Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 450

◈ 450. Diligently Searching

Rembrary’s words shocked the Grand Duke and his men. The Grand Duke asked for more details.

“A disciple of Yumaena? Or a successor?”

“Seems like the one you guys call a successor.”

The Grand Duke and his men were shocked once more.

Throughout Rembrary’s travels, he had been asking about his lost companions, so they now knew the appearances of Rembrary’s missing comrades by heart.

They also knew that everyone except for ‘Shin Jo-woon’ looked very unique.

However, the Grand Duke thought their unique appearances were because they were all entertainers.

He never imagined that Rembrary’s companions would be connected to Yumaena’s disciples.

The Grand Duke frowned at Rembrary.

Duran was also surprised that the group Rembrary was looking for were ‘Yumaena’s successors,’ and he forgot that the Grand Duke was next to him, blurting out,

“Just what is your identity, Rembrary?”

Before Rembrary could answer, the Grand Duke frowned even more and asked Duran,

“Weren’t you a member of the troupe?”

He meant that Duran had been with Rembrary all the time, even though he himself had only joined recently, so why was he asking about his identity now?

Duran hesitated, wondering if he should tell the story of how Rembrary joined them, and glanced at Rembrary sitting next to him.

Fortunately, Rembrary himself began to tell the story of how they came to be together.

“I wasn’t originally a member of Hwacheon.”

“You weren’t?”

“Right. I joined in the middle. The leader of that troupe saved me. Now, I’m following him to repay the favor. But I might leave later. No, I definitely will.”

The Grand Duke was intrigued.

“But I will definitely help them become a royal troupe.”

Rembrary smiled warmly at Duran, and Duran awkwardly smiled back.

However, this was not enough to satisfy the Grand Duke’s curiosity.

“How did the leader save you?”

“He saved me when I was buried in the desert.”

“The desert? Why were you there?”

“I don’t know. When I came to my senses, I was there.”

The Grand Duke frowned, trying to find a connection between the desert, the troupe, and Rembrary, then changed the direction of his questions altogether.

“How did Yumaena’s successor become your companion? You’re an entertainer, but he doesn’t seem to be.”

“He was my lover’s lover.”

“?”

“!”

Duran and the Grand Duke, who had been listening seriously, were simultaneously taken aback.

“Your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend?”

“Your ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend?”

“No. Everyone was dating at the same time back then. But it’s okay. We all agreed to it.”

“!”

“Of course, that’s all in the past. Now, we’re all friends.”

What kind of mess is that? How did friendship blossom between them?

Duran and the Grand Duke, as well as the guards following the Grand Duke, all tilted their heads.

Rembrary had a look on his face as if he was saying, ‘Those were the good old days,’ which made it even more puzzling.

However, Rembrary naturally moved past the shocking part and was already bringing up another story.

“If the ice manipulator in the rumors you told me about is the companion I’m thinking of, then he won’t be Yumaena’s successor like he says. He’s not someone who would be under someone else.”

Even though Naesi Jo-woon in this dimension was under the Emperor, that was an exception.

Besides, looking at the dance teacher from Earth and the dance teacher here, it seemed that they grew up very differently depending on the environment.

“Is he someone who has to push down even his teacher and rise above?”

However, after hearing the story about the three of them dating, the Grand Duke didn’t take Rembrary’s words literally and understood them in a roundabout way.

“No. He’s not related to Yumaena at all.”

“Could he really not be related at all? Really? Those crazy Yumaena disciples treated your companion as a successor?”

“He said he wasn’t.”

“Rembrary. Those guys don’t just believe anyone who claims to be their successor. When they call your companion a successor, there must be something to it.”

“I’m telling you, he’s not a successor.”

Rembrary kept saying no, and the Grand Duke kept saying yes, so Duran thought their argument was becoming increasingly childish.

Couldn’t they just let it go?

In the end, Duran couldn’t stand it any longer and offered a compromise.

“Could it be that he hid the fact that he was a martial artist from Rembrary and acted as a martial artist outside? …You think?”

So, let’s just say they’re both right, Duran thought inwardly, looking back and forth between Rembrary and the leader.

“Our Duran has a vivid imagination.”

However, Duran felt unfairly upset and his ears turned red because Rembrary even made a ‘pfft’ sound while saying that.

He’s taking my side, but why is he saying it like that?

Meanwhile, the Grand Duke looked at Rembrary suspiciously with a calmer attitude and said,

“If you’re saying no so adamantly, maybe the one causing the commotion is not the person you’re looking for, but someone else.”

“Right. Yumaena has unique tastes and standards. She doesn’t like confident types like anchovies.”

However, the topic that was thought to be resolved at this point was revived again by Rembrary’s words.

The Grand Duke was shocked and asked,

“You… have you seen Yumaena, or do you know her? Why do you talk like you know her?”

Contrary to the tense question, the answer that came back was short.

“I know her.”

Rembrary, who answered readily to the person who was so nervous, suddenly jumped up from his seat, put his chair in, and said,

“Grand Duke. Where did you hear that story? Tell me the location, I’ll go there. The one causing the commotion may not be my companion, but I still have to go.”

Instead of answering, the Grand Duke got up as well and smiled.

“No, let’s go together. I’ve become curious too.”

Duran wasn’t curious at all.

He wasn’t interested in Yumaena, nor was he interested in Yumaena’s disciples or successors.

Even if it was Rembrary’s companion, it was the same.

Even if it turned out that Rembrary was Yumaena’s most beloved disciple, it still didn’t matter.

However, when Rembrary and the Grand Duke left, followed by the Grand Duke’s guards, Duran reluctantly followed them.

“W-wait, let’s go together, Rembrary!”

* * *

As the small group that strangely attracted attention left, a man eating in the most secluded corner of the inn slightly lifted his black hat.

The man stared intently at the door where the people had rushed out, then turned his head and asked the person in the bamboo hat sitting across from him.

“Disciple. Did you hear? There’s someone who knows our master?”

The person wearing the bamboo hat got up without answering and walked straight to the door.

The man wearing the black hat lowered his hat to hide his face, grinned, and got up.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

* * *

Rembrary, who went outside, started running in any direction and asked the Grand Duke.

“Where do I need to go?”

“You should ask the question before running.”

“Am I going in the right direction?”

The Grand Duke reached out and slightly turned Rembrary’s direction.

“That way.”

As they ran, the Grand Duke stopped, saying, “Here.”

Rembrary stopped as well.

The Grand Duke pointed his chin at one place.

People were crowded together, probably to see the ice that doesn’t melt.

Among them, a pleased voice was heard, saying, “Line up! Line up and come in!”

“What the people are trying to see there is the trace left by the fight between Yumaena’s successor and disciple.”

Rembrary looked at the Grand Duke with admiration.

“How far did you come for your dawn training?”

“I didn’t train here. I heard the rumors and came here.”

“Then have you seen the ice?”

“I wasn’t that interested. Why? Do you want to see it?”

“Of course.”

Rembrary quickly answered and asked one of the Grand Duke’s guards.

“Please go and stand in line.”

“?”

“I’m sorry!”

Duran, who had just arrived, apologized instead and took Rembrary away, so the two of them had to stand in line themselves.

“I don’t know why I have to do such annoying things myself.”

Rembrary was dumbfounded and asked, but Duran was even more dumbfounded by Rembrary and lowered his voice to protest.

“Repeat after me. The Grand Duke’s subordinates are not my subordinates.”

“Why do I have to repeat something so obvious?”

“Because you keep forgetting the obvious!”

Duran located the Grand Duke, and when he thought he was a bit far away, he grabbed his hair and pleaded.

“Do you know how bad the rumors about the Demonic Cult [a controversial and often feared group] are? Do you know how many bad guys there are in the Demonic Cult? Please be careful! If the Grand Duke gets upset even a little, you and I will both die!”

“I won’t die.”

Rembrary smiled brightly, and Duran instinctively almost flicked him on the forehead.

“Good for you! Good for you that you won’t die! But I’ll die. The Grand Duke is looking for an entertainer, not a musician!”

“Why don’t you learn to sing while you’re at it?”

“It’s all because you can’t watch your mouth!”

Duran poured out his nagging with all his might, but when Rembrary just looked at him with moist eyes instead of reflecting or resisting, he felt chills and was exhausted.

“Why, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Jong-woo…”

“No, I’m not Jong-woo! We don’t even have that name among our relatives!”

While Duran was protesting, the line quickly shortened, and it was their turn to see the ice.

“Hoo…”

Duran sighed, but since he had come this far, he thought he would just look at the traces of the great martial artists’ fight and leave, so he turned his head away from Rembrary to look for the ice chunk.

However, the landowner had put up a curtain, so they couldn’t see the ice chunk just by being in the front row.

They had to pay to go inside to see it.

Duran was dumbfounded by the landowner’s cleverness, and the landowner approached, showing the basket in his hand and demanding.

“One silver coin per person.”

Duran almost screamed that he was crazy.

“One silver coin to see ice for a moment?”

It was obviously a rip-off, but the landowner shrugged confidently.

“This ice doesn’t melt now, but it might melt later. Besides, the people who want to see this ice are all martial artists. Martial artists who are rich enough to want to see ice that they don’t need to see. So, I’m charging a lot. Why, don’t you have money?”

He had two silver coins, but it was too wasteful.

He would rather eat dozens of dumplings than spend it on this.

He had come all the way here while refusing Rembrary’s request to order more food, but two silver coins here?

Duran was trembling as he held his pouch, and the landowner said nonchalantly.

“If you don’t have money, leave. The people behind are waiting.”

At that moment.

“I’ll pay for him. He’s with me.”

The Grand Duke, who had been watching the situation without standing in line, approached and paid ten silver coins, and the landowner smiled happily and let the Grand Duke and his men enter the tent together.

“Aren’t you cutting in line?”

Rembrary was a bit suspicious that the Grand Duke had appeared at the last minute and paid, but Duran was grateful just for not having to pay his own money, so he pulled Rembrary’s arm and whispered not to do that.

“Let him cut in line. I’m okay.”

“You’re really pathetic.”

“So what? It’s okay. It doesn’t interfere with my life.”

Duran smiled and looked around to see the ice.

But…

“It’s small.”

Rembrary’s exclamation perfectly expressed Duran’s feelings.

The ice was very small for a trace of such a huge fight.

It wasn’t made on purpose like a decoration, but it was ice that splattered while fighting, but it was too small to have to stand in that long line to see it.

Duran knew why the landowner had put up a curtain.

If they saw this faintly from the front row, they would be disappointed and just leave.

“Amazing. It really doesn’t melt.”

Still, it was fortunate that the person who paid the money seemed to like the ice.

The Grand Duke squatted down and tried to melt the ice with his finger, then smiled in amazement, so Duran sighed and stepped back.

As expected, it was difficult to understand the martial artists.

And while the Grand Duke was looking at the ice, Rembrary went back out of the tent and asked the landowner.

“Do you know where the person who made that ice went?”

“Why are you asking that? Are you perhaps trying to do a similar business?”

“No. He might be my companion.”

“Really? Ah. Now that I think about it, that person also asked me if I saw a golden pig with a strange way of speaking…”

“!”