Goddess Kaleidoscope

“Speak freely, Your Excellency.”

“My two children have been with me since they were little, and I have always cherished them and taken good care of them. But after this incident, I have some new feelings. They will eventually grow up, and I can't take care of them forever. So if possible, I hope they can become your students and learn from you.”

"what!?"

The sudden request to become his apprentice not only stunned Lud, but also left the other guests looking utterly shocked. The local officials, in particular, knew better than outsiders how much their lord doted on these two children—it went beyond mere pampering!

But this person suddenly decided to send the child away to be taken back to Pine Village by Lud to be an apprentice, which was unimaginable in the past!

End of this chapter

In fact, the Viscount made this decision only after struggling with it for a long time.

Viscount Mape, 47 years old, has studied martial arts and is a knight capable of charging into battle on horseback, but he lacks magical talent and therefore does not possess the conditions for certain special life-extending methods. By the conventional standards of this world, he could already be considered "nearly elderly"!

So even though the aristocratic class enjoyed a relatively comfortable standard of living and could afford to hire priests to treat illnesses, their average lifespan still did not exceed fifty years, and living past sixty was considered a long life.

In light of this, the viscount, now approaching fifty, had no choice but to start thinking about his two children who were not yet adults.

First of all, inheriting the title is impossible. The viscount married eight wives in his lifetime, who bore him a total of eleven children, five of whom are still alive. Mochi and Hima also have two older brothers and one older sister.

The eldest daughter is already married, and the other two sons, who are adults, both serve in the Royal Guard Knights in the capital.

It is said that the eldest son is very promising. He is the vice-commander of the Royal Guard and is flirting with the current third princess. He is expected to become the princess's husband and start his own household. Therefore, Viscount Mape's title will most likely be inherited by his second son, rather than his youngest son, Hima.

The viscount certainly loved him, but he was clear-headed and not confused. It would be more appropriate to hand over the huge family business to his mature and steady second son.

But this would make things difficult for the youngest son. The viscount hoped that he could live a happy life, and it would be even better if he could be successful.

So after meeting the learned and virtuous (?) Ludès, the Viscount conceived the idea of ​​sending his children to study under his tutelage.

Lud was startled by the Viscount's sudden public request, but upon reflection, he realized that taking on a disciple would be beneficial to him and would further strengthen his relationship with the Viscount. Of all the lords in the northern part of the kingdom, the two most powerful and the one richest were on friendly terms with him.

So Lude readily agreed, and when he set off to return to Pine Town, the two children would go back with him.

In the following days, Ludwig met with many prominent figures from various sectors of society in Oyster Harbour, and his relations with other allied sects were handled relatively well. As long as everyone could sit down and talk calmly, many problems ceased to be problems.

It's worth mentioning that after regaining his youth, Lu De transformed from a distinguished old man into a handsome young man.

Although Little Lud was born into poverty, he was quite good-looking. After his body was taken over by Big Lud, his nutrition improved over the years, and he never neglected to exercise. His posture gradually became tall and strong, and he always maintained a perfect air of elegance.

This directly led to the ladies of Oyster Harbor becoming aroused after Ludwig appeared with this face. They flirted with him at the banquet, just like the female demons on the journey to the West who were lusting after Tang Sanzang's body.

After all, religious people in this world are not prohibited from marrying. With his fresh and delicious appearance, plus the added bonus of being a "saint," there are plenty of devout men and women in the city who want him to "bless" them.

In short, it's absolutely terrifying!

So after meeting all the people he needed to visit, Ludwig returned to his lodgings to prepare for his upcoming trip home.

Because Aina, who appeared in her true form during the previous resurrection ceremony, was taken back to Pine Town first, the "Aina" currently with Rude is actually still Hydra in disguise. The artifact mask that Rude doesn't wear can be used by her first.

However, since they only look alike, the snake girl couldn't perfectly imitate Aina's natural "silliness." So Hydra had been staying close to Rude these past few days, trying to minimize contact with other acquaintances to avoid revealing her secret by saying too much.

For the snake girl, these past few days have been an extremely rare experience. When she was still a demon, she had devoured countless humans, but she knew very little about humans and had never been in contact with human society.

In the past few days, the snake girl has been able to observe and learn about humans up close from an observer's perspective, and to understand the "civilization" that her master often talked about. Although there are still many things she doesn't understand, she at least admits that human life is far more interesting than she had previously imagined!

"Hydra, now that I have given you this new body, I hope that you will strive to live like a human being in the future."

Hydra still remembers Lud's words to this day, but at the time she did not understand Lud's intentions. She only knew that this was "the master's task" and that she would not get any good fruit if she failed to complete it!

Now that I think about it again, the task her master gave her seems to be more than just a simple order.

As usual, Hydra received private instruction from her master, Lud, in his office, learning to read and write. Hydra knew this was an essential part of being a person, so even though she found it difficult, she studied very hard.

Looking at the snake girl in Aina's appearance, Lude couldn't help but think to himself, "A goddess like you is less studious than a snake. At Hydra's current pace of learning, it won't be long before Aina is at the bottom of the class again!"

"Sigh! I really want to bring that guy over so I can take a good look at him."

"What did you just say, Master?"

"It's nothing, you can continue writing."

Hydra was learning to write when there was a knock at the door, followed by Romian's voice. Lud quickly put the writing textbook in front of Hydra into a drawer and replaced it with a set of math problems, making her pretend to solve them.

Although Aina is slow-witted, she has at least mastered reading and writing. Given Romian's understanding of her senior sister, if she saw Hydra learning such basic content, she might suddenly become suspicious.

So Ludl switched to a different math exam. In this academic field, Aina and Hydra were on the same level, completely evenly matched!

The entire substitution operation was completed smoothly. When Romian came in, the snake girl was stunned and dumbfounded by the math test paper that looked like a book written in heaven. This expression had a bit of the essence of Aina's during the exam.

"Find me?"

"Master, the handover procedures at the hospital have been arranged, and Vice President Nan Ding hopes you can come over."

"No problem, I'll come with you right away. Let's go!"

Seeing Romian's gaze fall on Hydra, Rude quickly got up and pulled the dragon girl to leave. But whether it was just his imagination or not, this action had never been a problem before, but ever since Rude regained his youthful appearance, Romian had become reserved in his presence. If there was any physical contact, the girl would even tremble slightly, as if she was subconsciously trying to dodge.

This small action caused considerable harm to Lud.

End of this chapter

Romian has been restless these past few days. Her beloved master has miraculously come back from the dead and become a recognized saint. This event itself makes her very happy, but it has also brought her unexpected troubles.

The little girl had always regarded Rude as an elder, who was both learned and kind. Romian admired Rude and longed to be like him!

However, after Ludwig was resurrected, he became too young. He went from being an old man to a young man, and from an elder to a peer. While Romian was happy, she couldn't help but feel a girlish flutter in her heart. When she faced the younger version of Ludwig, she couldn't help but blush and her heart would race.

Realizing this subtle change in her mindset, Romian felt ashamed and embarrassed by the distortion of her filial piety. So she began to deliberately avoid Lude, leaving Lude completely confused and thinking that he was being disliked.

However, thanks to Romian's unstable state of mind lately, she didn't notice anything unusual about the snake girl disguised as Aina.

To adjust her mindset, Romianne has been keeping herself as busy as possible lately so that she can stop thinking about strange things. She spends most of her time at the hospital helping to train new nurses.

Throughout the entire fight against the epidemic, Romian, as a trainee priestess, fought alongside Lude throughout the entire battle, saving hundreds of lives. As a result, she completed eleven low-level trials and successfully obtained two temporary divine spell slots.

It's worth mentioning that when the trial was completed, Romian curiously searched her own body for the corresponding "holy mark." She had previously seen Lud's "large full-sleeve tattoo" and knew that a holy mark was a kind of tattoo-like mark.

After searching for a long time, Romian finally found the Holy Seal deep in the "cleavage" on her chest. Embarrassed and annoyed, Romian had no choice but to give up her original idea of ​​showing it to her master.

Two days later, with everything ready, Lud was about to set off to return home. Counting the days, it was already the end of May, a full three months since they left Pine Town. It was time to go back.

However, not all of the more than 500 people brought with them will return with Lud. About two-thirds of the medical students and some dwarf volunteers will remain in Oyster Harbor, under the leadership of Winnipeg.

In addition, some of the men who had been borrowed from Earl Ramli's territory had left a few days earlier along with the Earl himself.

After all, the earldom has also been affected by the pandemic, and because the outbreak occurred relatively late, it is not yet over. The earl is eager to bring these experienced people back to help in this emergency.

Thanks to the Earl's effective border control in the early stages, sufficient preparation time was gained. Furthermore, the Earl maintained constant contact with Lud and completely copied all their epidemic prevention measures from Oyster Harbor, implementing them very effectively from top to bottom. Therefore, the situation within the territory was much better than in Oyster Harbor!

Interestingly, Rudd received some rumors that the Gamelin family, who had always been at odds with the Ramley family, not only did not take advantage of the plague to cause trouble for their old rivals, but even sent people to deliver a lot of very useful emergency supplies to help the Earl's territory overcome the difficulties.

Some people joked that this might be a betrothal gift from the Duke!

On the way back, Ludwig would, as usual, take the waterway to Earl Ramley to provide guidance and experience to the local medical staff. During his visit to Oyster Harbor, the Earl showed great interest in the hospital Ludwig had established, and seemed to be planning to build one in his own territory as well.

Lude naturally wouldn't let go of such an opportunity to expand his business. He took the opportunity to advertise his school's next graduating class to the Count and even encouraged the Count to send people to study at his school.

Brewster Vocational Technical School welcomes all eager learners!

On the day of departure, the pier in Oyster Harbour was packed with people. Many people, upon learning that Saint Rudd was leaving, spontaneously gathered at the pier. Many were actually trying to persuade Rudd to stay, hoping that the saint would remain in Oyster Harbour.

Religious figures from various factions also arrived, genuinely there to see him off. After all, Ludwig's return to Pine Town was undoubtedly good news for them. If he had stayed in Oyster Harbor, they would have had a hard time competing with this bigwig.

"Everyone, every parting is for the next reunion, for the day we can meet again. Please take good care of yourselves!"

"Master! Please take care!"

Standing on the dock, Ludwig waved goodbye to the crowd one last time, then stepped onto the deck. The other members of his entourage also boarded the ship, and then stood by the ship and waved to the crowd who had come to see them off.

On the deck, Hydra, disguised as Aina, stood to Lud's right, mimicking the others by protecting her hands, while Romian, to her left, held onto a freckled girl with braided hair to prevent her from slipping and falling into the sea.

This girl is Nandin's daughter, Ger, and also Luther's third apprentice in Oyster Harbor. Nandin entrusted her to Luther as a medical student and novice nun, and she will study under Luther in the future.

During the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in Oyster Harbor, this little girl, the same age as Romianne, fought on the front lines alongside many adults. Naturally optimistic and always full of energy, she was a beloved little ray of sunshine!

It's worth mentioning that this child is very close to Romian, often sticking to her side like a little shadow.

For Geer, this was the first time in her life she had left her family to study in a faraway and unfamiliar place. While she felt reluctant to leave her hometown and father, Lude, seeing her excited, bounding, and curious nature, thought she was more like a runaway… Corgi!

Honestly, this kid is really short. Standing next to the tall and well-developed Romian, the contrast is particularly stark!

This is fourteen?! (Referring to Romian)

There are fourteen of them?! (pointing to Gel)

Soon, everyone had boarded the ships. A total of five sailboats, carrying more than 300 passengers and many gifts of gratitude from the locals, slowly sailed away from the port.

Ludwig stood with his hands behind his back at the bow of the ship, a surge of pride welling up within him, filled with hope for the future...

……end……

In a deserted little tavern in the south of Oyster Harbor, the only two patrons sat in an inconspicuous corner, sipping their cheap liquor while keeping a watchful eye on the tavern's entrance and talking in hushed tones that only they could hear.

"Our plan has failed. This plague has raged for several months, and in a city of over 100,000 people, only about 2,000 have died. It has not achieved the expected results at all. How am I supposed to explain this to His Excellency?!"

"What could I do? That slave ship drifted with the current, and its grounding point was too close to the city. It was quickly discovered by the lord's guard. Those guys were decisive; without a word, they set the ship on fire. The plague beasts on board were probably still feeding on the corpses, and they were all burned to death inside before they could even get out. If I hadn't had the foresight to encourage a group of scavengers to go on board and actively seek out infection, this plague might not have even started. Not to mention that the Medicine God Cult group appeared later; those were not an easy group to deal with!"

"So what do we do now? Five cities across three continents are operating simultaneously, and we've messed things up here. Given His Excellency's temper, neither of us can escape punishment!"

When the word "punishment" was mentioned, the two people having a private conversation exchanged a silent glance, both seeing undisguised fear in each other's eyes.

"There's no other way now. Why don't we do this: report the situation of the Medicine God Cult to higher authorities, be as detailed as possible, and exaggerate their threat. Say that this cult will inevitably become the number one enemy hindering the revival of our Lord. This way, the pressure on us should be reduced considerably!"

(End of Volume 6)

End of this chapter

In early June, in the northern part of the kingdom, as spring transitioned into summer, the weather became increasingly comfortable each day. Having concluded the arduous and protracted battle against the epidemic in Oyster Harbor, Lud led his accompanying volunteers, retiring heroically, and embarking on their journey home with pride and honor.

The fleet followed the same route it had come by, passing once again through Wolfhelm, the capital of Earl Ramley's territory. There, they were warmly welcomed by people from all walks of life in the local community. People flocked to the streets, eager to catch a glimpse of the legendary saint Rudd, who was said to have regained his youth!

Lude and the Earl's family were old acquaintances, but unlike their last meeting a few months ago, Lude's current appearance, if not for the lingering traces of his past speech and mannerisms, would make it impossible for anyone to connect his youthful appearance with that of the white-bearded old man.

"Gods above! Master, you have truly become younger!"