Goddess Kaleidoscope

Since mercenaries aren't soldiers and don't have the duty to protect the local population, the more chaotic the area, the easier it is for them to do business. If they really trained all the villagers to fight like mercenaries, would they still be able to make a living?

End of this chapter

Judging from the current situation, no one will take on the mercenary agency's commission anytime soon, and although Ron has also listed the Adventurers' House there, he is very worried that he will attract some useless people. Thirty silver coins is not a small amount for the villagers.

Lud had learned the situation and thought that if things were to proceed as planned, they would have to stay in Unos for a while longer.

At this moment, Ron looked at Lude somewhat awkwardly, like a timid little wife who wanted to say something but couldn't. Combined with his huge, bear-like physique, it was truly disgusting.

"Do you...do you need something else from me?"

"Priest, I really do need your help. We plan to go to the mercenary agency again tomorrow. Could you come with us?"

Ron's intention was to use Lud's priestly status to give them face. When he went to the mercenary agency earlier that day, he could clearly sense that the attitude of the agency's security guards and receptionists was far from friendly, and even subtly disdainful.

Therefore, Ron felt that if it were Ludger who went, the other party would definitely not be so negligent.

Lude naturally understood Ron's meaning. He had already prepared the main supplies he needed to purchase, and he figured there wouldn't be any problems accompanying Ron and the others to the mercenary agency tomorrow.

So the group rested at the inn for the night, and the next morning, led by Ron, with Lude and Aina accompanying him, they arrived at the mercenary agency located in the center of the city.

The three arrived at the gate. Lu De looked up and saw that the agency was a three-story brick building with a paved road in front of it, stone steps, marble pillars and guards standing guard. It was obviously more magnificent than the other buildings around it, and its luxury was second only to the temples he had seen from afar yesterday.

The two guards at the gate initially glanced at Ron, who had come yesterday, and were about to ignore him, but then they noticed Lud and Aina. Neither of them was wearing a cloak today, revealing their priest's robes and nun's habit. When the two brothers saw each other going up the steps, they instinctively opened the gate for him without thinking. It took them a while to come to their senses.

That priest from earlier seemed to be with the peasant from yesterday.

And so, the three of them entered the lobby of the agency. Although Lu De's priest's robe was made of very cheap coarse linen and was quite old, he always maintained a perfect air about him. His snow-white beard and hair moved without wind as he walked, giving him the air of a hermit sage.

The receptionists were all worldly-wise and shrewd women. Having seen many people in their daily lives, they naturally knew how to judge a person by their demeanor and temperament, rather than simply by the quality of their clothes. Therefore, their first impression of Ludwig was that he was "definitely someone of extraordinary background," while Ron, standing timidly beside her, would only be seen as a monkey in a crown even if he were wearing a yellow robe now.

"Venerable Sir, is there anything I can do for you?"

The middle-aged woman who greeted us was the head waitress; her demeanor was respectful yet elegant, just like a seasoned housekeeper.

Lude smiled and pointed to Ron beside him.

"I don't have anything important to do. I just came into town today to see some old friends and ran into this kid. I had nothing better to do, so I just followed him around. Don't worry about me, just go about your business."

Lu De appeared casual and nonchalant, like an elderly man taking a morning stroll, but the important information between the lines was instantly "filtered out" by the supervisor.

Lud didn't explicitly state which denomination he belonged to, but his every move exuded the composure and confidence of someone in a high position. In this context, his old linen robe didn't diminish his status; instead, it added a touch of mystique to his seemingly understated demeanor.

So when Luther said he was going to town to see some old friends, the head waitress almost instinctively associated "these old friends" with the leaders of the major religious sects in town, and consequently looked at Ron with newfound respect. This simple-minded, big guy, though clearly an honest, unassuming farmer, was being affectionately called "boy" by the adults around him, so he must have some important elder in his family.

In short, Ludwig skillfully exploited a common human flaw, enticing the other party to fill in the blanks in his mind as he desired. They didn't need to actually believe it; a cautious attitude was enough to make them re-evaluate Ron's seemingly insignificant request.

So, after Rhodes put on a show, the agency clearly took Ron's request much more seriously. However, since Unos was indeed short-handed recently, the agency could only promise to try to find a suitable mercenary for them within a week and have them go directly to Pine Village, so that Ron wouldn't have to wait in the city for the results.

And so, the three of them left the agency satisfied. Ron thought to himself, "As expected of Bloodhand Soulbreaker, he really has a lot of clout!"

Seeing that it was still early, Lud decided to wander around the city a little longer to see if he could find anything he wanted to buy. But as the group walked, they suddenly noticed that many pedestrians were running ahead quickly, and their expressions revealed their excitement at seeing something interesting.

"Master, what are they doing?"

"I don't know, we'll find out when we get there."

Following the pedestrians, the three soon arrived at a notice board at the crossroads. Ron, relying on his height and strength, cleared a path for Lud and Aina, while Lud, being the only literate one of the three, was responsible for reading the contents of the notice board to them.

"The notorious thief has been caught and will be publicly executed in two days?"

The notice was brief, stating that the city lord's mansion had captured a thief the previous night and would execute him at noon two days later. However, Rudd overheard some interesting things from the townspeople nearby.

A chivalrous thief nicknamed "Fallen Leaf" in the martial arts world, who specializes in robbing the rich to help the poor!

"Hmm...this is getting interesting."

After reading the notice board, the group wandered around the town for a while before returning to the inn before dark. However, when Lud and Aina returned to their room, they were surprised to see a "familiar face" sitting by the window, smiling and waving at them.

"Miss Hume, what brings you here?"

End of this chapter

Ludwig was taken aback to find Hume there uninvited. He thought to himself that he shouldn't have put any flowers on the windowsill before leaving home today. At that moment, Hume pointed to the two extra bottles of wine on the table and said with a smile.

"I had nothing to do tonight, so I came over to have a couple of drinks with you guys."

"Have a couple of drinks? It's that simple?"

Looking at the two bottles of fine wine on the table that looked expensive and were very likely stolen, and at Hume's incredibly bright smile, Ludwig vaguely sensed that something was wrong!

As the saying goes, "Those who offer unsolicited kindness are either up to no good or are thieves!"

Lude refused to believe it, insisting it was just a simple matter of having a drink.

Closing the door behind him, Ludd, seeing no one else in the room, removed his mask, revealing his true face. Hume, upon seeing Ludd's true appearance, whistled with a rather flippant expression.

"The young man is clearly quite handsome, why does he have to disguise himself as an old man with a white beard?"

"A young man with no experience is unreliable! I disguised myself as an old man for the convenience of spreading my faith; this image best matches the public's perception of a wise man."

"By the way, you're not that old, are you? I remember Perseus mentioned you. You should only be sixteen or seventeen this year, but you speak like an old man."

"I'm already eighteen years old this year, but that's just my physical age. As for my mental age, after going through all that mess, I don't even know how old I should be in terms of my current mindset."

Half-jokingly criticizing himself, Lude didn't want to reveal his identity as a time traveler, but he could tell that Hume had already realized that his mental age was much higher than his physical age, so he simply used the ambiguous term "experience" to gloss over it for now.

Hume thought that Ludd's experience referred to his exile over the past year. He thought to himself that for a young man who had just come of age, his journey from the center of the kingdom to the border, while hiding his identity and creating a new sect from scratch, was indeed quite an eventful one.

"Then let's raise a toast to our precious growth."

As Hume spoke, he magically produced three expensive wine glasses, then opened a bottle of wine and filled them all with a clatter. Seeing that Hume had also prepared a portion for herself, Aina reached out with great interest to take it, but Ludwig quickly stopped her.

"It's too early for you to drink this."

"I'm not young anymore!"

"I'm starting to think you two look more and more like father and daughter!"

Watching the affectionate interaction between Ludwig and Aina, Hume smiled with interest. She remembered how excited Perseus was when he successfully created the gods, like a monkey who had stolen a peach. But when facing the gods he had created, he treated them more as toys he longed for, or as research material he had dreamed of.

Looking back now, it's fortunate that the day after Perseus successfully created the god, the Sun Knight, who had been reported, investigated him, preventing the old pervert from having the opportunity to do anything bad to the new god.

Although he remained wary, Ludwig did not refuse the wine Hume offered him. He raised his glass and took a small sip, discovering that the taste was more wonderful than he had imagined; even he, who did not particularly enjoy drinking, was "amazed" by the first sip.

"Not bad! Where did you get this wine?"

"Offerings from believers."

Hume gave Ludd a knowing look. Ludd, who had been a policeman for eight years in his previous life, felt a little strange. He, a dignified public security officer, had fallen so low as to drink and make merry with a thief after transmigrating.

"What a sin, what a sin..."

"You don't need to feel so guilty. The original owner of these two bottles of wine was no good either. By drinking the wine he threw away, you're essentially standing up for the people!"

"I...can't accept your twisted logic."

Looking at the fragrant wine in his glass, Ludwig put it down. It wasn't that he was psychologically fastidious and couldn't accept stolen goods, but rather that he was worried that if he drank too much, he might be under Hume's spell.

So after hesitating for a moment, Ludwig simply cut to the chase.

“Miss Hume, I suppose you’re not here just to have a drink and chat, are you? If you have something to say, just say it!”

Seeing that Lude had made his point clear, Hume, who had intended to use drinking to create a good atmosphere before getting down to business, put down his glass and gave an awkward yet polite smile.

"Actually... I do have a tiny, insignificant thing I'd like you to help me with?"

"No, wait a minute! You need my help?"

Using his fingers to gesture between himself and Hume, Ludd double-checked that he hadn't made a mistake about who was helping whom, and a look of utter astonishment appeared on his face. Especially since this woman had just declared "I've got your back" at this very moment last night, making things particularly awkward now.

"Sister, are you kidding me? I do have some abilities that could be considered a cheat code, but it's just a support skill! Even you, a god who's been around for hundreds of years, can't handle this. Are you sure I can help you?"

"Don't get excited yet, let me finish! Actually... it's not that difficult."

"Then tell me more about it!"

"Well... well, one of my men was captured by the city lord here, and I was thinking of rescuing her. I need your help to get her out... Hey! Come back here, don't go!"

Seeing Ludwig get up as if to run away, Hume rushed over and pushed him back into his seat. Ludwig found that the other man's strength was almost monstrous; his delicate body was no match for his tyranny!

To keep Ludd in check, Hume repeatedly stated that while he needed Ludd's assistance, he mainly wanted him to be his assistant and did not need him to take up a pair of axes and fight his way to the execution ground.

However, after listening for a long time, Ludd's small eyes were still filled with great doubt. Hume was, after all, a god. Even if she wasn't a top-tier god, the so-called gods of this world weren't omnipotent, so she should be far stronger than mortals. If she wanted to rescue someone from the execution ground, it should have been as easy as taking candy from a baby.

Noticing Ludwig's puzzled look, Hume knew what he was wondering about. After hesitating for a long time, she decided to go all out to save him.

"Fine! I'll tell you the truth! I'm the God of Thieves... but now I'm just a figurehead. You know what I mean? I can still use some divine power, but... I'm not strong enough!"

As Hume spoke, her expression was one of awkward embarrassment. In front of Lud and Aina, she took off her python-skin tight gloves. When Lud saw what was inside the gloves, he gasped.

"My God! What... what is this...?"

Hume's gloves were completely empty; his hands and most of his forearms had disappeared, and the severed limbs showed no flesh or bones, only a chaotic void like a black hole.

Hume raised his arms, a sad smile on his face.

"Now you understand why I need help, right?"

End of this chapter

"You were... stabbed by someone?"

"What else can I do? I can't just chop it up for fun, can I?"

Hume waved her empty arms. She didn't really want to reveal her secrets to Ludd too soon, but she desperately needed Ludd's help, so she couldn't worry about that now.

"Surprised? Even God can be disabled."

"Was it done by other gods?"

"You're very smart, you guessed perfectly, it was the God of War who did it."

Hume tells Ludwig that this world has unique rules: mortals can kill gods through "forgetting," but neither swords nor magic can cause permanent damage to gods. Theoretically, as long as faith endures, even if a god is too weak to defeat a mortal, even if he is chopped into mincemeat, he will quickly resurrect.

Among gods, however, the situation is quite the opposite. Even if there is a vast difference in strength between the two sides, gods cannot directly kill other gods with their divine power; they can only do so through the other's followers.