Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 569

◈ 569. The 3rd District Disappears

“Wari is good at jumping.”

Young Rembrary, having finished his short and simple observation, focused on his meal again.

The demons exchanged glances and moved their lips very slightly.

‘What does that mean? Do they not even want to think about it? Are they not paying attention? Could it be that they don’t want to talk about it? Maybe they’re avoiding the topic,’ Rembrary guessed.

Thus, the demons quickly tried to communicate with glances, but the child with the answer was busy eating.

The demons wore anxious expressions, unsure whether Rembrary’s reaction was due to being hurt by people’s words or whether he was just lucky enough not to hear people whispering.

However, young Rembrary didn’t say anything about it until he finished his meal.

“I ate well.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Clotte answered absentmindedly, then tapped the table as if realizing it wasn’t the time for that.

“Hey, kid. Let me ask you something.”

“Ask away.”

“Kid, you know you were kidnapped, right?”

‘Why ask that so bluntly?’ Warion looked at Clotte with a flustered expression.

However, Clotte frowned and just waited for an answer, not changing the subject.

Warion looked at young Rembrary again with a flustered face.

Young Rembrary stared blankly at Clotte before answering.

“I know.”

Warion smoothly took a spoon from Rembrary’s hand and looked at Clotte’s head.

He seemed to be contemplating whether to hit him or not.

Meanwhile, Clotte asked again.

“Bad people kidnapped you and are lying about it to avoid getting caught. Do you understand?”

“Of course. I’m smart.”

“Good, smart kid. Those bad people are lying that you ran away voluntarily, not that they kidnapped you. Do you know what running away is?”

“I know.”

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I do. I’m very bright!”

“Oh, good. Smart. Now, let’s be even smarter. When you were kidnapped, was there anyone who saw it?”

“Yes!”

“Who?”

Warion put down the spoon. His gaze was fixed on young Rembrary. He seemed to be waiting for an answer.

Young Rembrary answered confidently.

“The kidnapper!”

“Besides those people. And excluding you. Anyone else.”

“There were friends I was playing with. They might have seen it.”

At young Rembrary’s words, Warion shouted, thinking this was it.

“Then let’s get those kids to tell the truth! Then other people will know that the kidnapper is a kidnapper.”

Clotte also nodded. It seemed like things would be resolved well.

But unexpectedly, young Rembrary shook his head blankly.

“It’s no use. If they were going to step forward, they would have already.”

At those words, the demons exchanged glances again, flustered.

It sounded right when they heard it. But it was difficult to say, ‘That’s right. You’re right,’ and it was also difficult to deny it outright, so they looked troubled.

In that ambiguous atmosphere, Warion stepped forward and said brightly.

“It’s not that they’re not stepping forward on purpose. It’s that they can’t step forward because they didn’t see anything.”

“Really?”

“Of course. The kid is a good kid. Your friends will want to help you too.”

Hearing Warion’s hopeful words, young Rembrary smiled brightly as if grateful and nodded.

“Wari is so naive.”

But seeing him sigh with a tired expression soon after, it seemed he wasn’t taking Warion’s comfort to heart, but rather thought it was too absurd.

Seeing that, Warion frowned and asked Clotte.

“I think he was secretly making fun of me just now, right?”

* * *

While young Rembrary went to play hide-and-seek with Noir, Warion was forced to do the dishes.

As soon as the child disappeared, Clotte threw a spoon at him, saying, “I made the food, so you do the dishes!”

Warion grumbled and did the dishes, and Clotte took out a candy from who knows where, handed it to the Demon King, put one in his own mouth, and said.

“Your Majesty, I’ve been thinking about it.”

“Speak.”

“That criminal whose tongue turned to stone said that he would later rely on the ‘temple that made the ominous prophecy’.”

“He did. In the crystal ball that Warion showed.”

“Yes. I thought about it after hearing that. Then the escaped criminal probably won’t go to the Central Continent.”

“Why?”

“As I recall, the god who made the ominous prophecy is a god of the Central Continent. Since the group whose tongue turned to stone will go to the Central Continent, if the escaped criminal really broke up with that group, wouldn’t he have gone somewhere else?”

“That makes sense.”

“Yes, so if we search all the other continents except the Central Continent…”

“We have to search four continents, which will take too long,” Warion interrupted, stacking the washed dishes with a clatter.

Clotte smiled coldly.

“But isn’t it better than searching five continents?”

At that moment, the Demon King, who had been quietly lost in thought, opened his mouth.

“Call the Black Dragon and Aize who are outside.”

At those words, Warion hurriedly turned around, almost breaking a plate.

“Aize?”

As Warion’s expression brightened, Clotte grumbled.

“Pay some attention to the Black Dragon too. He’s coming with him.”

Still, Warion kept talking about Aize.

“I don’t know about the dragon, but Aize will be helpful. He’s a tracking genius, right? He’ll be able to find the criminal’s location right away!”

* * *

Rembrary slowly opened his eyes.

‘My body moves according to my will.’

‘Did I come out of Warion’s memories?’

Looking around, Ardor was above Rembrary’s head with an anxious expression.

When their eyes met, Ardor’s eyes welled up, and he called out.

“High Priest, are you feeling better?”

Rembrary raised his upper body.

“What happened?”

He saw Warion breaking the pillar. And then suddenly, he saw some memories from Warion’s perspective.

The memories that flowed in were about demons taking care of a young him, which didn’t seem very trustworthy.

“I don’t know either, High Priest. I hid in that flower bed with you, but suddenly a fog filled the area. You disappeared. I came out of the bed to find you and wandered around. When I finally found you, the pillar was already broken, and you were sleeping in front of it. I thought this was my chance—no, I was too worried—so I tried to take you with me, but you wouldn’t budge. I had no choice but to leave you here and keep taking care of you.”

“So I wasn’t sleeping; I was unconscious.”

Rembrary turned his head to the side and found the broken pillar not far away.

Warion, who should have been protecting this pillar, was nowhere to be seen.

‘Was he sealed by breaking the pillar?’

Rembrary recalled hearing that if the Demon King’s territory collapsed, the demons and the Demon King inside, and even the people, would be sealed.

But when he thought about it, he didn’t hear whether this happened when all the pillars were destroyed, or whether one demon was sealed per pillar.

‘I’ll know in time.’

If Warion appears again, he’ll be sealed as a group. Or it’s individual sealing.

Anyway, it seems like they’re showing me memories one by one like this, so if I destroy the other pillars, something might come to mind.

Like how he suddenly remembered the voice asking him to promise and his answer.

‘Who did I make a promise with?’

“What exactly happened?”

“Um. Didn’t I faint?”

“Ah, that’s right. You fainted, so you wouldn’t know. But why did you faint?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Why did the demons put you here?”

Rembrary found it awkward to say that he had experienced his childhood intertwined with demons, so he changed the subject.

“When did you come back from being a crow-tit [a small, common bird]?”

Even if the demons showed him good memories like this, and his hostility towards them lessened a little, Rembrary had no intention of betraying Redrin.

But it would be better not to tell the others, as they might be anxious even though Rembrary was fine.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Rembrary stood up, looking around at the asphalt road, the half-torn sign, the various apartment buildings that seemed uninhabited, and the unlit street.

“Did the 3rd District return to its original scenery as it was dismantled?”

“I think so, High Priest. People should be grateful for your grace. They should praise you ten times a day every time they eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

Unable to decide on a direction, Rembrary and Ardor headed in the direction they had fallen from the pillar and walked aimlessly.

How long had they walked? After walking for a while, unexpectedly, a large number of people were gathered in one area.

Wondering what it was, they saw that the people also discovered Rembrary and Ardor and exclaimed.

Then, unexpectedly, they took out cameras and started taking pictures.

As the flash went off in front of them, Ardor frowned and covered his eyes with his palm.

Rembrary, who was used to the lights, stared blankly at the people.

‘What is it?’

After a while, those who seemed to have taken enough pictures this time came a little closer to Ardor and Rembrary and started asking questions, holding out small microphones.

“What happened?”

“Suddenly the doors and walls disappeared!”

“Has the 3rd District disappeared?”

“I heard that other hunters have already come out ahead of you!”

“You cleared the dungeon completely, right?”

Even so, they were still wary, not coming completely close.

Besides, the reporters who were taking pictures indiscriminately seemed to be convinced that Ardor and Rembrary were the ones who cleared the dungeon.

Perhaps they heard something from the hunters who had come out ahead of them.

Ardor frowned and asked Rembrary.

“What should we do, High Priest? Should we use some force to make them all back down, or should we answer a few words? In my opinion, you must be too tired right now, so you should rest first.”

After speaking, Ardor brought his hand into his pocket as if to take out a weapon.

He seemed ready to take out a gun and fire it forward.

Rembrary was about to stop him when he realized something and muttered.

“It’s gone, Ardor.”

“Yes? What’s gone?”

“My cell phone is gone.”

“Yes?”

“When we jumped off the cliff in that illusion, didn’t we lose all our luggage?”

“Yes. We left it on the cliff.”

“I don’t know what happened after that. Did I lose it then? What about you? Do you have it?”

“Ah, I—”

Ardor tapped his pockets here and there for a while, then belatedly realized and shouted.

“I don’t have it either, High Priest!”

The reporters, hearing Ardor shout that something was gone, rushed to hold out their microphones.

“What’s missing?”

“What’s gone?”

“Did something happen inside that made you lose your belongings?”

Rembrary looked at Ardor. No matter what people asked, Ardor was just tapping his pockets here and there.

Watching the scene from afar, one reporter smirked.

‘There’s a cell phone that some hunter brought in, saying he picked it up. Is it one of those two?’