Goddess Kaleidoscope

As the old rat was deep in thought, a rat-man guard suddenly ran in and reported to Midi.

"High Priest, something terrible has happened! The orcs and ogres are fighting!"

"They started fighting? Was it serious?"

"They've almost all started fighting."

"Tsk! These stupid, lowly bastards."

Ever since that meeting of leaders, when the orc leader Zaka publicly accused the ogres of being traitors, the long-standing grudges between the two sides have turned into hatred, and they fight almost every day, resulting in the deaths and injuries of many people.

Midi initially did not interfere with the conflict between the two families, but as the conflict escalated, Old Mouse was forced to become a firefighter, dealing with their conflicts almost every day, but he was still unable to mediate effectively.

What infuriated Midi the most was that every time he mediated, the two bosses would pat their chests and assure him that they would definitely keep their men in check and would never fight again. But within a day, they would inevitably start fighting again over some trivial matter.

This time was no exception, and the fighting was exceptionally brutal. According to the guards, there were over a thousand participants on both sides, including the two leaders, Zaka and Ga'ao. Both sides were clearly fighting with deadly intent, resulting in a bloody and gruesome scene!

After hearing this, Midi couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Assemble the guards immediately, we need to break up this fight!"

To control the situation, Midi gathered half of his ratman guard and two-thirds of his priests, leaving the camp and heading straight for the brawl. Before setting off, he instructed his granddaughter Mina to take the rest of the men and guard the vital blood pool. Everything else was negotiable, but this place absolutely could not be allowed to be damaged.

In fact, the old mouse's worries were correct. The conflict between the orcs and ogres was indeed Lud's plan to lure the mouse away from the mountain. As soon as he led his men away from the camp, the trio who had been waiting for a long time immediately transformed and infiltrated his lair.

Once again infiltrating the ratmen's camp, the group headed straight for the main tent. Lud could tell that the defenses here were indeed stronger than when they last came, but they still couldn't stop someone like Hume who had activated an "invisibility cheat," so no matter how many guards there were, they were practically useless.

Their main purpose in coming here was to scout the location and prepare for "stealing" the person three days later. Although theoretically the simplest and most brutal method would be to knock the person unconscious and take them away, Lud believed that they could try to make contact with the other party first without revealing their identities.

So the three of them disguised themselves as a patrolling squad of ratmen guards and prepared to sneak in from behind the main tent.

When Ludd and Hume came here last time, they found a vent that faced the bathroom and was big enough for a person to pass through.

Lude couldn't help but complain when he first discovered it. Although ventilation in the bathroom is indeed important, the location of this opening is unusually suitable for peeping. Who knows if it was intentional?

The three quickly circled around to the alley where the ventilation shaft was located. Seeing that there were no ratmen on either side, they slipped inside.

However, just as Lude was about to go forward to check if anyone was in the bathroom, the louvers of the ventilation vent suddenly fell down by themselves, and then they saw the dragon girl Romian, whom they were looking for, emerge from the ventilation vent wrapped only in a bath towel...

The two stared at each other for a moment, both stunned.

End of this chapter

To be honest, before meeting Romian, Lud had imagined many scenarios for their meeting, but he never expected it to turn out like this, to the point that he had no idea how to greet her.

The girl had clearly just finished showering; her hair was still dripping wet, and some of the water droplets rolled down her rosy skin and into the deep cleavage of her chest, making Lu De feel a little emotional.

This girl is not even thirteen yet; her future is limitless!

Just as Lud was too embarrassed to speak, Romian, who had already half-emerged from the ground, suddenly said shyly to Lud.

"Um... brothers guards, could you help me? I think I'm stuck."

"..." x3

The girl clearly hadn't realized how dangerous her current state would have been under normal circumstances. Luckily, she ran into Lud and his group by chance; otherwise, who knows what would have happened next.

With the help of Ludwig and Hume, Romian finally realized that her wings had gotten caught on the window frame. She pulled them back a little and managed to squeeze out of the vent. But as soon as she landed, she was shivering from the cold wind.

It was early spring, and although the temperature was getting warmer day by day, it wasn't warm enough to withstand just wearing a bath towel. So Lud took off his guard's cloak and draped it over her, and the little girl politely thanked him.

"...(This girl trusts the ratmen way too much!)"

Seeing the girl's completely unguarded reaction, Ludwig and Hume exchanged a glance, both feeling somewhat puzzled.

But what they didn't actually know was that, if we disregard their motives and only look at their actions, the ratmen were genuinely very kind to Romian.

The old rat who used Romian as a sacrifice had been taking meticulous care of her for the past six months in order to keep her in the best possible "mental state." As a result, the naive Romian mistook these rat-men for good people and trusted them completely.

At that moment, the voice of the rat-woman maid came from inside the bathroom. Romian's expression changed immediately, and she hurriedly pulled Lud and the others away.

"Run! If we're found out, we're done for!"

Before the group could make a judgment, Romian dragged them along at breakneck speed. Luckily, Old Rat Midi had just pulled away half of the guards to mediate the fight, and the remaining guards were stationed in key locations, so there were far fewer ratmen in other parts of the camp.

The four of them found an empty tent and hid inside. Romianne was about to thank the three "rat-man brothers" for their help when she turned her head and saw a strange, dark-skinned older sister standing in front of her. Before she could even ask a question, the woman suddenly blew a breath in her face, and Romianne felt the world spin before her eyes, then her head lolled to the side and she fainted.

"Hey! Why did you knock her out?"

"Since she's come to us like this, why don't we just carry her back home and be done with it?"

"Are you stupid?! Aren't you just alerting the enemy?"

Looking at Hume who had acted on his own, Lud scratched his rat head in annoyance. Right now, the three of them were still on a reconnaissance mission; there was no one outside to meet them, and the ratmen had just discovered Romian's escape and were definitely searching for her everywhere.

With just the three of them, it would be difficult to get the person out.

Left with no other option, Ludwig had to rack his brains for a solution. He glanced at the unconscious Romian, then at Hume, who could theoretically transform into any human form, and a plan suddenly formed in his mind. Hume, on the other hand, sensed an ominous premonition from the look in Ludwig's eyes.

"Hume, do you remember the story of the prince being replaced by a cat?"

"I said, you wouldn't be thinking of..."

"Yes! That's exactly what I think."

"..."

Meanwhile, on the other side, the rat-woman maid who was in charge of looking after Romian was quite flustered after discovering that she was missing. She hurriedly found the squad leader of the guards responsible for guarding the main tent gate and asked him to help her find her.

Upon learning that the priestess was missing, the squad leader immediately led his men to search for her. As soon as they circled around to the back of the main tent, they saw two patrolling guards squatting in the middle of the road not far away, and the priestess lying unconscious on the ground.

"You two, what happened here?"

"We...we don't know either! We were just patrolling when we saw the priestess lying in the middle of the road."

The two ratman guards looked innocent and said they knew nothing about it. The squad leader hurriedly went forward to check on Romian's condition and found that her breathing and pulse were very weak, and she could not be woken up no matter how he called her.

Left with no other option, the squad leader ordered his men to immediately carry the witch back to High Priestess Midi for her examination. Before leaving, he warned the two bewildered ratman patrolmen to keep their mouths shut and not to spread this story around.

After the squad leader and his men left, the two ratman patrolmen exchanged a silent glance, then turned and crawled into an empty tent not far away...

That evening, Lud and Fallen Leaves returned to Pine Village. Hume, who had gone with them earlier, was gone, replaced by a comatose dragon girl.

Because of Hume's unauthorized actions, Ludd was forced to revise his original plan, using a switcheroo to steal Romian from the Skaven camp. The one currently remaining at the camp is Hume, disguised as Romian. To avoid being exposed, Hume feigns unconsciousness.

However, to be fair, this approach does have one advantage: it eliminates the need for contact and persuasion, allowing Hume, disguised as Romian, to become their mole in the camp.

As for Hume's safety, Ludd didn't need to worry too much. A goddess in distress is still a goddess. Even though her fighting power is much weaker than before, she still cannot be killed by conventional means. Even if her body is chopped into a pile of minced meat, she can quickly recover.

After bringing Romian back to the temple, Luo Ye immediately lifted her from her coma. The half-dragon girl opened her eyes groggily and was shocked to find herself in an unfamiliar place with a group of strangers in front of her. She was so frightened that she quickly huddled up in a ball.

"Who...who are you? Where is Sister Mina?"

“Don’t be afraid, child, we mean no harm. My name is Rud, and I am a priest of this temple. Trust me, it’s safe here.”

Lude tried to be as gentle and kind as possible, but he had clearly underestimated the girl's fear of humans. He had only made a slight gesture of raising his hand, which made the girl turn pale with fright, and then her body went limp and she fainted on the spot.

Upon seeing this, Lude felt a headache coming on.

End of this chapter

Although he knew that Romian had been hunted by assassins and might no longer trust humans, Rude never expected that the psychological trauma she suffered would be so great.

Left with no other option, Lud could only have Aina and Shanis take care of Romian until she calmed down a bit before questioning her.

After a long day, Lud was exhausted and just wanted to go back to bed and get a good night's sleep. However, as he dragged his weary body past his study, he suddenly heard a noise inside. He pushed open the door and almost bumped into a ghost!

"Wow! High Priest, you're back!"

In the study, the ghostly Miss Eliven, who was about to leave, nearly bumped into Lud. Although the female ghost had no physical form, theoretically Lud and she could pass right through each other without any impact, but the two still took a step back at the last moment before they made contact.

"Just got back. It's so late. What are you doing?"

"I was organizing the files. You've been gone for the past few days, and I had nothing to do, so I just did a little tidying up for you... You won't mind me messing with your things, will you?"

"Uh...of course not, thank you."

Lude hadn't expected that while he was away for the past few days, Elijah, whom he had tricked into doing unpaid work, would be able to voluntarily "work overtime" without him, the foreman, having to shout at her. He felt a little guilty and realized that his capitalist tendencies had increased.

However, to be fair, Lude felt that if he had been idle for hundreds of years and suddenly got a job, he would be very enthusiastic, at least for the first period of time.

So, to show his appreciation for his subordinates' work as a leader, Lu De went into the study and thought to himself that having a secretary was great; he didn't have to do anything himself, and the study was much tidier, with all the documents and materials neatly organized.

"Amazing! Much better than what I could have done myself!"

Lude was telling the truth. Before Elijah came along, Lude's study was a mess, like a doghouse, with all sorts of random things scattered around. Only a few valuables were carefully stored in a hidden compartment behind the bookshelves.

Elaine, having served as the Queen's secretary, is not only highly skilled in document work but also adept at cleaning and tidying!

When Elaine saw that her work had been recognized and praised, she proudly put her hands on her hips.

"Back then, I was the most talented woman in Manas and the Queen's most trusted scribe. This amount of work is nothing to me."

"Okay! I'll definitely give you more work in the future."

"No problem... Huh?"

Sensing something amiss in the previous conversation, Elijah was about to ask when the cunning Lud quickly deflected the question with another topic.

Lude told Elijah that a dragon girl named Romian had just arrived at the temple. Because of her past misfortunes, she distrusted humans, let alone human ghosts. So Elijah should be careful and not frighten her.

When Elaine heard that a new person had arrived at the temple, she couldn't help but ask out of curiosity. Lud thought for a moment and didn't hide anything, so he told Elaine the general situation. Unexpectedly, the female ghost suddenly clapped her hands and said that she had a way to help Lud talk to Romian.

"any solution?"

"Dream on!"

"Clam?"

Elijah proudly told Lud that although she was an undead and did not possess many harmful skills, she was very good at entering dreams. She could not only enter her own dreams, but also connect the dreams of any two people, allowing them to meet in their dreams. Sometimes she could even glimpse some of the deep-seated memories of the people in the dreams.

Upon hearing this, Lud suddenly remembered that his first formal meeting with Elijah was in his dream, where he even returned to the police dormitory where he had lived in his previous life.

So Lud immediately adopted Elijah's suggestion, and since Romian was still unconscious at the moment, it was convenient for them to make their move!

After making a few arrangements, Lud quickly returned to his bed and lay down. His physical exhaustion soon put him to sleep, and his consciousness drifted to a white, hazy place.

At this moment, Eliven appeared before Ludwig. Unlike her semi-transparent ghost form in the real world, Eliven in the dream looked exactly like a living person, just as she did in life.

Lud also vaguely sensed that something was different about him, so he reached out and touched his cheek, finding that his skin was smooth and without wrinkles, clearly his "original appearance," while Elijah was staring at him with great interest.