Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 884

◈ 884. Rembrary’s Invitation (4)

The soldier began to examine the group more closely.

Rumor had it that High Priest Rembrary was incredibly handsome, with blond hair and red eyes. Unfortunately for the soldier, the person in front of him fit that description perfectly.

The problem was the three people around him. One didn’t look like a priest at all, and the other two had trustworthy faces but peculiar attire. These three figures confused him.

“Why are you silent?”

As the soldier remained silent, racking his brain, the blond man, who might be the High Priest, urged him on.

Even his prompting seemed kind, causing the soldier’s spine to tingle again.

What if this person really *is* the High Priest? Several terrible scenarios flashed through his mind.

Although they worship other gods, the Redrin priests don’t typically arrest Kamuel’s followers as heretics.

But things would be very different if someone harmed their High Priest.

He might be dragged to the Inquisition [a religious court]. The Igrasil priests might come to arrest him. What should he do then? Should he beg for forgiveness? Would they let him off if he admitted his mistake?

‘Kill him.’

The soldier’s eyes turned ruthless as he pondered.

‘If that’s the High Priest, he won’t just forgive this one act of rudeness. He saw me demanding money, so he’ll investigate everything that happened before. He’ll find out that I’ve been extorting money from visitors.’

Whether the person is the High Priest or not, killing him would prevent future trouble in this situation.

The soldier, having made up his mind, addressed Rembrary.

“Could you come this way for a moment?”

“Why?”

“Upon closer inspection, you seem like the High Priest I’ve heard rumors about. I’d like to confirm it.”

As soon as Rembrary sauntered over and stood in front of him, the soldier quickly drew his sword and swung it.

But before the sword could reach Rembrary, a bang rang out, and his vision collapsed.

The soldier fell to the ground, dead. Ardor had shot him in the forehead.

Rembrary turned to Ardor, dodging the splattering blood. Ardor lowered his gun and examined Rembrary’s clothes.

“Lord Rembrary, are you alright? Did this Ardor help the High Priest? I thought he was begging for forgiveness, staring at the High Priest’s face, but he must have gone mad.”

While Ardor was making a fuss, Jang Tae-ri approached the iron bars and asked.

“Should we just melt them and escape?”

“I think so.”

Jang Tae-ri asked Rembrary, but Shin Jo-woon answered.

He had intended to stay back for a while since he knew nothing about the customs or laws here, but after seeing Rembrary and Ardor’s actions, he thought it would be better to offer his opinion, even if he didn’t know much.

Jang Tae-ri still looked at Rembrary, carefully waiting for his answer, as he was one of the key people in their group.

“멸치 [Myeolchi, a Korean slang term referring to someone weak or insignificant] is right. There’s no other way now.”

With Rembrary’s agreement, Jang Tae-ri immediately melted the iron bars. As a section of the melted iron bars weakened, Shin Jo-woon kicked it off and asked.

“Can you melt the shackles too?”

“I can melt them, but the heat will transfer directly to your wrists.”

Shin Jo-woon frowned at those words, and Rembrary brightly stepped forward.

“It’s okay, Tae-ri. I’ll heal you.”

Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon shook their heads simultaneously. Even if they could be completely healed, they had no desire to melt their wrists and then recover.

To avoid such extreme measures, the two decided to search the dead soldier’s clothes instead.

“Here it is.”

Fortunately, they found several bunches of keys in the soldier’s pocket. After trying each key, they successfully unlocked the shackles.

But just as they were about to leave.

“I heard something exploding here.”

Someone yanked open the door to the temporary prison.

The people who were about to enter froze in place when they saw the group standing in the hallway instead of inside the prison, and the group also stopped in their tracks.

As soon as the momentary assessment was over, those who had entered raised their weapons, and Ardor also raised his gun.

Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri didn’t use weapons, so they didn’t raise their hands, but they focused so they could use their abilities at any time.

The newcomers were also soldiers, but they were people they had never seen before. Their eyes landed on the bloodied soldier lying motionless on the floor.

“Did you guys do this?”

A brown-haired soldier with a single medal near his shoulder pointed to the fallen soldier and asked.

Rembrary retorted.

“Are you in league with that man?”

“What are you talking about?”

The brown-haired soldier frowned at the nuance in the word ‘in league’.

“That man locked us in prison even after seeing our identification, then came to us wearing a mask and demanded money.”

Jang Tae-ri pointed to the mask pushed to the side of the wall as if presenting evidence.

The brown-haired soldier’s frown deepened slightly.

“Not only that, but he recognized me and even tried to stab me with a knife. That’s how this happened.”

Rembrary added, causing the brown-haired soldier’s forehead to furrow even more.

“What nonsense!”

“You can see it if you look at that man’s hand.”

Shin Jo-woon pointed to the dead soldier’s hand. The soldier’s hand was clutching a half-drawn sword.

“He must have drawn it when he saw you escaping!”

As the brown-haired soldier retorted, Shin Jo-woon sarcastically added.

“Then he wouldn’t have shown up wearing a mask.”

At those words, the soldiers behind the brown-haired soldier hesitated, but the brown-haired soldier still gave orders recklessly.

“Put those guys back in!”

There was no mention of investigating the situation in detail.

Rembrary’s group realized that the brown-haired soldier, who seemed to be of high rank, was also somewhat involved in the extortion of the soldier who had just died.

His attitude of not trying to properly investigate what happened to his subordinate who died and hastily trying to cover it up was suspicious.

It didn’t seem like he had lost his reason in anger at the death, either.

And in fact, the brown-haired soldier knew that some of his corrupt soldiers were extorting wealth from visitors who looked wealthy through vile means.

But after his subordinates committed such acts, they gave him a considerable amount in return for turning a blind eye, so he deliberately ignored it.

Now that a subordinate had died at the scene of the extortion, he was trying to cover up the incident by claiming that those people had killed his subordinate while trying to escape.

The subordinate soldiers, feeling uneasy, still raised their weapons and cautiously approached the group.

Since only Ardor had raised his weapon, most of the soldiers were wary of him and pointed their weapons in his direction.

Then, the moment one of the soldiers tried to snatch Ardor’s gun.

“I was going to see how far it would go, but there’s no need to see any more.”

Rembrary shook his head and muttered.

‘It looks like Mr. Rembrary is about to step in!’ Jang Tae-ri finally felt relieved.

As the soldiers hovered around Rembrary, the brown-haired soldier shouted in anger.

“What are you listening to! Put them in! You can kill them if they resist!”

However, before the soldiers could carry out the order, Rembrary’s low voice echoed through the prison first.

“Mors [likely referring to a deity or important figure] will be very disappointed if he sees this sight. Lord Kamuel is doing something for you… I don’t know what, but he must be doing something. And the children of Kamuel are spitting on his back.”

As Rembrary provoked them by mentioning their High Priest and god, the brown-haired soldier, who had been barking orders from behind, couldn’t stand it any longer and drew his weapon.

“This bastard!”

The brown-haired soldier, who was about to stride towards Rembrary, stopped after three steps.

Ardor shot the ground at his feet, causing the stone floor to shatter and fragments to fly up to his face.

“If you take another step, it’ll be your instep.”

As Ardor warned, the brown-haired soldier swallowed hard and showed fear for the first time.

Not only the brown-haired soldier but all the soldiers became quiet, and Rembrary ordered.

“Bring a High Priest.”

The brown-haired soldier, who had stopped in surprise, forgot his fear again at the absurd order and asked back.

“What?!”

A High Priest was in charge of a temple. You couldn’t just meet them if you wanted to. With their numbers dwindling due to the war with the demons, it was even more so now.

But to bring a High Priest to this remote temporary prison. Is he crazy? The brown-haired soldier and his subordinates were simultaneously dumbfounded, but an even more ruthless order followed.

“Can’t you bring one?”

“Do you think High Priests are people who come at the request of escapees?”

In response to the brown-haired soldier’s sharp protest, Rembrary calmly changed his request.

“Then bring the king.”

“!”

Even Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri were surprised and quickly looked at Rembrary.

They thought that High Priests were somewhat unattainable figures, but they could gauge how important the existence of a ‘king’ was to them.

Only Ardor was unfazed, thinking that it was a request that Rembrary could naturally make.

“Is, is that guy crazy!”

The brown-haired soldier shouted, forgetting the fear he had felt when he saw the stone breaking under his feet, but Rembrary suddenly tapped the forehead of a soldier who was trembling in fear next to him.

Then, the bruise on the soldier’s forehead instantly disappeared. As soon as they saw that, everyone who had entered the prison realized Rembrary’s identity.

“The, the High Priest of Redrin!”

“Why is the High Priest of the Redrin Temple here―”

“It’s Lord Rembrary.”

Not only that, but some even knelt down.

Jang Tae-ri’s eyes widened. Wow.

She had somewhat guessed that Rembrary was a great person in his world through Daeju [likely a person’s name] or the Redrin followers.

But to think that even people from the continent who worship other gods would act like that as soon as he revealed his identity. She felt bewildered and even a sense of alienation.

The brown-haired soldier forced his mouth open, even though he thought, ‘I’m dead.’

“One of the High Priests is far away, and he is too injured to come all the way here, High Priest.”

He had the thought of killing the High Priest to silence him, but he was a little more realistic than the dead soldier.

The brown-haired soldier looked back and forth between the silver-haired man who had broken the stone on the floor just by reaching out his hand and the strangely dressed men and women.

‘Those three must be the High Priest’s subordinates. Those two with strange clothes are strong even if they are quiet.’

Besides, there was no way his subordinates here would follow his suggestion to kill the High Priest.

“I will send a message to the capital that the High Priest is here.”

After much deliberation, the brown-haired soldier answered obediently.

Jang Tae-ri’s eyes widened even more. No way. Is he really going to bring the king?

* * *

Afterward, the group immediately left the prison. And they got on a carriage prepared by the soldiers and moved straight to a castle.

It was the very castle that Jang Tae-ri had looked down on from the mountain and asked, ‘Does Mr. Rembrary live in that castle then?’

As the carriage stopped after arriving inside the castle, those who had been waiting in advance rushed over and bowed towards the carriage.

Jang Tae-ri still couldn’t shake off her bewildered feelings, so she glanced at Rembrary.

She, who had never lived in a class-based society, was bewildered by the people bowing towards the carriage just because Rembrary had boarded it.

“Is it always like this?”

Unable to bear it any longer, Jang Tae-ri asked quietly, and Ardor arrogantly said it himself.

“Lord Rembrary is a great being. He deserves even more treatment than this.”

And as Ardor claimed, as Rembrary went out of the carriage, a person in splendid clothes who had been waiting approached and greeted him even more politely than before.

“I never expected the High Priest of Redrin to be in such a remote area. If I had known, I would have done my best to treat you. I have no face to show you that you had problems and even went to prison.”

“It’s alright.”

“Your generosity is truly great.”

The person in splendid clothes exaggeratedly admired, then pointed his eyes towards Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon, who were still in the carriage, and asked.

“But who are those people?”

Ardor had already followed him out, but he seemed puzzled that Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon were still staying in the carriage even after the High Priest had come out of the carriage.

Rembrary gestured for Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon to come out quickly.

Immediately, the eyes of the people gathered were focused inside the carriage.

Jang Tae-ri stared at the people from another world who were staring at her with great pressure and tightly gripped the handle of the bag she had brought.

No. This other world trip is not what I thought it would be either.