Goddess Kaleidoscope

The young man spotted Ludwig and the little nun beside him from afar and hurried over to greet Ludwig, but his eyes kept darting towards Aina.

To be fair, although Aina's appearance was "uglified" by Lude, greatly reducing her attractiveness, she was still the most beautiful girl in Pine Tree Village, and her figure was much better than those short and stout village girls.

Although Lude didn't have any feelings for Aina yet, she was still the goddess he had painstakingly nurtured with his faith. Therefore, he was just like an old father, hostile to any wild boar that tried to invade his garden.

Therefore, without giving Buddy any chance, Lud stepped forward to meet him first.

"Child, is there something you need from me?"

"Your Excellency, I wish to..."

"Ah! My child, are you feeling lost about your life? Don't be afraid, don't hesitate. Life is like a small boat crossing the sea; it's not always smooth sailing, but no storm can stop our determination to move forward..."

"..."

Drawing on his 33 years of life experience on Earth, Lud gave Buddy a good pep talk. The young man, who had never seen anything like it before, was completely stunned and speechless for a long time.

Seeing that he had completely confused him, Lu De immediately revealed a satisfied, charlatan-like smile, stepped forward, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Aren't you feeling much better now? No longer confused about life? If so, hurry home."

"oh oh!"

Lud pressed him around and Buddy turned towards the blacksmith's shop, feeling dizzy and completely forgetting what he had just been doing.

Watching the young man's swaying figure, Lu De nodded, then suddenly frowned, lowered his head, rubbed his fingers together, and brought them to his nose to smell. There was a faint, familiar scent of toon.

"This kid... just went to the woods?"

End of this chapter

After the sun sets, the tranquil night envelops the earth. Most of the villagers, who lack nightlife, have already gone to bed early. But there are always a few exceptions who will quietly get out of bed while others are sound asleep.

Inside the blacksmith shop, Bank and his three children were fast asleep, but at the very edge of the large communal room, the apprentice Buddy remained awake until moonlight streamed in through the cracks in the south-facing window. Only then did he quietly get up, put on his shoes, and tiptoe out the door.

Having figured out the terrain by delivering goods in the village these past few days, Buddy easily evaded several villagers on night patrol and ran out of the village towards the woods to the south.

The forest was filled with Chinese toon trees and a huge ancient banyan tree. On the shady side of the banyan tree was a hollow, inside which lay the skeleton of a headless skunk.

This seemingly unremarkable pile of skunk bones was Buddy's secret code for meeting his companion. He and his partner each had a skull, and whoever wanted to meet would give their skull to the skunk and then meet after midnight that day.

Soon, Buddy arrived in front of the banyan tree. Two figures immediately emerged from the bushes on either side, but Buddy paid no attention and instead looked up at the tree.

"The village is starting to get alert. News of your business elsewhere has already reached here. The village chief is discussing with the blacksmith today about making weapons for self-defense. We'd better act quickly, as there are quite a few people in this village."

A tall, muscular figure leaped down from the treetop and stood before Buddy. Moonlight filtered through the banyan tree's branches, illuminating the giant's face and revealing a grotesque, grotesque mask. The man's face was clearly ravaged by severe injuries; winding scars covered most of his face, resembling a multitude of long-legged centipedes.

Most people would have fainted on the spot if they saw such a terrifying face late at night, but Buddy smiled after seeing it.

"Has the topographical drawing of the village been completed?"

"It's all set up!"

As he spoke, Buddy immediately took off his pants and pulled down his underwear.

Two other burly men nearby immediately lit torches. Several people present held the torches to the sides of the shorts and waved them slightly. Soon, some patterns appeared on the shorts, which were the topographical map of Songshu Village.

While the map was still clear, the group quickly copied it onto another piece of sheepskin. The scarred man would occasionally ask questions, such as where the village's granary was, which family was wealthy, how many able-bodied men were in the village, and whether there were any skilled fighters, etc., to which Buddy answered fluently.

The scarred man then revealed a smile that could scare a child to tears, and praised Buddy in a deep, muffled voice.

"Well done, brat."

"I'm the son of handsome Zach, so I definitely won't let you down, Dad!"

Upon hearing Buddy's words, the scarred man burst into laughter.

The name "Handsome Zach" is not unfamiliar to the people of the Kingdom of Duran. More than ten years ago, he was a famous mercenary in the kingdom, charging into battle and killing countless enemies. He intimidated the enemy with his bloody methods, and because of his handsome appearance, he was known as the "Handsome Knight".

However, although the handsome Zac is exceptionally strong and has a group of fierce mercenaries under his command, he is cruel and greedy by nature. On the battlefield, he often turns his sword against the innocent and is never satisfied with the money the king has given him. He even dares to dream that the king will marry his daughter to him and then appoint him as the kingdom's general.

The old king could no longer tolerate this man's greed, and coupled with his bloodthirsty nature, his reputation among the people grew increasingly tarnished. Finally, the king, having reached his limit, joined forces with the Knights of the Faith from several major religious sects within the country to launch a campaign to annihilate the handsome Zach and his Mad Wolf mercenary group.

This battle nearly wiped out the Mad Wolf mercenary group, which originally numbered over a thousand. Handsome Zack was also seriously wounded and disfigured by several high knights who were besieging him. He finally broke through the encirclement with the desperate protection of a few close confidants and disappeared for many years afterward. People gradually forgot about Handsome Zack, and even when he was occasionally mentioned, everyone agreed that he was definitely dead.

But in fact, handsome Zach did not die. Instead, he hid with a dozen or so surviving men. Later, they changed their names and became bandits, secretly accumulating strength in the hope of making a comeback one day.

However, being a thief in the mountains is not as good as being a mercenary for the king. After so many years of hard work and perseverance, although Zak's forces have improved somewhat, they have never been able to recover to their former glory. Of the hundreds of men under his command, there are not many who are truly capable; the rest are just incompetent and worthless.

Every year before winter, Zak would lead his men out to "plunder," targeting remote areas that the regular army wouldn't be able to reach, raiding several villages to get some food and women to take back to the mountains for the winter.

Although they lack the strength to challenge a regular army, compared to ordinary bandits, Zak's men are among the best of the worst, making them a relatively powerful criminal force in the northern part of the kingdom. Furthermore, having suffered a major loss in the past, Zak has learned caution, and has only recently begun to rise again.

With his forces growing larger, Zha Ke plans to smash up several large kilns this year to get more grain, making Songshu Village one of his potential targets.

Unlike typical bandits who simply swarm in chaotic attacks, Zack, though fond of killing, knew how to use his brain. Medium-sized villages like Pine Tree Village, with three or four hundred permanent residents, often had over a hundred able-bodied men. With a few veterans and some training, they could become competent militia. In some areas where the populace was particularly fierce, even women and children had the courage to fight, making them quite troublesome to deal with.

So Zach led his hundred-plus brothers down the mountain to plunder the southern part of Earl Ramli's territory to draw the attention of the lord's army, while sending spies to infiltrate Pine Village to gather intelligence.

Their spies would first find an opportunity to infiltrate some scattered refugees, and then encourage them to go to the village they wanted to go to, using them as cover.

Zach dispatched several spies for this purpose, one of whom was his own son, Buddy.

Back when Zack was a mercenary, he indulged in all sorts of vices, including drinking, gambling, and whoring. As a result, he got a prostitute pregnant, which led to the birth of his son, Buddy.

At first, he didn't actually believe that Buddy was his child, but this prostitute had helped him when he was down on his luck, and even gave him the money she had saved for many years to redeem herself, so that he could make a comeback. That's when Zach accepted the mother and son as his own.

As Buddy grew up, Zach realized that the child was indeed looking more and more like himself when he was young. Only then did he truly believe that the child was his own flesh and blood and began to treat him like his own son.

This undercover mission was a test that Zach gave Buddy, and judging from the results, the brat did a great job.

Soon, Buddy relayed everything he knew, and he also copied down a map of the village. Zach told Buddy that his men would launch a surprise attack late the night after tomorrow, and that Buddy should act as their inside man, leading the vanguard of cavalry into the village to create chaos and prevent the villagers from organizing an effective defense.

Buddy nodded, indicating that he would not disappoint his father, but then he suddenly remembered something and said it somewhat hesitantly.

"Father, may I ask you for a favor?"

"Do me a favor?"

"I...I've taken a fancy to a girl in the village. When you bring your brothers into the village, could you...just leave her with me?"

"Oh! A girl?"

Upon hearing Buddy's request, Zach's expression immediately turned amused, while his two henchmen began to jeer and jeer. Buddy felt uneasy; he knew his father was a capricious man and feared that his request would provoke his wrath. But Zach seemed to be in a good mood and readily agreed.

"Alright! If this deal goes through, you'll be the star. You've definitely reached the age where you're craving women, so I'll go along with it this time. Tell me, what does the girl look like? I'll let the brothers keep an eye out."

"Yes, she was a nun, very beautiful and easy to recognize."

Upon hearing that Buddy had taken a liking to a nun, the two henchmen immediately became even more excited, with one of the bald men grabbing Buddy's shoulder and saying to their boss, Zack, in a sly manner.

"Boss! Young Master has good taste! I also love having sex with those nuns, especially when they're screaming and begging God to save them, it's incredibly exciting!"

The bald man was grinning as he talked about his life experiences, but he quickly noticed that the smile on his boss's face was fading. He was at a loss, wondering what he had said that had offended the other man.

"Boss, I..."

"Idiot! Are you fucking stupid? How could you mess with those people!"

After being sternly reprimanded by Zach, Buddy fell silent, while his two subordinates suddenly realized that their boss had previously set a rule that they should try not to provoke religious figures who had divine backing.

Back then, when the Mad Wolf Mercenary Group was besieged by various forces, the one that hurt them the most was the Sun Knights under the Holy Light Church. At that time, more than a hundred high-ranking knights and more than twenty priests came, led by a sword saint, and they made the Mad Wolf Mercenary Group look like stray dogs.

Even after that brush with death, Zack was traumatized. Despite his intense hatred for religious figures, he dared not provoke them. Then his son, oblivious to the danger, tried to abduct a nun to be his bandit queen.

While an ordinary nun might be a lowly figure within the sect, if one of their nuns were captured by mere bandits, it would be a humiliation for the entire sect. If word got out, her sect would undoubtedly fight tooth and nail to regain face, and at that point, it would be questionable whether their hundreds of bandits could withstand the attack, or even whether Zack himself could escape with his life.

So even though he did intend to take this opportunity to reward his son and help him establish prestige within the bandit group so that he could succeed him in the future, he dared not agree to the other party's seemingly simple request.

End of this chapter

Zak sternly rejected his son Buddy's request and warned his men that they should come and smash the kiln the night after tomorrow, and do whatever they wanted to the village, but they should try not to provoke the temple. If any villagers fled inside for refuge, they should not rush in on a whim.

Zack's principle is: I'd rather rob the king than mess with the priest!

Most religious sects are hypocrites who are all talk and no action. They are just as indifferent to the lives of ordinary people as kings and lords. But these hypocrites are extremely vengeful. Provoking them is like stirring up a hornet's nest. Those religious knightly orders that claim to be righteous are often more interested in wiping out bandits than the lords' private armies.

Buddy was understandably disappointed that his father had rejected what he considered a small wish. Seeing this, Zach comforted him, saying that he would gather all the young girls in the village and let him choose one or two he liked.

Zach still has a strong fatherly affection for this child, especially now that he's middle-aged and no longer young, he cherishes this only blood relative even more.

After giving a few more casual instructions, Zach left with his men, while Buddy planned to sneak back into the village before dawn. He wasn't worried that the blacksmith Bank's family would discover his escape, because he had secretly added some sleep-inducing herbal juice to their soup at dinner, which would ensure they slept very soundly.

And so, Buddy tiptoed back to the blacksmith's shop. The village lookouts were all slacking off and dozing off, and it seemed that no one noticed him.

However, Buddy was unaware that a clump of "shrubs" was secretly watching him from outside the grove where he was meeting his father, Zach.

Gazing at Buddy's furtive figure in the moonlight, "The Bush" stood up and suddenly began to speak in human language.

"It wasn't for nothing that I let the bugs bite me all night; I finally caught you!"

The next morning, Buddy got up as usual as if nothing had happened and started learning the craft from his master, Bank. On the surface, they seemed to know each other well, but Buddy actually had no desire to be a craftsman who spent his days endlessly swinging a hammer.

Having grown up in a den of thieves, surrounded by no decent people, Buddy, despite his young age and seemingly handsome and upright appearance, has not yet developed a normal set of values.

Influenced by his father, Buddy always longed to be a mercenary, believing that a good man should possess strength and become a powerful figure. And what is a powerful figure? Naturally, it's someone like his father.

From a young age, Zach instilled in him a "theory of the strong," saying that the strong are wolves and the weak are sheep, and that it is only natural for wolves to eat sheep. Therefore, these bandits could plunder villages everywhere without any psychological burden. The villagers were robbed simply because they were weak!

Growing up in such an environment, Buddy's values ​​naturally differed greatly from those of normal children. During his time infiltrating Pine Village, even though he knew the village was being targeted by his father and his gang, and that many villagers would be beaten, robbed, or even killed when bandits stormed the village, his lingering childlike conscience made him feel sorry for the villagers, but his already ingrained values ​​made him feel that this was to be expected!

Even when he asked his father to give him the nun Aina, whom he had his eye on, after conquering the village, Buddy felt that he was doing a good deed, because he was a man destined to become a strong man, and Aina would definitely be very happy as his wife.

With this in mind, Badi secretly began preparations to become an inside man. He secretly collected some strips of hemp cloth and dyed them in various colors with grass juice. The day after tomorrow, after sunset, Badi would secretly hang these strips of cloth at the front doors of some villagers' houses.

When the bandits storm the village, they will use the colors of these strips of cloth to distinguish the value and situation of their targets. Red stripes indicate that the family has many able-bodied men and has a certain fighting ability, so they need to be suppressed first (kill them all). Yellow stripes indicate that the family is relatively wealthy and has more resources. White stripes indicate that there are women in the family.

As a bandit group that evolved from a mercenary band, Zack has rarely taken the pleasure of massacring villages in his business dealings over the years, unlike when he was a mercenary. Unlike mercenaries who can use their blood and sweat to earn rewards for killing and plundering in enemy territory, bandits rely on robbery for their livelihood. If they wipe out an entire village, they'll have nothing left to eat.

Although he had been strictly forbidden by his father, Buddy had not completely given up on Deina. After much thought, he quickly came up with a good idea that he thought would "win the best of both worlds".

Why not just get Aina to quit that damn Medicine God Cult?

As long as she wasn't a nun, she could naturally be with him! Thinking about the days after they got together, Buddy felt as sweet as if he had just eaten a peach.

Driven by the restless hormones of puberty, the young man subconsciously ignored a crucial question—did the girl like him?

Since Zach's main force wouldn't arrive until tomorrow night, Buddy would have to wait another night in the village. The young man was like a top student about to enter an exam hall, his heart already pounding with anticipation. He was already pacing around the village before dark, rehearsing the proceedings for tomorrow night.

As he walked, Buddy suddenly saw a familiar figure—it was Sister Aina, the nun who had been keeping him up at night for days.