Goddess Kaleidoscope

Local lords, especially those with small and not very wealthy baronies, would typically build small castles resembling "Japanese pillboxes" as their residences or "outposts" within their territories, for reasons of their own safety and financial resources.

These small castles typically have very small windows on their outer walls to ensure defense, resulting in extremely poor lighting and ventilation inside. Over time, they often develop a suffocating musty smell. Therefore, many minor lords simply don't live in such places, handing over their territories to their subordinates and moving to larger cities where conditions are relatively better.

This is why the saintess and her entourage instinctively declined the old lady's invitation to visit her home.

However, the reality was beyond the expectations of the saint and her party. Baron Cork's mansion was not the kind of repulsive watchtower, but a beautiful garden villa.

The manor was designed by Lude and built by a dwarven architectural team. The three-story villa, shaped like a U, was bright and clean, with large windows made by the dwarves. In front of the main entrance was a garden with flower walls, lawns, and a small fountain, which was maintained by dedicated staff. It was a pleasant surprise even for the young noblemen who were used to seeing luxurious palaces.

"This place... is not bad!"

“It’s quite rare. Since we entered Duran’s territory, this is the first time we’ve heard the word ‘not bad’ from His Highness the Prince.”

"Weishead, what do you mean?"

"Haha! It's nothing, Your Highness. Don't believe everything you hear. How could I dare to mock you!"

"you……"

Seeing that her two teammates were about to start arguing again, Saintess Celica quickly stepped in to smooth things over. These young men were all of extremely high status, so whenever conflicts arose among them, only the Saintess, who was always the center of attention, could step in and mediate.

"Alright! Your Highness Levi, Your Highness Weshead, please say no more... I apologize for the commotion, Mrs. Srina."

Seeing that the saintess had spoken, the two princes each backed down, but they still glared at each other angrily.

At this moment, Lud just returned from outside the temple.

During filming, the Holy Maiden and her entourage intruded, almost causing a conflict. Although the situation was eventually resolved, filming was clearly impossible, so they had to wrap up early, and the Holy Maiden and her group returned to town with the rest of the crew.

When the group arrived in town, the saintess and her entourage were received by the old lady, while Lud said that he needed to go back to the temple first to change into more formal clothes before coming.

In Lud's view, the arrival of the Holy Maiden of the Holy Church of Light was neither a bad thing nor a good thing. Given the prestige of the Pantheon in Pine Town, let alone a Holy Maiden, even if the Pope himself came, he would not be able to shake their foundation in the area by means other than force.

Moreover, these people have come all this way, probably not to preach here, but rather to participate in the twelve trials that each Holy Maiden must complete after being elected. The Void Forest north of Pine Tree Town is a "holy land" that almost every Holy Maiden has visited.

Therefore, Lud felt that as long as they remained calm and waited for the others to complete their trials and leave, there was no need to scare themselves or complicate matters.

Back at the temple, Lud summoned Hydra, who was on duty in the hall, and asked where everyone was. He learned that Aina and Hume were off today and had taken Conna out fishing early in the morning. Shanis, Romian, and Olivia were all at school; the first two were current female teachers, while the latter had officially enrolled this year. The only people left at the temple were Hydra and Fallen Leaf, who was squatting at the entrance sunbathing.

As for the "non-public employees," they are either in the basement or in Taoyuan Village. These people are not usually on the public roads of Songshu Town.

"Master, what happened?"

“It’s nothing. Some outsiders came to town today. They are the new Holy Maiden of the Holy Church of Light. I mentioned them to you when I was teaching you about current affairs. This group is probably planning to go into the forest. You should stay in the temple and not wander around for the next two days. If you accidentally run into them, don’t panic. They… shouldn’t be able to see through your true form.”

Hydra's current human body was forcibly modified by Rude using the power of the Book of Ashes. As long as she doesn't transform on her own initiative, even Hume, who has regained his divine power, won't be able to tell at a glance that she's not human. But just in case, Rude still told her to stay home for a while.

After returning to his room, taking a shower, and changing into clean clothes, Lud said a few words to Hydra, asking her to inform the others one by one when they returned. Then he left the Baron's mansion alone.

Meanwhile, at the Baron's mansion, the old lady was directing the maids to arrange rooms for the guests. This was the first time the new Baron's mansion had hosted "foreign guests" since its completion, and it was a big undertaking right from the start.

The guests were not only numerous, but also of extraordinary status.

The Saintess Squad consisted of 22 members, in addition to a team of unofficial "accompanying personnel" who provided logistical support.

Fortunately, the support staff didn't need to move into the Baron's mansion, so the number of guest rooms was barely enough. However, the household servants were a bit overwhelmed. The Baron's family consisted of only three members, so the frugal old lady only employed eight servants in total. Therefore, she had to ask the old butler to temporarily borrow some staff from outside, fearing that poor hospitality would embarrass the Cork family.

In fact, the saintess and her entourage, who had stayed at the Baron's mansion, were surprised to receive such lavish hospitality in such a remote place on the border of the kingdom. They were especially surprised and delighted when they learned from the servants that there was a large bathroom in the mansion with hot spring water.

"Unbelievable! The Durans actually take baths."

"Prince Li Wei, what do you mean by that?"

Weshead, who had been bickering with Li Wei, glared at him with an unfriendly expression. Realizing his words were indeed somewhat insulting to the Durans, Li Wei coughed awkwardly. Not wanting to leave a bad impression of arrogance in front of the Saintess, he quickly defended himself.

"Uh... I mean, don't the Duran people usually bathe in tubs? I thought only we Empire people liked bathhouses!"

Prince Livy, from the Empire, like other Canary Islands, always harbored a sense of superiority, believing himself to be from an advanced country and that his own possessions were the best. One of the key characteristics of Imperial culture was its "bathing culture," and the Imperials often mocked other nations on the continent by referring to them as "dirty barbarians who don't like to bathe."

To be honest, ever since the Saintess Squad entered the Kingdom of Duran, they have been traveling from south to north for several months. In Li Wei's opinion, no matter where he went, whether it was Yanmu City or the capital of Duran, it was far inferior to the Empire.

Only this little-known town of Pine Trees brought him a slight surprise; it was visibly different from other places!

Li Wei's first impression of Pine Tree Town was that it was prosperous and wealthy, with clean and tidy streets and people with rosy complexions and decent clothes. Keep in mind that it was only early spring, and the cold winter had just passed, which is generally the time of year when food is most scarce.

But the people of Songshu Town not only have enough to eat and wear, but you can even see some vendors selling non-staple foods on the streets, which shows that the local food reserves are quite abundant, which is not common elsewhere.

Another discovery surprised Li Wei even more: the literacy rate among the local people seemed to be very high. Every so often along the street, there was a notice board covered with various announcements, and some people would stop in front of the notice boards to look at them, muttering to themselves, clearly able to understand the words on them.

These discoveries piqued Levi's interest in the place. Before coming, he had heard many rumors about Pine Town and Saint Rudd, but rumors are, after all, distorted and unreliable, so Levi only paid a little attention at the time, but did not really believe them.

With the help of his attendants, Li Wei removed his national treasure-level armor, a gift from His Majesty the Emperor. This armor had been worn by more than twenty predecessors who had brought glory to the country, and had helped the empire win back six holy maidens.

If Li Wei succeeds this time, he can wear this armor for twelve years, and then pass it on to the next Saintess selection. But if he fails, he will have to hand over the armor as soon as he returns home.

After changing into a more comfortable princely robe, Li Wei left his room, intending to take a short stroll while it was still light outside. But as soon as he opened the door, he saw Saintess Celica, who lived across the hall, come out.

The stunningly beautiful girl also took off her divine "Saintess's Armor of Light" and changed into a pure white gauze dress, which perfectly showcased her curvaceous figure. She looked like a pure white lotus, leaving Li Wei somewhat stunned.

"Your Highness?"

"Uh... I'm sorry, that was rude of me."

He coughed lightly to cover up his embarrassment, but fortunately, the others came out of the room at that moment, successfully easing the tension for Li Wei.

Since the average age of the entire Saintess Squad was under twenty, all young people in the prime of their youth, this trial journey was also a rare sightseeing trip. In addition, they had a good impression of this town, so everyone felt that staying in the room on such a nice day was a bit boring, so they decided to go out for a stroll and enjoy the exotic scenery.

So everyone went downstairs to the hall. The old lady was instructing the kitchen to prepare the evening banquet. Seeing these handsome men and beautiful women coming downstairs, she guessed that they probably wanted to go out and wander around the town.

"Are you all looking to go out for a walk to relax?"

"Yes, Mrs. Srina, I've been riding horses these past few days and would like to take a short walk."

"Then I'll have someone arrange some local guides for everyone."

"Let me do it."

As the group was talking, Lu De came in from outside. Seeing that the group of rich young men wanted to go shopping, he volunteered to take on the task.

The group had already heard of the great name of "Saint Rudd" before entering the territory of the Kingdom of Duran. They had already heard some rumors about him from some merchants.

The most legendary, and also the most outrageous, tale told to them was that this Master Rudd, in an effort to stop the spread of a great plague, worked himself to death, only to receive the grace of the goddess he worshipped, who not only resurrected him but also restored his youth.

And now this legendary saint stood before them. His strength as a priest was undeniable. They had witnessed his instantaneous divine magic outside the town due to a misunderstanding. As for the resurrection and rejuvenation claims, they were unsure whether they were true or not. But judging solely from appearance, he was indeed very young, almost the same age as them.

Seeing that Lude was taking the initiative, the group found it difficult to refuse. Since even Saintess Selica did not object, they nodded in agreement.

So the group followed Ludd out of the Baron's mansion. Ludd estimated that there were still three or four hours until lunchtime, which would be just enough time to wander around the town. If there was any place in the whole town that was most suitable for visiting, it would probably be his Brewster College. But Ludd didn't plan to take these people to visit the school for the time being, so he just wandered around the streets.

With Lude as their guide, and the group consisting of strikingly handsome men and beautiful women, they attracted a lot of attention on the street, drawing stares from passersby. Fortunately, no one blocked the road; everyone simply glanced politely, bowed to Lude, and then went about their business.

While the group of young people were admiring the scenery, Lud was also quietly observing them. At the same time, he noticed that there was another group of people following them at a leisurely pace not far behind, who should be members of the "logistics team".

In Lude's view, the selection of each Holy Maiden of Light and the subsequent continental trial were less a religious event and more a talent show with religious elements. The pope who came up with this really figured out the "idol economics" thing.

Unlike variety shows with a pre-written script, the trial journey is a real, hard-fought battle, and the targets are usually no ordinary individuals. Therefore, Lu De was somewhat curious about who they were going to deal with after traveling all this way to Pine Tree Town.

End of this chapter

Lude didn't try to probe the purpose of the Holy Maiden of Light and her party's visit to Pine Tree Town; instead, he chose to ask directly and frankly.

After all, thanks to the Holy Light Church's years of propaganda efforts, almost everyone in the world knows that their chosen saintesses gather their followers to participate in the "Twelve Trials," which is no secret at all.

Therefore, Saintess Celica had no intention of hiding anything from Lud's question. They had come all the way to the Void Forest to complete the third challenge of their trial journey: to eliminate an outer demon named "Hedtaka Miyazaki".

Upon hearing Celica utter the name, Lud was initially taken aback before realizing who she was referring to. Others might not know, but Lud himself was perfectly clear: the so-called "Great Demon Hedtaka" did not exist in reality; he was a fictional character she had created.

Therefore, in a sense, Lud is Hedtaka!

Lud first used the name in his fictional book, "The Book of Ashes," when he was simply making a joke.

But what Lud did not expect was that the content he made up based on the style of Krish mythology unexpectedly resonated with the Lizardmen.

These fanatical cultists successfully empowered the Book of Ashes, which was originally just a "fake," giving it a certain degree of "spirituality." Then, they pulled off a stunt, tricking the Hydra, a lord-level monster, into becoming a sacrifice, thus turning it into a "divine artifact."

Of course! Strictly speaking, the Book of Ashes cannot be considered a true divine artifact, but rather an item with certain divine artifact characteristics. If we had to say, calling it a "demon artifact" would be more accurate.

After that, the defeated remnants of the lizardmen retreated to the depths of the forest, and the name "Hedtaka" spread through their mouths, thus officially making a name for themselves in the Virtual Forest.

Later, Lud had the three sisters build a labyrinth in the forest, and once again brought out Hedtaka as the "mastermind." Those adventurers who were attracted by the treasures in the labyrinth also remembered the name that had caused them so much suffering after actually experiencing the labyrinth.

Furthermore, in the "persona" that Lud has created for himself, the nemesis he has spent most of his life fighting against is none other than this Hedtaka.

Lude originally thought that the "suffering demon" he created was only slightly well-known in the northern region of the kingdom, but he never expected that it would be targeted by the Holy Light Church headquarters thousands of miles away and directly selected as one of the twelve trials for this year's Holy Maiden.

The truth is that this is mainly because Lude is unaware of certain operational mechanisms within the Holy Church of Light. Before the selection of each Holy Maiden begins, the twelve major dioceses of the Holy Church of Light must not only nominate candidates for Holy Maiden, but also recommend at least three trial contents for the main altar to select from.

There are twelve trials, one for each major diocese.

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Duran, when the Archbishop submitted his trial project, a demon labyrinth happened to appear in the Void Forest. So he added the rumors about Hedtaka to his submission, and it actually got selected.

"Master Lude, we've heard that you personally explored that labyrinth. Could you please tell us about the specifics inside?"

Clearly, Serica and her group had done their homework before coming. They knew that Lud had been to the labyrinth and must have a lot of information, so they directly asked him for advice in person. Their attitude was so respectful that Lud couldn't refuse.

After a moment of contemplation, Ludwig spoke in a deliberately solemn tone.

“The street is not a good place to talk. Let’s wait until we return to the Baron’s mansion, or another day at the temple under my jurisdiction, to discuss this in detail. The matter you want to ask cannot be explained in just a few words.”

Seeing Lude say this, Celica didn't say anything more, and the group continued to tour the town, eventually arriving at the street where the school was located.

Originally, Lude didn't want to bring these young masters here, but Pine Town is only so big, and Brewster Academy's campus occupies nearly one-fifth of the town's area, so avoiding it isn't so easy.

The young men quickly noticed the ridiculously large "luxury courtyard" and asked Lude which family's mansion it was, since it looked even more grand than the baron's mansion they had seen before.

"This is not someone's residence, it's a school."

"A school? A town of only 20,000 people has a school?"

"To be honest, I founded this school."

In front of everyone, Ludwig laid his cards on the table and stopped pretending. Some of the crowd looked surprised, while others remained relatively calm, as if they had known all along.

"...(Looks like these guys don't share information.)"

After briefly introducing his school, just as Lude had expected, these noble children generally couldn't understand what a "vocational school" meant. After all, in this magical world that was still in a feudal society, schools were high-end places that only nobles could enter, and they taught martial arts and magic, mainly training mages to cultivate powerful warriors for the country.

Ludwig didn't expect them to understand, so he didn't say anything more.

Just then, the town's clock tower struck five in the afternoon, and the school bells rang loudly. Immediately afterward, people could see through the fence that hundreds of children poured out of the various buildings in the school. The once quiet campus instantly became bustling with noise, a scene full of life but also extremely noisy.

The group of young men stood watching for a moment, none of them intending to go in and take a look. Just as Lu De was about to leave, he saw two nuns walking quickly toward them from afar.

"master!"