Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 873

873. The Youngest High Priest

“Where is Yggdrasil?”

Ardor asked, his voice suddenly becoming extremely friendly and obsequious.

The Holy Knight was about to tell the secretary priest, ‘That doesn’t seem right,’ but he caught himself and remained silent.

“I couldn’t find the Yggdrasil Temple on the map.”

Ardor rummaged through his belongings to show his map, afraid the secretary priest might change his mind.

“It’s this way.”

The secretary priest pointed to a spot where nothing was marked.

“Excuse me?”

*Is he kidding me?* Ardor looked at the secretary priest suspiciously.

“It’s a place you can’t enter through ordinary means, so it’s not marked on maps you can buy in the market. It’s to prevent people from making fruitless trips. It’s only on the temple’s map.”
The secretary priest noticed Ardor’s suspicion and told him with a smile.

This was enough to convince Ardor.

“Okay. Then please take me there.”

Ardor agreed so readily that the Holy Knight wanted to say something on his behalf.

*You can’t enter through ordinary means, he said. Doesn’t it seem strange to you?* The Holy Knight kept moving his lips, trying to form the words.

The secretary priest smiled and opened the carriage door.

“Good. Get in.”

* * *

Ardor thought he would be taken straight to Yggdrasil.

However, the secretary priest took Ardor inside the Great Temple, filled a bathtub with water, and had him wash.

After washing until not a speck of dust remained, a clean white shirt and black pants were prepared.

“What about my clothes?”

“I threw them away.”

The secretary priest carefully watched to see if Ardor would get angry.

Ardor frowned but didn’t say anything.

Ardor had a meal and could only depart from the Great Temple the next day.

When he asked why, the secretary priest yawned and replied.

“I had just returned to the Great Temple from a business trip yesterday. It takes several days by carriage to get from here to Yggdrasil, and I didn’t want to go right away.”

“If you just write me a letter of recommendation, I can go alone.”

“You won’t be able to get in.”

The secretary priest smiled meaningfully and turned his gaze out the window.

*It’s this difficult? Wherever it is, it must be a very important place.* Ardor suppressed his pounding heart, filled with enthusiasm.

* * *

After a journey of several days, the carriage finally passed through the iron gates of a building and came to a stop.

As soon as the secretary priest opened the carriage door, a fierce wind rushed in.

Ardor shook out his hair, which had become even more disheveled, and stepped out of the carriage.

For a temple not marked on any map, it had a plain and ordinary appearance.

“Is this the right place?”

Ardor asked, looking at the stone Redrin statue in front of the building.

“It is.”

As they went further inside, Ardor soon realized that there was something different about this place.

*There are no believers.*

Other temples, even the Great Temple, had believers walking around, praying, or looking for priests.

But here, the garden in front of the temple was empty.

There were no believers, not even priests.

“Why is no one here?”

“I wonder.”

Instead of giving a proper answer, the secretary priest took Ardor further inside.

How long had they been walking? Finally, Ardor spotted a passing priest for the first time. He was neatly dressed in Redrin priestly robes.

But strangely, he didn’t seem like a priest, and the reason became clear as they got closer.

*I think I can faintly smell blood on that person.*

“Excuse me.”

The priest was just staring at the mountain beyond the temple until the secretary priest spoke to him.

“What is it?”

Still, he answered properly when called.

The secretary priest patted Ardor on the back and asked.

“I came because I want to send this child here.”

The expression returned to the face of the dazed priest.

The secretary priest immediately pulled out a letter of recommendation from his pocket, as if he had been carrying it all along.

To show his determination, Ardor focused all his energy into his eyes and stared at the Yggdrasil priest.

The Yggdrasil priest looked Ardor up and down and muttered.

“Isn’t he still young? Even cutting it close, isn’t he old enough to enter another ordinary temple as a novice priest?”

“Well, you see.”

The secretary priest briefly explained Ardor’s situation.

The Yggdrasil priest exclaimed, “Ah, so that’s why his eyes…” as if he understood, and turned around.

“I’ll take you to the person in charge for now.”

* * *

A black dragon appeared and dropped a bundle in front of the temporary residence Cheru had built.

Then, after knocking on the door, it flew away on its own before Cheru could even open it.

*It came again.*

Cheru, who opened the door, scratched her cheek as she discovered a large lump of bread that was still steaming and water with a few pieces of ice in it.

It seemed like quite a long time had passed, and the unidentified demon brought her food every time.

*Is he very close to Rembrary?*

It would be less uncomfortable if the other party showed off a little.

Even as Cheru thought that, she took the food and water bowl and placed them on the small table she had made in the center of the house.

The black dragon watched Cheru take the food from afar, and when the door closed, it turned around in relief.

* * *

Time passed quickly.

On a day when the warm spring had passed and it had become a hot summer, the Highest Priest, while praying alone, widened his eyes upon hearing Redrin’s voice.

When the Highest Priest, who had been perfectly fine, suddenly strained his eyes and couldn’t move from his spot, the secretary priest, who was standing nearby, asked.

“Highest Priest, are you alright?”

The Highest Priest couldn’t even answer and just stood there for a long time.

Just as the secretary priest was wondering if he should call someone else, the Highest Priest finally relaxed the eyes he had been straining.

The Highest Priest’s face brightened instantly, so the secretary priest also brightened his expression, thinking something good must have happened.

“Highest Priest, did Redrin give you a favorable oracle?”

The Highest Priest turned to the side and smiled so broadly that his mouth almost reached his ears.

“The High Priest has finally been chosen!”

The secretary priest didn’t understand right away. Only later did the secretary priest jump up.

“The High Priest…!”

It had been a long time since the Redrin Temple had a High Priest. But now, finally, one was going to be appointed!

“Who is it?”

The secretary priest asked, lowering his voice as much as possible, even though he didn’t need to.

“Is it the person I’m thinking of?”

“That’s right.”

The Highest Priest nodded contentedly.

“It’s Rembrary. Redrin himself told us to raise Rembrary to High Priest! He said that Rembrary now has enough divine power to become a High Priest!”

The secretary priest covered his mouth with both hands and let out a small scream.

To see the child he had watched grow up since childhood become a High Priest!

From a certain point on, everyone had expected Rembrary to become a High Priest. But they didn’t expect it to be this… early.

“Highest Priest, if Rembrary, no, if Rembrary is now becoming a High Priest, doesn’t that mean he’s becoming the youngest High Priest?”

“That’s right.”

“Goodness.”

While the secretary priest was unable to move due to his overwhelming emotions, the Highest Priest checked the time and hurriedly left the prayer room.

“This is no time for this. We must quickly go and fetch Rembrary!”

“I’m going to brag about this everywhere!”

The Highest Priest snatched the secretary priest, who was about to run in the opposite direction.

* * *

The people of the Redrin Temple hastily selected a group to go and fetch Rembrary and calculated the arrival and return dates.

It had been so long since a High Priest had been appointed that few people knew the proper procedure.

After comparing the memories of the old priests and several temple records, the Highest Priest finally left the Great Temple and headed to the Inquisitorial Office.

It was evening, just as the sun was setting, when the group that had departed from the Great Temple arrived at the Inquisitorial Office.

The inquisitors stared with hardened expressions as carriages bearing the Great Temple insignia entered in a line.

According to custom, they had not been told that a High Priest would be coming from this place, so the inquisitors gathered together like wary meerkats.

When the carriages stopped, the head of the Inquisitorial Office himself approached the carriage at the very front.

The head waited with a stern expression for the door of the carriage to open and for the representative of this group to emerge.

However, the door that opened with a click was the carriage in the second row.

“There’s no one in that one.”

The Highest Priest said as he came out of the carriage in the second row, and the head frowned, wondering what was going on, and looked back and forth between the empty first carriage and the Highest Priest.

The Highest Priest was currently the highest-ranking person in the Redrin Temple. But why was he leaving the first carriage empty?

“What brings you here?”

The head asked in a cold voice as the Highest Priest approached.

*Have they come to persuade Rembrary to come back?* He had an idea of what was going on, but the head pretended not to know and waited for an answer.

“We’ve come because of Rembrary.”

As the Great Temple priests who had gotten out of the carriages and horses gathered behind the Highest Priest, the inquisitors also came out of their state of alert and rushed behind the head.

As the groups faced off against each other, the Highest Priest smiled awkwardly.

The head did not hide his angry expression and protested.

“Rembrary chose to come here of his own accord to become an inquisitor. No matter how precious his talent is, it’s too much to come in droves like this to persuade a child. How much do you have to despise our Inquisitorial Office to do something like this?”

“That’s not it…”

Just as the Highest Priest was about to correct him, there was a sudden commotion from behind.

The head of the Inquisitorial Office, who turned his head, was also startled and staggered.

“Rembrary?!”

Rembrary was coming out, carrying all his luggage.

The inquisitors were speechless with shock.

*Is he not happy with life here? He said the bread was bland a few days ago, is that why he’s doing this?* Rembrary’s actions and words began to flow through the inquisitors’ minds.

“High Priest.”

However, when the Highest Priest greeted Rembrary by calling him that, the inquisitors’ minds immediately went blank. *High Priest?*

“Redrin told me in advance.”

The inquisitors were still unable to break free from their dazed state even at Rembrary’s words.

“High Priest?”

The head looked back at the Highest Priest, surprised by the words he could not believe even after hearing them.

The Highest Priest informed him with a proud expression.

“Redrin has given an oracle that he will make Rembrary the High Priest. Our Redrin Temple now has a High Priest.”

“!”

The Highest Priest’s words spread like wildfire. The inquisitors screamed in surprise and soon began to cheer.

“Isn’t he the youngest High Priest!”

“High Priest Rembrary!”

“Rembrary!”

The Highest Priest opened the door of the first carriage.

Rembrary shook hands with the head before getting into the carriage.

The head was dazed for a moment, then belatedly his eyes welled up with tears.

“The prejudice that someone from the Inquisitorial Office can’t become a High Priest has finally been broken. Rembrary… I knew you would become a High Priest, but I didn’t know it would be this soon….”