Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 427

◈ 427. I’ll Go With You

The Harmonious Friendship Troupe, now including Rembrary, initially enjoyed a peaceful journey through the desert.

However, several days later, as a small village became visible in the distance, Nangil, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped the group. “Wait, wait,” he said.

“What is it?” Rembrary asked impatiently. Having never visited a village or city in this world, he was eager to reach a populated area to explore and search for his companions.

“Back, back.” Instead of answering, Nangil led the group back until the village was out of sight. He gathered them under a large tree and explained, “I heard that one of the villages around here is a bandit village. They disguise themselves as a normal village and then suddenly attack travelers.”

Rembrary pointed towards the village, barely visible through the sand and dust. “Is that village we were heading to a bandit village?”

Nangil shook his head.

“No, I don’t know if it’s that one specifically. But I heard there’s one in this area.”

“Then we’re just going to pass it by without stopping?” Hwanmae asked worriedly before Nangil could elaborate.

“But Chief, we’re running low on food and water. If we don’t stop, it might be dangerous to reach our next destination.”

“I know. That’s why I pulled back. We’ll observe the situation from here, and if it seems safe, we’ll go in.”

“Seems safe?”

“We’ll watch to see if other travelers enter the village and come out safely. That way, we’ll know if it’s safe.”
Hwanmae, who had asked the question, immediately agreed. Rembrary, however, looked puzzled, raised his hand, and asked, “Do we have time for that? Aren’t we in a hurry?”

Nangil, surprised, asked Rembrary, “Huh? How do you know we’re in a hurry?”

“I heard that to become a royal troupe, you have to compete in a contest. And to compete, you need five letters of recommendation.”

“?”

“Since each competition takes up a lot of time, they probably don’t hold them every year. So, of course, you don’t have much time to prepare, right?”
The troupe members were very surprised by Rembrary’s unexpectedly insightful remark.

It was true, but it sounded amazing coming from Rembrary. The Rembrary they had observed for the past few days seemed to lack common sense.

Nangil waved his hand at the overly astonished troupe members, telling them not to be so surprised, and replied, “That’s right. Besides that reason, we also need to get to the 14th Castle quickly. The lord there is having a first birthday party [a traditional celebration of a child’s first year of life] for his grandson.”

“A first birthday party?”

“They’re inviting troupes to perform as part of the celebration. Performing there would be a great opportunity to showcase our performance directly to the lord and get a recommendation letter.”

But even as he spoke, Nangil looked gloomy.

Remembering that they had to hurry to the 14th Castle made him anxious about being held up here.

As the troupe members began to unpack their belongings, Rembrary, who had been watching, finally decided to take action.

“Then how about I go in there and check out the situation?”

“What? That’s dangerous!”

“Yeah, Rembrary. Why volunteer for something dangerous?” Nangil and the troupe members all tried to dissuade him while continuing to unpack their luggage.

However, Rembrary felt that waiting aimlessly in the middle of the desert, not knowing when a traveler might come, was a waste of time.

Of course, Nangil, as the leader, would have calculated the time well, but Rembrary, confident in his ability to ensure his own safety even in a bandit village, couldn’t help but think differently.

“Don’t I have people to find? My lost companions might be there.”
Rembrary’s words were touching, but the troupe members felt sorry for him and were filled with pity.

‘Those companions abandoned you in the desert, Rembrary.’

‘Your companions didn’t get lost; you were abandoned.’
The troupe members barely swallowed the words that rose to their throats and turned their gazes elsewhere.

“Still, it’s dangerous,” Nangil said worriedly, but Rembrary looked up at the sky, a mix of blue and white, calculated the time for a moment, and said, “If… I don’t come back after two days, consider it a dangerous place and leave.”

There shouldn’t be any major problems, but he was just adding it in case. However, the dancer, Hocho, seemed to have misunderstood something and bravely suggested, “Then I’ll go with you. Two people are better than one.”

Rembrary, unfamiliar with the local customs, readily accepted her offer.

“Then let’s go in pretending to be siblings. If that village isn’t a bandit village, they’ll be wary of outsiders. If we go in as siblings, they’ll lower their guard.”

“Wow. That’s a great idea!”

Hocho and Rembrary were delighted with the idea, but the other troupe members opposed it, and it was quickly dismissed.

“What are you talking about? That’s even more suspicious. Who would see you two as siblings?”

“You just have to use your imagination.”

“Why would you expect that from the people we’re trying to deceive?”
After bickering a few more times, Rembrary eventually decided to go in alone and walked towards the village.

The troupe members tried to stop him until the end, but they couldn’t dissuade Rembrary, who insisted he would go and see if his companions were there.

However, when Rembrary entered the village, it didn’t seem like a bandit village at all.

The people walking around all seemed busy living their daily lives, and children were running around and playing in the streets.

There were occasionally people riding horses who gave off a dangerous vibe, but their parents would soon come and smack them on the back, dragging them away.

Merchants were busy selling all sorts of strange items at their stalls.

Rather, it was the villagers who were wary, glancing at the unfamiliar stranger.

“Peaceful indeed.” Rembrary didn’t care whether someone was wary of him or not, so he put his hands behind his back and peacefully went to find a shop selling water.

Since the group had said they would buy water and food here, he wanted to check in advance if there was enough available.

“How much water can I buy here?”

“There’s plenty of water. We have a spring here. Are you traveling alone?”

“Yes.”

Rembrary rolled the coins that Nangil had given him in his hand, calculating how much he would have to pay to buy water.

The merchant took out a water bottle that had been submerged in cold water and handed it to Rembrary, advising him, “There are bandit gangs swarming around this area. It’s not a place to travel alone, so you should be careful.”

“More than that, I’m looking for someone.”

“Someone?”

“Have you seen a silver-haired man with dark circles under his eyes and no color in his face, or a man wearing a lion mask, or a reddish-brown-haired man with dark circles under his eyes, looking haggard and with a bad impression, or a man with incredibly black hair but incredibly pale skin and dark circles under his eyes?”
The merchant, looking displeased at Rembrary’s description, asked, “Were they receiving treatment at the same clinic?”

Rembrary recalled the faces of the people he knew one by one and shook his head.

“Now that I think about it, they all look haggard, but it’s not exactly like that. And there’s someone who doesn’t look haggard. That person is…”
He tried to describe Shin Jo-woon with words, but only whales and anchovies came to mind, so Rembrary frowned, opening and closing his mouth.

Shin Jo-woon was exceptionally handsome, but that wasn’t a helpful characteristic when looking for someone.

“One is named Shin Jo-woon. One is a woman with green hair and a spear on her back.”

“I don’t know any of them.”

“I see…”
He had hoped that the group wouldn’t have scattered too far. They’re not here.

Rembrary became dejected, bought a few bottles of water, and left the village.

But when he returned, none of the Harmonious Friendship Troupe members were there.

‘Where did everyone go?’

At first, Rembrary thought he had taken the wrong path.

But after carefully examining the place where the group had been, he soon noticed a few unusual things.

There were a few drops of blood in the sand, and one shoe was buried in the sand.

Moreover, the sand had been disturbed haphazardly, so it was clear that several animals had passed by. Like horses.

‘It’s clear that bandits have been here.’

Rembrary returned to the village and explained the situation to the merchant who had sold him water earlier.

The merchant initially looked like he was thinking, ‘Why are you telling me this?’ but after Rembrary finished speaking, he nodded in agreement.

“It must be bandits. Those guys move around really stealthily.”

Rembrary recalled that there were only a few drops of blood and asked, “Do you know where they went?”
He thought that since not many people seemed to be injured, he could quickly find the bandits’ hideout and save the group.

However, the merchant replied nonchalantly, “I don’t know. How would I know that?”

Rembrary asked again, “Do they attack this village too?”
If so, wouldn’t it be possible to catch the bandit gang on the spot and have them guide him to their hideout?

The merchant immediately noticed what Rembrary was thinking and clicked his tongue.

“How are you going to chase after a bandit gang alone? You’ll only increase the number of victims.”

“I’m strong.”

“Well, anyway, the bandits don’t attack this village. The leader of that bandit gang has a crush on a woman who lives here.”

“The leader of a bandit gang?”

“He comes every half month with flowers and woos that woman. That woman might know where the bandits stay.”
Rembrary took out a handful of the money that Nangil had given him and handed it to the merchant, asking for a favor.

“Where is that person?”

* * *

Rembrary, guided by the merchant, went to find the woman the bandit leader had fallen for.

She was initially wary of the unfamiliar stranger, but after the merchant explained the situation, she lowered her guard and shrugged.

“Too bad, but I don’t know where the bandits live either. I’m not interested in those people. There’s no need to ask such a thing.”

“Wouldn’t you ask this time?”

“No. What if they mistake it for accepting their advances?”

“Then… when will that bandit leader come here?”

“He came this morning. He’ll probably come again in half a month.”
He must have made his advances this morning and then kidnapped the troupe members on his way back after staying near here.

‘It just had to coincide like this.’

Anyway, it seemed like he would have to stay here until the bandit leader came back.

* * *

Just as the merchant and the woman had said, exactly half a month later, a man dressed in black from head to toe appeared at dawn, carrying a large bouquet of flowers.

Rembrary had calculated the date in advance and was near the woman’s house, so he immediately recognized the man.

“Lady, please accept my heart today!”
The woman, used to it, didn’t change her expression even when she heard the advances as she came out of the door, and flatly refused.

“No.”

“Lady, let’s go together. I’ll let you live comfortably in a big, fancy house without lifting a finger. I’ll lay gold on the floor and let you live comfortably on it!”

“Even if I don’t get my hands wet [do no work], I feel like I’ll get them bloody. Gold on the floor? Is there a corpse under it?”
The bandit leader followed the woman closely, constantly spouting sweet words, but the woman didn’t even look back and just went her own way.

The villagers also seemed used to it, yawning and doing their own things.

Just as the bandit leader stopped, looking dejected,

Rembrary, who had been following him from behind, leisurely approached, snatched the bandit leader’s flowers, and answered in place of the woman.

“I’ll go with you. Let’s go with me!”

“!”