Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 407

407. Rembrary Shocked

Rembrary, Daeju, Nin-Ling, Mulu, Ardor, and Lion Lord quickly exchanged glances. It wasn’t a meaningful exchange, but rather a reflexive reaction to the unexpected words.

As Rembrary stepped down from the platform, Leader also moved away from the group, approaching closer.

However, five people followed closely behind him, as if they had matched the numbers.

With the situation now a 5:5 face-off, Rembrary and the people from another world looked truly like adversaries, not allies.

“Explain. What does this mean?”

At Rembrary’s question, Leader looked uncomfortable and glanced back at his colleagues, as if facing a difficult mission.

When his colleagues nodded, Leader seemed to gain courage, turned to face forward again, and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“It’s not that we don’t trust Redrin or that we’re going to another religion, not at all. But… coming here, seeing the people here, and experiencing life here, I’ve thought a lot. High Priest, the people here live well even without being devoted to religion like us.”

“There is religion here too.”

“I know. But it seemed like the distance between religion and life was greater than for us. At first, I was worried. Can they live like that? But you know, they live well. They have computers, the internet, and convenient things like phones…”

As Rembrary crossed his arms, Leader’s voice gradually decreased, but when a colleague behind him lightly tapped his back, he raised his voice again as if he had been recharged.

“It seems that being devoted to religious life and living a convenient life aren’t necessarily connected, High Priest. Absolutely, we’re not trying to deny Redrin. We’ll pray from time to time, and we’re grateful that Redrin and Lumena sent us here.”

The blue-haired person who had ‘recharged’ Leader earlier also added a word.

“High Priest. There is a way of life here. To adapt here, we must follow the ways of this place.”

Leader put his hands together and added once more.

“It just means we won’t be actively engaged in religious life, but we have absolutely no intention of changing religions, High Priest. Please, don’t be angry.”

Although it was a polite attitude, as soon as those words were finished, Nin-Ling flared up and became angry.

“If you act like that, what about Rembrary, who risked his life to help you?”

The people simultaneously waved their hands and spoke in unison.

“We’re not betraying the High Priest.”

“We’re not going to another religion.”

“We’ll continue to believe in Redrin. We just want to believe and pray in our hearts.”

“We need time to adapt here too.”

Nin-Ling’s face turned red, and she clenched her fists. Leader looked at her with pity and soothed her.

“Our thoughts might change after we adapt, Holy Knight. Maybe we’re just too overwhelmed right now. But first, it seems that we need to adapt here.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ardor took out his gun from his waist, but Mulu poked his side right away, causing him to lower the gun.

It happened in the blink of an eye, but the people who were focusing all their attention on Rembrary’s side saw the scene.

When Rembrary gestured for him to put the gun away, Ardor obeyed obediently but glared at the people from another world with fierce eyes while grinding his teeth.

However, the expressions of the people who had been apologetic all along also changed to be more fierce after Ardor took out and put away his gun.

Rembrary smiled sadly, feeling that this situation was too absurd.

“Unlike us, you don’t directly feel God by your side. You don’t directly receive the influence of God either.”

“High Priest…”

Leader lowered his head with a guilty face and began to apologize, bowing deeply in turn, starting from Daeju’s side.

“Daeju, Nin-Ling, Commander, Ardor…”

“I am Lion.”

“Lion, and High Priest. I’m really sorry.”

“Perhaps this world, where God doesn’t give benefits to anyone, is more appealing to you than our world, where we receive more benefits the more God loves us.”

“…”

Rembrary nodded and turned around with his hands behind his back.

“Do as you wish.”

Nin-Ling exclaimed in surprise.

“High Priest!”

Nin-Ling seemed to have thought that Rembrary would not turn away from them so easily.

However, Rembrary did not answer and went straight out of the research center.

Leader couldn’t bring himself to raise his head and just stood still until Rembrary had completely left.

* * *

Throughout the elevator ride down, no one could open their mouths.

Then, as soon as they were completely outside the building, Nin-Ling finally couldn’t hold back and cried out with a tearful face.

“High Priest, aren’t you upset? You almost died trying to save them, but they change their attitude right away!”

“It’s not that they don’t believe in Redrin. What can we do if they say they love themselves more than God?”

“That’s… !”

“It’s a miscalculation. Redrin and Lumena made a mistake.”

Rembrary sighed.

“In the place we lived, there were more monsters than people. Demons appeared frequently, and some people were cursed. The power to properly defeat those belonging to the darkness is divine power. We couldn’t separate ourselves from religion. But the people here are different.”

Daeju carefully nodded, watching Ardor’s reaction.

Even though monsters appeared here after the Cataclysm [a large-scale disaster], everyone seemed to be able to handle them somehow, even without divine power.

Since Awakened people were appearing randomly among those with and without religion, this incident didn’t deepen people’s faith any more than before.

Having received adaptation training in this atmosphere, it was understandable that the people from another world would be tempted.

“It’s not just them, Rembrary. The people who are staying at the Honghwa Brigade or the ‘Redrin’ Hunter Company and sincerely believe in Redrin are probably the same. People in this world won’t be able to send as deep a faith as the people of that world sent to Redrin.”

Lion Lord also nodded with a serious expression, sensing the situation.

Nin-Ling thought, ‘Why is that person so serious when he’s not even of our religion?’ but she couldn’t ask because of the situation and sadly looked at Rembrary.

He was also angry, but Rembrary would be the most upset and unbearable in this situation.

Mulu, who had been silent all along, also sighed and muttered.

“If the situation weren’t so precarious, it would be understandable enough. But since the situation is what it is, it doesn’t feel good.”

Ardor kept grabbing and releasing the gun barrel, as if he was angry that he couldn’t act as he pleased earlier. He was ready to run to the dormitory right away and threaten people to shout Redrin at gunpoint if Rembrary allowed it.

However, Rembrary didn’t act that way, and Daeju frowned and lamented.

“Even in the midst of this, the High Priest of the Demon King is still addicting people and leading them to his side… It’s troubling.”

* * *

Ardor circled around in front of Rembrary’s door.

He raised his hand as if to knock on the door, but immediately lowered it, and then circled around again, repeatedly trying to knock and giving up.

Believer No. 305 brought a tray with various cupcakes and asked, puzzled, after discovering his unusual behavior.

“Why aren’t you going in?”

Unfortunately, as soon as Believer No. 305 said those words, the clergyman in agony instantly turned into a shameless thug.

“Good timing. Give that to me.”

Believer No. 305 quickly stepped back, about to have the snack he had brought taken away by Ardor.

“I brought this for the benefactor—”

“I’m going to give it to the High Priest too. Don’t worry.”

“Why are you taking what I brought, Ardor!”

“Why, you ask?”

When Ardor silently took out his gun and aimed it at his forehead, Believer No. 305 reluctantly handed over the tray while feeling wronged.

“You know you’re being too much, right?”

He still said a word out of frustration, but Ardor didn’t even listen and was squeezing out a gentle voice as if pretending to be nice at the door.

“High Priest, Ardor brought cupcakes. There’s strawberry flavor, chocolate flavor, and vanilla flavor too.”

Believer No. 305, even more annoyed by the pretentious voice, made a ‘bleh’ gesture and stepped back.

Just as Believer No. 305 was going down the stairs, a voice from beyond the door was heard, telling him to come in.

When Ardor quickly opened the door, he saw Rembrary just putting down his cell phone next to him.

He looked better than he had worried. On the still-lit screen of the cell phone, there was a picture of anchovies, and the call time was visible below it. It seemed like they had talked for about 30 minutes.

Ardor felt a little relieved and held out the tray.

“I kept worrying whether the High Priest might be crying, and whether I should collect the tears the High Priest was shedding and measure the amount. You seem better than I thought.”

“Why would you take my tears?”

“Of course, it’s to avenge one person for every 1ml [milliliter].”

“…”

Rembrary stared at the confident Ardor and patted him on the shoulder.

“You are a clergyman, Ardor. You keep coveting Nin-Ling’s position, but you can’t become a Holy Knight that way. The essential requirement for a Holy Knight is patience.”

As Rembrary was speaking, he somehow felt strange.

In fact, there was no need to covet the position. There had to be an overwhelmingly large number of Holy Knights to compete for the position. In the current situation, he had to go around recommending people to become Holy Knights.

But since it was the clergyman, not the Holy Knight, who would be helpful to Redrin right now, he couldn’t recommend Ardor to become a Holy Knight.

Ardor watched Rembrary’s reaction and asked.

“What were you doing, High Priest?”

“I asked Anchovy to schedule a music show date. Next in line after Kkokko.”

“A music show? Are you going to a music show?”

“Yes.”

Rembrary picked up a strawberry-flavored cupcake that Ardor had brought and smiled contentedly.

“It seems they’re somehow avoiding the autograph session, but no matter how great LLL and Nakru are, they can’t rent a broadcasting station.”

“Ah! You’re planning to sing right after that Rapsus sings, and neutralize his addiction on the spot.”

“Yes. Since it’s exerting that much influence even with the sound source, people will become more quickly addicted to it if they directly listen to Rapsus’s song on the spot. That’s when I’ll sing, to get them out of that sound.”

Rembrary took a bite of the cupcake and sighed heavily.

“It’s not a complete solution, but I have to keep doing this.”

Ardor, who had been staring at him, held out his gun and placed it on the tray.

“High Priest, how about taking this and shooting that Rapsus in the broadcasting station?”