Goddess Kaleidoscope

Having finished showing off his power, Dorgen was quite satisfied, but after turning around and taking only a couple of steps, he vaguely sensed that something had just gone wrong.

He had seen plenty of those lowly demi-human races like the kobolds, but these weaklings were usually unkempt and covered in a stench of excrement and urine. They used this pungent smell to deter other demi-humans from eating them.

But the kobold from before was very "clean," with its black and white fur even looking somewhat shiny, making one really want to play a couple of rounds with it.

"That's strange, are they really that clean?"

End of this chapter

After looting the abandoned dwarven camp, Dorgen and his men returned to their hideout with their spoils. The Greyscale Clan's lizardmen had lived in the Southern River region for over two hundred years; they knew every blade of grass and every tree there, and naturally knew many hidden places that were difficult to find.

Dorgon and his men were hiding in a natural cave behind a waterfall, in a very remote location that made them difficult to find.

Over the past few months, although the main force of the Grayscale Clan has migrated north to other places, Dorgen cannot let go of his hatred. His father's dying wish was that he not attempt revenge within ten years. However, as long as he does not let go of this resentment, there is always a hurdle in Dorgen's heart that he cannot overcome!

Therefore, we must cause trouble and not let our enemies live too comfortably.

So, Dorgen organized over two hundred clan warriors who operated around the ancient city, secretly monitoring human movements. Occasionally, they would raid lone adventurers, stealing their weapons and food.

On their way back, Dorgen and his men narrowly escaped the dragon. The enormous creature flew overhead, casting a massive shadow on the ground. Dorgen quickly led his men to take cover, for they knew that this black dragon was in league with those despicable humans!

Fortunately, the dragon was just passing by. Dorgen, who was hiding in the shadows, even saw that the dragon was carrying two huge baskets with its front claws, which were filled to the brim with a lot of things. It seemed to be flying towards the ancient city.

Dorgen had heard from his younger brother that the reason why the clansmen who stayed behind in the ancient city were defeated in the human attack was mainly due to the black dragon. Without the dragon suddenly appearing and causing trouble, the lizardmen would have had snake slaves to help them. Even if they inevitably suffered heavy losses in the end, at least their stronghold would not have been destroyed, and his father would not have died.

For this reason, Dorgon also resented the dragons. Why did they help those soft-skinned humans when they were all "the same kind" with scales?

"One day, I'll kill you all!"

After making a fierce vow to himself, Dorgen returned to his hiding place, instructed his men to keep a close watch on things in the ancient city, and then went back to his den for a nap.

Dogen, who was half asleep and didn't know how long he had slept, was suddenly shaken awake while dreaming of slaying a dragon. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the ugly face of a lizard and slapped it without saying a word.

"You son of a bitch! I was having a great time!"

The lizardman underling, who had been hit, covered his face and looked at his boss, who was in a bad mood from just waking up, with a wronged expression. He thought to himself, "I told you that I had something to do, so I should wake you up right away. Why are you turning your back on me as soon as you open your eyes?"

But the boss's authority was undeniable, so the underlings dared not complain.

"Boss, there's something going on in the ancient city."

"Something's up? What's going on? They've finally started fighting?"

Dorgon was well aware of the Devil's Umbrella's effects; it primarily created chaos, causing races other than lizardmen to kill each other, and there was no antidote.

But the dwarves seemed to have used some method to temporarily suppress the Devil's Umbrella's effects, though he wasn't entirely sure what that method was.

However, the messenger said that the area around the ancient city suddenly became lively after nightfall. At first, the lizardmen who were keeping watch thought that the dwarves had finally started fighting, but as a very special food aroma wafted over, they realized that something seemed a little off.

"Those dwarves... seem to be having a party!"

"Um!?"

The report from his subordinates left Dorgen feeling like his head was suddenly filled with a bunch of "???" questions.

What the heck? So many of them were poisoned, and there's no antidote, why are they suddenly getting high? Did they somehow "take care" of all the poisoners?

Filled with countless questions, Dorgen got up and ran outside. Their hiding place wasn't too far from the ancient city. The agile Dorgen weaved through the dense forest and soon arrived at the outskirts of the ancient city. He then climbed a towering tree several tens of meters high and looked towards the dwarf camp.

The vast ground camp was filled with laughter and cheerful voices. Dorgen remembered that when he came to spy on the camp yesterday, the atmosphere was not as lively as it was now. He could feel the oppressive and tense atmosphere from quite a distance.

"What's going on? Have they found the antidote?"

Unable to get close, Dorgen didn't know the specifics of the camp, but he had a bad feeling that his revenge plan was likely to end in failure.

Furious and resentful! Dorgen wished he could draw his sword and rush up to kill all those despicable dwarves right now, but his remaining rationality told him that if he did that, it would be tantamount to suicide.

Despite Dorgen's frequent boasting to his men that the lizardmen are a more powerful race than humans, he knows that his so-called "power" actually refers to brute force, and this slight advantage can easily be offset by other factors.

For example, various weapons and equipment made of metal!

Dorgen still remembers a failed battle from a few years ago. He led a dozen clan warriors in an attempt to raid a small group of human adventurers at night, but they were discovered by the enemy's night watchmen, which led to a chaotic melee.

That human adventurer team consisted of only eight people, less than half the number of Dorgen's group, but each of them was incredibly tough. One of them, in particular, was a burly man wielding a long-handled spiked club. When he swung it, he could easily take down a child. If Dorgen hadn't dodged quickly enough, he would have been killed.

After this incident, Dorgen, while fearing the spiked club, also developed a longing for metal weapons, like many of his tribesmen who had suffered the same fate. Unfortunately, the lizardmen lacked the technology, so they could only resort to stealing and robbing.

Realizing that his poisoning tactics had not achieved the desired effect, Dorgen hesitated for a long time before finally choosing to retreat.

If the opponent is truly cured of the poison and fully recovered, even if the Grayscale Clan mobilizes its entire force, the result will be nothing more than throwing an egg against a rock.

Dorgen comforted himself, thinking that they had caused the other side a lot of trouble this time, and had also gained a lot of "metal weapons" for free, so in a strict sense... it wasn't a loss!

"Hmph! I'll let you off this time, just you wait!"

After uttering a harsh threat from a distance of two or three miles, Duogen and his men turned and left, intending to return to their hideout, pack their belongings, and head back to their stronghold.

Then, just as Dorgen and the others returned to their hiding place, a faint smell of blood drifted through the air, instantly alerting them.

Where did the lookout go?

Sensing something was wrong, Dorgen immediately drew his weapon, and the other four lizardmen beside him also became alert. There were about thirty lizardmen at the hideout before, but he had just gone to check on the situation in the ancient city, and in less than forty minutes, the cave had become completely silent.

If those guys weren't trying to play a prank to scare people, then they must have all been killed. The attackers' strength should not be underestimated!

"Clan chief! What should we do?"

"……withdraw!"

After much hesitation, Duogen gritted his teeth and chose to follow his heart. But before they could slip away, a strange friction sound suddenly came from inside the cave, where there had only been the sound of the waterfall outside. It sounded like some heavy metal object being dragged across the rock surface.

Several lizardmen looked in the direction of the sound and saw a ball of green "ghost fire" floating from one of the cave branches. When the ghost fire got closer, they realized that it was actually a lantern, and the person carrying the lantern was a human woman with a large chest.

The other person had their head down, their purple bangs obscuring their face, and wore a bright red dress like blood. In their left hand they carried a magic lamp, while in their right hand they were dragging a huge spiked club. This terrifyingly large weapon was already covered with a lot of sticky red and white substance.

Seeing this extremely terrifying scene, the lizardmen were horrified. Although the woman opposite them looked delicate and not very strong, she exuded an extremely terrifying aura, making them momentarily think that a terrifying monster had appeared in front of them.

Then the woman raised her head, revealing a face that was beautiful by human standards, but her smile was twisted and chilling.

"Oh my! Isn't this Xiao Duogen? What a delightful and surprising reunion!"

As soon as the purple-haired woman spoke, Dorgen was surprised to find that her voice sounded somewhat familiar. Combined with the title "Little Dorgen," he suddenly realized something, and a storm of emotions surged within him.

"A snake, a snake spirit?"

"Oh! You recognized me just by my voice? I'm so touched! But I'm not called Snake Spirit anymore. My great master gave me a better name. I'm called Hydra now. Remember that!"

In front of Dorgen, the snake girl, now with a new name and a new body, openly acknowledged her identity. Dorgen never expected that the snake spirit, who had disappeared along with the Book of Ashes, would reappear before him in this form. But this was clearly not a touching reunion, because he could clearly feel the intense killing intent emanating from her, so strong it was almost tangible.

Thinking about it carefully, the Grayscale Clan did indeed betray their own guardian beast. If it were Dorgen himself who was betrayed by his underling, he would also want to kill the entire family within three days. So he could understand the Serpent Spirit's anger.

However, in order to survive, Dorgen can only try to plead with the other party.

"Serpent Spirit, no! Lord Hydra! I know my father did unforgivable things to you. I tried to stop him, but he insisted on doing it anyway. But our Grayscale Clan has already paid the price for our mistakes. My father also died at the hands of humans. For the sake of our hundreds of years of peaceful coexistence, please give us a chance... I, we can also pledge allegiance to your master, please!"

Driven by an intense will to survive, Dorgen keenly grasped the last glimmer of hope he could find, namely the "master" that the snake girl Hydra had just mentioned. But this last hope lasted for less than a second before Hydra ruthlessly crushed it.

“No need! My master doesn’t need you useless trash lizardmen. He ordered me to come out and deal with you.”

"Why!?"

"Because the master said that you lizardmen can only be a threat when he needs to! Do you understand what I mean now?"

End of this chapter

In the Dwarven dungeon, the "barbecue sauna therapy" was very popular. The high priest Winnig, who was in charge of the operation, never expected that a terrible infection crisis would be ended by a feast. He couldn't help but sigh that the Medicine God Cult was indeed the Medicine God Cult, and it really had a knack for healing and saving lives!

Interestingly, influenced by this incident, the dwarves developed a fondness for barbecue skewers and saunas. Pine Village also began large-scale spice cultivation the following year and, with the assistance of the dwarves, built greenhouses, all so that they could enjoy the delicious food they wanted in any season.

The lizardmen, suspected of causing the poisonous mushroom crisis, were subsequently discovered by several dwarf patrols. However, without exception, they were found as mangled remains, gnawed beyond recognition by wild beasts, and quite a few were found in scattered pieces.

Considering that this is the Void Forest, teeming with monsters and beasts, this isn't exactly an unusual situation.

In any case, the crisis was eventually resolved. The dwarves did not devote much energy to investigating the so-called "truth" but quickly resumed work, focusing their efforts on infrastructure projects and striving to open the road to the underground city before winter.

Two weeks later, Gulig returned after searching for the surrounding lords. After learning the whole story, he expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Lud for his help. He also brought Lud back some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that Pine Village can finally be upgraded to a town. Such an administrative upgrade usually requires local conditions to meet certain standards before an application can be submitted to the directly subordinate lord. However, Pine Village is still in its development phase and is nominally under royal jurisdiction, so the application must be submitted to the capital.

Fortunately, Lud is in Pine Village. His relationship with the two major lords in the surrounding area is currently very harmonious. Therefore, both of them wrote letters of recommendation to the king, praising the rapid development of Pine Village on the northern border, which has a permanent population of several thousand. Moreover, it is located in a key transportation area, and they suggested that a town be established there.

The reason these two lords vied to write letters of recommendation was not entirely out of goodwill, because once Pine Village was transformed from a village into a town, it would no longer be a "small place." For the sake of balance, the royal family would generally not bestow such a lucrative and strategically important place upon a powerful local noble, but would most likely grant it to a newly promoted noble.

This tactic is somewhat similar to the "offshore balancing act" of the Great Yin Di Kingdom. For the king of such a feudal country, the ideal state of the country is that the lords are hostile to each other, but all are loyal to their king. The king must not sit idly by and watch the lords secretly unite, or let anyone become too powerful and threaten the central rule.

The lords below were actually aware of what the king was thinking. So as Pine Village became more and more valuable, the two lords gradually realized that they probably couldn't get their hands on this piece of meat. Therefore, they changed their strategy in time, no longer insisting on nominal ownership, but focusing more on the coverage of influence.

For powerful lords like them, the "areas under their actual control" are far larger than their own fiefdoms. Some places may not belong to them in name only, but they have complete control over every aspect of the local area. There is a lot of room for maneuver in this, which is a "game" of power!

The bad news is that by the beginning of spring in March, the five-year tax exemption period for Songshu Village, which has been a gathering place for pioneers, will officially end, and tax officials will arrive uninvited in late autumn at the end of September.

According to the Kingdom's tax law, 20% of a commoner's annual income goes to the King and 20% to the lord. This "four public and six private" system can be considered a benevolent policy that is quite popular in this day and age.

But this was only the basic official tax. Local lords with real power could easily create all sorts of extravagant taxes and levies to further exploit the lower classes. Even religious groups in some areas couldn't resist joining in, using fundraising as a pretext to make another quick buck.

For thousands of years, this model of rule has become a deeply ingrained common sense. The common people place their hopes on "benevolent lords" and "divine blessings." Few people attempt to rebel, and no true heroes dare to utter such a heart-wrenching and heroic statement as "Are kings and nobles born with special privileges?"

However, Ludwig didn't need to worry about paying taxes, because he was a noble "religious person" and belonged to a special group that did not have to pay taxes.

The king was not unaware that these charlatans were wealthy, but religious forces often controlled the hearts of millions of believers. If they incited the people to riot, the destructive power would be far greater than that of an ordinary lord's rebellion!

What Lude was really worried about wasn't whether or not to pay taxes, but rather the arrival of a difficult and greedy nobleman who would disrupt his development plans in the area.

In short, the troublesome matter was temporarily put to rest. The dwarves continued to repair their roads, and Sharo and Rodriguez both kept their subordinates in check. Lud, who had been busy for quite some time, was also looking forward to relaxing a bit and taking a break.

Lude thought about it carefully and realized that he had done a lot of things, big and small, over the past six months. Although he had taken advantage of the goddesses around him and occasionally fooled ghosts, he had been the most ruthless to himself. Lude was busy from morning till night every day and rarely had time to relax and rest.

Having figured things out, Lud decided to give himself a vacation!

"It's decided! I'm going out and have some fun!"

Having made up his mind, Lu De planned to wait a few days until he had resolved his several important matters, then announce to the public that he would be going into seclusion to comprehend the Great Dao, and would not see anyone until he emerged. Then, he would take the opportunity to change his appearance, adopt a new identity, and go out to have a few days of unbridled fun.

Although he had made up his mind to go out for a walk, Lud had not yet decided where to go.

He didn't have any particular place he was eager to visit; he simply wanted to escape the drudgery of his work and get away for a while. So Lude's plan was to head west towards the coast and visit Oyster Harbor, the largest port city in the Kingdom of Duran, which was the kingdom's maritime hub and a thriving commercial center.

Lude just happened to have some spare cash, so he could go there and enjoy shopping, buying some interesting things to bring back.

The thought of going out for fun seemed to rekindle Lud's childlike spirit as he leaned back in his chair, brainstorming travel plans. Suddenly, it occurred to him that if he were to go out, he definitely couldn't go alone; bringing a few girls along would be wonderful.