Record of a Thousand Lives

The Third Order of the Imperial Knights rode their mounts across the mountainous terrain through the rain. Riding on horsebackin wetmountain terrain was not something most would consider a good idea,as most inexperienced riders would end up biting their own tongues or falling from their horses. However, the steeds bred in the imperial stable easily evaded any obstacles, and the riding skills of the imperial knights were astounding.

At the forefront, Lenoxshouted,“Are you sure you saw that woman?”

“Yes,sir! She was definitelyforaging for wildberries under the rain…Keheok!”Eric shouted in excitement,buthe ended up biting his own tongue.

Lenox rubbed the hilt of his sword,thengave a command to the knights.“That woman is somewhere around here! We will find her today and catch her!”

Lenoxtried his best to encourage the knights thatwerealready exhausted beyond their limits; in addition, their food rations were now dwindling and they could not delay the mission any longer.Hechose the best route to takeon horseback,and the rest of the knights followed behind him toward the bright campfire light in the distance.

Lenox dismounted from his mountandquietly approached the smoldering embers left behind by the campfire.“There was someone here untiljusta while ago,” he said as the rest of the knights dismountedand searched the area.

One of the knights pointed to the ground and shouted, “There are footsteps over here!”

The muddy road was still wet and soggy from the rain, and there were clear footprintsinthe mud.

“It seems ?the woman we are chasing after has grouped up with other people. They couldnot have gone far,since they are on foot;should we give chase?”

At the very momentLenox was about tospeak,the darkness surrounding theknightsdisappeared.Brightness enveloped themand a draft of hot airblew past theircheeks. Their visionbecamehazy from the heat, andone of them suddenly shouted,“Fire!”

“Damn it! How could this be?!”

They were caught up in a wildfire that was severely out of place. The foresthad still beendamp from the rain that had stopped not longbefore, and itshould have beennearly impossible to set the forest ablaze even if one intentionally tried to by pouring oil alloverthe damp forest.

However, the wildfire blazedlike a hungry beast that was set on devouring the whole mountain, anditgrew stronger as it consumed and felled the trees one by one.

“Captain! Whatareyour orders?!” a knight shouted in apanic.

“There must be a spirit summoner in their group,” Lenox muttered.

“Huh?” the knight replied.

“Nothing. You guys retreat,” Lenox commanded.

The knights’ eyes widenedin surprise as they asked, “What do you plan to do, captain?”

“Itisrisky for a large group to continue the search in a wildfire like this. I can go through the fire alone. We will rendezvous at the foot of the mountain tomorrow morning,” Lenox said.

The knights cried out, refusingto follow his orders.

“How can we leave you alone? We cannot follow that order! I will go with you!”

“Right! I will go with you as well!”

“As long as I live by the sword, I will risk my life to carry out the orders of the empire!”

/p>However, Lenox shook his head as he looked at the knights and said,“I am well aware of your loyalty to the empire, but donot say you will die for the empire.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that, captain?” the knights asked in surprise.

“You will understand later,”Lenoxresponded.

The knights clenched their fists tightly, and some of themeventeared up.However, all of the knights except for Lenox ended up retreating from the wildfire.

Lenox mounted his horseandstroked its mane. It was a horse thathad beenbred in the royal stable, and wasfit for a captain of the imperial knights, butLenox was not interested in horses and he did not know what breed his mount was.However, everything depended on the horse he was riding on.

“Let’s go,” he said to his horse, spurring it onward.

The horse neighed, shootingout like an arrow andchargingthrough the flames, but there were numerous obstacles in the form of fallen trees and burning bushes thatblockedtheir path.

It was at that moment that Lenox drew his sword and used a skill.“Wind, Bless My Sword.”

It was a high-tier sword skill.WindgatheredonLenox’ssword, andhe instantly destroyed all of the obstacles. The wind that gathered at the edge of his sword not only extinguished the flames, but also blew away all of theburned-down,fallen trees.

The flames almost burnedLenoxby a hair’sbreadth, buthemanaged to break through the fire without sustaining any injury.

“Cough! Cough!”Lenox coughed as he looked aroundat hissurroundings.

He saw a group of people walking in the distance, and he roughly observed theircomposition. The groupconsistedof a woman with a small burn mark, an expressionless young man, a middle-aged manwhoseemed to be familiar, a girl covered in fire, and a blonde woman.

‘That guy…Is that Henrick…?’Lenox shook his head at the sudden thought; there was no way thepersonalartisan of the princess, who had retired because of a rare disease that made his body numb, would be in a place like this. Instead, hefocused on the girl covered in fire and the blonde woman.‘That girl covered in fire must be the spirit that burned the mountain, and that blonde woman must be…’

It was quite a distance,but he was able to make out the flowing blonde hair that was characteristic of the imperial royal family—it was the doppelganger of Kisifran, the Royal Princess. The objective of their mission was now in front of him.

Lenox was about to steer his mount toward them when a young man started to walk toward him. The young man must have seen him charge through the flames, but he neverthelessapproachedwithout showing any hesitation or fear. Oddly enough, the young man had both a sword and a staffin his hands.

Lenox drew his sword at the young man and shouted,“Stand back! I am the captain of the Third Order of the Imperial Knights, Lenox Hermagen! I am here on imperial orders to transport that woman back to…”

“Shut up,” the young mansaid, interruptinghim.

“If you don’t step aside…” Lenox warned him nevertheless.

“I said shut up.”The young man’s voice sounded cold and angry.Lenox’s expression crumbledwhen he heard the young man’s words.

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m sorry,”hesaid as he steered his mount toward the young man and drew his sword. As long as the order was given, he was supposed to kill anyone who had witnessed the doppelganger of the royal princess.Hecharged with his mountat fullspeedandswung his sword.

Shhiik!

“Hiiiiiing!”

The front leg ofLenox’smount was chopped off,and he fell to the ground. However, he calmly rolledacrossthe ground and avoided sustaining any damage. Lenox stood up from the muddy ground and glared at the young man with killing intent.

His strike justthen had beensupposed to chop the young man’s head off in onestroke. However, the young manhadnot even received a scratch, and it seemed likea strokeof luck that the young man had managed to avoid his sword.

Lenox was actually greatly surprised by the turn of events, but he remained calm on the outside as he said,“Your luck won’t save you twice.”

However, he could not help but question the turn of events. Was it really a stroke of luck?A creeping sense of caution caused him to change his approach. He gripped his sword tightlyand said,“Wind, Bless My Sword.”

An intense wind gathered around the knight captain’s blade. His sword swing sent a blast of wind flying toward the enemy like a typhoon. However, the young man easily avoided his sword.

The young man’s movement was not fast, but rather precise. He read the trajectory ofLenox’ssword, lightly stepped aside, and avoided it.It did not matter how hard Lenox swung his sword; heonly managed to slash through the air without hitting anything. The young man did not shed a drop of blood asLenoxstood there staring at him, speechless.

“What the hell are you…?”Lenoxmuttered.

“You’re making me waste my time,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. He drew his sword,althoughhis mind was preoccupied with something else.

Meanwhile, Lenox was surprised at the sight of the young man’s sword reflecting the moonlight. He tried to follow thetrajectory of the young man’s sword swings,but eventuallyfailed, becomingmesmerized bythe sword’s arc.Theyoung man’sswordsmanship was sharpandaccurate, and could even be called beautiful; it was ata level that only those who had reached an expert levelinthe sword could recognize.

“Ah!” Lenox exclaimed as he felt a blunt impactstrikehis head. His vision darkened in an instant as he collapsed.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo knocked the captain of the imperial knights out with the hilt of his sword. There was a large difference in their levels, but he had managed to subdueLenoxwith only his swordsmanship.Hedid not show any emotions even after achieving such an amazing feat.

He walked back toward his companions, then approachedthe doppelganger of the royal princess and said, “We need to talk.”He took her to a secluded place away from the ears of Shaneth and Henrick, then asked,“How did you know I regressed?”

“Someone inside of me told me,”the doppelgangeranswered.

“Who is that?”Kang Yoon-Sooasked again.

“I am not exactly sure, but there is an existence that is sealed within me, and itcannot come out of me. I call that existence the ‘White Shadow’. TheWhiteShadow is telling me to convey these words to you,” the doppelganger explained.She continued,“Your 1,000th life is the final one. There will be no more regressions.”

It was at thatmoment that achangethathad never existedinKang Yoon-Soo’spast 999 livesoccurred.

***

“Captain! Are you alright?”

Lenox heard a voice andfelt someone shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes to find one of his knights looking at him worriedly. He was lyingin the exact same spothe hadcollapsed onthe previousnight.“Iamashamed,” he said as he stood up, thendrank from a water canteen one of his knights passed him.

The knights stared at their captain, whohad beenknocked out cold, but none of them dared toaskwhat had happened—until Eric asked,“Did you lose the target?”

All of the knights glared at Eric.They were allcurious as to what had happened, but theyhad beenfeigning ignorance for the sake of their captain.

However, Lenox shook his head and said,“Itisnot Eric’s fault. It was my mistake;I lost the target.”

“To thinkthat the captainwould lose them. The wildfire yesterday must have been really bad,” one knight remarked.

“No, something more terrifying than the wildfire was there,” Lenox replied.

“Huh?” the knightexclaimed.

Lenox stared at the sword in his trembling hand. What hehad seen the previousnight was something so unrealistic, he had suspected it tohave been a dream. However, his memory was surprisingly clear; he clearly remembered the swordsmanship of that young man.

His heart started to beat faster. He was physically stronger than the young man, and he would not have lost so one-sidedly if hehadnotbeenmesmerized byhis opponent’sswordsmanship. However, theyoung man’s techniquewas definitely impressive, and all of his knowledge regarding the sword had changed overnight.He thought,‘Itwas the first time I sawsuch swordsmanshipfrom anyone other thanthe 1st Order’s captain.’

Lenox stood up from his spot,thenpointed at Eric andasked,“Can I borrow your horse?”

Eric looked touched by his words and answered with a salute,“Yes, sir!”

“Iapologize, but you willhave to ride behind another knight,”Lenoxadded.Hemountedthe horseandgripped thereins, and the knights followed suit astheymounted their horses.

Lenox then shouted, commanding theknights,“They must not have gone far! We will chase after the target once again! The target hasjoinedwith other people! Be especially careful of the expressionless Traveler!”