Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 774

◈ 774. Rembrandt Can’t Endure It

Rembrandt stared blankly at the highest-ranking priest of Lumena before answering.

“That’s not true.”

“How cute. But back then, you didn’t even take out a feather.”

“Your Eminence couldn’t have seen the healing scene because of the partition.”

Rembrandt cleverly pointed out the flaw in the highest-ranking priest of Lumena’s statement.

The highest-ranking priest of Lumena narrowed her eyes.

“That’s right.”

She readily admitted.

“But if you had taken out a feather, everyone would have asked what you were doing with it.”

However, she couldn’t easily deceive the highest-ranking priest of Lumena.

“I had the feather in my pocket.”

Rembrandt tried to lie once more.

“So, back then, no one knew about the feather.”

“Then why didn’t you put the feather in your pocket this time? It would be better to keep the feather hidden from others, wouldn’t it?”

Rembrandt was speechless.

However, she didn’t want to reveal her secret to a high-ranking priest from another temple, not even Header or Redrin.

“There’s a reason.”

Rembrandt continued to evade the question.

“Is that so?”

The highest-ranking priest of Lumena nodded as if she would accept it.

However, Rembrandt couldn’t relax because of her next words.

“Shall we do that?”

“Really.”

“If you want to keep your abilities a secret, you should. Anyway, you’re not my child, so I won’t reveal your abilities as I please.”

Even after hearing the words of the highest-ranking priest of Lumena, Rembrandt still couldn’t relax.

As if noticing that, the highest-ranking priest of Lumena smiled gently.

“You saved my life. So, shall I give you some advice, child?”

“I’m listening.”

“Are you planning to hide your abilities by using the feather? If so, it would be good to leave one feather in plain sight as a decoy. A thief might target it.”

“A decoy?”

“If there’s a feather in front of them, the thief will only take that. But if the feather isn’t visible and difficult to find, they’ll take you.”

“!”

“Do you understand?”

She closed her mouth and looked down at Rembrandt with an unreadable gaze before turning away.

As the highest-ranking priest of Lumena left, Rembrandt could feel the warmth returning to the frozen atmosphere of the room.

‘The highest-ranking priest of Lumena is a very unique person, Redrin. Our highest-ranking priest is a warm person. I guess Lumena has unique tastes.’

Thinking that, Rembrandt took out a flat box, emptied its contents, and put the feather inside.

Then, after closing the box, she placed it by her bedside. The black box was made of velvet, making it look very expensive.

‘Will this work?’

* * *

Was it because of yesterday’s commotion? When she went to the dining hall the next morning, each chair had a child’s name on it. The seating was fixed.

Rembrandt thought this was better and sat down at the table.

Then, the paladin whom Rembrandt had healed yesterday passed by and placed three round chocolates in front of her before walking away.

When Rembrandt looked up, the paladin smiled and gave a secret signal.

Rembrandt quickly put the chocolates in her pocket, but when she made eye contact with Ridal, she reluctantly took one out and offered it.

“……You don’t have to give it to me with such a sad look.”

“I’ll give it to you even though it’s precious. Because we made eye contact.”

Ridal happened to be next to Rembrandt because their names were close.

As the two children sat quietly at the table, the staff brought orange juice, soft bread, and butter to spread.

Rembrandt ate the chocolate in between, and Ridal tried to follow her but almost threw up.

“Ugh. It tastes bad.”

“The baby has terrible taste.”

“You’re eating it too strangely. You eat too salty and too sweet.”

“People who live blandly live half their lives blandly. That’s too bad.”

After finishing their meal, the children all went into the same classroom as yesterday.

Inside the classroom, each chair also had a name on it, so the children sat in their assigned seats.

Rembrandt tried to move her chair from the front row all the way to the back, but Header caught her, and her plan was thwarted.

“You really live as you please.”

Ridal, who was sitting next to her again because of their names, muttered in admiration at Rembrandt’s will.

“I try to follow the rules as much as possible.”

“You just got caught moving your chair.”

“There was no rule that said I couldn’t move the chair. There was only a rule that said I had to sit in the chair with my name on it.”

“…….”

“Now that I know I can’t move the chair, I won’t move it.”

After speaking, Rembrandt lay down on her desk and started sleeping.

Ridal stared down at Rembrandt with his mouth open before shaking his head.

When class started, the retired paladin from yesterday entered.

“Did I say my name yesterday?”

The retired paladin asked as soon as he came in, then wrote ‘Harmonil’ largely on the chalkboard as he had done yesterday.

“You can call me Sir Harmonil.”

The retired paladin said, staring intently at the back of Rembrandt’s head, who was daring to lie down in the front row.

“And today, we’ll have class on the mountain next to this mansion, so everyone go outside.”

Ridal gently shook Rembrandt. Rembrandt followed the children, nodding off.

The retired paladin continued to explain as he led the children to the mountain connected to the mansion.

“When facing monsters, your comrades may get hurt, or you may get separated from them. You must prepare for various situations. Today, we will practice that.”

Rabsus followed the children from the back, his face pale.

He hadn’t used his divine power properly yesterday and had seriously injured a paladin, so his already lacking confidence had shrunk like withered seaweed.

And now they were going to practice fighting monsters again. Worry washed over him.

The retired paladin led the children to an open space on the mountainside.

The children gathered together and looked around. The mountain wasn’t gloomy, and the sunlight was good and bright.

“The maps.”

At the retired paladin’s instruction, the paladins who had followed from behind handed out brown maps to each of the children.

Rembrandt also received a map. It was a map of the mountain, and in the corner, the mansion where they were staying was also marked.

And at the top of the mountain, there was a house marked with an X.

“In the house marked with an X at the top, your comrade is injured and isolated. You have to go find that injured comrade. That’s today’s lesson.”

As the children buzzed and counted each other, the retired paladin explained again.

“No, it’s not a real comrade. A paladin has gone up ahead to play the role of the injured person.”

Afterward, the retired paladin had the children from the Redrin Temple and the Lumena Temple stand separately.

“We’ll do it in two groups like this. The destination is the same, and the two groups will move along different paths with similar distances. The group that finds and brings the paladin first wins. The group that arrives late can bring a doll from inside the cabin instead of the paladin.”

After explaining, the retired paladin pointed to Rembrandt and Rabsus with his hand and added.

“People who can use divine power shouldn’t use divine power this time either. This isn’t about seeing how well you use divine power, but about seeing your teamwork, courage, and resourcefulness.”

Rembrandt didn’t think anything.

However, Rabsus became even more depressed, thinking that the retired paladin’s warning was actually directed at him.

“Anyone want to ask questions?”

“What if it’s dangerous?”

“The paladins will be following nearby. But they won’t give any help unless it’s an emergency, so just think of the paladins as passersby and go up on your own.”

* * *

The children of the Redrin Temple naturally followed Rembrandt.

This was because Rembrandt had shown the greatest achievement in the previous class.

‘These idiots!’

Wider thought to himself as he watched the children follow Rembrandt closely.

Rembrandt hadn’t unfolded the map even once since he started climbing the mountain path. Rembrandt was just moving forward.

But it seemed that Wider himself was the only one who knew this fact, as he was constantly observing Rembrandt.

“Rembrandt.”

Eventually, Wider couldn’t stand it anymore and approached Rembrandt, asking.

“Are we going the right way?”

“We’re going to the top, right?”

“Yeah. But I see that you don’t check the map much.”

“Yeah, I’ve memorized it all.”

The children who were listening to Rembrandt’s words simultaneously exclaimed.

“You memorized it all already?”

“Really?”

“You’re really smart!”

Wider thought Rembrandt was lying.

Rembrandt put the map in his pocket as soon as he received it. Wider saw that too.

There was no way Rembrandt could memorize the map without even trying to memorize it.

“It’s this way.”

However, not long after, when a cabin really appeared, Wider stared at Rembrandt with his mouth open. Is he really a genius?

“You’re really amazing.”

Ridal praised in a small voice.

Rembrandt didn’t tell the children that he had just walked upwards. Anyway, they had arrived, so that was enough.

“I think we got here first!”

One of the children shouted in a happy voice and went inside the cabin to open the door.

The other children rushed in as well.

Rembrandt leisurely walked towards them with his hands behind his back.

However, before Rembrandt could even step inside, the children screamed and rushed back out.

“What’s wrong?”

Ridal, who was going at a similar pace to Rembrandt, hadn’t gone inside yet and asked in surprise.

“Inside! Inside!”

One of the children couldn’t speak, just moving his mouth.

“Let’s go in.”

Rembrandt quickly ran to the door, but before he could open it, a paladin jumped out of the bushes and blocked Rembrandt.

“We’ll go in first.”

It seemed they had stepped forward because they judged it was a dangerous situation.

The three paladins made the children step back, then carefully opened the door and quickly went inside.

Because they had left the door open, the situation inside was clearly visible from the outside.

“What is that?”

Ridal muttered in surprise.

Inside the cabin, there was what looked like a red carpet of bloodstains.

“How much blood do you have to spill to make it like that?”

Another child muttered.

The paladins cautiously walked towards the bloodstains. Next to the bloodstains was an empty chair.

Seeing that, the paladins exchanged glances, and then one of them approached another door inside the room.

The paladin quickly opened the door, thrust his sword forward, and went inside, then shouted a moment later.

“He’s not here either!”

It seemed the paladin who was supposed to be waiting inside the cabin was missing.

“The enemy might be outside.”

Paladin 4, who was next to Rembrandt, muttered.

Paladin 3, who had gone inside, also approached the door and said.

“It would be better to leave the children inside and scatter to look around.”

“Without sending them down?”

“Kelly’s missing. We have to find Kelly.”

The paladins muttered among themselves in small voices, and then finally shouted to the children.

“Let’s go inside. Another team will come soon.”

Since all the paladins attached to the Lumena trainee priests would come here anyway, they seemed to have decided that it would be better to gather together and act together.

The children were scared and stood in a line away from the bloodstains.

The children instinctively gathered around Rembrandt.

Then, the children heard something strange. It was the sound of a giant bug crawling on the wall.

The children and paladins simultaneously looked up and screamed in horror.

“It’s a centipede!”

“It’s a giant centipede!”

A centipede as large as three adults lined up was looking down at them from the ceiling.

The children were so surprised that they tried to open the windows and doors and run away, but neither the doors nor the windows would open.

“It won’t open!”

As the centipede slowly lowered its head as if choosing its prey, Paladin 2 drew his sword and slashed at the centipede.

However, the centipede was fine, and rather, when the sticky liquid that fell from the cut area touched it, the wooden floor melted.

“Don’t cut the centipede!”