Goddess Kaleidoscope

As Servis watched the priest speak eloquently about acting, she nodded to herself. Ludwig's performance just now further confirmed her previous guess.

Servis thought to herself, "My grandfather was right. Anyone who says 'I have a friend' is definitely talking about me."

This old man must have been deeply passionate about theatrical writing, but because of his priestly status, he was forced to conceal his identity by using the fictional name "William Shakespeare." The fact that he has now entrusted these masterpieces to us and generously sponsored the circus with a large sum of money clearly indicates that he hopes to use them to realize his hidden dream.

Therefore, Servis secretly vowed in her heart that she would risk the honor of her family's theater troupe to carry forward Lord Lud's works!

Unaware of all the scenarios Servis had conjured up in her mind, Lude was still having a lively conversation with the members of the Rainbow Circus.

In his previous life on Earth, Lude only had a rudimentary understanding of drama. Although he inherited the memories of little Lude after transmigrating, the child had never seen a musical or theatrical performance. Therefore, Lude was unaware of the mainstream preferences here, let alone the traditional musical instruments of this world.

Out of curiosity, Lude chatted enthusiastically with the actors and even borrowed some musical instruments to play with.

At this moment, the young actor playing the male lead Romeo came to Ludwig with a wind instrument that looked just like a suona and said that he was very good at playing this instrument called the Arginine, so he asked if he could add a romantic scene of "playing love songs under the moon".

Clearly! The young man wanted to add more scenes for himself and wanted to showcase his talents more in the play. But Lu De looked at the instrument in his hand and couldn't help but imagine the eerie scene of Romeo running under Juliet's balcony in the middle of the night to play the suona. Just thinking about it was damn creepy!

"Uh... young man, you need to consider the scenario. If you go to meet your enemy's daughter late at night and make such a commotion, you'll most likely get bitten by a dog!"

"Then... would it be alright if I switched to a harp with a softer tone?"

"You can try incorporating the instrument demonstration into other scenes, but for the moonlit rendezvous scene, you should just stick to climbing over the wall and confessing your feelings! Stop trying to pull off some fancy stuff, okay?"

"All right!"

When he heard that his idea was rejected by Ludwig, the young man playing Romeo seemed a little down, but he quickly cheered up again.

After all, this time he was chosen by the group leader, the eldest sister, to be the male lead in "Romeo and Juliet" because of his top-tier looks in the entire group. Such a prestigious opportunity was far better than dressing up as a clown and throwing knives.

If there's any drawback, it's that the female lead who acted opposite her was slightly less than satisfactory, since it was Servis herself who took on the role.

To be honest, Servis is not ugly at all. With proper makeup and styling, she can still amaze the audience. But even so, it is still a serious mismatch between her, a woman in her thirties, and the role of a thirteen-year-old girl. She is far from being the right person for the role. Her temperament alone is lacking.

Of course! The young man dared not speak these thoughts openly, much less let the petty-minded group leader know, otherwise he would definitely be in deep trouble!

End of this chapter

From a professional perspective, Servis estimated that even if everything went smoothly, it would take them at least four weeks to complete the initial rehearsals and preparations before they could be absolutely confident in performing on stage.

The entire Rainbow Circus was working with all their might, hoping to bring this excellent work, which has the potential to become a timeless masterpiece, to the stage as soon as possible and make a brilliant comeback. However, they also did not want to cause problems with the premiere due to their own carelessness and negligence.

Rudd highly appreciated the dedication and hard work of the circus staff and would take time out of his day to come and check on them.

A few days later, in the evening, Hume, who had gone out to help Ludwig, finally returned. As soon as he got back to the temple, he heard from Fallen Leaf, who was left behind, that Ludwig had bought a circus last week, which left Miss Thief somewhat bewildered.

"What the hell? Why would he buy a circus?"

“I don’t know either, but Lord Lud said it was useful.”

Hume knew about the Rainbow Circus; she even joined in the fun on their first day of performance, thanks to Lude's free ticket.

Hume admitted their performance was decent, but that was all. She never imagined that less than a week after she left, Ludd would buy the circus.

Hume, his mind filled with questions, hurriedly found Ludwig in his study, looking at the accounts. Normally, Hume would rarely interfere with Ludwig's spending, but that didn't mean she didn't need a reasonable explanation.

"I'm telling you, even if you really have so much money you don't know what to do with it, you could at least build a small gold mine in the basement to store it! What are you doing buying a circus?"

"Please! With a thief living in my house, how could I dare build a secret stash of money!"

"Stop talking nonsense! I don't eat the grass near my nest! Just tell me the truth, what are you planning to do with this circus?"

"Of course it's useful! And it's very useful!"

"You want to use them to help you spread your religion abroad? Do you think that will work?"

"Believe me, when have you ever seen me do anything that was ultimately futile?"

"Tch! As if you haven't done enough useless work, do you really think I don't know about those 'failed attempts' you secretly hide under the bed?"

"Ouch..."

When Hume pointed out his "little secret" to his face, and gave him a disapproving glare, Ludd was speechless for a long time.

To outsiders, Lord Rudd might seem like the most learned person in the world. He seems to know everything and often shares a lot of novel and unprecedented knowledge with people.

In reality, Lud only had a very broad knowledge base because he had been bombarded with information from the internet in his previous life. However, he only had a basic understanding of many things. The only knowledge he could truly master was the part related to his profession.

Therefore, Lu De was initially terrified after his time travel, because in his view, his greatest "cheat code" was not the primordial fire within him, but the technological knowledge he brought from Earth. However, human memory is not eternal and will gradually be forgotten over time.

Therefore, in order to preserve this knowledge as much as possible, Ludd spent a lot of time every day taking notes, transferring the knowledge stored in his mind to paper before it was forgotten.

But simply taking notes wasn't enough. Rudd also conducted a lot of "scientific experiments" in private, because some of the basic knowledge he had memorized had become quite vague. Moreover, Rudd wasn't sure if the laws of Earth applied to the other world as well, so he had to conduct experiments to verify them. However, the process was not smooth sailing.

Besides these experiments, Ludwig would occasionally have a burst of inspiration and come up with some interesting ideas, which he would then put into practice. Successful creations could be made public and become Ludwig's masterpieces of wisdom, while failures and some trinkets that were not suitable for public display were all hidden under the bed, waiting for an opportunity to dispose of them later.

Seeing Ludwig's somewhat embarrassed expression due to his guilty conscience, Hume sat down on the desk, leaned close to him, and said with a half-smile.

"Don't worry! To preserve your glorious and noble saintly image, I'll secretly get rid of those little entertainment gadgets for you, you hypocritical, repressed little virgin!"

As Hume spoke, he gently flicked the tip of Ludd's nose with his hand, and the disguise mask, which would not normally fall off easily, fell off, revealing Ludd's true appearance—a handsome young man of only eighteen years old.

Hume carefully examined Ludwig's face for a moment, then nodded and said...

"To be honest, although your face doesn't look as mature and steady as the old man with the white beard, it's actually quite handsome, and it should suit some people's tastes."

"Are you referring to 'certain people' male or female?"

"Hehe! We have them all!"

Seeing Hume grinning at him mischievously, Ludd disrespectfully gave the goddess, who was spouting dirty jokes, the middle finger. But as he picked up the mask to put it back on, his hand suddenly froze in mid-air.

Counting the time, it has been almost two years since Lu De's soul transmigrated to this world. His memory of his appearance in his previous life has become somewhat blurry. Perhaps it is because he has been wearing the mask for too long, but sometimes when Lu De takes off the mask alone in the dead of night, he still feels unfamiliar with the somewhat immature face in the bronze mirror.

This nested, triple sense of dislocation sometimes makes him feel very confused.

Who am I now?

Is it the beloved old priest Rude?

Or is it Lud, the exiled youth who is constantly on the run?

Or perhaps it was Lu De, the undercover police officer who died in the line of duty?

The issue of self-identity continues to trouble Lud, and coupled with the occasional homesickness, he can only try to keep himself busy to temporarily forget these problems.

"To be honest, I don't even know my own birthday (of this body). I've only heard my parents mention it occasionally. It should be in the summer."

"If I don't know, I don't know. I'm a goddess, and I don't know when I was born either. I'm used to it after all these years."

Hume shrugged. As a second-generation primordial deity, her awakening of self-awareness was a process. In her own words, the initial state was like a dream, and it took a relatively long time for her to fully awaken. Therefore, none of these primordial deities knew their exact date of birth.

However, when birthdays were mentioned, Lud suddenly had an idea.

"Hume, may I ask you, does God have a birthday?"

"Huh? Birthday? I don't think... I have one."

Hume thought about it carefully. Among the gods who were still alive, none of them had a birthday. She didn't know why Rudd was asking this.

"What kind of mischievous idea do you have now?"

"There is one, would you like to listen to it?"

Soon, within a few days, news spread throughout Pine Tree Village that June 26th was the birthday of the goddess of medicine, Evelina, and the village would hold a celebration on that day to commemorate the benevolent goddess.

The news was released by Lud and quickly spread throughout the village through the believers who frequently came to the temple to pray.

The villagers were initially puzzled as to why Lude, who was already in the village around this time last year, hadn't mentioned the goddess's birthday.

So Lude, who was prepared, explained that when he first came to Pine Village last year following the goddess's guidance, the villagers were not wealthy. He originally wanted to celebrate the goddess's birthday, but the kind-hearted goddess took the initiative to appear in his dream and admonished Lude, telling him not to cause unnecessary trouble and burden to the villagers. She said that it would not be too late to celebrate her birthday when the villagers gradually became wealthy.

After these words spread throughout the village, the villagers were deeply moved, thinking that the goddess was truly kind, treating them, ordinary people, with the same care and concern as her own children.

The village now has more than 3,000 people. They have gone through so much hardship in the past six months, and they have miraculously survived. Many people firmly believe that this is because they have the protection of the goddess. She sent Lude to Pine Tree Village to guide them, these lost sheep, in the right direction.

So since the village is doing well this year and everyone's life is getting better and better, it's only natural to celebrate the goddess's birthday properly, and it would be best to make up for what we missed last year as well.

So, at the village chief's call, the village decided to hold a summer celebration on the 26th so that everyone in the village could have some fun.

This was also Lude's original intention. Rather than a solemn sacrificial ceremony, he hoped to turn the goddess's birthday into a festival celebrated by all. He hoped that once the village's economy developed, this "Goddess Festival" would be held every month!

Of course! Ludwig did not forget his original purpose. He created this festival not only to harvest the faith of a wave of believers, but also to promote and popularize some good living habits or knowledge to believers in the name of God.

Following this line of thought, Lu De decided to turn "Medicine God's Christmas Day" into a national sports meet. He even had a reason for it.

"The benevolent goddess Evelina has always sincerely hoped that her followers can always maintain good health and vitality. Therefore, on the goddess's birthday, we must take practical actions to prove to the goddess who is always watching over us from heaven that all of us followers have strong physiques! On the day of the festival, we will hold a series of sports competitions, and everyone can voluntarily sign up to participate. The winners will receive a surprise reward provided by the temple!"

Once the news was announced, the whole village was in an uproar. Lu De listed more than a dozen competitive events and posted them directly on the notice board at the entrance of the village.

Holding a celebration is an interesting event in itself, but now that Lude has directly announced that he will give "surprise rewards" to the winners of the competition, it has aroused everyone's imagination. Even many adventurers who are passing through the area to do quests and people from surrounding villages who come to buy daily necessities are tempted to ask around if they can also sign up as "outsiders".

On the day the news was announced, Aina received about 20% more faith than usual. At this rate, by the day of the celebration, Aina would probably be stuffed, making Shanis incredibly envious. She kept grabbing Lude's hand and asking when he would get her one too.

"Don't rush! This is just the beginning. We need to test the waters first. You gods will definitely have a share in this later."

After comforting Shanis, Ludl spent the next few days either attending his daily classes or visiting the circus to check on the rehearsal progress, and spent almost all his remaining time tinkering with things in the temple's basement.

In addition, he assigned Hume a new task: to lead a group to the interior to purchase a batch of supplies. While Ludwig had already established trade relations with several chambers of commerce, adhering to the prudent principle of "doing both things well," she continued to do business with these chambers while also working on building her own caravan.

To avoid being taken advantage of, you need to minimize the number of middlemen!

Despite complaining to Ludd about how he was being used so carelessly and without any pity, Hume said that he hadn't seen any real benefit from Ludd's treatment and was just being used as a tool.

In fact, Hume was not complaining that Ludd was favoring one daughter over another, only showing affection to his own "beloved daughter." It was Hume himself who suggested that Ludd prioritize the upbringing of Aina and Shanes.

Hume knew very well that once the curse of the God of War was broken, it would inevitably attract the attention of the enemy, who might then follow the clues and come looking for trouble. Therefore, after careful consideration, Hume believed that breaking the curse could not be rushed and that he should first cultivate some allies who could help him.

Anyway, she has lived a miserable life for three hundred years. Compared to the hopeless days before, at least she has something to look forward to now!

So despite his complaints, Hume was incredibly efficient and quick. He only rested for one day after returning, and the next morning he took the shopping list given to him by Ludd and set off with his men.

A few more days passed, and June 26th arrived as scheduled. The village was decorated with lanterns and filled with a festive atmosphere. In addition to the villagers, many people from surrounding villages also came to visit. Lu De naturally welcomed these "people to be won over" who came to him on their own initiative!

No matter how eloquently I tried to persuade them, it was not as convincing as letting them see for themselves.

Perhaps due to the holiday effect, from the very first bell of the morning, in less than half an hour, Aina received a surge of faith. The spots of faith converged into a dazzling river in Lud's eyes, and finally all flowed into Aina's body, making the little nun's face blush with happiness.

"Master, I already feel so full!"

Before the celebrations had even officially begun, the output of faith had already given Lud a pleasant surprise. However, just as Lud was silently reciting his prepared opening speech, a militiaman from the self-defense force suddenly rushed to the temple and delivered an unexpected message to him.

A group of their "old friends" suddenly arrived!