Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 591

◈ 591. Where to Go

The baby sloth, as if trying to say something, bit the spoon and stubbornly refused to let go.

“Even if you do that, I can’t understand you, Anchovy.”

Rembrary let the sloth hold the spoon and continued listening to the Demon King’s story.

* * *

As word spread that the children were living with demons, the rumor also surfaced that one of them was a child sent by the demons.

In a situation where ‘one of the two is potentially dangerous,’ no one wanted to take that fifty-fifty risk.

Consequently, both the West and the North insisted that Memia and Memira should not become high priests.

Of course, both were only showing potential and hadn’t fully developed their abilities, so this matter was only being whispered among the priests.

Rather, Aquari and Kamuel were the ones most concerned with this issue.

“Hey. Which one do you think the demons planted?”

One day, Kamuel visited Aquari and, without asking, presumptuously sat on Aquari’s precious chair.

“I trust my child’s judgment.”

Kamuel chuckled at Aquari’s response.

“Why don’t you just admit it? Your child’s judgment isn’t that great. He fell in love with another high priest while being a high priest himself, didn’t he? Of course, my child’s judgment isn’t great either. It’s the same. Those kids shouldn’t have loved each other.”

“…….”

“It’s been too long since we’ve had a high priest. The outflow of believers is severe. People are gradually flocking to the Central Continent, the East, and the South. Redrin also doesn’t have a high priest, but they have several candidates and are just not choosing one. If we don’t appoint a high priest soon, we’ll be in trouble.”

Kamuel said that and stood up, declaring firmly.

“I don’t trust my child’s judgment either. But we don’t have time to wait any longer. Several years have passed, and there are no other candidates. If my child’s child meets the conditions to become a high priest… I will choose that child.”

Aquari replied calmly.

“Same here.”

Neither Aquari nor Kamuel mentioned how Memia and Memira were being treated among humans.

Because it was something they couldn’t solve immediately, and it was very heartbreaking.

After Kamuel left, Aquari parted the clouds and looked down.

Memia was looking down at a book as thick as Aquari’s palm, and a group of peers were whispering behind her.

When Memia heard the noise and turned her head, the peers shouted something at Memia and threw what looked like dirt or stones.

It seemed like stones, as Memia covered her forehead in pain.

Angry, Memia closed the book, sobbed for a moment, and then threw the book at the peers.

The book Memia was reading was much thicker and heavier than a stone, so the priest who was hit by the book immediately fainted, causing chaos around them.

Some shouted loudly and ran somewhere, and soon older priests rushed to the scene.

The high-ranking priests were surprised to see the fallen priest, and then they began to get angry at Memia.

When Memia argued back, one of them grabbed the child’s ear and started dragging her away.

‘What kind of agreement was Salirus leaving for?’

Aquari clicked his tongue and looked at the side where the northern high priest’s child was.

Kamuel had blocked the area around the Great Temple with his energy, so he couldn’t see inside.

But Aquari had seen the child, who looked a lot like Memia, come out of that energy field and sob alone while building sandcastles about three or four times.

‘Poor children.’

Aquari waved his hand and covered the human realm with clouds again.

* * *

As no suitable high priest candidate appeared even when the children became adults, Aquari, who had been postponing the decision, could no longer delay choosing a high priest.

“This all happened because your two children didn’t even complete their terms and quit,” Redrin said at every meeting, saying things that didn’t need to be said, irritating the two gods, and Lumenas was busy stopping him.

On the day Memia turned 23, Aquari announced to the Western Great Temple that he would make Memia the high priest.

Kamuel also declared to the Northern Great Temple that he would make Memira the high priest.

The two divine messages were delivered simultaneously, and the children, who had been treasures of the temple but were now seen as ominous signs, rose to a glorious position again.

And as they became high priests, the two children’s fates began to diverge rapidly.

After Memia, who became the Western High Priest, was appointed, the divine power she newly gained manifested in the form of poison.

[The high priest’s ability is poison? That doesn’t make sense!]

[This proves it. The child sent by the demons was the Western High Priest.]

[Aquari must be so upset. After waiting so long, the high priest he chose is contaminated by demons.]

Moreover, Memia’s poison was so potent that anyone who touched even a drop of it would die instantly.

On the other hand, the divine power that Memira manifested took the form of light.

That brilliant light was so mysterious and beautiful that everyone felt an overwhelming sense of faith when Memira used her power.

The people of the Northern Continent began to revere their high priest as ‘the first direct descendant high priest born between two high priests.’

Memira, who had been treated as an outcast for several years, was now loved by everyone and became a wonderful being that even people from other continents admired.

As that happened, the people of the North hated Memia as much as they loved their priest.

If it weren’t for Memia, Memira would have lived receiving the love of two high priests and wouldn’t have suffered from misunderstandings for several years.

She was even prophesied to one day kill Memira! To the people of the North, Memia was truly a cursed being.

The people of the North began to call the Western High Priest Memia the Black Priest.

* * *

Rembrary clicked his tongue after hearing the story.

“Calling her a Black Priest just because she uses poison. They’re the kind of people who would call Kkokko [a common Korean name, often used for pets] the incarnation of the Demon King.”

The Demon King flinched at those words, and Binak, who seemed to be asleep on the table, giggled while lying face down.

Then, Binak raised his head and looked at Rembrary, asking the Demon King.

“Master. What is this cute chick?”

“That’s Rembrary.”

When Rembrary answered on his own, Binak came next to Rembrary and made cooing sounds, then asked.

“Chick. Aren’t you scared of us?”

“I’m not scared.”

“Good boy. Who raised our chick so well?”

“Redrin did.”

“…….”

“…….”

The Demon King and Binak became silent at the same time, and Rembrary realized he had made a mistake.

The Demon King had been expressing not-so-good feelings about Redrin while telling the past stories.

Of course, it must be a lie. Because the Demon King hates Redrin.

Of course, Redrin’s image was easily imagined in the Demon King’s stories, but still, there must have been some biased personal feelings.

Anyway, bringing up Redrin’s story in that situation was bound to make both the Demon King and Binak dislike it.

‘I need to be careful with my words.’

Rembrary resolved.

In any case, he’s six years old in this dungeon. And these are fantasies set in the past, where they don’t know ‘High Priest Rembrary.’

While acting as predetermined, they were also reacting and remembering according to the time and situation.

If Rembrary acted too smartly, he might not be able to see the past as it was.

“You have to accept the unpleasant truth if you’re an adult, even if you’re disappointed,” Rembrary said like a six-year-old, and the Demon King finally smiled and said, “I see.”

“Well, the country where the baby came from is in the Southern Continent. It’s been Redrin’s base for a long time, so he must like Redrin.”

But Binak, as if not wanting to be an adult even after living for hundreds of years, grumbled, “That name is annoying,” and snatched the sloth from Rembrary’s hand.

“Anchovy!”

Rembrary was surprised and looked for it, but Binak had already disappeared.

“Rose Knight, where did that person go just now?”

Rembrary grabbed the Demon King’s arm and shook it urgently.

“Where did he go with my sloth?”

* * *

Binak was the craziest person Shin Jo-woon [the sloth] had ever seen, combining all the people and other races he had met.

Not even knowing that babies should be treated more carefully, Binak arbitrarily tucked the baby sloth under his arm, danced, and slid around the hallway.

Then, as if suddenly losing energy, he entered a room, lay down on the bed, hugged the baby sloth, and sobbed.

“I really hate Redrin. Why doesn’t anyone understand this?”

Shin Jo-woon didn’t say anything, but Binak overcame his brief sadness on his own and suddenly stood up, smiling.

“Thank you. You helped me, Sloth.”

“…….”

Shin Jo-woon just waited for Rembrary to come back.

But what appeared wasn’t Rembrary, or even the fire lion, who was useful but disliked.

“Oh. This sloth. That suspicious sloth.”

It was Noir.

When Noir appeared from behind a large mirror and pointed at Shin Jo-woon, Binak asked.

“Do you know him?”

Noir didn’t avoid Binak as much as Clot did, but instead of avoiding him, he smiled and said.

“This sloth is a bit suspicious. He even writes letters by himself.”

“He writes letters?”

“Yeah. He was writing letters alone at night.”

Noir, smiling brightly, picked up Shin Jo-woon from Binak’s arms.

“Good. I was curious about something. Let’s find out together.”

* * *

He wandered around with the Demon King, but he couldn’t see where Binak had taken Shin Jo-woon.

Rembrary felt a sense of crisis for the first time since entering the demons’ dungeon.

If he got hurt or something happened to him, he could somehow solve it, but Anchovy is just an anchovy.

It’s true that Anchovy is strong, but he can’t use his abilities properly in here! What can he do with that 0.25x speed ice!

“Fire Lion. Couldn’t you find him either?”

The fire lion, who had deliberately run in a different direction, also nodded.

Rembrary thought for a moment and decided to save Anchovy first, even if it meant arousing suspicion from the ‘demons in the illusion,’ so he went to the room Noir often used.

“Please open this.”

There, he asked the Demon King to open the locked door, and then Rembrary entered the room.

Noir could see many things at once through the mirror, so he was going to ask Noir to look for Binak.

But when he entered the room, the baby sloth was there.

Binak was also there.

The baby sloth was forcibly holding a pen, and the pen and one of his small hands were connected by a long nail.

Below it, there was a white paper.

“Anchovy!”

Rembrary hurriedly ran over and separated Noir and Binak, pulled out the nail, and then poured out divine power indiscriminately.

Fortunately, the wound disappeared quickly.

Rembrary took care of the baby sloth and threw the pen at Noir in anger.

“How wicked! What are you doing!”

‘These demons really can’t stay still for a moment.’

But… Noir, Binak, and even the Demon King’s expressions were very strange.

Their expressions were subtle as they looked at Rembrary.

‘Oh no.’

Rembrary realized belatedly. He had used divine power in front of them.

They are illusions, so they can’t feel the divine power, but they can see Rembrary healing the sloth in an instant.

There’s no way a six-year-old would have used divine power among demons, so the past that the demons were trying to show had completely gone wrong.

“Master. Didn’t that chick just use a strange ability?”

Binak asked.

Noir also raised his eyebrows and muttered.

“What is this kid? Demon King. Is this kid really the one who was chased in here? Not like a spy or something?”