Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 807

◈ 807. You Open the Door

Halo can also be used for bluffing. Just in case, Rembrary activated his halo even though there might not be any monsters. Seeing how effective it was, he was delighted and emitted an intense burst of light.

“It’s blinding!”

“I can’t see!”

The surprised people stopped exclaiming and covered their eyes with their hands.

“Rembrary! It’s too bright!”

Ridal shouted urgently.

Only then did Rembrary turn off the halo. *’People must find it overwhelming if it’s too strong,’* he thought.

But perhaps the dazzling halo had brought the lord back to his senses a bit. The lord had a clearer expression than before.

“Halo…?”

The lord muttered, looking back and forth between the ‘priest’ standing behind him and Rembrary.

When his eyes met the ‘priest,’ he felt for the first time that he should listen to what they had to say.

“Priest, would you talk to these people for a moment?”

The lord said, turning to the ‘priest.’

His attitude was still polite, but the employees of the lord’s castle who were watching noticed the change in the lord and exchanged glances.

After that ‘priest’ appeared, the lord had never asked the ‘priest’ for anything first.

However, the ‘priest’ clicked his tongue and walked away through the archway. There was no yes or no.

“Priest?”

The flustered lord followed after him.

“What is it?”

Rembrary and the paladins also followed the lord.

The ‘priest’ was already standing in front of a door in the hallway.

The ‘priest’ went inside the door and closed it.

The lord ran to it and opened the door.

Rembrary and the paladins also rushed to the lord.

But the ‘priest’ was not in the room. Only Gaieger, tied tightly to a chair, was visible.

“Priest!”

Ridal, who found Gaieger, ran to him, tearful.

“Ridal, please untie the ropes. My arms are going numb.”

Gaieger, who had been tense, felt relieved when his comrades entered and asked for help.

A paladin approached and untied the ropes instead of Ridal.

The lord stood there with a dumbfounded expression. He had followed right away, but the ‘priest’ had disappeared.

“Why the surprised look?”

Gaieger shouted at the lord as soon as he was freed from the ropes.

“But the priest… as soon as he entered the room… he disappeared!”

Gaieger scoffed.

“How many times have I told you? An evil aura emanates from him!”

The lord felt a little wronged. Gaieger hadn’t said that many times. Only once.

But it wasn’t a good time to point that out.

“Gaieger, the fake priest came in here, but as soon as we followed, he disappeared. Did you see where the fake priest went?”

Another paladin asked, and the lord, realizing this, asked as well.

“Yes, you—no, Priest, you’ve been here the whole time, so you must have seen him. Where did he go?”

Gaieger pointed to one side of the floor. There were broken pieces of glass there.

The lord picked up the glass shards and looked at Gaieger.

“He went in here?”

“He didn’t go in; that’s what was there in the spot where he disappeared.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m just saying what I saw.”

Gaieger said curtly and rubbed his numb arms.

At that moment, the lord’s servant rushed in through the open door.

“Lord! Lord!”

“What is it?”

“The king’s servant has arrived! He has brought the royal decree!”

The lord’s eyes widened, and he looked at Rembrary. His gaze moved to the soldiers standing closely behind the door.

*’That’s right. The fact that that child healed the soldiers and brought them here means the letter left safely!’*

The lord rebuked himself for not thinking of that as soon as he saw the soldiers. But the king’s servant had already arrived.

“Let’s go!”

The lord hurriedly went out the door. The king’s servant, who had come to the hall with the royal guards, stood there with his back straight.

The king’s servant was a position entrusted only to those whom the king trusted most.

The fact that the king had sent his servant with the royal guards meant that he had responded positively to the letter sent by that prince.

And with this speed and this composition, the response was likely to be friendly.

“Marquis.”

The lord approached the king’s servant and tried to raise the corners of his mouth.

The marquis glanced at the lord with a cold look and unrolled the scroll he had brought.

“I will deliver His Majesty’s message.”

“Speak.”

“His Majesty has stated that Prince Rembrary has indeed formally entered the Redrin Temple, and Princess Adrena has also confirmed this. Therefore, the possibility that the priest and paladins who are with Prince Rembrary are in league with black magicians is very small. However, if the lord has any suspicions, he should investigate with due process and respect.”

The lord’s face turned pale.

*’If there are any suspicions,’* investigate means don’t investigate if there are no suspicions.

The lord thought he was crazy. After seeing that ‘priest’ disappear before his eyes, he couldn’t think of anything else.

“Lord. Answer me.”

The king’s servant frowned and ordered when the lord stared blankly into space.

“I understand.”

The lord barely answered.

In fact, from the moment the fake priest disappeared, or rather, from the moment he was exposed to Rembrary’s halo, he had realized that he was doing something wrong.

The king’s servant was surprised that the lord answered so readily.

He had thought there must be some solid evidence of suspicion since he had proceeded with the arrest even after the prince revealed his identity. But now it didn’t seem so.

Rembrary slowly went out to the hallway and grabbed the railing, looking down at the situation unfolding in the hall.

“Fortunately, it seems things are going to be resolved well.”

However, the paladins glanced more at Rembrary than at the lord and the king’s servant.

This amazing novice priest, who had healing abilities and even lifted curses, felt particularly unfamiliar today.

* * *

The king’s servant did not stay long. He exchanged a brief greeting with Rembrary and returned.

As soon as the king’s servant left, people glanced at each other.

“…You must be hungry, so let’s have a meal first.”

The lord’s secretary barely suggested brightly to ease the heavy atmosphere.

As the meal was quickly prepared and they sat around a table, Gaieger asked the lord with a sullen face.

“Why did you believe that fake priest was real, Lord?”

Gaieger found suspicious points not only in the lord’s blind and unilateral belief in the fake priest but also in the change in the lord’s attitude.

The lord was full of some firm determination when he dragged Gaieger away.

But now the lord seemed embarrassed.

Although the priest he believed to be real had run away before his eyes and the king had sent a servant he favored, the change was still very rapid.

The lord wiped away sweat and began to speak.

“Monsters have been appearing frequently lately, so I have been praying often. Then a miracle happened. Redrin [presumably a deity] heard my prayers and responded.”

At the mention of Redrin, the Redrin paladins and priests paused simultaneously.

Rembrary picked up a grilled crayfish dish.

“You need a lot of divine power to hear Redrin’s response.”

Gaieger retorted in a sullen voice.

“But he clearly responded to the prayer I was saying to Redrin.”

“…”

“Besides, he showed me his appearance, though faintly.”

As the lord spoke in a wronged voice, a guard standing behind the lord unexpectedly added.

“It’s not a lie. Actually, a few of us saw it together.”

Gaieger’s expression became serious.

The lord sighed and put the handkerchief back in his pocket.

“Since I heard the prayer I said to Redrin and Redrin appeared, I naturally thought it was a divine revelation. The priest who was with me was the priest who appeared according to that revelation.”

The lord became embarrassed and didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

The lord glanced at Rembrary. Unlike the people who were watching him seriously, Rembrary was taking the grilled crayfish more seriously.

Seeing that attitude, the lord gained a little courage and added.

“It’s strange, but when that priest appeared, I really thought everything that priest said was right. It was just strange.”

Gaieger thought the lord was talking nonsense to defend himself.

However, there was no need to antagonize the lord of the area where the central mansion was located any further, so instead of criticizing the lord, Gaieger gave him a slight defense.

“The lord did something misguided, but thanks to that, we learned about the enemy’s abilities.”

“The enemy’s abilities?”

A paladin who had no idea what the enemy’s abilities were asked in bewilderment.

“It seems the enemy can imitate Redrin.”

“!”

Everyone fell silent at the enormous statement. Rembrary was the only one still eating.

“What is that…”

The lord muttered in confusion.

“And that’s the most positive assumption. The most negative assumption is that the enemy may be able to imitate not only Redrin but all the other gods.”

The eyes of the Lumena paladins shook rapidly.

* * *

The group had come to the lord’s castle in the midst of the chaotic situation in the central mansion and the surrounding villages, so after this matter was settled, they took a half-day break and left the lord’s castle again.

And Rembrary’s group returned to the central mansion and heard two unexpected stories.

“There were mirror fragments in the place where the black magicians disappeared here too?”

“Yes. When the Inquisitor came and went inside, both black magicians had disappeared, and only broken mirror fragments were in the room.”

Gaieger became serious and muttered.

“Could they be using mirror fragments to move?”

The paladins became uneasy at the story.

Such a movement ability would be as useful as Rembrary’s ability if it were on their side, but it would be terrible if it were the enemy’s ability.

Besides, there was something even more concerning.

“Is that… is that an ability that black magicians can have?”

At the question of a Lumena priest, Gaieger pursed his lips. He was also suspecting it, but he hoped it wasn’t true.

Black magicians and demons were beings of different dimensions. It would be terrible if a demon appeared and joined hands with a black magician.

“What about the High Priest? Have you talked to him?”

The second unexpected news that Rembrary’s group heard was that the High Priest of the Kamuel Great Temple in the north had unexpectedly visited this place.

“I told him about the central mansion’s mirror fragments as soon as he arrived. But now that another new piece of evidence has been gathered, it would be good to talk about it together again.”

Gaieger nodded and instructed Ridal and Rembrary.

“Did you hear that? Rembrary. Ridal. I think I’ll be busier for a while, so you two should quietly do your homework in the room. Don’t do anything strange. Especially Rembrary.”

“That’s what I want to say, Priest. Please be careful.”

Gaieger wanted to lash out at Rembrary, but since he had received help recently, he just slammed the door shut and left.

As soon as Gaieger disappeared, Rembrary threw his homework aside and lay down on the bed.

“Rembrary… you have to study.”

Ridal said that too, but she walked to the bed and collapsed as if falling. She was very tired from moving around in constant tension.

Rembrary fell half asleep in that state.

But just as he was about to fall asleep, someone knocked on the door, thump, thump, thump.

“Ridal. Open the door.”

Rembrary didn’t want to get up, so he asked Ridal.

Ridal looked at Rembrary in bewilderment, but Rembrary didn’t raise his head and kept his eyes closed, so Ridal didn’t know whether she was looking or not.

Ridal had no choice but to get up and walk to the door.

“Who is it?”

Rembrary was listening to all the sounds, but he still kept his eyes closed and endured.

“…”

After a while, Rembrary thought something was wrong and slowly opened his eyes.

He heard the sound of Ridal going out, but there were no sounds after that.