Goddess Kaleidoscope

This is the hotel where the Holy Maiden of Light stayed and the hot spring she bathed in! With his business acumen fully unleashed, Lud even came up with the designs for the surrounding souvenirs. He was determined to capitalize on the popularity of the Holy Church of Light to the fullest extent!

The next day, Selika and her group were invited to a hot spring hotel located in the northern new district of the city. The hotel was built against the mountain and had an excellent view in front of it. To the north, there was an endless virtual forest, and to the south, there was the brightly lit town of Pine Tree. The main road in the area had been fitted with rows of magical streetlights by dwarves, so it had a very beautiful night view.

It's worth mentioning that the hotel's decor was designed by Lude himself, featuring a hodgepodge of Earth cultures, including Chinese, Japanese, Nordic, and even Turkish styles—all things that people from other worlds had never seen before, which everyone found quite novel.

The group was very satisfied with the hotel's conditions. Even Li Wei, who always looked for an opportunity to make sarcastic remarks, was convinced this time and gave a thumbs up, praising the steaming hot spring bath.

Putting aside their experiences in the maze, everyone honestly had a good impression of Pine Town. The local environment was beautiful, the climate pleasant, and the food exceptional; the enjoyment they had there almost made them reluctant to return home.

Alright! Prince Duran Weshead didn't go abroad. While he was eating a peach, he was already fantasizing about returning to this place for a honeymoon after he married the saintess.

Lude also brought his own people with him. His five disciples, Aina, Shanis, Romian, Hydra, and Olivia, along with Hume, made up six beautiful women who lined up behind Lude. This display of power instantly overshadowed everyone else.

"Master is indeed a master; your disciples are all of such high caliber!"

"I am devoted to little Serica, I am devoted to little Serica..."

The disciples around Lude were indeed stunningly beautiful young women who attracted a lot of attention, but the young men of the Holy Maiden Group all had political missions to fulfill and were ordered to pick up girls. Therefore, after glancing at them for a while, they all looked away, afraid of losing face in front of Selica.

Weshead stared at Olivia for a while, feeling that the girl looked vaguely familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before.

On Lude's side, noticing Weshead's gaze, Olivia immediately hid timidly behind Romian. This blonde girl, suspected to be a nobleman's illegitimate child, had unknowingly been sent to Lude for further studies for over half a year.

This girl had her share of squabbles with Rudd at first, but the "Golden Demon," feared by many monasteries in the capital, encountered a "Great Demon King" in the North who was her natural enemy. Although Lord Rudd wasn't an expert at dealing with unruly children, he had one advantage over the nuns in the monastery: he never showed mercy regardless of Olivia's status.

If you dare to cause trouble, I'll make sure your ass is ripped open!

Of course! Olivia did not give in. Her proud spirit did not give up on her antics because of her swollen buttocks. She only decided to compromise with Lud for the sake of her senior sister, Romian.

To be honest, after living in the temple for more than half a year, Ophia actually quite liked the place deep down.

Unlike the monasteries in the capital, this place was unlike any other. While Lud was certainly annoying and the senior sisters were mostly eccentric, Senior Sister Romian was an absolutely wonderful person who always took great care of her, making her feel like she was with a real older sister. This made Romian feel a strong sense of closeness to her without even realizing it.

This trip to the inn was a team-building event organized by the temple. Originally, there was a hot spring bath in the underground of the Pantheon, but it was built by the three sisters, so Romian and Olivia could not enjoy it. Therefore, Rude took advantage of the inn's trial operation to invite everyone over for a vacation.

Everyone was divided into groups and received room keys in the lobby on the first floor. Men and women were separated and moved into two separate buildings on the left and right.

The young men initially protested the arrangement, as they all wanted to live closer to Celica. However, Lude simply said, "Some people are closer, but all are equally far." The previously noisy boys immediately fell silent.

Most of the guests were in pairs, except for Serika and Lude, who each had their own room, as they were of slightly higher status.

The young men were all of high social standing, but after Lu De's "kind advice," they all realized that they were all in competition with each other. Two people sharing a room could effectively supervise each other and prevent anyone from sneaking off.

So everyone, each with their own ulterior motives, checked into the hotel. Lu De gave the hotel staff a wink, and they all nodded to each other knowingly.

The Saintess Group's stay at the hot spring hotel was also part of Lud's publicity plan; he intended to film it as a variety show. Nearly a hundred cameras were set up inside and outside the hotel, all staff members were trained, and he even persuaded Phillips to provide assistance.

According to Lude's manipulation of Phillips, this film aims to promote the cheerful and lively side of the young talents of the Holy Maidens, highlighting the unity and friendship within the team, and incidentally showcasing the local customs and culture of Pine Town. It is a very approachable religious (and cult) propaganda film.

However, the young members of the Saintess Guild weren't completely kept in the dark. Lude had actually explained things to them before they checked in, but the explanation wasn't entirely clear. From the moment they stepped into the hotel, their every move was being watched by cameras, both overt and covert.

Holding a handheld camera, Lu De blatantly filmed the boy group's journey to their room, while Shanis was in charge of filming the girl group's side. This seasoned veteran with incredibly rich "theoretical experience" knew exactly what kind of scenes male viewers liked to see, and she filmed something erotic but not vulgar!

Shanis is quite trustworthy when it comes to GHS.

After everyone arrived at their respective rooms and put down their luggage, a staff member proactively came to their room and brought large, comfortable bathrobes, explaining that these were the hotel's standard attire and inviting the guests to change into them.

For the past six months, this group of young masters had been following the saintess on her travels, spending most of their time in armor. While it might look cool to outsiders, it wasn't actually armor. Now that they were here for a vacation and to relax, they could do whatever made them comfortable.

Soon, the boys had changed their clothes. Apart from the two rather thin magicians, the rest were all muscular men. The sight of a group of handsome guys walking together in loose bathrobes had a strong boy band vibe, enough to make countless fangirls and gay men go wild with joy.

On the other hand, the girls' qualities were equally impressive. All the female members of the Saintess Group were former Saintess candidates, and in terms of appearance, they were all beautiful girls. Celica was undoubtedly the Saintess who received the most support from her competitors in the past. Ten out of the eleven other candidates chose to support her, making the entire group as beautiful as a cluster of flowers.

It's worth mentioning that while the girls were changing, Shanis carried a camera and wandered around, successfully capturing many "rare" moments.

However, just as she was preparing to raid Celica's luxury suite, she discovered that the other party was prepared. The entire room was shrouded in a barrier. Shanis dared not reveal her true form and forced her way in, so she had no choice but to give up in frustration.

After waiting for a while, Celica finally came out after changing her clothes. As a result, everyone soon discovered that although the saintess was wearing a bathrobe, she actually had another set of clothes underneath. Her reason was that she had always been afraid of the cold since she was a child. Since it was not an illness, divine magic could not cure it, so she could only wear more clothes.

The members of the Saintess Guild naturally already knew about Celica's special constitution, so they didn't say much, but Shanis vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Led by the hotel staff, the group quickly gathered at the central open-air bath. The entire bath area covers 3,000 square meters and is divided into men's and women's sections. To prevent peeping, the bath is separated by a seven-meter-high steel plate sandwiched with wooden planks, but this only blocks the view and not the sound.

Regarding the matter of being completely naked in a public bathhouse, Prince Liwei from the "bathing empire" was the first to say that there was no problem, and with him taking the lead in expressing his opinion, no one else said anything.

Only Celica politely declined, explaining that the artifact spirits possessing her body wouldn't allow it, which left many girls who had been eager to try looking somewhat disappointed.

Left with no other choice, everyone had to temporarily leave Selica behind and go for a bath.

Shanis was originally planning to carry the camera directly into the bathhouse, but Lude stopped her in time, feeling that the promotional video should ultimately remain wholesome and that certain scenes unsuitable for children were inappropriate. After thinking for a moment, Shanis tilted her head and said to Lude.

"Master, once I'm done filming, you can just edit it out!"

"..."

In short, Shanis's final idea could not be implemented. After temporarily confiscating her camera, Lude followed the boy band to the other side of the bath.

The group first took a shower before entering the large public bath. Although Li Wei, the Imperial, kept talking about his hometown's world-leading "bathing culture," he couldn't help but show his delight upon seeing the "Pine Town specialty" hot spring bath.

After following the saintess on her journey for more than half a year, the young men in the boy band have certainly broadened their horizons and traveled with many beautiful girls, making the journey less boring. However, they can forget about enjoying themselves. Half of the time is spent traveling, and they can only eat and sleep in the wild. Hot showers are a luxury.

Therefore, when everyone went down into the pool and let the comfortably warm hot spring water submerge their entire bodies, they almost unanimously let out a long, pleasant sigh. Even the Imperial man, Li Wei, had tears involuntarily streaming down his face.

"This is what it means to be alive!"

"To be honest, that's true."

As the boys were contemplating life, a series of pleasant, playful sounds suddenly came from the other side of the high wall. It was the girls who had come with them. Everyone immediately perked up and instinctively listened.

Compared to the quietness on the boys' side, the girls' side was much more lively, with laughter and playful banter filling the air. The key point is that these were all acquaintances, and you could immediately tell who they were just by their voices.

Therefore, even though the boy is separated by a wall and can't see anything interesting on the other side, as soon as he closes his eyes, images will involuntarily appear in his mind, and the mood will instantly come to him.

"Great!"

"To be honest, it's true." xN

The boys were quietly basking in this rare "gift," while Lud was calmly soaking in the bath. The age difference made him far less restless than the restless group of young people, revealing a mature composure.

However, Ludwig's composure was quickly shattered by the conversation he had with the other person.

"Miss Aina, may I ask you a question? The nuns in your church all have very large breasts. Is there some secret to it?"

"Hmm... I don't know either, it was mainly my master who did it."

"Pfft! This brat..."

As soon as these words were heard, all eyes in the men's bathhouse instantly focused on Rudd. It was impossible for the young men in the group not to have noticed the high standards of the Pantheon nuns; after all, everyone has a spirit of universal love, though it's not something they readily express.

Seeing everyone staring at him, and hearing gasps of surprise coming from across the bath, Lu De knew that if he didn't offer any explanation now, his innocence would be completely ruined.

So he coughed lightly and spoke in as calm a tone as possible.

"Actually, I teach... there's a pretty good miracle drug..."

To protect his reputation, Lud hurriedly explained that his sect actually possessed a miraculous drug that could "enlarge local organs," but because its effects were not yet stable, it had never been sold to the public and had only been tested by members of the sect.

Upon hearing this, everyone thought to themselves, "There really is such a miraculous medicine with such an effect. No wonder the Pantheon is famous for its medicines; it truly lives up to its reputation."

Thus, Lu De's image in the public eye successfully changed from "a despicable person who raised his own female apprentice" to "a despicable person who used his own female apprentice as a test subject for drugs." His reputation improved, but it didn't completely improve.

On their first day at the hotel, everyone enjoyed a relaxing afternoon soaking in the hot springs, getting massages, and exploring the hotel's various recreational facilities. Dinner was a lavish feast featuring "Pine Tree Town specialties," leaving everyone stuffed.

At the banquet, Phillips, who was late due to official business, brought Ludwig another piece of good news: he had entrusted "SF Express" to deliver the first batch of twenty projectors and promotional videos to the City of the Sun. The videos were an instant success and caused quite a stir in the stronghold of the Holy Church of Light.

His Holiness the Pope was overjoyed by this and became even more convinced of the great role this equipment could play in the field of propaganda. He then decided to increase investment and planned to equip every Temple of Light with a projector in the future, while expanding the initial plan of two hundred cinemas to one thousand, covering as many human cities as possible.

However, in his reply to Phillips, Pope St. Leonid made a request: he wanted to purchase the technology patents for the camera and projector from the Pantheon for the exorbitant price of 200,000 gold coins.

Phillips explained that His Holiness the Pope did not intend to snatch the business from the Pantheon. After acquiring the technology patent, production would still take place in Pine Town, and they would purchase the equipment at the previously agreed price. Furthermore, the Vatican promised not to establish any affiliated cinemas within the Kingdom of Durand to avoid competition with Brothers Film Studios; all these conditions would be stipulated in a written agreement.

The Pope's sole purpose in wanting to buy the patent was to give the Church of Light a reason... or rather, an excuse, to prevent other denominations from acquiring these two machines.

Although this world is still in a feudal era and has not yet formed a clear enough concept of "intellectual property rights," the general public at least knows openly that stealing is wrong. Therefore, the Holy Church of Light openly purchases technology patents so that if anyone dares to imitate the machines in the future, they can legitimately send a "lawyer's letter warning."

Philip admitted that after receiving the machines, headquarters actually consulted a group of top alchemy masters and concluded that although the structures of the two machines were indeed very complex and ingenious, they were not impossible to replicate.

Therefore, in order to more effectively control this new propaganda platform and prevent other sects from obtaining such machines, the Pope believed it was necessary to purchase technology patents. This would ensure that they could stand on the moral high ground when they sued other sects in the future.

It's important to understand that the religious world today is no longer the era before the war of gods, where people would rather fight than argue. Especially between major sects of the same level, everyone tacitly tries to avoid conflicts. If they can't avoid them, they mainly engage in verbal battles.

Two hundred thousand gold coins is indeed a lot, but after the Pope learned about the Pantheon in detail, he felt that they were worth the price!

The current pope has always hoped to form a religious alliance that transcends secular royal power, with the Holy Church of Light as its leader, thus unifying the world. However, the various small and medium-sized sects that the Holy Church of Light has been heavily supporting over the years are all incompetent and hopeless, a bunch of people who only know how to cheer and create atmosphere.

But the Pantheon was different. The Pope immediately saw that it was a goose that could lay golden eggs, and Rudd's initiative to make friends was also quite tactful, which made the Pope think that this little brother was capable and could be managed!

"His Holiness the Pope speaks highly of you, Lord Lud, and praises your many great achievements in the northern part of the Kingdom of Duran. He even entrusted me in a letter to invite you to visit the City of the Sun."

"His Holiness the Pope's invitation is truly an honor! However, I am currently tied up with worldly affairs and am afraid I will not be able to spare the time..."

"Haha! There's no rush. As for the specific arrangements, I'm just a nobody and can't say for sure. I'm sure Lady Serana will discuss it with you in detail once the delegation arrives in a couple of days."

"Lady Serana? The head instructor of the Sun Knights?"

"Yes, the head of the delegation is that lady, who is also the mother of the saintess, so His Holiness the Pope specially sent her here."

Lud, adept at extracting information, had already found out quite a bit about Celica's family background. Compared to her father, who died young in his early thirties, her mother's resume was far more impressive.

Celica's mother, Serana, was also a candidate for sainthood, but she was not selected and was unwilling to follow the sainthood of her generation. So she went to the Sanctuary for further studies, changed from a priest to a high-ranking Sun Knight, and then climbed step by step to her current position. She is recognized as the strongest fighter in the Sun Knight Order and one of the top warriors in the world.

It's worth mentioning that this character's mount is also quite famous. It's said to be a golden pegasus of the level of a monster lord, named Pargamar, a powerful being whose combat strength is not much weaker than that of a dragon.

After the dinner, Lude called over two well-dressed waiters and had them carry the drunken Lord Phillips back to his room to rest. As for the other young people, most of them gathered around Shanes and Hume, watching with great interest as the two played a novel game called "Gwent".

Having just chatted with Phillips at length, seemingly enjoying themselves but actually expending a great deal of mental energy, he was feeling quite tired. So he left the hall to take a bath and get some rest.

However, just as Lud was about to reach the large bathhouse, a person suddenly slipped out from the entrance of the bathhouse not far ahead, acting furtively, and at first glance looked like a thief.

Seeing this, Ludwig instinctively dodged into the shadows around the corner, simultaneously activating the Thief God talent bestowed upon him by Hume, instantly entering a state of stealth. In this state, Ludwig's presence was almost completely absent; even when facing top-tier mortal experts or mid-to-low-level gods, they could not easily sense his aura.

Only then did Lude realize that the furtive figure ahead was none other than the Holy Maiden of Light, Selica, and above the door she had emerged from was a huge "male" character...

When Lude saw Celica sneaking out of the men's bath, his first instinct was, "Could this kid have gone to the wrong place?"

But he soon noticed a subtle "detail": Celica, who had just come out of the bathroom, had a completely flat chest, like a sheer cliff. While Celica, as he usually saw her, wasn't as large as Aina Shanis, her figure was still quite alluring with its prominent curves.

Considering that the other teammate had secretly gone to the men's bathhouse behind the other teammates' backs, Lu De couldn't help but draw a very surprising conclusion.

This year's Holy Maiden... seems to have something special about her!

After a moment's hesitation, Lu De didn't confront the person directly. Instead, he remained hidden in the shadows until the other party left before deactivating his stealth mode. Having unexpectedly stumbled upon some juicy gossip, he had no desire to take a bath now.