Goddess Kaleidoscope

Lude thought to himself that the color representation of this new statue was indeed far beyond his expectations. When he had more free time in the future, he could definitely consider making a "summer event limited skin" for Aina or something.

The new statue was placed in the temple the next day, to the right of the medicine god statue. Thanks to Lude having given the villagers a heads-up beforehand, when the statue was displayed, the villagers were more amazed by the beauty of the goddess statue than by the strangeness of having two gods in one temple!

Lud already held authority in the village, and his explanation did indeed sound plausible, so they readily accepted it. This clearly demonstrates that the public's capacity for acceptance is actually quite strong; it mainly depends on the persuasive skills of the disseminator!

After the statue of Shanis was displayed, a group of casual believers of the god of love and desire quickly appeared in the village. Thanks to Ludwig's tireless promotion of the concept of "freedom of religion," which never required believers to worship only one god, these believers actually worshipped two gods at the same time.

However, after observing for a few days, Lud observed that although the faith produced by these believers was divided into two categories, the portion given to Aina did not decrease significantly compared to before, while the portion given to Shanis was almost entirely additional. Therefore, the total faith output of these general believers actually increased significantly.

According to the doctrines preached by Ludwig, all the gods and Buddhas in the heavens have their own duties, and mortals should pray to the corresponding gods for the corresponding tasks they perform. One should never worship only one god, after all, even they have their busy schedules.

Almost none of the believers in the village realized that Lud had been subtly imbuing the gods with humanity, which is why the gods he spoke of sounded so kind and approachable.

Soon, the day set for the mass wedding arrived. Under Lude's direction, the villagers swept the road from the square to the temple clean in advance. Lude also put on a white robe, which he hadn't worn in a long time. He was going to officiate the weddings of sixteen couples in the village today, so he naturally had to dress more solemnly.

As arranged by Lu De in advance, the grooms cleaned themselves from head to toe early in the morning, changed into their best clothes, and, holding flowers and cheered on by their friends, strode towards the bride's house, ready to face the test from her family.

Most of the door-opening tests were relatively simple, or perhaps the social customs of that era were still quite simple and honest. If the groom really stumped the bride's family, they would usually let him off the hook immediately. Meanwhile, the groom's side had secretly received Lu De's true teachings, and everyone carried some copper coins in their pockets before going out, which would definitely work.

And so, the grooms quickly gathered their brides in the town square. Next, they would walk hand-in-hand, one by one, behind the two nuns, towards the temple to complete the final ceremony.

The entire group wedding was turned into a festival. Not only were the sixteen couples and their relatives and friends happy, but everyone in the village was also happy because they had survived the most difficult winter. This group wedding seemed to herald their new life and a hopeful future awaited them.

However, just as the villagers were cheering and jumping for joy, the watchtower on the south side of the village suddenly sounded a warning drum. The sound was not urgent, and there was no gong at the same time, indicating that the people coming were not bandits or brigands. But since the watchtower had sent out a signal, it meant that they were at least not ordinary people.

The villagers soon saw a group of knights clad in plate armor and carrying three black wolf banners enter the village. Behind them were about a dozen large carts, which seemed to be loaded with a lot of goods.

The arrival of the knights immediately disrupted the mass wedding. The sixteen couples were halfway there when the knights blocked their way. They looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what to do. Shanis and Aina, who were in charge of leading the way, were also dumbfounded. Lude had only assigned them to lead the way, but had never mentioned what to do if they were blocked, so they were also stunned.

Fortunately, the village chief Rom arrived at this moment. Upon seeing the flag, he recognized the emblem as the family crest of Earl Ramley, thus revealing the identity of the knights. He quickly limped over to greet them.

"My lords, my lords, I am the village chief here. May I ask how I can serve you?"

"Are you the village chief?"

"Yes, it is indeed this old man."

Old Rom bent over, not daring to look up, but he heard the green-armored knight who had asked him a question. Her voice was clearly that of a woman, so he couldn't help but feel a little surprised. Then the female knight continued to ask.

"This must be Pine Tree Village, right?"

"Yes, it is Songshu Village. We moved here three and a half years ago."

"We didn't go to the wrong place, but why are there so many people?"

The green-armored female knight muttered to herself, lifting the upper half of her visor to look around. While not everyone in the village was particularly robust, at least their complexions appeared normal, indicating a relatively comfortable standard of living. Moreover, there were nearly a thousand or two people watching the spectacle along both sides of the street alone.

This made the female knight wonder to herself. The situation in the village was clearly different from the information she had received beforehand, and the difference was not just a little bit.

End of this chapter

In front of a large crowd of onlookers, the female knight removed her helmet, revealing a head of neatly styled fiery red hair and a young, handsome face full of heroic spirit.

The only drawback is that the lady knight has a sizable burn scar on the right side of her forehead, which slightly detracts from her overall appearance.

The female knight's name is Sharo Ramli, the eldest daughter of the current Earl of Ramli, and the commander of the Wolf Fang Legion in the Earl's territory, or to put it bluntly, the head of the military police. She has come to inspect the northern border region on her father's orders.

More than three months ago, the Earl suddenly received a letter of appeal for help from Jegan, the vice-commander of the Silverwing Knights, who was on a special mission. He said that their mission in the Virtual Forest had failed and had also affected many pioneering villages on the border. These people urgently needed rescue, otherwise they would have a hard time surviving the winter.

Upon receiving the news, the Earl immediately opened the granaries and distributed grain. Although the villages of the settlers on the border were all directly under the royal family and not nominally part of his earldom, the Earl and the current king were close friends, and he himself was a rather benevolent lord. Therefore, he did not leave the refugees to die.

After delivering the relief grain to the border region, the army quickly returned to the earldom. Then, heavy winter snow blocked the mountains, and due to limited communication, the earl was completely unaware of the situation on the border. However, out of a sense of responsibility, he sent his daughter to the border to assess the situation after the snow melted in the spring. He assured her that if any difficulties remained, the earldom would provide assistance according to its capabilities.

Carrying orders from his father, Sharo led a squad of warlord cavalry to the border, only to find upon arriving in Riverwood that the situation was far worse than they had imagined.

The Earl's territory initially supplied enough food and several thousand sets of cotton clothing to feed 10,000 people for four months to the border region. Considering that the actual population here is only a little over 10,000, if they use the food sparingly, and they certainly have some left over themselves, it shouldn't be difficult for them to get through the winter.

However, when Sharo arrived in Riverwood, he was met with a desolate scene of starvation. Riverwood, which had received all the relief food, had more than a thousand refugees die of cold and hunger over the winter. The dead bodies could only be hastily buried, while most of the living were emaciated. Only the mayor and his entourage, who crawled out to greet him, were fat and bloated, like pigs standing among cranes!

Sharo knew without asking that these people must have done something heinous and despicable, so he ordered his men to arrest them without hesitation and, after a few lashes, got a clear answer to the situation.

It turns out that as soon as the relief grain was delivered to Riverwood, the mayor and the priests of the local Four Seasons Cult conspired to take all the grain and supplies under the pretense of their unified distribution.

The escorting troops were in a hurry to get home before the heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, so they gave them everything without hesitation.

As soon as the escorting troops left, the town mayor immediately ordered his men to move everything into his warehouse. No refugees from outside the town, regardless of which village they came from, could get even a single grain of food from them for free; they had to pay exorbitant prices, or even exchange their daughters for it.

As for the town's residents, apart from the mayor and the priest's lackeys, they only received a tiny amount of food, barely enough to survive. These inhuman beasts seized and hoarded all the relief grain given by the count, waiting for the roads to reopen next spring so they could sell it for money.

Before they could finish their dreams of profiting from the national crisis, Sharo arrived at Riverwood with a whole cavalry unit.

Upon learning the truth, Sharo was furious and immediately killed the mayor and his henchmen one by one.

The town's priest was also their accomplice, but given the immense power of the Four Seasons Goddess Cult, Sharo spared his life. She merely stripped him of his priestly robes, gave him a severe lashing in public, and then had him bound and sent to Wolfhelm City, the capital of the Earl's territory. There, the Northern Headquarters of the Four Seasons Goddess Cult was located; the squinty-eyed lord would surely understand her meaning.

After dealing with the greedy mayor and his gang, Sharo immediately took out all the relief food they had embezzled and quickly distributed it to the local townspeople. He also learned from some of the refugees that many villages further north of the town had also suffered, and many refugees had gone to a place called Pine Village for refuge after failing to get help from Riverwood.

The village later sent people to the town for help, saying that they had already taken in several thousand refugees and came to ask for relief food after hearing that the town had some. As a result, the stingy town mayor only gave them a few tattered clothes. Later, heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, and the town never received any more news from Songshu Village.

Upon learning this, Sharo had a bad feeling. The village of Pine had gathered thousands of refugees, but they hadn't received a single grain of food from Riverwood. Now, more than three months had passed, and she simply couldn't imagine what a terrible, hellish scene it must be over there.

Clinging to a sliver of hope, Sharo personally led a batch of relief supplies and found two guides who knew the way to Pine Village. She had prepared for the worst, but when she arrived, she found that the situation here was many times better than in Riverwood.

The two guides burst into tears as soon as they saw the local villagers. If they had known that the situation here was so good, why did they have to stay in the town in the first place!

From what I've seen firsthand, Pine Tree Village has clearly weathered the crisis safely, a stark contrast to Riverwood.

Both sides survived the winter on soup, but the soup in Riverwood consisted of moldy old grains and sawdust, while the soup in Pine Village was made with minced wild boar. In addition, they regularly bathed and took saunas, and danced two sets of "blessing dances" with the priest every day. The villagers not only didn't go hungry, but their physical condition even improved.

Sharo hadn't expected things to turn out this way. In fact, if she had left Wolfhelm City two days later, she could have waited for Hamilton and Jegan, who had just returned from the border. These people were also trapped in another place by the heavy snow, so they couldn't send out information about Pine Village in time.

However, no matter what, it's better for the village to be safe than for it to be filled with starving corpses. Just as Sharo was about to ask the village chief in front of her in more detail how they had survived the winter, a white-haired nun who was not tall but had a large belly suddenly spoke to her very rudely.

"Hey, Miss Knight dressed like a giant green pepper, could you please move aside a bit? There are newlyweds rushing to their wedding ceremonies behind us. Blocking the road like this shows a complete lack of public manners!"

End of this chapter

Aina's shout was truly earth-shattering and awe-inspiring!

Ordinary people would usually be very obsequious when they saw a knight, especially one of noble status. Just like Rom, the village chief, who didn't even dare to raise his head too high.

If it were just an ordinary passing knight, the old man wouldn't have shrunk down like this, but the red-haired female knight in front of him was clearly no ordinary person. First, she was wearing a more ornate and specially made armor, and second, there was always someone carrying the family crest on her back. Therefore, without her introducing herself, the old man could tell at a glance which family's young lady she was.

But Aina didn't understand this and thought Lud hadn't taught her!

Under normal circumstances, the young nun would have been charged with "offending a nobleman" for her actions, and without the intervention of a high-ranking member of the denomination, such as a bishop, she would certainly have received a beating.

Fortunately, Sharo was not the arrogant and domineering type of noblewoman. Her father taught her from a young age that as a noblewoman, one should have pride ingrained in one's very being rather than merely on the surface, and to treat those who bring wealth to one's life kindly. She should never be hypocritical like those religious charlatans who always say one thing and do another.

So Sharo waved to stop his subordinates who were about to lash out, and turned to look at the old village, which was already trembling with fear.

“Village Chief, my men and I have traveled a long way and brought relief supplies that were intercepted in Riverwood. Could you please arrange a place for us to stay?”

"Yes! Right away! I'll arrange it right away."

Upon hearing the noblewoman knight offer him a way out, old Rom immediately jumped up, summoned his eldest son, and led the knights to their resting place. The knights and the supply wagons then continued on their way, quickly passing the main road, allowing the newlyweds to continue their journey to the temple.

The female knight gazed at this unfamiliar wedding ceremony, then glanced at the simple temple standing on the hillside not far away and the villagers around her who seemed completely unaffected by the disaster, her doubts growing stronger.

"Shield, you take everyone to set up. Chopping board, file, you two come with me, dismount and go take a look."

At Sharo's command, the cavalry split up, with the main force continuing forward, while Sharo himself, accompanied by two men, pretended to be watching the spectacle and walked with the crowd toward the temple.

Sharo's intuition told him that the answers to everything unusual in the village could be found in that seemingly unremarkable temple.

Meanwhile, at the temple, Lud was standing at the entrance, frowning as he looked towards the village. He had just spotted the troop of knights carrying large banners in the distance and guessed that it must be officials arriving, as the carts seemed to be carrying a considerable amount of relief grain.

Rudd guessed that the knights who brought relief supplies were probably wondering right now. Anyone who saw the current state of Pine Village would inevitably have doubts. In this world, there has never been such a thing as "when one place is in trouble, help comes from all sides." As long as a lord is willing to open his granaries and distribute food, even if it is not timely, he is already considered a very generous person.

The fact that Pine Village was able to survive the disaster on its own and even have the capacity to save several thousand refugees was simply illogical in the lord's eyes!

At that moment, Hume slipped to Ludd's side and muttered something under his breath.

"Hey! See that guy over there in green armor who looks like a big green pepper? She's the leader of that group of knights, watch out."

"Ok, I know."

Lude nodded. Although he didn't know what the knights over there wanted to do, he knew he couldn't panic at a time like this.

Soon, the sixteen couples arrived at the temple gate, and Ludwig greeted them with a smile and welcomed them into the hall.

Since the hall is already too small to accommodate all 3,000+ villagers, only the newlyweds and their friends and relatives who have received invitations can enter this time. It's like entering a movie theater with a ticket; everyone has a seat, and the hall is just the right size.

Sharo approached with two subordinates, and the stubborn Fallen Leaf blocked their way. The female knight saw that the man was huge; even without armor, he looked like a mountain. He exuded a powerful presence. She thought to herself, "Why isn't such a promising talent a soldier? It's such a waste for him to be a gatekeeper for the temple."

"No entry without an invitation."

"How dare you! Do you know who you're talking to?"

"Alright, chopping board! They're getting married."

Having quelled her agitated subordinates, Sharo did not want to start a conflict without cause. She had been secretly observing the reactions of the surrounding villagers all the way, and it was not difficult to see from their eyes that the people here harbored some resentment towards her, or rather, towards the officials they represented, but dared not openly express it due to the disparity in strength.

At this moment, Hume came over, pulled the fallen leaves aside, and spoke in a humble but proper tone.

"I'm so sorry, esteemed gentlemen. My brother is a bit slow-witted and has neglected you. I apologize for that. A mass wedding is currently being held in the temple. If you would like to attend and join in the fun, I can arrange for you to sit in the front row. I'm sure it won't be difficult to find a few chairs. However, if you are looking for my priest, you will have to wait a little while. Please forgive me."

Seeing Hume's smiling face and impeccable manners, Sharo couldn't help but look her up and down a few times. Her dark wheat-colored skin didn't look rough at all, suggesting that she must have lived a life of luxury or practiced martial arts and qi cultivation. Her metabolism was faster than average, which was reflected in her skin.

However, what slightly annoyed Sharo was that this female warrior, like the two nuns from before, had very prominent breasts.

"What the hell are these temples? Why are they all so huge?"

She muttered a few words to herself, but showed no emotion on her face. She casually tossed a gold coin to Hume and smiled as she spoke.

"Since you've come to witness the ceremony, please also visit your priest. Consider this money a small gift for the newlyweds today. Please pass it on to them."

"I will definitely deliver it. Please follow me."

Led by Hume, Salo and his party also entered the temple. The villagers nearby saw them but at most muttered a few words. They had long been accustomed to the "truth of this world" that nobles enjoyed all kinds of privileges.

In fact, if we're talking about who's worse, the Kingdom of Duran is already considered better. The villagers have heard from traveling merchants from outside the country more than once that the nobles in some other countries have unimaginable privileges, and some places even have been implementing terrible laws such as the "right of the first night."

Everyone figured that the female knight who just went in probably wasn't there to exercise her right of first night. Even if she did, the dozen or so grooms inside wouldn't have lost out!

End of this chapter