Goddess Kaleidoscope

"Lord Karius, is there anything else you wish to remind me of?"

"Uh... yes, there is, but I'm not entirely sure. How should I put it... you know about the War of the Gods three hundred years ago, right?"

"know."

"Do you know about the Skaven Empire's creation of gods?"

“I know, I even have half of the Black Sun Bible, which I got from some rat-man remnants.”

"Back then, the ratmen actually succeeded in creating a god, and you could even say they succeeded a little too much. Towards the end of the war, in order to turn the tide of the war, the ratmen used large-scale blood sacrifices to continuously strengthen the god they created. With the blood of tens of millions of lives, they created a powerful being that even I feel a little fear."

"Is he even better than you?"

"They were much stronger than I was back then. If it weren't for those rat kings being too clever for their own good and trying to control that new god, which resulted in His rampage, they would have almost won."

"And in the end? The ending I know is that all of you gods joined forces to seal away that rat-man's god."

"Hehe, we did think about it, but that guy is too strong. The gods who just went through a great battle are already exhausted. Even if everyone joins forces, it won't be enough."

"So what did you do?"

“We dug a huge pit that went straight to the center of the earth, and then lured the god who had gone mad into the land of fire.”

"Wait a minute! Isn't that a forbidden area for gods? How did He get in?"

"Normally, it's impossible to get in, but it doesn't say you can't force your way in!"

"..."

Having said all that, Rudd finally understood. These veteran gods had used the Primal Fire's ability to suppress the gods, turning the Fire Seed Land into a prison, where the crazed rat-man gods could enter but couldn't get out.

Now, in order to confirm the situation at the Fire Seed Land, Karius has no choice but to entrust him with the task of going in and checking things out. There's no guarantee that he won't encounter this terrifying being who even he himself is inferior to.

Kumirad comforted Rud, explaining that although they were certain that the powerful ratman god still existed, since he was trapped in the Land of Fire, his divine power was essentially useless.

Moreover, the area where the fire was sown was vast, and there was no guarantee that one would encounter it.

“I hope you can help us with this, but I won’t force you to do it. Fortunately, you’re different from your master, at least… you seem much more normal, and the sect you founded is quite legitimate. I can assure you with my divine status that this tragedy will not be repeated.”

Although Karius didn't explain it clearly, Ludwig knew that the "tragedy" he was referring to was the farcical incident where the old astrologer was "checked" by the Sun Knight. It was like a local police officer accidentally killing an undercover agent sent by the provincial authorities due to a lack of communication between superiors and subordinates.

Karius felt quite guilty about the old astrologer's demise, but it wasn't entirely his fault.

Firstly, they underestimated the old man's intelligence and resourcefulness; he created Shanis in less than a year after acquiring the Primal Flame. Secondly, they underestimated his extraordinary psychic tendencies. Given Shanis's initial appearance—a look that would make even Cthulhu exclaim "Wow!"—it's no wonder the local Sun Knights treated her like a cult member and attacked her!

Judging people by their appearance is wrong, but at least they should look like a human being, right?

Regarding the exploration of the Land of Fire, Karius did not demand an immediate answer from Lud, but instead told him to first settle things in the Kingdom of Duran.

After explaining everything to Rudd, Karius left first. The eighth-tier peak gods were already severely rejected by the world, and even if they used an "avatar" to see Rudd, they couldn't maintain it for long. Therefore, gods of the sixth tier and above would create separate divine realms and reside there to avoid the world's rules. If their true forms were to descend, they wouldn't even last a few minutes.

It's worth mentioning that before leaving, Karius gently placed his hand on Rudd's head. Rudd instinctively tensed up upon feeling divine power surge into his body from the crown of his head, but quickly realized that the primordial fire within him hadn't neutralized it, indicating a positive effect.

After Karius left, Pope Saint Leonid entered from outside. He had already received a divine oracle from the gods that Rudd and the Pantheon were allies of the Church of Light. When he looked up and saw the light emanating from Rudd's brow, he was so surprised that he could hardly close his mouth.

"You...you've become the chosen one of the God of Light?"

Rudd touched his forehead, and only then did he realize the purpose of the divine power that Carius had just infused into him, after hearing the Pope address him as "the chosen one of the Light." This was an unexpected and great gift, as well as a useful talisman. Other sects would have to think twice before trying to harm him in the future.

A week later, Duran's side returned to Yanmu City from the signing site on the border between the two countries and immediately dispatched a large number of messengers to quickly spread the news of the end of the war throughout the country.

For the Kingdom of Duran, which was at an inherent disadvantage, although they suffered heavy losses in this battle, they were able to fight the powerful Empire to a standstill and ultimately force the Empire to retreat and cease hostilities, without being able to seize an inch of their land. This was an undeniably great victory, something that all Duran people should be proud of.

From a practical standpoint, the Kingdom of Duran was severely weakened by this victory, and it would take three to five years to recover. So, upon returning to Yanmu City, King Duran and Queen personally visited Rude and bluntly requested that he serve as their "national advisor" to assist them in revitalizing the nation.

Prior to this, King Durand had intentionally kept his distance from Rudd, as ancestral teachings instructed him to be wary of religious forces. However, the Pantheon's contribution to this war was undeniable, and the Northern nobles almost unanimously praised "Saint Rudd" as a once-in-a-millennium sage.

Therefore, after hesitating for many days, King Durand finally made this decision that "went against his ancestors".

Faced with King Durand's earnest request, Rudd pondered for a moment. Seeing the hesitation on his face, King Durand assumed that Rudd was not satisfied with the conditions he had just offered, so he gritted his teeth and added.

“If you, Master, agree, I may establish the Pantheon as the state religion.”

"What? Ah, no, no, no! There's no need for that. Our religion has always advocated freedom of religion, and we value harmony and reason with other religions. If you establish the Pantheon as a country, other religions will feel nervous."

"What would you like, Master?"

"What I want... there are too many to list. Why don't you tell me first, Your Majesty, what you desire, or rather, what do you hope I can help you achieve?"

"I want a prosperous nation, so that the Canary Islands will no longer dare to encroach on our land, nor will they dare to harm the Durandians."

"You want to protect your people, is that right?"

"Your Majesty, this is how it should be!"

While Rudd wasn't entirely satisfied with King Durand's answer and the resolute determination in his gaze, he was at least not disappointed. This traditional feudal monarch possessed the potential to usher in a new era.

On this day, Rudd had a long talk with King Duran and his wife, and summoned many people, including several ministers who were trusted by King Duran, as well as heroes who had made great contributions in the war.

Lude knew that progress required a gradual process; a seed needed suitable soil and environment to take root and sprout, and one could not expect it to blossom and bear fruit out of thin air.

What Lud is about to do is a great undertaking that cannot be accomplished by one or two people. He needs friends who can fight alongside him, preferably "steadfast comrades with the same goal"!

The kingdom has just emerged from war, and while the flames of war have caused considerable devastation to the nation, they have not been entirely without benefit. Firstly, the people have begun to awaken their national consciousness amidst the suffering, strengthening their identification with and cohesion of the country. Secondly, the power of the conservative aristocracy has been significantly weakened, both of which have provided favorable conditions for change.

Before the war began, the southern border of the Kingdom of Duran had always been the traditional sphere of influence of conservative nobles. They had all witnessed how the local nobles of the neighboring Canary Empire had been weakened after it achieved centralization of power.

Therefore, whenever the royal family expresses similar ideas, these people vehemently oppose them. They are well aware of the benefits the central group brings to the country, but they are unwilling to jeopardize their own interests.

Fortunately, the Canary Islands came and utterly humiliated these conservative nobles of the South. The patriots were all beheaded by the Canary Islands, while the traitors were chopped up by Lud. The Northern Allied Forces quelled the rebellion in the South, hanging many spineless cowards who had surrendered to the Empire from lampposts.

The remaining two or three kittens are no longer a threat.

According to the laws of the Kingdom of Duran, treason and rebellion are the only two serious crimes that would result in the stripping of titles and fiefs, thus allowing the royal family to legitimately reclaim approximately two-thirds of the southern territory from the state.

King Durand was furious at the shameful surrender of so many Southern nobles, especially the upper and middle classes, where the situation was particularly dire. Apart from Duke Crude and a few marquises and earls who stood firm in their resistance, almost all the other lords had knelt down, including some descendants of the founding heroes who had fought alongside the first King Durand to establish the kingdom.

The most despicable of all is Duke Veror of the "Weeping Tree Family," a complete traitor who has long since defected to the Empire.

In the early stages of the Imperial invasion, if it weren't for this fellow's private army ambushing the reinforcements sent to the front lines by several other lords, leaving Duke Kruder's border troops isolated and without support, the Imperial army wouldn't have been able to break through the border so quickly.

Afterwards, the Imperial army marched straight in, and Duke Verol once again acted as a guide, providing the Imperial army with a large amount of food and supplies. He even sent his two sons to lead their private army to participate in the brutal siege of the Yodl Fortress, turning their swords against their former compatriots.

Others sacrifice their families to save others from hardship, but his family sacrificed their families to aid the enemy. It's quite rare to see someone so willing to betray their country for personal gain!

Fortunately, heaven had mercy and punished the wicked. The Weeping Tree family didn't have time to gloat for long before they began to suffer a series of setbacks due to the sudden turn of the battle. First, the two sons who had been assigned by their father to serve as "imperial collaborators" died one after another in less than a day. Then, the third son, who was escorting grain supplies, was ambushed by peasant guerrillas on the way.

This unfortunate kid wouldn't have died otherwise, but when faced with the ragged guerrillas, he couldn't shake his old bad boy habits and foolishly introduced himself. The guerrillas, upon hearing that he was the famous "Third Young Master of the Veror family," thought, "Well, you're not leaving today."

When the Duke's reinforcements arrived in a hurry, their third young master's body was intact, but his head was missing.

After losing three sons in succession, the old duke was devastated. Meanwhile, the war situation had led the empire to consider withdrawing its troops and preparing to withdraw from the Kingdom of Duran. This threw the traitorous group led by Duke Verol into a panic.

Fortunately, the Empire was quite righteous and didn't abandon its dogs from the sky like a certain super-fast superpower on Earth did when it withdrew from the Imperial Graveyard. Instead, it planned to take these spiritual Canary people with it when it retreated, otherwise no one would want to follow it in the future.

However, the Imperials did not abandon them, and the Durans did not give up. On the eve of their departure with the Imperial army, the two chiefs of the Trio Tower, who had recovered from their injuries, appeared together in front of the Duke's mansion without anyone noticing, to see his family off on their final journey.

The two saints of water and fire unleashed a combo attack that instantly vaporized the entire Duke's mansion!

Thanks to the timely and precise elimination of traitors, less than two-tenths of the southern nobility remain, and most of those killed were conservatives. This allowed the royal court to implement centralized reforms, simultaneously announcing the formation of a truly central cabinet government and a national army.

In essence, this reform plan is similar to the centralized system implemented by the Empire decades ago. However, because the Kingdom has the help of Lud, a time traveler, to devise strategies, and because it has caught the "right time," the future new government will be structurally more rational and professional than the Empire's.

In the past, the central royal court had a rather simple leadership team. The king had only one prime minister and a dozen or so regents. These regents were not leaders in charge of a department, but rather assistants, similar to "secretaries," and their titles were quite arbitrary.

Sometimes the king would suddenly have a whim to do something and would appoint a certain minister as "Minister of [specific title]". In short, it was very arbitrary, which made Ludwig feel that it was very unprofessional.

Therefore, in the cabinet formation plan provided by Lud, the new cabinet government will have eight ministerial positions: defense, technology, agriculture, infrastructure, finance, people's livelihood, foreign affairs, and justice. Each minister will have several related departments under their leadership, and each department will have its own minister.

The new royal cabinet government was much simpler than that on Earth. Lud was afraid that taking too big a step would cause problems, so he tried to keep it as simple as possible.

Even so, when King Durand learned that the new cabinet government would need two to three thousand civilian staff, and if it were to be fully implemented at the grassroots level, it would require hundreds of thousands more "civil servants," King Durand, who was used to having only a dozen or so people around him to help him govern the entire country, felt genuinely incredulous!

"Isn't this too much?"

"It's because you used too few people in the past, and you completely left the grassroots level to local lords. The power of the whole country has not been effectively integrated. If you continue with the old system, it is impossible to resist the empire with just cannons."

"Alright, then I'll listen to you."

After spending some time with Duran King, Rudd discovered that although the man's talents were mediocre in many aspects, he had one advantage: he was very self-aware. He knew he wasn't smart enough, so he was willing to listen to the advice of the smart people around him.

If a monarch like this were to be deceived by treacherous and wicked men, he would undoubtedly die young. But fortunately, King Durand was lucky; he had more loyal ministers than treacherous ones around him.

The new cabinet was primarily composed of meritorious officials who had contributed to the war, placed in positions based on their individual strengths. For example, Duke Kruder, who had fought against the Empire on the border for many years, became the first Minister of Defense, while Earl Ramley, known for his integrity, naturally became the Minister of Justice. This group of people was capable and loyal.

In the new cabinet, Ludwig did not seek any official position for himself, but his protégés held positions in various departments. In particular, the Minister of Technology and the Minister of People's Livelihood, whose ministries of law and health were entirely staffed by Ludwig's people.

Lude plans to spend five years implementing "three years of compulsory education" for minors throughout the Kingdom of Duran, building two thousand primary schools. Brewster Academy in Pine Town will also be upgraded to become the first university in the kingdom, transforming Pine Town into an academic city that attracts the nation's brightest minds to study there.

To assist in the formation of the new cabinet, Ludwig was invited to accompany King Durand to the capital and stayed with his disciples at a luxurious estate not far from Durand Palace, which was said to be more comfortable than the royal castle.

The owner of this mansion is none other than Duchess Anphi Charles, the younger sister of the current King Duran. Lude had previously learned from other sources that this duchess was the biological mother of his apprentice, Olivia, but the identity of the child's father remained a mystery.

At this moment, Olivia was showing her fellow senior sisters around the manor. This place belonged to her mother, Duke Charles. Olivia had lived here since childhood, so she was familiar with every plant and tree. The servants in the manor also knew her and respectfully called her Miss.

As the youngest (ostensibly) disciple of Ludwig, Olivia acted like a spoiled young lady when she was first sent to Pine Town, spoiled and willful.

However, after spending some time together, everyone felt that although the child was a bit of a troublemaker, he was not a bad person at heart. Olivia also discovered that this place was very different from the monasteries she had stayed in before; it was not a lifeless place that made her feel bored.

This firsthand experience of the brutal Great Patriotic War opened the eyes of young Olivia to the incredible strength of her mentors and senior colleagues! She herself served as a battlefield nurse for several months, going from being terrified at the sight of blood to becoming a competent assistant nurse.

Several months of experience, while not enough to completely transform this noble lady, has at least made her much more composed than before.

The girls strolled around the manor, finally arriving at Olivia's room. Seeing that everything in the room was exactly the same as before, Olivia was deeply moved. Although her mother had sent her to various convents since she was ten, each time she returned, the room remained unchanged and spotless.

She wouldn't have noticed these details before.

Just then, a maid from the mansion brought in some refreshments in a cart. Olivia glanced at the small pastries on the plate and thought to herself that not everything had changed, but these butter cookies were something that hadn't been there before.

"Did you get a new chef?"

"Reporting to Miss, it is true that a new pastry chef has arrived. I heard that he comes from the north and studied at a culinary school."

"Uh...it's not Brewster, is it?"

"Oh! Miss, you knew about this too?"

"..."

Upon hearing the maid's words, Olivia's expression became somewhat subtle. She not only knew Brewster Academy, but had also studied there. The maid, however, only knew that the young lady had gone to a monastery run by a local religious sect in the north, but was unaware that this "monastery" and the technical school were affiliated.

After the maid left, the female disciples tasted the tea and snacks and quickly came to their conclusion: the taste was indeed very good, but it was not as good as Romian's.