Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 804

804. Who Should Take Responsibility

Rembrary gripped the railing that encircled the rooftop and gazed at the sky.

The village was devastated, and the faint sound of weeping could still be heard from all directions, yet the sky was beautiful, as if none of this mattered.

“Are you okay?”

Suddenly, a voice came from beside him. Rembrary turned his head. The pink-haired tourist he had met at the Florentia Temple was standing there.

When Rembrary stared blankly, the pink-haired tourist tilted her head and asked,

“Are you okay?”

Rembrary stared intently at her, then released the railing and extended one hand. The pink-haired woman looked down at Rembrary’s hand.

“Give it back.”

Rembrary stretched his hand out further.

“Give what back?”

The pink-haired woman asked, as if she didn’t understand.

“My card. You took it back then.”

The pink-haired woman stared intently into Rembrary’s eyes, as if to see if he was serious.

Rembrary didn’t blink and didn’t lower his hand.

“Think carefully.”

Instead of returning it, the pink-haired woman bent her knees slightly and said, making eye contact.

“We could be friends. Do you really want it back?”

Rembrary nodded.

“Think about it more.”

The pink-haired woman said without returning it. Rembrary shook his head.

“…….”

The pink-haired woman raised her eyebrows and straightened her knees. She put her hand in her pocket.

Rembrary’s gaze naturally went there.

When the pink-haired woman took her hand out of her pocket, there was only one card in it. She handed it to Rembrary.

“Think about it again.”

The gold-plated card gleamed in the moonlight. As he looked at it, a gust of wind passed by. When he looked up, the pink-haired woman had disappeared.

Rembrary looked down at the card the pink-haired woman had given him.

* * *

The next day, Rembrary woke up to a loud commotion.

“What’s going on?”

He asked, still not getting up and turning over in bed. Raidal, already looking neat and tidy, answered while looking out the window.

“The lord has sent people to assess the damage and figure out the situation.”

Rembrary yawned and went back into bed.

“Then I’ll sleep more.”

Rembrary pulled the blanket over his head.

“Rembrary.”

But Raidal came over and pulled the blanket back down.

Rembrary still didn’t care, closed his eyes, and ignored Raidal’s voice.

Raidal pulled the blanket all the way down and grabbed Rembrary’s arm.

“Get up.”

“I’m going to sleep more. Sleep is important to me. I studied hard yesterday, so I need to rest.”

“Get up. It looks like the people the lord sent are fighting with Gaieger.”

“Gaieger has a bad temper, so he’ll be good at arguing.”

Rembrary decided to trust Gaieger. But Raidal stubbornly pulled on Rembrary.

Eventually, Rembrary had to sigh and raise his upper body.

“How old is Gaieger that I have to take care of him one by one?”

“We’re a team.”

“Since when?”

“Florentia Team.”

Rembrary was disgusted, but Raidal ran to the window and craned his neck. Rembrary had no choice but to walk over there.

‘Redrin, look at Redrin’s novice priest. I don’t know how nosy he is.’

“Where?”

Rembrary stood next to Raidal and grabbed the windowsill. The smell of burning mixed with the late morning air.

The situation Raidal mentioned was immediately apparent. The commotion was happening right below the window.

“No, you have to say something that makes sense.”

Gaieger was standing with his arms crossed, looking annoyed. Several holy knights from the Redrin and Lumena Temples were standing beside him.

And, as if confronting them, three men and women in luxurious clothes were standing with a dozen or so guards.

Rembrary rubbed his eyes. Everyone’s expression was not good. It looked like they were about to fight, as Raidal had said.

“How many times do you want me to repeat the same thing?”

The person in expensive clothes was annoyed by Gaieger’s irritation.

“It’s nonsense no matter how many times I hear it.”

Gaieger retorted bluntly, and the expensively dressed person flared up and shouted.

“A high priest like you is too harsh! Watch your mouth!”

“What, are you my god?”

Rembrary whispered slightly into Raidal’s ear.

“Look at that. Gaieger is strong even on his own.”

Raidal rubbed his eyes with both hands.

When Rembrary listened more carefully, he realized that the three expensively dressed men and women were the lord’s secretaries.

The lord seemed to have been informed of the tragedy that had occurred in this village, but he was suspiciously wondering if the cause was the fault of the temple.

It was a suspicion that the holy knights, who had tried to protect the village while enduring great damage, would resent.

The holy knights protested, and the lord’s secretaries said, ‘If there’s nothing wrong, go to the lord and explain the situation.’

The holy knights and priests said, ‘How can we leave our posts now?’ and told the lord to come, to which the lord’s secretaries retorted, ‘How dare you tell the lord to come?’

“Nobles don’t listen.”

Raidal muttered in an angry voice. Then, when Rembrary looked at him, Raidal hurriedly added.

“Except for the royals.”

It was then. Someone knocked quickly on the door.

“Rembrary!”

Moreover, the person knocking on the door specifically called for Rembrary, even though Raidal was in the room.

Raidal looked at Rembrary.

“He’s calling you?”

When Rembrary opened the door, a holy knight from the Redrin Temple was standing there. The holy knight asked abruptly.

“Rembrary. You were definitely from Prince Rivulen, right?”

“That’s right.”

When Rembrary answered clearly, the holy knight muttered, “Redrin,” and stepped aside.

“Good. Then can you go and show off your background to those stubborn worldly people?”

“?”

What is this person saying? Before Rembrary could even understand, the holy knight hurried down the stairs.

“Quickly!”

Raidal pushed Rembrary from behind. Rembrary went down the stairs without knowing why.

When they went to the location they had been watching from the window earlier, the people who had been fighting glanced over at them.

“Why are you suddenly bringing children?”

The lord’s secretaries asked in an unpleasant voice when they saw Rembrary and Raidal.

“This child, no, this child is the youngest prince of Rivulen.”

The expressions of the secretaries hardened at the words the holy knight who brought Rembrary blurted out.

“That can’t be. Why is Prince Rivulen…….”

Secretary 3 stopped Secretary 2, who was trying to refute, with his elbow.

“Come to think of it, I heard that the youngest prince of Rivulen became a priest.”

Secretary 1 muttered, looking at Rembrary.

The Redrin holy knight put his hands on Rembrary’s shoulders and pushed him forward as if showing him off.

“He is Prince Rivulen.”

Rembrary looked at Gaieger, bewildered. He had been told to abandon the secular world when he became a priest on his first day at the temple?

However, unlike the bewildered Rembrary, the secular status had a definite effect on the secretaries than the temple’s explanation.

“Did you say you couldn’t dare to tell the lord to come? Then does the lord dare to call the prince?”

Gaieger raised his voice, and the secretaries’ expressions crumpled.

“……Okay.”

Eventually, Secretary 1 took a step back.

“You’re not impersonating a royal, are you?”

“Princess Moroju even came to the mansion to see Rembrary.”

When Raidal recalled the past, the secretaries’ expressions darkened rapidly. This was because this was a territory belonging to the Kingdom of Moroju.

“I understand. I will ask the lord about this again first.”

The secretaries turned around and left with the guards. A holy knight from the Lumena Temple patted Rembrary’s shoulder and smiled.

“Good job.”

“?”

Gaieger also patted Rembrary’s shoulder.

“Yes. Good job.”

What did I do? Rembrary looked at the priests and holy knights, bewildered, and clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Redrin, Redrin. Look at these people who said they would abandon the secular world, clinging to it like this.’

* * *

After the lord’s secretaries left, the priests and holy knights began to help with the village’s reconstruction again.

The priests purified the land, objects, and buildings affected by the monsters, and the holy knights patrolled to see if any more monsters appeared.

Rembrary went around looking for the injured people and holy knights and treated them.

“It was a peaceful village when I came on an errand a few days ago.”

Rabsus muttered weakly, looking at the village, which had completely changed its atmosphere in just one day.

“Still, people are almost okay because Rembrary treats them right away.”

Raidal tried to see the situation positively. Otherwise, he would be scared.

The holy knight, who had been treated by Rembrary while he was turning into a monster, completely resigned himself and told him in as much detail as possible about the black magician who had cursed him.

“He described us as ‘good materials’.”

“Materials? Do you mean he’s making monsters?”

“I don’t know about that. He said that and cast a curse.”

The holy knights asked the black magician, who was trapped in the basement of the mansion, what that ‘material’ meant, but the black magician only gave a nasty smile and didn’t open his mouth.

Inevitably, the Redrin and Lumena Temples requested inquisitors [religious officials who investigate heresy] from the nearest locations.

However, one day while they were waiting for the inquisitor to arrive, the lord of the territory to which this village belonged arrived first.

After treating all the people who needed treatment, Rembrary was playing cards with Raidal and Rabsus in a room on the second floor of the inn.

At the sound of dozens of horses’ hooves overlapping, the children put down their cards and stuck their heads out of one window.

A group of people on horseback were entering the main street over the collapsed fence.

They were quite noticeable among the people busy restoring the village, so everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at them.

When the word ‘lord’ came out here and there, Raidal pointed to the person in the front row and asked.

“Is the person on the biggest horse the lord?”

“I don’t know. The lord doesn’t come to royal gatherings.”

Raidal and Rabsus suddenly felt a sense of distance from Rembrary.

However, the sense of distance quickly subsided as Rembrary looked out the window with the same listless expression as usual.

Moreover, Rabsus was more concerned about something else right now than Rembrary’s status.

“But those people. It looks like they’re here to fight again, right?”

The expressions of the people on horseback were all unpleasant. No matter how you looked at it, they seemed to be here to pick a fight.

With the same thought, the priests and holy knights were gathering again as if confronting them.

“Let’s go too.”

Rabsus grabbed Raidal and ran to the door.

Rembrary waved his hand, but when Rabsus didn’t follow, he came back and grabbed Rembrary and went down the stairs.

Perhaps because Rembrary’s status had been a great help before, neither the holy knights nor the priests stopped the children from going to watch.

The lord, who had arrived in a line, did not get off his horse even in front of the group of holy knights and priests.

Instead, he just looked around at the gathered priests and holy knights with an arrogant gaze.

“Who is in charge here?”

After a while, the lord asked, averting his gaze.

Gaieger stepped forward.

“I am not in charge. There are two temples gathered here.”

Gaieger and Rabsus were the only high priests, but Rabsus was too young, so he seemed to have stepped forward.

The lord glanced at Gaieger and coldly ordered.

“Drag him away.”

“!”