Goddess Kaleidoscope

But this was something he couldn't tell the "victims" directly, so he explained it in a serious tone.

"This is an Outland demon of the Dark Child type. Individually, they are extremely powerful, but their intelligence is usually not very high. They typically descend to the mortal realm in response to some kind of ritual. Besides discovering that the pillars in the plaza have been destroyed, have you found anything else?"

"Yes! We found an ancient notebook."

"show me."

Seeing that Lude wanted to see the notes, the young magician quickly handed them over.

Lude glanced at the book and immediately said that he had a way to remove the dried bloodstains from the pages to reveal the original text, but the process would take a little while. He told Denzel and the others to go and rest first, and he would call them over to look at the book together when it was done.

After completing the report, Lude casually asked if they had used the recovery potions and items they had been given. Denzel immediately replied that they were very effective, especially the recovery potions, which they had never seen before with such immediate results.

Denzel was unaware that the reason the recovery potions Lud gave him were so effective was thanks to Aina's growth.

As the number of believers continues to increase, the divine power generated by faith grows stronger, and Aina is now gradually beginning to possess some "divinity".

Through Lud's new form of evangelism, the believers gradually accepted many of the "settings" that Lud instilled in them. As long as these settings were not too outrageous or conflicted with the basic image of the God of Medicine, once they were accepted by the majority of believers and Aina's divine power reached the corresponding level, most of them would gradually become new skills that she could use.

So, for the purpose of experimentation, Lu De combined the stories of Shennong and Ji Gong from Earth with the Medicine Goddess, saying that she once descended to earth to travel among humans, using her immortal divine body to taste all the herbs and plants in the world for mortals, so her tears were all panaceas that could cure all diseases.

As this premise gained increasing acceptance among believers, Lud began secretly collecting various bodily fluids from Aina for research, and even conceived the heretical idea of ​​"infusing the goddess with wine."

Fortunately, after extensive testing, Lud confirmed that Aina's tears had special effects, regardless of her psychological state when she cried. Theoretically, even tears squeezed out while yawning would have the same effect, and even after being diluted hundreds of times, there would be no significant weakening.

Using these specially collected goddess tears, Lude has secretly prepared a full ten liters of highly effective recovery medicine. At ten milliliters per bottle, that's enough to make a thousand bottles. Selling them would definitely make a fortune!

That night, Denzel and the others had a good night's sleep for the first time in a long time, without the nightmare that had plagued them for days, and slept soundly until dawn.

He woke up feeling extremely hungry and was about to go find something to eat when he suddenly heard a commotion outside. He went out to investigate and found that new adventurers had arrived in the village, and there were several groups of them, totaling thirty or forty people. They were gathered in front of the village chief's newly opened inn, and it seemed that some kind of dispute had broken out between two of the groups.

One side consisted entirely of warriors, numerous in number, all uniformly dressed in rugged leather armor and wielding various heavy weapons. The other side took a more ornate approach; although their numbers were only half that of the opposing team, the composition of their members was very balanced, and their leader wore metal plate armor, clearly indicating a distinguished individual.

Denzel mingled in the crowd and listened for a while. He discovered that the dispute between the two sides was over accommodation. The village chief's inn couldn't accommodate so many people, and the other groups that arrived earlier had already paid for and booked rooms. The two groups currently facing off were the last to arrive, and to make matters worse, they arrived at the same time, and were arguing fiercely over the last two empty rooms.

Denzel knew very well that Pine Village was so big that even if they couldn't stay in a hotel, there would be no shortage of empty rooms. But the two sides were clearly at odds, and it was no longer just about a few rooms.

"Hey, you barbarians from Khaliz, don't you know any manners? Do you even know what 'first come, first served' means? You bunch of uncivilized savages!"

"What are you saying? Just because you're from the capital, you think you're so great? You dare call us Kalizi people barbarians? I don't even look at a bunch of you sissies!"

"Holy crap! Are you going to curse again?"

"So what if I curse you? Come and fight me if you dare! Come on!"

Seeing that the two groups were about to fight in the street, the village militia were too weak to stop them, and the other mercenary groups just stood by watching the spectacle with smiles, some even taking the opportunity to cheer. Denzel was hesitating whether to bite the bullet and step in to mediate when a bright holy light flashed, blinding everyone present.

At this moment, Lude walked over with his cane, stood directly between the two groups of adventurers who were on the verge of fighting, and said with a warm smile.

"Are you all here causing trouble, hoping to get beaten up together?"

"..."xN

As soon as Lud finished speaking, the scene fell silent. The villagers who had come to watch the spectacle had their eyes shining, while the adventurers looked at each other in bewilderment.

When they first saw this kind-looking old priest, they instinctively assumed he was there to mediate and smooth things over. But when he opened his mouth, he was incredibly arrogant, which stunned them all.

The leader of the warriors was the first to recover. Although he recognized Lud as a priest and dared not easily provoke these clergymen, he couldn't afford to lose face in front of his subordinates, so he spoke in a muffled voice.

"Your Excellency, you've got quite the nerve!"

"Oh, really?"

Lude glanced at the other man sideways, then snapped his fingers. No one saw Lude make any other move. The burly barbarian warrior captain suddenly seemed to have been hit in the face. The onlookers heard a muffled thud, and the warrior captain lay flat on his back, unconscious on the ground.

This instantaneous divine spell combined with an invisible attack immediately stunned the entire scene. Lude then walked up to the unconscious warrior captain, casually cast a healing spell on him, waking him from his coma, and then tilted his head and asked him with a smile.

Are you feeling any clearer-headed now?

"Wake up! She's awake!"

Lude glanced at the bewildered warrior captain lying on the ground, then turned to look at the somewhat nervous noble youth, and effortlessly established his authority as a powerful figure in front of the mercenaries.

Seeing that these guys had all become much more obedient, Ludwig thought to himself that what Hume had said earlier was indeed very true. It was useless to reason with these adventurers; you had to first show them your fists the size of sandbags before you could get them to stand there and listen to your reasoning.

Relying on the prestige he had established on the spot, Lude first asked the adventurers present to register and state their team name and guild affiliation.

Unlike the Mercenary Guild, which is a unified national official organization, the Adventurers' Houses are private enterprises, funded by local nobles or wealthy merchants, and therefore vary in size and operation. Within the entire Kingdom of Duran, there are more than twenty adventurer organizations of varying sizes.

Compared to mercenaries, adventurers have the disadvantage of varying quality and are not ranked through assessments like mercenaries, resulting in less room for advancement. However, adventurers are relatively more free because they do not serve as reserve soldiers for the country and are not required to respond to the king's summons at any time.

Besides Denzel, there were 43 other adventurers present, divided into five teams. The largest team was naturally the pure warrior team, which consisted of 13 people including their captain. These teams were commissioned by various adventurer guilds to come here specifically to investigate the dragon.

After having the adventurers register, Lude called Ron to arrange accommodations for them. If all went well, a steady stream of adventurers would likely arrive in the coming days, and the village needed to prepare accordingly.

Seeing that the conflict was resolved, Lud was about to return to the temple with the registration booklet when Denzel hurriedly caught up with him and asked him about the notebook.

Lude looked around and said mysteriously.

“Come with me, this is not the place to talk.”

Following behind Rudd, Denzel arrived at the temple. Rudd showed him the notebook, now separated into individual pages, and the potion used to soak and remove the stains. Rudd explained that his potion could dissolve the bloodstains without damaging the writing; unless the writing itself was in blood, it wouldn't easily disappear. As he spoke, Rudd showed him several pages of the soaked notebook.

Do you know Elvish?

“I only know a little bit about it, but Rick is very proficient. He's the mage in my team, and Elvish is a required subject for him.”

"Then I'll translate it for you, but you'd better not spread what I'm about to say around after you leave."

Lude told Denzel that the original owner of this notebook was probably an adventurer like him, and also a magician.

This guy seems to have obtained a mysterious treasure, which he calls the "omnipotent wish-granting machine." But since the magician doesn't know how to use this treasure, he decides to take a risk and use an ancient demon summoning ritual to consult with an outer demon who claims to possess all forbidden knowledge.

As things stand, the summoning ritual has at least succeeded, but demons are not benevolent beings. Seeking their help will most likely result in them demanding your life and soul as payment. Moreover, many people who even consider summoning demons may have had this idea suddenly pop into their heads under the influence of demons themselves.

Therefore, Lude deduced that the nameless magician was most likely being used by the demon. The reason he went alone to the ruins in the Void Forest to summon the demon was probably because the demon wanted to use him to break another seal in the ruins.

Fortunately, the seal itself was being watched over by the black dragon, which temporarily prevented the worst from happening!

End of this chapter

Denzel was impressed by Luther's rigorous logical reasoning, and the entire analysis was convincing and well-founded.

After all, this is a bizarre and fantastical world where gods, demons, and monsters all truly exist. Lud is a priest, and at first glance, he appears to be a wise elder who is knowledgeable and experienced in many battles. Therefore, the credibility of what he says is naturally much higher than that of ordinary people.

Of course! What truly convinced Denzel was their personal experience in the ruins of the ancient city.

Lud told Denzel that he would continue to repair the remaining parts of the notes and believed that more content would be available soon, at which point they would know what the strange terms "Lord of Cinder," "Undead," and "Hedtaka" meant.

“My child, what you brought back is extremely valuable. It provides us with a lot of precious information. I have spent most of my life hunting down these extraterrestrial demons that attempt to invade the human world, but I have always been hampered by the limited information. This notebook you brought back has been a great help.”

"Your Excellency, this is what I should do."

Hearing Lud's high praise for his team's achievements, Denzel scratched his head somewhat sheepishly, feeling that his trip to the northern border had truly been worthwhile. Although they hadn't hunted a dragon, they had still accomplished something significant.

Lude told him to go back and rest for a few days to recharge, as the upcoming operation might require the strong support of their team. Denzel immediately patted his chest and guaranteed that he would absolutely do his best!

After Denzel left, Hume emerged from the shadows in the corner of the room. She had been hiding in the shadows in stealth mode, so he had heard the same story that Ludd had told Denzel.

"Hey you! You were just trying to distract these adventurers, did you really need to make up such a complicated story?"

"You don't understand, do you? A complex story that is logically consistent can greatly enhance the sense of realism."

"Why don't you just tell a story? Why go through all that trouble to find ruins and set up a scene just to fool a few newbies? What are we going to do with the other adventurers who arrive later? We can't just do the same thing to them all, can we?"

"This kind of work only needs to be done once. After that, we just need to let these messages spread freely."

When Hume recalled the preparations they had made in the ruins, he felt that Lud had overreacted. They had mobilized over two hundred demi-humans, an undead, and a dragon capable of high-level illusion magic. And all that manpower was invested just to fool a few novice adventurers into believing that there was a sealed outer demon in the Void Forest.

But Ludd confidently told Hume that what he was doing was a grand scheme that could bring them long-term benefits!

"Are you really sure those newbies are absolutely convinced?"

"As I told you before, the key is to create a sense of realism, and the method is crucial. You need to know that most people in this world are wary of others. If this information comes directly from my mouth, they will definitely subconsciously doubt it. But if this information is obtained by themselves after going through life-or-death adventures, they will not only not doubt it, but will even stand up to defend it when others question the reliability of the information."

"why?"

"Because in their subconscious, this intelligence is already completely equivalent to the fruits of their labor. Questioning the intelligence is trying to deny the efforts they have made. Do you think most people would agree to that?"

"So what do we do next? There must be a second step in this grand scheme you're playing, right?"

"No rush, this is the opponent's turn."

Meanwhile, on the other side, after leaving the temple, Denzel prepared to return to his lodgings to share the intelligence he had just received with his companions. However, upon his return, he found several strangers in the courtyard—the noble squad that had caused the conflict at the inn's entrance earlier. His companions were clearly being held captive by them.

Meanwhile, the arrogant, purple-haired noble youth was currently flirting with two girls in Denzel's team, his eyebrows dancing with delight. Even when Denzel returned, he only glanced at him briefly, seemingly not taking him seriously at all.

Denzel remembered that the opposing team had nine people and their team name was "Hydrangea Blade," belonging to the Golden Adventurers Guild in the royal capital.

This guild has quite a background, ranking among the top three in the kingdom. Its operating model is highly similar to that of the Mercenary Guild. It is said that the current guild leader was once a high-ranking member of the Mercenary Guild and was poached by the financial backer of the Golden Adventurers Guild with a high salary to become the guild leader.

However, according to rumors, this wealthy guild does not seem to be a purely adventurer organization. Their main clients have always been the noble class, and their business is not just commissioning intermediaries.

Rumor has it that this guild frequently poachs skilled and experienced adventurers from other guilds, regroups them into a seemingly professional high-end team, and then "commodifies" this team for rent to wealthy young nobles who want to experience adventure, having these experienced individuals protect the rich lords as they seek thrills.

If all these rumors are true, then the "Hydrangea Blade" in front of us must be a team that "plays with" others.

Realizing that the other side was superior in both numbers and strength, Denzel could only try his best to appear calm.

"Esteemed seniors of the Hydrangea Blade, what brings you here?"

"Oh! You're back, little brother Denzel."

Upon hearing Denzel speak, the purple-haired nobleman deliberately made an exaggerated reaction, as if he had only just noticed Denzel, but his eyes were full of undisguised mockery, which made Denzel feel genuinely displeased.

Although both are nobles, there are differences between nobles.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Erwin von Mastak, and I am the captain of this Hydrangea Blade squad. I believe you have heard of the Mastak surname. Marquis Guda von Mastak is my father and the current Minister of Finance of the Kingdom."

Upon hearing the purple-haired youth boast about his family background and self-identity, Denzel's expression immediately darkened. This person was not someone they could afford to offend.

"Young man Denzel, we've heard you've been in this village for a while now, and you just recently ventured into the forest. You must have had a good haul, right? Ah, don't get me wrong! We don't intend to steal your spoils. We just want to ask you some questions. We're all adventurers; shouldn't we exchange information more often?"

As Erwin spoke, he turned and winked at the most beautiful female assassin in the squad, completely ignoring the fact that Denzel was right in front of him.

Denzel suppressed his anger and tried to speak as calmly as possible.

What do you want to know from me?

"Everything! Tell me whatever you know. Oh, right! Focus on that old priest in the village, he's really arrogant! What's his background? I heard you went into the forest on his behalf to investigate an ancient ruin. I want to know what you found?"

Irwin got straight to the point. He was certain that Denzel and the others were no match for his team and wouldn't dare disobey him, given his high status. So, he wore a smug, self-satisfied expression.

Seeing the dire situation, and knowing that accepting the invitation to fight would only lead to humiliation, Denzel reluctantly nodded and agreed to share information with Erwin. But just then, a mage from Erwin's squad suddenly approached Denzel from behind and grabbed him by the back of the neck.