Goddess Kaleidoscope

The demi-human incident ended in a complete victory for humanity. Pine Village miraculously emerged unscathed. Several hundred people took the initiative to attack a camp occupied by tens of thousands of demi-humans. They not only won a great victory but also returned without losing a single person.

This made the villagers feel that their village was not just simply protected by a goddess, but that the goddess was living in their village!

Interestingly, the day after their triumphant return, Pine Village welcomed "reinforcements" from Earl Ramli's territory.

The team leader was none other than their old acquaintance, Captain Jie Gang.

Three days ago, the messengers sent back by Sharo finally arrived at Wolfhelm City. Due to a minor mishap on the way, the two knights were attacked by monsters in the wilderness. They were mostly unharmed, but their horse was lost!

Left with no other choice, the two unfortunate souls had to continue on foot, returning to their hometown six days later than expected.

After reading his daughter's letter, the Earl looked up at Captain Jegan and the great wizard Hamilton, who were mentioned in the letter as possibly having been killed, and, quite unkindly, burst out laughing on the spot. He then passed the letter around for them to read.

Realizing that there was most likely a misunderstanding, Captain Jiegang immediately volunteered to go to Songshu Village.

The Earl had already heard a lot about the deeds of the priest Rudd from him and Master Hamilton, and he believed that their judgment was more reliable than that of his impetuous daughter. So he agreed to Jegan's request and prepared a handwritten letter and a gift for Jegan to deliver to the old priest to apologize for his daughter's rudeness.

This shows that the Earl knew his daughter very well.

However, when Captain Jegan rushed to Pine Tree Village, he found it peaceful and quiet, as if nothing had happened!

Upon seeing that Jegan was safe and sound, Sharo immediately rushed to greet him with joy. Jegan was Sharo's swordsmanship teacher and her most admired mentor; she had always wanted to become a model knight like him.

Upon learning that she had just passed by Jegan and his group when she left Wolfhelm City, Sharo immediately smiled wryly and said that it was precisely because she was unaware of the situation that she had caused such a misunderstanding with Master Rudd. Fortunately, she had already made amends for her mistake.

Seeing Jegan's puzzled expression, Sharo excitedly recounted her great achievements to Jegan as if presenting a treasure.

Only then did Jie Gang realize that such a big thing had happened in Songshu Village. While he was relieved that the village was safe and sound, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty that they hadn't arrived in time to provide reinforcements.

So Jegan went to see Rudd, presented the Earl's personal letter and gifts, and then inquired carefully about what had happened. He also asked if there was anything else the village needed their help with.

After learning that the village was safe and sound and protected by the dragon, Jegan was relieved and then said that the main purpose of his trip was to bring Sharo and her warlord knights back.

The border region is, after all, a territory directly under the royal family. Although the count's knights came to provide assistance, staying too long would inevitably invite criticism.

In fact, some rumors had already reached the capital. Although Earl Ramley was a good friend of the king and had always been trusted, this did not mean that other forces in the kingdom had a harmonious relationship with them. There were always some envious individuals who tried to sow discord between the Ramley family and the royal family.

Sharo's actions in the border region have provided those with ulterior motives with an excuse to stir up trouble.

Especially when Sharo first arrived in Riverwood, the series of actions he took to quickly resolve the mess would have been nothing out of the ordinary if it had happened within the Earl's territory; it would have been considered a perfectly normal handling of internal affairs.

However, Riverwood is not under the Earl's control. Not only did Sharo hang the mayor, but he also publicly whipped a priest of the Cult of the Four Seasons. This matter has been exaggerated and spread to the capital. The speed at which the information spreads clearly indicates that someone is secretly causing trouble.

Therefore, to avoid suspicion, Jegan had to take all the knights back with him this time, lest someone use this as an excuse to cause trouble.

Jegan then gave Lud a briefing on the "Noble Territory Law" of the Kingdom of Duran. The royal family has explicit regulations for the feudal nobles below them, stating that the sanctity of each family's territory is inviolable. Unless they commit the most serious crimes such as treason or rebellion, their fiefdoms will generally not be reduced.

However, the fiefdoms of the nobles could not be easily reduced, nor could they be easily increased. You could further subdivide your lands to your knights or vassals, but you could not expand your territory without authorization. Even if you wanted to exchange a portion of your fiefdom with another noble of equal value, you had to ask the king for permission before the transaction could be completed.

Of course! There are actually quite a few things that can be manipulated here. The actual sphere of influence of some great nobles far exceeds their own fiefdoms, but everyone knows this tacitly and usually doesn't make it too obvious.

However, the situation in Songshu Village is somewhat special. This area, which spans nearly a hundred miles, is a newly developed territory in recent years. Although it is far from the capital, it is at least nominally a territory directly under the royal family.

However, once the five-year tax exemption for the local settlers expires, the king usually does not send anyone to directly manage this "enclave," but instead chooses one of two other approaches.

One approach was to directly grant this area as a fiefdom to newly promoted nobles who had rendered meritorious service, while another approach was to exchange land.

The specific method is somewhat similar to "passing the parcel." The royal family takes a piece of land adjacent to the central government from the nobles and incorporates it into their centrally administered territory. The nobles who ceded land to the royal family will then take another piece from the more peripheral nobles as compensation. This process continues until the new land ends up in the hands of the border nobles.

Since the newly developed areas are relatively underdeveloped, the royal family usually makes certain concessions, exchanging only a fiefdom equivalent to two-thirds the size of the new land, so that the other nobles who participated in the land exchange can receive some dividends.

In view of this, there is indeed a certain probability that the area around Pine Village will be incorporated into the Earldom of Ramley in a year and a half. However, they are not the only nobles who covet this land. Duke Gammelin in the southwest also wants this new land. It is highly likely that he is the one who took this opportunity to attack them.

It is worth mentioning that this duke was a very devout follower of the Church of the Four Seasons, so only the Church of the Four Seasons was allowed to set up temples for missionary work in his territory, and other sects were forcibly expelled.

The reason Jegan brought this up was to pass on a message from his Count to Lud: if Duke Gamerin were to take the fiefdom in the future, Count Ramley would welcome the arrival of the Medicine God Cult.

The Earl also wanted to find an opportunity to meet with Rudd and have a good talk.

(End of this volume)

End of this chapter

Spring, a season of renewal! When green plants and colorful flowers replace the snow and cover the earth anew, the thriving scene always fills people with hope from the bottom of their hearts.

With the official start of spring plowing, Lude has been living a fulfilling and busy life. The villagers suddenly discovered that the priest seemed to be quite knowledgeable about farming. He would spend a lot of time in the fields every day, teaching them many novel farming techniques. He also seemed to be preparing to carry out some kind of water conservancy project, planning to dig an irrigation canal.

Some villagers know what irrigation canals are. They've heard that they're only built in some more developed areas in the south, and that they're very useful for irrigating crops. But poor villages with few people generally can't afford to build them even if they wanted to.

But the situation in Songshu Village is different. Although they are very poor, they have a large population and a number of free laborers.

These laborers are the demi-humans who were captured not long ago. After the war, they voluntarily sought refuge in Pine Village. There are nearly 500 of them in total, and they are currently undergoing re-education in civilized society under Lud.

The village was initially quite hostile towards these foreigners, with some elders even believing that they should all be "dealt with," as keeping them around would only be a burden or even a scourge on the village.

Once again, Rudd defied public opinion, stating that these demi-humans should be given a chance to reform. He would find a way to teach them how to properly integrate into civilized society and live in harmony with humans, while killing beyond necessary limits would only further exacerbate hatred.

Seeing that the high priest had spoken, no one objected anymore.

And indeed, it has been proven that these weaker demi-human races generally believe in the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak, and that it is only natural for the weak to submit to the strong. The powerful races initially demanded that they join them in fighting humans, and now that humans have defeated those arrogant and domineering powerful races, they naturally have to submit to the stronger.

Ludd himself did not fully agree with this idea, but considering that it would be convenient for him to manage at this stage, he did not correct them immediately.

Thanks to the relief supplies that Sharo had sent earlier, the village now has the capacity to support these demi-humans. At Lude's request, they have all converted to the Medicine God Cult and are participating in the construction of the village as basic labor.

However, Lud soon realized that if he really wanted these demi-humans to integrate into civilized society like the elves and dwarves, he first needed to change many of their bad habits.

There's not much to say about hygiene habits; just follow the example of the human villagers in Pine Tree Village. No food without proper washing—this "ironclad rule" has quickly become ingrained in their very being, along with the delicious food.

What really gave Lud was the "drug addiction" of these demi-humans!

During his previous infiltration of the camp, Rudd discovered that races like the Grey Elves had a habit of consuming Ghosthead Grass. This stuff is an ideal anesthetic when used properly, but if used incorrectly, it becomes a drug.

In order to completely wean these demi-humans off drugs, Lude confiscated the ghost grass from their possession and strictly prohibited anyone from keeping it, thus isolating them physiologically. At the same time, he tried to use religious means to help them break free from their dependence on it psychologically.

"I feel like my workload is increasing lately, but I still don't have enough staff available!"

The shortage of manpower within the current Medicine God Cult is becoming increasingly prominent. Excluding Lude himself, there are only one core member. And if we consider actual individual abilities, even if the two goddesses, Aina and Shanis, were put together, they might not be as good as Elaine, the ghost who can write and calculate!

Church recruitment has become an urgent issue.

However, considering that this is a newly established sect, there are too many secrets that cannot be made public. Therefore, they must be extremely careful in selecting new members. So far, they have only recruited one new novice nun on an experimental basis.

The path of development for the Medicine God Cult remains long and arduous.

Thinking about these troublesome things, Ludwig decided to go for a walk in the yard to relax a little, so he got up and left the study.

After spring arrived and the flowers bloomed, the first thing Lude did in the backyard was to plant half of the spice seeds he had gotten from Hamilton. Many have already sprouted, and if all goes well, he might be able to enjoy a long-awaited hot pot this fall.

A year and a half has passed since Lu De traveled back in time. Whenever he thinks of his hometown, which he can never return to, in addition to missing his relatives, he also misses all kinds of local delicacies. He feels that he can hardly remember the taste of many things anymore.

With this expectation, Lu De went straight to the vegetable garden in the backyard, only to find someone carefully tending to the crops in the field. As soon as the person saw Lu De coming, they quickly got up and bowed to him.

Good afternoon, Professor.

"Good afternoon, Sister Romian."

Looking at the somewhat timid dragon girl in front of him, Lude smiled and nodded at her.

Since the destruction of the ratmen, this girl had nowhere to go, so Rud took the initiative to take her as his disciple, making her his first real disciple and the only ordinary mortal in the entire church at present.

Because Lude possesses the primordial fire within him, and his soul is that of a transmigrated Earthling, he is often unsure whether such a "Frankenstein's monster" can truly be considered an ordinary person.

The young girl was initially hesitant to agree, not because she disliked becoming a nun, but because she felt her status was too low and she wasn't qualified. Especially after meeting Aina and Shanis, she felt she couldn't compare to these two beautiful and mature older sisters, which only intensified her feelings of inferiority.

Lude kept comforting her, explaining that he wanted to take her as his apprentice because he saw that she was kind-hearted and had great potential, and believed that she had a lot of room for growth.

So, under Rudd's persistent persuasion, Romian finally became his disciple and a novice nun in the temple. The little girl was very grateful to the priest for taking her in, and without being asked, she took on most of the chores in the temple. Her maturity was so touching that it brought tears to one's eyes.

Looking at the thriving seedlings in the field, Lu De reminded Luo Mi'an to take more rest and not to always rush to do the work, as her two senior sisters were becoming lazy.

"It's okay, mentor. Senior Sister Aina and Senior Sister Shanis have been very kind to me. I'm really happy to be able to help everyone."

"Oh, what a good child!"

With another sigh, Lude gently patted the girl's head, then looked down at her large, coarse cloth robe. He thought that the nun's habit he had ordered from the village tailor should be ready. Since he was planning to go to the village anyway, he might as well take Romian with him and go change into her new clothes.

End of this chapter

Following behind Lud, Romian left the temple gates and walked together through the village with some unease.

The little girl didn't actually dislike Pine Village; it gave off a vibrant and thriving feeling, always reminding her of the place where she had lived with her mother. However, the lingering psychological trauma still made her feel extremely fearful when facing humans, so as soon as they stepped out the door, she followed closely behind Lud, almost watching her own feet as she walked.

Compared to humans, the demi-human races in this world are a typical minority. Only a few elite races, such as elves and dwarves, can receive relatively equal treatment from humans, while others are subject to some degree of discrimination from humans.

This trend also exists within the Kingdom of Duran. Fortunately, when it comes to comparing the worst, there are a bunch of even worse examples at the bottom, so the worst one stands out from the worst and the situation doesn't seem so bad in comparison.

Noticing that Romian was visibly nervous, Lud smiled and comforted her, telling her not to keep her head down and to look around more. He assured her that the villagers were friendly and that with him there, no one would hurt her.

Hearing Lude's words, Romian cautiously raised her head and saw that, just as he said, the surrounding villagers were greeting them with smiles and friendly manners. Her emotions immediately calmed down, and she also felt a sense of dependence and respect for her mentor.

Soon, the two arrived at the village's tailor shop. When the shopkeeper saw that it was the priest who had come, and that he had brought the Argonian girl who had caused a small stir in the village, she immediately understood their purpose and took out the nun's clothes that had already been made from under the counter.

"Good afternoon, High Priest. You've come to pick up your clothes, right? I just finished making them and was about to bring them to you when I noticed you came in person."

"I came here to take care of some business, so I brought her along as well. Romianne, don't just stand there, come over and say hello to Aunt Manny."

Good afternoon, Aunt Manny.

Upon seeing the well-behaved and polite Romian, the seamstress smiled and nodded at her, then handed her the nun's habit she had made and pointed to the dressing room next to her.

"Try the clothes on first to see if they fit! This is my first time making clothes for a demi-human race, so if anything isn't done perfectly, I can alter it for you. You brat! Where have you been slacking off again? Get your ass back here right now!"

With a loud, booming voice, the seamstress called over her daughter and apprentice, asking her to teach Romian how to wear her new outfit. Romian followed her into the dressing room, while Ludwig chatted with the seamstress, Manny, at the counter.

The seamstress was a new villager who joined last winter, and she's currently the most skilled seamstress in the whole village. Lude had previously given her some of his own clothing design sketches, asking Manny if she could make clothes like those. The seamstress was amazed by Lude's "designs."

In fact, not only the seamstress Manny, but almost everyone in the village was amazed by the priest's erudition after spending some time with him. It was as if he knew everything and was full of novel knowledge that no one else knew.

At times like these, Lud would thank his country for allowing him to live in an information-saturated age. This misunderstanding by the villagers, to some extent, provided cover for his elderly identity.

The two exchanged ideas about clothing design for a while. At this moment, Romian came out of the dressing room. The girl had changed into a specially made nun's habit designed to fit her body shape, which made people's eyes light up.

The style, design, and color of this nun's habit are consistent with the two outfits worn by Aina and Shanis, with only some minor modifications and adjustments. The main changes are the addition of a backless design and an opening in the back skirt, allowing Romian's wings and tail to protrude.

Considering the local subarctic climate, the thoughtful Aunt Manny was worried that the little girl would catch a cold if her back was exposed for too long, so she specially prepared some "warm-up gear", including a wool shawl, a pair of leather gloves and a pair of white cotton over-the-knee socks.

It is worth mentioning that, in order to prevent the loose cotton stockings from slipping down, a suspender waist ring with buttons was added to the top of the stockings for fixation. This special design was also provided by Lud.

"Hmm! As expected of my craftsmanship, the little girl looks really good in it."