Record of a Thousand Lives - Chapter 148

Ayhill, Rawin, Rekil, Reanna, and the Skeleton Church Leader sat around a table in the village assembly hall.

“Even though I am nothing but an old church leader, did you really think I would be unable to beat a single high-ranked undead being? You ran away quite quickly without even looking back,” Rawin said to Ayhill, fuming.

“It would have been a loss if I died along with you,” Ayhill replied nonchalantly.

“Ugh… I envy you merchants. You can ditch your friends just for the sake of making a profit,” Rawin grumbled.

“Are you my friend?” Ayhill asked.

“Are you planning to say you are not?” Rawin asked in response. Ayhill could only scoff while Rawin smiled.

Rekil looked at the two while whispering to his sister, “I never imagined that I would get to see the leader of the Church of Helix, Rawin, and the tycoon Ayhill, in person. Is that really the Great Merchant Ayhill? He seems younger than I expected him to be.”

“Ayhill is famous for having become successful in his real estate business at a young age,” Reanna said nonchalantly as she picked up a cigarette.

Ayhill glared at her and asked, “There are clergymen with us right now. Is it not basic etiquette to not smoke in front of them?”

“Oh, what a coincidence. I’m a member of the clergy too,” Reanna replied.

“What did you just say?” Ayhill asked in surprise. He looked at her in disbelief as she leisurely smoked her cigarette.

Rekil rubbed his forehead before saying, “Please excuse my sister. She’s a crazy bitch.”

Rawin laughed out loud and said, “That is alright. Is it not the same for every household? The sister is always crazy and the brother is always a pain in the ass.”

“Oh! It seems that the leader of the Church of Helix can relate to me,” Rekil said in delight.

Ayhill clasped his hands together and asked seriously, “So, what business do you have with me?”

Rawin added, “I am also curious. Why did the Skeleton Church Leader suddenly want to see a feeble old man like me as well?”

Kang Yoon-Soo stood up and went straight to the point, saying, “I wish to convert the monsters on the continent to the Church of Madness.”

Silence filled the entire room for a moment, and only the sound of Reanna puffing on her cigarette filled the air.

Then, Ayhill grumbled under his breath, “There’s another lunatic here…”

Rawin tilted his head in confusion and asked, “Why did you ask to see me too when you are trying to spread your religion?

Kang Yoon-Soo looked back and forth between Ayhill and Rawin before saying, “I need both of you for my plan.”

“Are you asking me to help your religion because you saved my life?” Ayhill asked while tapping his finger on the table. He continued, “I have no interest in your religion, and the name of your church sounds very suspicious to me. What the hell is the Church of Madness? I am someone who rejected the proposal of a large, renowned church. I have no plans to invest my money into a small cult that wants to spread its religion to monsters.”

“Hey, Ayhill. Why not at least hear their offer first?” Rawin asked, trying to appease his friend. The old man then asked Kang Yoon-Soo, “Can you tell us exactly what kind of help you need from us?”

“I want to ask Ayhill to build me a cathedral at the location I provide, and for Church Leader Rawin to give me command over the Templar Knights of Helix. I’ll do the rest from there,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Silence filled the room once again, and this time, the only sound came from Rekil coughing in embarrassment.

Ayhill got up from his seat and said, “I will be taking my leave.” Then, he glared at Kang Yoon-Soo with a hint of anger and said, “Feel free to send me the bill for saving my life, although I will not be willing to pay for something as grand as building a cathedral.”

He walked to the door, and was about to pull it open when…

“Wait a minute,” Reanna suddenly said. Ayhill turned around and saw her rubbing her cigarette into an ashtray. Reanna asked, “You don’t follow any religion, am I right?”

“That is correct,” Ayhill replied.

Reanna smiled and said, “Then try to believe in the Church of Madness.”

“Are you trying to force me to join your cult? I am certain that this is something you do to normal folks out there walking on the street,” Ayhill replied in a cold, disinterested voice.

“I’m not forcing you, and neither is this a cult. We don’t hurt people, we save villages, and the head of the church doesn’t accept any tithes or offerings, so how are we a cult?” Reanna asked in response.

Rekil looked at his sister in disbelief and thought, ‘Noona, what the hell is wrong with you?’

Reanna ignored her brother’s look and continued, “Besides, don’t you have something to atone for?”

Ayhill’s brow twitched. He knew exactly what she was talking about, and that was the fact that he had ditched Rawin to run away on his own. He glared at her and said, “That is none of your business…”

It was then that Rawin smiled brightly and called out, “Ayhill.”

Ayhill looked at Rawin, and the old man drank the rest of his tea and put his teacup down. Rawin continued, “Why don’t we try it out? Who knows? Perhaps the god you are destined to serve could be found there.”

It was difficult to make out what Ayhill was thinking from his expression alone, but his footsteps ceased just before he stepped out of the door.

Kang Yoon-Soo grabbed Ayhill’s hand and said, “I shall guide you to our place of worship.”

***

The place of worship Kang Yoon-Soo guided them to was quite small and modest. It was an old storage unit that had no roof, and the sky was directly above them.

Ayhill kneeled on the ground and asked, “What should I do now?”

“Just speak your heart,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

Only Kang Yoon-Soo and Ayhill were in the place of worship. Ayhill felt uneasy for quite a while before he finally spoke. He asked, “Can I say anything I want?”

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“My father was an overzealous man,” Ayhill said in a calm, solemn voice. He continued, “He said that he needed to offer something to his god when I was young, so he killed my mother and tried to kill me as well.”

He looked up at the sky and muttered, “I barely made it out alive, and that experience made me scared of death. I calculated and calculated everything like crazy just to survive, but being on the edge at all times only made me fear death even more. It might just be a pitiful excuse, but that is the reason I left Rawin behind and ran away.”

Then, he continued in a low and gloomy voice, “But why wasn’t father aware of it…?” His voice started to tremble as he asked, “Why did my father, who was far more devoted to his god than anyone else, fail to notice it? Why did he not know that my ‘god’ was my mother?”

It was now time to convince him.

Kang Yoon-Soo said in a soft, gentle voice, “Everyone has a god of their own.” He slowly continued, “An idol, family, friend, or teacher; anyone who has loved us and cared for us can be our god.”

Ayhill’s ears perked up as he listened intently. Kang Yoon-Soo looked directly at him and said, “And you are no exception.”

Tears started to well up in Ayhill’s dry eyes, and a stream of tears soon flowed down his cheeks. He cried for quite a while without making a sound, letting out all of the tears he had been holding back his whole life.

Only quite a while later did Ayhill manage to compose himself. He asked, “The Church of Madness… Does a god really exist in your religion?”

“It’s nothing but a fake god I made up,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Why are you spreading a fake religion among the people, then?” Ayhill asked.

“I believe that the fact of whether a god exists or not isn’t important at all. I believe that the role of religion is to give people something to believe in that will give them hope and peace,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“What a strange, twisted sort of logic that is,” Ayhill said.

“It’s actually just an excuse,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied, immediately coming clean.

Ayhill got up from the ground, then said in a revitalized, happy tone, “I will not follow the Church of Madness. A god is still something I have a hard time coming to terms with.”

“I respect your decision,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“However, I will think about your proposal,” Ayhill said, then extended his hand toward Kang Yoon-Soo. As Kang Yoon-Soo shook his hand, he added, “There is something I am curious about.”

“What is it?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.

“If the Church of Madness is just something you came up with, who is your god?” Ayhill asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo was quiet for a while, lost deep in thought. ‘My god…? That’s an easy question.’

“I have a few,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied, thinking of Shaneth, Henrick, Iris, and his summons. Then, he looked up at the sky and said, “I continue to live because these people I am unworthy of exist.”

***

A bright light shone down on the plains, where a large white structure stood tall on the horizon.

Rekil laughed bitterly and said, “I’ve developed a new respect for laborers from this day onward.”

“It was finished pretty quickly,” Reanna said as she flicked her cigarette.

A single cathedral that seemed out of place stood in the middle of a vast, empty plain. It had been completed in less than a month, due to the blood, sweat, and tears of the laborers and magicians who had built it.

“I still find it amazing. Why would a tycoon like him invest in a cathedral right smack in the middle of nowhere? Did he go senile at a young age or what?” Rekil wondered, perplexed.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at the cathedral from afar while sipping on his alcohol.

Ayhill was not a merchant who did business based on emotion alone. He was a merchant who would calculate meticulously and go after profits alone even if he were moved emotionally.

‘I gave my terms and conditions to Ayhill and Rawin,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

He had asked Ayhill to construct him a cathedral as quickly as possible, in return for passing him valuable information about an undeveloped mine that would further enrich his merchant company. He had also asked Rawin for three hundred Templar Knights from the Church of Helix in return for supporting the Church of Helix in the future.

However, the Templar Knights from the Church of Helix looked at Kang Yoon-Soo with gazes full of disdain and distrust.

“Just be aware of this. We came here because it was the order of our head, but we do not trust you,” the Templar Knights said.

Rawin was a gentle and soft man, and that was why he had been accommodating toward Kang Yoon-Soo. However, the Templar Knights held disdain and hatred toward the undead, and there was a high chance of them disobeying his orders or even staging a rebellion at this rate.

“Let’s go,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, and the knights followed his command.

They soon arrived at the cathedral; it was beautiful beyond words, to the point that nobody would believe that it had been completed in less than a month. The rays of sunlight that streamed down through its numerous windows, and the various instruments within that included a large pipe organ, made the cathedral look more luxurious.

Rekil laughed in disbelief and said, “This is no different from the royal palace, compared to our old cathedral…”

“The location isn’t that good, though,” Reanna said as she looked out the window.

Numerous cries emerged from the distance as the sun started to set and the sky turned dark.

Grrrr…!

Kuwel…! Rakemol…! Onol…!

They were none other than the cries of monsters, coming from the numerous monster habitats that existed beyond the vast plain where the cathedral had been built. The Templar Knights were all on alert when they heard the monsters’ cries.

‘The Templar Knights of the Church of Helix are renowned for their combat prowess,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought.

The Templar Knights of each church were quite powerful, but the ones from the Church of Helix were a cut above the rest. Their power and brutal combat style were enough to make even the hardiest of mercenaries tremble in fright.

“What do we have to do?” the Templar Knights asked Kang Yoon-Soo crudely. They even seemed to look down on the siblings, who seemed to get along with the Skeleton Church Leader.

Kang Yoon-Soo replied, “We’re going to scout the surrounding area for today.”

“What a waste. I hope you don’t waste our time doing that,” the captain of the Templar Knights replied with a snicker.

Rekil was about to say something in response, but Reanna stopped him and said, “It’s a given that they would act that way. I wouldn’t respect those who converted to a religion founded by an undead as well if I were them.”

“So we’ll just stand here and listen to their insults?” Rekil asked angrily.

“You’ll lose even if you pick a fight,” Reanna nonchalantly replied.

“Noona can be quite blunt and harsh sometimes…” Rekil grumbled.

They left the cathedral and scouted the perimeter around it. The vast plain was desolate, and not a single blade of grass grew across it.

The Templar Knights grumbled, “How long will we have to walk? It’s going to be daybreak soon.” They were not grumbling because they were tired, but rather for the sake of humiliating Kang Yoon-Soo.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo maintained his silence as he continued walking.

They soon reached a rock wall that seemed to be part of a mountain, and on the wall, they saw an entrance to a cave. The entrance was quite narrow, but the interior of the cave was quite wide.

“Karruuk! Kyaaruuk!”

“Kyaaruk! Kyaaaarookk!”

The cries of several monsters rang out from within the cave, and the Templar Knights readied their swords. However, Kang Yoon-Soo stopped them and gave a stern command. “Don’t kill the monsters. Ever.”

They all looked at Kang Yoon-Soo with eyes wide open in surprise, but Kang Yoon-Soo was not fazed at all as he continued, “We’ll heal the injured among them.”

“You really are insane,” the captain of the Templar Knights said as he walked toward Kang Yoon-Soo. He towered above the skeleton; Kang Yoon-Soo had to look up to look him in the face.

“We’re knights who follow the orders of our church. Are you telling us to heal those monsters?” the captain asked.

“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“A Templar Knight has an obligation to kill monsters that threaten the safety of civilians,” the captain said. He glared threateningly at Kang Yoon-Soo before adding, “And the undead in front of me right now is no exception.”