves they captured couldn't even dream of escaping.
All they had to do was anchor a single captured vessel in waters where the Sirens' song could be heard and post a few men to watch. Any slave who came up onto the deck to flee would, a hundred times out of a hundred, hurl himself into the sea. The Gauri sailors stationed here just had to haul the ones caught in the nets they'd strung around back up.
Third, Chunsam's wife was a Siren.
That was a colossal advantage.
Thanks to the Sirens, they could read the reefs and underwater terrain around them like the lines on their own palms. Operations became effortless. If they lured the enemy toward where the Sirens were during a fight, the moment the song became audible the enemy ship became an empty ship. Then they could saunter up and simply tow it away. Naturally, anyone who jumped into the sea was scooped up wholesale with nets.
Over half a year like that, the pirates in the area were wiped out entirely, and a purge-wind blew through the Slegian Maritime Empire—which had been conducting trade while running a side business in piracy—as a naval commander who failed to unravel the inexplicable disappearances of its warships was dismissed.
The trouble didn't end there.
The Maritime Empire's dominance over the seas was common knowledge. And their piratical habits were likewise an open secret. Fortunately, they didn't touch state transport vessels—only plundered ordinary merchant ships in moderation—so major friction had been avoided. But once even the Maritime Empire's warships, along with all the local pirates, were utterly swept away, the dynamics shifted.
"Kuhahaha! Sweep 'em clean!"
Whenever battle was joined, that maniacal laughter unfailingly rang out.
Everything is hardest the first time. As the saying goes about late-learned thievery being dangerous—Gerard was exactly that.
Gerard, having plundered once, then twice. By the third and fourth times, he was already leading from the very front and stripping his targets bare. When Gerard plundered, not a speck of dust was left behind—Go Jin-cheon had read his aptitude exactly right.
Gerard's fleet grew from small-scale to large-scale.
Absorbing and integrating pirates from the surrounding area who were either unaffiliated with the Slegian Maritime Empire or had been oppressed by them, the swelling fleet gradually escalated the scale of its plundering.
Among their targets were many maritime merchant vessels bound for North Roselin. Those became their biggest prey. Previously, the transport fleets of the Henesia Holy Empire and the Federal Empire had been deliberately avoided by small-time pirates, and the Slegian Maritime Empire's pirates had refrained from touching them in order to avoid unnecessary friction. But would Gerard simply look on and let them pass?
The answer was, "Are you crazy?" Naturally, they were recorded in the ledger as top-priority clients, and those accustomed to peaceful sea routes—sailing with only the ceremonial escort of two or three guard ships—fell squarely into Gerard's grasp, without exception.
After the fleets of the two great empires had been plundered down to their ships themselves on several occasions, they were vigorously fleeced until they increased their escort contingents. And the Slegian Maritime Empire ended up taking the blame for all of it—because these were events that simply couldn't have been executed by the scale or nerve of any other pirates.
As a result of Gerard's exploits(?), the Three Great Empires were steadily sliding toward preparations for war. Because of this situation, the Henesia Holy Empire pushed the twenty thousand elite troops it had received as 'support(?)' from the Haian Kingdom into North Roselin, while keeping a close watch on the movements of the other two empires.
The Federal Empire, which had been in the perfect position to sit back selling weapons and enjoying the show, likewise kept its attention sharply fixed on the movements of the Slegian Maritime Empire and the Henesia Holy Empire. The heightened sensitivities among all parties steadily fed the embers of a continental war.
This hair-trigger state of affairs presented Gerard with an unprecedented opportunity. Fleets stolen from each empire were cycled toward the tributaries of the Reganza Mountains, and ample plunder streamed into Gauri, dazzling the eyes of the Haian Kingdom's interior.
On top of that, the slaves who had rowed the empires' warships became free citizens and streamed toward the promised land of Gauri, and their places on the oars were taken by the empires' own sailors.