Goddess Kaleidoscope

"The High Priest is alright, that's wonderful!"

Seeing the townspeople's concern for his safety and their "vigorous spirit," Rudd was gratified but also vaguely felt that they had gone a bit too far. Fortunately, Ados, who was standing nearby, didn't think too much about it and, together with Rudd, explained the situation to the townspeople.

Upon hearing that the damned governor was finished, everyone cheered even louder than before, as if it were a festival.

Meanwhile, Monk, kneeling in the middle of the road and still unable to move, was trembling in the vast ocean of people, fearing that these hospitable folks would notice him and deal with him as well.

Fearful and unable to move.jpg

Under Ludger's orders, the disbanded militia quickly regrouped and wiped out the "reactionary group" of the Maine father and son before dawn. Everyone was imprisoned in the militia's base, obediently squatting in the dimly lit cells, never to see the sunrise of the next day again.

To be honest, when Ados saw how much power Rudd wielded in the town, with almost all the townspeople obeying his orders unconditionally and with discipline even more thorough than the king's army, he was worried that this would be the second Maine.

Lud also saw what Ados was worried about and frankly said that he had no intention of undermining the Baron. Everything he did was for the people! As long as the lord also cared about the well-being of the people, he would be the most reliable ally.

"My heart and my actions are as clear as a mirror, and everything I do is just!"

Through negotiations between the two parties, the reorganized militia was put under the command of Knight Athos and was upgraded to a guard. Ron, the former leader of the militia, became Athos's deputy. Although his status was reduced, he was recommended by Athos and was knighted by the Baron as a novice knight.

This was equivalent to going from being a community security captain to a formally employed local police officer, which made Ron so happy he almost snorted.

In addition, former mayor Rom was reinstated and continued to manage the affairs of Pine Town, and everything seemed to be back on track.

After dealing with these thorny issues, Ludwig returned to the inn, which was still serving as the Baron's family's temporary residence. However, it had previously been forcibly requisitioned by Maine and his gang, but now Old Rom had taken the initiative to do so himself.

This time, Ludwig finally met the Baron himself, as well as the haggard-looking old lady on her sickbed.

End of this chapter

The three-year-old Baron himself is named Lothar Kirk. He has short, smooth chestnut hair and amber eyes. He is a somewhat shy little boy who always hides behind his older sister, Lisa.

The old lady on her sickbed looked extremely haggard, her face withered and her body emaciated due to malnutrition; she appeared to be on the verge of death. She had few servants around, only an elderly woman caring for her.

It's worth mentioning that Nina, the blacksmith Bank's daughter, is also here. The little girl was forcibly taken by that group of thugs, but she wasn't harmed.

Before meeting her, Lude had learned from Ados that the old lady had been mentally unstable for over a year and had been relying on medication to maintain her composure. She spent most of her day in a daze, which caused her health to deteriorate.

They had previously consulted some priests, and the members of the three major families had been summoned more than once, but the divine arts could only improve the old lady's physical condition, but could not restore her mental state to normal.

Those who truly cared about the lady's life were pessimistic, believing that if things continued this way, she might not last more than a few years before passing away.

When Lude arrived, he first had Romian perform a full-body examination on the old lady to confirm her health condition. Then he used divine magic to nourish her body. The old lady's complexion improved visibly, but she was still in a coma and showed no signs of waking up.

So Ludlow asked Ados to bring over the sedative medicine that the old lady usually took. He opened the bottle, smelled it, and couldn't help but frown.

When he first transmigrated, Lude inherited the memories of little Lude. His knowledge of herbal medicine in this world was only rudimentary and not enough to support his identity as an old doctor. So the pressure to survive became his motivation. In the past few years, Lude has been frantically studying related knowledge in private. Now he has become quite accomplished and has even combined his knowledge from Earth to develop some unique insights.

So, after merely smelling the medicine, Lude deduced that this so-called tranquilizer was simply a mixture of several herbs with hypnotic effects, making it a very potent sleeping pill. It was said to be a royal decree prepared by Queen Duran after hearing of the old lady's grief and illness, and concocted by her royal apothecary.

However, Lud also knew that the development of medicine in this world was very slow due to the suppression of religious magic. Many commonly used medicines had side effects that Lud found incredible, or were simply used incorrectly.

For example, Lude once saw a painkiller full of flaws in a book left by an old astrologer. This drug could multiply the pain of the user, making the user faint from the pain more quickly and then feel no pain.

The bottle of potent sleeping pills in his hand would indeed be used by many people as a tranquilizer, since a person who is truly asleep will not go crazy.

In short, given Lud's Earthling mindset, he sometimes really had a hard time understanding what these otherworldly pharmacists were thinking.

After returning the medicine to Ados, Rudd instructed him that it would be best to reduce the dosage of this powerful sleeping pill in the future. It could be used to ensure that the old lady could sleep normally at night, but it would be best to keep her awake during the day and take her outdoors to breathe fresh air more often.

"Psychological problems may not be solvable by magic, but the fact that magic cannot solve them does not necessarily mean that they are incurable."

After roughly confirming the situation, Ludwig sent Nina home and arranged for two trainee nurses to stay and help care for the old lady. He himself needed to first study how to treat this rare mental patient.

When Lud returned to the temple, it was already past midnight. He intended to wash up and go to bed early, but as he passed the study, he noticed the light was on. He pushed open the door and found Kumirad there. This "Goddess of Tax Evasion" was engrossed in flipping through some research notes that were not suitable for public viewing.

Lude was also quite troubled about how to deal with her. The other person said she was interested in Lude's actions and wanted to stay by his side as an observer. However, this person had a rather serious voyeuristic tendency, often casually flipping through Lude's notes and various materials, and when she encountered someone she was interested in, she would definitely study them in great detail.

Back in Oyster Harbor, Hydra was harassed by him quite a bit, and now that they've arrived in Pine Town, he's set his sights on Kanna, groping the young dragon. Thankfully, Nighogd and Tawawa are still at the Dragon Assembly and haven't returned yet, otherwise they would definitely be fighting that perverted god Kumirad to the death!

When Lud entered, Kumirad showed no embarrassment, but smiled at Lud as if she were the master of the study.

"The busy man is back."

"I said, you should at least..."

"Don't worry, don't worry! I've set up an illusion and a cognitive barrier at the door. Apart from you, who is immune to divine magic, everyone else passing by will subconsciously feel that they don't want to come in. Your carefully hidden XP is unknown to anyone except me and Hume."

"I'm fucking..."

Speechless for a long time after being rebuked by Kumirad's words, Lud wisely chose to change the subject. It just so happens that the person before him is a renowned sage among the gods, a great inventor of divine artifacts. Since cognitive interference, a divine art that can influence the minds of mortals to a certain extent, was invented by her, perhaps she could offer some advice on how to cure the old lady's mental affliction.

With a humble attitude, Lude took the initiative to ask Kumirad about related topics. In return for the consultation, he offered to lend her a female ghost in the basement for two days if he found the information useful.

"A mental breakdown? This kind of illness is actually quite easy to treat. The simplest way is to give it another shock, and maybe you can get it over with by sheer luck."

"Can't you do something a little more realistic?"

"Although I don't quite understand what you mean by 'the living world,' if you want to be on the safe side, why don't you contact the spirit you keep in the basement?"

"she?"

"One of the undead's inherent skills is entering dreams, allowing them to slip into the dreams of mortals while they sleep. Whether you're going to scare them or do something else, give full play to your outstanding imagination!"

"..."

It must be said that Kumiradti's suggestion was very valuable, and he subconsciously thought of a movie—Nolan's "Inception".

This movie also involves infiltrating other people's dreams and implanting specific subconscious ideas to change their thoughts. Although it's a wildly imaginative fantasy film, for Ludwig, who lives in a fantasy world, this might actually be a feasible operation.

End of this chapter

Since being "recruited" by Lud, the female ghost Eliven has mainly worked as a secretary and part-time warehouse manager in the temple.

No wages, no need for food, drink, or toileting, and can work 24/7 when necessary. Theoretically, as long as you go back to the pendant to sleep for a few hours each week, you can effectively avoid becoming an evil spirit. It is simply the "ultimate employee" that every unscrupulous capitalist dreams of!

Fortunately, Rudd wasn't some heartless devil, and besides, the temple didn't have that much paperwork at the moment, so Eliven was mostly free and could even go out to bask in the moonlight late at night.

If we want to use her dream-entering ability to infiltrate the old lady's subconscious space to heal her emotional wounds, then Ludwig first needs to find a way to bring Elijah to the old lady, without letting Athos and the others find out.

After all, the undead have a fearsome reputation, and even with Lud's current status, he can't convince people that Eliven is harmless with just a few words. Moreover, once the news gets out, it will inevitably provide ammunition for those heretical sects who dislike him, using it as a point of attack to distort the truth.

Therefore, Ludwig had to develop a plan before the operation could begin.

The following afternoon, Lud visited the lord's residence again.

Because the maid had been instructed the day before to stop the old lady's medication, she was awake when the maid arrived.

However, when Lude entered the room, the old lady, who had been in a daze, suddenly started screaming in a shrill, piercing voice that made people's heads buzz.

Lude quickly offered some words of comfort, and the person calmed down.

"Has the old lady always been like this?"

“Apart from the young master, young lady and Granny Omar, everyone else will have this reaction from the lady. The magic can only calm her down for a short while. Once the effect wears off, she will go back to her old self.”

At the mention of the old lady's mental illness, Ados looked worried, while Ludwig frowned in thought. When he arrived yesterday, the old lady had been in a deep sleep, and Romian had conducted the examination, so Ludwig hadn't noticed anything particularly noteworthy.

But just as the old lady went mad, he vaguely sensed a fleeting sense of unease, which immediately caught his attention.

So Ludwig approached the old lady, who had regained her frail state, and placed his hand on her crown. Spiritual tendrils, formed from divine power, then burrowed into her body from the depths of his palm, conducting a thorough search.

After a thorough examination, no physical abnormalities were found in the old lady's body; it was simply weakness caused by malnutrition. With proper nourishment and conditioning over half a month, her condition would improve significantly, provided that her current unstable mental state, like a ticking time bomb, was restored to normal.

However, the tentacles of divine power cannot probe the soul, and the divine art of mental soothing sounds like it can interfere with the soul, but in reality, it has the same effect as a tranquilizer.

After a moment's thought, Ludès turned to Ados and said...

“Sir Ados, I have a unique secret technique that might be effective for your condition. But I must warn you beforehand that this technique carries risks.”

"What secret technique?"

"Spiritual communication!"

Lude pulled out a small, old-looking booklet from his pocket and showed Ados a spell array on one of the pages.

The so-called "spirit communication" ritual is a secret method to communicate with the gods and summon a heroic spirit to descend to the mortal realm. Heroic spirits are not gods, nor are they divine messengers created by the gods. Rather, they are former saints and heroes whose souls are immortal after death and ascend to the divine realm to serve the gods.

Simply put, they are ghosts who have managed to get a permanent position within the system!

Therefore, in essence, heroic spirits and undead are similar beings. However, heroic spirits are recognized by the gods and are able to ascend to the divine realm. As a result, they are of a higher level and more powerful than undead, and they do not actively harm mortals.

However, just like the dead, heroic spirits also have the ability to enter dreams, which is why Rudd planned to summon a heroic spirit to save the old lady's soul.

After hearing this seemingly impressive setup, Ados, though not fully understanding it, subconsciously felt it was incredibly powerful. Coupled with the "authoritative" aura emanating from Lud's various identities, he couldn't help but believe it.

"So how exactly do we do it, Master?"

"I need to prepare for the summoning ceremony a little. The location will be in the main hall of my temple, since we need to borrow some manpower from the goddess."

"When exactly?"

"Tonight will do. Here's the procedure..."

As Ludwig requested, Ados brought a palanquin and carried the old lady to the temple. The ritual site for the spiritual communication had already been set up. The benches in the hall had been temporarily moved out, and in the center of the empty hall, a magic circle exactly like the one in the book had been painted with gold paint. The texture looked very complex and had a unique beauty.

It's worth mentioning that the prototype for the magic circle is the human transmutation circle from "Fullmetal Alchemist," which was Ludo's favorite manga when he was in middle school. He copied the transmutation circle from the manga countless times, and it's been etched into his DNA along with many other useless things.

However, the magic circle is used to summon heroic spirits, so they don't need to put the old lady inside; they can just wait on the side.

The old lady had already taken the sleeping potion prepared by Lu De beforehand; its effects were milder than the one bestowed by the emperor. After taking this potion, one's sleep becomes very light, and one dreams more easily.

Once everything was ready, Lud looked at everyone present. Besides himself, Aina, and Shanis, the Baron siblings and three knights were also there, ready to participate in the psychic ritual together.

Lude originally planned to hold a closed ceremony, trying to keep outsiders out as much as possible, but then he thought it would be better to invite the old lady's relatives to join in and turn the ceremony into a "reality show" with publicity value.

"Let's begin! Aina, bring the offerings."

"Yes, Master."

Under the watchful eyes of the Baron's family, Aina opened a basket, took out several plates of fragrant pastries, and placed them in the center of the magic circle.

Looking at the plates of snacks, the three knights couldn't help but show a bewildered expression, like an elderly person looking at their phone on the subway.

They had heard that this ritual required offerings to summon heroic spirits, and they thought it would be some rare and precious treasures. But it turned out that all they needed was this thing, which made them feel that it was a bit of a joke.

Regardless, the ceremony had officially begun. Luther and the two nuns knelt before the magic circle, heads bowed in silent prayer. The hall fell into utter silence; you could hear a pin drop!

And in the midst of this silence, the magic circle on the ground... lit up!