Goddess Kaleidoscope

The old man was furious about the villagers' terrible performance when they faced the bandits the night before. He had been a soldier and fought in battles, and his marksmanship was so sharp that he destroyed the tools of at least three bandits on the spot, making him the undisputed "MVP" of the night.

But the other villagers were all cowards. Despite occupying a very advantageous position, the bandits easily broke through their defenses.

This incident made old Rom realize that although these settlers who migrated from the interior of the kingdom had come to live on the border, three years had not yet truly forged them into fierce border people. If things continued like this, trouble was bound to happen sooner or later.

Old Rom lamented that he was too old to withstand the strain, so he decided to use the bounty to hire two experienced veterans to give the village's able-bodied men a good workout during the winter off-season.

However, if you want mercenaries, the nearby Riverwood is definitely not an option, as that town is too small. You need to go to the larger Unos town, where you'll find mercenary agencies, adventurer's houses, and other places where you can hire warriors for money.

When Lu De heard that the village chief was planning to send someone to Unos Town before the heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, he immediately had some ideas.

"Village Chief, when you send someone to Unos Town, could you please take me with you? I need to go there in person to buy some things."

"Priest, what do you want to buy? I'll have someone bring it to you. It's such a long way for you to come back and forth!"

“It’s alright. I’ve started a school, and the children in the village have been practicing writing with slates and charcoal pencils. I want to buy them some real paper and pens, as well as some other things. I’m afraid I won’t be able to write a complete list, so I’ll have to make the trip in person to be at ease.”

"Well... then how about this! The day after tomorrow! I'll arrange a few more strong laborers who can handle the work, and have my big, clumsy eldest son drive the cart to take you there."

"Okay! It's settled then."

After discussing the details of the long trip with old Rom, Ludwig saw him off at the temple gate. But when he turned around, he saw Aina peeking out from the crack in the door, secretly observing them.

"Stare!"

"You don't need to say those onomatopoeic words!"

"Master, are you going out?"

"Yes, we're leaving the day after tomorrow. Unos Town is quite a distance from here; it'll probably take a week to go round trip. What's wrong?"

"Can...can you take me with you...?"

Looking into those big, expectant, watery eyes, Lu De couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle. Ever since this silly goddess discovered that acting cute and charming could effectively get her to compromise and give in, she had started to put it into practice.

So Lude smiled and walked up to her, gently patted her little head, and said in a very gentle tone.

"That depends on whether you can finish those three big green peppers tonight!"

End of this chapter

Two days later, the village made preparations for the long trip. In addition to Lud and Aina, who insisted on coming along, there were six other villagers traveling together, led by Ron, the village chief's eldest son.

Besides hiring two mercenaries, they also brought two cartloads of goods to the city to exchange for more money, so that the thirty silver coins wouldn't be enough. The two carts mainly carried vegetables and agricultural products that didn't keep well, as well as in-demand mountain goods picked from the forest, which they estimated could fetch a considerable amount of money.

On the day of their departure, more than two hundred people, young and old, from the village, came to the village entrance to see them off, wishing them a safe journey and a speedy return.

"Everyone, go back now. We'll be back in a few days."

After waving goodbye to the villagers, Lud and his party set off on their donkey cart.

Of the group, Aina was going out for the first time, so she was exceptionally excited, like a primary school student on a spring outing. Ludwig sat opposite her with his eyes closed, resting. Ron, who was in charge of driving the carriage, held the reins in one hand and stroked the newly made short sword at his waist with the other. This was the first batch of finished products made by the blacksmith Bank, and he gave one to each of them.

Ron had loved playing with guns and weapons since he was a child, but as the eldest son, he had to follow his father's orders and stay home to farm with his second brother. Therefore, he envied his third and fourth brothers who could go out to join the army, and admired his father, who had fought in battles. However, he recently had a new idol: the Blood-Handed Soulbreaker sitting in the back of the carriage, and was currently thinking about how to strike up a conversation!

"Priest, I heard you say last time that you fought a war in a very far eastern country. Aren't you from the Kingdom of Duran?"

“I come from a very far-off Eastern country. In my homeland, there is an old proverb that says, ‘Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles.’ So I traveled westward and was eventually called by the goddess to spread the gospel in this world full of suffering. Children, what about you? Before you became pioneers, where in the kingdom were you from?”

"We started out in the interior of the kingdom, in a village right next to the capital. It was much more lively and peaceful than this border area. But my father said there was no future for our family there. There were almost ten of us, and the meager income from farming wasn't even enough to pay the poll tax. So we responded to the king's decree to reclaim the land and moved here. The other families in the village were in similar situations; we all came together from the interior. On the way here, we were even escorted by the king's army, but they only took us there and then left us alone."

Lude had already learned about Ron's situation from other villagers in Pine Village, and it was indeed similar. They were all poor people in their original places, but because the king issued a decree to reclaim the land, granting a five-year tax exemption to citizens who voluntarily went to the border, they left their homes and settled on the border.

This situation clearly shows that the more developed central region of the Kingdom of Duran has begun to experience population pressure. This is due not only to the new king's effective governance and the generally favorable weather in recent years, but also to the absence of large-scale warfare in the past decade.

On the positive side, the domestic situation is stable, but on the negative side, the population has been rising year after year, and the developed areas in the interior are almost unable to support it.

It's important to understand that agriculture in this world is still very underdeveloped. While there are superior seeds that have been carefully selected and bred, there are no chemical fertilizers to help crops grow strong, so the land's output is extremely limited. Take Pine Tree Village as an example: the fields in the village are all very fertile black soil, but the average yield per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres) is only a little over 100 jin (a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 0.5 catties).

Therefore, in the heart of the kingdom, where the land was nearly exhausted, allowing the population to continue to grow unchecked would have unimaginable consequences should a famine strike. Thus, it was necessary to find a way to relocate the surplus population or simply "consume" them.

Fortunately, the current king is a very intelligent man, and the Kingdom of Duran is adjacent to the Void Forest, possessing unclaimed land that can be obtained without war.

So the king encouraged the poor people in the interior to voluntarily go to the border to become settlers by providing tax exemptions. If they could settle down there, that would be a good thing, and after the five-year welfare period, the land would become a new source of tax revenue as a directly administered territory of the king. And if natural disasters or man-made calamities caused some settler villages to disappear, the king wouldn't be too distressed, as he could simply send a second batch.

This is just like an old farmer growing vegetables. As long as there is no large-scale pest or disease, if a few seedlings have problems, you can just pull them out and replant them.

As rulers, the common people are nothing more than numbers in the eyes of the king. As long as the overall data continues to rise, the misfortunes of a few people will naturally become trivial matters in their eyes.

This applies to mortal kings, and it applies to heavenly gods as well!

Along the way, everyone chatted casually, just like in the carriage the protagonist rode in at the beginning of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. They were all bathed in the warm sunshine, talking and laughing as they headed towards the town ahead.

The group traveled by carriage for two days, taking the main roads during the day and spending the night in the villages they passed through. Because Pine Tree Village was right next to the Void Forest, they were able to obtain many scarce mountain goods. In addition, because Lu De was a priest, he received good treatment in the village where he stayed.

On the third day at noon, the group finally arrived at their destination—Unos Town. Lude had never been here before, and it was indeed much more prosperous than Riverwood, which was near Pine Village. Just the fact that it had decent stone walls made it far superior to the pitted and uneven mud walls of Riverwood!

However, as they approached the town, they discovered that the regulations here were much stricter than in Riverwood, with a gate tax of five copper coins per person. The gatekeeper initially intended to waive the tax for Lud and Aina, who were dressed as clergy, as per custom. But the officer in charge approached Lud and asked which sect he belonged to. Upon hearing that he had never heard of the Cult of Medicine God, his expression immediately changed like a chameleon, and he demanded that Lud pay the tax like everyone else.

Fortunately, the five copper coins entrance fee wasn't too heavy, but Ludwig glanced back at the long queue behind him and thought to himself that, all the little by little, it would add up to a considerable income.

The group finally entered the city. Looking at the bustling main road and the rows of houses on both sides, Lud had heard that this town was the second largest town in the territory of Earl of Ramli, with a permanent population of tens of thousands, second only to the capital city of Ramli. Now that he saw it, it was indeed true.

Lude glanced at the others in his entourage. Apart from Ron, who had seen the royal city before and was somewhat respectable, the others all looked like shameful bumpkins who had never seen the world. Meanwhile, Aina's attention was completely drawn to the kebabs at the roadside stall, and she was practically drooling.

Just as Lude was lamenting about these shameful fools, a mysterious woman wearing a hood was hiding in the shadows of a small alley not far from the street, secretly observing Lude.

"Young man, I've finally found you!"

End of this chapter

This was Lud's first time entering the city, and the first time he had experienced the splendor of this magical world with his own eyes, rather than through the memories left to him by his younger self. Although it was far from comparable to the great kingdom he had lived in in his previous life, it still had its own unique exotic charm.

However, after entering the city, Lud's most direct impression was the religious atmosphere, which was many times stronger than that in the rural areas!

Walking down the street, you can see religious figures everywhere in Lud, as well as shops that blatantly display sectarian symbols. It's hard to tell whether they are sect property or just the owners trying to show off their status as followers of a particular sect.

Lude observed them secretly and found that most of these sects had uniform clothing, making them very easy to identify. Although they appeared to be on the surface harmonious, they were clearly distinct and had their own territories.

Wearing a linen priest's robe, Rude looked like a Colonel Sanders who had wandered into a McDonald's restaurant, attracting some unfriendly stares wherever he went.

"I should have changed my clothes before going into town..."

Along the way, Lud hadn't walked two hundred meters when he encountered three groups of religious people who came up to him for a chat. Some were quite polite, while others were more direct, asking Lud which sect he belonged to and what business he had in Unos.

Ludwig didn't want any unnecessary conflict with these people, so he always greeted them with a smile, saying that he was just going into town to buy some things and would leave in a couple of days. Whether they believed him or not, they were generally quite restrained and didn't make things difficult for him.

After touring the city, Lu De discovered that although there were many religious sects, the three most powerful were the Church of Light, the Church of the Four Seasons, and the Church of War. These were all typical "international sects," with influence spread across many countries on the continent.

The Kingdom of Duran is a major northern power. The current king ascended the throne ten years ago and issued a decree allowing various religious sects to freely preach within the kingdom, but they must respect the kingdom's laws and not create disputes among believers. As a result, over the past decade, various religious sects have flocked to the kingdom and have developed rapidly within its borders.

On the surface, the current king is inviting trouble, but those who are discerning will find that this is actually a clever plan to drive away the wolves and tigers!

Because of a powerful group of self-proclaimed gods, religious forces are very active in this world, while the secular monarchy is somewhat weakened.

King Durand was well aware that if he openly opposed religion, he would inevitably become the target of public criticism. If he sided with one of the religions and abandoned the other as the state, he might eventually lose power and turn the kingdom into a theocracy. There were many similar examples, and the Durand royal family did not want to repeat the same mistakes.

So the current king came up with a plan to "fight religion with religion." He knew very well that these sects had irreconcilable conflicts of interest because of the issue of believers. As long as he did not openly stand on the opposite side of religion, these sects would never unite against him.

Therefore, King Durand opened his kingdom's doors, inviting these major sects in and providing them with a stage for open competition. This meant that anyone who sought to gain power within Durand would inevitably face hostility from the other sects. The king, acting as a mediator, subtly maintained a relatively balanced and stable state.

The principle sounds simple, but its actual implementation requires considerable skill. The current king not only avoided making a mistake, but also attracted various religious sects to invest in his country by introducing religious forces, leading to the country's rapid development. It is clear that he is indeed a very capable... troublemaker!

The group wandered through the streets and alleys and soon found a very cheap little hotel. The conditions were certainly not as good as those on the main roads, but it was still acceptable.

Ron booked two rooms in total, one for Lud and Aina, and the other for the remaining six men to squeeze into. The two donkey carts were temporarily parked in the inn's courtyard and were also charged the same price as a single room.

After everyone settled their luggage, they immediately split up. Ron and another mature and prudent villager went to the mercenary agency and adventurer's house to see if they could hire two mercenaries, preferably retired soldiers over forty years old. These adventurers are generally past their peak physical condition, so their strength has declined and their price is cheaper than that of young adventurers, but they have rich experience, making them perfect for training militia for their village.

They could even ask if anyone wanted to retire and trick them into settling in the village, thus saving on commissions.

The other four villagers were responsible for selling goods in the city. During their two days in the city, they would sell the agricultural products and mountain goods they had brought, and then purchase some things that the village needed.

The two who were the most relaxed in the group were Lude and Aina. They put on hooded capes and went out shopping again.

Before leaving, Lud originally intended to change out of his priest's robes and Aina's nun's habit and wear civilian clothes, but then he thought that religious attire should have a certain deterrent effect on the thugs and ruffians in the city, so he only added a cloak on the outside, which he could lift up to reveal his identity if necessary.

The two first asked the shopkeeper where they could buy papyrus and quills in town, preferably the cheaper kind. The enthusiastic shopkeeper pointed them in the right direction, saying that these kinds of things that ordinary people didn't need could only be bought in Laurel Lane to the south, where there were several shops run by alchemists who specialized in selling strange and unusual things.

So the two left the inn and, seeing that it was still early, strolled leisurely along the streets. Lude, unable to resist Aina's repeated requests, bought her some kebabs. Seeing the unconscious happiness on his goddess's face as she ate the kebabs, Lude couldn't help but shake his head and smile.

"It really feels more and more like raising a daughter!"

"Master, what did you just say?"

"It's nothing, eat up! But don't run around."

"Ok!"

The two walked one after the other. Lude observed the liveliness of the street and the demeanor of the passersby to infer the city lord's governance level.

However, as he walked, Ludwig suddenly felt a throbbing in his heart, followed by a slight itching sensation on his cheek. Startled, he quickly reached out and touched his face to make sure that "Hume's smile" was normal.

This strange feeling was fleeting. Lude pretended nothing was wrong and continued walking, his eyes darting around warily. His eight years as an undercover police officer in his previous life had given him considerable counter-surveillance skills, and his keen intuition told him there was a high probability he was being followed!

End of this chapter

Based on his intuition alone, Lud could not determine the identity and intentions of the person following him. The other party could be a member of a certain sect in the city, or a pickpocket looking for easy targets. So, although Lud noticed the other party's presence, he pretended not to notice and led Aina to continue walking towards South Street.

Along the way, Rudd saw many monks preaching on the streets, just like giving street speeches. They would set up a platform and stand on it, loudly proclaiming their own doctrines to passersby.

Ludd would occasionally pause to listen for a short while, but he soon found, rather disappointed, that the content read by these missionaries was empty and boring, and no matter how emotionally charged they were during their speeches, it still lacked appeal.

This is a problem that Lude discovered long ago. The way various religions in this world develop followers is far inferior to the pyramid schemes on Earth! Most missionaries just recite the doctrines verbatim, and the content is nothing more than how powerful and great their own god is, and that if you believe in my god you will have eternal life, and if you don't believe, your whole family will die, etc.!

For Lud, a modern man from Earth, this kind of thing might seem somewhat novel after hearing it once or twice, but after hearing it too many times, it became nauseating. While some of the local populace could indeed be fooled, most were completely confused; some had just taken their vows to join the religion and immediately forgot who their god was.

In contrast, Ludd's approach was much more sophisticated. Instead of using a strategy of constant bombardment and repeatedly indoctrinating his followers with empty and grandiose doctrines, he fabricated some "little stories about the goddess" and told them to his followers.

These stories all recount the glorious deeds of the goddess, her incognito visits to the mortal realm, how she punished evil and promoted good, and how she helped the weak and vulnerable. Establishing a perfect image of the goddess through these stories is far more memorable than simply singing her praises in a repetitive manner.

These short stories might be considered outdated and uninteresting on Earth, even to elementary school students, but for the villagers of Pine Village, they were an unprecedented source of joy in their monotonous lives. Even Aina herself was captivated by "her own story"!

Therefore, Ludl arrogantly gave these sects in Unos Town a "nothing special" assessment in his mind.

Seeing the bustling streets and the missionaries from various sects so diligently spreading their teachings, Lud secretly controlled the primal fire within him, allowing his eyes to see the faith in the air.