Goddess Kaleidoscope

It is worth mentioning that the allied forces did not encounter any obstacles or difficulties along the way. In fact, many small and medium-sized lords or small groups of mercenaries and adventurers took the initiative to come and join them.

These minor lords generally lack real power. Some are afraid of death, so they trade the lives of their subordinates for the protection of powerful figures. Others want to curry favor with the powerful, so they willingly become their lackeys.

If it were any other great lord, he might have agreed without hesitation. After all, in the eyes of most nobles, the more troops the better, and those who willingly surrender are essentially cannon fodder delivered to their doorstep. But Ludès, however, was keen to refuse their offer.

Firstly, they looked down on their fighting ability, thinking they would be a hindrance; secondly, they worried that incorporating these rabble into the allied forces they had painstakingly trained would lead the soldiers astray with their corrupt practices.

After careful consideration, Rodriguez, as the commander-in-chief of the allied forces, declined the requests of these small and medium-sized lords to "join the cause," refusing even the money and beautiful women they offered.

These minor lords were completely taken aback by the rejection, but they did not give up. They decided to take their temporarily recruited peasant soldiers and follow their leader to the capital.

They soon discovered that the leaders' new army was moving incredibly fast, and they were left far behind after only a few hours. This clearly demonstrated the vast difference in the quality of the troops on both sides.

Because the allied forces maintained constant communication with the capital, with ravens continuously reporting the allied forces' marching positions to King Durand, when the army arrived at the outskirts of the capital, the king's representative was already waiting there for a long time. It was none other than Marquis Ryan, who had previously come to the North as an imperial censor to inspect the region.

The Marquis had been waiting on the main road since early morning. When he saw the Northern Allied Army marching in neat formation in the distance, he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. He had thought that the background lord was hopeless in this war, but he had arrived in such a timely manner at the most critical moment. Perhaps the Kingdom of Duran could be saved now.

On the allied side, everyone saw a royal banner standing in the middle of the official road from afar. They knew that this was the royal censor who had come to greet them on behalf of the king. So they ordered the army to stop advancing, and the lords and their representatives stepped forward and dismounted in front of the royal banner.

"I apologize for keeping you waiting, Marquis Ryan."

"No, no! You flatter me, General Ganmolin."

As Marquis Ryan spoke, he bowed solemnly to Rodriguez, and then nodded to the other lords present.

Marquis Ryan was aware of the situation with the Gammelin family. The old duke was preparing to abdicate, and thus appointed his heir as plenipotentiary to lead the army to defend the king. This was a tradition among the noble families of the Kingdom of Duran; generally, after the war was over, the old patriarch would pass the throne to the next, and the king would certainly give some extra rewards to the vassals who had just fought for him.

At this moment, Marquis Ryan noticed Lud behind Rodriguez. He had met this renowned saint of the North in Pine Town and was quite impressed with him.

However, the Marquis noticed Ludwig at this moment because he discovered that the saint's "style" seemed quite different from when he had met him before.

"Master Lude, are your eyes alright?"

"Thank you for your concern, sir. Not only am I alright, but I'm perfectly fine."

At this moment, Ludwig appears no different from usual, but upon closer inspection, one can see a glimmer of golden light in his left eye, which can cause a momentary daze when one looks into it.

At this moment, the dwarf chieftain Gulig stepped forward and, in a proud tone tinged with a hint of smugness, recounted the series of "miracles" their allied forces had experienced along the way, praising the generosity and favor of the goddesses of the Pantheon, while also taking the opportunity to diss the Earth Mother Goddess who had betrayed their dwarf race.

Marquis Ryan was completely bewildered by these words. He thought to himself that he had certainly heard of miracles. When he was young, he went to the City of Aegis and even admired the supreme power of the God of War, Feigolai, from afar at the Arena of the God of War.

But no matter what, miracles don't happen just anywhere. But according to Gulig, the gods of the Pantheon were putting on a high-intensity show the whole way to the capital, sending blessings, divine weapons, and divine horses—their generosity was simply unbelievable!

If it were an ordinary person, Marquis Ryan would have thought the other person had lost their mind and was talking nonsense. But these people in front of him were all important figures with status and position, so their words were naturally not childish.

Seemingly sensing his confusion, the group, who had almost all received divine favor, jumped and basked in the sun in front of the marquis who had come to greet them, like seals coming ashore in a group!

To the ordinary soldiers of the Northern Alliance, their twelve-day march was almost a "miracle" journey, with a big surprise every day, and each surprise was different.

The leaders of the allied forces, while pleasantly surprised, cast subtle glances at Rudd. None of them were fools; the fact that the goddesses of the Pantheon favored the allied forces so much was clearly due to the influence of a certain chosen one, or perhaps he himself had actively sought it from the gods.

During these twelve days, the allied forces encountered eleven miracles, each corresponding to a goddess in the pantheon.

On the first day, the Medicine Goddess Evelina appeared, bringing a special divine rain to the allied forces. At that time, the troops were marching when the clear sky suddenly gave way to a refreshing rain. The rain was cool but not cold. The raindrops fell on the soldiers, and everyone felt their fatigue instantly vanished, becoming energetic.

The following day, the gods of love, thieves, and hearth took turns bestowing their unique blessings and gifts, leaving the allied forces overwhelmed with gratitude.

Among the many gifts sent by the gods, three were the most talked about by the soldiers.

A gift from the war god Sulla to Rudd: a magnificent steed, jet black with crimson hooves. On the night of the eighth day, this divine horse suddenly burst into the military camp, went straight to the central command tent, and bowed its head before Rudd. This extraordinary black horse thus became Rudd's mount.

The other two gifts were a pair of perfectly matched swords. One fell from the sky in the middle of the night and landed in front of Rodriguez's bed, while the other fell into Salo's tent at the same time the following night.

The two divine swords were likely gifts from the three goddesses of craftsmanship, possessing qualities far surpassing those of ordinary objects. They could not only cut through iron like mud, but also unleash invisible sword energy several meters long at the user's will. In addition to their cool appearance, they were also deadly weapons for slaying generals and capturing flags on the battlefield.

But the two who obtained the divine sword soon discovered that when they approached each other with their swords, the swords would resonate with each other, and the sword energy would become longer than before.

Seeing the special effects of these two divine swords, the soldiers instantly realized that the goddess also liked to ship couples!

After all these miraculous events, the morale of the allied forces was at its peak, if not for anything else. Many soldiers privately approached Rud or other female priestesses accompanying the army, requesting to be baptized and become believers in the Pantheon.

Such frequent and intense miracles were naturally arranged by Rudd, since preaching is the priest's job, and Rudd did have some special ideas in this regard, and he could get his goddess to cooperate unconditionally.

During his earlier training exercises in Earl Keith's territory, Ludwig had briefly investigated the morale of the rank-and-file soldiers during his inspection tour. He discovered that many soldiers were uneasy about the upcoming war. However, more than their fear of the Imperial Legion, they were actually worried about not receiving the blessing of the God of War.

As is well known, the priests of the God of War are famous for their amplification magic. Two armies of equal size can often have their strength significantly tilted by simply adding one priest of the God of War to one side. This idea is deeply ingrained in the minds of most people, and in a sense, it is this almost "common sense" concept that has created the unique characteristics of the God of War's magic.

Having figured out what the soldiers were panicking about, Ludwig addressed the problem directly by having the goddesses of the Pantheon take turns "offering blessings." This served two purposes: firstly, to demonstrate their presence and inspire the allied soldiers to generate faith; and secondly, to win through sheer numbers, making the soldiers feel that they had been blessed by all eleven goddesses of the Pantheon, thus naturally dispelling their panic.

In front of Marquis Ryan, everyone recounted the series of encounters the allied forces had experienced in the past few days, and even showed him the divine sword and the divine horse. Although Marquis Ryan still found it incredible, he could only choose to believe it. He was stunned for a while before he came to his senses, realizing that he had almost forgotten about the important matter.

"Gentlemen! I have here a decree from His Majesty, which he has instructed me to read aloud upon your arrival in the North. General Rodriguez, as the commander of this allied army, please receive the decree!"

In front of everyone, Marquis Ryan opened an envelope bearing the royal seal and announced King Durand's decree.

First, in the name of King Durand, Rodriguez was promoted to "General of the State".

Rodriguez already held the title of "Knight of the Royal Court," a court official position held by many direct descendants of noble families, but it was a nominal position with little real power.

But the title of "General of the State" is different. It means that the king has given him military power and the right to form an army. It is equivalent to giving the Northern Alliance an officially recognized legal status.

Rodriguez was quite flattered by the sudden appointment to such a prestigious official position. He was about to subconsciously speculate that he should pass the general's position to Earl Ramley, who was a generation older than him, when he heard Marquis Ryan say something that made him feel uneasy.

"His Majesty personally led the army on an expedition two days ago. The plan is to engage the Imperial Legion in a decisive battle in front of the Yodl Fortress."

"His Majesty has already set out on the expedition!?"

"Yes, because the Imperials' advance was much faster than expected. This was mainly due to Duke Kornis's betrayal at the last minute, which left the southern gateway wide open, forcing His Majesty to set off ahead of schedule."

After listening to Ryan's explanation and learning about the map of the Kingdom of Duran, Lud knew that the Yordle Fortress was the last gate leading from south to north into the heart of the kingdom. Once the Yordle Fortress fell, the central region would be indefensible. King Duran was well aware of the fortress's importance, so he couldn't wait for all the noble armies that came to his aid and had no choice but to bite the bullet and go ahead.

Before King Duran set out, he took away all his personal guards and the noble troops who had already arrived in the capital, totaling about 30,000 men. In the two days after they set off, some more noble troops arrived one after another, adding up to more than 2,000 men in total.

In his edict, King Duran also assigned these troops to Rodriguez, instructing him to take advantage of the Yodl Fortress holding off the Imperial Legion to flank and cut off the Imperial Army's logistics, ideally lifting the siege of Flamewood City and regrouping the scattered Southern Noble Army.

It is not hard to see from this edict specially left for Rodriguez that although the current King Duran is not well-known and is considered a mediocre king, he still knows a little about military affairs and trusts Rodriguez very much.

After all, King Durand's current queen, formerly the second queen, is the eldest daughter of Duke Gamelin and Rodriguez's elder sister, born of the same mother. The relationship between this brother-in-law and brother-in-law is naturally closer than that between a typical monarch and his subject.

In terms of kinship, the relationship between the lords of the North and the royal family is actually closer than that between the nobles of the South.

The current King Durand's former queen, the first queen, was the younger sister of Earl Ramley, and Sharo's aunt. The second queen, on the other hand, was the eldest daughter of Duke Gamelin, and Rodriguez's elder sister.

Five years ago, the previous queen passed away, and the second queen, Granada, ascended to the throne as the new queen. This new queen, who had been a knight, was very strong. Although she inherited the excellent genes of the Gammelin family, who had elven blood, and possessed extraordinary beauty, her personality had nothing to do with "gentle and virtuous".

According to some unreliable rumors, the Queen's sexual orientation seems to be very "flexible"... the kind that can bend and stretch. While bearing seven children for His Majesty the King, she also had an ambiguous relationship with her husband's younger sister, Duchess Anfi.

Fortunately, King Durand was a magnanimous and honest man, and he would forgive the queen as long as her affair was not with a man.

It is worth mentioning that King Duran personally led the expedition, and His Majesty the Queen also went to the front lines in armor. Currently, the First Crown Prince is remaining in the capital to oversee the kingdom, assisted by the Prime Minister.

After arriving in the capital, the Northern Alliance did not choose to rest in the city, but instead set up camp in an open area on the outskirts.

The reason for this was not entirely because Ludl cared about the people of the capital and did not want the troops to disturb the city. Rather, it was because he was worried that if the allied forces entered the city, local residents would come and harass them.

While ordinary civilians do indeed harbor fear of the military, primarily out of fear of being harmed or robbed, there are also those who feel closer to the military than to their own mother. These include merchants who trade with the military and certain sex workers engaged in special professions.

The latter, in particular, is where many third-rate nobles' private armies consider "military chickens" a necessity, and soldiers can only maintain morale by relying on gold coins, alcohol, and women.

In contrast, while the soldiers of the Northern Alliance were not a saintly army without "worldly desires," they were disciplined and had a strong sense of honor.

Of course, the most important thing is that during the training period, Lu De specially produced a film to popularize the "spread and harm of disease X", which was broadcast to the entire army on the weekend.

When the male soldiers saw the film depicting a civilian male patient interviewed as a real case, who, due to the severity of his illness and inability to afford a priest, ultimately had to undergo surgery to permanently cure his condition, the 15,000 men and women in the open-air cinema collectively gasped in shock.

Everyone understood it and was deeply moved!

The allied forces plan to rest in the capital for two days, replenish supplies, and then set off south again.

Ludd thought that King Duran's order to cut off the Imperial Legion's supply lines was indeed a good strategy, but given the Northern Alliance's current strength, doing only this was a waste of their talents.

So Lud suggested that if they were going to do something, they should do something big! They not only wanted to cut off the Imperial Legion's supply lines, but also to attack their homeland.

"Trading bases" is the ultimate form of all tactics!

Both Earl Ramley and Viscount Maupe, who were more cautious in their approach, felt that Lud's overly bold battle plan was inappropriate, saying it was too risky. However, after thinking for a moment, Rodriguez felt that it was a very good plan.

Currently, the Empire's elite forces have penetrated deep into the heart of the Duran Kingdom, leaving its homeland relatively undefended. Moreover, the Empire is unlikely to anticipate that the Kingdom would send a surprise force across the border to raid their homeland at this crucial moment, which will surely catch them off guard.

However, this raiding force should not be too large, and it is best to consist mainly of highly mobile cavalry. There is no need to consider conquering cities and seizing territories; the goal is simply to rush in, smash, loot, and burn, setting the Empire's backyard on fire.

So the group decided in a meeting that the allied forces would set off in two days. In addition to their own 16,000 men, King Duran also left an order to put the private armies of the lords that would arrive in the capital later under Rodriguez's command. With the addition of some mercenaries and adventurers, the force would probably number two or three thousand.

The allied forces initially didn't want these rabble, deeming them a hindrance, but ultimately decided to take them along, with Earl Ramley in command. With the old earl's experience and prestige, plus the thousand elite soldiers allocated to him from the allied forces, suppressing these minor lords was a piece of cake.

This ragtag army, assembled according to the "traditional model," will carry the banner of the Northern Alliance and actively seek to engage the Imperial army. Victory or defeat is irrelevant; the key is to serve as a diversion, drawing the Imperials' attention to cover the actions of the main force.

Earl Ramley had no complaints about the dreadful task assigned to him; he was clear about right and wrong.

After thinking for a moment, Ludwig gave five more students from the military academy he had brought to him to assist the count in managing this ragtag army.

After the war, the five students returned to school and, in their internship reports, poignantly described their deep resentment towards the various ills of the old-style aristocratic army.

The aristocratic lord, who is ignorant and incompetent but always has a mysterious self-confidence; the arrogant and unreasonable lackeys and bodyguards; the rough and undisciplined mercenaries who only cause trouble; and those conscripts with lifeless eyes who can't even tell left from right.

These demons and monsters made them see the true nature of the world!

In fact, not all noble private armies were the kind of rabble that military cadets found repulsive. Under wealthy and powerful lords, there were also well-trained and disciplined professional soldiers, but these elites had all been taken away by King Duran.

Two days later, the supplies from the north arrived smoothly by air. Routine military supplies such as food and fodder could be purchased locally, but the secret troops' artillery shells and many medical supplies, which were local specialties of Pine Tree Town, could only be airlifted from the rear via "SF Express".

On the day the troops were to set off, the main force of the Allied forces departed discreetly in the morning mist, while the ragtag army commanded by Earl Ramley had to wait a little longer to set off due to various objective factors.

After the troops set off, Lud, riding a black horse, brought up the rear of the supply convoy in the center of the formation. More than four hundred caravans were moving in a grand procession, with the carriages loaded with all kinds of military supplies.

If someone were to observe closely at this moment, they might notice that some of the vehicles in the convoy had exceptionally deep tire tracks, indicating that they were carrying some particularly heavy or large items.

Just then, Lud suddenly saw Shanes get out of a carriage in the middle of the convoy, carrying a basket. She looked around and their eyes met. Lud, who knew his apprentice very well, immediately sensed something was amiss.

The master and apprentice stood facing each other, about ten meters apart. Faced with Ludwig's "righteous gaze," Shanis guiltily turned her head away. Ludwig rode up to her and pointed to the caravan, asking...

What are you doing, sneaking around like that?

"N-nothing!"

"Didn't you do anything? Then why are you so nervous?"

"Uh, this..."

"Pull back the curtain and let me see!"

Seeing that their plan had been exposed, Shanis obediently lifted the carriage curtain. Inside were spare uniforms of the Allied forces, all packed into sacks, filling the entire carriage. The sharp-eyed Lud immediately noticed that one of the sacks was trembling.