Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 568

◈ 568. This is a First

‘Even if it was when I was young, this should be memorable. Even faintly.’

Rembrary thought as he watched his younger self, nodding off while being carried by Warion.

However, other than the voice he recalled when hiding in the Demon King’s bed, he had no idea what it could be.

In the meantime, Warion took the young Rembrary and jumped off a cliff in the middle of the night.

When he saw it through Warion’s memories, he was worried because the criminals were all in this area. But it seemed they had all moved, as there was no one near the cliff.

It seemed the criminals’ claim that ‘the prince jumped off the Cliff of the Departed’ had not yet been officially accepted.

Or maybe the soldiers just hadn’t come down yet.

“Hey, kid.”

“What?”

“Do you, do you know where your house is?”

“In the middle of the biggest country’s capital.”

“What’s the biggest country?”

“Don’t you know?”

“Do you know where the middle of the Demon Realm is?”

“Do I need to know?”

“I want to say the same thing, little one.”

Since both the young Rembrary and Warion didn’t know the way, Warion had no choice but to stop by a nearby village.

“This is troublesome.”

“What is?”

“I need to ask for directions, but what should I ask?”

But even stopping by the village was difficult.

Wouldn’t it be too suspicious to grab a passerby and ask, ‘Where is the capital of the biggest country around here?’

“Hey, you do it.”

“Do what?”

“I’ll be over there, so you ask anyone who looks smart.”

In the end, Warion thought it would be less suspicious to put the young Rembrary forward, so he even told Rembrary what to say and put him down on the street.

Then he loitered nearby, watching, which also looked quite suspicious.

But the young Rembrary couldn’t think that far, so he obediently followed the instructions.

“Hello. Can I ask for directions?”

“Oh, sure. What’s the matter?”

“Where is the middle of the Demon Realm?”

In the blink of an eye, Warion picked up Rembrary and ran away to another place.

When he arrived at a place where no one was around, he put the young Rembrary down and protested.

“Why did you ask that?!”

“Isn’t this what you asked me to ask?”

“I asked about your house! Your house in the capital of the biggest country!”

“You could have just asked me? Our country’s name is Libulen.”

Warion opened his mouth at the young Rembrary’s gentle answer and froze for a moment before protesting.

“You said you didn’t know?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, you clearly… didn’t. Right. You didn’t. Damn it! Why did you say it so confusingly!”

Anyway, now that he knew the country’s name, the rest was easy.

“Hey. What’s the name of this place right now?”

“Pardon?”

No, it’s still not easy. Even this question looks suspicious.

“Which direction is the Libulen capital?”

After several trial-and-error questions, Warion found a less suspicious question and finally found out that this was the outskirts of Libulen and which gate to go out of to get to the capital.

But by the time he did, some time had already passed, so even moving at Warion’s speed, he had to stay in a small town nearby.

Warion went into an inn, rented a room with two beds for a day, and went down to the first-floor restaurant, giving the young Rembrary the menu.

While the young Rembrary was choosing food, Warion looked around, thinking about how the human realm had changed.

‘It hasn’t changed much.’

“Sir Warion, can I choose a lot?”

“Choose as much as you want.”

“Then all of it—”

“Don’t go over five.”

Hearing that conversation, the clerk burst into laughter and kindly said as he poured water into a glass.

“Are you brothers? I’ve never seen your faces around here. Are you traveling?”

“Distant relatives. On the way to other relatives.”

Even while listening to Warion’s perfunctory excuse, the clerk nodded as if he understood and advised.

“Anyway, you should be careful. The young prince has disappeared, so the atmosphere is a bit strange.”

“The atmosphere is strange?”

“Soldiers are everywhere.”

“I didn’t see them?”

“Because they already swept through once. And this isn’t a confirmed rumor yet.”

“?”

“There’s a rumor that the prince wasn’t kidnapped?”

Warion’s expression hardened, but the clerk didn’t notice.

“That prince, there was a rumor that he was briefly cursed when he was born? But this time—”

The clerk couldn’t finish his sentence.

“My stomach hurts.”

It was because Warion suddenly muttered fiercely.

“Are you okay?”

The clerk asked in surprise, and Warion grabbed his stomach and said again.

“Did you put poison in the food? Why does my stomach hurt?”

“Pardon? The food hasn’t even come out yet?”

The clerk was dumbfounded at the absurd accusation, but Warion took the young Rembrary and got up.

Warion went to several restaurants afterward, but the story about the cursed prince kept coming up everywhere.

Rembrary watched this and clicked his tongue.

If it were a village a little further away from that cliff, these stories would be less common. No, maybe they wouldn’t be at all. This place wasn’t far from the cliff.

As such, they would be more sensitive to related rumors and pay more attention.

“Damn it, why are they spreading rumors so fast?”

But every time Warion put the child down, he heard such stories, so he eventually took the young Rembrary back to the Demon King’s mansion.

Cloth was sitting alone on the living room sofa and opened his mouth wide when Warion brought the young Rembrary back.

When Warion put the young Rembrary to sleep and came to explain the situation, Cloth slapped him on the back of the head with a dumbfounded look.

“You idiot! So you brought him back?”

“The kid seemed to understand that it was about him!”

“He’s a prince! Then if you take him to his parents, they’ll suppress or eliminate the rumors on their own!”

“How can I get into the palace when the priests have laid out so many things [magical wards or protections]?”

Noir, who was next to him, naturally joined the conversation.

“Have the rumors spread that much?”

“Everywhere I went, they were talking about it. In the way of saying they heard such rumors.”

“It seems the criminals spread the rumors while moving.”

“While moving?”

“The criminals must have gone from the ‘Cliff of the Departed’ to the capital, right? Exactly on the route you were going.”

“Ah! So that’s why they were all talking about it.”

Warion gritted his teeth and asked.

“What should we do?”

* * *

Warion was standing in front of the crystal ball again. The Demon King and Cloth were standing around him as before.

Visible inside the crystal ball were criminal B, whose tongue had turned to stone, and another criminal C, both with very angry faces. Criminal A was not visible today.

“XX, that bastard Noodle ran away!”

Criminal C shouted like this, and criminal B kicked the desk with an angry face.

“He kept trembling alone. Why doesn’t he know that the more he does that, the more we all die together?”

Listening to criminal C shouting, it seemed that criminal A, who seemed timid, had secretly run away.

Criminal B wrote with great force.

[He was scared ever since the incident got bigger and people paid attention. I guess he didn’t know things would get this big.]

“Not knowing is being an idiot! Libulen is the biggest and most powerful country in the south! Wouldn’t people pay attention if the prince there is hanging out with demons?”

[That’s right. People are paying attention, so our kidnapping is being buried. He doesn’t know that.]

Criminal C paced anxiously around the room and asked.

“What should we do? Where did that guy go? Can we catch him?”

[He probably just ran away. He won’t shoot himself in the foot. If he brings up the kidnapping story, his own crime will be exposed, right? There’s no way he’ll be forgiven for running away either. He’ll run away and live quietly. It’s frustrating, but we have no choice but to ignore it.]

“What if he makes a mistake?”

“…….”

“He might not do it when he’s sober, but he might do it when he’s drunk, right?”

Criminal C’s expression darkened.

“This guy is cowardly and has no loyalty! If he gets caught, he’ll spill everything about us!”

[Then what should we do?]

At criminal B’s question, criminal C said eerily.

“……Let’s kill him.”

Warion, worried that someone would break the crystal ball, quickly removed it from in front of the demons.

But the demons were all quiet and docile.

Judging by their confused expressions, it seemed that even the demons who had experienced all sorts of hardships were getting caught up in something like this for the first time.

Noir, who had joined at some point, said the simplest method.

“There’s no choice. Now that it’s come to this, we have no choice but to take him with us. If he doesn’t live among humans, it doesn’t matter what humans say, right?”

Warion ignored the words and muttered.

“What about taking the kid to that relative who appeared in the crystal ball? The one who was scolding him. It didn’t seem like that person lived in the palace. I don’t think the priests would have put up barriers even in a normal mansion.”

Cloth clicked his tongue.

“What do you think will happen if you, a demon, take the child? If that relative sees you, they’ll think the child is really ominous, right?”

The demons became quiet again. Warion bit his lip anxiously and said.

“Then…… let’s go simple. Let’s beat up the guys who spread the strange rumors. If we make them confess that they lied with their own mouths, right?”

Noir immediately took the words, as if he thought it was pretty good.

“Then that would work. What was it, the guy who ran away? Let’s catch that human too. He’s timid, so he’ll listen if we threaten him a little. We can catch him before the guy whose tongue turned to stone, right?”

Warion nodded, as if he thought this was the only way.

“Okay. But…….”

“But what?”

“The energy I left is on the criminal whose tongue turned to stone. Not the one who ran away.”

Cloth changed his words.

“Then should we kill the guy whose tongue turned to stone?”

Noir flatly opposed.

“No way. That kind of guy is a viper. Look at how he immediately tried to pin it on the child he was trying to kidnap because he thought he was in danger. Who knows what else he’ll do if he’s about to die? He’d rather die than confess, right?”

“Hey, Warion. Why don’t you make a puppet and make him confess?”

“What if the priest comes forward to check? Rather, it’ll be revealed that we’re involved, and his lies will look real, right?”

“…….”

Warion sighed and said.

“Oh, whatever. If we follow the guy whose tongue turned to stone, we’ll find out where the cowardly guy is. Anyway, we just need to catch him first while he’s alive, right?”

* * *

On the other hand, the young Rembrary was at peace alone, eating Cloth’s food, which had a few more items.

He didn’t care at all whether the demons sitting across from him were looking at him with mixed eyes.

As he was doing that, Cloth slyly asked.

“Little one. Did you have fun going out today? How was it?”

Rembrary heard Warion exhale a breath that couldn’t be heard. It seemed to be an unagreed question.

Warion looked at Cloth in surprise, but Cloth couldn’t exchange glances with Warion because he was looking at the young Rembrary.

The young Rembrary shrugged his shoulders while chewing on some kind of salad and opened his mouth.