Goddess Kaleidoscope

"Aren't you afraid I'll lure her into the Pantheon?"

"If possible, that would be even better. Having her with you is much more reassuring than having her hang out with those Earth Cult members outside."

After briefly explaining a few things, Kumirad and Karius hurriedly departed, each seeking permission from the God of War and the Goddess of the Seasons to enter the Sea of ​​Death. The Earth Mother was left behind, entrusted to Rud's care.

Outside the temple gates, the Earth Cult members were still bewildered and at a loss in the wind. The patriarch, looking dejected, felt like a victim whose wife had been snatched away in the street by a bully, and could only watch helplessly as his goddess was abducted by the Pantheon.

He didn't understand why the goddess didn't resist, and why he, the dignified patriarch, suddenly couldn't use divine magic.

The situation was the same for the other lower-ranking priests. Everyone felt that the Pantheon was quite sinister and wanted to rush in to save the emperor, but after hesitating for a long time, no one dared to actually step forward.

"Do you think the goddess will be alright?"

"That's the omnipotent goddess, how could anything happen to her? But... that heretical priest named Lud is no simple character either."

"To be honest, the goddesses in the Pantheon all have amazing figures!"

The followers of the Earth Cult whispered among themselves, while the onlookers lingered, intrigued by the "next developments," making the atmosphere in the square somewhat subtle.

Just then, the temple doors opened again, and everyone looked in the direction of the sound. They saw the Earth Mother Goddess walking out of the doors unharmed, followed by Rud and the goddesses of the Pantheon. They surrounded the Earth Mother Goddess like stars around the moon.

The Earth Mother Goddess looked around, glanced at the Earth Cult followers below the hillside, then turned back to glance at Rud before clearing her throat and speaking.

"My believers, this...this is a misunderstanding!"

"???" xN

The Earth Mother's words left many people present confused, while she continued to explain to herself, occasionally glancing at her palm.

The Earth Mother told the believers that the misunderstanding between her and the Pantheon stemmed from a lack of communication and was not something that should escalate into a fight. Now that things had been clarified in person, everyone should pretend nothing had happened.

Frankly, this explanation is quite far-fetched, but the speaker is the Earth Mother Goddess, and this has always been her "style," so the believers didn't find anything wrong with it.

But just because they didn't think there was anything wrong with the style doesn't mean there wasn't anything wrong with what they said. When the believers heard that the goddess wanted to just let it go, they stared at each other wide-eyed, thinking to themselves, "We've traveled all this way across half the continent just to confront the Pantheon. Now that we've come all this way, can't we just leave empty-handed?"

Fortunately, Lude stepped in to smooth things over, saying that since the misunderstanding had been cleared up, the Earth Cult members were guests from afar, and he had an obligation to show them hospitality. Therefore, he paid for all their food and lodging in Pine Town and invited them to the Music God Festival (concert) a week later.

Thus, the turmoil caused by the Earth Cult was temporarily quelled. The goddesses present performed a miraculous ascension to immortality, turning around and returning to their temples. The goddesses of the Pantheon changed back into their everyday clothes as "human beings," and the Earth Mother also withdrew her divine power, temporarily disguising herself as a mortal, before looking at Rude timidly and speaking.

"I...I've already done as you said..."

"Yes, you did a great job, but your acting skills still need improvement."

"?"

Thanks to Tokumirad, he directly fooled the simple-minded Earth Mother Goddess with lies, so now even without physical contact, the Earth Mother Goddess's eyes are full of fear when she looks at him.

The two sides made a divine pact that the Earth Mother would undergo ten years of "theological study" at the Pantheon. Thirty years is half a lifetime for an ordinary person, but for a deity it is only "a short while," and the Earth Mother felt that she could just endure it.

Incidentally, although the Earth Mother Goddess was misled by Kumirad and adopted many aliases to dilute the faith—enough to fill two pages—she only used one name most often: Garia.

Lu De casually gave her a mortal identity, planning to tell Romian when she returned that she was the daughter of his friend who had come to seek refuge with him.

That evening, to celebrate the safe return of Rudd and his party, a small celebration banquet was held in the temple. Romian, whose culinary skills had surpassed Rudd's, cooked a large table full of delicious dishes. Seeing her beloved master safe and sound made the dragon girl happier than anything else.

Everyone chatted and laughed as they ate, creating a warm and harmonious atmosphere at the dinner table, just like a family. This was quite novel for Galya, the Earth Mother Goddess, who had never thought of living among mortals as a human in thousands of years.

Thanks to the divine spell of cognitive interference, neither Romian nor Olivia recognized that the junior sister their master had brought back was the Earth Mother Goddess, and therefore took great care of her. Romian was simply kind-hearted and caring, while Olivia took the opportunity to experience what it was like to be a senior sister, gradually losing herself amidst Garia's repeated calls of "senior sister."

"Junior sister, I'll protect you from now on!"

"Thank you, senior sister."

"Ah~~! That's great! I'm finally not the youngest in terms of seniority anymore."

After dinner, Lude returned to his study and secretly summoned the music goddess Dali, asking her how her recent practice was going.

The music festival scheduled for next week is specially prepared for her. Before setting off for the Earth's core, Lude had already made a plan to create another "artificial miracle" in order to improve the weakest character, Deli, at this stage.

Of the four second-tier gods, Sura, the God of War, has already reached Tier 4, having benefited from several months of war and experiencing rapid growth. Jessie, the Goddess of Wealth, hardly needs any deliberate promotion, while Alma, the Goddess of Balance, has also rapidly advanced to Tier 3 by having her portrait and emblem directly printed on the kingdom's constitution. Only Deli, the Goddess of Music, remains lukewarm, so Rud decides to give her a helping hand.

As the two were chatting, there was a knock at the door, and then Aina and Shanis crawled in from outside.

Seeing this, Daisy wisely took her leave first.

After Deli left, Shanes immediately and skillfully set up several barriers around the room, making Lude's eyelids twitch.

"I just got back today..."

“Master, we know you’ve had a tough trip, so we came here to help you relax.”

"That's right! And we came prepared!"

As Shanis spoke, she exchanged a smile with Aina, then playfully lifted the hem of her black nun's habit, revealing her thigh through a slit on one side. Lud's eyes widened instantly, for he realized that Shanis and Aina had swapped "equipment." This seemingly simple yet masterful micro-management immediately banished Lud's drowsiness.

Which cadre could withstand this kind of test?

"I really am a weak-willed and bad priest."

Ludwig, entering a state of sanity, habitually made self-deprecating remarks, only to be met with a merciless eye roll from Hume.

"You've already done it, so don't try to act innocent!"

Hume glanced at the peaceful and content sleeping faces of the two beautiful girls, one in black and one in white, on the bed next to him, and muttered to himself as he sat at his desk tidying his clothes. He thought to himself that he must come earlier next time. Those two girls were like egg-squeezers. If he had come half an hour later, there probably wouldn't have been a drop of soup left.

Even more terrifying is that there are many people in the temple who are eyeing Lud. Besides the goddesses, the snake girl Hydra and some female heroes also have some bold ideas. Even Romian, who has always seemed well-behaved and cute, no longer looks at her mentor with the same innocent gaze as before as she gets older.

Lude knew perfectly well what was going on, but he only dared to pretend not to.

At his desk, taking advantage of his exceptionally clear mind, Luther used divine magic to restore his strength before resuming his work on the documents he hadn't finished reading earlier. Hume, having nothing else to do, also picked up a document and began to read.

Currently, the Pantheon holds a position equivalent to the state religion in the Kingdom of Duran. Therefore, without Rudd actively spreading the gospel, people from all over the country are begging Rudd to send missionaries to their territories, eager to hear the gospel as soon as possible.

Luther granted all of these requests, but in his reply he made it clear that he would send specialized clergy—holy physicians and evangelistic teachers—to the area, who were more professional than ordinary missionaries.

The so-called "special clergy" are, to put it simply, doctors who can use low-level divine magic and literacy teachers who are proficient in multiple basic subjects. They are all outstanding graduates from Brewster Academy.

According to Ludd, it would be better to build hospitals and schools throughout the country rather than temples. Besides their more practical benefits to the people, hospitals and schools are not much less effective at attracting faith than temples. These are conclusions Ludd has drawn from extensive practical experience.

Thanks to Lude's relentless investment over the years, Brewster Academy has grown into a large, comprehensive institution with dozens of disciplines and over five thousand students. It's not just within the Kingdom of Duran, but also a top-tier institution across the entire continent.

However, the number of graduates that Lud can send out right now is still limited, because more than half of these 5,000 students are new students who have come to study here in the last six months. They range from five or six-year-old children to thirty or forty-year-old adults. It will take at least three to five years before these students are ready to be of use.

Therefore, in order to fill the manpower gap, Lude also cooperated with the Holy Light Church and the Three-Person Tower, because both missionaries and magicians are professions that require a certain level of education and belong to high-level intellectuals. The dwarves have a long history of having them serve as teachers in literacy classes, which is actually a bit of a waste of their talents.

It is worth mentioning that Lud initially hoped to cooperate with the dwarf brothers of the Steelwhip Clan in the field of education, because dwarves have a long tradition of popularizing basic education, and the literacy rate of adult dwarves is over 90%. Logically speaking, it would be perfectly reasonable to borrow a group of people from them to serve as literacy teachers.

However, the awkward thing is that the dwarves don't have enough manpower either.

Over the past few years, the Steelwhip Clan has grown to nearly 80,000 people by encouraging childbirth and continuously absorbing other dwarven clans. However, the Steelwhip Clan also has many tasks, requiring a large workforce for mining and forging. Thanks to the dwarves' superior physical abilities compared to humans, women and those under two hundred years old can engage in heavy physical labor.

Given that dwarven artisans are the main force in developing heavy industry, and even in some positions they are key figures that cannot be replaced by anyone else at this stage, Rudd ultimately felt embarrassed to ask the dwarves, who were already short-handed, for more people.

The next morning, as soon as Lud opened his eyes, he learned that Winig, the high priest of the Steel Whip Clan, had arrived from the south.

The old dwarf who led the conversion to the Three Goddesses was originally stationed in the south with his dwarven priesthood and the Steelwhip Clan's army to provide defensive support. Upon learning that the Earth Cult had caused trouble in Pinetown, he immediately summoned his disciples and followers, and they rushed back overnight on dragonships to prepare for the confrontation. Unfortunately, they were a little too slow, and they just missed the most exciting part.

When Ludwig finished dressing and hurriedly arrived at the temple entrance, he heard Winnipeg, carrying a crowbar and scepter, panting and shouting.

"Where are those bastards from the Earth Cult?!"

"Old man, calm down, it's over."

"Clam!?"

Upon hearing Lud said the laning phase was over, a clear look of disappointment appeared on the old dwarf's face. Lud led everyone inside to sit down. Meanwhile, at the side door of the main hall, the Earth Mother Goddess Garia, who had also heard the commotion and come to see what was going on, was peeking through the crack in the door, only half of her face showing.

Just then, a lazy voice came from behind Garia, followed by two bouncy and heavy objects pressing down on her head, making the Earth Mother feel a subtle displeasure.

"Huh? Why are these guys back?"

Shanis glanced curiously at the door, while Garia ran to the side with obvious disgust. She knew that the black-haired nun in front of her, who exuded an air of frivolity, was a god just like herself, but what annoyed her was that, despite being older and of a higher rank, she was so utterly inferior in terms of figure and appearance.

Blanch!

Do you know those dwarves outside?

"I know them, they're all acquaintances."

"Strange, they seem to be priests, but why can't I sense any connection between them and me?"

"Are you joking, or do you really not know?"

"???"

Seeing Garia's bewildered expression, seemingly genuinely unaware, Shanis couldn't help but think to herself, "Serves you right for losing so many followers and being made a fool of by Kumirad."

Of course, this cannot be said directly to someone's face.

On the other side, Lude briefly told Winnig what had happened in the past few days. After learning that the Earth Mother Goddess had actually come in person, yet was still persuaded by Lude on the spot, and the two sides "shaken hands and made peace," Winnig's expression was inevitably complicated, with both regret and a hint of relief.

As a dwarf who knew that hidden history, Winnig had long since lost all faith in the Earth Mother, but he also knew that the power of the gods was beyond the reach of mere mortals like them. So, despite his displeasure, reason told him that it was a good thing that no real battle had broken out.

Lud was more curious about the situation to the south, especially the Canary Empire's reaction after its failed invasion. He had spent over a month traveling underground and back, and his shadow guard, Byrne, hadn't returned from delivering a message to the Empire, which made Lud somewhat worried.

Upon hearing Ludwig ask this, Winnipeg immediately slapped his thigh and said...

"Things are really getting interesting over there in the Empire!"

For the Canary Islands Empire, which championed militarism and possessed a strong desire for expansion, the defeat in the war of aggression was unacceptable to many of its subjects. Therefore, when the emperor signed a ceasefire agreement with the enemy and slunk back home with tens of thousands of troops, he was met with criticism from almost every sector of society.

Some people felt that Canary III was too weak, that a minor military defeat made him bow down to the barbarians in the north.

Other royalists, however, felt that the problem wasn't His Majesty, but rather the treacherous ministers around him who slandered him, leading him to make the wrong judgment. They argued that how could His Majesty possibly conquer the world with such cowardly and reckless scoundrels?

After returning home with his army, Canary III did not immediately go back to reinforce the poorly defended capital. Instead, he went east to visit Duke Steiner and, with the help of his three main legions and the Wyvern Knights, he "borrowed" 30,000 elite soldiers and his two sons from the Duke with little effort. Then he went straight to the southern border and fought alongside the invading barbarian coalition.

By the time Winnig set off from the south to return to the north, the military operations of the Canary Empire had essentially come to an end.

Although the barbarian tribes of the wasteland outnumbered and outmatched, they were no match for the well-equipped and well-trained imperial legions. In a direct confrontation, they would either collapse at the first touch or flee in terror, with the imperial phalanxes mowing them down like grass. Meanwhile, the Wyvern Knights, who had previously suffered a crushing defeat in Duran, successfully regained their lost confidence by utterly dominating the barbarians.

However, while the military problems were solved, the political problems could not be solved in the same way.

As the emperor of the empire, Canary III was granted unlimited power by the centralized government, but this was only nominal supremacy. To govern such a large country, the emperor still needed the support and assistance of the bureaucratic group; he could not simply be eliminated because he disliked them.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Capital Party, led by Chancellor Goethe, keenly observed that ever since the emperor returned from the Kingdom of Durand, there seemed to be a distance between the monarch and his ministers, and they were no longer as close as they had been in the past.

In short, the empire is currently in chaos in all aspects. The defeat in the war has caused various internal conflicts to erupt, with different factions expressing their opinions on both psychological and physical levels, creating quite a stir. Beneath the surface, an even greater crisis is brewing.

It is worth mentioning that most of this intelligence from the Empire was provided by former members of the Black Hand Brotherhood who had completed their whitewashing and separation.

However, Lud is not in a hurry to attack the Empire, but rather plans to wait until things become more chaotic. Prematurely intervening would only give those factions that have just fallen into disagreements and whose conflicts have not yet escalated to an irreconcilable level a common enemy.