Goddess Kaleidoscope

As Lude understood it, this was like splitting the functions of the modern police force and assigning a portion to the guards, mercenaries, and adventurers. The guards were responsible for the town, the mercenaries for the areas outside the town, and the adventurers were essentially auxiliary police, supplementing the local security forces.

So often, if a young man from the countryside doesn't want to honestly farm or find a place to become an apprentice, and happens to hear a third-rate adventure story being sung by a bard on the street, then nine times out of ten he'll be so excited that he'll register as an adventurer, and then die in a mission because he overestimates his abilities.

The local mercenary guild in Pine Town was directly dispatched by the main guild after the town was upgraded to a town. Because they regularly order various potions, they often visit the Pantheon. Rude and the branch guild leader are quite familiar with each other.

The Adventurers' House, however, was not very stable, having changed hands three times.

As mentioned earlier, the Adventurers' House is not an official organization, lacks a well-established system, and is not subject to unified supervision by the General Guild. Furthermore, being self-financing, it's inevitable that some unethical practices will be undertaken in pursuit of profit.

The first adventurer's inn in Pine Town had been operating locally for six months, initially appearing law-abiding. However, it wasn't long before it was revealed that they were secretly colluding with bandits, providing them with information and a mole. Rud decisively struck, wiping them out along with the bandits.

The second agency that came after them, while not as outrageous as the first, was still no good; they were typical unscrupulous agents.

Generally, adventurer's houses will rate the difficulty of a task after receiving a client's request before posting it, taking only about 10% of the commission. The second type of house, however, inflates the commission amount to adventurers, actually taking 30% or even half of the principal.

But that's not the worst part. Sometimes, when the employer can't provide enough relevant information, this unscrupulous agency will trick newly recruited adventurer teams into scouting bushes.

If the actual difficulty of the mission is not high, it's fine if the rookie team is capable of completing it. At most, they will be ripped off by unscrupulous intermediaries. The real danger is the kind of "trap mission" where the actual difficulty exceeds the prediction. The entire team suffers heavy losses or even wipes out. The unscrupulous intermediary will simply consider the mission a failure, not pay a single penny, and then turn around and ask the employer to increase the commission before transferring the upgraded mission to other adventurer teams.

After the second family repeated these unscrupulous practices, the adventurers who had been cheated went to the Pantheon, begging Lord Rudd to intervene and bring justice. Rudd then struck again, driving the family out of town once more.

For a period of time after that, no new adventurers' houses were built in the area until shortly after Pine Town was granted to Baron Kirk, when a third one appeared.

Due to the negative impact of the first two companies, the third company was not well received when it first arrived in Pine Town. Employers and adventurers preferred to contact the Pantheon directly, since Rude was not a middleman and did not make a profit.

However, mid-level rank is not the Pantheon's primary responsibility. In addition to mid-level rank, the Adventurers' House also has to undertake functions such as mission rating and logistical support. Rude does not have enough manpower and energy to do this, so it still needs to be left to professionals.

So Ludwig took the initiative to meet with the head of the third family, and even brought the old lady of the Baron's family to listen in. The implication was clear: if you dare to act like the first two families, the local religious leader and the local lord will beat you so badly you won't even recognize your own mother!

And so, the third Adventurer's House has been operating until now. Although it hasn't done anything particularly outstanding, it has always been doing its job properly and hasn't caused any more trouble.

The person in charge of the third company is named Patick, a middle-aged man who looks somewhat timid. A while ago, the local mercenary guild organized a regional training camp, which he found very enviable. He wanted to follow suit and organize one for the adventurers registered with him as well.

But Patick soon discovered, to his embarrassment, that the locally registered adventurers were like a chicken coop, full of noobs.

The reason they were so unlucky was all thanks to the first two companies. Any local adventurers with even a little skill either switched jobs to become mercenaries or transferred to other places.

Adventurers generally believe that Pine Town is indeed a wonderful place with outstanding people and beautiful scenery, but the local adventurer's home has really given them a psychological trauma!

It's no exaggeration to say that any adventurer who leaves this place and encounters a fellow adventurer who says they're going to try their luck in Pine Town will kindly advise them against it.

The adventurers' home here isn't a home, it's a doghouse!

Patick made many efforts to reverse this negative impression, but with little success. Finally, the middle-aged man realized that he still needed to find a respected local figure to endorse him. So who was the most respected person in Pine Town? Naturally, it was the famous Saint Rudd.

So during this time, Patick was like a sycophant, always looking for Rudd, flattering him and giving him gifts. He even took the initiative to be baptized into the Church of Medicine God and came to the temple to pray every day, with an attendance rate that was higher than that of Rudd, the official priest.

After confirming with Lude that this guy was indeed serious about running the Adventurers' House well, he agreed to help them organize a training camp that could boost their reputation and morale.

The fact that Saintess Selica's trial team was also present gave Lud, who had recently become addicted to planning variety shows, a new idea that he thought was pretty good.

Regarding the adventurer profession, Rude has always wanted to complain, because their existence is clearly more harmful than beneficial. Many adventurers' behavior, if not exactly that of thugs, is not much different from that of "hooligans".

There's a joke that puts it perfectly: when a young person is unwilling to work a regular job but also doesn't want to admit they're unemployed, they'll most likely register as an adventurer.

The Kingdom of Duran has been in a stable situation for the past two or three decades, with only some small-scale local conflicts with neighboring countries. In addition, the weather has been favorable and there have been no particularly severe natural disasters. As a result, the population has been growing year after year. Due to the increasingly serious population pressure, tens of thousands of people from the central region of the kingdom have to migrate outwards every year.

The vast majority of these "surplus people" were sent to the north to explore new living spaces, but some young people were unwilling to become pioneers, so a large portion of these unemployed people became adventurers.

The total number of adventurers in the entire Kingdom of Duran is conservatively estimated at around 80,000, which is more than the combined standing armies of all the feudal lords in the country!

In fact, the existence of adventurers largely serves to compensate for the shortcomings of feudal lords in grassroots governance. The stronger the local lord's ability and sense of responsibility, the smaller the space for adventurers to develop.

However, there are always exceptions. The grassroots management system of Pine Town was laid by Lude himself. After the arrival of the Baron's family, although there was a nominal transfer of power, this system was completely preserved. The locals have developed the habit of "finding the sheriff when there is trouble" and do not need to spend money to post a quest at the Adventurers' House.

However, Pine Town is right next to the Void Forest, a natural treasure trove that constantly attracts challengers from all walks of life to come and explore. So even though the Baron's territory doesn't really need adventurers, Pine Town has become a gathering place for these martial arts figures.

Lude had previously asked Patick to do some data analysis. The local adventurers' house mainly accepted three types of commissions: collection, escort, and rescue. Collection accounted for nearly 70%, while escort and rescue missions were also accepted by mercenaries, so they only accounted for 20%. The other types combined accounted for less than 10%.

The main issuers of the collection tasks are various merchant guilds, which entrust adventurers to enter the forest to collect various valuable plant and animal materials. Because the number of orders is usually very large, they are often broken down into several smaller tasks.

Therefore, Lud believes that local new adventurers do need training, but not in combat skills, but in wilderness survival skills.

Ironically, while many bards' third-rate adventure tales depict dragons as world-destroying dreadlords, the true killers of the Void Forest are, in reality, number one slimes and number two poisonous mushrooms. Both are notorious newbie killers!

Slimes are wriggling, slime-like creatures that move as slowly as snails. Their only attack is spraying acid, but the attack range is less than a meter, and you can easily kill them by stomping on them.

Many adventurers look down on slimes, unaware that this thing hides a deadly danger beneath its weak appearance. These slimy creatures are covered in germs, and some adventurers who are accidentally injured by its acidic liquid will likely die from sepsis if the wounds are not treated in time and properly.

As for poisonous mushrooms, there's not much to say about them; they're perfect for fools!

Therefore, Lude believes that the local adventurers' home can hold training sessions to focus on teaching new adventurers wilderness survival skills. These skills have always been neglected, and novices either don't know them or don't even know they don't know them, and in the end, they may pay the price with their lives.

Not only would Ludwig teach this at the training camp, but he would also film the process to create the world's first "educational film," further expanding the product range of his film company.

He even came up with the title: "Wilderness Survival! Young Adventurers Season 1!"

In addition, Ludwig plans to invite members of the Holy Maidens' Guild to participate as special guests.

In a sense, Lude has figured it out. He treats Selica like a "dragon mark." As long as she appears, the Holy Church of Light will most likely give her the green light to send the film over for broadcast. It's practically like a different world version of "Sweetie." It's an old money-making secret!

So Ludger met with Serana and Phillips, and upon meeting them, he immediately presented them with a complete business plan, explaining in detail the key points and the various benefits it could bring to both parties.

Serana and Phillips were both intelligent people, so they naturally understood that what Lud said was true and were very interested in the project he was going to launch. The Saintess Trial was originally a publicity-oriented reality show, and there was no reason not to let Serika participate in such a suitable event.

Serana secretly admired Lud's talent, thinking that if he weren't a priest of the Pantheon, she would really like to recruit him into the Church of Light. With his ability and aptitude, he should be able to become a cardinal very soon.

A few days later, the training camp officially began. Because of the reputation of the previous two Adventurer's Houses in Pine Town, and because the registration requirements were limited to young adventurers under the age of twenty-four and at the beginner levels of Black Iron and Bronze, the number of participants wasn't large, but there were still over a dozen teams and more than a hundred people.

It's worth mentioning that when Lude was reviewing the list, he actually saw the name of a familiar face: Denzel's team was on it.

Lude had dealt with them a few times before. The members of this squad all came from lower-class noble families. Because they were not the eldest sons, their order of succession was not high, so they simply ran away to make a living on their own.

What impressed Ludwig most about them was that Captain Denzel had a family heirloom called the "Dragon's Eye Sword." However, the knowledgeable Hume immediately recognized that the sword was a prank prop created by a lapis lazuli dragon named "Sanders" to tease his fellow dragons.

Denzel, carrying the sword and a copy of "The Complete Guide to Dragon Slaying," wanted to make a name for himself by slaying dragons. Unfortunately, before their dragon-slaying mission could even begin, they tragically perished when the sword was stolen by a stronger team of adventurers.

After that, Denzel's team continued to operate around Pine Town. Their adventurer rank once rose to Silver, but later they took on a mission to act as guides in a dungeon, which resulted in heavy casualties for their employer (Trin's group). The second Adventurer's House forcibly judged the mission as a failure, and not only did they not receive their commission, but their hard-earned rank was also downgraded to Bronze.

But precisely because of this, the Denzel team, which had been downgraded to Bronze level, met the registration criteria for the training camp and thus took the initiative to participate in the event.

On the first day of training, more than one hundred adventurers who had signed up gathered at the newly built training camp outside the city. For the next three weeks, they would receive a full set of wilderness survival training courses compiled by Lude himself. Only by completing all the training courses and passing the final assessment could they graduate.

In addition, Lude promised to award "special prizes" to the top ten trainees in the overall ranking, hoping that everyone would train hard.

Then, Lude announced to all the trainees that special guests would be participating in the training camp with them. Following this, the Saintess Guild made a dazzling entrance, causing the young adventurers, already excited by the special reward, to erupt in unprecedented cheers.

"Miss Saint, I'm your fan! (Pounces)!"

Before the training camp officially began, Lu De never revealed any information about the special guests to the outside world in order to maintain the mystery and at the same time appropriately reduce the number of trainees to avoid the idol effect being too strong and too many people rushing to sign up at once, causing unnecessary trouble for the training camp.

For the young adventurers who had signed up to learn new skills, the arrival of the Holy Maiden and her entourage was an unexpected delight.

This training camp experience is something they can brag about for the rest of their lives!

However, the young people, caught up in the excitement, had no idea what kind of training program the kind-looking Master Ludwig had meticulously prepared for them.

Students & Lud: We can't wait!

The first day of the training camp had no training subjects. After an initiation ceremony in the morning, the members of each adventurer team were divided into different study groups according to their professions. They first followed their respective leaders to familiarize themselves with the camp area and learn about the course schedule for the next twenty days.

Contrary to most people's expectations, the course included very little combat training, estimated to account for only one-fifth of the entire course. The majority of the content focused on wilderness survival and first aid, which left the young adventurers slightly disappointed.

As they had originally envisioned, these training camps organized by the Adventurers' House would typically invite experienced veterans to serve as instructors, imparting practical combat skills to the newcomers. Sometimes, these veterans would even recognize a student's potential and take them on as apprentices.

So when the Adventurers' House in Pine Town announced that their training camp had received assistance from the local Pantheon, many young people rushed to sign up simply because they admired Lord Lu's reputation. And this is what the training camp taught them?

Some young adventurers were puzzled by this and said that this was not what they wanted to learn at all. They hoped that the training camp could teach them some "truly useful skills", such as killing dragons with their bare hands.

Lude had long anticipated this reaction from the young people. They left home to become adventurers with dreams of heroism, but had never received any real professional training. Most of the time, they acted on sheer enthusiasm and learned from their mistakes.

There are many things they don't not understand, but rather they are unaware that they don't understand!

Take wilderness survival for example. Many adventurers from rural areas think that this is their forte. They think that they are experts in wilderness survival because they grew up in the woods in their hometown and can climb trees, pick fruit, and fish in rivers. Then they plunge into the dangerous Void Forest and end up dead.

If possible, Lude would really like to set an entry threshold for the adventurer profession, so that those naive young people who are not suitable for this profession can turn back from the wrong path. But unfortunately, the overall environment is like this, and it has continued for who knows how many years. If reform were to be carried out, not to mention whether those in power would agree, I'm afraid that the vast majority of young people who dream of turning their lives around by becoming adventurers would be the first to jump out and oppose it.

The saying "it's hard to persuade a damned ghost with kind words" pretty much describes this situation.

When questioned by the trainees, Lude simply told them to be patient and wait until the classes officially started tomorrow. They would then be able to judge for themselves whether they had learned anything. Lude promised that if they still did not approve of the training after four days, they could get a full refund without any conditions.

On the first night of the training camp, everyone had dinner together in the cafeteria. At the VIP table, Lud and Serana were sitting face to face.

During her stay in Pine Town, Serana had been observing everything, including Lud himself. She could tell that the real "ruler" in the area was not the Baron's family, but Lud, the religious leader revered by all.

Unlike those charlatans who usually achieve divine authority over royal authority and successfully control a region, Lud is indeed very good at bewitching people, but all he does is not for the sake of wealth and power, but to genuinely seek the welfare of the local people.

This is evident from the spirit of the locals in Songshu Town; even ordinary people can live with rosy complexions and bright eyes.

Serana had traveled extensively, even to the renowned capital of the Canary Islands, a so-called "model city" with its own slums where the lives of the common people could only be described as barely scraping by. As long as there wasn't a mass starvation of civilians, the rulers could proudly proclaim it a golden age.

After several days of observation, although she hadn't yet grasped the full picture, Serana had learned enough from the common people about Rudd's past deeds. If possible, Serana really wanted her horde of insects to come and see for themselves what a truly excellent clergyman was!

At the dining table, Lude, Serana, and Phillips enjoyed a delicious braised pork rice bowl while chatting and laughing in a pleasant atmosphere. At another table not far away, Lude's female disciples sat with the Saintess Guild, a luxurious lineup of all-beautiful girls that drew sidelong glances from those around them.

Interestingly, on Celica's side, among a group of beautiful girls with extremely ladylike dining postures, there was one whose eating habits were far too unrestrained. The handsome men of the Saintess Guild didn't recognize her, but they could tell that she was very familiar with Celica and had come with Lady Serana before.

Only a portion of the Holy Light Cult knew that this was not actually a human, but rather the horse of the Holy Maiden's mother!

At this moment, Parjama, who had transformed into a "rice-eating horse," had already finished her fourth plate of rice and, holding up her clean, heaven-like empty plate, called to the delivery person not far away to give her another one.

The other party's overly lavish eating habits made Celica and the other members of the Saintess Guild slightly embarrassed, while Aina, on the other hand, was stunned and secretly envious. If their master hadn't repeatedly warned them, they would have liked to eat like that too.

Wow! This lady has a good appetite!

"It's alright, but the food here is really delicious. When you leave, you must persuade Serana to hire a few chefs to take back with her."

"..."xN

Soon, the fifth steaming plate of rice was served to Parjama. The beautiful girl, her eyes sparkling, licked her lips and was about to roll up her sleeves to continue eating when she suddenly felt that the little hat on her head was in the way. So she casually untied the ribbon, took it off, and put it aside.

The crowd around gasped in surprise, for they noticed that the girl had two long, erect ears on her head, which appeared to be horse-shaped.

Everyone subconsciously assumed that the other party must have subhuman blood. Not to mention the racially discriminatory Canary Empire, even in other ordinary countries, such mixed-race people with "impure blood" would be discriminated against and be considered lowly people. However, seeing how close she was with Celica and how they could sit and eat together, it was clear that she had a high status.

Parjama ignored the surprised looks and continued to eat heartily as if nothing was wrong. Serika, who was standing next to her, wanted to stand up and explain, but was pushed back down by Parjama.

"There's no need. Explaining it will only attract more flies."

At this moment, Parjama noticed that, compared to the astonishment and whispers of the people around her, the local nuns sitting opposite her were surprisingly calm. Although the seemingly dull white-haired man opposite her kept staring intently at the ears on the top of his head, his gaze contained only curiosity without any malice or discrimination.

So she smiled and said to Aina.

Want to touch it?