Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 780

◈ 780. The Number of Believers Increases

“The manager is here!”

A lay priest ran in and announced to the other priests. The priests stopped what they were doing.

Rembrary washed his hands, glancing at the approaching group. Several soldiers on horseback were visible, surrounding a simple carriage.

The carriage stopped near the tent. The first person to emerge had blue hair.

“You did a very good job today!”

The blue-haired man shouted, spreading his arms as soon as he saw the priests.

“Thank you for lending us the cots and chairs.”

Richew quickly approached and greeted him personally.

Rembrary continued to watch them, peeling the wrapper from a chocolate he had received as a gift.

“It’s nothing, it’s our duty.”

The blue-haired man waved his hands enthusiastically and laughed.

The priests relaxed at his friendly demeanor.

They had been worried that the manager might have come with ulterior motives. The priests began to collect the items again.

“We will finish organizing the beds and chairs and return them immediately.”

Richew said, pointing to the tent being dismantled.

Having seen enough, Rembrary subtly got up from his chair and began to move through the crowd of children.

Rembrary often participated in various social events. He knew very well how people behaved when they were looking for someone.

His keen sense told him that the blue-haired man was looking for Rembrary even while talking to Richew.

However, Rembrary was too tired. He had dealt with people all day and wanted to eat something delicious and rest.

“You can return them at your leisure. But there are many novice priests here. Who is today’s star among them? Which one is our baby angel?”

As expected. As soon as he stepped into the crowd of children, he heard the blue-haired man speaking.

Rembrary stood behind a tall blonde, using him as a shield.

Kentree was puzzled when Rembrary suddenly stood behind him and looked back.

“Look ahead.”

“Huh? Why? What’s wrong?”

“If the ‘baby’ looks back, I’ll be seen.”

“Is that bad?”

Kentree didn’t understand why Rembrary was doing this, but he did as he was told.

Meanwhile, the blue-haired man muttered, looking around at the children.

“I heard he was blonde.”

Richew spotted Rembrary but hesitated to acknowledge him. Rembrary was standing behind Kentree, with whom he wasn’t particularly close. He realized that the child wanted to rest.

“Ah, Rembrary…….”

Richew hesitated.

“I guess it’s the child standing back there. He’s said to be about seven or eight years old.”

However, the blue-haired man managed to identify Rembrary on his own.

“You’re Rembrary.”

Before Richew could stop him, he approached Rembrary.

At this point, there was no choice. Rembrary eventually stepped out from behind Kentree and greeted him politely.

“I’m Rembrary.”

The blue-haired man asked in admiration.

“I heard you healed all the terminally ill patients?”

“That’s right.”

When Rembrary answered, the blue-haired man clapped his hands.

“You’re really amazing. Everyone in the village is talking about you.”

“That happens often.”

Rembrary replied smartly.

The blue-haired man smiled as if he found the child cute, then slyly asked.

“I heard you use some kind of feather to heal. Is that true?”

Richew’s expression twisted slightly.

“Yes, it is.”

Rembrary answered cleverly this time as well. He knew that this question would come up from the moment the blue-haired man started scanning the camp.

“Are there many?”

The blue-haired man asked again, his eyes shining.

“Of course.”

Rembrary answered readily.

Richew’s expression crumpled a little more.

“Is it enough just to have the feather? Can people who aren’t priests use the feather on their own?”

Even in this situation, the blue-haired man persisted.

“I recommend that a priest use it. I hold the feather and pray. I don’t know about others.”

Rembrary answered vaguely. Then, before the blue-haired man could say anything, he took a feather from his pocket and handed it over.

“Oh, are you giving it to me?”

The blue-haired man asked with a happy expression.

“Of course. Because you lent us the chairs. Our believer deserves to receive it.”

When Rembrary answered firmly, the corners of the blue-haired man’s mouth turned up brightly.

“You’re kind. Now I know why Redrin cherishes you.”

* * *

In the returning carriage, Richew asked the question he had been wondering about.

“Why did you give the feather to that blue-haired man?”

Rembrary answered, examining the fairy tale book he had received as a gift.

“Because he was going to ask for it anyway.”

“Still, you could have waited until he asked before giving it to him…….”

“If I’m going to give it anyway, it’s better to give it first.”

As Rembrary answered leisurely, the paladin riding next to him burst into laughter.

Richew was genuinely impressed.

“Our Rembrary is not greedy at all.”

“That’s not true.”

However, Rembrary immediately denied it in a non-humble tone.

“But you just give away such precious things so easily. To such a person.”

“That’s a decent person. He already lent us the beds and chairs when he didn’t know if he could get the feather or not.”

“!”

Richew was a little ashamed, realizing that he had forgotten the village manager’s initial kindness.

But at the same time, a rebellious feeling arose. To lend a few beds and chairs and receive a divine relic… wasn’t that a bit of a shameless deal?

It would be shameless to give and take beds and chairs, but to lend and take them.

However, Rembrary genuinely didn’t seem to regret it much.

He didn’t seem to not regret it, judging by the fact that his forehead was furrowed, but it was only a moderate level of regret.

Richew was more and more amazed as he looked at Rembrary. Rembrary had a unique perspective on people.

Richew was still confused as to whether Rembrary saw people in a good light, or whether he set his standards low and distrusted them.

* * *

Rembrary’s ‘terminal illness treatment volunteer work’ started embarrassingly but ended relatively peacefully.

However, Heather thought this was strange after receiving the report.

It was no secret that the priests of the Florandia Temple went on volunteer work here and there. Most of the priests did volunteer work.

However, the Florandia Temple had far more priests than other temples.

The priests were divided into several teams and went on volunteer work. No one but the people involved knew who would go on what date.

However, the guardians of the terminally ill patients knew in advance where ‘Rembrary with the feather’ would be and gathered there.

There were no such crowds when other teams went to other places.

“Please find out if anyone has leaked information related to this.”

Heather asked a believer who was skilled at processing information to investigate.

A few days later, the believer came and informed her.

“Rumor has it that a novice priest with a feather that can save even the dying is going that way, and the rumor has spread mainly through the clinic.”

Heather held her head in her office and pondered. Someone inside must have leaked the information. Who could it be?

‘The lay priests, high-ranking priests, and staff all underwent the inquisitor’s examination [a magical lie detection process] last time…….’

Then there were two possibilities: either a novice priest had been bribed, or the last examination had failed to filter out all the guilty parties.

* * *

“Heather! Heather!”

Heather was writing a letter to Sediter, crumpling the letter paper repeatedly. He crumpled the ninth piece of letter paper and looked at the door.

Soon the door opened, and the secretary, who had been calling him desperately from the hallway, came in.

“What’s wrong?”

Heather asked, throwing the crumpled letter paper into the trash can.

“I, I just…”

The secretary was out of breath as if she had run in a hurry and couldn’t speak quickly.

Heather raised her eyebrows. What’s going on?

As she waited patiently, the secretary, who had caught her breath, barely managed to speak.

“I went to open the main gate to receive outside visitors, but… but there are so many people gathered in front of the main gate!”

“People are gathered?”

“People who want to register as believers!”

The secretary shouted, gasping for air, and coughed.

Heather handed a glass of water to the secretary.

While the secretary was drinking water, Heather walked to the window and pushed the curtain aside.

His eyes widened. The secretary was right. A cloud-like crowd was gathered behind the gate.

The distance between the main gate and the main building was far. Even if people were clustered behind the main gate, it was difficult to see them properly from here.

However, even from a distance, the crowd gathered behind the main gate was clearly visible today.

“What should we do?”

The secretary asked in a higher voice than usual.

“Is it because of Rembrary……?”

Heather pondered the reason and came up with a plausible guess.

“Rembrary?”

“Didn’t Rembrary heal a large number of terminally ill patients a few days ago? The rumor seems to have spread widely. It takes time for rumors to spread.”

Heather closed the curtain again.

“What should we do?”

The secretary asked anxiously.

“It’s good to have more believers, but…… can we handle these people? If all these people come to our temple, it will become too noisy. Besides, won’t these people suddenly ask Rembrary for treatment?”

The secretary’s question was rhetorical. Even if they couldn’t handle it, the temple couldn’t refuse people who wanted to become believers.

* * *

The novice priests were lining up to go to the cafeteria for breakfast.

“Wow, look at that!”

At that time, a child shouted, pointing at the gate.

Rembrary hadn’t fully woken up yet, so he didn’t look in the direction of the sound. Rembrary nodded off in place.

“Wow…… there are so many!”

“There are more than at the festival!”

“Richew! What day is it today?”

However, as the children made so much noise, Rembrary reluctantly turned his head.

As soon as he raised his head, he immediately saw the crowd gathered in front of the main gate.

“What day is it?”

Rembrary added a question and looked at Richew.

“I wonder. What day is it today?”

Richew brushed the question aside and urged the children.

“Okay, let’s go in and have breakfast quickly.”

Richew didn’t bring up the topic any further. But the children couldn’t suppress their curiosity.

Since the number of people had increased so visibly, they couldn’t help but be interested.

The children ate, took classes, and exchanged information they knew during breaks.

After a few hours, rumors spread quickly among the children.

The rumor was that all those people had come to see Rembrary. The children whispered excitedly.

“Then, are all the people who came there sick?”

“Many people came after hearing the rumors.”

“Is it because of Rembrary’s treatment of people?”

The children’s eyes simultaneously turned to Rembrary. The children began to think of Rembrary as someone different from them.