Goddess Kaleidoscope

After that, Ludd handed over the interrogation transcripts and video recordings to Serana and stopped getting involved. With this evidence, if Serana and the Pope still couldn't handle the cardinals, Ludd could stop considering any further cooperation.

The matter was temporarily resolved, and Lu De found himself much more relaxed. The movie was finished, and although there were plans for the next one, nothing was prepared yet, and filming couldn't start immediately. The school was also about to have its autumn break, and the burden on his shoulders suddenly lightened considerably.

For the past few months, Rudd had been working beyond his capacity, both in terms of intensity and duration, to the point of near collapse. Fortunately, Rudd was a priest, and the goddesses around him had been providing him with their divine power without reservation; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to stay alive and kicking until now.

However, while divine magic could relieve physical fatigue, it could not alleviate the mental stress that had accumulated. Therefore, Lude secretly decided that he would take a proper vacation after the Holy Church of Light had left.

After leaving the guard post, Lud returned to the temple around nine or ten o'clock at night. Lud intended to grab a quick bite, take a bath, and finally get a good night's sleep, but he had only eaten half of his meal when Shanis suddenly appeared. She hugged Lud from behind and whispered in a voice powerful enough to make most men tremble.

"Hey, could you tutor someone tonight? Just four or five lessons will do, any subject is fine!"

"Tutoring" was the code set by Shanes, and Ludd naturally knew exactly what it referred to. As for the "subjects to be studied"... Ludd had to admit that Shanes, this "expert in theoretical knowledge," indeed knew far more than Hume, and was extremely studious, deeply understanding the principle that "practice makes perfect," and had Ludd completely under her thumb.

Faced with her beloved student's frequent requests for extra lessons, Lu De wanted to refuse her firmly, but unfortunately, she was just too big for him!

It's worth mentioning that Lude initially intended to educate Shanis, worried that she might go astray and become an immoral goddess. But Shanis nestled against Lude's chest, assuring him that she could rest assured, because her "immoral" side would only be shown to her master.

This candid statement, delivered in a frank and open manner, struck at the heart of the man. Coupled with Shanes's almost unfair smile, it dealt an unimaginable blow to Lud, a true wound that ignored all defenses.

Lude wanted to reprimand her beloved student, but she was just too good at it!

For a period of time afterward, the master and apprentice secretly maintained this taboo yet natural relationship, and Ludwig didn't have to worry about time management himself, as Shanes and Hume arranged everything for him perfectly.

In the temple's dormitory, Aina, who usually went to bed at nine o'clock and slept soundly until dawn, suddenly woke up just two hours after falling asleep. She got up groggily and looked around, only to find it was still dark at night. Just as she was about to go back to sleep, she felt a faint sense of hunger. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to get up and sneak a snack from her master's study.

Before leaving, Aina glanced at Shanis's bed next door. It was empty and no one was there. She thought that her senior sister had probably gone out to "steal food" again, and that she was particularly addicted to it. She wondered what was so delicious.

After leaving the dormitory, Aina tiptoed down the corridor toward the study. As she passed the bathroom door, she suddenly heard her master's voice coming from inside. Startled, Aina quickly covered her mouth and huddled in a corner, too afraid to move.

After waiting for a while, Aina was sure she hadn't been discovered yet. Just as she was about to sneak back the way she came, she heard her master groaning in the bathroom. This reminded Aina of the patients who had been brought to the temple, who seemed to make similar noises.

Is Master ill?

Out of concern and curiosity, Aina, who had already turned to leave, inexplicably turned back and carefully opened the bathroom door. Through the crack in the outer door, Aina noticed that the inner bathroom door was only half closed, and she could vaguely see Lude soaking in the tub.

At this moment, Lude was leaning against the edge of the pool, his face showing an expression of closed eyes and open mouth. At first glance, it looked like he was in pain, but there was also a hint of enjoyment in it. The pool water in front of him was rolling rhythmically, with bubbles rising from time to time. Aina had only seen a similar situation when she went fishing with her fellow disciples. It was said that this was only when there were big fish underwater.

But the question is, where did the fish come from in the bathroom?

The bewildered Aina was momentarily confused, but just then, Lud suddenly gritted his teeth and growled, and not long after, a large, living person suddenly emerged from the water.

When Aina saw the person's face clearly, she was immediately stunned!

The day after Seven Samurai premiered in Pinetown, the first batch of video crystals was sent to the City of the Sun by Emmy.

Although the Holy Church of Light has a dedicated agency that reviews the content of books and paintings, which is a subordinate department of the Inquisition, it has the special approval of the Pope for its cooperation with the Pantheon. Therefore, the review process went smoothly and the book was released in the City of the Sun the next day.

The censorship department had also learned its lesson. When the cooperation had just begun, the College of Cardinals, in an attempt to sabotage the process, secretly instructed the former head of the censorship department not to approve several films submitted for review.

This series of actions enraged the Pope, who retaliated by sending a large number of mid-to-upper-level leaders of the review department to exile on charges of sexual misconduct and disloyalty to God. They were exiled to a frozen khanate to preach. Meanwhile, the College of Cardinals, who had previously assured him they would be safe no matter what, remained completely silent throughout the process.

After that, the review department learned its lesson and turned a blind eye to anything sent by the Pantheon. They clearly understood that the College of Cardinals, those vermin, were utterly unreliable!

Unsurprisingly, the film was a huge success after its release.

Although the City of the Sun is a religious city, the doctrine of the Holy Church of Light does not require its followers to be celibate. In addition, the current Pope, St. Leonid, loves to watch operas and collect paintings. As a result, the City of the Sun has gradually shown a tendency to transform into an "artistic capital" in the past few decades, attracting artists from all walks of life to gather here.

The emergence of film as a completely new art form undoubtedly opened a door to a new world for these artists!

As the saying goes, laymen watch the spectacle, while experts see the details.

The general public simply finds the movie novel, the story interesting, and the visual experience more realistic than traditional stage plays. After all, even the largest stage can't accommodate hundreds of people fighting each other simultaneously, and many large-scale scenes are rarely seen in reality.

Industry insiders keenly realized that the emergence of film would inevitably bring a significant shock to the entire arts and culture sector. This was especially true for song and dance troupes that relied on touring stage performances for a living; they were understandably uneasy.

Many people, after making inquiries, learned that the technology of filmmaking originated from a small place called Pine Tree Town in the north of the Kingdom of Duran. There was a small sect in the town that was unknown to the people of the Southern Continent, yet the Holy Church of Light had to lower itself to cooperate with them.

So some people who were interested in film technology decided that they had to go and see this place no matter what.

However, these things have not affected Ludwig yet. The first feedback after the film's release was an increase in faith.

It has been proven that as long as a film is of high quality and can fully engage the audience's emotions, even someone who believes in nothing will subconsciously develop faith after watching a movie, and this faith is no less than that of a devout believer's sincere prayer.

So during this time, the goddesses of the Pantheon were all smiles because their "dividends" had increased significantly, and Shanes, taking advantage of Hume's business trip away from home, would seek out Ludwig for tutoring almost every night, and was equally cheerful.

Meanwhile, on the side of the Holy Light Church's mission, Cai Side, who had been "turned" by Serana, is now acting as a double agent, constantly sending false information to his former superiors. Although Lude did not get involved, he had been paying close attention and felt that Serana and the Pope were holding back, most likely planning a "big" move against the College of Cardinals.

Since autumn has already arrived and winter is expected to officially begin in another month and a half, both the visiting delegation and the Saintess's trial team are already preparing to set off.

Serana is to return to the City of the Sun to report back, while Serica and her group are to head to the west coast and set sail for an archipelago to undergo their fifth trial.

Serana originally planned to invite one or two people from the Pantheon to join the Saintess's Trial Team, but this suggestion was declined by Lud. Instead, Lud provided the Trial Team with a few lightweight handheld cameras and promised to help with post-production editing free of charge.

In Lude's view, the Saintess Trial was indeed a hot topic, and there would definitely be some benefits to getting involved. However, even if he joined, the Pantheon would only be making a cameo appearance, and they would have little effective influence over the entire event. Lude himself didn't have much time and didn't want to send his disciples on the trip for two or three years, so he simply declined outright.

There's another reason, which Ludwig didn't dare say outright: the current Saint Selica... you can't say she's bad at anything, but there are definitely "problems," and quite significant ones at that. If something were to happen one day, it could potentially trigger an international dispute.

In fact, before this, Serana had tried to subtly probe Lud in casual conversation to find out if Lud had discovered the secret about her daughter. Lud had cleverly evaded the question, so Serana didn't dare to ask too directly.

Lude planned to wait until all the members of the Holy Light Church had left and the local Pine Town was closed off for winter before starting the "Second Phase of Gods" plan.

When Ludger first had this idea, he planned to add a new divine position to each of the existing goddesses, just like he had done with Aina when he added a "Fertility" position.

But Lud later learned from his conversation with Kumirad that divine positions cannot be added arbitrarily!

First, there must be a distinction between primary and secondary positions. There can only be one primary deity, and other deities are considered "secondary deities." Conceptually, they must have a certain connection with the primary deity in order to be successfully added. Otherwise, if there is a conceptual conflict, it will cause contradictions in the minds of believers, thereby weakening the generation of faith.

To use a perhaps imperfect analogy, if "sweet tofu pudding" is the primary deity, then "savory tofu pudding" cannot be the secondary deity, unless you can remove the "sweet" from the concept of the primary deity and make yourself the tofu pudding god.

So after much deliberation, Lud decided that one position should be created for each person, and since it was difficult to accumulate multiple divine positions, he would create more gods.

The plan includes four deities for the second phase: the God of Wealth, who oversees commerce; the God of Balance, who oversees law; the God of Music, who oversees art; and the God of War, who oversees military affairs. All of these positions will be useful for the future development of the Pantheon.

However, what worries Lud is that, apart from the god of music, the positions of these four new gods overlap to some extent with those of traditional gods. Once these gods are established and publicized, conflicts are likely to arise.

The God of War is obviously at odds with the God of Defeat, and the God of Balance, who governs law, shares a similar meaning with the God of Defeat's "judgment." However, a closer examination of the doctrine reveals that the God of Defeat forces the disputing parties into a direct duel, with the survivor being deemed right, while the God of Balance, introduced by Rudd, emphasizes judicial fairness. Furthermore, the God of Wealth might also clash with the Earth Mother, who holds the position of deity of "treasure and wealth."

The Earth Mother Goddess is relatively easy to deal with, at least within the Kingdom of Duran. The Earth Mother Goddess's religion is not very popular; it is mainly believed by the dwarves. However, the dwarven race has split into two factions in terms of faith. One faction, led by the Steelwhip Clan, has converted to the Three Goddesses of Craftsmanship. The other faction, while still maintaining its faith in the Earth Mother Goddess, has an ambiguous attitude, turning a deaf ear to what the Steelwhip Clan is doing and allowing the younger generation of dwarves to pursue freedom of religion.

The more troublesome aspect is the Cult of War. Lud's relationship with them is neither good nor bad, as he has a good relationship with Ural because of the business of divine medicine. However, Ural is not the Supreme High Priest after all. If they were to bring out the God of War and the God of Balance, the other side would definitely come back to protest once they find out.

But Lud couldn't ignore it. Pine Town was currently guided by religion, and if Lud wanted to promote the concept of justice, he would need a god of justice as a benchmark. And a god of war was even more necessary; the gun was a powerful guarantee for defending one's legitimate interests, and Lud had never considered living off the pity and charity of others.

So, as early as when Brewster Academy established its military academy, Lud had already prepared to create a war god, and it was of paramount importance, to be the center of attention for the second-generation gods from the very beginning!

Whenever Lude had free time these past few days, he would plan things related to the second phase of the gods in his study, including writing related doctrines and background stories, and drawing "divine designs". There were multiple versions for each god, and he would finally choose the one that was most suitable for use.

As Lude was drawing diligently, the study door opened gently, and Aina entered carrying tea and some snacks.

Lude looked up and saw it was Aina. He nodded to her and continued drawing.

Recently, the usually cheerful and outgoing Aina has become somewhat preoccupied. Lude thought she was still troubled by the issue of advancing in rank and wanted to have a good talk with her to help her resolve her inner conflict, but unfortunately, he had been too busy with too many things in the past period and had not been able to spare the time.

Therefore, the careless Lude did not realize immediately that what was really bothering Aina was not the issue of advancing in rank.

Carrying the tea tray, Aina approached the desk and silently placed the tea and snacks down. She then noticed some paintings scattered haphazardly on Lude's desk, so she reached out and picked one up. Seeing the beautiful girl still in the sketching stage on the paper, Aina's heart clenched.

"Master, what is this?"

"These are the second batch of gods to be created. It's time for our Pantheon to recruit a new batch. It's expected to be completed this winter."

"A new, new sister?"

"Ah."

Unaware of Aina's change in expression, Lude nodded and continued to concentrate on his work.

Aina remained silent for a while, then quietly put down the drawing paper, which she had already crumpled in one corner, and turned to walk towards the door. Ludger, who heard her footsteps, was about to casually say, "Remember to close the door properly," but before he could speak, he heard a "click."

...That was the sound of the door being locked from the inside.

Realizing something was amiss, Lud suddenly looked up and saw Aina leaning against the door, her face displaying an extremely rare expression. She looked as if she had just made up her mind to go all out and do something big, giving Lud a vague sense of foreboding.

"Aina! What... what are you doing?"

"Master, why..."

Aina's voice was low and slightly trembling, as if she was trying her best to suppress her emotions. Lud had never seen Aina like this before, and he panicked for a moment. His intuition told him that this was not a place to stay and that he should leave immediately, but he couldn't bear to leave Aina like this. He was caught in a dilemma.

"Aina, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me!"

"Master and Senior Sister have done that kind of thing, haven't they?"

"Uh, this..."

"And Hume, right? Master had better not lie! I asked Senior Sister before, and she admitted it herself!"

"..."

As Aina spoke, tears welled up in her eyes, and her emotions, which were already on the verge of collapse, suddenly became uncontrollable.

That night, Aina saw a scene at the bathroom door that would shock her for a whole year. After the shock, Aina confronted Shanis the next day. The senior sister readily admitted it and even said that she was not the first to try it; Hume had done it before her.

Seeing that Aina was stunned and couldn't accept the fact, Shanes immediately "comforted" her, saying that neither she nor Hume wanted to monopolize Ludwig. If it were Aina, they would actually be willing to share her with her!

However, Aina still couldn't accept it. It wasn't that she couldn't accept Hume and Shanes having a relationship with their master, nor was she angry at everyone for deliberately hiding it. She felt very uncomfortable and scared, but she couldn't explain why, so she felt lost and helpless.

It wasn't until Aina saw Ludl drawing a picture of the so-called second-generation god in the study that she finally realized what she was afraid of.

What Aina is truly afraid of is being abandoned by everyone.

As the first god Lud created by his own hands, Aina has always held a special affection for Lud and longs for his praise. However, since her breakthrough to the fourth stage was thwarted, Aina has gradually discovered that she, who was originally in the lead, is being caught up and even overtaken by her companions. Although her master has never reprimanded her, a sense of crisis has arisen within her.

At this moment, she suddenly realized that her senior sister and Hume not only possessed divine power, but their relationship with their master had also far surpassed her own. At the same time, Rude began to create a new goddess. This was like a spark that ignited a fuse, and Aina's pent-up emotions finally exploded.

In that instant, Aina had an epiphany. She suddenly understood what she had always truly longed for. The obstacles that had hindered her continued growth were instantly shattered, and she completed her breakthrough to the fourth stage right there in Lud's study, right in front of him.

However, after her breakthrough, Aina seemed to have undergone a drastic change in temperament, staring intently at Lud with the gaze of a predator eyeing its prey.

"Master, Aina isn't being a good girl today!"

Time flies by unnoticed, and it's finally time to say goodbye.

After staying in Pine Town for nearly three months, the Saintess's trial team has rested and is about to embark on its journey again, while the visiting group is preparing to return to the Sun City by airship Icarus.

Serana was already itching to get back and was just waiting to make her move, to give those cardinals who hadn't been holding back a good beating, and let them know what a real "surprise" was!

On the day of his departure, all the prominent figures in Songshu Town came to see him off, and Lu De specially organized an event to make it as grand as possible.

"Master, you've gone to far too much trouble."

"This is just a small token of our appreciation. We all sincerely hope that once you have completed all the trials, you can come back and visit us again if you have the time."

"I will definitely come if I have the chance."