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Kang Yoon-Soo stared at the two spirits who were tightly holding each other’s hands and thought, ‘Those two won’t be able to let go of each other except during special circumstances.’
That was because the materials used to create them had been mixed together. There was a way to create them separately, but he had not chosen to do that.
‘I won’t be able to meet the same spirits I had last time if I deviate…’ he thought while looking at the two. The light spirit and the sword spirit had both fought alongside him in his previous life.
Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at the beautiful, shining spirit and said, “You’re Light.”
“What’s that?” the light spirit asked.
“Your name,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Alright! I like it. A pleasure to meet you! Let’s get along from now on!” Light replied, smiling brightly and leaping forward to hug Kang Yoon-Soo.
The sword spirit was helplessly dragged along as a result, muttering, “Huu… I don’t like being dragged…”
Kang Yoon-Soo pulled Light off of him. Then, he pointed at the gloomy sword spirit and said, “Your name is Sharp.”
Sharp shook his head and replied, “I don’t want it… Someone like me doesn’t deserve a name…”
“You deserve it,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“Really…?” Sharp asked, looking at Kang Yoon-Soo with a sad gaze.
“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
Their status windows popped up in front of Kang Yoon-Soo after he named both of them.
[Light]
Level: 258
Race: Bright
Age: Adolescent
Speed: 90
Magic: 58
Luminescence: 110
Skills: Burning Light (Lvl5), Light Clone (Lvl6)
A bright and active spirit with a personality like the sun. She is eager to get along with every single lifeform she comes across.
[Sharp]
Level: 269
Race: Sharpness
Age: Adolescent
(Failed to check stats)
Skills: Incisive Charge (Lvl3), Absorb Sword (Lvl7)
A depressed and cowardly spirit. He is quite shy and timid, so he has difficulty using all of his strength.
+Sharp’s personality might change depending on the types of sword he absorbs.
Light was a Spirit of Light specializing in long-range combat, and she would certainly be a big help to the party in the future.
Sharp had the highest level of all of Kang Yoon-Soo’s summons, but Kang Yoon-Soo had no way to check his stats, and it would be a challenge for him to be of any help in combat because of his personality.
Light asked with sparkling eyes, “What’s your name?”
“Kang Yoon-Soo,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Hmm… Hmm… I see…” Light muttered, then went to every single one of the party members and asked their names. Because of that, Sharp was helplessly dragged along everywhere against his will.
Iris smiled and patted Light on her head before saying, “You guys are cute and beautiful.”
Light smiled brightly and replied, “Unni is very very extremely pretty too!”
On the other hand, Sharp sat on the ground with his head between his legs and said, “Huuu… Lies… I’m an ugly and dirty boy…”
Henrick furrowed his brow and wondered, “Is this kid really the Spirit of Swords? I know there’s no such thing on the continent, but his personality is more befitting of a Spirit of Darkness than a sword.”
“I’m sorry… sniff... sniff…” Sharp replied while crying.
“Hey, there’s no need to cry over it…” Henrick said, taken aback by the spirit's sudden tears.
Next, it was time for the spirits to introduce themselves to each other.
Acle looked arrogantly at the newly-born spirits and said, “I am the great Spirit of Ice, Acle. I was born earlier than you two, alright? So, you guys are beneath me. Do you understand?”
Light stared at Acle for a moment, then burst out into laughter and exclaimed, “Kyahahaha! Why are you smaller than me if you were born earlier?”
“W-What?” Acle spluttered in surprise as his face crumpled.
Light and Sharp were slightly taller than Acle due to the high-quality ingredients used to create them.
Sally snickered as she looked at Acle, remarking, “Hmph! I guess Acle knows how Sally feels now!”
“Tsk! Shut up!” Acle snapped back.
Sally completely ignored Acle, then walked toward Sharp and said, “Hi! Nice to meet you. My name is Sally. I’m your noona!”
“Hi… Nice to meet… you…” Sharp replied slowly.
Sally grabbed Sharp’s hand and called out warmly, “Sharp! Come play with Sally! Do you know how to play hide-and-seek?”
“Huu… It’s going to be no fun playing with a boy like me…” Sharp said dejectedly.
Shaneth listened to the spirits’ conversation for a while and remarked, “I guess it’s going to be noisier from now on…?”
“You can say that again,” Henrick grumbled. He observed the four spirits for a while, then suddenly asked, “But why is the eldest one the smallest?”
“It’s because she was made from poor-quality ingredients,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Waaaaah! Mommy!” Sally cried.
***
Birhen’s fall festival was neither too grand nor too modest. It did not have any grand attractions that might be worthy of a foreigner’s time, but it was a source of simple happiness for the citizens of Birhen. Songs and poems flowed from the mouths of numerous bards, flower petals were scattered throughout the city, and merchants sold a good variety of food at affordable prices. The festival was enjoyed by Continentals and Travelers alike.
“They’re selling dried figs over there!” Iris exclaimed.
“Alright! I’ll buy you one, so stop pulling!” Henrick grumbled while being dragged along by Iris. She had been dragging him around and practically holding him hostage the entire time, making him buy her whatever she wanted to eat.
“I have something to do, so I’ll head back to the inn first,” Shaneth said.
Kang Yoon-Soo was left sitting all alone on a bench while sipping alcohol. He thought, ‘The next destination is the Dragon of Destruction’s lair…’
The next destination was a very dangerous place, to the point that he usually avoided it actively despite regressing hundreds of times. If they did not prepare adequately for it, the party would surely die.
Just as Kang Yoon-Soo threw away the empty bottle and was about to open a new one, he heard something interesting.
“Revolcon! Have you heard the news? A new empress has been crowned today.”
“Hey! Stop that nonsense. Don’t go around spouting such rumors all over the place.”
Kang Yoon-Soo slowly glanced at the two middle-aged men drinking on the bench across from where he was sitting.
“Hey, what do you mean ‘rumors’? The official decree from the royal palace has already spread all over. It’ll be the talk of the city soon. They say the new empress is the daughter of the previous emperor who died.”
“Hoo… So the seat got passed down. That’s a given, but I’m kind of worried about whether the new empress will be able to do a good job…”
“I heard that’s not the case, though. One of my cousins works at the royal palace and based on what he heard… no, nothing. It might be better not to talk about it.”
“Huh? Come on! Don’t stop halfway!”
“Hmm… Forget about it.”
Kang Yoon-Soo raised a brow and thought, ‘The crown princess ascended to the throne?’
It was strange. Someone else was supposed to ascend the throne instead of the crown princess; that was the main reason why Kang Yoon-Soo had assassinated the emperor. And yet, despite that, the princess had become the new empress. That was not supposed to happen.
‘The crown princess is supposed to be dead at this point in time,’ he thought.
The crown princess was supposed to go missing and turn up dead a few days later, but that same princess was currently alive and had even ascended to the throne. That had never happened in Kang Yoon-Soo’s previous lives.
Kang Yoon-Soo stood up and walked over to the smaller of the two men, saying, “Tell me more about that—in detail.”
“Ha? Who are you to suddenly order me around?” the man retorted.
“I’m the sword brother of Raveldi Burk of the Birhen Market, Ramel Suryan. I’m also known as the Nameless Mercenary,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
The middle-aged men burst out into laughter, and the larger of the two replied, “The Nameless Mercenary? Do you even know what kind of legend he is? He’s a monster wearing a mask and a robe, and he massacred twenty large monsters in this area. Take that wrist device off first before you try to pull off a scam, you stupid Traveler. I used to twist the necks of liars like you back in my younger days… Tsk!”
“You’re the one who’s going to have his neck twisted if you say anything other than what I asked for,” Kang Yoon-Soo said threateningly.
“What did you just say?” the man replied with a hint of anger in his voice.
Kang Yoon-Soo flashed a medal at the two men.
“That is…?” one of the men muttered.
“There’s no way a resident of this city wouldn’t recognize the only symbol of the Nameless Mercenary. This is a medal I inherited from my ancestors, who were mercenaries themselves,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“Ha! I’m sure it’s probably a well-made fake!” the large man retorted with a scoff.
It was then that the smaller man’s face turned pale and he exclaimed, “I-It’s real!”
“Hey, what do you mean by that?” the larger man asked.
“Anyone who works at the Mercenary Guild like I do would know. Have you heard of the legendary mercenary group? There’s no ruin that mercenary group failed to conquer in the past, and the medal that was awarded to the leader of that group looked just like that one. It would be impossible to copy that medal so accurately!” the smaller man exclaimed.
“Now that I think about it… I remember that the Nameless Mercenary emits a sinister aura whenever he squeezes his medal. Can you show us whether you are indeed the real deal?” the large man asked.
Kang Yoon-Soo squeezed the medal, and a cold aura started to flow out of it. The two middle-aged men’s faces turned ghastly pale.
“I-I’m sorry for not recognizing you!” the larger man exclaimed.
“Shut up. I’m already annoyed that I had to reveal my identity to the likes of you,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. He continued, “I was invited to this festival because of my ties to my sworn brother, but I can’t just ignore what you two have been talking about. Spill everything you know about the new empress who ascended to the throne.”
“H-Huh? Why would the great Nameless Mercenary be interested in politics…?” the larger man asked.
“Do I have to explain everything in detail? Do you want me to show you the Nameless Mercenary drawing his sword against a human instead of a monster for the first time as well?” Kang Yoon-Soo replied threateningly.
The smaller man began to stutter carefully “T-That is… Actually, one of my cousins works at the royal palace, and I just happened to get this information from him by chance.”
The man’s story went as follows.
The emperor’s death and the subsequent vacancy of the throne caused great confusion and strife in the royal palace. The nobles squabbled endlessly to decide the rightful heir to the throne, and the disappearance of the crown princess did not help things at all.
The missing crown princess soon reappeared and proclaimed her right to the throne, but the opposing nobles did not relent at all.
However, it was a bit strange that the squabbles, confusion, and opposition in the royal palace suddenly quieted down overnight—the power struggle within the royal palace suddenly disappeared.
The crown princess seized her position as the rightful heir to the deceased emperor despite the numerous contenders to the throne, and the opposing nobles suddenly flocked to her side and supported her ascension.
Some rumors followed that this would be the start of a tyrannical reign, but Empress Kisifran instantly laid those rumors to rest. The new empress displayed remarkable leadership, and she solved various issues so well that it was hard to believe that she was a newly crowned empress.
However, she had issued one questionable decree. That was to erect a statue in each of the cities on the continent.
“A statue?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.
“Yes, I found it strange as well, but that guy insisted it was true. In fact, a few of the cities have already erected these statues, and they say they’re going to erect these unusual-looking statues in every city from now on,” the man explained.
Kang Yoon-Soo could not understand what was going on, and he thought, ‘Erect a statue in each of the cities… I don’t understand their motive…’
It was impossible to say that such a thing was being done for public security or aesthetic purposes.
‘Someone helped the crown princess survive, and helped her ascend to the throne… That’s the only thing I can think of right now,’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought. That someone was causing a great change to the life he was familiar with.
He suddenly remembered the words of the goddess, ‘She said that the Demon Lord wasn’t my only enemy… She said there was someone else who knew of my regression and wished for my death…’
If the crown princess, who had always died in his previous lives, had suddenly survived, that meant there was someone who was purposely twisting the course of events in Kang Yoon-Soo’s final life. Had that someone helped enthrone the crown princess too?
Kang Yoon-Soo could only think of one person who was deeply connected to the crown princess. ‘The Royal Alchemist, Rumier Kazan.’
The Royal Alchemist was the one who had tried to seize power by creating doppelgangers of the royal princess, but he had been caught and arrested eventually. However, there were a few suspicious things that did not sit well with Kang Yoon-Soo, and one of those things was the White Shadow that resided in Iris and knew of his regressions.
‘Is that Alchemist related to the crown princess’s ascension to the throne…?’ he wondered.
Kang Yoon-Soo ended up having more questions than answers, and he wondered if all of those questions would be resolved after he grew stronger and visited the Magic Tower of the Colossi. Even though he was living his thousandth life, he could not make heads or tails out of his current situation.
***
Iris was happy, Henrick was tired, Shaneth was in the kitchen, and Kang Yoon-Soo was expressionless as always.
Iris smiled and licked her lips, saying, “Festival foods are really tasty.”
“Then you can skip dinner for today, right?” Henrick asked.
“Omo, Henrick. My stomach is always empty,” Iris replied.
“My pockets are empty as well, thanks to you,” Henrick grumbled while gulping down more alcohol.
“I’m glad you’re hungry,” Shaneth said with a smile before bringing over a covered tray. Steam poured out from the tray when she opened the lid, revealing two scrumptious-looking pies—an apple pie and a meat pie.
“I bought the ingredients and made them in the inn’s kitchen. I’ve kept my promise with this, right, unni?” Shaneth asked.
“Shaneth is a really nice person,” Iris replied, tears welling up in her eyes.
The pies on the table slowly disappeared slice by slice, but Kang Yoon-Soo did not touch them at all during the entire dinner.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Shaneth asked.
“I’m alright,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He then took a bottle of alcohol and returned to his room. He lay down on his bed, staring out the window, until it was already past midnight.
It was then that someone suddenly knocked on the door.
Knock… Knock… Knock… Knock…
Kang Yoon-Soo looked toward the door and called out, “It’s open, Shaneth.”
Creak…
Shaneth opened the door and asked in surprise, “How did you know it was me?”
“You always knock four times,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
He had already accurately grasped the smallest of Shaneth’s habits from his hundreds of regressions, and he was also well aware of why she had paid him a visit at such a late hour.
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