Record of a Thousand Lives-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.

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

[Legendary Quest—Desert Temple]

[Thesouthwestern part of the continent housed a great forest and an ancient civilization, but sandy, desolatedeserts are all that remain of theonce-thrivingcivilization.]

[It is said that a great temple can be found in the middle of the vast desert, whichthe 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 dayswhenthe 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 beforeasking, “If it’s a temple, it must be where they worshiped Sylphia, the goddess of the continent, right?”

A religion existedonthe Sylphia Continent, just like in the real world. However, whilemultiple other unofficial gods existed,the sole recognized religiononthe continentbelonged tothe goddesswho shared the continent’s name, Sylphia.There were multiple temples and shrines spread across the continent thatworshipedthe 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 andcomplained.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.”

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

“Wewon’tlook for the temple,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

The partylooked 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, KangYoon-Sooeasily pulled out an old treeroot and threw itinto the campfire as he said, “Someone willcome 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-Soosaid.

“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 ofpale whitebones waslying atop a sand dune. Thepartyfound a white skull after digging through the sand for a bit.

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

“Maybe it’s because it’s the desert,but thereseemto be quite a few of these bones around,” Shanethcommented.

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

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

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

Henrickcleared away the area around the skull using one of thesandshovelsthepartyhad 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 themas well.

Shaneth looked at the bones and scales, trying to jogher memories. She suddenly said, “These bonesseemfamiliar…”

She suddenly realized what thebones belonged toandexclaimed, “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?” Henrickasked with a grimace.

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

Dragonswere known asforcesthat 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 ifitsrage werestirred up. A dragon was a frightening creature, feared by all races and monsters.

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

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

“What?” Shanethexclaimed.

Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly answered, “We’ll fight theIgnus Dragonhereinthe Desert of Death.”

The party’sfaces 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 feelas ifthis journey is growing more dangerous by the day?” Henrick complained.

Kang Yoon-Soo rubbed theSpartoi’s bones. They were already soweathered thattheystarted to crumble and chipjust from being rubbed gently.

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

Liches had the abilityto research and study the remains ofcreatures to gain experience points, but therewasno valuein the Lich studying suchold and weathered remains.

Kang Yoon-Soo collected the scales from theSpartoi’s bones. Theslightlyreddish scales seemed to berather sturdycrafting materials.

[Scales of the Spartoi]

They havemaintainedtheirdurability even though a long time has passed sincetheirowner died. They arenot suitable to be used for clothing, andaremore widely used asmaterial for shields or decorations. However,using equipmentmade 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 andasked, “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 frighteningasa dragon was theembodimentof 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.”

***

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 whocould withstand hunger at all.

“Yanak! Feed us!” a Fire Troll named Ralkwiracomplained, throwinga tantrum.

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

“Then let’s stop and eat!” Ralkwiraprotested.

“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 itwould not beleader-like for him to instantly agreewiththe words of his subordinate.As such, hereacted 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 wedilly-dallyand get sidetracked!”

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

“Ralkwirais right! We have to eat first!”Another Fire Troll named Orkwi complained as well, rubbing hisbelly.

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

“Yanak! There’s no need for us to look far!” Ralkwiraexclaimed, pointingacross thedunes.

Four humans were crossing the desert on camelsin the distance.Yanak gulped hungrily andexclaimed, “Camel meat!”

Ralkwira and Orkwi salivated and roared.

“I want to rip thatcamel’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 andadded, “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 Trollsput their heads togetherand 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 barterfor the camelmeat! There’s nothing wrong with bartering!”

“But we don’t have anything worth barteringfor camelmeat!” Yanakobjectedas a leader should do—at least,according tohis philosophy.

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

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

However, Ralkwira caught him andexclaimed, “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 seriousexpressionsblocking their way.

“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 fewodd-lookingbumps onhis head. He called out,“I’m Yanak! I have a proposalfor you!”

“What proposal?” Henrick asked.

“Exchange me for your camel meat!” Yanakoffered.

“What are you talking about?” Henrick repliedconfusedly.

Yanak said ina 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 thoughttheir offer would be rejected.

“Yanak! What disaster is this?!”

“This is shocking! To think I’m worth less than four camels!” Yanak cried out. Itseemed he was quitetaken abackbyhis valuation.

Henrick waved his hand in annoyanceand said, “Tsk. I guess you meet all sorts of strange fellas if you live long enough. Movealong if you’vefinished your business with us.”

“Wait!” Yanakexclaimed, wipinghis tears away.Hepointed at Henrick and Kang Yoon-Soo before saying, “Now that I think about it, you two are men!”

“One of themcould 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’smore 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!” Yanakexclaimed.

“What?” Henrick was flusteredbythe Fire Troll’s words.

The three Fire Trollslifted uptheir clubs andapproachedthe two men, calling out,“Change of plans! You two men have to be kidnapped by us!”

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

However, Yanak slammed his clubdown onthe ground and roared, “We don’t need females!”

Kwachik!

A wave of sand flew around Shaneth, but she did not even move a stepin the face ofthe sudden threatbythe Fire Troll.In truth, the Fire Troll was more surprised thanshe 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 raiseda brow, asking, “Did you just say you wouldkidnap Henrick and Kang Yoon-Soo?”

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

“Then why didn’t you think about becomingher groomyourselves? You’re males too, right?” Shaneth retorted.

“The goddess doesn’twant us!” Yanak replied,his voice cracking and tears welling upinhis eyes.

The other two Fire Trolls also had tears welling upintheir eyes as theysaid, “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 aregreatmen 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 couldsuch gentle and good men like you do somethingasvicious and vileaskidnapping someone?”

“We aren’t doing it because we want to! The high priest told us to!”The three Fire Trolls noisilytried to justifytheir actions.

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

“That’s right! Let’s do that!” the three simpletonsreplied, loweringtheir clubs.

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

“Of course. Who haveI traveled with allthistime?” Shaneth replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo called out, “Iris.”

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

The three unsuspecting Fire Trolls werewalking happilywith the backs of their heads wideopen and exposed.Iris jumpeduphigh and swung her fist.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Ack!”

The Fire Trolls collapsed after receivinganunjustified ambush.

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

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

“What?” Henrickexclaimedin 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 repliedina very brazen tone,“To threaten them.”