Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 805

◈ 805. Gaeiger Needs a Lot of Attention

The paladins and priests fell silent at the unexpected declaration. The villagers who had gathered to watch were equally stunned.

“That… that person has been helping people tirelessly since the monster invasion,” one of the villagers said, stepping forward cautiously. The villagers around him nodded, adding their voices in agreement.

“No one has helped us as much as the priests and paladins since the monsters appeared.”

“They’ve been going around helping people all day today.”

“If the paladins hadn’t been there when the monsters appeared, the damage would have been even greater.”

As the people spoke in defense of Gaeiger, the guards surrounding the lord frowned, clearly displeased.

“That child has been healing us constantly,” another person said, pointing at Rembrary.

As the atmosphere grew heavy, the anger of the lord’s men intensified.

Rembrary still hoped the situation would end there. Escalating things wouldn’t benefit the lord either, he reasoned.

“Bring him here,” the lord commanded, ignoring the people’s defense and repeating his order coldly.

“This Rembrary is not only a priest but also a prince of Liburen. Rembrary is also a disciple of Gaeiger,” a paladin stated, once again bringing up Rembrary’s noble status.

Rembrary wasn’t actually a disciple of Gaeiger, but he decided to be flexible and remained silent.

“So what?” the lord scoffed.

The eyes of the lord’s secretaries and attendants widened at this unexpected response.

“An apprentice priest is naturally not responsible for this. The fault lies with the person in charge. I’m summoning that person in charge. I don’t understand why you’re bringing up an irrelevant prince to avoid responsibility.”

“!”

The paladins exchanged glances, seemingly embarrassed by the lord’s firm words.

“If you need to take Gaeiger-nim [an honorific title], you need to provide an explanation that everyone can accept,” Rembrary said, stepping forward.

“No one understands why you’re suddenly demanding that someone who fought monsters should be held responsible for fighting monsters.”

The lord looked down at Rembrary with a displeased gaze, but only for a moment. He turned his gaze away and answered bluntly, “It is interference in internal affairs for a prince of another country to meddle in the affairs of this land.”

The lord waved his hand dismissively. Receiving the signal, the lord’s soldiers surrounded Gaeiger and grabbed his arms.

When the paladins approached, the soldiers drew their swords, blocking their path.

As the paladins drew their swords in response, the lord said in a cold voice, “Anyone who interferes here will be considered to be disobeying legitimate authority, and we will respond accordingly. Even if you lose your life here, we will only have acted lawfully, so the temple cannot protest. If this person is truly innocent, we will interrogate him and release him. If you are still wronged, protest through the temple.”

After delivering those words, the lord clapped his hands, and the soldiers sheathed their swords.

“I’m fine, so go to the temple and tell them,” Gaeiger said obediently as he was dragged away by the soldiers, seeing that things were about to escalate.

As the lord’s party dragged Gaeiger away, Rydal, who had been blankly watching, jumped up.

“That’s ridiculous! How can this be!”

Rabsus also turned red in the face and shook the arm of the Lumena paladin.

“Are secular people always so arbitrary? If helping people results in this kind of treatment, who would want to help people? If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have come to help, whether monsters came to the village or not!”

The paladins agreed in their hearts, but it was a difficult sentiment to voice.

The villagers who were watching felt awkward and dispersed, exchanging silent glances.

“Rembrary,” Rydal said, shaking Rembrary’s arm. “Can’t you ask the princess of this country for help?”

The paladins flocked to Rembrary.

“Princess?”

“The princess of this country came to the central mansion to see Rembrary before. Rembrary, can’t you ask that princess for help? If that princess steps in, it’s okay because it’s her own country’s affair.”

Rembrary pondered whether he, as a priest, should involve secular power.

However, it was also difficult to stand by and watch a secular person abuse their power.

“Okay,” Rembrary agreed. In the end, Rembrary wrote a letter to the king asking for help on the back of his homework notebook.

“The king? You’re sending it directly to the king?!” Rabsus asked in a flustered voice.

“The ruler is the king, not his children,” Rembrary said, folding the notebook in half twice and stamping a small seal on it.

“What’s that?”

“It’s the Liburen royal seal.”

“You carry that around?!”

“My father gave it to me so I can tattle right away if someone bullies me.”

“!”

Rabsus swallowed hard and hid behind the Lumena paladin.

Rembrary handed the completed letter to the nearest Redrin paladin.

“Please deliver this. The royal guards all know the seals of other countries’ royal families, so if you show them this, they will guide you.”

* * *

After the paladin, who was skilled at riding and fast on his feet, hurriedly left the village with the letter, the paladins began to discuss why the lord had gone to such lengths to drag away a high-ranking priest.

It would be a lie to say that there was no power struggle between secular power and the power of the temple.

However, they usually acknowledged each other’s authority and sought a balance between them.

People were cautious when dealing with priests. Not only nobles but also royalty could not treat high-ranking priests carelessly.

However, there must be a reason why the lord went to such lengths to drag away a high-ranking priest.

“He wasn’t targeting Gaeiger-nim. At first, he called for the ‘person in charge’,” one paladin pointed out.

“Is he in trouble if he doesn’t drag someone away? If that’s not the case, there’s no reason for the lord to do this,” another added. The central mansion had been here for a long time, and the lord rarely interfered in its affairs. Although rare, they sometimes came to ask for help.

“Perhaps… did the lord receive a report about the monster invasion in advance? He received a report about the danger but dismissed it as okay, and now he’s blaming Gaeiger-nim because things actually happened,” one of the paladins suggested after a long deliberation, offering a plausible explanation.

“The lord may have joined hands with a black magician,” Rabsus offered, presenting a rather extreme opinion.

“Surely not,” the Lumena paladin answered with a smile.

However, the Redrin paladins glanced at Rembrary, thinking that although it was extreme, it wasn’t impossible.

“It could be. There have been cases of high-ranking Liburen nobles joining hands with black magicians,” the Redrin paladin muttered, causing the smile to disappear from the Lumena paladin’s face.

“Perhaps the king is strict… and punishes those in charge when something happens? So the lord is looking for someone to be punished instead of him,” another paladin offered after a long pause.

“What’s the king’s personality like here?” Rydal asked Rembrary slyly. Rembrary shook his head.

“I don’t remember.”

Rydal and Rabsus recalled that Rembrary didn’t even properly remember the names of the other priests his age and fell silent. It was believable for Rembrary.

In the end, after discussing for nearly two hours, the paladins decided to split into two groups.

One group would go to the city where the lord’s castle was located to find a way to get Gaeiger out, and the other group would remain here to wait for the invited Inquisitor.

The paladin who took Rembrary’s letter also decided to go straight to the city where the lord’s castle was located, so there was no problem.

Once a decision was made, the paladin with the highest authority after Gaeiger stood up with a tense face.

“Okay. Then let’s have those who are leaving depart as soon as possible. We need to be nearby to give Gaeiger-nim strength.”

* * *

The paladin who took Rembrary’s letter kept urging his horse on.

If Gaeiger had been captured in a normal way, it would have been fine because they were in the right. However, the lord showed an unusual and strange attitude.

The lord might try to harm Gaeiger before he could even defend himself, so he had to quickly deliver the letter to the king.

Even if the king issued an order to stop the lord, it would take time for that order to be delivered.

However, as he was urging his horse on, he saw something shimmering in the distance.

‘A worm? A snake?’

Something long and light brown was lying on the ground. He couldn’t tell what it was, but he didn’t have the余裕 [room/time] to worry about the thread drooping on the ground.

Still, just in case, at the moment he was preparing the horse to avoid stepping on the thread. Suddenly, the thread tightened and rose upward.

‘An ambush?’

The paladin desperately pulled on the reins and jumped over the thread. Before he could even feel relieved, soldiers who had been lying in wait rushed out with spears.

“!”

* * *

Although he was young and couldn’t command the paladins, Rabsus was still the only high-ranking priest among those gathered.

Rabsus wanted to go with the others to save Gaeiger, but he had no choice but to stay near the central mansion.

Rembrary had the secular power to suppress the lord, so he was definitely going to the lord.

Rydal looked at the group that was divided into two and decided to go with Rembrary.

Rabsus was dissatisfied that he was left alone, but he suppressed his annoyance, remembering that Rydal was also from the Redrin Temple.

“Let’s go!”

The group, who had packed their bags simply, left the village and followed the main road leading to the lord’s castle city.

The paladins, who had traveled for several hours, stopped as the sun began to set and checked the map.

“It will take some time to get to the next village.”

However, it seemed like it would already be dawn by the time they arrived at the next village.

It was difficult to continue moving at night with two children.

Besides, the horses would be tired. After thinking it over, the temporary leader decided to camp until dawn.

“Rembrary, Rydal. You guys sit on that rock and wait.”

The paladins told the children and began to prepare a simple camp.

Rydal was worried about Gaeiger and sat crouched on the rock, sobbing.

Then, Rydal looked to the side and saw Rembrary taking out a feather from his pocket.

“Why a feather? It seemed like the adults knew where the lord’s castle was.”

“Just in case.”

“Just in case what?”

“The lord might not go to the lord’s castle.”

“!”

Rydal’s eyes widened.

“Really?”

“I don’t know either.”

Rembrary surprised people and then nonchalantly infused divine power into the feather.

In fact, the reason Rembrary took out the feather was because it kept moving as if it was trying to escape from his pocket on its own.

The feather filled with divine power floated up and spun rapidly in place. Rydal screamed briefly at the unusual sight.

“Why is it doing this?”

The paladins also approached, having been preparing the camp.

“Why is it doing that? Didn’t it just float around before?”

The feather, which had been spinning rapidly in place, stopped at that moment and pointed in one direction.

Rembrary got up from the rock and ran to the horse he had been riding.

As Rembrary lightly climbed onto the horse, the feather also floated up a little higher to match him and began to fly in one direction.

As Rembrary ran after the feather, the paladins shouted urgently.

“We’re coming too!”