Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 588

It was quite annoying, but it seemed he had to listen, so he would. Rembrandt reluctantly nodded and replied as usual.

“Number one.”

The Demon King, Cloth, the sloth, and the lion all gave him a look that said, ‘What nonsense are you spouting?’

Rembrandt hadn’t said anything nonsensical, so he sat comfortably in his chair and waited for his body to move automatically.

But then, something unexpected happened. His body dropped down from the chair and ran to the Demon King, sitting on his lap.

The lion’s mouth dropped open.

Rembrandt also screamed inwardly.

Shin Jo-woon was also trying to react to something at 0.25x speed. He didn’t know what he was trying to do, though.

Rembrandt was shocked that he used to act so friendly and lovely in the past.

He thought he was born with elegance and dignity, someone who didn’t give his side easily.

Why was he clinging to the Demon King like this?

But the Demon King wasn’t that surprised, and with Rembrandt on his lap, he began to speak.

“Kid, do you know how many continents there are?”

The answer flowed automatically from young Rembrandt’s mouth.

“Five.”

“Then do you know how many Great Temples there are?”

“Four.”

“Why is that? Usually, there’s one Great Temple per continent, but only one place occupies two continents. Why is that?”

Rembrandt saw Shin Jo-woon’s hand slowly rising.

Shin Jo-woon was still reacting to Rembrandt sitting on the Demon King’s lap.

The young Rembrandt pondered for a moment and then answered.

“I don’t care.”

“I see.”

Cloth said, “He’s just a kid,” and put Shin Jo-woon down on the table before returning to the counter.

Shin Jo-woon’s hand was still rising.

The Demon King was silent for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Kid, originally there was one temple per continent. A long time ago, there were five Great Temples.”

“How long ago is ‘a long time ago’?”

“Kid, how high can you count?”

“Eight.”

“Kid, you’re bad at math.”

Shin Jo-woon’s hand was still moving.

Rembrandt realized what he was trying to do. He seemed to be trying to cover his eyes with his hand.

Focusing on that inefficient movement, Rembrandt brushed aside the fact that the intelligent him could only count to eight in his childhood.

*This is all a lie. It’s a scheme and conspiracy of the demons.* He thought. *He would have been able to count to at least a hundred even at that age.*

“Much longer ago than you can count. It’s a story older than your parents’ parents’ parents’ parents.”

“If the world has changed that much, isn’t it useless to listen to the story?”

“Kid, you’re bad at math, but you’re good at talking.”

“Everyone says that. They say I’m smart.”

Shin Jo-woon’s hand finally landed on his eyes. His mouth also opened.

The lion next to him kept twitching his mouth as if he was more frustrated.

Shin Jo-woon began to lower his hand again.

“Anyway, a long time ago, there were five Great Temples. In the Western Continent, there was a god named Aquari…”

“The god of the Western Continent is Redrin.”

“…At that time, it was a god named Aquari. Redrin was the god of the Southern Continent. The god of the Northern Continent was Kamuel, the god of the Central Continent was Iira, and the god of the Eastern Continent was Lumena.”

* * *

Having lived for a long time, the gods had gods they were closer to and gods they were less close to.

Sometimes they fought and reconciled, and sometimes they drifted apart.

Just before the ‘incident’ happened, Aquari was close to Iira, Redrin was close to Lumena, and separately, he was also close to Kamuel.

Humans occasionally waged wars, but the gods rarely paid attention to human wars, so the divine realm was generally peaceful.

However, demons occasionally invaded, and in such cases, the holy knights and priests had to defend against the demons under the leadership of the Great Temple.

No one knew where the demons would invade from, but at that time, the demons invaded the Central Continent.

* * *

“Are you okay?”

Aquari was on his way to the meeting place when he noticed Iira, the god of the Central Continent, constantly looking down at the ground, so he approached him.

When Aquari approached, Iira replied, “No,” and then stirred the clouds to make the view below clearer.

“Iira is not in a good mood right now. Take a look at this.”

Below, demons were crossing the demon realm with all sorts of bizarre weapons and rushing at the people.

Armed holy knights rushed to stop the demons, but the number of demons was twice as large as in previous invasions.

“They’ve come with a vengeance. Iira thinks this is definitely Crymus’s doing.”

Crymus was the Western Demon King, and he had a very belligerent nature.

Aquari frowned as he stared at the people running away from far below the clouds.

“They seem to be losing.”

“The enemies are numerous and popping up everywhere. Besides, this time they’re openly targeting only Iira’s Central Continent, so it seems like they’re even planning an operation.”

“Looks like they’re coming with a serious plan.”

As Iira covered his head with both hands in distress, his worries dripped down and rolled away as smooth jewels.

Aquari rolled them aside and stirred the clouds here and there, examining the situation in the Central Continent before clicking his tongue.

“Not good.”

“The emperor who ascended the throne 15 years ago has been alienating the temples in order to strengthen his imperial power, so the number of holy knights has been steadily decreasing. There are too few of them. They’ll change their policies next time they see this, but… we still have to get through this crisis.”

Aquari watched the scene and then asked.

“Shall I help?”

Iira grabbed Aquari’s hand and nodded.

“Thank you, Aquari. Help Iira. I was going to ask for help at this meeting anyway.”

At the meeting, Iira brought up the story of the demons as he had said in advance and asked the other gods for help.

Aquari immediately raised his hand and said to steer the atmosphere towards ‘I will help’.

“The West will help. If the Central Continent falls into the hands of the demons, it will harm us as well, so we must help.”

Lumena also said with a smile.

“I will also send holy knights to help.”

The northern god Kamuel also said pompously.

“I don’t feel like it, but I’ll help. My high priest is very strong.”

Aquari looked at Redrin. The other gods also looked at Redrin, who was unusually quiet.

Redrin was drinking coffee when he asked blankly as the gods looked at him.

“Isn’t this enough? Do I have to help too?”

“Redrin.”

Lumena frowned and shook his head, telling him not to, but Redrin said nonchalantly.

“My high priest is dead. There are only candidates left. I don’t like any of the candidates, so I’m not choosing one. Would those kids really be helpful?”

“Redrin. Don’t be a jerk.”

As Lumena shook his head again and urged him, Redrin eventually said reluctantly.

“I’ll send a few holy knights.”

At the end of the meeting, all the gods of the continents decided to help the Central Continent.

However, the Western Great Temple gave the most help to the Central Continent.

Since the gods were on good terms with each other, they naturally gave more help.

Then the incident happened.

“Aquari-nim [respected title for a god]. Aquari-nim.”

One day, when the demons had been almost completely driven out and the human world was slowly regaining stability,

Aquari’s high priest called out in an urgent voice.

Wondering what was wrong, he sent a signal that he was listening, and the high priest prayed in a sad voice.

“I may no longer be able to serve Aquari-nim.”

It was a shocking announcement.

Wondering what was wrong, Aquari urged him to explain in more detail.

The Western High Priest hesitated and then confessed that he had fallen in love with another person.

And he wanted to be with that person.

“Salirus. What… what are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry, Aquari-nim. I should love Aquari-nim the most for the rest of my life. But I have fallen in love with someone else. I am going to resign from my position as high priest, no, as a priest.”

His beloved high priest suddenly said he was quitting because he loved someone else! Aquari was so shocked that he searched all the temples.

The temples in the human realm were already in chaos.

“What is this nonsense! The high priest is going to resign and get married!”

“It’s absurd! How could the high priest… !”

The priests were bound to be confused when the high priest, who should never marry, suddenly resigned and said he was going to get married.

“What crazy bastard dared to associate with the high priest!”

“We must capture and imprison the one who disturbed High Priest Salirus’s heart!”

The Western priests were angry and huffed and puffed, saying they would capture the high priest’s partner and imprison them.

But that didn’t happen. It was because a similar incident occurred in another Great Temple around the same time.

Before his bewildered feelings could subside, the northern god Kamuel came to Aquari to protest.

“Aquari! My high priest says he’s resigning because of your high priest! What is going on!”

The person the Western High Priest was going to marry was none other than the Northern High Priest.

Kamuel was as surprised as Aquari, and his usually neatly combed hair was sticking out in all directions.

“My high priest, that gentle child, is crying and wailing that he can no longer be in the position of high priest! He says he has a human he loves more than me! What did your high priest do to my child!”

Aquari, who was already in a panic, grabbed Kamuel by the collar and shook him.

“Speak properly! My high priest is resigning because of your high priest!”

Redrin was eating an apple as he passed by, and he enjoyed watching the scene.

Anyway, there was no way to catch the high priests who said they would resign voluntarily.

After that, Aquari kept a close eye on Kamuel to make sure he didn’t kill his high priest, and Kamuel also kept a close eye on Aquari to make sure he didn’t harm his high priest.

While the two gods were doing this, the Western High Priest and the Northern High Priest stepped down from their positions and returned to ordinary secular lives after holding a wedding a month later.

* * *

Rembrandt was very surprised to hear the story for the first time.

In Rembrandt’s generation, there had never been such a love triangle among the high priests.

Moreover, it wasn’t that they fell in love with a secular person, but that they fell in love with each other!

Apart from being surprised, he didn’t know what was similar between that story and his own situation at all.

The young Rembrandt also seemed to have similar thoughts, as he said in a nonchalant voice.

“You said it was a story about someone who had a similar experience. It’s not similar to me at all. I don’t know what I’m supposed to listen to and change my mind about.”

Cloth chuckled and brought the stew that had been completed while the Demon King was telling the story and poured it into a bowl.

“The rest of the story is longer. And it’s late today, so let’s talk about it later.”

Cloth gave Rembrandt a spoon.

“Smart kid, eat quickly and go to sleep.”

“If I eat and lie down, I’ll get indigestion, right?”

“Then eat and play before you sleep.”

Cloth handed a plate of stew to the Demon King as well, but the Demon King firmly refused.

Whether that was the end of the obligatory flow, Rembrandt finally regained control of his body when he was halfway through the stew.

As soon as he regained control, Rembrandt stopped eating the tasteless stew, tucked the baby sloth under his arm, and brought his carrier to his room.

After that, he took Fire Lion and Shin Jo-woon out of the Demon King’s mansion and walked to the front of the Demon King’s castle.

Fire Lion looked at Rembrandt with eyes that said, ‘Why are you coming here?’

Shin Jo-woon seemed to have given up altogether and was just looking straight ahead.

Rembrandt checked that they were the only ones around and then said.

“It seems like those demons will tell me the story on their own. Let’s go inside there today. I’ve always been curious about what the demons have prepared inside.”