Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 793

793. So That’s Why It Was Hard to Find!

“I’ll make it not hurt. Where are you hurt?”

Rembrary approached the injured person, bent down, and asked.

“My stomach… my stomach hurts.”

The injured person mumbled in a very small voice, barely audible.

“Here?”

Rembrary placed his hand near the stomach and sent divine power.

“How is it?”

When he removed his hand, the injured person pushed his arm away and mumbled in a much more comfortable voice.

“The rumors are true. Your healing ability is real.”

The injured person stared intently at Rembrary’s face through his disheveled hair.

“You really have a useful ability.”

“Of course.”

Rembrary smiled contentedly and went outside.

“Did you heal him?”

Ridal, who had been anxiously clutching the carriage despite sending Rembrary alone, asked with relief.

“Yeah.”

“Good job. You’re the best.”

“Yeah!”

Rembrary nodded and grabbed Ridal’s arm. He had saved someone, so he deserved a reward—a delicious cake.

“Wait a minute, Rembrary. Come here.”

But as they approached the entrance of the mansion, Ridal looked around and pulled Rembrary.

“What’s wrong?”

Rembrary was pulled by Ridal and walked into the empty space between the buildings. There was no one around.

Ridal signaled to be quiet, then grabbed the wall and looked outside.

The adults seemed too busy talking to the paladins to notice. Only then did Ridal come back to Rembrary.

“Hey, Rembrary, you know, while you were healing, I overheard those paladins talking. They said they’re short on people. Yesterday, another team of paladins went into the mountain, so now they can’t send any more.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Besides, the people who went yesterday are very strong, so they’re going to watch without sending more people. It could be a trap, but they still can’t send more people to help.”

“I see.”

“But one of the paladin trainees went into the mountain alone earlier.”

“Really?”

“You heard it too. He hasn’t been gone long, so he can’t have gone far yet.”

Ridal hesitated before suggesting.

“Hey, Rembrary, let’s go get him, at least.”

Rembrary blinked and looked at Ridal.

“Aren’t you here as my supervisor?”

Ridal’s face turned red.

“Yeah, but a kid as young as us went alone to a mountain occupied by black mages, and no one’s going to look for him. He’ll be in danger.”

“…….”

Rembrary didn’t answer immediately.

Ridal lowered his head and mumbled.

“At the Grand Temple… I ran away when the old priest was taken away. You went to save him, right?”

“It’s okay.”

“Everyone says it’s okay, but I’m not okay. That day always stays with me. The old priest tried to save us, but I ran away.”

“You’re young, Ridal.”

“You’re young too!”

Ridal raised his voice, then covered his mouth with his hand.

He held his breath and stayed like that for a moment. Once it was clear that the adults weren’t coming, Ridal took his hand away and said again.

“Rembrary, this time, I want to save someone without running away. We can do it together. You have the halo and can heal. I can defend us both.”

Rembrary’s head tilted.

“We’re not going to defeat the black mages. If we go quickly, we can catch up with him at the foot of the mountain.”

Ridal already had a determined look on his face.

“Heather told me to stay here no matter what happens. If I do as I please again, I’ll never gain Heather’s trust for the rest of my life.”

Rembrary sighed and said.

“I’ll say it. I’ll clearly say that I begged you, and you reluctantly came with me.”

Ridal looked at Rembrary earnestly.

“Ugh.”

‘I was going to go alone.’

In the end, Rembrary nodded.

“Okay.”

* * *

The central mansion was in chaos due to the paladins’ bombshell statement that ‘they had not requested help yesterday.’

Thanks to that, the children were able to easily slip out of the mansion unnoticed. The two children ran hard up the hill.

They had been in the mountains for training before, so finding the way wasn’t difficult.

“That’s him.”

But when they arrived at the foot of the mountain, there was a purple-haired boy loitering near a tree.

Ridal immediately recognized Lapsus and shouted.

“Lapsus!”

The purple-haired boy turned his head, startled to see Rembrary and Ridal.

As Rembrary and Ridal approached, Lapsus frowned and asked.

“Why are you here?”

“A paladin trainee ran into the mountain alone. We came to find him.”

Ridal quickly answered and asked.

“Have you seen him?”

“I saw him.”

Lapsus answered sullenly, glancing sideways at Rembrary.

“Where? Did he go in here?”

Ridal asked in surprise.

“I don’t know either. That’s why I was here. I was coming back from the village and saw him running alone in this area, so I chased after him. But when I got here, he was already gone.”

Come to think of it, Lapsus was holding a paper bag in his hand. Lapsus hid the bag behind his back for no reason and asked.

“But why are only you two here? Where are the adults?”

“It’s a mess right now. The injured paladins came down and said they didn’t ask for help yesterday.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah. And they said there aren’t enough people to call back the paladins who left yesterday, so they’re not sending a rescue team. So, we came by ourselves.”

“To rescue him?”

“No… just to take the paladin trainee back.”

Ridal recalled how Lapsus had subdued a terrifying monster during special training.

At first, he seemed surprised to have subdued it himself, but as time went on, Lapsus became good at handling divine power. Ridal remembered that and asked.

“Do you want to come with us?”

Lapsus looked at Rembrary. Rembrary’s mouth corners were turned down, looking like he thought, ‘Two burdens.’

“Okay.”

Lapsus got his answer there.

“Let’s go together.”

* * *

“What is this nonsense! The children have all disappeared!”

Gaieger, who was dispatching people for the third time to find the paladin trainee and preparing to bring back the second investigation team, shouted in horror at the sudden report.

At that loud noise, those who were moving busily stopped at once.

“Is this true?”

Other priests rushed over.

“What are you talking about?”

“The children have disappeared?”

The employee who delivered the news stammered.

“It’s not certain, but the children can’t be seen anywhere. One child definitely ran off to find Lord Mimelnoa, but the other three….”

It was then.

“Gaieger! Gaieger!”

The mansion manager ran urgently down the hallway, stopping as if he were headbutting the archway.

“The paladins have disappeared!”

“The paladins have disappeared? Which paladins?”

“The paladins who came down injured!”

“Where did those people disappear to!”

“I don’t know. They all just disappeared. The injured person disappeared, and the people who brought the injured person disappeared!”

A cold silence descended.

The priests and employees closed their mouths and looked at each other’s terrified eyes.

Gaieger’s legs gave way, and he staggered and sat down on a chair.

“What is this….”

“Were they disguised enemies?”

A priest of Lumena asked urgently.

“Maybe they really came to ask for help but were attacked by the enemy and disappeared.”

A priest of Redrin also added in confusion.

Gaieger rubbed his forehead.

“Either is possible. But if they were real, the second investigation team that left yesterday fell into a trap, and if they were fake, the second investigation team didn’t fall into a trap.”

The manager knocked on the wall and shouted.

“Let’s search the mansion thoroughly! Divide the areas! And let’s meet here again in 30 minutes!”

The priests and employees all scattered. Even the servants were mobilized to search for the children and the missing paladins.

30 minutes later, they gathered back in their places and had to admit it. All three children had disappeared, and they had fallen into a trap.

The only difference was whether the second investigation team or they had fallen into a trap. Also, either way, the children were in danger.

“Priest, we must find the children first.”

The manager said urgently.

Gaieger nodded.

Afterward, all the remaining priests and paladins were mobilized and sent into the mountain.

Since they were not as strong as the first and second investigation teams, they mobilized a large number of people.

But someone had to stay at the mansion to hear the situation when someone returned, so Gaieger, a high-ranking priest who was not helpful in combat, decided to stay here.

As the priests and paladins packed their weapons and left, Gaieger scraped together holy water and distributed it to the employees and servants.

“From now on, anyone who comes to this mansion must be given this and made to drink it. If they refuse to drink it, they must not be allowed in.”

“Is it okay to drink?”

“If they are human.”

“!”

* * *

The three children who went into the mountain had no way of knowing what chaos was happening at the mansion.

The children stuck close together, carefully stepping on the leaves as they moved forward.

“The soil is pitch black.”

Ridal muttered, looking back and forth between the relatively ordinary-looking upper part and the obviously dangerous lower part.

Lapsus grumbled inwardly, blaming himself for following Rembrary and Ridal without a plan.

Rembrary thought he could have moved faster if he had been alone.

After moving like that for a while, the children discovered a bird as big as a carriage.

As the children stopped in surprise at the sight of the bird, Rembrary said, “Ah.”

“There are feathers. If we have that, we can find the way quickly.”

Lapsus almost cursed. If you had that, you should have said so sooner!

Ridal widened his eyes and looked up at the bird, which was looking down at them.

The giant bird’s eyes moving back and forth were terrifying.

“If we move to the side… can we avoid it?”

The moment those words ended, a shadow fell over the children’s heads. The children slowly raised their heads.

A bird about ten times larger than the previous bird was craning its neck and looking down at the children.

“Shouldn’t we… run away?”

In response to that question, the bird answered by waving its wings.

“Ugh!”

“Ugh!”

“…….”

Rembrary activated his halo, Ridal defended his friends with divine power, and Lapsus attacked the giant bird monster.

The bird monster staggered and screamed strangely.

“It’s done!”

The moment Lapsus shouted after seeing that, a hand that appeared from under their feet pulled the children down.

Even Rembrary, who had a halo, could not immediately respond to the monster that sprang from the ground.

“!”

Rembrary was dragged by the monster and slid aimlessly before being thrown somewhere.

Rembrary, who had rolled down the slope, was barely able to stop by hitting a rock.

Rembrary healed his body and got up, holding onto the rock.

‘Where is this?’

It was a steep and slanted terrain. There were no monsters, but Lapsus and Ridal were nowhere to be seen.

At that moment, he felt a presence below. Rembrary activated his halo weakly in preparation for anything and then went down.

He held onto a tree that grew straight on the slope and looked down, and a child was trapped in an artificially made pit.

The child was kicking the pit in anger when he felt a presence and raised his head.

The child’s eyes widened when he saw Rembrary.

“Benefactor… when did an angel!”

“?”