Goddess Kaleidoscope

As the second most respected being in the entire temple, Romian is now the chosen one of both the God of Medicine and the God of Love. The Dragon Girl thought that she was favored by the gods because of her hard work in cultivation and her devout faith. Little did she know that the real reason behind it was largely because she satisfied the gods' appetites!

As the group was enjoying their snacks, a series of slightly hurried footsteps came from outside the door. Then, the door to the boudoir was pushed open, and a beautiful young woman with long flaxen hair entered. Upon seeing her, Olivia immediately blurted out...

"mom!"

"Olivia!"

Upon seeing her mother, Olivia immediately flew into the young woman's arms like a fledgling swallow, and the woman's identity was self-evident; she was none other than the kingdom's most famous duchess, Anfi Charles.

The mother and daughter were reunited after a long separation, and their embrace was a particularly touching scene. However, Aina noticed that her senior sister, Shanis, was staring intently at Olivia's mother with a strange look, muttering something under her breath.

"Why would this refer to a daughter!?"

Holding her mother's hand, Olivia turned around and introduced her senior sisters at the Pantheon. The Duchess looked at the four beautiful young women in front of her with a meaningful gaze, and then asked everyone.

"Where is your master, Master Lu De?"

"Working overtime." x2

Aina and Shanis answered in unison, and indeed, as soon as Lud arrived at the manor, he had a servant take him to the study. Romian originally wanted to go and help, but Lud didn't let her come.

Just then, a man's soft cough came from outside the room. Everyone in the room looked in the direction of the sound and saw that An Fei was followed by two unfamiliar men. One was a middle-aged man who looked to be around forty years old and dressed well, and the other was a handsome young man with slicked-back hair.

It's easy to tell from their clothing that both of them are nobles, and not just any nobles, but high-class ones at that.

Interestingly, although the two were with Anfi, the Duchess's gaze towards them was not friendly; it was a complex emotion of disgust mixed with helplessness.

With a "noble" smile, the middle-aged man strode into Olivia's boudoir. His gaze casually swept over everyone present before finally settling on Olivia, and he exclaimed in admiration.

"It's been over ten years since I last saw her. This child has lived up to her noble lineage; she has truly grown into a graceful young lady! It's been a long time since I last greeted you, Miss Olivia. I am your cousin, Warren Charles, and this is my son, Suka Charles, your cousin. Suka, come and say hello to your cousin."

When the two introduced themselves as her cousins, Olivia was clearly confused and couldn't help but cast a questioning look at her mother.

Duchess Anphie then explained that the two were from Olivia's maternal grandmother's side of the family, that is, the Duchess's biological mother and the relatives of the former Queen Durand.

After her brother ascended the throne, Anfi was required by royal law to move out of the palace and establish her own household. At the same time, she could no longer use the royal name, so she used her mother's old surname, "Charles".

Therefore, anyone with a little knowledge of the aristocratic system knows that the kingdom currently has two "Dukes of the Charles", one is the Duke of the Charles of Maple Mountain, who is Olivia's mother, and the other is the Duke of the Charles of Autumn Valley, whose current head is Warren Charles.

Although they share the same surname, Charles, and are indeed related by blood, Anfi rarely interacts with the other Charles family. Furthermore, for some rather personal reasons, she harbors a certain dislike for Warren Charles, though she doesn't openly express it due to their kinship.

Olivia had no idea why these two distant relatives had come to visit, assuming it was just a casual visit between friends and family. However, Suka, who introduced himself as her cousin, made her feel vaguely uncomfortable.

After the two sides met, the Duchess gave the butler a wink, signaling him to take the Charles father and son to the guest room. It seemed that the two were also planning to stay at the manor for a few days.

After the two left, the Duchess breathed a sigh of relief and then looked at her daughter with some apology.

Anfei was fully aware of the father and son's intentions, and she knew that in the coming period, nobles with similar ideas would continue to flock to the capital, making the manor quite unsettled.

Since the formation of the cabinet government was never intended to be concealed from the beginning, the news spread like wildfire in the capital, where personal connections were as intricate as a spider web. The official announcement the following day served as a direct confirmation.

If this had happened before the war, as soon as the news spread, a large group of conservative nobles would have rushed to the palace to "advise" King Duran to think twice before acting and not to go against the laws of his ancestors and follow the example of that cruel and tyrannical empire by establishing a centralized government.

However, after the war with the Empire ended, the power of the original southern nobles (the conservatives) was greatly diminished, and a group of northern nobles (the reformers) who were willing to accept change gathered around King Duran. Some of the more astute people realized that the transformation of the kingdom was unstoppable, and that it was better to make plans early rather than risk being beheaded by trying to persuade King Duran.

As the news spread rapidly, many local nobles rushed to the capital, unusually and publicly supporting King Durand's reforms. While showing their loyalty to the king, they also wanted to secure a good position in the new power structure. Duke Charles and his son belonged to this category.

In fact, given the relationship between the Charles family and the royal family, it would have been easy for Warren and his son to enter the court and become officials, at least securing a decent mid-level position. But Warren's ambitions went far beyond that.

Inside the manor's study, Ludwig and a group of advisors were refining the specific details of the new government's formation.

Among the dozen or so advisors present were graduates from Brewster College, as well as talented individuals recommended by the royal family and nobility. King Durand placed unprecedented trust in Ludd in the formation of the cabinet government, allowing him to boldly take charge.

At first, Rudd was quite touched, but the next day he learned that King Duran had completely abandoned his duties, leaving a lot of official business to him and other ministers while he and the Queen went to soak in the hot springs. This made Rudd feel very complicated, as if he, a great and intelligent man, had been fooled by a simple-minded fool.

However, despite the complaints, Durant, as the client, may not be perfect, but at least he is someone who makes things easy for people.

According to the preliminary organizational framework, the cabinet government consists of eight ministers and nineteen departments. To function properly, it will require at least three thousand civilian staff. This is only for the central government in the capital. If the administrative system is fully expanded to cover the entire country in the future, the number of grassroots civil servants alone will exceed eighty thousand, and these civil servants must have a certain level of literacy to be competent.

For the Kingdom of Duran, with a total population of 20 million and a literacy rate that, even with optimistic estimates, might not be 1%, the talent shortage is enormous. Even if Ludger were to recruit all the students from his schools as civil servants, it would still be a drop in the ocean.

It is worth mentioning that among all social classes, religious people have the highest literacy rate, reaching an astonishing 90% or more, far ahead of the aristocratic group whose literacy rate is less than 40%.

This is mainly because one of the daily tasks of monks is to copy scriptures. Since there is a demand for this in their work, it naturally forces all monks to be able to read and write.

In Ludd's view, implementing universal basic education was the top priority in the early days of the new government. It was paramount!

His planned "two thousand schools" are essentially literacy classes in the initial stage, just given the name of "primary school" so that they can be upgraded later when he has the capacity.

Of these 2,000 schools, 1,900 are village primary schools. Each school can operate normally with two teachers and three school workers. These schools, scattered in the vast rural areas, do not have many students, and are generally less than 100.

The other 100 town primary schools are located in large and medium-sized towns with relatively concentrated populations. Depending on the population and the size of the city, some cities may need to build more than one.

These town schools, like the village primary schools, initially served as literacy classes, but will gradually be upgraded to secondary schools once the teaching staff is in place.

As for universities, at present there is only Brewster Academy in Pine Town. There are plans to build another university in the capital, but it is not included in the new government's first "five-year plan".

In order to encourage ordinary people to send their children to school voluntarily, Ludwig felt that relying solely on legislation to enforce it was not feasible, as this could easily lead to unnecessary misunderstandings or even have the opposite effect.

Back when Lud was traveling around Pine Town trying to promote education, his enthusiasm sometimes led people to suspect him of being a human trafficker. Even worse, some accused him of being a perverted pedophile. Enraged, Lud wanted to find that bastard who spread the rumors and smash his head in.

Because of these lessons learned, Ludwig believes the key is to make people realize that there are benefits to sending their children to school.

So Ludwig decreed that all public schools would charge each student only a symbolic fee of ten copper coins per year for tuition and miscellaneous expenses. If even that was not enough, there were interest-free student loans available for application. In addition, the schools would provide free lunches.

However, compared to these, what truly inspires the desire for knowledge among ordinary people at the bottom of society is the path that schools provide for them.

As mentioned earlier, the cabinet government needs a large number of civil servants, and the most basic requirement for civil servants is that they can read and write, and they only need to have a clean background and no criminal record. Both nobles and commoners can apply.

This means that, at least within the Kingdom of Duran, reading and writing truly have the power to change one's destiny!

The people may be ignorant, but they are not stupid.

As the saying goes, "It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person." Education is a massive undertaking that requires huge investment but whose results cannot be seen in the short term. To help King Duran understand the importance of education, Rudd had a long and heart-to-heart talk with him on this single aspect.

In the end, King Durand only partially understood, but the Queen comprehended it and then gave her husband a concise summary.

"This is a good thing!"

Therefore, the royal family decided to fully support the educational cause promoted by Lud. The initial investment of three million gold coins would be borne by the royal family in half, and the other half would be raised by appealing to the nobles for donations. In short, they would definitely raise every penny of this money.

In addition to the strong support of the Duran royal family, the Church of Light also offered its assistance, providing manpower and resources as needed, but with one condition: the school must have a statue of Karius.

Ludès was initially hesitant, but after seeing the aid list sent by Saint Leonid, he finally nodded.

Because the older brother gave so much!

Ludwig worked until sunset, during which other ministers came to him for advice on work matters. Although Ludwig had not formally accepted King Durand's appointment, he was now essentially the de facto prime minister of the kingdom, overseeing all affairs related to the formation of the new government.

Lude estimated that it would take at least two weeks for the cabinet government to be formed, but this was only the first step. Whether the new government could function properly would require at least a year of adjustment to observe.

That evening, Anfi Charles, the true owner of the manor, hosted a banquet and invited many dignitaries from the capital. The main purpose was not purely for entertainment, but to help Lude expand his network in the upper circles of the capital.

Ludwig himself knew that not all nobles were corrupt and decadent; many of them were capable individuals who could be won over. In any transitional period of a new era, there is no shortage of ruthless figures among the pioneers who dare to revolutionize their own society!

However, the process of selecting fellow travelers was not pleasant; it had a somewhat unpleasant "finding gold in the shit" feeling.

"Send these to Goddess Goddess!"

After being approached by several nobles from the capital who tried to get close to him, Lud covered his mouth with his wine glass and muttered a complaint. Shanis, standing beside him, tried her best to suppress her laughter, a true master of amusement.

"Master, I think that person's suggestion was pretty good."

"Come on, what kind of decent person would come up with the idea of ​​charging a 'virginity tax'? And that bastard even claims to be well-read!"

"The Imperial Uncle is a book too!"

The master and apprentice were quietly complaining about the eccentric nobleman when several familiar faces approached. Upon seeing Count Ramley and the two young men and women behind him, Ludwig's face broke into a rare, genuine smile.

"Good evening, Your Excellency. By the way, has the date been set?"

"After raising him for twenty-six years, he can finally be given away when summer arrives in early July."

"Father, what you're saying is too much!"

Behind the old count, "Big Green Pepper Knight" Sharo blushed, while Rodriguez smiled shyly, his eyes frequently glancing at his "fiancée" beside him. This shared experience of life and death in the war, coupled with the "assistance" effect of the fierce offensive of a certain empire, had finally allowed this bickering couple to take that crucial step.

When the old count learned that his green pepper had finally managed to seduce the pig, he was so happy that he wept tears of joy, and the marriage was thus arranged naturally.

Incidentally, although Rodriguez did not join the cabinet, he did join the newly formed "Duran National Guard" as the commander-in-chief of the cavalry, while Sharo was his adjutant; they were a husband-and-wife team.

The newly formed cabinet government has a very high proportion of northern nobles among its officials at all levels. Of the eight ministers and nineteen ministers, more than half are from the northern region of the kingdom. Among them, three ministers are former commoners who were ennobled after the war for their merits.

On the southern border, only Duke Crude became Minister of Defense. However, because of his close ties with the royal family before the war, Duke Crude was not well-liked by the conservative nobles in the south. As a result, he formed a separate faction with a few neighboring border nobles in similar situations and did not get along well with the conservatives.

So when the remaining conservative nobles realized that they had suffered heavy losses after the battle and had been kicked out of the core circle of the new government, many of them panicked. They wished they could embroider royal banners overnight and fawn over King Duran to show their loyalty.

Besides the king, these people also had their eyes on Rudd, sending him money, women, and little boys. The most outrageous one even gave Rudd a gift box of the Pantheon's Mysterious Oil, and then flattered him, saying that it was incredibly effective, leaving Rudd speechless.

Whether this thing works or not, I don't need you to tell me!

Luther initially didn't turn these people away, approaching it with a try-and-see attitude, hoping to discover a few useful talents. However, as it turned out, while influential people are indeed rare, valuable resources are everywhere!

In comparison, the students personally trained by Ludwig in the academy are more reliable, but these talents cannot all be given to the cabinet government.

He chatted with Count Ramley for a while, but soon the Count was pulled away by some old acquaintances to catch up. Lud looked around but didn't see Aina and the others, so he asked Shanis to go look for them. Just then, a handsome middle-aged nobleman walked towards him and greeted him.

"Good evening, Master Lud. I have long admired your name. I am Warren Sharl, Lord of Autumn Valley. It is a pleasure to meet you. Please take good care of me."

Upon hearing the other party introduce himself as "Lord of Qiugu," Lu De thought to himself that this was no ordinary nobleman, but rather a member of the royal family.

Regarding the kingdom's nobles, Lud actually had a statistical table that divided the kingdom's hundreds of noble families, large and small, into three categories based on their actual performance in this war.

Traitors will be thoroughly purged, while patriots will be given priority and important positions by the new government.

The Duke of Charles before us belongs to the third category, namely the "fence-sitters" who have shown ambiguity in their stance on the war. Ironically, this category of nobles is the most numerous, accounting for nearly half of the total number of nobles.

Throughout the war, during the most difficult early and middle stages, the Autumn Valley, ruled by the Duke of Shire, only provided King Durand with a batch of provisions and three hundred temporarily conscripted peasant soldiers. The main force of his private army only arrived "late" in the later stages of the war, after the Northern Alliance had successfully reversed the situation.

Without a doubt, Duke Charles was a shrewd man, but he was clearly too shrewd. You can't say he didn't contribute, but the timing of his contributions was always so "perfect".

For this kind of "great intelligence," Ludd's idea was that neither to punish them openly nor to promote them, but to give them a less important, idle position in the lower middle class and leave them to their own devices.

But Duke Charles clearly didn't think so. The Charles family were the descendants of the founding nobles of Durand, and the current King of Durand had their blood flowing in his veins. Such a noble and illustrious lineage, occupying a place in the core of power in the new government, seemed like a very reasonable request.

However, Warren Shire also knew that his contribution to this war was far less than that of the Northern nobles who had their entire families fighting together. If it were purely based on merit, he would not be able to sit in the first three rows of the new government, but in the last three rows, he would only be able to sit in a remote corner near the toilet.

So if he wanted to climb the ladder, he could only rely on "connections".

Despite not being particularly interested in Warren Charles's advances, Ludwig didn't want to slap him in the face, so he could only offer a few polite words in return.

However, just then, a commotion suddenly came from the direction of the garden not far away. Lu De looked in the direction of the sound and seemed to hear the voices of several of his female disciples. He couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.