Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 825

‘Stop it!’ The clock tower caretaker wanted to shout at Rembrary immediately. There was no way a person could bring the dead back to life. That wasn’t humanly possible.

But he tried to suppress even the slightest sense of unease. Then, in a moment so precarious his anxious heart felt like it would burst.

“Hah!”

The dead Inquisitor took a deep breath and abruptly sat up. He gasped heavily, like someone who had been holding their breath for a long time.

“I thought I was going to die.”

‘No!’ The clock tower caretaker’s eyes widened. This was absolutely absurd. How could a dead person…?!?

It wasn’t just the clock tower caretaker who was shocked.

“A dead person has come back to life!”

“Oh my god!”

“He was definitely dead, right?”

“We all saw him die, didn’t we?”

“This is beyond human comprehension!”

“This is crazy, crazy. Is this real?”

The people whispered among themselves, staring at Rembrary. Healing the sick in an instant was a miracle and amazing, but bringing a dead person back to life!

Even the paladins, unable to whisper openly, stared at Rembrary with wide eyes.

They were so confused they couldn’t tell if they were looking at a novice priest or an archpriest [a high-ranking priest].

“What? What is it? What’s wrong with everyone?”

Rather, the one who didn’t grasp the situation was the person who had come back to life.

Sediter rolled his eyes, unable to understand why people were pointing at him and Rembrary and whispering.

“Why are those people like that? Was I badly hurt?”

Sediter, who only guessed that he had received Rembrary’s treatment, asked a question, and the expressions of the people became strange.

“Isn’t that right?”

When Sediter asked again, the paladins simultaneously looked at Rembrary. Rembrary smiled contentedly and pointed at himself.

“It’s because I’m amazing.”

“You’re always amazing.”

Sediter still didn’t understand. Rembrary was amazing, but the people seemed more dazed than usual.

A village elder couldn’t stand it and shouted.

“You fell from up there and died. Your heart stopped. But that kid came and saved you.”

Sediter’s eyebrows shot up. He put his hand over his heart. His heart was beating very definitely.

Sediter looked up at the clock tower. It was quite high.

“Really?!”

Belatedly, Sediter jumped up in surprise.

Lumenas looked down at the scene and muttered to Redrin.

[That child will soon be close to us.]

Sediter couldn’t believe that he had died and come back to life, even after hearing the story.

He remembered being kicked by something up there, but he had no memory after that. But it didn’t seem like all these people would gather to make fun of him.

“Ah! Hand!”

Belatedly, Sediter remembered the severed hand on the clock tower and shouted.

“Hand, you say?”

A paladin asked, but Sediter didn’t answer and looked around.

“Where’s the clock tower caretaker? Where is the clock tower caretaker?”

As Sediter, who had everyone’s attention, looked for the clock tower caretaker, even the villagers started looking around.

“He was here a moment ago?”

Someone muttered. But the clock tower caretaker was nowhere to be seen.

“Why are you looking for him?”

A paladin asked, and Sediter shouted as if punching the air.

“Damn it. That guy is in league with a black magician!”

The villagers were startled by the mention of a black magician. Ordinary, good-hearted people lived their lives without even knowing that a black magician was near them.

“A black magician, you say?”

The village administrator asked.

Sediter was about to explain but hurriedly asked the paladins.

“First, please go back up there. Be careful because there’s a strange monster or ghost inside. If you keep going up, there’s a severed hand behind the clock. Please bring it out.”

From the ghost story to the severed hand story, everything was terrifying. But the paladins had no choice.

Three paladins formed a team and went inside. Sediter fixed the clock tower entrance door with a stone so that no one could close it again.

Rembrary stood blankly around them, occasionally watching the villagers bow to him.

“You will definitely become an archpriest.”

Sediter whispered to Rembrary in a small voice while waiting for the paladins to return.

“Of course.”

Rembrary smiled contentedly and nodded.

Sediter looked back and forth between the villagers, who were still in shock, and the relatively calm child, and smiled faintly.

It wasn’t just a casual remark. He was sure that Rembrary would become the greatest archpriest among the Redrin archpriests.

After a while, the paladins all came out of the tower safely. One of them was holding a cloth-wrapped object.

‘That must be the hand!’ The people who had heard the conversation were terrified. To think that such a hand was behind the peaceful village clock tower. It was unimaginable.

Because there were too many people, Rembrary, the paladins, and Sediter moved to the village administrator’s office.

The paladin placed something he was carrying on the table and removed the cloth. When the cloth was removed, the severed hand was clearly revealed.

“Ugh.”

The village administrator stepped back because he didn’t want to see it.

Sediter asked Rembrary.

“Rembrary, can you purify this? Do it like when you took the divine power test.”

Inquisitors were, in the end, a type of lay priest. Of course, they could also perform basic purification.

Some of the paladins also had divine power, so some of them could purify it.

However, Sediter naturally asked Rembrary, and the paladins did not object to this.

“Of course.”

When Rembrary did as he had done during the divine power test, the severed hand turned into sand and crumbled down.

Sediter received a sack from the paladin, put the sand in it, and said to the village administrator.

“If it was a disease caused by a curse, those who were not treated by Rembrary will be healed immediately.”

The village administrator ordered the guards to check if that was true. Around that time, brave villagers had caught the runaway clock tower caretaker.

“You said this person is in league with a black magician?”

The clock tower caretaker’s face was bruised, probably from being beaten a few times while being dragged along.

While the guards were walking around, Sediter borrowed two empty rooms and put the clock tower caretaker and the villager who attacked Rembrary in separate rooms.

After that, he went back and forth, interrogating the two.

Rembrary ate the soft white bread made by the village administrator’s cook and dozed off.

After eating all the bread and some fruit, Sediter patted his shoulder and came outside.

The paladin jumped up and asked.

“Did you find out anything?”

“It’s true that he’s in league with a black magician and that he’s the culprit. But it’s hard to find out more than that here.”

“Why?”

‘Because I’m a professional at distinguishing truth from lies.’ Sediter only thought to himself and made excuses.

“I’ll take them to the Inquisitorial Office.”

“Can’t I try?”

The paladin, who was about to say yes, was surprised and looked to the side. Rembrary, who had been quietly eating chocolate, was raising his hand.

“What?”

“I want to interrogate them.”

“!”

* * *

“I refuse.”

The black dragon raised an eyebrow at Cheru’s blunt answer.

The black dragon had previously asked Rembrary if he could help, and Rembrary had received help at that time.

The black dragon thought that since this green-haired human seemed close to Rembrary, she would also receive his help. But she refused?

“Why?”

The black dragon asked, genuinely curious.

“Because you’re a demon.”

Cheru’s answer was firm. Her unwavering eyes stared at him without hesitation.

The black dragon nodded. ‘That’s right. Ordinary priests are like this. Paladins are like this too. That kid is just strange.’

“Why don’t you think about it one more time?”

“I refuse.”

The black dragon looked at the human’s legs, shoulders, and hands, which were clearly in bad condition. ‘Paladins are really stubborn.’

The black dragon didn’t urge her any further. Even this much would make the other demons jump up and down. The black dragon disappeared without flying away.

Cheru, left alone, sighed and examined the winged monsters.

* * *

Sediter and the paladins were momentarily stunned when the small child offered to interrogate the heretics. One of the paladins quickly came to his senses and said.

“No way.”

“Why?”

Rembrary asked, puzzled. Wouldn’t it be good to try anything?

“Because you’re a child.”

It was Sediter who answered this time.

“But I’m amazing, aren’t I?”

When Rembrary asked without blushing, the paladins lowered their heads, embarrassed.

“Still, no.”

Sediter said firmly. He was sure that Rembrary was really great and would become a great archpriest in the future.

But separately, he couldn’t entrust a child with the task of interrogating others. This wasn’t a matter of talent.

Rembrary thought there was no such thing, but he didn’t bother to push it further. Instead, Rembrary picked up a chocolate bread.

* * *

As Sediter expected, the villagers recovered and got up on their own when the frequently caught hand disappeared.

After that, Rembrary left with the welcome of the paladins and villagers, and Sediter, with the help of two other paladins, took the clock tower caretaker and Rembrary’s attacker to the Inquisitorial Office.

The clock tower caretaker and the attacker themselves were neither black magicians nor monsters, and they were not cursed.

The attacker insisted that he had forcibly attacked Rembrary because his parents had been cursed and turned into monsters, and that was true.

However, Sediter had already used his ability to find out that there was more truth that he hadn’t told, so he acted mercilessly.

“This is far enough.”

After the paladins returned, Sediter handed them over to his fellow Inquisitors and met with the chief to tell him about the situation in the village.

“I think I was attacked because I went into the clock tower. The cursed hand was there, and I was trying to remove it. It seems the enemies were properly targeting Rembrary.”

The chief put Inquisitors who were more effective at opening closed mouths than distinguishing truth from lies into them.

The Inquisitor, who had briefly become acquainted with Rembrary when he was staying here, was angry and enthusiastically interrogated the heretics.

As a result, the Inquisitor opened the mouths of the criminals in just one day.

“Duke Ladderun. It’s Duke Ladderun!”

“Again?”

The Inquisitor was dumbfounded and clicked his tongue when Duke Ladderun’s name came out instead of the black magician’s name.

“Is it him again? Just what grudge does that guy have against Rembrary?”

Duke Ladderun had been caught by the Inquisitorial Office before.

All the priests who had revealed his name had died, so there was no basis for investigation, so he was released again.

He should have stayed quiet like a dead mouse, but he used black magic to harass a child again.

Then the iron door opened, and another Inquisitor came in and asked.

“Did you find out anything?”