Record of a Thousand Lives

 

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Chapter 74

The day ended and night came to the vast desert.
The desert was unexpectedly cold at night. As such, the party tied up their camels and lit a fire to make camp.

‘I should probably continue the legendary quest as well,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

He checked the details of the legendary quest on his wrist device.
The details of the legendary quest had changed slightly as he had progressed further.

[Legendary Quest—Desert Temple]

[The southwestern part of the continent housed a great forest and an ancient civilization, but sandy, desolate deserts are all that remain of the once-thriving civilization.]

[It is said that a great temple can be found in the middle of the vast desert, which the ancient civilization once used as their place of worship.]

[Collect the clues spread across the Desert of Death and find the hidden great temple.]

*The great temple can only be found on days when the mirage subsides.

Rewards: Meeting with the next quest giver

“A temple in the desert… Why are you trying to go there?” Henrick grumbled.

Shaneth was deep in thought for a moment before asking, “If it’s a temple, it must be where they worshiped Sylphia, the goddess of the continent, right?”

A religion existed on the Sylphia Continent, just like in the real world.
However, while multiple other unofficial gods existed, the sole recognized religion on the continent belonged to the goddess who shared the continent’s name, Sylphia. There were multiple temples and shrines spread across the continent that worshiped the goddess.

“Hey! It’s not hot anymore, so let me go!” Acle complained.

Iris pondered for a moment before letting go of Acle.
Acle’s face was red with anger as he grumbled and complained. Iris smiled as she looked at the little boy getting worked up and said, “Make me feel good again next time, Acle.”

“S-shut up!” Acle retorted as he ran away to the summon dimension.

Henrick laughed at the sight of the ice spirit running away and said, “Maybe it’s because he’s an ice spirit, but he seems to get embarrassed really easily.”

He carved a sand crystal with his sculpting knife as he looked into the distance and murmured, “But this is quite a predicament we’re in… If we overturn every stone in this vast desert to find the temple, it’ll take us at least half a year to find it.”

“We won’t look for the temple,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

The party looked at Kang Yoon-Soo as if he had just said something very strange.
Kang Yoon-Soo fiddled around with the dying campfire with a stick; firewood was quite hard to come by because they were in the desert.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo easily pulled out an old tree root and threw it into the campfire as he said, “Someone will come to us first.”

***

Morning came, and a voice whispered in Kang Yoon-Soo‘s ears as they were preparing to depart once again.

‘Come to me; come find me; come do my bidding,’ the voice whispered.

“Why don’t you reveal who you are first?” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Huh? Did you say something?” Shaneth asked.

“Nothing.
Don’t mind it,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The party continued their journey across the desert. Henrick and Iris seemed to have acclimated to the heat, as they no longer lagged behind the rest.

Suddenly, Shaneth shouted from atop her camel, “There’s a corpse there!”

A set of pale white bones was lying atop a sand dune.
The party found a white skull after digging through the sand for a bit.

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Henrick grimaced at the sight, wondering, “Is it someone who was trekking across the desert like us? This is giving me anxiety for no reason.”

“Maybe it’s because it’s the desert, but there seem to be quite a few of these bones around,” Shaneth commented.

The two gulped as they felt a strange, eerie feeling creep up on them. Henrick suddenly spoke up as he scrunched his eyebrows. “These skulls seem to be quite large.”

The skulls that peeked out of the sand seemed to have rather large eye sockets.

“Is it the skull of an ogre, or maybe a troll?” Shaneth said.

Henrick cleared away the area around the skull using one of the sand shovels the party had purchased, and they realized that the skull was much larger than they had anticipated.
The bones buried beneath the skull had dried scales attached to them as well.

Shaneth looked at the bones and scales, trying to jog her memories.
She suddenly said, “These bones seem familiar…”

She suddenly realized what the bones belonged to and exclaimed, “The Spartoi! These bones resemble the Spartoi that appeared from the Orb of the Covenant! The skeletal structure seems to be similar too!”

“Spartoi? You mean the ones a dragon orders around?” Henrick asked with a grimace.

Iris looked quite nervous as she asked, “Is there a dragon in the desert?”

Dragons were known as forces that could shake up the entire continent whenever they wanted.
They usually never left their lairs, but it was certain that a dragon could wreak havoc and destroy a part of the continent if its rage were stirred up.
A dragon was a frightening creature, feared by all races and monsters.

“It’s alright.
They say dragons are such rare creatures to see that even elves don’t get the chance to see them even once in their long lifespan, so I don’t think we would ever meet one,” Shaneth said.

“We will,” Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly said.

“What?” Shaneth exclaimed.

Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly answered, “We’ll fight the dragon Ignus here in the Desert of Death.”

The party’s faces turned ghastly pale at his words. What kind of a madman would pick a fight with a dragon, a creature that could blow away a whole kingdom in an instant?

Shaneth asked with a trembling voice, “Y-you’re joking… Right?”

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“…Why do I feel as if this journey is growing more dangerous by the day?” Henrick complained.

Kang Yoon-Soo rubbed the Spartoi’s bones.
They were already so weathered that they started to crumble and chip just from being rubbed gently.

‘It seems meaningless to even raise these as undead.
There’s no value in having the Lich research them either.’

Liches had the ability to research and study the remains of creatures to gain experience points, but there was no value in the Lich studying such old and weathered remains.

Kang Yoon-Soo collected the scales from the Spartoi’s bones.
The slightly reddish scales seemed to be rather sturdy crafting materials.

[Scales of the Spartoi]

They have maintained their durability even though a long time has passed since their owner died.
They are not suitable to be used for clothing, and are more widely used as material for shields or decorations.
However, using equipment made out of this material will make dragons hostile toward the user.

Kang Yoon-Soo stored the scales in his backpack and mounted his camel.
He looked back at the three people and asked, “What are you standing around for?”

“Kang Yoon-Soo, do we really have to fight a dragon?” Iris asked, her voice shaking nervously. A creature as mighty and frightening as a dragon was the embodiment of fear itself for a doppelganger like Iris.

Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied with one word, “Yes.”

“What if one of us dies?” Iris asked.

“No one will die,” Kang Yoon-Soo confidently replied. He continued, “As long as I’m alive, none of you will die.”

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***

Yanak was facing a huge predicament as the two Fire Trolls that followed him complained, “We’re hungry!”

Starvation in a place like the desert was a dangerous thing.
The Fire Trolls had lived all their lives in the hot desert and were used to being thirsty, but they weren’t creatures who could withstand hunger at all.

“Yanak! Feed us!” a Fire Troll named Ralkwira complained, throwing a tantrum.

Yanak was climbing up a sand dune when he stopped halfway and turned around at Ralkwira, replying, “I’m hungry too!”

“Then let’s stop and eat!” Ralkwira protested.

“But we don’t have any food!” Yanak replied.

“Then we should look for prey to hunt!” Ralkwira suggested.

Yanak could easily agree with Ralkwira’s suggestion, but he felt that it would not be leader-like for him to instantly agree with the words of his subordinate. As such, he reacted negatively to the suggestion and said, “We have to look for a groom for the goddess first! Someone else might beat us to it if we dilly-dally and get sidetracked!”

“We’ll starve to death before that!” Ralkwira retorted.

“Ralkwira is right! We have to eat first!” Another Fire Troll named Orkwi complained as well, rubbing his belly.

Yanak finally seemed satisfied and replied, “Alright! We’ll fill our stomachs first! Let’s hunt!”

“Yanak! There’s no need for us to look far!” Ralkwira exclaimed, pointing across the dunes.

Four humans were crossing the desert on camels in the distance. Yanak gulped hungrily and exclaimed, “Camel meat!”

Ralkwira and Orkwi salivated and roared.

“I want to rip that camel’s hump off its back and chew on it!”

“I want to feast on that camel’s delicious fat!”

However, Yanak hesitated for a moment and added, “But those camels have owners!”

“We shouldn’t take something that is owned by someone else!”

“That’s right! The goddess will punish us!”

The three Fire Trolls put their heads together and struggled to come up with a solution.
They wanted to eat camel meat, but they couldn’t simply steal someone else’s possession.

Then, Ralkwira came up with an excellent solution. “Let’s ask them to barter for the camel meat! There’s nothing wrong with bartering!”

“But we don’t have anything worth bartering for camel meat!” Yanak objected as a leader should do—at least, according to his philosophy.

Then, Orkwi slowly raised his club and called out, “Yanak! This is when the leader has to take one for the team!”

“What do you mean?!” Yanak asked, slowly backing away.

However, Ralkwira caught him and exclaimed, “Yanak! Prove your right as our leader!”

“N-no! I-I don’t want to!” Yanak screamed as he ran away.

“Get him!”

***

The party was facing a strange predicament.
There were three large Fire Trolls with serious expressions blocking their way.

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“Are they trying to pick a fight?” Shaneth asked as she grabbed her scythe.

However, the largest Fire Troll stepped up to speak.
That Fire Troll seemed to have a few odd-looking bumps on his head.
He called out, “I’m Yanak! I have a proposal for you!”

“What proposal?” Henrick asked.

“Exchange me for your camel meat!” Yanak offered.

“What are you talking about?” Henrick replied confusedly.

Yanak said in a loud, confident voice, “I’ll gladly become your companion if you hand over those four camels!”

Kang Yoon-Soo curtly replied, “No.”

“How could this be?!” the three Fire Trolls exclaimed, as they had never thought their offer would be rejected.

“Yanak! What disaster is this?!”

“This is shocking! To think I’m worth less than four camels!” Yanak cried out.
It seemed he was quite taken aback by his valuation.

Henrick waved his hand in annoyance and said, “Tsk.
I guess you meet all sorts of strange fellas if you live long enough.
Move along if you’ve finished your business with us.”

“Wait!” Yanak exclaimed, wiping his tears away. He pointed at Henrick and Kang Yoon-Soo before saying, “Now that I think about it, you two are men!”

“One of them could become the goddess’ groom, but the goddess’ groom has to be handsome!”

“I can’t tell which one is the handsome one!”

The three Fire Trolls murmured among themselves.

Soon enough, Yanak said, “I don’t know what standards humans have! Who’s more handsome between you two?!”

Henrick was taken aback for a moment before he answered hesitantly, “Well… Both of us are handsome?”

“Alright! We’ll kidnap you!” Yanak exclaimed.

“What?” Henrick was flustered by the Fire Troll’s words.

The three Fire Trolls lifted up their clubs and approached the two men, calling out, “Change of plans! You two men have to be kidnapped by us!”

“What are you talking about?” Shaneth asked as she stood in front of Kang Yoon-Soo.

However, Yanak slammed his club down on the ground and roared, “We don’t need females!”

Kwachik!

A wave of sand flew around Shaneth, but she did not even move a step in the face of the sudden threat by the Fire Troll. In truth, the Fire Troll was more surprised than she was.

“Are you okay?! Did you get hurt anywhere?!” Yanak asked in surprise.

“Yanak! You were too rough!”

“What are you doing to this innocent female?!”

However, Shaneth crossed her arms across her chest and raised a brow, asking, “Did you just say you would kidnap Henrick and Kang Yoon-Soo?”

“That’s right! We need a groom for the goddess!” Yanak replied.

“Then why didn’t you think about becoming her groom yourselves? You’re males too, right?” Shaneth retorted.

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“The goddess doesn’t want us!” Yanak replied, his voice cracking and tears welling up in his eyes.

The other two Fire Trolls also had tears welling up in their eyes as they said, “We’re ugly by the goddess’ standards! Also, we’re useless to her because we’re too kind! That’s why we can’t become her groom!”

“That’s not true.
You guys are great men too,” Shaneth replied.

“Lies! That’s a lie!” Yanak cried out.

However, Shaneth mercilessly retorted, “You guys are fools! Why are you looking down on yourselves? Why do you assume the other person will dislike you before even giving it a try?”

“That’s because we’re lacking!” Yanak replied.

“That’s not true.
You guys aren’t lacking at all,” Shaneth replied.

“H-how so?!” Yanak asked.

“You possess strength, regeneration, and fire.
There’s no need for you to belittle yourselves at all.
Have some faith in yourselves and be courageous.
You guys are cool men!” Shaneth said.

“Oh my! You’re the first female to tell us these words!” Yanak cried out as he rubbed his face with both of his hands. Ralkwira and Orkwi were also crying behind him.

Shaneth continued in a gentle voice, “I was surprised at first.
How could such gentle and good men like you do something as vicious and vile as kidnapping someone?”

“We aren’t doing it because we want to! The high priest told us to!” The three Fire Trolls noisily tried to justify their actions.

“Then don’t use force, but politely ask the other person.
Then you don’t have to become kidnappers, right?” Shaneth asked.

“That’s right! Let’s do that!” the three simpletons replied, lowering their clubs.

Henrick whispered to Shaneth, “You, you’ve improved quite a lot.”

“Of course.
Who have I traveled with all this time?” Shaneth replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo called out, “Iris.”

“Alright,” Iris replied, walking up behind the three Fire Trolls.

The three unsuspecting Fire Trolls were walking happily with the backs of their heads wide open and exposed. Iris jumped up high and swung her fist.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Ack!”

The Fire Trolls collapsed after receiving an unjustified ambush.

Henrick looked at the collapsed Fire Trolls and asked, “What do you plan to do with these guys?”

“We’ll travel with them,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“What?” Henrick exclaimed in surprise.

Kang Yoon-Soo wove the Spartoi’s scales into a rope and bound the Fire Trolls with it.

“These trolls will guide us to the great temple,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“But why are you binding them?” Henrick asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo replied in a very brazen tone, “To threaten them.”