Goddess Kaleidoscope

On a rooftop not far behind Caiside, another agile figure was also watching him—it was Serana's mount, Parjama.

The woman followed Cai Side, keeping a safe distance. When she saw Cai Side plunge into the brothel, she leaped onto the roof in a few steps, her movements as light as a feather, without making a sound. Then she opened a skylight in the roof and jumped in as well.

Pargamar's surveillance made Ludwig and Hume realize that the situation might not be as simple as a clergyman spending the night in a brothel. So Hume sent his cat, the Divine Beast, into the brothel, and soon found Zessler in one of the rooms.

Using its small size, the cat squeezed into the gap above the ceiling and peered into the room through a crack.

Besides Cai Side and several prostitutes, there was also a man dressed as a businessman in the room. The two of them drank and chatted for a while like old friends before letting the women leave first, clearly indicating that they had something to discuss formally.

"Lord Caiside, Bishop Mikhail asked me to pass on a message to you, asking you to find an opportunity to trip up that woman. As long as she falls, the bishop will naturally have a way to make sure she can never get up again."

"This is difficult! Although that woman has a bad temper, she is actually quite shrewd. Besides, she has the Pope protecting her, and she is also the Holy Maiden's biological mother. She's not so easy to bring down!"

"Hehe! This is actually not a problem. As you should know, ever since the Pope designated her as his successor, the cardinals have been very dissatisfied. They just dare not openly oppose him because they are afraid that Leonid is divinely protected. In private, they have been complaining for a long time."

“Of course I know that, but the cardinals…”

"You needn't worry about that. Lord Mikhail has already persuaded the other lords. Eleven out of the thirteen cardinals are willing to join. If Serana commits a serious offense, they will jointly demand that she be punished. At that point, even the Pope won't be able to protect her. This is what Lord Mikhail said himself!"

Seeing that Cai Side had fallen silent and seemed to be still hesitating, the old merchant persuaded him again in a seductive tone.

"Lord Caiside, please think this through. The current Pope has been in office for forty-seven years. Although he is still in relatively good health, according to the ancient rules of the Church, the term of office for each Pope is at most fifty years. This means that the position will have to be changed in at most three years. If Serana commits an irreparable mistake at this time, even the Pope cannot force someone with a criminal record to take over. He will have to choose a new candidate from among the other candidates. In that case, no matter who is elected, won't they all remember your contributions?"

"..."

Cai Side didn't say anything, but it was clear that he had been persuaded.

He was originally Cardinal Mikhail's follower and was not on the same side as Serana. The reason the cardinal put him into the mission was to act as an informant and keep a close eye on this woman.

Since his master was so confident and felt he had a great advantage and could definitely defeat Serana, he decided to take a gamble and maybe become a confidant of the next pope.

Seeing that Cai Side's previously hesitant gaze gradually turned fierce, the merchant knew that the guy had taken the bait. So he leaned close to the other's ear and whispered something to him, which made Cai Side's eyes widen.

"This...this is Lord Mikhail's plan? Isn't it a bit too much? If this succeeds, not only will Serana's reputation be ruined, but the Holy See's reputation will also be damaged..."

"The Vatican's reputation has been damaged, but the responsibility doesn't lie with you or me, and it has nothing to do with Lord Mikhail. As long as Serana can't become the next pope, these are all minor issues. Do you understand?"

Cai Si-de and the businessman were unaware that their supposedly secret conversation, which they believed was unknown to any third party, was actually being observed by others the entire time.

Ludwig and Hume eavesdropped through the eyes of the divine beast (the cat), while Parjama, who had infiltrated the brothel, was in the next room, having taken off her hat and pressed a pointed horse ear against the wall to listen.

After the two finished discussing "business," they summoned a woman. Ludwig and Hume then desynchronized their vision. As for whether Parjama, who was still in the brothel, would hear the whole story, that was none of their concern.

"Interesting. It seems that the factional struggles within the Holy Church of Light are more serious than we previously imagined."

"You want to take advantage of the chaos to weaken the Holy Light Church?"

"How could that be? We're all allies right now. We can be careful and watch out for their tricks, but we can't tolerate them using dirty tricks to trip us up. That's our principle, our bottom line. Otherwise, who would want to cooperate with us in the future?"

"So what are your plans?"

“No rush! Let’s pretend we don’t know anything for now, observe secretly, and strike when the time is right. Since Parjama is following Caiside, Serana must know too. Let’s see how she handles it.”

The next day, when Lud saw Serana and Parjama again, they both looked perfectly normal, as if they knew nothing. Meanwhile, Cai Side claimed to be ill and was absent. When a priest capable of divine magic said he had caught a cold and needed rest, everyone took it seriously; those in the know understand.

Lu De currently only knows that Cai Side is planning something in secret, but he doesn't know the specifics of the other party's plan. The merchant whispered in his ear for a long time, but the divine beast hiding in the ceiling compartment couldn't hear the words or see the lip movements, so it naturally didn't know the details.

So, in order to figure out what kind of trouble these guys were up to, Lude had Hume arrange for more Divine Beasts to keep a close watch on the two of them 24 hours a day, while also dispatching a squad of Heroic Spirits to investigate the merchant.

The Heroic Spirit Squad quickly brought back information about the merchant to Lud. His name was House, the president of the Silver Map Merchant Guild. They had established a presence in Pine Town last May, setting up an office and trading post to purchase various rare materials from the Void Forest. Their business dealings were usually conducted in a very proper manner; it was unexpected that they had connections to a cardinal of the Holy Church of Light.

As for "Lord Mikhail" mentioned during their conversation, Lud had seen him in the materials he had previously collected about the Church of Light.

This is one of the fourteen current cardinals of the Church of Light. He is of high seniority and seniority. He is a fellow disciple of the current Pope, Saint Leonid, and both are disciples of the former Pope Josephus, the "Saint of Charity".

Originally, both inside and outside the Holy Church of Light believed that when Leonid abdicated, the next pope would inevitably be Mikhail. However, Serana suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and Leonid directly declared her as the "sole candidate," officially designating her as the one to succeed him!

Many people familiar with Leonid believe that the Pope made this decision because he has fallen back into his "old habits".

Those familiar with Leonid know that although His Holiness the Pope was extremely assertive and prone to autocracy, he was essentially a very sentimental and kind-hearted person. In terms of personal morality alone, his life was impeccable; no other pope in history could be as clean as him.

He has only been married once in his life, but unfortunately his wife died young, passing away more than forty years before her husband. Leonid wept so bitterly at her funeral that he fainted several times. In the end, he swore a solemn oath to the gods that he would be faithful to his deceased wife for the rest of his life and would never marry again until his death.

Because his wife left him no children before her death, Leonid adopted many orphans. During his papacy, the Vatican spent a large sum of money each year to build numerous orphanages.

At its peak, there were as many as three thousand orphanages named after Leonid's deceased wife, taking in hundreds of thousands of destitute children. Sometimes, they didn't even have to be orphans; if poor families couldn't afford to raise their children, they would be sent to the Church of Light's orphanages without hesitation, all of which Leonid personally ordered and instructed.

This decision was initially opposed by the vast majority of cardinals because the Vatican was spending far too much money on it, but Leonid ignored all opposition and resolutely implemented the decision for forty-seven years.

Subsequent events proved this decision to be absolutely correct. These hundreds of thousands of orphans were raised by the Papacy as a reserve force, and upon reaching adulthood, they were all deeply grateful to the Holy Church that had nurtured them, possessed unwavering faith in God, and have now become the backbone of the Papacy's defense.

Leonid, who frequently visited these orphanages, would occasionally discover some exceptionally talented children, whom the Pope would take on as his disciples. Among these disciples, the most talented and the one Leonid favored the most was Serana's deceased husband, Lucas.

Leonid adored his disciple, treating him almost like his own son. He not only imparted all his knowledge to him but also personally promoted him to archbishop at the age of twenty-four. In the end, he even acted as matchmaker, betrothing Serana, a woman from a prominent religious family, to his beloved disciple, much like a father who worries endlessly about his children.

However, to the regret of countless people, Lucas sacrificed himself to save the world. His death dealt a heavy blow to Leonid, who had been grooming him as his successor, and he almost collapsed as a result.

It is said that many people who work at the Cathedral of the Sun (the headquarters of the Church of Light) have seen that when the night is quiet, the old pope, who was so powerful during the day, would sit alone in the Hall of Sages, which enshrines the saints of the church throughout the ages, wrapped in his bathrobe, staring blankly at the portraits of his beloved disciples on the wall that would never grow old.

Perhaps influenced by this emotional factor, the Pope transferred all his love from his disciples to his daughter-in-law, Serana, and began to carefully nurture her, hoping she could replace Lucas.

But the old pope's actions saddened his neglected junior brother.

Mikhail: Shall I leave?

The conflict between these two fellow disciples was no secret. Behind Mikhail was a conservative force led by the College of Cardinals. This force had been entrenched in the central government of the Papacy for many years, becoming thoroughly aristocratic and firmly controlling the high-ranking positions in the Papacy, dividing up power and interests. At its peak, they could even unite to interfere in the selection of the Pope.

Leonid, on the other hand, was a reformer who advocated centralized power and believed that only the Pope was the sole representative of the Holy Light on earth. He had support from the lower and middle classes of the Papacy and local dioceses. In particular, the clergy who came from orphanages were staunch supporters of Saint Leonid.

There can only be one father in the world, and the Pope is the only father in my heart.

Interestingly, the chief god Karius never commented on the power struggles within the upper echelons of the Holy Church of Light. It seems that as long as the underhanded tactics weren't too outrageous, he turned a blind eye.

It sounds irresponsible, but it depends on who you compare it to. If that simpleton from the War God Cult next door heard about the infighting among his subordinates, he wouldn't just step in to mediate; instead, he would teleport two large cleavers over from afar and tell the two parties to resolve the matter according to the War God Cult's "old rules."

Most traditional gods are eccentric characters who act on a whim, and their thought processes are truly "different from ordinary people"!

Back in Pine Tree Town, knowing that Cai Side was up to something, Lu De kept a close eye on his every move. However, whether out of caution or fear, several days passed and he didn't do anything.

Well! It can't be said that this guy did nothing. Hume, who had been secretly keeping an eye on him, said that this bastard had been sneaking out to stroll around the red-light district every night for five days in a row, and had visited all the shops in town.

What left Ludwig and the others speechless was that Hume discovered that this guy had a habit of keeping a diary, so they personally went to steal his diary, hoping to find some clues about the conspiracy. As a result, Hume was completely stumped after reading only a few pages of the diary.

On XX day, I went out to have some fun.

On XX day, I went out to have some fun.

On [Date], Cai Side, how could you be so depraved? Have you forgotten all those ambitions you had back then? Tonight will definitely be the last time!

On XX day, the service at that place last night was good, so I'll go again.

……

For a whole week, Lud still couldn't figure out what big news he and Mikhail behind him were planning. In a sense, he was also an "unbeatable" opponent (seriously).

With their opponent refusing to make a move, Lude couldn't do much either, and the adventurers' training camp was already in its middle stages. The first week of instruction mainly focused on physical training and various theoretical knowledge, while the second week began practical exercises, primarily centered around wilderness survival and first aid skills.

Most adventurers severely lack first aid knowledge; some are completely ignorant, some have only a rudimentary understanding, and others have inadvertently acquired incorrect first aid techniques. This often leads to a comical situation where a monster's attack causes only minor, superficial wounds, which are then dealt a "fatal blow" by a well-meaning teammate.

Many young adventurers who came for training only realized after listening to Rudd's lectures that there was so much to learn about even the most inconspicuous bandaging.

To Lud's slight surprise, the priestesses of the Holy Maiden Order were very serious when learning first aid techniques, and did not look down on this "low-level skill" just because they had mastered more powerful divine magic.

In the words of one of the girls, because they can use divine magic, they are well aware that there is a limit to the number of times divine magic can be used, and they must make plans for when they run out of divine magic.

On the eleventh day of the training camp, Lu De received feedback from the Church of Light regarding the new film. He had already used the footage from the first week of the training camp to edit the first episode of "Wilderness Survival," which was about two and a half hours long and was an educational film with some variety show elements.

After receiving the film, the Pope first had a group of high-ranking officials watch it internally, and it is said that the Sacred Heart was greatly pleased. Watching Celica's vibrant performance on the big screen, Saint Leonid smiled throughout, like an old grandfather looking at his granddaughter.

As a result, the film was quickly released in newly built cinemas across the country, and the response was overwhelmingly positive!

Thanks to the vigorous promotion of the film, this year's Trial of the Saintess, only a third of the way through, has already surpassed the impact of previous years. The Pantheon's reputation has also spread, bringing a continuous stream of faith benefits to the goddesses under Rudd's command.

Although, so far, the benefits from faith have come primarily from the Holy Lord of Light, Karius. When watching the movie, viewers will automatically identify Celica, the Holy Maiden of Light, as the protagonist, while the Pantheon is merely a supporting character, simply letting these viewers know that there is such a strange sect in the northern region of the Kingdom of Duran.

But in reality, the Pantheon benefited greatly from this, successfully riding the coattails of the popularity of a top-tier deity like the Holy Lord of Light. Lu De used this opportunity to his advantage, opening hundreds of cinemas without spending a single penny of his own money, and all of them were located in major cities where the Holy Church of Light had influence.

It's no exaggeration to say that the progress made in the past two months would have taken them at least three to five years on their own, and the financial investment would have been several times higher. This saves them the trouble of dealing with various factions, since few dare to disrespect the Holy Church of Light.

In just a few days, the spiritual benefits brought by the film were sent back to Pine Town in real time through the "symbols" that Lud had cleverly inserted into the film's visuals. All the goddesses of the Pantheon received a share, and following Aina and Shanis, the three sisters and Marigis also reached the peak of the third stage, with everyone touching the edge of a breakthrough.

Since the goddesses' divine power was already nearing saturation at their peak, any faith they couldn't absorb was kept by Rude.

At this point, although no one has said it outright, a quiet competition has already begun behind the scenes.

Leaving aside the old master Hume, none of the six goddesses in the Pantheon who have reached the peak of the third tier have experience in breaking through. The leap from the third tier to the fourth tier is far more difficult than the previous two upgrades. Many gods either cannot reach this step or are stuck here even after reaching it.

Hume, who broke through through the "sacrifice method" orchestrated by Kumirard, could not provide any valuable experience for the others. Ludwig was also completely clueless about it. He once asked Kumirard for advice, but Kumirard became a riddle and told Ludwig to figure it out on his own.

As the first to reach the peak of the third tier but still stuck and unable to level up, Aina, despite her usual carefree nature, is now feeling unprecedented psychological pressure. Aina wants to live up to Lude's expectations of her, but embarrassingly discovers that she doesn't even know how to try.

The only thing that gave Aina a little comfort was that the other sisters in the temple were also stuck, just like her, so at least she hadn't been overtaken by others.

However, just as Aina was comforting herself, her senior sister Shanis suddenly approached her excitedly, eager to share some good news with her best friend.

"Aina, Aina! I think I've leveled up!"

Shanis ran over excitedly to share the good news. When Aina heard it, she froze on the spot and murmured in disbelief.

"How could this be... I was the one who started it..."

Unlike Aina, who had been stuck for half a year, Shanis's breakthrough was exceptionally smooth, almost too smooth! Those who learned of her breakthrough couldn't help but marvel at how different the physiques of gods truly were!

Unlike Aina, who would briefly fall into a dormant state in the final stage of her breakthrough, Shanis became increasingly excited as she approached the breakthrough. At the same time, her uncontrollable spread of desire energy affected the surrounding creatures, with an effect very similar to her berserk mode when she was hungry.

Therefore, whenever Shanis was about to break through, Lude would isolate her in advance, sending her away from densely populated towns to find a secluded mountain in the north to hide until the breakthrough was over before she returned.

However, this breakthrough was different. Unlike the previous two times, Shanis did not have any premonition beforehand, nor did she experience an energy outburst. She naturally advanced to the fourth level. If Shanis had not accidentally discovered that she had some new abilities, she would not have realized that she had advanced.

After her breakthrough, Shanis became the first new god to reach the middle rank since the establishment of the Pantheon. Her divine power was significantly enhanced, and she also evolved some unique skills related to her divine rank.

There are three new abilities in total: two active skills and one passive skill. The active skills are "Blessing of the Child" and "Dream of Life." The former can give the recipient a special buff that guarantees a 100% success rate, while the latter is even more outrageous, allowing both parties to take another's virginity without physical contact, uniting and conceiving an egg through a dream.

The passive skill is quite interesting. When Shanis reached the third tier, she gained the ability to see other people's sexual orientation. Now this ability has evolved. She can not only see other people's sexual orientation, but also see who they like.

In Shanis's view, everyone has one or more red lines on their body. These red lines extend outwards, pointing to the person they like. If the other person happens to like them back, then the red lines between them will connect. The intensity of this love can be judged by the shade of the red lines.

Some people's lines were so red they were almost black, making Shanis apprehensive.

It's worth mentioning that after discovering her new ability, Shanis immediately conducted a "general screening" of those around her, and found that the skill was ineffective against gods, the undead, and Lud, who wielded the Primal Flame.

Unfortunately, Shanis's divine position is not related to combat. Although she has great talent in combat, the new abilities she gained after her breakthrough cannot be directly applied to combat.

After Shanis broke through, Lude immediately convened a family meeting to study her together, hoping to discover the secret to the breakthrough and help the other sisters in the temple overcome their difficulties.