Goddess Kaleidoscope

"Good morning, where's Arno (Luoye's pseudonym)?"

Aina looked around but didn't hear any sound from Luoye. When she asked, she learned that Luoye had gone out to run errands at dawn and was expected to be gone for three to five days.

After hearing this, Aina nodded silently, and then sat down in her seat with a very ladylike demeanor, which immediately caught Shanis's attention.

"Aina, why are you acting... strange?"

"Huh? Is there?"

"You seem a little different from yesterday."

Faced with Shanis's question, Aina's expression immediately became somewhat unnatural, and her eyes subconsciously darted away, not daring to meet Shanis's scrutinizing gaze.

But Shanis stared at her for a while, then suddenly lowered her voice and asked.

"You didn't sneak out to eat snacks again, did you?"

"How could this be..."

Aina was about to loudly refute and prove her information to Shanis, but then she remembered something and glanced guiltily at Lud, who was busy making breakfast for everyone at the stove not far away.

Thanks to the development of the village and the opening of sales channels for the pharmaceutical industry, the living standards of the people in the temple have been improving day by day. The hard days of eating coarse food and wild vegetables in the early days of starting a business are long gone.

So, having the money to buy fine ingredients like sugar and butter, Ludwig tried baking some small pastries himself, which were very popular with the goddesses. Hume even bluntly stated that if he didn't want to be a priest in the future, he could do quite well as a chef.

Meanwhile, the righteous yet despicable Lude, after realizing how appealing his homemade cookies were, began using them as "rewards" to constantly tempt Aina to study hard, do housework hard, and... cry hard!

However, while the allure of delicious cookies is immense, the human tendency to crave something for nothing also exists. Coupled with the bad example of Hume by her side, the once pure and innocent Aina, like a white flower, has now become a "bad child" who steals things.

Shh! Don't let Master hear.

Aina nervously gestured for Shanis to be quiet. Just then, Lude finally finished preparing breakfast for everyone and brought a bowl of noodle soup to the table.

"Everyone, hurry up and eat. We have a lot to do today. Shanis, you'll be covering for me at school. Today's lesson is mainly about literacy. You should be fine with that. Romian, stay at the temple and watch over things. If anyone comes looking for me, just tell them I've gone out to the next village to make house calls."

“Master, what about me?” Aina asked.

"Come with me, let's go on a round of medical errands."

"Huh? Are you taking me this time?"

"That's right! Last time it was Romi'an who came with me, this time I'm bringing you along. Don't you always love going out for a stroll?"

"oh oh!"

Hearing that Lud was going to take her out, Aina nodded and then began to drink her soup in silence. Lud gave her a strange look, simply wondering if this silly girl had been sneaking snacks again, but he didn't think much of it.

End of this chapter

After everyone had breakfast, they went out one after another.

Since the missionary group of the Cult of War returned empty-handed more than a month ago, Lud has officially begun to preach to other border villages in the surrounding area.

Adhering to the principle of taking a solid and steady approach, the first missionary targets were only three villages that were relatively close to each other, with a total population of less than a thousand. Moreover, because the distance was completely beyond the coverage of the Fire of Origin, even if all the villagers in these small villages were baptized and converted to Christianity, the faith they could provide on a daily basis would be extremely limited.

But this is, after all, the first step in the expansion of his own sect, and Lud has to take it, and he has to take it steadily!

Over the past month, Lude has been making rounds to ensure he visits these three villages at least once a week. He uses his good deeds as a starting point to spread his teachings to the villagers, provide medical care and medicine, and persuade them to improve their hygiene habits under the guise of "exorcising evil spirits and warding off plagues."

This is a valuable experience that Luther accumulated while preaching in Pine Village. If you talk to these illiterate old farmers about bacteria and viruses, they will not only not understand, but they will also suspect that you are spreading heresy.

But if you warn them as a "priest" that not washing your hands before meals and after using the toilet will allow evil spirits to enter your mouth, they will turn around and wash their hands until they peel!

After more than a month of hard work, more than half of the villagers in the three villages surrounding Pine Tree Village have joined the religion. Lude also plans to develop his own soap to sell as "exorcising artifacts."

The village Lude is going to today is Owl Village, located about 20 miles east of Pine Village. This small village has a population of less than 300 people, and currently less than 100 villagers have converted to Christianity. Its progress in the first batch of three villages is the lowest.

Therefore, Ludwig must intensify his efforts against them!

The distance was nearly twenty miles, and it was a border area. It would not be safe for just Lud and Aina to be there. Therefore, the militia prepared ten guards and a caravan that was ready to be dispatched at any time.

Lud took Aina with him, and the two arrived at the militia headquarters in the north of the village. The militia squad responsible for escorting them had been waiting there for a long time. The militia squad leader was a young man in his early twenties, and Lud remembered that his name was Mas.

The young man spotted Lud and Aina from afar and enthusiastically approached them. However, Lud noticed that the young man's gaze kept drifting towards Aina behind him. In fact, it wasn't just him; most of the young men present were looking at Aina with fervent eyes.

Putting aside intelligence and personality, Aina, created by Lud, is undoubtedly an incredibly beautiful girl. However, precisely because she is so beautiful—beautiful enough to be immediately recognizable as extraordinary—Lud was initially forced to use makeup to "reduce Aina's appearance," so that people wouldn't immediately notice that she looked exactly like a goddess statue.

Later, Hume joined the group with his own investment, and she taught Aina a special divine spell. This spell was of a very low level; in Hume's words, it was so simple that anyone who wasn't a fool could easily learn it by watching her use it once.

And as it turns out, it is indeed very simple.

Aina learned it after watching Hume use it only three times.

This divine technique is called "Hyperbole." It was originally invented by some gods who wanted to come to the mortal world for fun. It can create a unique "visual barrier" on one's face, allowing mortals to see their own face clearly but not recognize who they are. It has a kind of hypnotic effect.

After Aina and Shanis mastered this trick, they were able to avoid getting up every morning to have Lude do their makeup, saving them a lot of trouble.

Incidentally, this trick is useless against Lud, as the power of the Primal Flame makes him immune to all divine spells.

However, no matter what, a beautiful girl is still a beautiful girl. Most sects in this world do not prohibit clergy from marrying, so there are quite a few brothers in the village who have designs on the three nuns under Lud's command.

However, with Ludwig present, the young men of the Self-Defense Forces were eager to make their move, but they dared not act presumptuously in front of the High Priest. Moreover, Aina rarely responded to their winks and gestures, so some of them, feeling that they were not good enough for him, gradually gave up.

After the group reunited, Lud and Aina got into the caravan and, escorted by the militia squad, left Pine Village, heading east towards Owl Village.

Because the route was still on the outskirts of the forest and the terrain was relatively flat, the ride in the horse-drawn carriage was not too bumpy.

After getting into the carriage, Ludwig leaned against the canopy and closed his eyes to rest, occasionally glancing outside. Aina, sitting opposite him, maintained a ladylike posture that was unlike her usual style, one hand constantly pressing down on her skirt, as if afraid of revealing even a sliver of skin.

Noticing Aina's unusual behavior, Lude couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

It's already June, and although Songshu Village is located in the north with a climate between temperate and subarctic zones, the temperature is slowly starting to rise.

With some spare money, Ludwig commissioned the village tailor to make more revealing summer nun's gowns for Aina and the others. The skirt length was increased from ankle-length in the autumn/winter style to just past the knee.

Lude remembered how happy Aina was when she first received her summer clothes, saying that the new clothes were much cooler to wear. But today, even though the sky was clear and sunny, the girl suddenly changed back into her old, all-over-covering clothes, wrapped up like a dumpling.

"Aina, are you feeling unwell today?"

"Huh? No!"

"Why are you dressed so warmly on such a hot day?"

"Uh... I took my summer clothes to be washed."

"You washed all three sets?"

"Ah."

"Don't you feel hot?"

"It's not hot! Not hot at all!"

Aina nodded heavily, but the beads of sweat on her forehead betrayed her true feelings at that moment.

Lude had no idea what this silly girl was up to, but he couldn't force her to take off all her clothes, so he gestured for Aina to come closer and then gently tapped her forehead.

In an instant, Aina felt a cool breeze on her face, sweeping away the stuffy heat she had been trying to create. The little nun couldn't help but let out a very pleasant sound.

"Master, that's amazing! But why don't I know how to do that?"

"Want to learn? I'll teach you!"

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Aina's own power, and because Lude used it more often, his proficiency with it far surpassed that of the original god.

Lud had previously made a conjecture: since divine power is a higher level of power than magic, could divine magic be used to simulate magic? So, based on the magic research notes Hamilton had given him, he did some groundbreaking common sense, and he actually succeeded!

End of this chapter

Divine power can replace magic, but magic cannot imitate divine magic. The lower limits of the two are roughly the same, but their upper limits are vastly different.

Given this subtle difference, Rudd finally understood one thing completely: ordinary people need to constantly cultivate and break through their limitations to become stronger, while Rudd needs to deceive as many people as possible to become stronger.

The caravan traveled for nearly four hours, finally arriving at its destination, Owl Village, around noon. The local villagers warmly welcomed Lud and his companions. Medical resources were scarce in the border region; there were very few priests capable of using divine magic, and even fewer apothecaries.

The Luddite mission has always taken a "people-friendly" approach and is very willing to invest in the initial stages. Not only do they provide free medical care and medicine to these poor people, but they are also willing to use their divine powers on some seriously ill patients. As a result, the popularity of the Medicine God Church in the local area has increased very rapidly.

As he had done on previous visits, Lud directed the militia to set up a makeshift clinic on the open ground of the threshing ground in Owl Village. Any villager feeling unwell could come and line up for a consultation, and no consultation fee would be charged.

The reason Lud was so generous was mainly because the settlers were generally poor and there was no need for them to do such a messed-up thing as "pressing oil from stones".

If he really wanted to make money, he had better sources of income!

With several highly effective magical potions at his disposal, Lude had successfully earned his first real fortune in the past month. Moreover, compared to the potent recovery potion "Evelina's Tears," the "Mysterious Oil," which had a localized enlargement effect, was even more popular among the nobility.

When Ludwig sent a sample to Duke Gamelin, he received a reply and a large deposit from the Duke less than half a month later, and the relationship between the two parties was upgraded from "strangers" to "friendly".

After several business deals, Ludwig realized that pharmaceutical products could generate astonishing profits in this world, and this was just the beginning.

So Lud generously used the money he earned from the powerful to subsidize the common people. The faith produced by the common people was absorbed by Aina into divine power, which she then used to make medicine and sell to the nobles.

In a sense, this can form a cycle!

Soon, the makeshift clinic was set up. The shed was drafty on all sides, and under it were just a table and two chairs. Lud deliberately allowed the villagers to watch him treat patients from a short distance away. Many villagers unknowingly developed faith, which he then collected on the spot.

However, the villagers soon discovered that the priest seemed to have added another "decoration" behind him this time.

"Huh! What's that?"

Under the curious gaze of the villagers, Ludwig erected a shrine and placed a small statue of a goddess inside. Before beginning his medical consultations, he and his nuns solemnly offered a prayer to the statue.

The onlookers found it fascinating, and every villager who came for treatment would involuntarily look up at the small but exquisite goddess statue that emitted a soft glow after sitting down.

This 1:8 scale goddess statue is a new piece that Lude recently completed.

Compared to the 1:1 scale statue currently enshrined in the temple, this smaller one features a new pose and, in addition to the original medicine bottle, a new scepter shaped like a stalk of rice. This is a "foreshadowing" planted by Rudd in the new statue, preparing for his next step of adding a new divine position to Aina.

Rudd had previously conducted research and found that traditional religious sects in this world generally believed that the larger the statue of a god, the better, so that it would appear more imposing when placed in a temple. And indeed, enormous statues are very visually impactful, looking majestic and inspiring an urge to worship.

These sects, constrained by traditional understanding, rely on a method of constantly proselytizing to expand their followers. After successfully conquering a territory, they regularly gather followers at temples or other dedicated venues to hold grand religious ceremonies.

Just like harvesting chives, it's a process of harvesting one crop after another.

Few people would bother to improve this extensive management model, and even fewer would realize that religion should be integrated into the daily lives of believers.

In fact, traditional sects are not lacking in reformers who want to change, but the sects are too large and have many internal factions that fight for their own interests. They have long passed the stage of "small boats are easy to turn around".

In one afternoon, Lu De treated a total of more than twenty villagers who were unwell, most of whom had minor illnesses.

After carefully inquiring about the patient's condition, Lu De would offer some lifestyle advice depending on the severity of the illness. Then, he would take out some medication from his medicine cabinet and have the patient take it on the spot, which would always cure the illness.