Record of a Thousand Lives - Chapter 149

The Templar Knights’ resentment toward Kang Yoon-Soo had already reached its limit. They had already been about to rebel against him, and the fact that he had just asked them to heal the monsters made the situation even worse.

‘Nothing good will happen at this rate,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. He said, “Do not overlook those who have been injured during a fight.”

The Templar Knights could not hide their surprise. Their captain’s brows rose before he said, “That’s from chapter ten, verse fourteen of the doctrine of the Church of Helix. But why are you bringing that up now?”

Kang Yoon-Soo replied, “The teachings of Helix apply equally to all, as far as I know. That cave is filled with injured monsters. Are you still going to ignore them?”

“Monsters aren’t humans! They’re different from us!” the captain shouted angrily.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and replied, “I respect your reasoning, but you’ll have to change the way you think from now on.”

“Then do you still plan to treat those monsters?” the captain asked with animosity in his voice.

“Not all monsters harbor hatred toward humans. Additionally, the monsters in there have value as well. It’s not just charity work we are doing here,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The captain merely glared at Kang Yoon-Soo before turning away from him. However, Kang Yoon-Soo called out, “Sir Ravotel.”

Then, the captain of the Templar Knights turned around and responded, “Oh? So you know my name? I don’t remember introducing myself to you, though.”

“The strong are always right, and the victor’s word is law,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Chapter fifteen, verse two of the doctrine of the Church of Helix,” Ravotel responded.

“That’s right, and it seems you don’t have any plans to submit to me,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“What are you going to do about it?” Ravotel asked.

“We’ll settle it through the way of Helix,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He then pointed his sword at Ravotel and said, “We’ll duel, one-on-one. The winner will have the right of command from then on.”

“Then are you trying to say that you’ll give up the right of command if I win?” Ravotel asked.

“Of course, but the Templar Knights have to follow my command without any grumbling if you lose,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

The Templar Knights burst out in laughter; Ravotel’s swordsmanship was renowned within the Church of Helix. Ravotel himself smiled, confident in his own abilities.

“How unlucky of you to have chosen me, of all people, to have a duel with,” Ravotel said as he drew his sword. The sword had a bluish hue, reflecting moonlight off its edge.

“Now, draw your sword as well. Well… I’m not sure you can even call that a sword,” he said, pointing at the rusty old sword on the skeleton’s waist.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and replied, “I’m not the one who will duel against you.”

Kang Yoon-Soo had focused on preaching in this trial, so he had had no time to train his swordsmanship, and he was also an undead being. There was no way he could win against a Templar Knight even if he was an undead swordsman.

“Then who will duel against me, if not you?” Ravotel asked.

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at Reanna with his chin; she pointed at herself, looking perplexed.

Rekil nudged his sister and muttered, “He pointed at you just now.”

Ravotel frowned and asked, “Are you asking me to duel against a woman?”

“Reanna,” Kang Yoon-Soo said as he looked at her.

Reanna flicked the ashes off her cigarette, sighing as she said, “I don’t really feel like dueling against weak men, but oh well…”

“What did you just say…?” Ravotel asked with a surprised expression.

Reanna stood in front of him unfazed, then said, “The first one to get knocked down loses.”

Ravotel folded his arms over his chest and replied, “Unfortunately, I don’t raise my sword against women.”

“Unfortunately, I raise my sword against men. Can I take this as you forfeiting the duel?” Reanna asked with a hint of mockery in her voice. Ravotel’s expression was distorted with rage when he heard the response.

Rekil went to Kang Yoon-Soo, snickering as he said, “I guarantee you that noona will bring that guy down in under ten minutes.”

“Five minutes,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“Oh, aren’t you underestimating him a little too much?” Rekil replied, feigning surprise.

Ravotel’s anger increased even further when he overheard the pair’s conversation.

Reanna drew her sword and said, “The first attack will be aimed at your shoulder.”

“Stop the useless mind games. Do you think I’d believe you?” Ravotel replied with a scoff.

“You won’t be able to block it even if you know,” Reanna said with a shrug.

Ravotel gritted his teeth and readied his sword before saying, “I’ll make you eat your words.”

The two glared at each other for a moment, then charged at each other.

Clang!

The duel did not even last five minutes.

Thud…

Ravotel lay on the ground, looking up at the night sky and stars.

Reanna leisurely lit a cigarette while surrounded by shocked Templar Knights, saying, “The stars are quite pretty tonight.”

***

Goblins were weak monsters, and they usually died after sustaining injuries. They were also bullied constantly and looked down on because of how weak they were.

‘Bad. Everything is bad,’ Amon the goblin thought angrily. He had forgotten why he was mad in the first place, but he was mad nonetheless.

‘I don’t remember why I’m mad, but I’m mad. I’m even more furious that I forgot why I was mad in the first place!’ he fumed.

Filled with anger, he looked around his surroundings before he suddenly remembered why he had been mad in the first place. It was because of the stench of rotting flesh and blood, and the goblins lying collapsed around him.

“Kyarruk!”

“Kororok! Kyarrruk!”

The goblins cried out while squirming on the filthy ground.

Amon shed a tear as he thought, ‘Everyone hates goblins! Everyone is evil except for goblins!’

The goblins had been injured after they left their cave in search of food, having come into contact with a group of human mercenaries on the outskirts of the plains. Those humans were responsible for all their casualties.

‘Humans are evil! No, everyone is evil! Only goblins are pushed around like this!’ Amon thought furiously. He then broke out in tears, as that was the only thing he could do. “Kyaruk! Kyaaruuuk!”

He felt frustrated by the fact that all he could do was cry, so he picked up a stone and threw it against the wall. It was then that he noticed that something was strange about his body.

‘Right! My left arm was cut off while fighting!’ he thought. He was infuriated by the sight of his missing arm. However, he had no one to vent his anger on, and so he slammed his head against the rock wall.

Bam!

‘Aigoo! It hurts! My head hurts!’ Amon cried inwardly while covering his head with his right arm.

He needed something to vent his anger on, but he could not find anything to fight. He angrily stomped his way out of the cave to cool his head, but then he suddenly saw someone walking toward him in the distance. He hurriedly hid behind a rock and observed the person.

‘It’s a skeleton!’ he thought in surprise, looking at the skeleton draped in cloth. He thought in disappointment, ‘But a skeleton has no meat on it…’

However, he shook his head and thought, ‘No, my family needs to eat, even if it’s a piece of bone.’

Family meant everything to goblins, and their whole community was their family. They occupied caves to create safe havens for their family, and they fought primarily for the survival of their family. The stupid humans might have thought that goblins were creatures driven by mere instinct, but they were not aware that goblins had properly structured societies of their own.

‘So many of my family members are injured right now, so I have to at least grind some bones and feed them,’ Amon thought as he gulped nervously.

In truth, he was not confident about his ability to hunt anything, and that was the reason why he had always made it his life’s motto to go around in groups only. However, the others were all severely injured, and he was the only one who could move.

‘I have to look after my family and feed them,’ he thought.

He gripped the stone ax in his hand tightly, then jumped out the moment the skeleton was looking somewhere else. He cried, “Kyaruruuk!”

Right as Amon was about to swing his stone ax at the skeleton’s skull, however…

Pukeok!

Just like that, stars swirled before Amon’s eyes.

“Kyaruk…!” He groaned in pain while sprawled out on the ground. His stone ax was shattered into pieces, and blood flowed out from the wound left behind by his severed left arm, as it had opened up again.

The skeleton pointed its rusty sword toward him, but Amon was completely unfazed. He immediately got up and bit the skeleton’s rib after wailing, “Kyarururuuk!”

Munch…!

Amon retreated in surprise, thinking, ‘Aigoo! My teeth will break first at this point!’

The skeleton’s bones were much harder than he had expected them to be.

It was then that the skeleton suddenly clacked its jaws and said, “Kyaruruk. Kyaruk. Kyarururuk.”

“Kyaruk…?” Amon replied, unable to believe his ears. He thought in shock, ‘Goblin language! The skeleton speaks the goblin tongue!’

The skeleton was not spouting gibberish or merely imitating the goblins; rather, it perfectly articulated every intonation of the goblin language.

The skeleton clacked its jaws once again. “Kyaruruk. Kyaruk. Kyarururuk.”

Amon could not completely understand what the skeleton was trying to say, as goblins did not have a single formal language, but he could roughly make out what it was trying to say:

‘I will not hurt goblins.’

Amon’s forehead creased when he heard the skeleton’s words.

‘You won’t hurt goblins? What a load of bullshit!’ Amon thought as he cried out, “Kyaruk! Kyaruruk!” He picked up a stone from the ground and threw it viciously at the skeleton.

Goblins were despised by everyone else, but this skeleton was saying that it would not hurt goblins? No monsters or humans had ever refrained from hurting goblins before.

However, the skeleton did not avoid the stone Amon had thrown, and merely reached into its backpack instead.

Amon was terrified, thinking, ‘The skeleton is looking for a weapon to kill me with!’ Modern weapons were a source of horror for the primitive goblins.

However, the thing Kang Yoon-Soo took out from his backpack was a bandage, not a weapon.

Amon was confused, thinking, ‘Is it going to strangle me with that…?’

That was not it either. Kang Yoon-Soo applied ointment to Amon’s severed left arm and wrapped a bandage around it, and Amon’s wound ceased to bleed soon after.

“Kyaruk. Kyarok. Kyaruruk. Kyaririk,” the skeleton said before it got up.

Amon understood what the skeleton was trying to say. ‘I will heal the injured goblins. Guide me to your chieftain.’

Amon grabbed his left arm. It hurt less than when he had chewed the first grass he could find and applied it as an ointment. He stuttered and asked, “K-Kyaruk…?”

That meant, ‘C-Can I trust you?’

The skeleton nodded in response. After a moment of hesitation, Amon led the way. As soon as he entered the cave together with the skeleton, it caused an uproar among the other goblins.

“Kyaruk! Kyaruruk!”

“Kyarurururururuk!”

Some of the goblins who could still move tried to charge at the skeleton, but Amon blocked them and cried out, “Kyaruk! Kyarururuk! Kyarrurururuuk!”

The goblins stopped moving while glaring at the skeleton in distrust, but their starvation made it so they could not help but drool at the sight of the bones walking in front of them.

Amon gulped nervously before guiding Kang Yoon-Soo to the goblin chieftain.

“Kyaruk. Kyororok. Kyarururuk.”

“Kyarruk? Kyarorok!”

The goblin chieftain and the skeleton shared a deep and meaningful conversation; Amon, who was not particularly smart, could not understand the entirety of it.

“Kyaruruk. Kyarok. Kyarririik.”

“Kyaruruk! Kyaruruk!”

The goblin chieftain nodded in agreement at the end of the discussion. Amon could not hold back his curiosity, so he approached the skeleton. Then, the skeleton clacked its jaws and said, “Kyaruk. Kyaririk. Kyaririk.”

Amon could not fully understand what the skeleton was saying, but he got the rough gist of it. He started to dance in joy after the skeleton said, ‘Your sick family will be healed.’

The skeleton left the cave and returned with three hundred Templar Knights.

***

“Damn it… What the hell are we doing right now? Healing goblins? Damn it…! I didn’t join the church to do things like this,” Ravotel grumbled while wrapping a bandage around a goblin.

Reanna suddenly appeared and asked, “Do you want me to show you the stars again?”

“…” Ravotel quietly gritted his teeth.

The Templar Knights were surprised to see a docile side of their captain. However, Reanna verbally whipped the Templar Knights as well. “Wrap the bandages faster! Do you want me to show you the stars as well?”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!” The Templar Knights responded in unison.

Rekil, on the other hand, was quite busy.

“This guy is only slightly wounded! We can treat him later. Bring over the most severely injured first! Especially those with severed body parts!” Rekil shouted while using his divine power to heal the goblins.

While Rekil had converted away from the Church of Sylphia, the Church of Madness did not have enough followers yet to grant him any new divine powers. That was why he could still use his old power, which was very effective at healing.

“Kyaruk! Kyaruruk!”

The goblins were on guard against the humans at first, but the situation turned around fully after they witnessed Rekil’s divine power. The able-bodied goblins diligently brought the injured ones over, and the one-armed goblin, Amon, was the most active among them.

After several hours of struggle, all of the goblins were healed.

“Kyarik! Kyarorok! Kyarurik!”

A goblin holding a wooden staff approached Kang Yoon-Soo, and the Templar Knights immediately prepared to draw their swords.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo waved his hand and said, “It’s alright.”

The goblin chieftain gave a toenail necklace to Kang Yoon-Soo as a token of gratitude.

Kang Yoon-Soo turned around and looked at the Templar Knights before saying, “We’ll be bringing the goblins to the cathedral.”