Goddess Kaleidoscope

"Stop hiding it."

"..."

"I see you! Come out here right now!"

Urged on by Lud, the "sack" opened its mouth by itself, and half a golden head popped out—it was Olivia, who should have stayed in Pine Town to study!

Upon seeing this guy, Lude first glared at Shanis, who was grinning smirk beside him, before speaking in an annoyed tone.

"You little brat, you've got some nerve!"

Looking at Olivia in front of him, Lud was speechless.

This golden-haired young lady has been under his tutelage for over a year. Although she has indeed improved considerably since she first arrived, becoming much more outgoing and making some new friends locally, she is still not someone who can be easy to manage. She frequently gives Lude trouble, and there is a tendency for her to escalate from a "solo performance" to a "gang crime."

However, just as Lud was about to give this brat a lecture, another sack next to Olivia moved. Seeing the person who had crawled out again, Lud was stunned for a moment, and then said with great heartache.

"Romian! How could even you..."

"I'm sorry, Master!"

Seeing that both girls who were supposed to stay up north to look after the house were now here, Lude was completely exasperated. He thought to himself, "Great, now there's only a ghost (Elevit) left at home!"

"You guys!"

The two girls were dragged out of the carriage, and along with the "accomplice" Shanis, the three were called to the roadside by Lud and given a severe scolding. In the end, they obediently confessed the "crime" and its purpose.

To Lud's surprise, the mischievous Olivia hadn't sneaked over because she thought it was fun. Instead, she had heard that the empire was invading the south and the kingdom was suffering repeated defeats. This made her very worried about her mother, so she had the idea of ​​going back to her hometown to find her.

Romi'an was persuaded by her earnest pleas, and the Dragon Girl was also very worried about her master who was going to war, hoping to come and help.

So the two girls teamed up and bribed a certain unnamed lapis lazuli dragon to successfully smuggle supplies across the border by air.

As for Shanis, she accidentally discovered two burlap sacks with sexual orientations while inspecting supplies, so she helped the two men infiltrate the army until Lud caught her bringing them food.

Upon learning the whole story, Lud was at a loss for words, finding it both funny and exasperating.

"What can I say to you guys? Olivia is one thing, but how come you (pointing to Romian) are joining in this nonsense too! This is the army! We're going to war, you know that? This isn't a game!"

“Master, I know I was wrong. But please let me stay! I became a full priest at the beginning of the year, and I've completed dozens of beginner trials over the years, accumulating ten temporary divine spell slots. I can help you!”

"I... I also... okay! I can't help."

Ophia, realizing she was in the wrong, shrank back timidly after being glared at by Lude.

Just then, Sharo rode over on horseback and saw Lud scolding his female apprentice. He was about to step in to smooth things over when he saw Romian and Olivia, two girls who shouldn't have been there.

"Huh? What are those two doing here?"

"He followed us secretly, and I just caught him."

"Oh, I see! Well, you're here then! Having courage isn't a bad thing. The first time I went into battle, I also sneaked out."

"What did your father say afterward?"

"He praised me first, and then gave me a good beating."

"That would be terrible!"

Regardless, since Romian and Olivia were already here, and there wasn't time to send them back immediately, Rude had no choice but to keep them by his side. And to be honest, with Romian's current abilities, she could indeed be of considerable help.

The arrival of the two young girls had no impact on the allied forces, and the troops left the royal domain two days later and entered the Duchy of Shire. The local lord was the kingdom's only duchess and King Duran's youngest sister.

Anfi Shire, now thirty-three years old, is the most famous and wealthy woman in the entire Kingdom of Duran. She is said to be very beautiful and still unmarried. The king dotes on his youngest sister, and seeing that she refuses to marry, he sets aside a piece of his own territory for her as a fiefdom and gives her the surname "Shire," which comes from their mother's family.

Rumors circulate that the Duchess is actually a "broken copper" and has an ambiguous relationship with the current Queen, who is also her sister-in-law.

After the allied forces entered the Duchy of Charles, the Duchess sent the deputy captain of her personal guard to greet them and brought them plenty of wine and meat to reward the troops.

Duke Charles himself did not appear; it is said that he went to the front lines with his brother, King Duran, accompanied by his guards. This duchess is a mage, and a high-level one at that, already considered a fairly strong individual.

However, when Ludger saw the deputy captain of the guard who came to make contact, he was stunned, because he had seen this person a year ago.

"Lawrence the Knight?"

"You are... Master Lu De!?"

The other party's response confirmed Lud's guess: the knight who led the escort when Olivia was sent to Pine Town a year ago was the man before them. At the time, neither of them said much, nor did the other ask any questions, simply assuming that Olivia didn't have a surname.

At the time, Lud believed that the child was the king's illegitimate son and had been fostered in the north, far from the capital, through the Duke of Gamelin.

Looking at it now, the situation seems to have become more complicated.

When Ludwig saw Lawrence again, he hesitated whether he should tell him that Olivia was in the army. But when he turned around, he saw the little girl jumping up and down and waving at him from a carriage not far behind him. Lawrence was stunned when he saw her.

"Master, little... how come she's here?"

"The situation is a little complicated, I will explain in detail later."

Thus, the allied forces, who had been traveling for a day, set up camp in the Duchy of the Charles, about three days' journey from the Yodl Fortress.

The latest battle report shows that the two armies have already started fighting in front of the fortress. The Kingdom's army first went out of the city to fight in the open field, but was suppressed by the Imperial army, which was supported by priests of the God of War. Fortunately, when they defended the city, they repelled the Imperial army's attacks many times and finally won back a point.

The two sides are currently locked in a stalemate. Facing the Imperial Legion, which has a clear advantage in almost every aspect, no one can guarantee how long the Yordle Fortress can hold out.

At Yodl Fortress, King Duran, clad in armor, stood atop the city walls, his gaze fixed on the Imperial army camp several miles away. The lingering stench of blood in the air made the king involuntarily recall the bloody and brutal battle that had taken place during the day whenever he closed his eyes.

The empire's army was far superior to his "Pinduoduo-style" private aristocratic army, both in terms of the quality of its soldiers and its weaponry.

If the Kingdom's army goes out into the open to fight, they will be easily defeated. Although they can barely hold out by defending the fortified city, the casualties on both sides are close to one to one, which is not good news for them who are on the defensive.

The harsh reality made King Duran feel ridiculous. For the past ten years or so, he had maintained a misplaced confidence, believing that the kingdom and the empire were not much different. But when the two sides actually went to war, the situation was such a terrible sight.

The kingdom's army no longer dared to go out of the city to fight. Although the fortress could hold out for a short time, as time went on, the balance of power was tilting towards the enemy. Just now, a piece of news that made him and many others uneasy came from the south—the Empire's Dragon Knights had been dispatched and were expected to arrive at the fortress in two days.

King Duran could hardly imagine whether his soldiers would still have the courage to continue fighting if terrifying behemoths like wyverns appeared in droves before the kingdom's army.

The thought of wyverns reminded King Duran of another incident from a few years ago. One day, Count Ramli from the north sent a letter saying that a black dragon's nest had been discovered in the Void Forest, containing three dragon eggs. At the time, King Duran was having a headache over the dragon knights of the Canary Empire, and so a bold idea came to him.

It was precisely because of this idea that the great riot in the North, later known as the "Black Dragon Incident," was triggered. Fortunately, a wise man intervened and successfully quelled the dragon's wrath.

It was from this incident that the name of a priest began to appear in King Durand's ears, and as time went on, it appeared more and more frequently. Even the two old enemies, Earl Ramley and Duke Gamelin, who disliked each other, would praise this priest in their letters, calling him a learned, talented, upright and kind man.

King Duran really wanted to recruit this talented man to the capital for his own use, but unfortunately, the man was a priest. The Duran Kingdom had always adopted a balancing strategy with the religious community, and King Duran was worried that recruiting this priest would cause some problems for the three major religions. Therefore, he had to give up the idea.

King Duran was lost in thought when a royal guard rushed up to him and reported that Earl Sean, who had shielded His Majesty from an arrow earlier that day, was seriously injured. However, there were no priests in the army, and the Queen had sent him to ask His Majesty if a bottle of divine medicine could be obtained.

Upon learning that Earl Sean, who was loyal to him, had suffered a worsening injury, King Durand did not hesitate to take out a warrant and give it to him, instructing him to go to the Grand Master of the Army to get medicine.

Watching the guards knights hastily depart, King Duran couldn't help but sigh again. There were still nearly 30,000 troops garrisoned within the fortress, but not a single priest. Of the three major religions, one supported the empire, one remained neutral, and the other only offered verbal support; none could be relied upon in this crucial moment.

On the contrary, it was that saint from the North who provided the kingdom with many medicines with effects comparable to divine magic; otherwise, he would have had to send those unreliable physicians to treat the critically injured Earl Sean.

However, although the potions produced by the Pantheon were highly effective, the quantity was ultimately insufficient to meet the needs of tens of thousands of soldiers. King Duran could only strictly control the limited potions and save them to treat those who were more important to him.

Looking again toward the Imperial army camp to the south, King Duran was unsure how long the fortress could hold out, or whether he himself would be able to leave alive. He suddenly realized that his only hope now still lay in the North.

Just a few days ago, when he had led his army to Yodl Fortress, a raven delivered a personal letter from Earl Ramley, informing him that the 16,000-strong Northern Allied Army had miraculously arrived in the capital.

In his letter, Earl Ramli stated that it was once again the work of that saint, who had successfully persuaded more than a dozen dragons and lord-level monsters. Although these powerful beasts were unwilling to directly participate in the war to help the kingdom fight against the empire, they condescended to act as transporters, helping the Northern Alliance send troops and supplies south. The alliance would soon arrive at the front line to reinforce His Majesty.

King Duran was overjoyed upon hearing this good news, but having already witnessed the might of the Imperial Legion, he was worried that the Northern Alliance, with a total strength of less than 20,000 men, would only be a blood grinder on the front lines. So he hurriedly replied, instructing the Alliance to take a detour to cut off the Imperials' supply lines, as this was the only way to force the Imperial Legion to retreat.

In the days that followed, the Durans and Canaris engaged in an exceptionally brutal siege of the fortress. The Empire had a numerical advantage, and with the assistance of "volunteer priests" from the Cult of War, the Kingdom's army faced immense pressure.

Those damned war god priests even acted as lobbyists for the imperial people, coming to persuade him to surrender. If he defected and submitted to the empire, he, the King of Duran, would still retain his title of marquis.

King Duran's blood pressure soared after the envoy's persuasive talk about surrendering. Several times he couldn't resist drawing his sword to kill the shameless charlatan, but the queen beside him held him back each time.

It wasn't that King Durand was still rational and could listen to advice at the time, but rather that the Queen's grip was too strong!

It must be said that the priests are a major problem, especially those priests of the War God Cult. These power amplifiers have further widened the gap between the two armies.

Just as King Duran was pondering how to deal with the enemy the next day, several huge black shadows suddenly flew over the fortress in the night sky, bringing with them a howling wind that made King Duran almost lose his footing on the city wall.

King Duran looked up in confusion, only to see three enormous black shadows flying straight towards the Imperial army camp in the distance. The enemy seemed to have noticed these uninvited guests as well; the previously quiet camp suddenly became noisy, with mages launching magical missiles for illumination into the air.

With the help of the magical light, King Duran and the imperials in the distance could see the true form of the shadowy figure: three enormous monsters of lord-level power. The leader was a giant black eagle, which carried a rather large basket under its two large claws. The other two eagles also carried baskets.

Earlier, when they flew over the fortress, some viscous substance fell from the gondola and landed not far from King Duran. Before King Duran could get close to check, he smelled a putrid stench wafting over, making him feel nauseous.

Just then, the giant eagle in the distance suddenly spoke, shouting in a deafening voice.

"Customers downstairs, open the door to receive your packages!"

The giant eagle had an extremely loud voice. When it howled over the Imperial camp, even the Kingdom's army inside the Yordle Fortress could hear it clearly. Everyone rushed to the top of the city wall and looked across the wall in confusion.

The Imperials were completely bewildered. It was already frightening enough that these three top-tier demons suddenly appeared on their heads in the middle of the night, but now they were shouting about "receiving a package," which left many people even more confused.

Just as they were wondering what was going on, the three-headed monster opened the giant basket in mid-air without saying a word, dumping at least tens of tons of viscous unidentified substance directly into the Imperial Army's camp. An indescribable stench instantly covered half of the camp, causing the soldiers to scream in terror.

"Mmm, hmph, ahhhhhh!!!"

After delivering their "delivery," the three giant beasts turned and ran. The Imperial Army camp below them descended into chaos due to the stench. Soldiers fled in terror, covering their mouths and noses. Some unlucky ones were drenched in indescribable filth, either vomiting on the ground or howling and running around the camp, causing many of their comrades to avoid them at all costs.

Fortunately, the Imperial Legion was indeed well-trained. The chaos lasted only a dozen minutes before it was quelled by officers who arrived in time. They then organized men to clear the camp while carefully guarding against a sneak attack from the Kingdom's army on the other side.

Looking at the Imperial army camp, which seemed to be inhabited by Nurgle himself, the legion commander's face turned ashen. Some of his bolder soldiers had just gone forward to check, and the three large piles of things seemed to be just ordinary farmyard manure, mainly stinking, without any extra "added ingredients".

This made the legion commander breathe a slight sigh of relief, but he couldn't help feeling a little doubtful.

The three lord-level monsters were comparable in strength to dragons. If they had actually launched a surprise attack on the military camp, although the enemy had a hidden "trump card" that could forcibly capture these large beasts, their own losses would certainly have been considerable. In the end, the three of them just threw excrement from the sky, disgusting them for a while.

However, the puzzled legion commander was unaware that the mastermind behind these three lord-level monsters was not simply trying to annoy them, but was constrained by certain rules and could only annoy them in this way.

Similar to the non-interference treaty of the dragon race, any magical beast that possesses a transformation ring is also bound by a contract with the Holy Church of Light and is not allowed to attack humans on its own initiative. Therefore, Lud can only try to find a loophole and make his dozen or so heavyweights play a role.

So Lud first had these employees assist the Northern Alliance in transporting troops, and then he came up with a dirty trick: he used his own courier company to send packages to the enemy, airdropping a full thirty tons of farmyard manure into the Imperial Legion's camp.

As it turned out, this tactic was indeed very effective. The Imperial Legion, which had not been able to rest properly and was so disgusted by the stench that it could not eat, launched only two brief sieges on the second day before giving up. The army's combat effectiveness and morale were significantly reduced, which indirectly helped the defending Kingdom Army.

That very night, the behemoths once again delivered a midnight package, this time dropping three severely rotting dead whales. The giant eagle even circled the camp twice before suddenly swooping down, transforming into human form just before striking the ground and landing steadily in front of the legion commander.

Looking at the red-haired man who was actually a demon in disguise, the well-informed legion commander knew that the other party should possess the illusion ring of the Holy Light Church. These were demons who had a relatively harmonious relationship with humans. They had an agreement with the Holy Light Church and would not actively participate in wars between human nations.

However, just as the legion commander was about to loudly question the other party about why he had broken the contract and caused trouble, the giant eagle man suddenly took out a form from his pocket and handed it to the legion commander, asking him to sign for the package.

"Sign for delivery? Package? What do you mean by this?"

"Don't misunderstand, we did not violate the peace agreement with the Holy Church of Light. It was the courier company we work for that accepted the order and asked us to deliver these things to the Imperial military camp at midnight sharp. We were just delivering goods, it was not an act of attack."

"you……"

The legion commander naturally understood that the so-called "delivery" was just an excuse. Just like when their imperial legion invaded the Kingdom of Duran, they claimed that it was because the Kingdom of Duran was oppressing the ethnic minorities in the southern region. King Canary III received a letter from the tribal chief asking for help and was forced to send troops. All of this was to uphold justice and fairness in the world.