Goddess Kaleidoscope

End of this chapter

After Trin parted ways with his contact, Lud used the Eye of Sight to continue tracking him, wanting to see where he would go next, who he would contact, and ideally, to find out the number of people and the location of their hideout.

It's important to know that the Brotherhood of the Black Hands is not some harmonious and loving charity organization. They are cultists who believe in a false god of thievery, an "unjust alliance" composed of all sorts of scum and villains! The scope of this organization's business covers almost all criminal activities that are generally understood.

Lud would naturally not allow a group of people to cause trouble on his territory, or even try to settle down there!

After leaving the alley where they met, the contact wandered around the main street for a while, seemingly sightseeing aimlessly, but actually checking to see if anyone was following him. However, no matter how vigilant and experienced he was, he didn't realize that just three feet above his head, an unseen eye was watching his every move.

After circling around, the contact person did not realize that he was being followed, so he turned around and went straight to the town's trade street. This was a trade zone that Pine Tree Town had planned long before it was officially upgraded. Many foreign chambers of commerce had already moved into the shops on both sides of the street, and the contact person went into a chamber of commerce shop called "Black Mandolin".

Lude had some impression of this chamber of commerce. The representatives of the chamber, like other chambers, had visited him, this "local bigwig," and had shown great interest in several potions that the temple sold.

The Black Mandolin Merchant Guild appears to be a medium-sized merchant guild that primarily deals in medicinal herbs and secondarily in other commodities. Its business mainly takes place within the Kingdom of Duran. Routine background checks revealed no noteworthy blemishes, allowing it to smoothly establish itself in Pine Town. Furthermore, by arriving early, it successfully obtained numerous preferential policies from Rude.

At the time, Lude was unaware of the other party's background. If the contact hadn't run into their shop, he would never have imagined that they would be related to the Black Hand Brothers!

The spying eye followed the contact into the shop. Through the conversation between the contact and the other shop assistants, Lud finally learned the man's name: Chris, a junior manager in the merchant guild.

Back at the Chamber of Commerce, Chris hurried to an office on the second floor. There, Lud saw a familiar face – the Chamber of Commerce representative who had visited him before, a tall, thin man with a goatee. Lud couldn't quite recall the man's name, but the gift he had brought had left a very deep impression on him.

While others would typically offer gold coins or gems as gifts, this fellow brought two large jars of medicinal wine and mysteriously told Lu De that these were "good things" that money couldn't buy, and invited Master Lu to enjoy them.

Out of curiosity, Ludwig opened the jar and peeked inside, only to find seven or eight different varieties of "Dingri" (a type of sage) floating in the orange-yellow liquid. They varied in length and thickness, but each one was larger than a person's penis!

Lude was reluctant to accept such a gift, but he was too focused on attracting more investment at the time and hadn't realized the connection between the Black Mandala Merchant Guild and the Black Hand Brotherhood. So, in the end, he reluctantly had his subordinates give it to Duke Gamerin who was visiting not long ago.

However, what caught Lude's attention was that when Chris entered the room, in addition to the chamber of commerce representative, there was also a young man sitting behind the desk, with the chamber of commerce representative standing respectfully beside him, making the superior-subordinate relationship obvious at a glance.

After Chris entered the house, he immediately knelt down on one knee in front of the young man and took out the letter that Trin had given him earlier, presenting it to him with both hands.

“Young Master Dordre, I just met with the person who sent the letter. He was masked and didn’t give his name, but he gave me a letter to deliver to Yanmu City, saying it was to be given to the Navarro family.”

"Hand it over to the Navarro family? Interesting! Let me see."

The letter Chris handed over was first taken by the managing representative of the Chamber of Commerce and carefully examined. Only after confirming that there were no problems was it handed over to the young man known as "Young Master Dorn".

Through his Peeping Eyes, Lud saw the contents of the letter, but he couldn't understand a single word of the crooked, illegible scribbles; it seemed to be some kind of special encrypted script. The merchant representative and the young master, however, clearly understood it; their expressions changed slightly after reading the letter's contents.

Especially Dorn, who read the letter carefully from beginning to end, his expression growing more and more serious. Finally, he slammed the letter on the table and asked Chris in a tone of urgency that was completely different from before.

"This is impossible... Damn it! I've been waiting for this day for so long, and he... the person you met with, can you even find him again?"

"Uh... I made an agreement with him that I would contact him again using the contact mark after Yanmu City replied. Does Young Master want to see him?"

"Yes! I want to see him, the sooner the better! Go see him right now... Wait, wait a minute! This can't be rushed. We absolutely can't let him become suspicious. We need to devise a plan first..."

With an unpredictable expression, Dorn got up and paced back and forth in the office, muttering fragmented words to himself. The steward and Chris, who was kneeling on the ground, looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering what had suddenly gotten into their young master.

At this moment, it seemed that Dorn had finally thought of something, and he suddenly slapped his hand and turned to ask Chris.

"Chris, how many people do we have here? How much of the work can we do, both wet and dry?"

"If you include me, there are only six or seven!"

"Only this much!?"

“Young Master, we do have a limited manpower here right now, mainly because we're still establishing ourselves and need to keep a low profile. The Medicine God Cult here is no pushover. That priest named Lude has extremely high prestige in the area and holds the title of saint; his words carry more weight than a baron's. From my observations over this period, although he is greedy and lustful (?), he is also a ruthless character who hates evil. If you want to get things done here, it would be best to handle things cleanly and quietly. But if you accidentally make a big fuss, then…”

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"In my humble opinion, since Chris has already told that the distance from here to Yanmu City is far, and even if we use a messenger to send a message, it would take more than ten days to get a reply, we might as well use this time to gather manpower from other regions, and then have Chris lure that man out and trick him into going outside the town to deal with him. That would be the safest approach."

"We have to wait another ten days or so? What if he runs away?"

"Don't worry, young master. Since he entrusted this letter to us and agreed to wait for a reply, he definitely won't run away!"

End of this chapter

Inside the Chamber of Commerce office, the three believed they were plotting in seclusion, unaware that an unseen eye was watching their every move like an elder brother.

Rudd overheard the entire process and roughly understood the relationship between the Black Mandolin Merchant Guild and the Black Hand Brotherhood, which was roughly similar to a "front man." The guild had been operating in Pine Town for over a year, conducting business honestly and without any irregularities, which was why it had escaped Rudd's notice.

As for this young master Dorn, Ludwig could easily guess his identity; he was probably one of Trin's half-brothers.

Although Terlin's father always favored him as his eldest son, as a wealthy merchant with connections in both the legitimate and criminal worlds, he certainly wouldn't have only married one wife in this wicked feudal society, and he had a whole brood of sons and daughters.

With Terlin gone, his younger brothers will undoubtedly be eyeing the vacant position of eldest son, and they certainly don't want to see their elder brother resurrected.

The Chamber of Commerce manager advised Don that the best course of action was to hire assassins from outside. While using family members would be convenient, it would also increase the risk of leaks. With so many henchmen in the Navarro family, who knew whose side they were on?

So Dorn handed the matter over to the steward and instructed Chris, who was returning with the letter, to keep his mouth shut.

Seeing that the other party's "conspiracy" was over, Ludd fixed the Peeping Eye to the beam of the office, directly opposite Dorn's desk. This would form a beacon for later activation.

Having finished spying, Lud rubbed his eyes while analyzing the intelligence he had just obtained in his mind.

Trilling's unauthorized actions brought him some unexpected joy. Since the other party did not take the initiative to contact him, and he happened to run into them when they went to meet, Lud would probably find it difficult to discover that the Black Mandolin Chamber of Commerce had problems so early.

Now that the other party's identity has been exposed, the situation for Lu De has changed from the enemy being in the dark and him being in the light to the enemy being in the light and him being in the dark. He doesn't believe that a subordinate unit of such a huge criminal gang would really do honest business. As long as he investigates, there will definitely be problems!

After thinking for a long time, Lud had a plan in mind. He would pretend not to know about Trin's little tricks, secretly keep an eye on Black Mandolin, and collect evidence of their crimes in the area. When the assassins they hired arrived, he would jump in at the crucial moment to save the day, and take the opportunity to raid their house and remove this thorn in the side of the Black Hand Brotherhood in Pinetown.

While Lude was planning his next move, Olivia, who had already arrived at the school, was touring the school with Romian.

Before coming here, Olivia thought that the so-called school was similar to the monasteries she had once stayed in.

They were all in castle-like, enclosed environments. A group of wealthy young ladies, dressed in simple nunneries, followed a rigid old nanny every day, performing repetitive and tedious rituals until they could become "good women" who met the standards of high society.

Olivia, however, was naturally lively and active, and couldn't stand such an overly repressive environment. As a result, whenever she went to a monastery, she would have a fierce conflict with the nuns there, sometimes lasting a week, sometimes only two or three days. Because of her status, the nuns couldn't use too harsh methods, and in the end, their discipline was ineffective, so they had no choice but to give in and respectfully send this little devil away.

Similar situations have been repeated more than a dozen times, which ultimately earned her an unusual reputation and landed her on the blacklist of all the monasteries around the capital.

But Brewster College was clearly very different from the monastery Olivia had imagined. She was taken aback as soon as she arrived at the school gate; there were far more students than she had expected, both men and women, all dressed in similar styles and colors.

Olivia was initially curious because wearing the same style of clothes reminded her of monastic robes, but monastic robes are very conservative clothes that cover people from head to toe. However, the clothes (winter school uniforms) of the students in front of her were obviously not so conservative.

Upon entering the school gate, Olivia noticed that the students here respected Shanes and Romian very much. They would greet them proactively, but they did not address them as "Grandma" (with religious connotations) but as "Teacher." Their greetings were simply a bow and a "Hello, Teacher" and that was it. There was not even a prayer like "May the Goddess protect you."

The religious atmosphere here was so faint that even Olivia, who dislikes religious atmospheres, felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Not long after the three arrived at the school, Shanis left first, saying that she had class later.

Seeing the always lazy, black-haired nun leave, Olivia couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Of all the people in the entire temple, the one she feared most was Shanis; just her mere presence was enough to put immense pressure on her! A single glare from Shanis would send chills down her spine.

She always felt that the other person was an imposter nun. But amidst her fear, she was also curious about her mystery.

"Um... Sister Romian, what exactly did Sister Shanis do before?"

"You mean the senior sister? She started the sect much earlier than me, but I don't really know what she did before!"

"Are you...really not an assassin?"

"How could that be!"

Led by Romian, Olivia took a walk around the campus to familiarize herself with the environment, and finally arrived at the classrooms for the lower grades.

When Olivia learned that she would have to start learning from the most basic knowledge with these inexperienced kids, the young lady felt a little unhappy, as if she was being looked down upon.

Just as Romian was about to explain to her, she turned her head and saw Lude walking towards them.

"Master! You're back."

"Yes, I'll be back as soon as I finish what I need to do there."

At the entrance to the elementary class classroom, Lu De, who had just returned, heard Olivia's complaints from afar. The young lady was sulking as if she had suffered a great humiliation, but the problem was that with her placement test score, if she were actually transferred to the advanced class, it would be like listening to gibberish.

Of course! You can't say these things to the other person's face. After spending some time together, Lu De realized that this young lady wasn't a bad person at heart. She had a strong sense of self-respect and some spoiled habits, but they weren't incurable. He had to use reverse psychology.

After a moment's hesitation, Ludwig smiled and said to Olivia.

“Oliffa, I arranged for you to start in the elementary class. You may not know our school's progression system. New students, regardless of age, all start from the lower grades. But if you learn quickly and far surpass other students in your grade, you can skip a grade. If you don't like learning these super simple things with elementary school students in the elementary class, then just get good grades in the monthly exams and skip a grade! With Miss Oliffa's intelligence, can't you even do something so simple?”

"I……"

Lude's words left Olivia speechless. The young lady stammered for a long time, then finally huffed angrily, turned around, and walked into the classroom, sitting in the last row. All the children in the classroom stared at the blonde big sister with curiosity.

"Luo Mi'an, please take good care of her during this time. Being so far from home to a completely unfamiliar place, she will need some time to adjust."

"I understand, Master."

"You too, don't overwork yourself. I've died once, this is all based on experience!"

In the days that followed, everything seemed calm on the surface, but undercurrents were already brewing in the shadows.

Under Lud's orders, Eliven and Lacey fully utilized their advantages as undead to infiltrate the Black Mandolin Merchant Guild's headquarters for reconnaissance, and as expected, they unearthed quite a bit of "dirt."

First, this group secretly renovated the clubhouse, digging a three-story basement with a hidden passage connecting it to the town's recently completed sewer system. It was clearly intended to store some shady "goods," containing not only various shelves but also a dungeon for holding people and a terrifying interrogation room filled with all sorts of props.

According to the laws of the kingdom, the slave trade was explicitly prohibited at the beginning of King Durand's reign, but more than a decade later, it has been repeatedly banned and the price of slaves has continued to rise. This situation of high profits and high risks has made slave traders more and more crazy!

The fact that they were involved in the slave trade alone was enough for Lud to openly and legitimately raid the Black Mandolin Merchant Guild. The problem was that they had only built a dungeon, but hadn't yet imprisoned any slaves inside. If they insisted that the dungeon was for punishment, Lud couldn't do anything about it.

After all, the kingdom only prohibited the slave trade, but not the wealthy and powerful from punishing their servants. As long as no one was killed, slapping, whipping, or even breaking a leg was not illegal.

In addition to discovering the basement, Elijah also made full use of her photographic memory to memorize the Black Mandolin Merchant Guild's ledgers and a large number of correspondence, which she then copied onto paper for Rudd to analyze.

Based on these ledgers and invoices, Lud discovered that the Black Mandolin Merchant Guild had been primarily purchasing several specific herbs, such as Black Tongue Grass and Bloodvine, in the northern part of the kingdom over the past year, with extremely large purchase volumes, essentially accepting anything that came their way.

Although these herbs are not prohibited items, according to Lu De's understanding, they all have hallucinogenic properties to varying degrees. If they were for regular use, there would be no need to purchase such a large quantity.

Based on the correspondence between Black Datura and Yanmu City, it was clear that Yanmu City had specifically requested the purchase of these medicinal herbs and was urging them to do so. Lu De had a vague idea of ​​what these medicinal herbs were intended for.

End of this chapter

As Hume previously revealed, the Black Hand Brotherhood primarily relies on their "divine liquor" for missionary work, which is essentially a hallucinogenic drug with extremely high addictive properties.

Many of those believers, or rather, addicts, joined the church in order to drink the "divine liquor." The key point is that this liquor is not free; believers have to pay for it themselves, allowing the Black Hand Brotherhood to make a fortune. The faith generated by the believers is used to supply the counterfeit liquor.

If nothing unexpected happens, the herbs that the Black Mandolin Merchant Guild purchased should be the raw materials needed to make the Divine Wine. Since the Void Forest is the origin of these herbs, they needed a nearby purchasing point, which is why they chose to settle in Pine Tree Town.

In addition, the contents of some letters also caught Lud's attention. It was revealed that the Black Hand Brotherhood seemed to be very interested in several of the medicines of his Medicine God Cult, and it was obvious that they had "unreasonable desires" and asked the Black Mandolin Merchant Guild to find an opportunity to get their hands on the formulas!

As Ludl requested, Eliven and Lacey continued to monitor the Blackmandolin Merchant Guild, while Ludl went to Trin's hideout to deliver some intelligence he had "just" returned from Flamewood City.

Upon receiving news from his hometown, Trin was naturally very excited, but then felt a pang of guilt, since he had also kept it a secret from Ludd that he had met with members of the Black Hand Brotherhood's local branch.