Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 736

736. Give Me a Birthday Present, Please.

Ryder paused for a moment, then asked calmly,

“Why? Is there a reason?”

Rembrary thought Ryder’s attitude was much more refined than that of most noble children.

Most children around Rembrary’s age, regardless of their status, seemed like babies. But Ryder had little of that air about him.

Perhaps this was why the apprentice priests his age followed Ryder better than Kentry, who was the oldest.

“The high priest who brought me here said that when you enter the temple, you have to abandon all worldly things.

But I can’t write a letter to my parents with a baby and me together.”

Ryder leaned against Rembrary’s desk and squatted down.

Rembrary lowered his head again and continued writing the letter.

Ryder watched Rembrary write a whole letter before getting up and returning to his original seat.

As Ryder returned, the apprentice priest sitting next to him glanced at Rembrary and comforted him.

“Don’t mind him. That kid seems a bit extraordinary and very strange.”

On Rembrary’s birthday. As he sat down in the dining hall for breakfast, Licheur placed a small paper box that he had been carrying around in front of Rembrary.

“Here. It’s a birthday present.”

Rembrary, who was about to eat the salad that was sure to be bland again today, put down his fork and untied the red ribbon around the box.

Inside was a small, round cake that was slightly yellowish but mostly white.

“Is it for me?”

Rembrary asked, and Licheur nodded.

“Yes.”

“Thank you!”

Rembrary quickly took a piece of cream from the cake with his fork and put it in his mouth.

The children nearby stared with wide eyes, as if watching a great spectacle.

“How is it?”

Licheur asked, feeling nervous for no reason.

Rembrary swallowed the cream and gave a thumbs up.

Licheur smiled brightly.

“Is it good? It’s a salt cake. I thought you didn’t like bland things, so I asked around and made it.”

“Salt is salty,” one of the apprentice priests sitting next to him muttered in horror.

Licheur explained proudly.

“It’s called a salt cake, but it’s not actually very salty. It’s just a little saltier than regular cream.”

Rembrary ignored Licheur’s explanation and began to eat the cake in earnest.

Licheur was pleased with the sight of him eating so enthusiastically.

“It might not be good to eat too much salt. But you don’t eat it often anyway.”

Licheur wasn’t the only one who gave Rembrary a birthday present.

‘Redrin, Redrin. Today is the birthday of Rembrary, whom you adore. But he has only received one birthday present.

Redrin, if you give me one more present, I will have two. So, Redrin, won’t you give me a present too?’

Rembrary waited for a present to appear as before. But Redrin gave nothing.

Rembrary pondered for a moment, then went under the covers and began to persuade Redrin.

‘Redrin. Licheur said in class that priests should not be greedy. But I think differently. Greed has nothing to do with divine power.

Licheur has little greed and little divine power. Licheur revealed this himself while talking about divine power. So, I think priests can be greedy too.’

Redrin watched the scene with a smile and called a passing angel.

[Come here.]

As the angel approached, Redrin plucked a beautiful golden feather.

-Ack!

The angel jumped in surprise.

[It’ll grow back anyway, so it’s okay, right?]

Why are you saying that, Redrin?!

Redrin gestured for the protesting angel to leave and lightly blew on the feather in his palm.

The feather that Redrin sent flying seemed to fall fluttering below the clouds, then appeared inside Rembrary’s blanket.

Rembrary was praying diligently when a large golden feather suddenly appeared before his eyes, and he grinned.

The feather not only smelled very good but also emitted a subtle light on its own.

‘Thank you, Redrin! Now I have two presents!’

* * *

It was ironic that Rembrary had only received two presents, as a huge gift was delivered from the Libulen Imperial Family a few days later.

The children were on their way to lunch as usual when they stopped and discovered huge carts entering in an endless line.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know!”

The carts contained something large, covered with a large fluttering cloth.

Rembrary didn’t think that the gift was sent by his parents and thought, ‘I wish I could go to the dining hall soon.’

Today, they were serving the least bland pumpkin pie of all the foods served here.

When the carts stopped, some priests approached the large man who had come from the front of the strange procession.

After a while. The large man gestured to the carts behind him, and those who had been walking beside the carts grabbed the cloths covering the carts and pulled them off.

“Wow!”

The children burst into cheers.

The carts were loaded with large beds.

“Beds!”

“So many!”

“I think there are over a hundred!”

The children jumped up and down, shouting.

Rembrary shook Licheur’s arm.

“Let’s go eat pie.”

The workers who came with the carts unexpectedly began to move the beds into the dormitories used by the apprentice priests.

That evening, Rembrary returned after finishing all his work and noticed that all the beds in the room had been changed.

The beds were so soft that his eyelids closed as soon as he lay down. It wasn’t as good as the bed he used at home, but it was incomparably better than the hard bed he had been using until last night.

Rembrary rolled around on the bed and found the Libulen Imperial Family seal on the corner of the headboard.

‘My mother and father sent it.’

As Rembrary guessed, it was his parents who had replaced all the beds of the Florandia Temple apprentice priests.

Originally, they had only intended to replace the beds in the room where Rembrary stayed, but when the temple officials firmly refused, saying, ‘It’s not allowed because the children will be compared,’ they replaced them all at once.

It all started when Rembrary wrote in his birthday letter, ‘The bed is uncomfortable.’

– You didn’t have to pluck my feather.

The angel looked down at the scene and sobbed.

* * *

However, Rembrary’s letter was not the only one that arrived in Libulen.

A letter from the priest Niran, whom he had bought off, also arrived to Duke Ladderun.

The Duke Ladderun took the letter he received from the messenger and locked himself in his study.

-It has been confirmed that the prince has divine power. The prince is the first among his peers to reveal divine power. It is not an outstanding ability, but it is enough to create a little light.

But since he has divine power anyway, we can no longer accuse him of being related to the demons. What should we do?

The Duke crumpled the letter and slammed it on the narrow table with a thud.

“Father?”

Jiremy, his son, who was opening the study door, stopped in surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

The Duke Ladderun looked at his son’s face and pondered whether to tell him honestly or not.

“Come in.”

The Duke soon decided to tell him and gestured. He didn’t want to raise his child weakly.

Jiremy hesitated and approached, sitting on the single sofa facing the Duke.

The Duke threw the crumpled letter at the child. Jiremy’s eyes widened as he read the letter.

“Really?”

Jiremy handed the letter back to his father and asked.

“Does Rembrary really use divine power? Like real priests?”

“It’s written that way, so it must be true.”

Jiremy shook his legs restlessly.

“Stay still!”

The Duke scolded, but it was no use.

“Father, what if Rembrary becomes a respected priest later? If Rembrary becomes a priest and tells everyone about me and Yurishi, it will be a disaster! Everyone will believe what the priest says.”

“It’s written that he has divine power, but it’s a terrible ability. He won’t become a respected priest.”

The Duke said firmly, but he wasn’t sure himself. He didn’t know if the child’s divine power would grow further or stop there.

Most importantly, as long as the prince has divine power, he cannot be accused of being related to the demons.

Otherwise, the Duke, who made such a statement, would be treated as impious. Perhaps the prince would leave the temple in a few years.

“I told you not to shake your legs!”

The Duke vented his anger on Jiremy for no reason.

Jiremy forced his feet to the ground by putting strength into his legs.

The Duke sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“I’ve heard of black magic that temporarily blocks the divine power of priests.”

“Yes?”

“I should look into it.”

* * *

While Niran was asking the Duke for his opinion, and the Duke was pondering about black magic.

Eliza, another priest who had received money and a request from a nobleman other than the Duke, sought a solution on her own.

‘Niran’s method is useless.’

Eliza looked at Niran. Niran was looking at the calendar and muttering.

“I have to succeed in the job within half a year. Otherwise, I have to return half of it, those stingy bastards….”

‘Children should be stopped by children.’

Eliza thought to herself. Not only that, but she also did not come forward easily and carefully watched for an opportunity.

“Is there anyone who can take care of the children I’m in charge of for about five hours tomorrow?”

Then, when Licheur had to leave the temple for other business. Eliza quickly seized the opportunity.

“I will take care of them.”

As Eliza approached with a kind smile, Licheur was relieved and asked for her favor.

“Thank you. It’s an urgent matter that I have to take care of. The children are usually quiet, so there shouldn’t be any troublemakers.”

* * *

‘But where and how do I use this feather, Redrin?’

Rembrary fiddled with the feather that Redrin had given him. Several days had passed since he received the feather, but he still didn’t understand its use. ‘It’s pretty, though. Is it just for keeping?’

As he was doing that, the bell rang and the front door of the classroom opened.

Rembrary put the feather in his pocket and looked ahead, feeling puzzled.

‘Who is it?’

Unexpectedly, it wasn’t Licheur who walked to the front of the podium.

As the children buzzed, the newly appeared person wrote her name largely on the blackboard and said.

“My name is Eliza. Today, Priest Licheur has to leave for a while. I will be in charge of you in the meantime. Anyone have any questions?”

While the children raised their hands and asked various questions. Rembrary started doodling in his notebook again, thinking about the angel’s feather.

Eliza watched the scene closely.

And after three or four hours, Eliza, who had been talking to and watching the children diligently, had almost figured out who the apprentice priests under Licheur were close to, who had bad relationships,

and how the atmosphere was formed.

The famous apprentice Ryder seemed to be relied on and followed by most of the children, and he seemed to like that point.

Rembrary seemed to be treated as an oddball and did not talk to anyone. The only child who spoke to Rembrary in a slightly sarcastic tone was Kentry, the oldest in the class.

Eliza looked back and forth between Ryder and Kentry.

After a while. Eliza made a decision.

‘I can use that child.’