Goddess Kaleidoscope

Fortunately, although the two families had been secretly competing with each other, they had been relatively restrained in their behavior in the local area. This was thanks to the "baptism of fire" Lud had given them when they first arrived at the village sports meet.

Especially in the final tug-of-war, twenty burly men were dragged around like Shiba Inus by ten drug-addicted girls. The scene was incredibly embarrassing!

However, to be honest, after staying in the area for so long, most knights actually had a very good impression of Pine Town.

The locals have generally developed good hygiene habits under Lud's influence. The streets are clean and tidy, and the villagers are respectable, unlike the lower classes in other places who are surrounded by a terrible odor that lingers for years, making people completely afraid to approach them.

In addition, the local food was incredibly delicious!

Thanks to breeding and "Golden Fertilizer," Pine Town suddenly became the only spice-producing area in the northern part of the kingdom. The profits from cash crops were one aspect, but this also enabled Lud to promote skewers and hot pot locally, conquering the taste buds of almost everyone with the most direct taste impact.

Villagers, knights, and dwarves alike are captivated by it!

Some soldiers and lower-ranking knights in the noble private armies have even secretly decided that if they don't make a name for themselves in the army, they will settle here after they retire.

As the army commanders, Sharo and Rodriguez ate just as much as their men, so when it was finally time to go home, they both felt a pang of reluctance.

"It's time to go back!"

"Yes!"

"I'm just making a comment here, why are you interrupting?!"

"..."

With a disgruntled glare at Rodriguez, Sharo strode toward his own camp with an air of utter masculinity.

To be fair, Rodriguez hadn't provoked Sharo during this period, and had even deliberately shown restraint in many situations, displaying remarkable chivalry. But the more Rodriguez acted this way, the more Sharo disliked him.

What infuriated Sharo even more was that, despite her relentless hostility towards Rodriguez over the past few days, rumors about the two were only growing stronger. This was largely due to the currently popular play, Romeo and Juliet.

Some people with vivid imaginations actually took it personally and made some unfounded guesses about her and Rodriguez!

This speculation is currently emerging quietly in the territories of Earl Ramli and Duke Gammelin, following the Rainbow Dance Troupe's tour in the northern region of the kingdom. So much so that when Sharo received a letter from her father last week, he inquired, in a somewhat veiled tone, whether she had any romantic views about Rodriguez.

Enraged, Sharo immediately wrote back, swearing a solemn oath that even if she were beaten to death, died out there, or fell off her horse, she would never develop any romantic feelings for Rodriguez! She vowed that once she returned, she would kill all those gossiping women!

Watching Sharo walk back, clearly angry, Rodriguez stood there dumbfounded, his expression utterly innocent. Ludwig stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder in comfort.

After spending so many days together, Lu De had gotten to know this handsome, burly young man to a certain extent. He was indeed an excellent and upright young man. Apart from being a little rigid because he was too serious about his work, he was impeccable in every other way.

If Sharo could truly be paired with him, it might not be a bad match, and it might even ease the conflict between the two lords.

Just then, a cool breeze swept in from the north, and snowflakes drifted down in front of the two of them. Lu De reached out and caught a few tiny snowflakes, which instantly melted in his palm. When he looked up again, under the dark clouds, late autumn had quietly departed.

"Priest, winter is coming."

"Yes! Spring won't be far away..."

(End of this volume)

End of this chapter

Unlike the many hardships and setbacks experienced last year, the residents of Songshu Town enjoyed a relatively peaceful winter. There was no disease or famine, no external attacks, and the wind, snow, and wild animals were kept out of reach, greatly enhancing their sense of security and happiness.

Lud actually had a very comfortable winter, especially after the heavy snow blocked the mountains, completely cutting off transportation and communication, temporarily halting trade activities, and starting winter break at school. Lud suddenly felt much more relaxed.

Of course! Lude didn't just slack off all winter; he also used the time to do quite a bit of "artistic creation." For example, new plays and songs, as well as comic books and novels, were all popular and well-received works of art on Earth.

We need to focus on both all ages and R-18!

During this process, Lude deeply experienced the joy of being a "plagiarist." However, Lude did not take all the works upon himself just because he was in another world and Earth's legal department could not control him. Instead, he followed the same routine he used when copying scripts before.

As a result, following Shakespeare, Luo Guanzhong, Dumas, Beethoven, Suiryu Kei and other well-known creators around the world have all become "friends" of Lu, and he is just forwarding on behalf of these friends.

The Pantheon, Pine Town, and Dwarf City are now quite stable as the core of the main base. Therefore, while attracting more people to come, Rud is also actively planning to expand outwards.

The traditional method is to send missionaries to spread the gospel of the goddess, but this method is not only inefficient, but also very easy to provoke hatred. Other sects will not like to see missionaries from other sects appearing on their territory.

So last fall, Ludwig took over Servis's circus, funded them, provided them with scripts, and then sent them on tour.

And facts have proven that cultural export is the most powerful means of propaganda; excellent works can subtly instill ideas in the audience. Many audience members are unaware that when they cheer and applaud the wonderful performances of Servis and others on stage in the opera house, they have unknowingly contributed a wave of faith to pagan gods, and some have even become general believers.

Local religious sects generally focused their vigilance on potential missionaries, showing little wariness of the dance troupe. Some priests even attended the performance, unaware that the statues on stage, which appeared to be props, were actually real deities. The faith generated by the audience was directly "transferred" to the real deities in the distance through these statues.

Therefore, the Rainbow Dance Troupe easily made a fortune right under the noses of many sects during their tour of the northern border region of the kingdom!

In the short term, these benefits from faith cannot compare to those of the core dioceses blessed by the Primal Fire, but as the Rainbow Dance Troupe's fame grows, the Pantheon's reputation will also rise accordingly. In Earthly terms, gods are like celebrities, and popularity is the source of power!

However, the increase in popularity should be gradual, and negative news should be avoided as much as possible; otherwise, overheating is a sign that it will fade away.

The entire winter passed by unnoticed until the spring breeze melted the thick snow, and the earth returned to its verdant state.

After last year's rapid development, Songshu Town, now upgraded to a special economic zone, has a permanent population of over 5,000. Although the overall population structure is still mainly agricultural, it has successfully introduced cash crops.

As the largest landowner in the area, the temple owns about one-third of the town's land and more than half of its properties. Many villagers have also signed labor contracts with Lu De, so they have to listen to what Lu De decides to plant in their fields.

Lud chose his five hundred acres of the most fertile land and planted spices such as chili peppers that could adapt to the local climate. Other tropical crops that could not adapt to the local climate were planted in the greenhouses built by the dwarves.

To boost the yield of these cash crops, the "Golden Fertilizer," a magical fertilizer developed just last year, will be prioritized for supplying these crops. According to data from the initial experimental fields, farmland using Golden Fertilizer not only saw yields increase by more than 50%, but also had their growth cycle shortened by about a quarter.

It was thanks to the excellent performance of this fertilizer that Lud demonstrated an amazing "agricultural miracle" to the villagers last year, convincing believers that the goddess of medicine, Evelina, truly possessed the divine status of "abundance".

It is worth mentioning that, in front of his followers, Lude did not deny that the Earth Mother Goddess also had the position of "Fertility," but he asked his followers to think about whether the two goddesses treated their followers in the same way regarding the position of Fertility.

The former mainly relies on punishment: if you disrespect me, I will reduce the yield of your land.

The latter mainly relies on rewards; if you are devout to me, I will give you divine fertilizer to increase production.

While the common people at the bottom of society may be ignorant, they are not fools. After comparing the God of Medicine and the Earth Mother Goddess, they decisively chose the one who had milk!

After the first crop was planted, it grew very well thanks to the help of the Golden Fertilizer. Lu De even had someone plant a row of unfertilized crops opposite the fertilized field, so that the farmers could see the contrast and thus develop faith in the Medicine God out of envy.

Lude roughly estimated that, barring natural disasters and pests, the fertilized fields could yield over 500 kilograms of chili peppers per acre. On Earth, this yield would be average; a well-managed model field could exceed 1,000 kilograms. But here, it was nothing short of a miracle!

Due to its climate, the Kingdom of Duran produces very few types of spices, making them relatively expensive. If Pine Town could truly make spice cultivation its pillar industry, it wouldn't have to worry about making money.

However, since before last winter, one problem has been troubling Lud and making the villagers, whose lives had been getting better and better, uneasy: their "five-year welfare" as settlers was about to expire. Paying taxes was secondary; the key issue was the potential new lord, since no one could guarantee that the new one would be a good person.

Lud had some understanding of the kingdom's nobles; he had seen the good, the bad, and the mediocre. If it were up to his own interests, he would most like Pine Village to be incorporated into the Earl of Ramli's domain. The current earl seemed to be a shrewd and benevolent man, with a reputation for virtue.

The Duchy of Gamelin next door is passable; the old duke may not be a very reliable person, but his heir Rodriguez is quite good.

However, judging from the current situation, King Duran, for the sake of balance, will obviously not let Pinetree Town fall into the hands of these two families. The most likely scenario is that he will parachute in a new lord to act as a buffer zone, allowing the two powerful northern families to continue to maintain a situation of fighting but not breaking apart.

So Lude feels like he's drawing cards in a mobile game; before the card glows, nobody knows what he'll get.

End of this chapter

In this fantastical medieval world, the average quality of the noble class, while not so low as to be "all villains" that would drive the lower classes to despair, is far from the embodiment of nobility and virtue they boast of.

Rudd didn't expect the kingdom to appoint a saint as lord; the key was someone who could be communicated with and had principles. If a truly ruthless individual did come, Rudd would have to resort to "extraordinary measures."

The water in the Songhe River there is always very cold!

Before he knew it, it was mid-April. As usual, Rudd walked from the temple to the school to teach the children. As he passed the main road, Rudd happened to run into a group of dwarves coming from the north. The leader of the group was an old acquaintance, Shalo Goldaxe, the second nephew of Gulig.

Because of the upgrade of Songshu Township to a special administrative region, the local government plans to build a three-meter-high brick wall around the town. Before this, the village's main defensive facilities consisted of only a relatively simple wooden fence and five watchtowers.

In terms of manpower and resources alone, the village at that time was actually fully capable of building a stone wall. However, according to the laws of the kingdom, different levels of population settlements had different standards for building walls, with restrictions on the materials and height of the walls. If someone was found to have exceeded the standards for their own level, it would be considered a rebellion!

Given the current status of Songshu Town, they have the right to build a city wall made of brick and earth, with a height not exceeding three meters and a width not exceeding two meters. The number of arrow emplacements on the city wall shall not exceed ten, and the height shall not exceed five meters.

Incidentally, when a lord arrives in the area in the future, he will have the right to build a castle at any location within his territory as his residence, with a separate set of "Castle Laws" for the nobility as a reference.

The lord has the right to levy a special tax on the construction of castles, which is not shared with the royal family. As a result, some greedy and unscrupulous nobles deliberately make a big fuss about this, building and demolishing their castles repeatedly, and fleecing the people below them.

Thanks to the town's ample budget and its good neighborly relations with the Steelwhip Clan, the construction of the town's wall was outsourced directly to a dwarven engineering team. Gulig assured them that he would send the clan's best craftsmen to build the strongest and most beautiful wall for the town using clay bricks fired using a secret method.

So, not long after the start of spring, the city sent more than 300 dwarf craftsmen to Pine Tree Town, and the convoy transporting building materials made one trip a day.

Throughout the winter, tens of thousands of dwarves from the Steelwhip Clan were renovating the underground city. Work on the surface was halted due to heavy snow, but the underground sections remained unaffected by the weather, and the mines and workshops gradually resumed operations. The wall of Pinetown was their first order after resuming work, so they took extra care of it, and Gulig specially sent his nephew to supervise the construction.

From a great distance, Charlotte spotted Ludd and quickly jumped off his ram to greet him. Last year, during the Blue Mushroom incident, Charlotte, as the liaison, had benefited from Ludd's connection and ridden on "Dragon Airlines." Although the young man was terrified at the time, it became a topic of conversation afterward.

After all, he was the only one in the entire clan who had ever enjoyed a full-service experience!

However, this guy's good relationship with Ludwig wasn't just because they had flown to the heavens together, but because of great literature.

Because of their tradition of valuing education, the dwarves have consistently had the highest literacy rate among all races. Charlotte, however, is a rare artistic soul among the dwarves, with a great love for drama and poetry. Last year, the Rainbow Dance Troupe performed Romeo and Juliet five times in town, and Charlotte watched every single one, memorizing most of the lines.

But Charlotte's most outrageous move was when, because he harbored resentment towards the tragic ending, he wrote a happy ending where everyone survived.

He even mastered the art of "moe-fication" without any instruction, turning all the young male characters except Romeo into girls, resulting in a "great harmony of life," and he even added illustrations to it. He's simply a genius in the isekai doujinshi community!

Lude unexpectedly discovered Charlotte's talent in literature and painting, and therefore took him on as his apprentice, intending to lead him into the world of "anthropomorphism".

After exchanging a few simple pleasantries, Charlotte took advantage of the fact that the other dwarves behind them weren't paying attention and quietly took out a thick, waterproof deerskin bag from her bosom and secretly slipped it into Rudd's hand.

"Teacher, this is the original manuscript. Could you please review it for me?"

"Well, don't worry."

Lu De discreetly squeezed the thickness of the deerskin bag, estimating that it contained at least a hundred or so sheets of manuscript paper, all of which were novels and comics written by Charlotte herself. The young man still possessed the enthusiasm typical of a newcomer, making him a "ruthless printing machine" in terms of creative efficiency. He felt restless if he didn't write ten thousand words a day. Only when this enthusiasm gradually cooled would he begin to transform into a pigeon.

After receiving Charlotte's manuscript, Lude smiled and nodded at the other party.

Charlotte's interest in literary creation is currently a secret. Although the dwarfs have a high overall literacy rate, their social atmosphere is more science-oriented. Moreover, Charlotte is the chief's nephew, and his family and elders prefer him to become a strong dwarf who wields a hammer, rather than a weak scholar who dabble in literature.

The young man's hobby was not supported by his family, so he regarded Lude as a true "good teacher and helpful friend" who could understand him!

In order to have a longer chat with his respected teacher, Charlotte had his men deliver building materials to the construction site first, while he, under the pretext of "having some official business to discuss," followed Lude toward the school, taking the opportunity to ask Lude for advice on some problems he was encountering in writing.

The two walked and talked, and soon arrived at the main road in front of the school gate. Students from all over the town converged here, so the streets were full of lively and active children, exuding youthful energy.

Seeing this, Charlotte couldn't help but sigh.

"How wonderful! I wish this peaceful and tranquil life could continue forever."

"Charlotte, if what you just said appeared in a literary work, it would generally be called 'raising a flag,' which would most likely lead to something bad happening, and the person who said it usually doesn't have a good ending."

"Haha! It can't be that bad..."

Charlotte thought Ludwig was joking with him, but before he could finish speaking, the sound of hooves and exclamations of pedestrians suddenly came from a street corner not far away. Then, a cavalryman with a "messenger flag" on his back charged straight toward the school, shouting loudly from a distance.

"Make way! Make way! Urgent! I need to see Priest Lu De of the Medicine God Cult!"

End of this chapter