Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 739

739. A Time to Brag About Apprentice Priests

A paladin muttered, seeing Heather’s expression.

“You didn’t know, I see.”

Heather readily admitted.

“No. I just thought it was a nice and mysterious ability. I can’t exactly summon monsters to test what effect it has.”

The paladin didn’t embarrass Heather.

“That’s true.”

Rembrary liked the paladin, so he shone his halo towards her to see her better.

The paladin squinted slightly as if dazzled, and her light green eyes were hidden by her eyelashes.

“Rembrary, don’t play around.”

Heather scolded him immediately.

I wasn’t playing around. Rembrary felt a little wronged but obediently turned off his halo and slumped on Heather’s shoulder.

The paladin glanced at Rembrary’s hair, matted with monster saliva, and said,

“If it were just that he had such divine power, he wouldn’t have lasted this long. But this child had excellent divine power and was very brave.

He calmly used his ability while looking straight at the monster. If he had been frightened and closed his eyes or run away, he wouldn’t have been able to use his good abilities.”

Heather smiled contentedly. No guardian would feel bad when their child was praised.

“Our Rembrary isn’t afraid.”

The paladin took out a handkerchief and wiped the child’s hair, saying,

“This child would do well even if he became a paladin, not a priest.”

Heather teasingly said to Rembrary,

“Wow, Rembrary. You’re really amazing, huh?”

But inside, she was genuinely impressed. If Rembrary’s halo was not only beautiful but also had such a useful purpose,

the more the child grew, the more his value would be recognized, and he would be free from the prejudices of others.

Heather said, pleased,

“I have one more thing to brag about when I go to the meeting.”

“It’s over there.”

Then Rembrary pointed to a three-story building and shouted, and Heather stopped smiling.

“I was in that inn.”

When they entered the inn, the counter was still empty. Half of the first floor of the inn was used as a restaurant, but there were no guests downstairs either.

Heather put Rembrary down. The paladin drew an arrow and went up the stairs.

“It’s the room at the end of that way.”

Heather opened the door that Rembrary pointed to.

As the child said, there were shards of glass on the floor. Heather picked up one of the fragments and examined it before asking the paladin,

“Sir Cheru. Would you stay here with Rembrary? It’s hard to take the child and look for Mel and the other child. I’ll take a look around.”

“The child can be alone for a while.”

“He might get worn out from using too much divine power. Besides, it would be a problem if he was left alone and went somewhere else again.”

“Then you stay with the child, Heather.”

Several arguments went back and forth. Heather said that he, as a high priest, should take the lead. As the person in charge for a long time, he insisted that this was his duty and he should solve it.

On the other hand, Cheru said that it was the role of the paladin to protect the priests, and that her family had been a family of knights for generations, so she had learned how to fight even before becoming a paladin.

She said that she had been traveling around dangerous places for five years for training, and that she would have been in a monster den in the central continent if she hadn’t heard the news that her younger sibling would become an apprentice paladin.

Rembrary thought Cheru was reciting more information than necessary.

In any case, Heather, overwhelmed by the excessive information, eventually stayed in the room with Rembrary, and Cheru went out to find the coachman and Lydal.

Rembrary lay down on the bed, worried that Heather would disappear again if he fell asleep, so he moved his position and lay down, using Heather’s lap as a pillow.

“Heather. Don’t run away alone.”

“Rembrary… You think Mel and Lydal ran away, leaving you behind?”

“Everyone does that when it’s dangerous.”

“!”

Heather was upset and stroked the child’s hair, but when the sticky monster saliva came out, his expression hardened.

Rembrary grabbed Heather’s lap and closed his eyes.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, Lydal was sobbing next to Rembrary.

The coachman had a large bruise on one side of his face, and his clothes were slightly torn. Inside the clothes, there was a wound from a large claw.

“Are you awake?”

Even though she was crying, Lydal managed to find Rembrary and asked immediately.

Rembrary nodded and looked at the wall when he heard the clock ticking. The stopped clock hands were moving, click-clack.

* * *

The coachman was injured, but he said he was not so injured that he couldn’t drive the carriage. He insisted that he would definitely complete his mission.

The coachman kept glancing at Rembrary while telling the story.

So Rembrary, Lydal, and Heather were once again riding in the carriage driven by Mel.

Cheru joined them, replacing the paladins who were originally scheduled to join, but Lydal couldn’t feel relieved even with the paladin by her side.

Lydal didn’t look out the window, covered her whole body with a blanket, and cried periodically.

“The child seems to have been greatly shocked. Is it okay to keep going?”

Cheru, unable to watch any longer, asked Heather quietly.

“She saw Mel being attacked by an invisible monster right in front of her.”

Heather sighed and looked at Rembrary.

Rembrary, who had even faced the monster one-on-one, was completely different. Rembrary slept well in the carriage and in the accommodation, just like when he first left the Florandia Temple.

But Heather was even more worried about his nonchalant appearance.

Until they arrived at their destination, Heather couldn’t bring himself to tell Rembrary the story that ‘the coachman only took care of Lydal and ran away in a critical situation.’

* * *

Rembrary got out of the carriage, put only one foot on the ground, and stared at the white building in front of him with his mouth open.

The buildings were built of white stone without any flaws. Tall, delicately crafted pillars surrounded the building.

Lydal, who had calmed down a lot while moving, followed Rembrary out of the carriage and couldn’t close her mouth either.

“This is the Grand Temple.”

On the other hand, Heather, who was familiar with this place, explained without teasing.

“The Grand Temple?”

Rembrary discovered that different people were engraved on each large pillar.

Moreover, the pillars in the front were supporting the temple, while the pillars in the back were just erected like statues.

“There are people.”

Heather pointed to the nearest pillar with his hand and said,

“Yeah. They are engraved with the images of the successive Grand Priests.”

Rembrary’s heart strangely fluttered when he heard the name Grand Priest. He was interested for some reason.

Rembrary shook Heather’s clothes and asked again,

“Why are some outside and some inside? Is the Grand Priest inside higher? Is the Grand Priest outside higher? Is there any meaning?”

Heather smiled contentedly and muttered in embarrassment,

“Uh… it’s just in chronological order.”

The pillars outside were just made outside because there was no space.

But Heather thought this story wouldn’t be cool, so he pretended to be busy and looked around.

Fortunately, Rembrary wasn’t too concerned about this, so he stared up at the pillar again with a blank expression.

Heather glanced at Rembrary and laughed for no reason.

Rembrary was from a prince, so he wasn’t usually surprised no matter how splendid or magnificent he saw. But he was surprised to see the Grand Temple.

He felt proud as a priest.

Heather teased the child for no reason.

“Rembrary seems to like the Grand Temple?”

“Yes. It reminds me of home.”

But Heather pretended to be busy again, looking around at the relentless answer that came back.

As he was doing that, a stranger in priest robes approached and asked,

“Are you with Heather and his party?”

When Heather answered yes, the priest said he would show them to their room and walked ahead.

* * *

Rembrary thought he would get a good rest today after traveling for several days.

What he needed to rest well was a bath. Moreover, after being assigned a room and checking it out, the bathroom in this temple was very large and the bathtub was sparkling.

Rembrary got excited and went to take a bath.

However, as soon as he came out, Rembrary was caught by Heather and had to wear clothes that were more cumbersome than usual.

“Why are you making me wear this?”

Rembrary asked as he reluctantly put on his clothes, and Heather pointed to Lydal with his eyes.

Lydal was already sitting politely in similar clothes to Rembrary.

“You’re going to attend the meeting. There are some apprentices who have followed a few times, but this is your first time. You have to look neat. When you enter the conference room, greet people politely.”

“What about rest?”

“Let’s rest this evening. We arrived too close for comfort because something happened in the Floran territory.”

Rembrary was tired, but he had no choice but to change his clothes and follow Heather with Lydal.

And not long after entering the conference room, Rembrary realized why Heather had dressed Lydal and himself so carefully.

“These are the treasures of our Florandia Temple, apprentice priests Rembrary and Lydal.

These two became a hot topic for showing high priest-level divine power in the divine power vessel test [a test to measure the amount of divine power] three months ago.”

Heather introduced Rembrary and Lydal to the other high priests with a proud face.

It wasn’t just Heather. All the other high priests took turns bragging about the children they had brought.

When Rembrary first heard about this meeting, he didn’t understand why the temple leaders were taking two apprentice priests each, even after hearing the explanation.

But after seeing the flowing atmosphere, he seemed to understand.

Rembrary was drinking juice made with fruit juice and sitting dignifiedly so that Heather would not be disappointed.

“I’ve heard the rumors.”

“Yes. I didn’t expect Priest Heather to bring them right away. Thanks to you, I get to meet the friends who will be in the meeting together in the future.”

The participating priests responded with laughter to Heather’s boasting. Not only to Heather’s boasting, but these priests were not stingy with praising the apprentice priests that others had brought.

So Rembrary was smiling contentedly, thinking that he wouldn’t stand out even if he received praise.

“But Priest Heather, is it true that the child Rembrary can already ‘use’ divine power?”

But he was being praised as a set with Lydal all along. One of the priests wearing glasses pointed at Rembrary and showed interest.

Rembrary was drinking juice when he opened his eyes wide and looked at the priest.

“Of course. Our Rembrary can create a beautiful halo.”

Heather did not miss the opportunity to brag and immediately retorted.

Rembrary was a little embarrassed. It’s okay to be praised as a set with Lydal. But it was difficult to stand out too much alone.

It was difficult to stand out only in the Florandia Temple, but he was getting attention in a place where temple leaders were gathered.

“That’s not all.”

But Heather had no way of knowing Rembrary’s inner thoughts, so he gathered all the facts he had recently learned and bragged.

“Our Rembrary’s halo can drive away monsters!”

“Monsters?!”

The youngest-looking priest leaned forward with interest.

“Of course. When Sir Cheru and I found Rembrary, Rembrary was confronting the monster alone.

The monster was so vicious that it spat out a bright red magic stone after it died.”

Everyone cheered quietly at the monster story.

An old man sitting at the head of the table even asked Rembrary in a bright voice.

“Child. Can you show that to us?”

Heather also looked at Rembrary and said,

“Rembrary, show the highest priest your halo.”

Rembrary looked to the side, thinking it was difficult.

Lydal was sitting upright and looking down at the desk.

If he used his halo in this situation, he would stand out too much alone. It wasn’t that he was covering Lydal, but that Lydal would be covered by him.

Rembrary hesitated and answered.