Goddess Kaleidoscope

Sitting in the carriage, Ludwig peered out through the gap in the carriage bed. Visitors arriving for the gathering were coming in an endless stream, each dressed in fine clothes and wearing ornate masks. At first glance, it looked like they were attending a very ordinary masquerade ball.

At that moment, Hume, who had been sitting opposite, suddenly sat down and embraced Ludwig in a very intimate manner, pressing his ample breasts against hers. Just as she leaned in, the carriage door was opened, and a young man who looked like a waiter stood outside the carriage, bowing to Ludwig and speaking.

"Master Gerald, welcome. Please alight from the car, and I will show you the way."

Led by the waiter, Ludwig and Hume, both wearing masks, stepped out of the carriage, leaning on each other, and followed the waiter toward a brightly lit building not far away. Meanwhile, Alvitt, who had stayed by the carriage, pretended to take a stroll and went to the back of the carriage. She kicked open a hidden door, and several tiny children, barely reaching her knees, jumped out and quickly disappeared into the bushes.

End of this chapter

Following the Navarro family's servants, Ludd and Hume arrived at the hall. Upon entering, they found the huge hall teeming with people. There were hundreds of guests wearing various masks, and more were arriving in droves. The crowd was drinking and chatting to the accompaniment of beautiful music, making it seem like a typical high-society gathering.

"It's unbelievable! There are so many drug addicts in the upper class of Yanmu City."

"There's no way around it. The richer people are, the emptier they feel. To put it bluntly, it's all because they're idle."

"Tsk! This is the most direct manifestation of the serious disconnect between the development of spiritual civilization and the development of material civilization. They still have a lot to learn."

While muttering complaints about the wealthy class in Yanmu City, Lude and Hume went to the dining table, each took a drink, and then moved to a rather inconspicuous corner nearby to continue observing their surroundings.

Besides the main entrance, there were four side doors in the hall, each guarded by burly men dressed as waiters. The two doors on the left were probably for the restrooms, while the two doors on the right were open but not for guests to enter. Whenever someone approached, they would be stopped by the two burly men guarding the doors.

Lude had learned about the process of the gathering from Trin beforehand. The first half was no different from a normal banquet. The guests ate, drank, and danced in the hall. Occasionally, if someone got into the mood or hit it off with another person, they could ask a waiter to lead them to a guest room in the side corridor, where they could close the door and stay undisturbed.

The second half takes place after midnight, when the guests, having eaten and drunk their fill, finally get to enjoy the main event they've been eagerly anticipating: the head of the Navarro family will appear with sacred wine, lead everyone in a prayer ceremony, and then everyone will get into a party.

Trilling had witnessed that scene firsthand. After drinking the sacred liquor, everyone would quickly enter a state of high excitement, acting like madmen and spouting nonsense. That scene left an almost indelible psychological scar on the then-young Trilling. Coupled with his father's strict prohibition against any member of the family touching the sacred liquor, Trilling always kept his distance from that stuff.

So, in order to find a chance to slip away, Ludd and Hume deliberately drank quite a lot of wine, one glass after another, and then pretended to be slightly drunk to find a waiter and ask him to take them to a guest room to lie down for a while.

The two followed the waiter through a side door to the porch where the guest rooms were located. The waiter took out a key and opened a room for them, then said that he would be right outside the door and that they could ask for anything at any time. He would remind them to go to the lobby before the midnight ceremony began.

Upon hearing this, Lude immediately understood, "So you're the one who blocks the door!" So he deliberately chuckled, pretending to be a pervert.

"There's nothing I need to trouble you with, it's just that my husband and I make quite a lot of noise when we're doing it, could you... stay a little further away?"

Upon hearing Lud's words, the waiter paused for a moment, then quickly revealed a knowing expression. But then, he suddenly pulled a small, exquisite blue vial from his pocket and handed it to Lud, mysteriously telling him that it was a new type of potion recently purchased from the north of the kingdom by their Navarro Trading Company. It could effectively enhance a man's "nighttime performance," and everyone who had used it raved about it. He said this vial was a trial version, free for the master to try.

Lu De looked at the small medicine bottle handed to him, feeling a mix of emotions. Wasn't this his own product?

But since one shouldn't refuse a smiling face, Lud still accepted it and then casually gave the waiter a gold coin as a tip.

And so, the two entered the guest room without incident. Lude closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he turned his head and saw Hume, who had removed his mask, staring at him with a half-smile.

"Hey, you're really enjoying touching me, aren't you?!"

"I call this getting into character."

Hume slapped away Lud's groping hand that was taking advantage of the chaos, and first checked the room to make sure there were no spying or eavesdropping devices before reverting to his original appearance. Lud also took off his artifact mask and walked around the guest room. Just as Trin had said, there were no windows in the room, only a row of ventilation openings out of reach.

Lude moved a chair over and stood on it, discovering that the vent was only about 30 centimeters wide, which was impossible for a normal person to squeeze through. Based on its length, the entire wall was at least 40 centimeters thick.

However, Lud, who knew the layout of the guest room beforehand, was prepared. He took out a sachet and placed it in the vent, then waited quietly for a while. Soon he heard a rustling sound outside, and then saw a teddy bear-like doll pop into the vent with a "pop".

The teddy bear, resembling a doll, was a divine messenger that Lud temporarily borrowed from his second sister, Cloto. Because it was a cute three-headed creature, it could easily squeeze through ventilation shafts that ordinary people couldn't. Behind the teddy bear, three more doll-like divine messengers squeezed in: a white bear, a dog with a red scarf, and a duck with a red hair clip. They also brought Lud several bags of special infiltration equipment.

After the four little ones came in, Lud took out his crayons and drew a small door pattern on the wall directly below the vent. Then he made a "shush" gesture to them, meaning that they should keep their noise down while they were working and not let the eavesdropping waiter outside the door find out.

Although these three-headed doll-like divine messengers couldn't speak, they at least had some comprehension. They nodded to Lude, then each took out their tools from their pockets—small shovels that looked almost like children's toys. They poked them against the wall and, like a hot knife through butter, easily scooped out a piece.

The puppet messengers worked quickly and were expected to finish digging the hole within ten minutes, so Ludwig and Hume hurriedly changed their equipment.

Since it was an infiltration mission, Ludd and Hume took off their cumbersome formal wear and changed into the black bodysuits brought by the doll messenger. Although this outfit might easily evoke certain strange "movie works," it was indeed very suitable for infiltration and did not hinder their actions at all.

Lude, who had changed her clothes first, glanced back at Hume, who was tying her long silver-gray hair into a bun. The zipper of her bodysuit was wide open, revealing her black underwear and flat stomach, offering an unobstructed view of the beautiful mountain scenery.

Noticing Ludwig's burning gaze, Hume smiled slightly and said casually.

"How about I help you resolve this first? Going into battle under pressure shouldn't affect the operation later."

"Cough cough, it's alright, I can tell what's important and what's urgent."

Soon, the dolls had dug the "back door," and Ludd and Hume were ready to act. At this time, there were still about two and a half hours until midnight, leaving them with far too little time to act.

End of this chapter

It's quite a fact that makes Lu De sigh. Although the Pantheon is now a fairly large organization with seven member goddesses, hundreds of divine messengers, and all sorts of "demons and monsters," some delicate tasks still require Lu De's personal involvement.

For example, in this infiltration mission, Lud looked around and found that there were very few suitable candidates.

Elijah and Lacey are undead, and their ability to pass through walls is an advantage, making them ideally suited for infiltration missions. However, a prestigious family like the Navarro would not be without exorcism barriers to protect their mansion from undead intrusions.

The others were either not intelligent enough or not good at it. Hume would have a seizure every now and then, and Ludd no longer dared to let her act alone.

Once the two were ready, they slipped through a small door and left the room, heading towards the castle in the central area of ​​Navarro's house. The few dolls left behind quickly cleaned up the debris from the wall, and then the Teddy Bear Squad Leader jumped onto the big bed, pulled out a red bow with a strangely familiar shape from the pocket on his stomach, put it to his mouth, and began to imitate the heavy breathing sounds of "men and women fighting".

These little things are simply cute, but whether their thoughts are pure is anyone's guess.

Meanwhile, after leaving their guest room, Ludd and Hume quickly located the entrance to a tunnel leading to the castle, using the topographical map they had on hand.

The entrance was located inside the manor's wine cellar; simply flicking a specific candlestick would reveal the hidden entrance. Thanks to their exceptional skills, the two easily slipped into the cellar and then used a secret passage to reach the castle's interior, an area off-limits to guests.

The whole process went very smoothly, probably because the secret passage was for internal connection, so there were no mechanisms inside and no guards at either end, highlighting the tight exterior but loose interior.

After entering the castle, the two first confirmed the location, then headed straight for the patriarch's study. Along the way, they only encountered a few maids, and most of the guards were stationed at fixed points; no mobile sentries were seen. This was mainly because a large number of guests were expected to be attending the gathering today, so the castle had to mobilize some of its staff to help out at the manor outside.

Even a wealthy family like Navarro's doesn't tolerate idlers.

However, Ludwig knew that important places like the patriarch's study would definitely have guards at the door, and they would be elite guards. So Ludwig never thought of going through the door, but instead planned to go in through the window.

The two first went to the top floor of the castle, slipped into an empty room, and then opened the window to slide down to the outer wall to become "Spider-Man". The whistling cold wind was invigorating, while the height of more than ten meters above the ground strongly aroused the urge to urinate. Lud was glad that he was not afraid of heights.

Lude roughly estimated that the straight-line distance from their location to the study was about twenty meters, and they would have to pass at least four windows along the way. There was no guarantee that someone wouldn't be inside, so they had to be extra careful when passing by. Fortunately, the study windows were completely dark, so there was probably no one inside.

Using the climbing gloves developed by the three sisters, Ludd and Hume climbed the wall surface like geckos.

These devices were specially made, using neither divine power to avoid being discovered by the fake thief god, nor magic to avoid being detected by the magicians inside the castle. So the three sisters racked their brains and took a different approach, using materials found locally in the Virtual Realm Forest. They captured a monster called the Man-Eating Wall Dragon and used its claws to make "genuine leather" gloves that could climb walls. The actual performance was perfect and met their requirements.

The two climbed the wall cautiously toward the study. Whenever someone passed by below, Lud would instinctively hold his breath. Although it was a dark and windy night, perfect for stealth, there were many light sources inside the castle. With only about ten meters between them, no one could guarantee that someone with exceptional eyesight wouldn't spot two living people clinging to the outer wall inside the castle.

So being careful is always better than making a big mistake.

However, just as the two were about to reach the study window, a sudden change occurred. The window on the right side of the study was suddenly pushed open, causing Lude, who was crawling diagonally above, to jump into his throat.

Immediately afterward, Ludd and Hume saw a thin, gray-haired old man peek out of the window, looking around furtively. But perhaps his eyesight wasn't very good, or perhaps their black bodysuits blended perfectly into the shadows, because although he glanced in their direction, he didn't notice the two living people just a few meters away.

After confirming that no one was around (not really), the old man threw a rope that was clearly made of a bed sheet out the window, and then climbed out of the window shakily, looking like he was about to escape.

Seeing this bizarre scene before them, Ludwig and Hume were stunned. With the help of the dim light, they could vaguely recognize that the old man who was about to climb out of the window was Huen, whom Trin had mentioned before. He was the former head of the Navarro family and Trin's biological father.

Intelligence reports said that the old man fell ill and was bedridden due to excessive excitement on the day "Telin" awoke, and had been resting ever since. But now, the old guy seems to be in good spirits, so good that he's planning to break out of prison in the middle of the night!

Realizing the situation might be different from what they had expected, Lude turned around and gestured to Hume behind him. The two quickly climbed directly above old Hune and then jumped down with lightning speed, "gently" kicking him back. They then went into the house and covered his mouth before he could scream.

Shh! Don't make a sound, we're here to save you.

By deliberately using the word "rescue," Old Hu En, who was being held down, immediately stopped struggling as Lu De had predicted, but his eyes still revealed terror, making it impossible to imagine that this was a powerful and ruthless figure who had dominated Yanmu City for many years.

At Lud's prompting, old Hun nodded. Lud removed his hand from his mouth, and the old man coughed a few times before asking Lud in a low voice, his tone clearly urgent.

"Two heroes, who sent you?"

"Don't worry about that for now. Just do as we say, and we guarantee we'll get you out of here. But if you don't cooperate, don't blame us for being impolite. Understand?"

"I understand, I understand."

Upon hearing Ludwig's promise to take him away, old Hun nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice, while Hume, standing to the side, had already quietly taken a "three-dimensional recycling device" out of his backpack and set it aside for later use.

They had promised Trin that they would rescue old Hu En from the ruthless Trin, so they specially prepared one of these things for him among the equipment they brought.

End of this chapter

They retrieved the rope that Old Hu En had thrown down, and to prevent anyone from coming in and discovering anything amiss, Lude told him to go back to bed and lie down first. They would send him away in one go when they returned from the study next door.

Although Old Hu En did not recognize the two masked men in black, he felt that their voices sounded very familiar, so he obediently did as he was told.

After settling the old man in, Ludd and Hume continued their work.

The two arrived at the window of the study next door and cautiously peeked inside. Seeing that the room was dark and didn't seem to be occupied, they pried open the window and entered.

After climbing through the window and entering the room, Lu De first checked the door. The thick door and walls provided excellent soundproofing for the study, which to some extent concealed their search of things, but also had some drawbacks. If someone came, they wouldn't be able to hear their footsteps in advance.

There was nothing else they could do but hurry up and get out of there as soon as possible.

The two divided the tasks: Hume was responsible for prying open the safe under the desk, while Ludd searched for the entrance to the alchemy laboratory.

In Trilling's memory, his father's study was the only place in the house where he was not allowed to enter at will. His memories related to it were limited, but he still remembered his cousin Juan, who was allowed to enter the study, mentioning that there was a door in the study that connected to his father's alchemy laboratory, but Trilling did not know where the entrance to the door was.

Logically, the two of them had just discovered Old Huen trying to escape in the room next to the study, and if they wanted to know the location of the secret door, they could ask him. However, after actually contacting him, Lud discovered that Old Huen might not be the real Huen, and that the other party looked very much like the Trin he had just found in the maze.

At this moment, Hume pried open the safe first and took out several ledgers. Because there were so many, it would be too late to look through them on the spot, so Hume stuffed them all into his backpack along with other things, and then helped Ludd find the secret door.

Using his years of experience as a thief, Hume discovered something amiss by tapping on a bookshelf, and then found the switch nearby, successfully opening the hidden door and revealing a spiral staircase leading downwards.

Since it was uncertain when someone would arrive, and also impossible to determine what lay beneath the secret passage, Lu De thought it would be perfect to use a clone.

So, risking being discovered, Ludwig carefully used his divine magic to create a clone on the spot, then controlled the clone to enter the secret passage, while he and Hume stayed in the study, ready to escape at any time.

Relying on being a clone and fearless, the clone Lude carried a candlestick for lighting and jogged into the secret passage. After spiraling down for about ten meters, the passage led to a dimly lit room. As soon as the clone Lude stepped into the room, a large number of magical lamps suddenly lit up on the surrounding walls, illuminating the entire room.

Lude, the clone, looked around and thought to himself that this Hu En was actually quite something.

What's the situation inside?

“In a laboratory, I saw many books and lab benches, as well as some specimens…most of them were people.”

Inside the laboratory, Lud, the clone, was standing in front of a display case. The shelves were filled with specimens of various human organs and limbs, soaking in crystal jars filled with pale green liquid, which looked particularly eerie under the illumination of the magic lamp.

Clearly, Hu En's alchemical research violated taboos. In this world, just like in the Middle Ages on Earth, any research on the human body, regardless of its purpose, was considered "evil."

As for Hu En, Lude simply couldn't believe that this villainous leader was hiding underground tinkering with these things in order to advance medical science.

Just then, Ludwig saw an even more shocking display on a nearby shelf—an entire wall of “black beads.”

"Damn it! I should have guessed that..."

On the huge display case, black beads were densely packed, roughly estimated to be several hundred. Lud had seen these before; they were exactly the same as the containers used by the necromancer Dick to hold his undead slaves. Touching them, he could feel the same "chill," the resentment of the undead.