Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 806

806. Who is the Real Priest?

“Can I ask you something?”

Gaius couldn’t help but ask.

The lord looked at him.

“We only stopped the monster invasion. Everyone in the village saw it. I’ve never heard that the lord is foolish, so I don’t think you wouldn’t know that. But why are you suddenly blaming us for the monster invasion?”

‘He says everything he wants to say,’ the soldiers who heard Gaius’s question thought to themselves but tried to maintain a blank expression so as not to show it.

The lord pressed his lips tightly and ignored Gaius’s words.

However, the lord hadn’t observed his guards for only a day or two. The lord noticed that the guards were all ears to Gaius’s words.

The lord had no choice but to answer bluntly.

“I heard the oracle directly.”

“The oracle?”

Gaius was dumbfounded by the lord’s confident words and asked back.

“Yes.”

The lord answered confidently again.

Gaius, still bewildered, asked, “How can a lord who isn’t a priest hear an oracle? Did you dream it?”

The lord ignored him, his expression unwavering.

Gaius was rather embarrassed.

‘Is he serious?’

* * *

Not long after the group of paladins left, the Inquisitors of the Lumena Temple arrived.

The Lumena Temple Inquisitors went straight to the central mansion and looked for the basement as soon as they arrived.

They asked everyone else to leave the basement to investigate the black magician.

The paladins were nervous and waited outside.

Shortly after, an Inquisitor emerged from the stairs with a frozen expression.

“What’s wrong?”

A paladin couldn’t stand the suspense and approached him.

The Inquisitor nodded gloomily.

“There was no black magician in the prison.”

The gathered paladins simultaneously widened their eyes.

“Really?! Weren’t two black magicians at each end of the hallway?”

“There were none in either place.”

The Inquisitor answered firmly, dispelling any doubts.

“You can go in and see if you want.”

The paladins rushed down to the basement. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust the Inquisitor; they were just dumbfounded.

But the Inquisitor’s words were correct. The room where the paladins had been imprisoned was empty, and there was no one there.

Only a few unidentified glass shards remained on the floor.

“Then what do we do now?”

No one could easily answer. The paladins only glanced at each other. It was a matter that was difficult to speak about easily.

“I’m not sure, but……”

At that time, the Lumena Inquisitor cautiously opened his mouth.

“It’s okay. Tell me.”

“I’ve met several black magicians because of my job. The black magician in question said he uses paladins as ingredients, right? As far as I know, there were only two cases where black magicians used divine power as a useful ingredient.”

“Two cases?”

“When making monsters, or when making summoning circles.”

The Inquisitor paused for a moment. The paladins glanced at each other with confused expressions.

“If the captured black magician used the word ‘ingredient’ to mean he would make a monster out of the paladins, that’s still better. You only have to be prepared for allies to become enemies. It’s terrible, but it’s easier to deal with. But if he meant to use it as a material for a summoning circle, it’s difficult.”

The Inquisitor’s voice was very dark. It wasn’t just a casual story.

One of the paladins who heard this asked with a puzzled voice.

“Isn’t summoning circle something that black magicians always make?”

The Inquisitor sighed.

“But aren’t the monsters increasing in size now? The scale of summoning will also increase. If the scale of summoning is small, the village will be attacked again this time. If the scale of summoning is larger than that… the invasion of the demons will happen.”

“!”

* * *

The paladin, who was hurrying alone to deliver the letter that Rembrary had written to the king, hurriedly rolled his body to the side and jumped off his horse when he was attacked by soldiers.

The spear that narrowly missed him pierced the air.

“What are you doing!”

The paladin shouted, staggering.

Instead of answering, the soldiers continued to swing their swords and spears at him.

In this situation, even the paladin couldn’t hold back. The paladin also drew his weapon.

Soon, sharp sounds of weapons colliding erupted from all sides.

However, the result did not come out easily. The paladin had a lot of practical experience, but he was too outnumbered compared to the soldiers.

Then, when the sword that had been constantly confronting wavered in the paladin’s hand for a moment, the soldiers took the opportunity to swing their swords at the paladin’s neck.

In that precarious moment, a feather that flew in the air pierced the back of the hand that was about to cut the paladin.

“Ugh!”

“Who is it!”

The soldier who clutched his hand looked in the direction the feather had flown from and widened his eyes. A group of paladins was rushing in.

Immediately, a battle broke out between the soldiers and the paladins. This time, the paladins were not outnumbered. It was almost the same.

While the battle was taking place, Rembrary sat on his horse at the very back and stared at the situation.

Then, when a paladin was injured, he quickly ran to him, healed the fallen person, and stepped back.

As he repeated this, only the soldiers accumulated injuries.

Eventually, the soldiers had to drop their swords and sit on the floor until the last one.

The paladins quickly tied up the fallen soldiers so they couldn’t attack again.

When the battle was over, Rembrary leaned on his horse and looked around them.

“How on earth……?”

The soldiers muttered, looking at the paladins while tied up. The paladins silently finished their work and got up.

“How on earth did you do it.”

One of the soldiers with a feather still stuck in the back of his hand shouted.

“Some of you were clearly cut by swords! Why are you okay?!”

“I healed you.”

The soldiers who were shouting flinched when the apprentice priest, who was said to be a prince, answered, and they all looked at Rembrary. Rembrary also pulled out the feather from the soldier’s hand.

The feathers, as always, scattered beautifully and disappeared in the air.

“!”

The soldiers flinched again.

Rembrary silently ran his hand over the wound on the soldier’s hand.

It was a simple movement, but when Rembrary’s hand passed over the injured back of his hand, the red scratch disappeared completely.

“This… what on earth is this……”

The soldier’s eyes widened as he looked at Rembrary.

Rembrary began to go around the injured soldiers and heal them all in order of urgency.

The more the soldiers were healed, the quieter they became.

“Okay. That’s it.”

Rembrary finally healed all the soldiers and stepped back.

The soldiers swallowed dry saliva and looked at Rembrary.

“I’ve heard of it. There is a child with healing abilities among the Redrin apprentice priests……”

“That’s me.”

Rembrary muttered proudly, then stretched out his crouching legs and patted his waist.

When Rembrary got up, the paladin who was carrying the letter walked towards him.

“Now let’s talk. Why did you do this?”

Rembrary also gave divine power to the tired-looking horse and listened to the conversation.

Not only Rembrary but also other paladins were looking at the soldiers.

“……”

The soldier hesitated. Still, when they waited patiently, the soldier finally opened his mouth.

“The lord… told me to wait and stop the prince apprentice priest from asking the princess for help.”

Rembrary frowned. As expected, the lord here was not a fool.

Another paladin asked.

“The lord here used to be friendly to the priests, didn’t he? Why did his attitude suddenly change?”

The soldier seemed to have given up and immediately confessed this time.

“He suddenly said he received an oracle.”

“An oracle?”

* * *

When the lord arrived at the lord’s castle with Gaius and entered the castle, a person in priest’s clothes greeted them.

“Priest. I’ve brought the heretic you mentioned before.”

The lord said, pushing Gaius to the priest.

Gaius moved unhappily but frowned at the word ‘priest’ because he wondered what this was all about.

The ‘priest’ who took over Gaius in front of the gate was wearing clothes that made it difficult to know which temple he belonged to.

‘A dark energy is flowing out.’

Gaius realized that the ‘priest’ was not a priest and not an ordinary person. But the lord was calling that ‘priest’ a priest!

“Lord. Evil energy is flowing out of that person. Don’t be fooled.”

Gaius immediately informed him, but the ‘priest’ only laughed at Gaius’s words. The lord’s face also showed that he was not listening to Gaius’s words at all.

The ‘priest’ grabbed the rope that tied Gaius and took him to the room at the very end of the first floor of the lord’s castle.

Only after entering the room did the ‘priest’ let Gaius go. But he didn’t untie the rope.

“What’s your purpose?”

Gaius asked, grinding his teeth.

While watching the lord’s actions, he thought that something was going strangely.

But the lord thought he had received an oracle and had a fake priest by his side.

The ‘priest’ did not answer Gaius’s words. Instead, he smiled eerily, the corners of his mouth almost reaching his ears.

“I’ll take your divine power. The divine power of a high-ranking priest will be a little different.”

Then, he muttered eerie words and began to roll up one of his sleeves.

There were no other words. This ‘priest’ was definitely not the type to ramble on and on about all sorts of useless things because he was so engrossed in what he was trying to do.

Redrin… Gaius glared at the ‘priest’ while praying inwardly.

Then, the moment the ‘priest’s’ hand approached Gaius’s abdomen, someone knocked on the door.

The ‘priest’ stopped and looked to the side. There was another knock on the door.

The ‘priest’ clicked his tongue and opened the door.

“What’s wrong?”

The person standing in front of the door shouted as soon as he saw the ‘priest’.

“Priest, something terrible has happened!”

“What’s terrible?”

The person who ran over glanced at Gaius and said. It seemed difficult to say everything directly.

The ‘priest’ knew that Gaius couldn’t untie the rope by himself, so he closed the door and followed the servant.

As he walked towards the hall, he saw a brilliantly dressed apprentice priest mixed among the adult priests and paladins.

Opposite him, the lord was standing and frowning.

The strange thing was that the soldiers were standing behind the paladins, but they seemed to be in conflict with the lord.

As he got closer, he heard them shouting to the lord.

“Lord, this child was the healing priest I heard about in the rumors.”

“They were real priests and paladins, not a group impersonating priests.”

“This child healed us.”

“The high-ranking priest whom the lord arrested as a fake priest seems to be a real priest. Please check one more time.”

The ‘priest’ gritted his teeth. When did they come all the way here?

At that time, a faint glow began to emanate from the area around the child’s head as he stood still.

The glow was only bright enough to make people feel comfortable. Moreover, it was such a sacred energy that everyone surrounding the child exclaimed.

Rembrary, recalling the soldier’s words that the lord regarded the priests who were at the scene of the monster invasion as a group impersonating priests, deliberately turned on the halo slightly.