Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 826

◈ 826. Farewell in an Instant

“The culprit who targeted Rembrary and the Inquisitor who was interrogating him were both murdered?”

Gaeiger, the vice-chief of the Florandia Temple, heard the shocking news from Heather, the chief. He couldn’t close his gaping mouth. Unbelievable.

“Yes. The Inquisitor Captain sent a letter asking us to protect Rembrary well. It seems certain that Rembrary was the target.”

Heather lightly shook the letter she had been reading just moments before. Her face was heavy as she read it. It was certainly not easy news to take lightly.

“Who on earth would do such a thing?”

Gaeiger asked, dumbfounded, then answered himself.

“No, they’re dead, so we won’t know. They must have been killed to prevent us from finding out who was behind it.”

Heather nodded. Gaeiger’s guess was accurate.

“It seems the Inquisitorial Office is in an uproar as well. They’ve been trying to root out spies since the last incident, but this has happened again.”

Gaeiger sighed repeatedly. He couldn’t understand those who would commit such acts to harm a child.

But then again, if they were capable of understanding, they wouldn’t have done such a thing in the first place.

Heather sighed deeply and said,

“It seems we can’t just say, ‘Let’s protect him diligently.’ We need to discuss this together.”

Heather announced this matter during the meeting when all the priests gathered and sought their opinions.

The priests offered various suggestions.

Request more Holy Knights, never leave Rembrary alone, request regular guards instead of Holy Knights, and so on.

After nearly three hours of discussion, Heather finally came to a conclusion.

“Then we will send Rembrary and Ridal to the Grand Temple.”

After the meeting, Heather wrote a letter to the highest-ranking priest in her office.

She explained Rembrary’s situation in detail and wrote that, outwardly, they would cite the reason that ‘Apprentice priests with divine power are easy targets for black magicians,’ and asked them to accept Ridal as well.

After sending the letter, Heather sighed heavily again.

‘I hope the highest-ranking priest accepts them…’

* * *

Heather set aside her personal desire to directly educate the promising children in order to protect Rembrary.

However, there was something Heather hadn’t considered.

‘Can Rembrary even go to the Grand Temple? Doesn’t the Grand Temple not accept apprentice priests?’

It was Kiksil, the only traitor who hadn’t been caught when Sediter was identifying the betraying priests.

Kiksil believed that Rembrary would not be able to go to the Grand Temple, but he wrote down this news and sent it to a middleman messenger.

He didn’t want to do this anymore, but he had heard that all the captured fellow traitors had been killed.

He knew what that nobleman would do if he tried to quit.

* * *

As soon as the Marchioness Lucyche read the letter Kiksil sent, she burned it.

“What should we do? You don’t like getting involved directly.”

The butler, who had read the letter with her from behind, asked as he brushed the ashes off his hands.

“We need to get Duke Ladderun to step in.”

“Will he listen? Hasn’t the relationship with the Duke been strained recently?”

“Easy.”

The Marchioness Lucyche smiled without hesitation.

“Doesn’t Duke Ladderun have that naive concubine he sent to our house? Lead her to find out.”

The Marchioness Lucyche’s butler was competent.

He naturally let the concubine know about the matter, and the concubine, happy to have found something useful, passed the news on to Duke Ladderun.

Duke Ladderun immediately tried to hire assassins. If Rembrary went to the Grand Temple, it would definitely be more difficult to deal with him than before.

However, the first assassin refused upon hearing the target’s age, and the second assassin refused upon learning that the target was an apprentice priest.

The third assassin accepted, knowing all of this and demanding a huge sum, but refused as soon as he heard the target was Rembrary.

“You said you didn’t care about age or occupation, so why are you suddenly changing your mind!”

Duke Ladderun, angered by the repeated rejections, finally exploded in anger when he was rejected again at the last moment.

The assassin replied with a nonchalant voice, as if it were obvious.

“Isn’t Rembrary that priest with healing abilities? There’s only one such priest in the world; there’s no reason to kill him.”

It was infuriating for Duke Ladderun. Even assassins were being picky about their targets.

But he didn’t want to borrow power from black magicians again.

‘What should I do…’

* * *

A few days later, word came from the Grand Temple that they would accept both children.

As soon as permission was granted, Heather told Rishue the story and urged her to send the children quickly.

“Already? Right away?”

“It’s better to leave before it gets too cold. If they get cold on the way, the children will only suffer. Winter will be here soon.”

Rishue’s expression showed a hint of sadness.

She felt a pang as she remembered taking care of the innocent children, taking them to the dining hall and prayer room like ducklings.

All the other children would remain here, but Ridal and Rembrary were particularly noticeable children for different reasons.

And now they were both leaving at the same time…

As Rishue sobbed, Heather tried to say something but stopped. She too was sad to see them go.

The Redrin Temple was widely spread across two continents, and no one knew where the two children would go after this.

Perhaps they would never meet the two children again in their lives.

Rishue returned to the classroom listlessly and told Rembrary and Ridal separately that they would be leaving.

“Yes? Why? So suddenly?”

Ridal asked back in surprise.

Because of Heather’s instructions to keep this matter a secret until the highest-ranking priest gave permission, Ridal had never imagined that he would go to another temple.

“The black magicians are getting more and more dangerous. You both can use divine power, but you’re young and weak, so you need to be more careful.”

“Still, it’s too sudden.”

“You both would have had to leave next year anyway. You should think of it as the farewell coming a little earlier.”

Rishue deliberately acted cheerful in front of the children. She didn’t want them to feel sad about leaving.

But Ridal was already shedding tears just from hearing that he was leaving.

“Rishue, please come visit us at the Grand Temple later.”

On the other hand, Rembrary greeted her brightly, as if he wasn’t too upset about the farewell. The child seemed no different from usual.

Rishue was only slightly relieved by Rembrary’s cheerful attitude.

“Okay. I’ll visit.”

* * *

Afterward, as Heather advised, Rembrary and Ridal packed their bags as quickly as possible and prepared to leave the Florandia Temple.

The children were greatly shocked to hear this news belatedly. Rembrary was leaving! It would be surprising even if he left alone, but Ridal was going too!

“Ridal, is it true?”

“Are you really leaving?”

“Is it true that you two are going to live in the Grand Temple?”

“When are you leaving? Why are you leaving?”

The children flocked to Ridal and asked him this and that. However, Ridal hadn’t received any proper information either, so he had nothing to explain.

But even as the children were confused, things were progressing smoothly. The priests packed the two children’s luggage for them and loaded it all onto the carriage.

“Rembrary, Ridal. Get in. Let’s go.”

The children were all saddened by the sudden farewell.

As Kentrie left, followed by Rembrary and Ridal, the fact that everyone would eventually part ways struck them deeply.

Even the children who didn’t get along with Rembrary were sad and regretful that Rembrary was leaving so suddenly.

“Ridal, you’ll write letters even after you go, right?”

“Of course.”

“Rembrary, will you write letters too?”

“I don’t have any plans to do that yet.”

“!”

Of course, not everyone was like that, so there were several who weren’t sad. Abit was rather relieved when Rembrary left.

Wider wasn’t sad, but he wasn’t relieved either.

Wider watched from the second-floor window as Rembrary and Ridal finished their long farewells and got into the carriage, as Gaeiger got in with them, as Rishue closed the carriage door and waved, and as some of the children burst into tears as the carriage began to leave.

Watching the receding carriage, Wider said his own farewell in his heart.

‘I’m letting you go this time… but I will never forget my grudge, Rembrary. Just you wait.’

* * *

Ridal was as sad and regretful as the children who were left behind.

Ridal was especially pained to part with Rishue.

However, as the carriage passed through Florandia Village and entered the wide fields, and as the autumn wind began to blow strongly, a slightly excited feeling grew in Ridal’s heart.

Ridal watched Rembrary dozing off in front of him. Seeing Rembrary’s carefree appearance, his anxiety disappeared as well.

Ridal tapped his feet and looked out the window again. What kind of things will happen in the future?

* * *

While Rembrary was having a peaceful carriage ride, Redrin had a meeting with the gods.

As Redrin’s angel brought everyone drinks made of clouds and dawn air and retreated, Kamuel picked up a cup and asked,

[Why did you suddenly call us together?]

[The movements of the demons are unusual. They are coming up to the human realm one by one and mixing in with the black magicians here and there.]

Lumena answered, creating a map of the human realm in the air.

A map of light appeared between everyone, and only some of it was colored differently. It seemed to mark the places where demons had been sighted.

Kamuel pretended to be nonchalant and rested his chin on his hand, but inwardly he was estimating the locations and counting the number of demons.

[The number has more than doubled compared to usual.]

Kamuel only agreed after counting all the demons.

In response, the gods began to discuss whether they should prepare for this phenomenon, how they should prepare if they did, and which of the demon kings’ movements were unusual.

[This is perfect. Among my apprentice priest children, there is one who is certain to become a high priest. Soon that child will drive out the demons’ invasion.]

Redrin couldn’t help but brag about Rembrary.

Lumena scoffed, but let it go, thinking that her friend was just excited about the prospect of a high priest coming out after a long time.

But they were in the middle of talking.

[Rumor has it, Redrin, that you met Aquari. Could that be related to the increased appearance of demons?]

Iira, who had been listening to the story relatively quietly, joined in and asked at the end. As soon as the story of Aquari came up, all the gods fell silent.

Redrin frowned.

Why are you suddenly bringing up that story? Besides, Iira asked as if questioning, but there was a subtle hint of accusation in her voice.

Just before Redrin could answer, Kamuel suddenly interjected.

[Redrin, I heard you have a human child named Rembrary. Can’t you send that child to my temple?]