Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 808

◈ 808. High Priest Kamuel’s Assessment

With things as they were, Rembrary couldn’t just lie there. He turned over and looked towards the door.

Ridal stood there with a troubled expression, and next to him was someone Rembrary had never seen before.

‘Who is that?’ He stared intently at the unfamiliar face, and Ridal tried to signal something with his lips and earnest eyes.

Rembrary didn’t get the signal. He just stared blankly at the person. Then, he turned his gaze to the stranger.

The stranger was also looking at Rembrary, and as soon as their eyes met, he asked as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“Which one of you is Rembrary?”

“That’s me.”

Rembrary didn’t bother getting up and just raised his hand. The stranger’s eyebrows twitched.

Ridal looked back and forth between Rembrary and the stranger.

The stranger stared at Rembrary with eyes that showed he didn’t like him, muttering.

“So, it’s you.”

It was a strange thing to say, but not significant enough to bother him, so Rembrary remained lying down.

Even so, he didn’t stop looking at the stranger.

“I heard you were odd. I guess that was true.”

However, the stranger didn’t seem to care about Rembrary’s attitude anymore. Instead of saying anything more, he took a couple of steps into the room and scanned the interior.

Only then did Rembrary get out of bed and ask.

“Who are you, and why are you here?”

“Mors.”

“Who’s that?”

The stranger looked at Rembrary as if he were an idiot.

“Rembrary, he’s a High Priest. The High Priest of the Kamuel Temple.”

Ridal moved slightly towards the inside of the room and quickly explained.

“Ah.”

Only then did Rembrary recognize who this stranger was.

Rembrary knew the names of Kamuel and High Priest Mors. Rishuer had constantly informed him during basic education.

Meanwhile, the High Priest of Kamuel had finished circling the room and sat down on the sofa, asking.

“So, Rembrary. I hear you’re involved in this incident in various ways.”

“It just happened that way.”

“Would you tell me the story yourself? When I asked others, maybe because they weren’t directly involved, their stories were slightly different. That’s why I came here.”

“Sure.”

* * *

Rembrary told him everything he knew about what had happened since he arrived at the central mansion.

Mors listened calmly and asked questions whenever he was curious about something.

A priest who came with Mors took notes of what Rembrary said in a notebook.

When the story was over, Rembrary stared intently at Mors.

“That’s all.”

Rembrary expected Mors to praise and admire his brilliance, like the other paladins.

He had included many of his achievements throughout the story for that very reason.

“It’s not as big of a deal as I thought.”

However, Mors muttered as he received the notebook that the other priest had taken notes in.

“What did you say?”

Rembrary heard him clearly but asked again because he thought he had misheard.

Mors handed the notebook back to the priest next to him.

“I said it’s nothing much. Oh, of course, I’m not talking about you.”

“Then who are you talking about?”

“I’m talking to the Redrin and Lumena priests. They made such a fuss. But honestly, if a monster and curse could be solved by a small child like you, it probably wasn’t that strong to begin with.”

Mors chuckled and stood up.

“Thank you for telling me.”

Mors then walked towards the door.

Ridal watched the scene and frowned. He realized that Mors had dismissed both temples.

On the other hand, Rembrary just stared at his back without frowning.

He didn’t say goodbye, but he didn’t seem upset either.

As soon as Mors left and the door closed, Ridal ran to Rembrary.

“That guy says things so offensively, right?”

Rembrary shook his head.

“There’s no need to be upset.”

“But he’s saying things to make us upset. He’s ignoring us.”

Ridal slumped and curled up.

“If it were that easy, we could always live comfortably.” He paused, then added, “But when I think about it, Rembrary, you always seem comfortable.”

“That’s a nice thought, but it’s hard for everyone to think like you.”

“Eventually, those people will realize that we weren’t making a fuss. Then they’ll regret it. Won’t that make you feel better?”

“Yeah… I guess.”

“But if those people regret it, the damage will already be done. That wouldn’t be good for us either. So, if those people don’t have anything to regret, that would be good for us too. It means the enemy is weak. Then we have nothing to lose either way.”

Ridal stared at Rembrary with a blank expression.

“Huh?”

* * *

Mors also overheard Rembrary’s words of comfort to Ridal from outside the door.

‘He’s more broad-minded than I thought,’ Mors mused.

Mors smiled silently as he listened to the lazy, indolent, and self-aggrandizing child comforting his friend.

He shook his head and walked down the hallway.

“Do you think what the child said is true?”

The secretary priest asked from beside him.

“The way he spoke with such confidence suggests that there is a serious situation.”

“What seems like a small height for adults can feel too high for children. There’s no need to believe everything children say.”

Admiration and evaluation were separate matters. Mors said firmly, and the secretary priest nodded.

Mors thought for a moment and added.

“Still, his confident character is admirable.”

At those words, another priest chimed in and asked.

“I heard he’s from a royal family. Is that why?”

“From a royal family?”

“Yes. I heard he’s Prince Libulen.”

At the mention of a prince, Mors’s smile disappeared.

“The only thing I admired was his confident character. If even that is because he’s from a royal family, then there’s nothing to admire.”

* * *

Ridal knew he shouldn’t, but he hoped that the monsters would reappear and the High Priest of Kamuel would realize he was wrong.

He wanted that arrogant High Priest to know that it wasn’t just a fuss, but that there were really dangerous monsters everywhere.

If the High Priest saw Rembrary chasing away monsters with his aura, he might realize his mistake.

But until the day the High Priest of Kamuel left, not a single monster showed its face.

Ridal felt even worse, as if this was also a scheme by the black mages [evil magic users].

“Are the black mages afraid of the High Priest too? Is that why they’re being quiet while the High Priest is here?”

Ridal grumbled to Rembrary when he heard that the High Priest of Kamuel was leaving.

Ridal wasn’t the only one who was dissatisfied and grumbling.

“Originally, the black mages didn’t invade all continents at the same time. They chose one or two continents and invaded them intensively. Maybe this time their target is the continents in charge of Lumena and Redrin? Because there’s no High Priest, so they think it’s easy. I received a call from the central continent before coming here, and I heard that there weren’t any major incidents there either.”

After listening to stories for several days and going down to the village, Mors concluded in this way, and the adult paladins were just as indignant.

They thought the Kamuel priests were too arrogant.

But what was even more unpleasant was that they also started to think, ‘Is that really the case?’

Wasn’t it true that there were no High Priests in the Redrin and Lumena temples?

In any case, the High Priest of Kamuel and his priests left without experiencing any hardships, and only the Lumena and Redrin paladins remained in the central mansion as before.

* * *

The Mors party, who left the central mansion, immediately entered the mountain road on horseback.

Although they had spoken loudly to the Redrin and Lumena paladins, the northern priests had not ignored all of their words.

Since monsters had emerged from inside this mountain, they planned to scan the mountain once before leaving.

“That child Rembrary’s ability certainly seemed useful.”

One of the northern priests said as they moved in a line along the narrow mountain road.

“Should we have treated him a little better? With that kind of ability, we might need to ask for help from our continent three or four times.”

“Kamuel priests don’t care about the Redrin priests.”

Mors replied firmly. The northern priests raised the corners of their mouths at the sharp answer.

It was a shame for the Redrin and Lumena temples, but there was definitely a big difference between a temple with a High Priest and a temple without one.

Even if there were difficult things, everyone could unite if there was a High Priest. But that was impossible without a High Priest.

The highest-ranking priest was respected by everyone for playing the role of a leader, but in the end, he was just a high-ranking priest.

Since nothing happened until they passed through the mountain, the northern priests were convinced that the eastern and southern continents were attacked because there was no High Priest.

“That’s too bad. It must be upsetting to not have a High Priest and to be attacked like this.”

“We should help appropriately, only to the extent that we don’t overdo it.”

“Still, the Lumena Temple is in a better situation. There’s a child who is the youngest high-ranking priest, so maybe a High Priest will come out in a few years? The problem is the Redrin Temple…”

The northern priests briefly thought of the trainee priest who was said to be from a royal family, but soon shook their heads.

How many people showed brilliant talent as children but stopped at the level of ordinary priests?

“Perhaps Redrin should step down from the position of the strongest god as a result of this incident. Haha.”

* * *

When they heard that the priests from the north had passed through the mountain without any problems and were heading to the port, the atmosphere in the central mansion became gloomy.

Was it really because the Lumena and Redrin temples didn’t have High Priests that they became the targets of the enemies? Were they being taken lightly by the enemies?

They hoped it wasn’t true, but it was difficult to stop the creeping thoughts.

The Lumena priests thought of Lapsus and were somewhat relieved.

Still, they had a strong candidate who might become the future High Priest. But in the Redrin Temple…

“Mr. Gaieger.”

Then, a child’s voice was heard from beyond the door of the conference room.

“Rembrary?”

Gaieger, who recognized Rembrary’s voice, quickly turned his head. Rembrary was only peeking his head out from beyond the door.

“What’s wrong?”

As Gaieger got up and approached, Rembrary showed him his watch.

“I’ve been waiting for three hours, and you haven’t come out. The manager said that what you’re doing now is not a meeting but a time for complaining, so he said he doesn’t know when it will end, so I just called you.”

Rembrary’s voice was heard clearly inside the conference room.

The faces of the paladins and priests turned red at the words ‘not a meeting but a time for complaining.’

Gaieger took Rembrary out into the hallway.

“Why? Is Ridal sick or something?”

“If he’s sick, you shouldn’t call a priest.”

“That’s right. Then why? Don’t tell me you called me because you were bored.”

It was true that the meeting wasn’t going well, so some of the bored paladins opened the door and watched Rembrary.

Gaieger frowned and waved his hand, but the paladins just laughed and didn’t leave.

“Mr. Gaieger, I came here because you asked me to heal the paladins. Now that there are no injured paladins, I want to leave.”

The laughing paladins widened their eyes at Rembrary’s words.

“Leave?”

Rembrary nodded. In fact, he had come to the meeting to discuss this issue.