Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 816

◈ 816. A Difficult Choice

Rembrary stared at the ceiling and burst into a wide smile, causing the children to whisper amongst themselves. “See, I told you he was weird.”

A few of the smarter children didn’t join in.

Even the less intelligent children were a bit scared by Rembrary’s current demeanor, so they stopped whispering.

Regardless, Rembrary was more excited than usual at this moment and couldn’t think straight.

His eyes sparkled as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

‘Redrin, Redrin. Was that you speaking just now? Was it really you?’

* * *

Redrin smiled as he gently swept his hand through the clouds. Lumena watched him, clicking her tongue.

“Stop staring. You really have a soft spot for that child.”

Redrin wasn’t offended by the teasing and smiled triumphantly.

“Just now, my child heard my voice.”

Lumena was drinking the purest rain mixed in the clouds when she looked at Redrin in surprise. Already hearing Redrin’s voice?

“How old is that human child?”

“Talent knows no age. But you wouldn’t know since you don’t have a child like that.”

Redrin became arrogant and sneered, making Lumena think he was truly insufferable.

“Can you really communicate with him?”

Curiosity outweighed her annoyance. At Lumena’s question, Redrin nodded and spoke to Rembrary again.

“My child, write my name on a piece of paper.”

Rembrary stared blankly at the ceiling before quickly taking out a piece of paper and writing his name.

Redrin raised an eyebrow, then smiled and said,

“How is it?”

Lumena thought that while he could hear the voice, communication wasn’t yet possible.

But it was clear that the child could hear Redrin’s voice.

“He’ll be writing your name by next year.”

Lumena smiled as she finished her thought, and Redrin’s smile deepened.

“Why don’t you speak to your child?”

“I don’t cling to one child and speak to them so impatiently like you do.”

Rembrary had no idea what the two gods were discussing as they looked down at him.

He was simply happy to have heard Redrin’s voice.

Rembrary couldn’t stay still, so he wandered around the classroom for a while to calm himself down.

The children became even quieter at the sight.

“I don’t know what he’s thinking.”

The children started whispering again.

“Rembrary is really weird.”

* * *

A few days later, Kentry, who had left the Florandia Temple to begin his second term as a lay priest [a non-ordained member of the clergy], was just as happy as Rembrary.

“This is…”

“The Grand Temple,” the lay priest who had brought Kentry here said with a smile.

Kentry opened his mouth, unable to say anything. The Grand Temple? Kentry took several breaths before finally managing to speak.

“I’m not good enough to come here. Not like Rembrary or Ridal.”

“Becoming a lay priest at twelve is more than good enough. And you’re still young, so you can’t take on duties at other temples right away. You’ll have more systematic lessons here for another three to five years before going to another temple. Or you might stay here, depending on the situation.”

In reality, even in Kentry’s situation, it was difficult to come directly to the Grand Temple.

Kentry was able to come directly to the Grand Temple thanks to the ongoing disappearances of priests and Rishur’s hard work.

Rishur, wanting to send the child to a safe place at any cost, sent a letter mentioning Rembrary and Ridal’s visit to the Grand Temple, securing a spot for him.

The staff knew this but didn’t bother telling the child the details.

Kentry felt tears welling up and kept rubbing his eyes with both hands.

“Ridal and Rembrary will be old enough to become lay priests next year, right? Maybe the three of you will meet here again.”

The staff patted Kentry on the shoulder. Kentry finally shed tears and nodded quickly.

* * *

However, not all the children were happy at this moment. Mullu stood in front of the mailbox, half in a daze.

While the delivery man pushed letters one by one into the mailbox with a large basket, Mullu didn’t move.

“Waiting for some news?”
The delivery man, feeling burdened, finally asked.

“Is there a letter from Sir Cheru? Or a letter for Mullu?”
Mullu quickly asked. The delivery man shook his head.

“I don’t think so.”

Seeing the child’s expression darken, the delivery man quickly added,

“But I don’t check the envelopes of every letter. You should look carefully, just in case.”

The delivery man sped up, quickly dropped off the letters, and left.

Mullu stood on tiptoe and checked each of the letters that the delivery man had stuffed here and there. But there was still no news from her sister.

“It’s okay.”
A passing paladin instructor saw this and approached.

“Contact is often cut off when you go on a mission. It would be strange to go to a monster’s lair and then come back out to send a letter, right?”

“But people are saying my sister’s team has gone missing.”

“Who are these people? They’re also saying Rembrary’s healing abilities are fake. But that’s all nonsense, right?”

The paladin gave an example of someone he knew, and Mullu finally perked up and nodded.

That’s right. Not all rumors were true, and there were just as many false rumors as there were truths.

Mullu decided to trust her sister’s skills, not the words of strangers.

* * *

Though not as much as Mullu, Wider was also feeling uneasy.

“Is it true that you’ll gain divine power if you get on Rembrary’s good side?”

“What is that? Rembrary isn’t Redrin, so how would that be possible?”

“But Redrin is watching Rembrary often. So, the people next to Rembrary will be more noticeable, right?”

Whenever the children whispered like this after Kentry left, Wider became anxious and found it hard to stay in his seat. Could it be true?

But he was already on bad terms with Rembrary.

They hadn’t openly fought, but Rembrary knew that he had used people’s rumors to harass Ridal and Rishur, and he disliked him.

Even if he approached him now, they couldn’t become close.

Even if it were possible, he didn’t want to apologize and approach him. Wasn’t Rembrary the enemy who had caused his uncle’s death?

Wider nervously put down his water cup and left the dining hall alone.

* * *

In the meantime, time passed, and the Florandia Temple became busier than usual preparing for the Wind Festival.

The children gradually forgot about Kentry and diligently spent the whole day preparing for the upcoming festival.

Rembrary frequently spoke to Redrin and learned that sometimes Redrin would answer right away, but other times he would take longer to respond.

‘Redrin, is it because you’re talking to other people?’

Rembrary was curious about the reason and asked three or four times a day, but Redrin wouldn’t answer that question.

‘Redrin, are you avoiding answering because I’m asking difficult questions?’

One day, while preparing for the festival as usual, attending classes, and singing songs…

“Ridal.”

Someone knocked on the door during class and called for Ridal. Ridal, who was cutting out angel wings for the festival, looked up.

The front door of the classroom was open, and a priest stood there, someone whose face he knew but whose name he didn’t.

“What’s wrong?” Rishur asked, sitting at the teacher’s desk. The priest approached Rishur and whispered something in his ear.

Ridal wondered what was happening as Rishur’s eyes widened, and he put down the scissors and thick paper.

“Ridal, come with me for a moment.”
The priest, having received permission from Rishur, spoke to Ridal again.

Ridal was uneasy, but when Rishur didn’t stop him, he hesitated and followed.

Rembrary also stopped making angel wings and stared at the half-closed front door. What’s going on?

“Is Rembrary here?”

Before ten minutes had passed since Ridal left, a paladin appeared at the front door this time.

Rishur put down his pen and stood up.

“What’s the matter?”

“There’s been an incident.”

Unlike the priest who had come earlier, the paladin didn’t hide anything.

“Rembrary’s healing abilities are needed.”

“What about Header…?”

“I’ve received permission.”

Since he had received permission from Header, Rishur couldn’t stop him. Rishur nodded, and Rembrary quickly packed his things and walked to the front door.

“What’s wrong?”

Rembrary asked as he walked down the hallway with the paladin. Just as the paladin was about to explain,

Ridal came up the stairs and grabbed Rembrary’s arm, saying,

“Rembrary, please help me.”

“?”

Rembrary looked at him in confusion, and Ridal said, tears streaming down his face,

“I need your healing abilities.”

‘Redrin, I don’t know what’s going on.’

Rembrary looked back and forth between the paladin, Ridal, and the priest who had come up the stairs with Ridal.

The nameless priest quickly said when he met Rembrary’s eyes,

“I’ve received permission from Header.”

Rembrary pointed to Ridal and the paladin.

“Are you from the same place?”

The priest and the paladin looked at each other. But neither of them knew who the other was.

“I don’t think so. More importantly, Rembrary, the situation is urgent, so we need to go quickly,” the paladin answered honestly and urged Rembrary.

Before Rembrary could take a step, Ridal grabbed Rembrary’s arm.

“Rembrary, can you look at this side for a moment?”

Just as the paladin was about to say something, the priest blocked the paladin and asked,

“Excuse me, but why are you taking Rembrary?”

“There’s an urgent matter.”

“Unless it’s very urgent, can we take Rembrary first? There are many injured people here. We really need Rembrary’s healing abilities.”

Ridal added in a small voice to Rembrary,

“They decided to build a huge trap together to prevent monsters from appearing in the village. But while building the trap, they built it too big… and it fell sideways, crushing several houses nearby.”

“Is it the village where Ridal used to live?”

“Yes. As a result, many of my family members were injured. My younger sibling heard about your reputation and came all the way here alone.”

Ridal shed tears.

“Did you hear that?” The priest pointed to Ridal and gave the paladin a look that said, ‘So we really need to take Rembrary first.’

The paladin looked back and forth between Ridal and the priest with a reluctant expression, and when the priest bowed to Rembrary, the paladin grabbed the priest’s arm.

“Just a moment. Our side also has an urgent situation. About twenty paladins have suffered minor and major injuries while fighting monsters. Several are seriously injured and need to be treated quickly.”

“There are also many seriously injured people in that child’s village.”

As they argued in the hallway, the trainee priests and training priests who had come out to see what was happening glanced at each other, feeling troubled by the difficult situation.