Goddess Kaleidoscope

However, Lude also has its own advantages. First of all, the Medicine God Cult has established a fairly solid mass base in the local area and has shared hardships together, which is something that the later arrivals on the other side do not have.

Secondly, Lude has three goddesses by his side, while the opposing side only has a priest and a dozen or so monks and nuns. As long as the God of War himself doesn't personally intervene, they have a clear "local advantage".

As for whether it would actually attract the god of war, Phagore, Hume believed there was little to worry about. Although gods could hear the prayers of believers and thus obtain information from the mortal realm, most gods actually blocked these prayers because they found them too noisy.

Imagine a cult like the God of War, with tens of millions of followers, where thousands of people are praying almost constantly. If the God of War himself were to openly receive these messages, he might be driven mad in less than a minute.

But Hume also warned Ludwig that it would be best to find a way to drive these war gods away and not let them take root in the village and build a temple.

Because to the gods, the temple is like a branch base with a teleportation portal. It's good that the God of War, Feigolai, didn't notice them. But once they did, the enemy could rush over and block the door at any time!

But despite saying that, Ludwig knew that he couldn't just force people to leave; he had to be strategic in doing it.

Seeing that the priest of the God of War had already attracted a lot of villagers to stop and watch in the central square not far away with his loud voice, Lude thought for a moment. Rather than deliberately hiding and avoiding them, he should take the initiative to go up and greet them, so that at least his followers wouldn't think he was afraid.

So Ludger instructed Aina and Romian to stay at the temple to guard the house, while he took Shanis and Hume, who were capable of fighting in case of conflict, and headed downhill toward the central square of the village.

The three quickly arrived at the missionary site of the War God Cult, where hundreds of people had already gathered, and the number was still increasing.

Lude observed from the perimeter for a moment, and the situation was indeed as Hume had said: the main target audience of the Cult of War was young people who were easily swept away by passion. Although the loud-voiced priest's content was not particularly original, his imposing manner was quite impressive due to his loud voice.

At this moment, Lud noticed that the other person was looking at him, with undisguised contempt and mockery in his eyes, clearly not taking him seriously.

Lude wasn't angry at all; he just smiled and nodded to the other party. But he had already started to plan a scheme in his mind. Since the Void Forest devoured the corpses of countless adventurers every year, why couldn't there be more missionaries from the War God Cult?

Classical religious conflicts have never been peaceful!

End of this chapter

The arrival of the Cult of the God of War, while not immediately enough to shake the popular support Lud had built up in the area, meant that as a long-established and large church, the resources they could theoretically mobilize were undoubtedly overwhelming. If they were to get serious, they could easily reverse the current local advantage. Therefore, Lud dared not take it lightly.

In contrast, the War God Cult missionary group that came to Pine Tree Village did not have this atmosphere of being on high alert at all. The high-ranking priest Narad, who led the group, did not take Lud and his sect seriously at all.

"Three months! Take this village!"

In front of his disciples, Narad arrogantly declared that he would bring the entire Pine Village under the control of the War God Cult before the end of this summer, and convert more than half of the villagers.

As for that insignificant local sect, Narad felt it was nothing to fear. If they were sensible, he wouldn't mind giving them a way out, but if they refused to behave, then he wouldn't hold back.

Narad, who is in his early forties, is a disciple of Gerallis, the current Archbishop of the Church of War in the Durand Diocese, and is also Gerallis's most trusted right-hand man. His personal abilities are widely recognized within the church.

At the beginning of this year, Narad was supposed to be sent to the Duchy of Gamelin to assume the position of local bishop of the local diocese in preparation for succeeding his mentor. However, Geralris suddenly made a last-minute arrangement for Narad, sending him to lead an elite missionary group to the northern border of the Kingdom of Duran to bring the "God of War's Gospel" to the local settlers.

Those unaware of the facts might find it quite puzzling why the Cult of the God of War has suddenly become interested in the kingdom's northern border region. That area is currently under development, impoverished, underdeveloped, and sparsely populated. Although the kingdom sends thousands of settlers there annually, it will take at least five more years for it to reach the level of the kingdom's interior.

Only a few "insiders" with firsthand knowledge of the power struggles within the kingdom's upper echelons understood that the War God Cult's actions were related to Duke Gammelin, whom they had been trying to win over.

As a country where multiple religious sects coexist, the royal family has always adopted a "balancing policy" towards the various sects, that is, neither favoring nor excluding them, allowing them to check and balance each other in order to avoid a situation where one sect becomes dominant.

However, the royal family did not want religious influence to grow too strong, but that did not mean that all the nobles below were of one mind with the king. Duke Gamelin was someone with other ideas. He was very close to the Cult of War and the two sides had been cooperating.

Narade's missionary work was essentially doing things for Duke Gamelin.

Last year, the northern border region suffered a "dragon plague." Duke Gamelin, facing financial difficulties due to recent warfare, chose to remain neutral, ignoring the plight of the border victims. Meanwhile, Earl Ramli, his long-time rival, immediately sent relief supplies.

Although this batch of relief food was ultimately not distributed in time due to the interference of the mayor of Riverwood, who was secretly loyal to Duke Gamelin.

But at the beginning of this year, Earl Ramley once again sent knights to inspect the area and executed the mayor who had embezzled relief grain on the spot. As a result, the Earl's influence in the area naturally increased significantly.

Therefore, in order to ensure that even if he could not obtain the fiefdom two years later, Duke Gamelin would still have actual control over the area, he approached the Cult of War, hoping that they could go to the area to preach in his place, since it was inconvenient for him to openly intervene, and to control the hearts and minds of the people through religion.

The two sides quickly reached an agreement. To emphasize its importance, the Cult of War not only concentrated its manpower and resources to form an elite missionary team, but also sent Narad, a high-ranking priest and direct disciple of the archbishop, to lead the team. This was done to create a sense of grandeur, like "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

For Narad, the daytime missionary work was just a declaration, to first tell the local villagers that their God of War cult had arrived, and then the main event would begin!

As a long-established and prestigious church with a massive following, the Church of War naturally possesses substantial financial resources. Therefore, Narad's first step is to build a temple in the style of the Church of War in the local area.

To put it bluntly, they just wanted to film a base first!

Although there was a ready-made temple in the area, Narad looked down on the dilapidated building and did not want to directly rob it, which would damage the image of the sect. So he simply showed his strength and built a new one for himself.

Narad knew that the building materials needed to build the temple were probably not available locally, so he pre-ordered a batch from the nearby Duchy of Gammelin, which was expected to arrive within half a month. The workers to build the house were recruited directly from the local area.

This is also one of the common proselytizing methods used by the God of War cult. When they arrive in a new area, they first build a temple and then hire local people to work. They use generous wages to develop these strong laborers who are carrying bricks into their own believers. This trick can be said to be very effective!

Until this private temple is completed, their mission will continue to live in a camp they have built themselves.

However, during his daytime missionary work, Narad noticed that the locals seemed to be acting somewhat differently. While their preaching did attract some villagers to stop and watch, the reactions were relatively lukewarm. Some villagers even muttered under their breath, "This is far inferior to what Lord Ludd preached," which Narad astutely observed.

Therefore, even though he didn't think that little-known sect could pose a threat to him, Narad was still slightly concerned.

“Eru”.

"Mentor, what are your instructions?"

Upon hearing Narad call his name, a bald disciple standing beside Narad stepped forward from the crowd. Narad then waved his hand, and the other disciples and entourage wisely left on their own, leaving only the two men in the tent.

"Eru, is your brother in the village right now?"

"Yes, Master, my second brother and his adventure team arrived about two weeks earlier than us. To facilitate their cooperation with our operations, his men will temporarily pretend not to know us."

"Oh! Did he gather any valuable intelligence?"

"Yes, Master. My second brother has compiled the intelligence he gathered into a book and just had his subordinates pass it on to me. I was planning to give it to you in a moment, but I didn't expect you to ask first."

"show me."

Seeing Narad extend his hand, the bald disciple named Eru quickly took out a small booklet from his pocket and respectfully handed it over. Narad casually flipped through it for a while, and an expression of interest gradually appeared on his face.

End of this chapter

"An ancient ruin with an evil summoning ritual?"

"It seems like everyone in the area is talking about it, and adventurers are trying to get into the ruins, but so far only one team has succeeded."

"Have your brother investigate thoroughly, the more detailed the better!"

"The disciple understands."

Upon learning that "evil spirits and heretics" were lurking in the area, Narad thought to himself that it was truly a blessing from the God of War, a golden opportunity for them to quickly enhance their prestige in the region.

In this world, almost every mainstream religious sect is accustomed to portraying itself as a righteous friend who vanquishes evil and protects the righteous path. Whenever they hear of ghostly disturbances or the emergence of heretical sects that worship demons, they immediately rush to eradicate them, thereby enhancing their own church's reputation.

The Church of War was no exception. Narad brought a mission of more than seventy people this time. In addition to himself, a high-ranking priest who was about to become a bishop, he also had two disciples who could use divine magic and a full twenty well-equipped guardian knights.

In addition, adhering to the sect's characteristics, both priests and monks must practice martial arts, so Narad has quite a few skilled fighters under his command.

Narad was plotting how to quickly win over the people, while on the other side, Lud was facing off against an annoying fellow.

"Young master, this is a temple, not a brothel. Why did you bring so many people here so late at night? You wouldn't happen to be here to confess your sins, would you?"

"Haha! Your Excellency, you are joking. I did not come here to chat with your beautiful nuns, but to ask you for something."

"Oh? What is it?"

"I heard that Denzel gave you a notebook he brought out of the ruins to restore. I wonder how the progress is?"

"To be honest, it's all been repaired, but this notebook is the spoils of Denzel and his team. Although I'm not an adventurer, I know a thing or two about the rules of your profession. Stealing someone else's spoils isn't allowed, is it? Wouldn't that disqualify you from being an adventurer?"

"Yes! That's true, but things bought with money don't count! I just happened to make a deal with them this morning and bought this notebook. So now that you've repaired it, shouldn't it be returned to me, its 'original owner'?"

As Erwin spoke, he had his men show Lud a contract, which clearly stated that the Denzel Squad had sold the notes they had obtained from the ruins to Erwin for ten gold coins. The contract was signed and sealed.

Looking at the dark red and black thumbprint that was clearly not made with ink, Lu De's face darkened for a moment, his eyes seemed to be struggling, but in the end he sighed and said.

"The notes... I can give them to you, but I hope you can listen carefully to some of my findings during the process of restoring these notes."

"Sure! Tell me about it."

Lude pondered for a moment, first asking Shanis to fetch the notebook, then lowering his head to gently stroke the notebook's worn cover, and speaking softly to Erwin in a tone that clearly revealed his weariness.

"It seems that the owner of this notebook deliberately did not leave his name. He came to the Void Forest in search of an ancient curse that is unknown to the general public."

"curse?"

"Yes, he wanted to use this curse to curse himself."

As Lude spoke, he looked up at Erwin, and he could clearly see a hint of doubt in the other's eyes. After all, according to common sense, curses are meant to harm others, and he had never heard of cursing oneself.

Seeing that he had successfully piqued the other party's interest, Lud continued.

"This curse is said to come from a demon named Hedtaka Miyazaki, and those cursed will gain immortality."

"Wait a minute! If it grants immortality, how can that be considered a curse?"

“Child, you don’t understand! What demons love to do most is deceive and bewitch people. Every gift from them comes with a hidden price. This curse can indeed grant people an immortal body, but the price is the burning of the cursed person’s soul. Therefore, the undead are also called Lords of Cinder, until their souls are burned away, becoming a mindless…living corpse, a toy to be manipulated by demons at will.”

"This... is truly unbelievable!"

"It's unbelievable. If possible, I'd rather all of this were fake, a lie. But the truth is..."

Lude didn't finish his sentence, but the bitter expression on his face spoke volumes, and Erwin couldn't help but ask nervously.

"Did this person... succeed?"

"It's unclear. Denzel and his group found the notebook on a skeleton, but we can't be sure that the skeleton was the author of the notebook. Also, the black dragon in the forest once guarded something that was suppressed. Combining the contents of this notebook, I suspect that it might be the shell left behind by a Lord of Cinder. However, according to the black dragon, that thing can no longer be considered human."

After finishing his sentence, Lud solemnly handed the notebook to Erwin, stating that this was all the information they currently possessed, and Lud himself had no way of judging the veracity of this information. However, with so many unsolved mysteries and bizarre rumors circulating in this world, no one could guarantee that they were entirely untrue.

When Erwin received the notes, he was quite bewildered. He couldn't determine whether what Lud said was true or false. He couldn't possibly have his lightning mages give Lud a "treatment" like he did with Denzel. So, after much hesitation, he decided to put the notes away and wait to give them to his third brother so that he could take them to his priest mentor.

And so, Erwin left the temple with the notebook.

After they left, Lud stood at the temple entrance, watching them go, and muttered to himself.

"Keep an eye on them. I think Erwin is probably connected to those people in the Cult of the God of War."

"Leave it to me."

In the darkness, Hume's voice came from the shadows and then disappeared.

Ludwig returned to his study and pulled out a map of the Void Forest from a drawer. It was marked with many points and corresponding annotations. These were "monster intelligence" he had obtained from Nidhogg, and all the more influential local tyrants in the forest were listed.

Lu De thought to himself that since he had copied the Dark Souls world view, he should naturally prepare some decent "regional bosses". Fortunately, there were plenty of tough guys in the Void Forest, some of whom were quite threatening to humans. He could take advantage of this rare opportunity to kill two birds with one stone!

End of this chapter