Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 856

◈ 856. How Do You Know That

A clang echoed as someone’s sword went flying.

“Will you use it?”

As Rembrary held the bead in his hand, Mulu asked, lowering her spear.

*Well, what should I do?* Rembrary rolled the bead in his hand, looking around.

The individuals attacking indiscriminately were clearly weaker than the paladins.

The problem was that the paladins were sane, while their attackers were not.

Those with reason stood still, blankly staring in confusion.

“Will you use it?”

Mulu asked again, swinging her spear wide to push back two people at once.

“I’ll use it when using it and failing is no different from not using it at all.”

Rembrary deferred his choice and kicked away an incoming sword.

If he were alone, he would have used it. Even if things went wrong, he was confident he could get out somehow.

However, with Mulu and the other paladins, as well as ordinary villagers, mixed in, it was difficult to take a risk.

“As you wish.”

Mulu muttered, suppressing the attackers.

But eventually, the moment to choose arrived.

Rembrary held the bead, surveyed his surroundings, and threw it towards the side where the enemies were swarming.

Then, with the sound of countless glass windows breaking simultaneously, the enemies’ movements stopped.

The enemies froze in their tracks, as if encased in a thin layer of ice.

The paladins stopped swinging their weapons and turned to look at Rembrary.

“We need to get out of here while we can.”

Rembrary said, looking at the thin ice that seemed ready to shatter at any moment.

No sooner had he spoken than the sound of cracking ice began to be heard from all directions.

“Get out!”

“Run!”

The paladins shouted at each other and began running towards the edge of the village.

Mulu grabbed Rembrary’s arm and ran. Rembrary quickly followed behind.

Before they could all escape, about half of the ice shattered, and some of the frozen figures reached out towards the paladins.

The sound of glass and ice breaking spread in succession.

Just before they escaped the village, someone grabbed Rembrary’s arm.

Rembrary faltered for a moment, but Mulu struck the person’s arm with the shaft of her spear.

In the meantime, the sound of ice breaking grew even faster.

Then, in an instant, the sound of all the ice breaking at once echoed.

Almost simultaneously, the two threw themselves over the fence.

Rembrary managed to get up after rolling on the ground several times.

The briefly frozen village had returned to normal.

Hidden among the villagers, those who had attacked the Redrin paladins and Rembrary sent resentful glances.

“They’re not coming out.”

“There must be restrictions.”

Rembrary brushed the dirt off his clothes and took out his pocket watch to check the time.

“This should be enough.”

* * *

[I’m disappointed.]

Listening to Iaira’s rebuke, Mary closed her eyes. Relief and guilt welled up at the same time.

[I’m truly disappointed.]

“Punish me,” Mary muttered.

For a moment, no answer was heard.

Only after a long while did the sound of someone sighing reach her ears.

[But perhaps it is because you are like this that I love you. Because you constantly suffer, struggle, and doubt, yet still reach out to me.]

* * *

The Redrin paladins and Rembrary, who had escaped the village full of cursed people, puppets, and enemies attacking of their own volition, were expelled from the Iaira Grand Temple the next day.

The reason given by the Iaira Grand Temple was, ‘The Redrin paladins wandered around and caused a disturbance, so we cannot keep them in the Grand Temple for long.’

But no one believed it.

Of course, not believing it didn’t mean they could refuse.

After leaving the Grand Temple, the Redrin paladin party arrived at a nearby village, rented an entire inn, and gathered in the first-floor restaurant to eat and hold a meeting.

“I thought we would stay at the Iaira Grand Temple for a while. Since they asked us to come, I calculated that we would be here for about a month. Um… so we have some extra time left.”

Kentry, who was acting as Rembrary’s secretary, calculated the dates and reported in a troubled voice.

“What should we do? We didn’t leave on good terms, so it’s a bit awkward for us to wander around this area on our own.”

Kentry muttered, looking at Rembrary.

“Why are you troubled?”

When Rembrary asked, another paladin answered.

“Because this isn’t Redrin’s territory. It’s Iaira’s territory, and if we, as followers of another god, go around helping people, it’s no different from openly picking a fight with the Iaira Temple. Unless the Iaira Temple asks for our help and we go together.”

“If we just hang around, we’ll look suspicious.”

Mulu asked,

“Shouldn’t we just go straight to the Kamuel Grand Temple?”

In fact, it was an issue with almost no choice, so the other paladins also suggested going straight to the northern continent.

Then Rembrary made a statement that no one expected.

“Sir Mulu, I think you can go back now.”

“!”

Mulu stared at Rembrary with wide eyes.

It was Rembrary who had suggested she come along. But now he was telling her to go back? Moreover, singling her out by name?

“Why?”

To Mulu’s question, Rembrary answered as if it were obvious.

“Sir Mulu, you came because of Sir Cheru, right? But going to the northern continent has nothing to do with Sir Cheru.”

Mulu pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment.

When Mulu didn’t answer, Rembrary asked, puzzled.

“Has your mind changed, perhaps?”

The paladins looked back and forth between the two with their mouths open.

After a long while, Mulu stood up and said bluntly.

“Understood. I’ll drop out.”

Rembrary spoke to another paladin who had joined along with Mulu.

“Let’s go back together. You came together.”

* * *

In the end, the group parted ways there, with Rembrary continuing to move to the northern continent, and Mulu returning to the Redrin territory.

The paladin who returned with Mulu constantly checked on Mulu’s condition in the carriage.

He was worried that Mulu would be upset about having to drop out midway.

In fact, Mulu was a bit upset when boarding the ship and didn’t open her mouth easily.

As Mulu was so dejected, the paladin tried his best to tell bright stories, and then he remembered what he had heard when riding in the carriage with Rembrary.

“That’s right. Mulu, that Rembrary guy. Remember when we rescued you and then moved to the harbor together?”

“I remember.”

“At the time, there was only one carriage, so the paladins took turns riding in it.”

“I remember.”

“Rembrary said something strange then. Did you hear it?”

“I didn’t hear it.”

Mulu was trying to ignore Rembrary as much as possible at that time, not even turning her head to the side.

“Rembrary kept admiring your spear.”

Mulu reflexively looked back at her spear on her back, then frowned.

“Is that a strange thing to say? My spear is so cool that many people admire it.”

“Ah, of course, your spear is cool. But usually, they praise it once and then stop, they don’t keep looking at it with a satisfied expression for hours.”

Mulu looked back at her spear again, then suddenly had a thought and flinched. *Could it be?*

“What’s wrong?”

Since this spear first arrived, anonymous gifts had been arriving around the same time every year. Mulu had no idea who was sending the gifts.

She had asked her family, just in case, but her family was just as clueless.

But Rembrary had been looking at this spear with a satisfied expression for hours…

*No way, that can’t be. There’s no reason for him to do that to me.*

“Mulu? What’s wrong?”

The paladin asked again when Mulu was staring blankly into space.

“No.”

Mulu shook her head and forcibly dismissed the absurd assumption from her mind.

* * *

While Mulu was returning to the Redrin territory, Rembrary and the others continued to move to the northern continent without rest.

“Why did you tell Sir Mulu to go back?”

Kentry asked whenever he had time because he couldn’t understand Rembrary.

The paladins also seemed to not understand that part well, and they looked at Rembrary whenever that topic came up.

“That’s what we agreed to from the beginning, right?”

Rembrary found it stranger that others couldn’t understand this.

*Didn’t Sir Mulu seem like she wanted to go with us?*

Kentry thought to himself, but since he couldn’t bring back someone he had already sent away, he didn’t say anything more.

However, it wasn’t long before Kentry thought that sending Mulu away was a good decision.

The number of monsters they encountered when going from the central continent to the northern continent was twice as many as when they came from the southern continent to the central continent.

The story that all the black mages had migrated to the northern continent was not for nothing.

Even the Kamuel High Priest was away from his post when they arrived after all this hardship.

“The High Priest is away from his post. He has gone to a dangerous area. It will take at least three months for him to resolve the matter there and return.”

“I’ll go there. Where exactly is the location?”

“I don’t know either.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes. The location must be kept secret, so the High Priest left without informing anyone. No one knows except for me and those who went with the High Priest.”

Rembrary and his party looked at each other.

* * *

Since the purpose of the trip wasn’t ‘We must meet the Kamuel High Priest,’ Rembrary and his party immediately changed their course and set off on another long journey.

This time, their destination was the eastern continent, where the Lumena Grand Temple was located.

Fortunately, there was a High Priest and a Lapsus [a high-ranking priest] who was being educated by the High Priest.

The Redrin paladins, who had suffered for too long, were delighted. Now they could rest for a few days.

The High Priest thought, *Why did these kids come?* but still gave them guest accommodations.

When he heard that Rembrary was the representative of this group, that this was the last stop on their journey around the continent, and that the reason for starting the journey was a request for help from the Iaira High Priest, the Lumena priests were noticeably surprised.

*Is the Redrin Temple definitely pushing that child as a High Priest candidate? Traveling around the continent and visiting each Grand Temple, isn’t that the kind of behavior that only a High Priest would do?*

At the same time, they were amazed that the Redrin paladins didn’t find this strange at all.

When they had dinner with the Redrin paladins, Rembrary, and Kentry, the High Priest also paid close attention to Rembrary and unknowingly thought, *So it has come to this.*

Only after having that fleeting thought did she realize that she was evaluating Rembrary higher than she had thought.

On the other hand, Lapsus became anxious and couldn’t even eat properly.

The ‘Rembrary’ who had only been rumored suddenly appeared before his eyes, in a place where he could safely stay, and he lost his appetite and felt a burning sensation in his stomach due to anxiety.

Lapsus tried his best not to pay attention to whatever Rembrary said.

“Redrin is the best, so he’s an exception. I haven’t talked to Kamuel, so I’ll exclude him. Between Lumena and Iaira, I think Lumena is a much better person.”

However, when the story about Lumena came out of Rembrary’s mouth, he couldn’t help but look up.

“What are you talking about?”

Lapsus asked coldly. *Why is that Redrin priest talking about Lumena? As if he’s actually talked to her?*

“You’ve never talked to Lumena,” Lapsus said sharply, and Rembrary laughed as he was about to put bread in his mouth.

“Lumena is a very good person.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because we talk from time to time?”

Not only Lapsus but all the Lumena priests froze at the same time.