Goddess Kaleidoscope

"Well, Sister Hume asked me to ask you whether the plan should proceed as scheduled."

"That doesn't make sense! If Fran was there too, how were they captured?"

Lud scratched his head, utterly bewildered. Others might not know, but he knew perfectly well. Fran was the chosen one of the goddess of the hearth, Marigsis. Once Marigsis's faith was restored, she gained power befitting her status as a divine child. These few petty thugs were just hooligans; the only way they could possibly capture Fran… was if Fran was holding back!

So Ludwig only pondered for a moment before quickly figuring out what was going on.

It's likely that those children were on their way to the opera house when they happened to pass by the embassy entrance and accidentally bumped into Cai Si De's group. Marigis, who was possessing Fran's body, knew that Ludwig had a plan, so in order not to alert them, she secretly instructed Fran not to resist.

That should be about it!

After a moment's thought, Lud decided to escalate things.

Meanwhile, back at the embassy, ​​the third brother, who had returned upstairs, was reporting to the leader of the team that the students who had passed by had been easily "taken care of" with drugs. They were tied up and temporarily placed on the first floor of the embassy, ​​to be taken back for proper "processing" after they finished their business here.

The team leader nodded after listening, not finding anything wrong with it.

Although Brewster College is famous far and wide, with more than 1,500 students, 99% of them are from ordinary families, and only a few have certain status. Surely the third brother can't be so unlucky as to arrest all the people he can't touch?

So the boss didn't say anything more, but just urged his men to hurry up and finish work as soon as possible so that they would be safer!

"Hurry up, everyone, remember to get that..."

"Boss! Something's wrong! There are people downstairs again, they look... they look like guards!"

Hearing a squad of guards coming downstairs, Cai Side and his three henchmen were all startled, but fortunately, their leader remained calm. The presence of guards didn't mean their activities had been exposed, and besides, this was the embassy where the Holy Light Church delegation was staying; the guards wouldn't dare to force their way in.

The problem now is that someone has to go out and stop them, and that person has to be a real member of the delegation. The leader looked at Cai Side, who was trembling and even more flustered than his own underlings, and felt that if he let this person go out, the guards might see through him on the spot.

Soon, there was a rapid knocking on the door downstairs. The guards had obviously arrived at the door. The group had to put down their work and rush down to the lobby. The leader first had his men move the four students who were still unconscious to the second floor before he and Cai Side went to open the door.

Just before opening the door, the leader specifically reminded Cai Side that when he saw the guards, he should not show any panic. He should just silently chant in his heart that the Lord of the Holy Light Church is the Lord, and then put on an arrogant attitude of looking down on people. The guards would not dare to do anything to him.

With his boss's reminder, Cai Side finally calmed down and realized that he was a noble priest, an assistant to the cardinal, and a trusted strategist of Lord Mikhail, who devised countless vicious schemes to help him have children without dermatitis.

If I can't handle Serana, why should I be afraid of a bunch of country bumpkin guards?

Thinking of this, Cai Side's courage instantly grew. He walked towards the door with his head held high and chest out, while also shouting irritably.

"Who is it? What are you banging on so late at night?"

Pushing open the door, Cai Side, his face cold, stood on the steps, looking down at the group of Pine Tree Town guards. The leader deliberately pulled away from Cai Side by half a body length, hiding most of his body in the shadows behind the door.

The leading knight looked Cai Side up and down a few times, seemingly recognizing his identity as a priest. He first waved for his men to be quiet, and then spoke to Cai Side in a very calm tone.

"Good evening, priest. We apologize for disturbing your rest at this time, but we need to ask you some questions."

"Ask me? Ask what?"

"Have you seen a group of four teenagers around here, one boy and three girls, wearing Brewster Academy uniforms? Their physical characteristics are as follows..."

In front of Cai Side, the leading knight described the appearance of the four students. Cai Side appeared impatient, but he had a vague feeling that something was wrong. When he passed by the four unconscious students on his way downstairs, he had glanced at them and they seemed to match the knight's description exactly.

So he casually asked, pretending it was a nonchalant question.

"Who are these children you're talking about?"

"The boy and girl with reddish-brown hair are called Mochi and Hima. They are siblings, the children of Viscount Mape. The one with brown hair is called Sasha, the sister of our Baron Cork."

"And what about that girl with the beige hair? Could she also be from a noble family?"

“That woman is named Fran, and she is certainly not from a noble family.”

"Oh, that's alright."

"But she is an outer disciple of Master Lud of the Pantheon."

"Uh, this..."

In an instant, Cai Side felt a little short of breath, while the eldest brother, hiding in the shadows by the door, was already cursing the third brother in his mind. These students he had captured were no ordinary small fry.

Just as Cai Side was about to lose control, the knight in front of him, with one hand on the hilt of his sword, asked casually.

“Speaking of which, sir…did I just tell you that Miss Fran’s hair is beige?”

"A fight broke out?"

"Yes, those people clashed with the guards who came to the door, and now they have taken five hostages and are in a standoff with Knight Ados."

"Wait a minute! Five hostages? Who else is there besides the four children?"

"It's Cai Side..."

"..."

At the opera house, Lud was completely bewildered after listening to Hydra's report. Although the general development of the situation was not beyond his expectations, there were subtle deviations in some "details".

Rewind to fifteen minutes earlier, at the entrance of the embassy where the Holy Light Church delegation was staying. Cai Side accidentally blurted out his own words, and the knight Ados, who was leading the delegation, drew his longsword from his waist in a flash. Seeing this, the other guards behind him also drew their weapons.

But just as the group was about to step forward and take Cai Side down on the spot, the leader, who had been disguised as a servant and hiding in the shadows behind the door, beat them to it, grabbed Cai Side from behind, and put a short knife directly to his neck.

This scene stunned not only Ados and the guards, but even Caiside himself was taken aback and couldn't process what was happening.

"You...how could you..."

"Shut up! All of you, stand back, or I'll kill this guy!"

Holy crap!

The leader, being a seasoned bandit, saw that Cai Side, this good-for-nothing, had been exposed. Without saying a word, he chose to make use of him, taking Cai Side hostage and ordering the guards to retreat immediately.

Because Athos, who was leading the group, was unaware of the inside story, he did not know that the two men were actually in cahoots. To avoid provoking the robbers, he could only do as his guards did, retreating while gesturing to his men behind him.

Ados was also an experienced veteran. He received a report that townspeople had witnessed suspected human traffickers kidnapping several students on Embassy Street. Just then, Ludd also sent someone from the theater, saying that a group of four students from the student council had gone missing, and these were not ordinary students.

Ados dared not delay and immediately summoned two-thirds of the guards stationed at the site to rush to the scene, bringing a total of more than sixty people.

Following Athos's orders, the guards split into three teams of ten to search each building, while the rest guarded all the entrances and exits along the street to prevent any thieves from escaping.

Now that the thieves' location was confirmed, Ados kept talking to the robbers to calm them down and distract them, while giving his men a signal. The last two men in the group took the opportunity to slip away from the scene. Soon after, they called over the other two teams and surrounded the embassy. They even sent two men to crawl through the sewers in case there were any secret passages underneath.

Unsure of the exact number of robbers and the specific situation inside the embassy, ​​Ados did not dare to rashly lead his men in a strong attack. Instead, while surrounding the embassy, ​​he sent someone to invite Master Rudd.

Soon, Rudd arrived at the scene upon hearing the news, accompanied by Serana from the Holy Light Church. The two of them pretended to be ignorant, engaging Athos in a perfunctory manner to inquire about the situation at the scene.

"Strange! Why would robbers come to the embassy where we are staying?"

"Yes, it is indeed quite strange."

The two exchanged a silent glance, their faces showing concern for the hostage's safety (not entirely), but inwardly they were both secretly complaining.

"...(This guy's acting is amazing!)" x2

On the second floor of the embassy, ​​the leader who had retreated there was observing the situation outside through the gap in the curtains. There were dozens of guards on the street, and they had already set up a cordon along the street. Reinforcements were also arriving continuously. With their strength, it was impossible for them to break through by force.

So the leader felt that their only chance of survival was to take hostages and escape the city. He planned to ask the guards for four fast horses, and then he and his three henchmen would each carry a student as a hostage. As long as they shook off their pursuers and got out of the city into the woods, they should be able to escape without any major problems.

Just as the leader was pondering his next move, Knight Athos arrived empty-handed at the embassy gate, wanting to speak with the bandit leader. This was exactly what the leader had been waiting for, so he ordered his men to keep a close watch on the hostages, and then, in the darkness, grabbed something made of cloth from inside the room, put it over his head, and went downstairs.

Ados waited at the door for a short while before the embassy doors opened. When he saw who came out, even with his strong mental fortitude, he couldn't help but be stunned. The man who came out to negotiate with him from the other side of the robbery was wearing a pair of men's boxer shorts over his head—a bizarre appearance that was surprisingly intimidating.

"You... are the leader of the kidnappers?"

"It's me, I don't want those four little brats inside..."

"I'm giving you only one minute. Either surrender now, or wait for us to storm in and launch a full-scale attack. The choice is yours!"

"..."

The leader, who had just made those harsh words, was stunned. He never expected that Ados, who came to negotiate, would be even more tough than him, acting as if he didn't care about the lives of the hostages at all. The leader was momentarily at a loss.

"Hey! I have a hostage! If you try to force your way in, aren't you afraid we'll kill her?!"

"Kill the hostage? Heh! Do as you please! See those two over there? One is Saint Rud from our Pantheon, and the other is Lady Serana, the Vice-Commander of the Sun Knights of the Holy Light Church. These two are top-tier priests who can perform the Great Resurrection Spell. With them here, I'm not afraid of you killing the hostage!"

"I'm fucking..."

Ados's words left the boss speechless. He looked in the direction Ados was pointing and saw a man and a woman standing not far away. They didn't recognize the boss, but the boss recognized them. They were indeed Lud and Serana. When the boss looked over, the two even waved to him, their relaxed attitude as if to say something.

"Kill people as you please, and see if I can save them!"

Lud and Serana's dazzling appearance made the boss suddenly realize that his previous actions of threatening the guards with the lives of hostages seemed so ignorant and ridiculous, making him look like a clown.

In fact, it can't be entirely blamed on the boss. After all, Pine Town is indeed different from other places, and some "common sense" that works in other places simply doesn't apply here.

It is important to know that, under normal circumstances, the highest-level divine spells such as the "Great Resurrection" can only be used by clergy of the rank of archbishop or above. Moreover, unlike ordinary divine spells, there are many restrictions and requirements for their use. They may even require special prayer rituals to ask the gods for permission before they can be used.

Within the entire Kingdom of Duran, only the archbishops of the three major religions possess this ability, and all three are far away in the capital. Therefore, due to a lack of common sense, the leader momentarily forgot that Pine Town has Chosen Ones who are even more powerful than the archbishops, and there's more than one of them.

Athos's attitude was very tough. Almost as soon as he finished speaking, dozens of guards armed with various weapons lined up and surrounded him.

Seeing the situation, the leader knew that resistance was pointless and that he was doomed to fail. In despair, he took off the underwear over his head and smoothly raised his hands.

For Ludwig, this was a memorable day. At the opera house, the premiere of "Seven Samurai" was a great success, and outside the opera house, another performance also came to a successful conclusion!

With two powerful figures, Lud and Serana, present, the guards, without any reservations, used the threat of killing the hostages as leverage, successfully forcing the kidnappers to lay down their weapons and surrender. The guards then stormed the embassy and successfully rescued the five hostages.

Of the five hostages, four children who were still unconscious were handed over to Lud for treatment. Fortunately, they were all unharmed. When they woke up, all of them except Fran were completely bewildered and had no idea what had happened.

In comparison, Cai Side's situation looked much worse. Before the boss surrendered, Cai Side, who was hiding on the second floor, cleverly arranged for a few of his underlings to beat him up before leaving, so that he could pretend to be a hostage and get away with it later. He wanted to use the minor injuries as cover.

The three henchmen already disliked this Iron Five, and now that he had made this request, they immediately rolled up their sleeves and fulfilled his request, pinning him to the ground and giving him a good beating until the guards downstairs rushed up. Cai Side was beaten until his face was covered in bruises, and he didn't dare to use his divine magic to heal himself. Just to maintain this appearance for the time being, he limped over to Serana and played the victim.

Seeing Cai Side's miserable state, Serana, who knew perfectly well what was going on, suppressed the urge to burst into laughter, offered a few words of comfort, and then said meaningfully, "We'll talk about this later."

For the next two days, everything seemed calm on the surface in Pine Town. The opera house was packed every night with a movie showing. The focus of conversations after meals was all related to the plot of "Seven Samurai," and Athos, who played one of the seven samurai, became an overnight heartthrob, receiving countless love letters every day.

On the contrary, the kidnapping incident that occurred on the night of the movie premiere did not cause any stir in Poland, and some people did not even know that such a thing had happened.

The low-key handling of this matter was intentional on Lud's part. He was currently cooperating with the Church of Light, and he wanted to suppress such negative news as much as possible. This was not only to save face for his ally, but also to prepare for future actions.

After the incident, the four suspects were interrogated overnight, with Ludwig himself presiding over the interrogation.

Since the suicide attempt failed, and thanks to Lu De's skillful interrogation techniques, the group's resistance did not last long. The three henchmen broke down mentally before their leader, revealing everything they knew and even their employer.

Subsequently, Ludwig shut down their chamber of commerce on charges of "kidnapping" and "suspected human trafficking," uncovering a number of interesting accusations.

During this period, the Chamber of Commerce tried to send out messages several times, but failed each time.

While Lude was dealing with these people, Serana also had a private meeting with Cai Side. In front of him, Serana showed Cai Side three short videos: two secret meetings he had with a brothel and a chamber of commerce representative, and footage of him installing a camera in Serana's bedroom.

Seeing that all his actions had been exposed, and that Serana might have been completely in control from the beginning, Cai Side slumped into his chair, his face turning pale. Serana looked at him with a half-smile and said...

"If you're willing to do me a favor, I can spare your life in the name of the next Pope. If not... I think you know better than I do the methods of those cardinals!"