Goddess Kaleidoscope

Inside the temple hall, couples held hands and lined up in the aisle to receive the priest's blessing, while the seats on both sides were already full of relatives and friends, creating a very warm atmosphere.

No one has ever attended a wedding like this before. The process is not complicated but very interesting, and even single people can enjoy it.

However, with the arrival of Sharo and her companions, the once noisy temple hall had quieted down considerably. Sharo also felt that it was somewhat inappropriate for a noblewoman like herself to be attending a commoner's wedding, but in order to find out what had happened in Pine Village, she had to stay there.

On the stage, Lude glanced at Sharo, who was staring at him, but on the surface he was not flustered at all and continued to preside over the wedding with ease.

One couple after another came forward, and Ludwig would ask each of them to recite the same vows.

"Mr. Dog Egg of Pine Village, are you willing to solemnly swear before the god of love, Shaburcoen Yenis, that you will remain faithful to this love, whether in life or in sickness or in death, in poverty or in wealth, and that you will love your beloved Miss Er Ya dearly and grow old together?"

After the questions are asked twice, neither party is likely to be a fool and suddenly blurt out "I don't want to." Rudd will then give each of them a brass ring imbued with a faint holy light, as a testament to their marriage vows.

These sixteen pairs of rings were made by the blacksmith Bank. Although they were imbued with genuine divine magic, the rings were small in size and did not require a high level of brightness, so the amount of divine power consumed was negligible. However, for married couples, the significance of these rings was extraordinary.

In fact, Ludwig later discovered that these couples who received the rings all had very good relationships after marriage. Because the rings on their fingers constantly reminded them of the promises they made before Goddess that day, this power to protect their marital bliss was perhaps a kind of divine force!

And so, couples made their vows under the witness of the goddess. Rude, with his skillful oral sex, could finish a couple in three to five minutes, and all sixteen couples were soon married. All the relatives and friends present stood up and applauded, and Sharo had no choice but to clap twice as well, while silently nodding in agreement.

"This marriage is certainly quite interesting!"

However, putting aside the interesting wedding ceremony, Sharo had been sitting and watching for a long time, and the temple gave her a very strange feeling!

The first thing that comes to mind is those two statues in front of her. They are beautiful, but no one else's temple has ever enshrined two gods, and she has never even heard of these two alluring goddesses.

Unlike the average illiterate peasant, Sharo came from a noble family with a long tradition of learning. In addition to practicing martial arts and fighting spirit, he also had extensive knowledge of social etiquette and theology required by the nobility.

However, no matter how hard she racked her brains, she couldn't recall any sects in the Kingdom of Duran or other surrounding countries that worshipped these two goddesses.

The Goddess of Medicine, Evelina? The God of Love, Shabakorn Yenis?

Who the hell are all these people?!

Fortunately, the temple made a good first impression on Sharo; it was neat, clean, and solemn. The old priest also seemed quite upright, not the kind of person who would be considered treacherous. But you can't judge a book by its cover, and Sharo didn't truly believe the other person was harmless just because he seemed like a good person.

After the wedding ceremony, the newlyweds and their relatives left the hall and came to the temple gate. Sharo followed and saw sixteen brides holding bouquets, lined up in front of the gate facing the temple. On the slope, a group of young men and women, as well as children, had gathered, all staring intently at the brides, seemingly anticipating something.

What are they trying to do?

"I'm not sure, maybe some kind of religious ritual?"

Sharo and his two subordinates looked at each other in bewilderment. At this moment, the priest came out and smiled at the brides in front of him.

"Let's begin! Let's spread happiness to others as well."

Upon hearing Lude's words, the brides all threw their bouquets behind them, and everyone on the other side of the slope stretched out their hands, trying to grab the bouquets that had been thrown at them.

Lude glanced at the situation on the slope and thought to himself how lucky he was that he had someone shovel away the remaining snow beforehand and had Hume and Fallen Leaf keep an eye on things below in case anything went wrong. Next time he wanted to throw a bouquet, he would definitely have to find a safer place.

After a scramble, the bouquets were all in the hands of their new owners. Sharo was initially confused, wondering what was going on, until she heard a bride tell the winners, "Next, it's your turn to marry XX," at which point she finally understood.

"Hmm! That is indeed quite interesting."

The wedding was officially over. The newlyweds and their relatives expressed their gratitude to the priest and then returned to the village. A band had been prepared in the square, and the whole village was going to have a blast and dance until dark.

Lude declined the villagers' invitation, saying that he was too old and that it was already difficult for him to do the blessing dance that was good for his physical and mental health every day. He said that dancing any other dance would kill him.

When the priest refused, no one pressed him, but they still invited him to come and sit down for a while, as no one in the village would refuse him.

Once the crowd dispersed, Sharo finally had the opportunity to speak with the old priest, who was well-loved by the villagers and exuded a unique aura.

"Hello, priest."

"Hello, Miss Knight, what can I do for you?"

“I am Sharo Ramli of the Ramli family, here on behalf of the Earl to inspect the distribution of relief grain in the border region. Please forgive our oversight a few months ago, when we delivered the grain to the wrong person.”

"No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, that's understandable. We're also thanks to the goddess's mercy, we managed to get through it all."

“Priest, please forgive my curiosity, but how did so many people in your village manage to survive this winter without receiving any relief food? I happened to pass by the cemetery on my way here, and there were only thirty or forty tombstones in total. Please believe me, I don’t mean anything by this, but the situation here… is truly unusual.”

Sharo's words sounded subtle, but the meaning was clear enough. Lud knew she would definitely have this question, so he spoke slowly and deliberately, as if he had prepared in advance.

"This matter cannot be explained in just a few words. If you don't mind, please come inside with me, and we can sit down and talk slowly. I promise I will explain the whole story clearly. To be honest, at my age, my body is really not as strong as that of a young person. I stood for so long while hosting the wedding, and my legs are starting to tremble."

End of this chapter

At Ludwig's invitation, Sharo returned to the temple hall. The villagers had all left, and Aina and Shanis were arranging benches and cleaning, respectively. Apart from being young and beautiful, they didn't seem much different from ordinary nuns at first glance.

The two did not go into the inner room, but sat down casually in the hall. Lu De cleared his throat slightly, and his entire demeanor instantly changed from "wedding emcee" to "storyteller" mode.

"This story begins when the great mage Hamilton of the Three-Person Tower passed through our village..."

In front of Sharo, Rudd recounted the events of the past three months in their entirety, including the black dragon Nidhogg's aid to the village, omitting only the part about the baby dragon Kanna.

Before arriving, Sharo had already read the letter from Knight Jegan and knew that the operation to obtain the dragon egg had failed and had even angered the dragon, causing many villages in the border region to suffer. That was why Knight Jegan had asked the Earl for help and to provide relief food to the border region.

However, after that, communication ceased. Heavy snow blocked the mountains, disrupting normal transportation and communication, and Wolfhelm City was unable to contact Hamilton and the others for an entire winter.

So, besides patrolling the border region, Sharo had another mission in coming here: to find Master Hamilton and Captain Jegan.

"Has Master Hamilton not returned yet?"

"At least not before I left the city. Your Excellency, you just said they eventually headed west, are you sure?"

“They left the village more than three months ago, and I’m not sure if they’re still there.”

"Okay! I understand, thank you for the clue."

"You're too kind."

Sharo rose and bowed to Lud, then led his men toward the door. Halfway there, as if remembering something, he suddenly turned back and asked.

"Priest, where did you say you came from?"

"In a distant land, I spent the rest of my life traveling to many places to cultivate myself, hoping to comprehend the Great Dao. By the time I realized that I was getting old, I could no longer find my way home."

As Lude spoke, a trace of sadness unconsciously appeared on his face. But this was not an act; it was the true feeling he had been hiding in his heart since his transmigration. He was indeed a wanderer from another world who could no longer find his way home.

After leaving the temple, Sharo led two of his men toward the village. At this moment, the knight nicknamed "File" spoke up and asked a question.

"Captain, are we headed west next?"

"No! Let's stay in this village for a few days and use it as a base to send out reconnaissance teams in all directions."

"What?"

"Because that priest was trying to fool me."

As she spoke, Sharo opened her tightly clenched hand for her two subordinates to see. In her palm was a strange pendant shaped like an eye, with a crystal in the center of the eye. Something almost liquid seemed to be flowing inside, and it was currently grayish-white in color.

The two knights were longtime subordinates of Sharo, so they naturally knew what it was. It was a birthday gift given to Sharo by the previous Earl on her sixteenth birthday—the artifact "Eye of True Sight".

This thing is a super useful lie detector. When the user is talking to someone else, the device will change color to a deeper and deeper color depending on whether the other person is lying and how many lies they tell.

This divine artifact was created by the wise goddess Kumirad, whose divine position not only governs wisdom but also includes the goddess of mischief, the witch of intrigue, and the hand of the gods! Legend has it that she was behind the war of the gods that caused the world's catastrophe, and she is a somewhat wicked and strange goddess.

Although she is not a proper god, Kumirad has one good point: she loves to make artifacts and always gives them to mortals after she makes them. Of the nearly one thousand artifacts of various kinds currently circulating in the mortal world, more than two-thirds are Kumirad's works. So, although this goddess disbanded her own sect, she has no shortage of believers in the mortal world.

Sharo glanced at the color of the Eye of True Sight. The gray area was very light, indicating that most of what the old priest had said was true, with only a few words containing errors. However, this did not make Sharo complacent; on the contrary, it aroused his extreme vigilance.

Because her father and grandfather had told her that truly skilled liars always told nine parts truth and one part falsehood, only concealing the most crucial information, thus making the deceived believe it and do what they wanted.

Sharo still couldn't determine which of Lude's words was a lie, but since he lied, he must have had a purpose. Therefore, Sharo decided to use Pine Village as a base to send out scouts to the surrounding area, under the guise of staying temporarily, to observe the village and this strange cult nearby.

That evening, Sharo and his group stayed in the village, and Old Luo arranged for their group of more than forty people to stay in three nearby courtyard houses.

When Sharo saw the accommodations arranged for them by the village, he thought to himself that the houses here were quite interestingly built. The entire village was centered around the temple, and the surrounding area was divided into fan-shaped blocks by several streets. Each block was composed of groups of courtyard houses.

The four two-story buildings form a "square box" that can accommodate up to eight families. Each courtyard is an independent small fortress, and these small fortresses are connected to the other courtyards around them, forming sections of city walls that protect the temple layer by layer.

Sharo had to admit that in the border region where bandits and wild beasts roamed, this kind of architectural complex did indeed provide a greater sense of security. However, judging from the state of the village, many places were still unfinished, and he had no idea what they were building.

"Who exactly is this priest Rude?"

Because she had just missed Hamilton, Sharo had no idea that the people she was looking for were currently in her castle, eating her favorite grilled pork chops on a hot plate, listening to her increasingly senile grandfather tirelessly recounting the dark history of her and her bunch of siblings' childhood.

Simply out of caution and doubt when encountering unusual things, coupled with the fact that the Eye of True Sight reacted to Rud, Sharo's suspicions grew stronger and stronger, and he even imagined a very terrible possibility.

Could the disappearance of Hamilton and others be related to this village?

End of this chapter

At the temple, Lud was unaware that the female knight who had come to him earlier possessed a lie detector, and that he had been judged to be lying by the device simply because he had used the word "old man."

Indeed! Whether it's his 33-year-old soul or his 18-year-old body, Rudd is far from being "old and decrepit" in any way. Therefore, the artifact's belief that he lied is quite reasonable.

However, this one lie led Sharo to conjure up a whole host of unfounded stories, which led him to set his sights on Rud and his temple.

After closing the main gate of the temple, Ludwig casually removed his mask and began to tally up the various benefits brought about by the mass wedding during the day.

To date, Ludd has not solicited a single copper coin from the villagers. He only accepts some agricultural products as payment when treating them. His largest income, however, is the five gold coins given to him by Hamilton, which remain untouched in Ludd's bedside table.

Many villagers thought that the priest was indifferent to fame and fortune and didn't care much about money, but in reality, Lu De simply knew that the villagers were very poor. What he wanted to squeeze out of the villagers was something that ordinary people couldn't see.

Thanks to this wedding, Shanis finally found a long-awaited sense of fulfillment. The faith generated by the sixteen brides and grooms, their relatives and friends, and even the villagers who came to watch the spectacle, in just one day was more than Shanis had received in all of her previous lives.

Therefore, Shanis also admitted that Lude's skills were indeed far superior to those of the old astrologer; he had fed her a full meal with just one move!

Feeding Shanis is also beneficial to Lud, since he could only draw divine magic from Aina before, but now he has Shanis as a "battery", making his endurance much longer.

After organizing his research notes, Lu De stretched and yawned, feeling exhausted and wanting nothing more than to go to bed and get some rest.

Lude felt that he was getting more and more work lately. The relatively relaxed environment of last year was no longer there. But faced with the surge in workload, he had no one around who could be trusted and help him.

The three goddesses and one messenger are currently mainly responsible for serving as Lud's batteries, doing simple cleaning work every day. Hume and Fallen Leaf are also responsible for continuing to train the village militia. Moreover, neither of them is suited for internal affairs work, especially managing money!

Left with no other choice, a large amount of tedious copywriting work fell on Lu De's shoulders, and he felt he was about to collapse.

"Sigh! I really want to hire a housekeeper."

After muttering a few words to himself, Lu De changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed. For him, sleep was the greatest moment of salvation each day, because once a person falls asleep, they can dream about anything!

Exhausted, Lud quickly fell asleep. In his dream, he vaguely heard a sinister and ethereal woman's voice calling to him. His legs moved forward step by step, as if he couldn't control them, trying to hear what the other person wanted to say to him.

"Give me back my bones..."

In a daze, Lud found himself in a familiar place, the room where he had lived before, or more accurately... in his past life!

The room wasn't large. Besides a single bed and a desk with a computer, the most eye-catching thing was a cabinet full of figurines and all sorts of random "otaku stuff." If it weren't for a police uniform that hadn't been worn in a long time hanging on a clothes rack, most people would hardly guess that this was a cop's room.