Goddess Kaleidoscope

In front of all the students from the Earl's territory, Ludwig gave a relatively brief speech. He knew the children disliked long lectures, and he didn't want to be an annoying, long-winded principal, so he tried to be concise. Afterwards, senior students from each department escorted their students to their designated dormitories.

Lude gave everyone half an hour to settle their luggage. He would then take them on a tour of the school and hold a make-up opening ceremony in the auditorium.

While waiting, the old lady who came to visit looked around. This place must have cost a lot of money, no less than some of the wealthy mansions she had seen before. Yet Lude had turned this place into a school, and the students he enrolled were all children from ordinary families.

An ordinary lord would likely have indulged in conspiracy theories, suspecting that Rudd's elaborate setup of a school to train artisans must have ulterior motives. However, Rudd had saved the old lady's life, and coupled with his "saintly" aura, the old lady did not consider the worst possible interpretation.

But the old lady still had many doubts, so she took the initiative to ask Lu De.

"Master, you must have spent a lot of money to establish this school!"

"It is indeed a lot, but it wasn't all paid for by me alone. We received donations from all sectors of society. Many of the teaching buildings on campus were built by a dwarf construction team sent by Viscount Gulig next door. From building materials to labor, the Viscount didn't charge me a single penny."

"But I don't understand why you want this school to only train lower-level professionals? I just read the introduction you provided. The school currently offers fourteen majors, but besides the more important ones like doctors and blacksmiths, there are also tailors, cooks, musicians, and even... farmers. Do these skills really need to be taught in school?"

"Madam..."

"Call me by my name, Srina, Master."

“Very well, Mrs. Srina, I know what you are wondering about. My school does not teach magic and martial arts, not only because these skills require extremely high talent, but more importantly because these skills cannot help the vast majority of people who are suffering.”

“I can’t quite agree with that. My husband and three sons were all knights. Losing them caused me pain, but they were also my pride. Tell me, without these skilled warriors, how could we fight against those brutal bandits and protect the weak villagers?”

"Madam Srina, I am not denying the value of warriors; the ability to defend oneself is indeed essential for survival. However, sometimes we cannot look at a problem from just one perspective. I wonder if you have ever considered this question: why do those bandits become bandits in the first place?"

"Uh...isn't it because of the evil and self-degradation within?"

"Surely there are such thugs driven by evil, but more often, they are driven by desperation. I once gave everything I had to help the starving poor, but I soon discovered that no matter how much bread I had, those poor people remained poor. I could help some, but not all; I could only save them temporarily, not forever. The bread I gave them would run out, and I didn't have an endless supply. So after I gave away all my food, some refugees starved to death, while others, to avoid starvation, turned into bandits. You've probably seen that kind of thing before, haven't you?"

Ludwig's words resonated with the old lady, who had also tried to help the poor during famine years, but what she gave out sometimes couldn't even help one person, let alone the endless tide of refugees.

Seeing that the old lady seemed to be deep in thought, Lu De knew that she had taken his words to heart, which meant that she was not the kind of stubborn person who held onto her own ideas. Being able to communicate was better than anything else!

"I thought about it for a long time and finally realized a truth: poverty is a breeding ground for evil. It can kill good people and turn them into bad people. And to alleviate poverty, simply handing out bread is far from enough. We need to equip them with a skill that allows them to survive. That is the power to overcome poverty!"

“What you said makes a lot of sense, but… is it really necessary to build a school to teach these life skills? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to belittle you at all, it’s just… how should I put it! I think many skills don’t need to be learned specifically, right? Like tailoring, I can do it too, and I’m very good at it. I just watched my mother do it since I was a child, and I learned it naturally.”

"Madam, if I may be so blunt, the process you witnessed alongside your mother is a form of learning, and your mother is your teacher. But the problem is... not everyone has a mother who is skilled in handicrafts, and not everyone... can have a mother!"

"Uh...this..."

"Furthermore, please do not underestimate any skill, not just tailoring, but also farming. Many people think that farming is just digging a hole and burying seeds in the soil. If it were that simple, there wouldn't be so many lands with no harvest, and there wouldn't be so many famines from time to time."

As Lu De spoke, he led the old lady to the flower bed in front of the student dormitory and asked, pointing to the budding flowers inside.

"Mrs. Srina, what do you think of these flowers?"

"It's beautiful. I'm sure it will be stunning when they're all in full bloom. If possible, I'd like to hire this gardener to create a beautiful garden for me too."

“I didn’t hire any professional gardeners. These flowers were planted by students from the College of Agriculture. They have always been responsible for the greening of the campus, and this will count towards their graduation grades.”

"Was it done by a student?"

"Yes, the school also has several experimental fields and its own breeding farm. When we tour the school later, I can take you and everyone there to see them. These children will use the professional knowledge they learn at school to become excellent farmers and breeders. They will be able to create more food for the world. In the future, I also want to establish a research institute at the school to lead the best graduates in improving and developing technologies. Only by continuously increasing productivity can we prevent more people from going hungry and ultimately losing their lives or going astray. This is the way of doing good that I have come to understand over the years!"

When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they are well-fed and clothed, they know honor and shame!

Everything Ludwig said was the "absolute truth" that countless generations of people in the country he had lived in in his previous life had come to understand through blood and tears.

Even though human greed will ensure that injustices persist in the world and the poor will never completely disappear, as long as productivity increases and more resources are produced for distribution, the lives of the vast majority of people will eventually improve, allowing everyone to think more freely about how to improve the system.

"When there is enough food for everyone, people will think about how to distribute it. But if there is not enough food for everyone, then those who have crooked ideas will not just want to eat more and take more than they need."

"I understand what you mean."

Seeing the old lady nod thoughtfully, and even a small wisp of faith appear above her head, Lud knew that his words had not been in vain. The reasoning he had given was not complicated, but there were always some people who were unwilling to understand it.

Soon, the international students put away their luggage and, led by the senior dormitory supervisors, gathered again in the open space in front of the gate. Judging from their expressions, everyone was full of anticipation for the upcoming campus life.

End of this chapter

For Lu De, this school, which he built with a lot of money and effort, is the most proud achievement he has made in the more than three years since he transmigrated. The sense of accomplishment it brings him is even greater than the several times he created gods!

Moreover, he not only wanted to enroll children from commoner families, but also hoped to attract some noble children; the old lady's two children were his primary targets. It didn't matter that the three-year-old baron himself didn't meet the enrollment standards; the school's affiliated kindergarten and preschool were already on the agenda.

However, Lud also knew that the vast majority of feudal lords in this world were military nobles, who were obligated to lead their private armies to defend the king when he raised an army. Therefore, the prevailing social atmosphere valued martial arts over literature, and many noble families wished that their children could start learning martial arts as soon as they could walk.

As for intelligence, IQ and EQ are indeed "bonus points," but they are not the main criteria for selecting an heir. Unless someone is completely mentally challenged and can't distinguish right from wrong, the most capable person is usually chosen.

In the Kirk family's case, the only heir left is three-year-old Lothar. The boy receives the title that the old knight risked his life for, but he also loses the right to choose his own future. He must become a skilled knight in battle, or possess magical talent and be able to conjure more powerful fireballs.

Given these preconditions, the old lady naturally wouldn't want the last remaining male member of the Kirk family to learn some commoner vocational skills.

However, after touring around, the old lady actually wanted to send her daughter Lisa over to study. This daughter of hers had always followed her three mischievous brothers around since she was little, and had a tomboyish personality, completely lacking the mannerisms expected of a girl, which gave the old lady a lot of headaches.

The old lady was a very traditional woman. Her maternal grandfather was a baron, and she had lived in his house since childhood. Influenced by her maternal grandmother, although she did not belong to the commoner class, she had developed some deep-rooted old ideas.

Mrs. Srina still remembers that when this brat was six years old, she was playing with other children in her hometown. Just because the other children said a few bad things about Old Kirk, she rushed up and beat them up.

On the one hand, the old lady was pleased that her daughter had upheld her father's reputation, but on the other hand, she strongly disapproved of her daughter's behavior, which was unladylike, and was afraid that she would not be able to correct it and would not be able to get married in the future!

After touring the school, the old lady discovered that fashion design and cooking were skills that were very suitable for aristocratic young ladies, so she wanted to send Lisa over to receive a "lady makeover".

"Master, you don't know, my daughter has been spoiled rotten by her father and brothers since she was little. She has no manners at all and runs around the mountains like a wild monkey every day. I'm not afraid you'll laugh at me, but she doesn't do any of the things a girl should know!"

"Um... I think it's good for children to be lively, and your daughter is a kind-hearted girl."

"But the problem is she's already twelve this year, and in two more years she'll be an adult! In her current state, not only would noble families look down on her, but even commoner men wouldn't want to marry a wife who can't do any housework. Does she expect her to become a knight like a man?"

"It seems... it's not entirely impossible."

As Lude spoke, he subconsciously glanced at "Big Green Pepper," who was surrounded by a group of female students not far away. Sharo, this female knight, was actually an outlier among aristocratic women. The more conservative Lady Srina, on the other hand, represented the majority of women of that era.

The reason why Sharo is such a "rare species" is twofold. First, she is indeed exceptionally talented, a martial arts prodigy among one in ten thousand, with only a handful of her peers able to defeat her. But most importantly, it is because her father and grandfather doted on her. Otherwise, no matter how talented Sharo was, if she had been in a less enlightened family, she would not have become a knight.

It is worth mentioning that because Sharo always wore no makeup and was dressed in men's armor, Lady Srina, who was from the south and was relatively unfamiliar with the northern aristocratic circles, always mistook him for a clean-shaven young nobleman and even wanted to introduce her daughter Lisa to him.

Besides the old lady, a considerable number of the young girls surrounding her, like Silina, were unaware that this kind and handsome knight brother was actually a girl just like them.

If Sharo knew that she had been mistaken for a man "again," she probably wouldn't be able to eat the various cookies and egg tarts that the female students were offering her with such ease right now.

In any case, the old lady at least had the idea of ​​sending her daughter over first, while Baron Lothar was still young. It wouldn't be too late to recruit him after she started offering some new subjects that the nobility might be interested in!

After the visit, the international students went directly to their dormitories. Classes will officially begin the day after tomorrow. Lady Srina invited Sharo and others to her residence to extend a small part of hospitality on behalf of the lord's son. Lud was also invited to go along.

Only then did the old lady realize that she should address Sharo as "Miss" instead of "Young Master." Thanks to her years of cultivated self-restraint, she managed to keep her expression completely composed.

Although it was called a banquet, it was actually the old lady who personally cooked some of her signature dishes for everyone. The lower nobility were not as particular as the upper class, and besides, their current circumstances were quite limited; the key was that the sentiment had to be there.

At the banquet, Mrs. Srina displayed remarkable social skills, quickly figuring out Sharo's temperament in just a few words and making her very happy. She also inquired about many things related to the northern aristocratic circles through casual conversation, which impressed Lud, a person who had seriously studied criminal investigation, as an expert.

With this level of eloquence, he'd be a typical resident of Chaoyang District on Earth!

Through Sharo's words, the old lady gained a general understanding of the distribution of the powerful and wealthy classes in the northern region. To her surprise, Lud not only had the title of saint, but also seemed to have good personal relationships with several major lords in the north, making him the kind of popular figure who could please everyone.

The recent Oyster Harbor plague has caused Lud and the Cult of Medicine to gain a rapidly increasing reputation throughout the kingdom.

The old lady had been tormented by nightmares for over a year, all of which occurred during her period of mental instability. Now, hearing firsthand accounts from those who experienced and were directly involved, the shock she felt was unimaginable, and her opinion of Lud rose considerably. Cultivating a good relationship with such a highly respected "Master Zhang" (though he looked young) would be an extremely powerful asset for her son's future governance of his territory and expansion of his network.

It seems that my daughter's enrollment will be finalized as soon as possible.

End of this chapter

While Ludwig was having his meal at the Baron's house, at the same time, in the guard's prison cell, a starving Maine was tossing and turning on a hard bed covered with hay.

Three days have passed since he was locked up in this hellish place. Apart from Ludger coming over for an interrogation once, most of the time the people outside the cell have ignored him as if they were deliberately forgetting about him.

This feeling of being put on display for play did not make Maine feel any relief; on the contrary, the waiting was agonizing.

He had a premonition that he was unlikely to survive this time. Once the fact that he had been using spirits to harm people was discovered, the old lady, who had regained her senses, would not let him off the hook just because of the blood relationship between them that separated them by several generations.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will either be publicly hanged on a rack on a sunny afternoon, or be burned at the stake as a male witch. In any case, the evidence against him is irrefutable, and he will be justifiably punished in any way.

Maine wasn't the kind of ruthless, fearless thug, but he cared more about protecting his son, Monk, than his own life. Untainted paternal love was perhaps one of the few redeeming qualities in this scoundrel.

Unable to sleep, Maine tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep due to his tense state of mind. Like a frightened bird, he would jump up from the haystack at the slightest sound or movement around him.

It was unclear what time it was at night, but Maine suddenly heard footsteps approaching his cell. They seemed to be the guards, but the sounds were slightly different from the ones he had heard in the past few days. Most importantly, the guards clearly stopped outside his door.

"Who's at the door? Are they going to interrogate me again? Could it be..."

Myne, who had spent his entire life doing bad things, was now terrified that a ghost was knocking on his door. Fear tormented him, and this anxious state of mind was just like that of the innocent people he had tormented in the past.

Just then, Maine heard the sound of the door bolt turning, which meant that the person outside was about to open the door and come in. Startled, he quickly turned over and pretended to be asleep with his back to the door.

Soon, the cell door was knocked open, and a gust of cold wind blew past, causing Maine to shiver involuntarily. The rapid beating of his heart sounded deafening to him like a drumbeat.

The person who entered the room was quiet and did not carry any light source such as a lantern, which made Maine realize that the other person was not a prison guard.

Just as he was anxiously guessing the other party's identity, a cold, hoarse, yet very familiar voice came from behind Maine.

"How much longer are you going to pretend to be asleep, Myne?"

"That voice... it's the necromancer!"

Mann never imagined that one day he would be so moved by the voice of a dead man—a voice that would make most people feel physically uncomfortable—that he almost burst into tears. It was no less than heavenly music. Although he didn't know why this high-ranking member of the Black Hand Brotherhood was here, for Mann, who was currently imprisoned, it was nothing short of a miracle!

"My lord, master, grandfather...you've finally arrived!"

With the help of the dim light, Maine rolled off the hard bed and saw the person who had appeared: a long, light-absorbing black robe, and beneath a gold-trimmed hood was a strange metal mask with vertically sculpted pupils. Maine had only ever seen this cult-like attire once before, and that was the necromancer, a high-ranking member of the Black Hand Brotherhood.

Seeing the other party suddenly appear here, Maien, who thought he was going to die, had a renewed hope.

"Sir, have you come to save me?"

"Save you? Answer me first, where is my dead slave?"

"Uh, this..."

When the necromancer asked about the Death Slave, a hint of embarrassment flashed across Maine's face.

The so-called "dead slave" is the spirit that possessed the old lady's dream; it was an accomplice lent to Maine by the necromancer.

On the surface, Maine actively treated the old lady, but secretly he used evil spirits to haunt her with nightmares, causing her to die from excessive grief and emotional exhaustion. This method was indeed slower than poisoning or assassination, but its advantage was that it left no evidence, and he could gain the young baron's trust by putting on a show.

Both parties agreed that once the matter was settled, Maine would return the dead slave and, in return, owe the necromancer a favor, and would work for him in the baron's territory in the future.

However, plans can change quickly. Despite being haunted by spirits in her dreams, the old lady managed to hold on for over a year without passing away. Just when she finally reached her fiefdom on the northern border, she encountered a tough nut to crack, Rud.

Maien didn't know how Lude discovered the evil spirit, but when the other party interrogated him, he directly mentioned the name of the necromancer. Combined with the fact that the necromancer himself had just asked where his dead slave was, Maien could easily deduce that the dead slave who should have been possessing the old lady's dream must have been eliminated by Lude.