Goddess Kaleidoscope

Although Sharo could not fully understand her father's intentions, she at least knew that a man with a dragon backing him was indeed a ruthless character that her eight hundred or so men could not afford to offend!

End of this chapter

Having explained the whole story, Sharo promised Lud that she would keep her men in check and try not to cause trouble for the village. Hamilton and Ural, who had come with her, were there to keep Sharo in check.

Rudd knew Hamilton's situation; this old troll was the current King Durand's maternal uncle and, like Count Ramley, a staunch royalist, so Rudd wasn't surprised at all that he was coming. What was rather intriguing was that the local bishop of the War God Church in the Urals had also come to join the fun.

Lud still remembered that a few months ago, Archbishop Gerallis of the Duran diocese of the Church of War died suddenly because of the death of his beloved disciple Narad. Ural, like other diocese bishops, rushed to the capital to compete for the position of archbishop.

Since Lud has not yet established his own intelligence network, and the village of Pine in the north is too remote, Lud himself doesn't really know what the final outcome of the election will be. But since the Urals are here now, it's highly likely that they've just participated for the sake of participation.

In front of the person in question, Lud didn't want to embarrass Ural. At least for now, he and the other party hadn't had any conflict, and could even be considered "quasi-allies." So there was no need to feel good about hurling insults and make the guy lose face.

As the group was chatting, Aina leaned over and whispered a reminder.

"Master, time..."

"Oh dear! I almost forgot!"

Suddenly, Lude slapped his forehead, realizing that he was supposed to be hosting today's Christmas activities—his "job." The others present had also noticed the distinctly festive atmosphere in the village as they entered, and couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Lord Rude, is the village holding a festival today?"

"Yes, today is Christmas Day in my church, which is also the birthday of the goddess Evelina. According to the rules of my church, we should hold a celebration today."

"Oh! Celebrating the goddess's birthday? That's quite novel!"

Upon hearing Lud's words, Ural's eyes visibly lit up.

Of the people present, he and Lud were colleagues, and Lud was a mid-level official of the diocesan bishop rank. Lud didn't know how much he knew about God and faith, but he figured it couldn't be that he was completely ignorant, so Lud least wanted to expose his methods to this guy.

However, there was no way Lud could forcibly drive Urals away or allow the celebrations that had been in preparation for many days to be suspended without reason; that simply wouldn't make sense.

Since we're already here, let's all have some fun!

And so, the group followed Rude to the central square of the village, where a large number of villagers had already gathered. However, Rude noticed that many of them wore worried expressions, clearly because the hundreds of noble soldiers that Sharo had brought made them think that something serious had happened again.

At this moment, Lude saw Ron from the Self-Defense Force running towards him. He subconsciously thought that Ron had come to ask about matters related to the Earl's private army, but when Ron ran over and opened his mouth, he realized that the expressions of everyone present had changed.

"My Lord, it's terrible! Another wave is coming!"

"What did you say!?"

Out of breath, Ron pointed to the southeast of the village. Ludwig looked up and saw a large, deep purple banner embroidered with a double-headed golden lion slowly "rising" on the earthen slope in that direction. It was the banner of Duke Gamelin.

Accompanying this flamboyant banner was a large contingent of purple-armored knights and heavily armored infantry with long halberds, marching in a neat square formation from the other side of the hillside. Their numbers were no less than those brought by Sharo.

The scene fell silent. Ludwig turned to Sharo and Hamilton and asked with a smile.

"Who said they wouldn't arrive until tomorrow or the day after?"

"..." x2

Contrary to the Earl's expectations, Gammelin's men arrived quickly, less than an hour later than Sharo's group, and they outnumbered them by an estimated 1,500. The infantry's hundred-man square formation was indeed easy to count.

The combined number of these two noble private armies was not much less than the local population of Pine Tree Village, and they were all elite troops. The two armies lined up against each other, and a chilling atmosphere arose, making the villagers caught in the middle feel uncomfortable all over!

"Oh my god! Is this going to turn into a fight?"

Panic inevitably spread among the villagers, but fortunately, Lude stepped in to calm everyone down and explain the situation.

Soon, a small troop of cavalry from the Duke's army emerged, escorting an exceptionally tall and robust knight as he rode into the village and quickly arrived before Lud and his men.

The people present spotted the knight from afar and recognized him by his armor. Sharo couldn't help but smirk, touching the scar above his eye. Hamilton remained silent, but Ural noticed the confusion on Lud's face and explained quietly.

"The knight who has arrived is named Rodriguez. He is the eldest son of Duke Gammelin and the vice-commander of the Lion Knights."

"That's the Righteous Knight?"

"it's him."

Lude had heard of Rodriguez before, but this was the first time he had met him in person. The information about him came as a byproduct of Lude's commission of Hume to investigate Duke Gamelin. As the eldest son of the Gamelin family and the heir recognized by the old duke, he was far from an insignificant figure.

Interestingly, although the current Duke of Gamelin has a less-than-stellar reputation, his son has surprisingly been free of scandals and controversies, appearing to be a very upright and promising young man. He currently serves as the vice-commander of the Duke's elite Lion Knights, but since his father only holds the nominal position, Rodriguez is actually the one who calls the shots in the Knights on a daily basis.

As Rodriguez was recalling information about the other party, he rode his horse to the square in the center of the village and dismounted a dozen meters away from Lud and the others, walking towards them.

After the other man dismounted, Lu De roughly estimated that he was at least 1.9 meters tall. He was wearing plate armor and still moved with incredible speed. His physique was as strong as a wall, and his full-face mask with its menacing lion-like fangs gave him an extremely strong sense of oppression just by standing there.

However, when the other person took off the helmet, Lud was stunned! Because under the helmet was not the tough guy face with sharp features and even fierce scars that he had expected. Instead, there was a head of shining blond hair and rather delicate features, making one think at first glance that it was a girl.

In a sense, this is also the face of a "macho man"!

Looking at the other person's face, which seemed so out of place with his torso, Lude was completely astonished until the other person walked up to him and bowed in greeting before he came to his senses.

"May I ask if you are Lord Lu De, a high-ranking priest of the Medicine God Cult?"

"Yes, it is I. The young master of the Ganmolin family wants to see me. Is there something you need?"

"In my father's name, I am leading an army to support the dwarves. Also here is a letter from my father and a gift, which I am entrust to you."

As Rodriguez spoke, he took a letter from his pouch, and his squires carried up a carved lacquered wooden box.

Ludwig accepted the Duke's handwritten letter but didn't open it immediately. He glanced at the gift box in front of him, then smiled and looked at Rodriguez. This handsome young man, with delicate features and a broad back, certainly seemed like a very upright and promising young man.

However, Lud soon noticed that although the young man stood straight as a rod in front of him, his amber eyes kept glancing to his right. Lud then realized that he was secretly eyeing a certain "steel plate green pepper".

In an instant, Lu De caught a whiff of gossip!

Upon receiving the letter and gifts from his subordinate Rodriguez, Ludwig smiled and explained that Pine Village was a warm and hospitable place, welcoming all guests who came with goodwill. However, the problem was that the village had limited vacant houses and couldn't provide accommodation for so many men from both armies.

In response, Rodriguez immediately stated that his men would set up camp on an open area southeast of the village and that he would properly restrain his soldiers. He also vowed, in the name of his family, that anyone who dared to harass the local villagers would not be spared.

With these two troublesome groups dealt with, the village's Christmas festival could finally proceed as planned. The villagers were relieved to learn that it was a false alarm and that the two groups of noble private armies outside the village were not planning to start a fight on their territory. The atmosphere quickly returned to its festive state.

Interestingly, upon learning that the village was holding a festival that day, Rodriguez immediately ordered his men to bring over some wine, offering it free to the local villagers as an apology for their unexpected intrusion. Sharo, who was preparing to return to camp, upon hearing this, also sent his men to bring over some meat, clearly showing his open defiance of his old rival.

Seeing this, Lud thought to himself that as long as they didn't actually fight on their own turf, he would welcome this kind of blatant "flaunting of wealth"!

And so, under Lud's guidance, the Christmas festival of the goddess Evelina officially began. The Rainbow Circus band was brought in to provide accompaniment, and the whole village sang a hymn of the Medicine God Cult (Sunset Glow). Then, they prayed together, with all believers silently offering their blessings to the goddess and making their hopes and wishes for the future. The goddess would protect those who are kind and hardworking.

After going through the opening ceremony, Lude firmly controlled the pace and time, neither being perfunctory nor too complicated and long to bore the believers. And next was today's highlight... the first mass sports meet of Pine Tree Village since its establishment.

Lud planned to use this sports meet as an opportunity to further increase the village's faith collection rate, but the arrival of two noble private armies outside the village brought unexpected changes to Lud's plan.

End of this chapter

Amidst cheers and laughter, the first annual mass sports meet of Songshu Village officially began.

Since this was the first time organizing such an event, Ludl was very cautious from the beginning and decided to hold it for only one day. He also did not set up too many competition events, and the intensity of the competitions was generally not high, with the main focus on entertainment.

The regular physical fitness events included sprinting, high jump, long jump, swimming, and weightlifting, while the combat sports included wrestling, sword fighting, archery, and javelin throwing. Finally, tug-of-war was added as a team sport, making a total of ten events.

If anyone in the village has the time and inclination, they can participate in all the activities, as long as they have the physical ability to keep up.

The sports meet venue is located on the south side of the village, a recently cleared open space right next to the river. The ten events set by Lud will be held here simultaneously until 4:30 p.m., after which the results will be tallied and the awards ceremony will take place during the bonfire party.

The top ten in each event will receive a reward corresponding to their ranking. Apart from the "mystery gift" that Lude deliberately kept in suspense, the prizes for the ten events are different and are basically all at the level of "the best in the whole village"!

With ten competition zones in total, Lu De certainly couldn't manage them all on his own. Therefore, he specially transferred a group of students with relatively good grades from the school to serve as referees and be responsible for recording the participants' scores.

He gave each of the junior referees a whistle, two wooden plaques (one red and one yellow), and a large, bright red armband. If a participant violated the rules, they would receive a yellow card warning depending on the severity of the offense; cheating would result in an immediate red card and disqualification. If anyone caused trouble or got into a fight with another participant, they would blow the whistle to call for backup, and the standby self-defense team would arrive at the scene immediately to "handle" the situation.

After the competition officially started, villagers gathered in twos and threes around the various competition areas to watch the excitement, creating a very lively atmosphere.

In Ludwig's eyes, the arena was a sea of ​​light!

Once again, facts have proven that Ludd's idea was correct. The energy of faith lies in how to mobilize the emotions of believers. While the sense of ritual in religious activities is important, it is not necessary to be bound by it. The real key is how to establish "connection" in the minds of believers, so that when they do this, they will naturally think of the deities associated with it.

In fact, it's not uncommon for villages and towns to hold competitive events at their festivals. What's truly unusual are sporting events disguised as religious ones. The joyous atmosphere alone clashes with the solemnity and reverence traditionally valued by religious sects.

These traditional sects generally believe that religion should be otherworldly, like the gods they worship, looking down from above at the ants on the ground. But Ludd wanted to do the opposite, to let religion subtly integrate into life, becoming a common custom for ordinary people.

His real goal, however, is to use religion as a cover to spread ideas and knowledge until one day civilization triumphs over ignorance!

Thinking this, Lud glanced at Ural beside him. The other man's expression didn't change much, but his thoughtful look suggested he was considering Lud's purpose. Unfortunately, he lacked the primordial fire and couldn't see the energy of faith, so he didn't discover any secrets.

Meanwhile, Sharo and Rodriguez were also observing. They habitually assessed Pine Village's "war potential," concluding it was an excellent source of recruits. The locals generally had rosy complexions, and the young men participating in the competition were strong and healthy, all brimming with energy.

Sharo remembered that when he last came here, the locals had just survived the harsh winter of the previous year. Although, thanks to the dragon's relief, few people had miraculously starved to death, life was still quite difficult. Now, only half a year later, the entire village had almost completely changed, and the one who had led the way effectively was clearly not the village chief.

However, just when everything seemed harmonious and peaceful, a shrill burst of laughter shattered the atmosphere in an instant.

"Hahaha...you little brat, are you trying to make me laugh to death?"

"This is the first time I've ever seen a javelin thrown like this. If it were any closer, it could have pierced my foot."

"Little brat, go home and nurse for a couple more years. Come back when you're strong enough."

Following the direction of the sound, Lud saw several knights in custom-made armor standing beside the javelin throwing arena, blatantly mocking a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy.

The young man's face turned bright red, and he stood there looking extremely embarrassed. However, the knights who were mocking him were clearly nobles, so he dared not speak out and seemed to be barely holding back from fleeing.

The two noble armies brought by Sharo and Rodriguez have indeed set up camp some distance outside the village, but the ones actually doing the work are mainly the lower-ranking soldiers.

While lower-ranking nobles serving as officers obeyed their respective lords, feudal armies were not modern armies. While Sharo and Rodriguez could order them to charge into battle for them, strict discipline was out of the question. Sometimes, too many restrictions would even provoke their protests.

Therefore, some of the idle noble officers wandered into the village to watch the commotion. After all, the young master (or young lady) leading the group only ordered them not to disturb the villagers, but did not say that they could not simply stroll around.

These people weren't particularly interested in the village's festival activities; their main interest was in meeting the legendary priest, Rude.

Whether it's the Earldom of Ramli or the Dukedom of Gammelin, Lud is now a well-known figure in the noble circles of the northern kingdom, and many people want to find an opportunity to meet him.

After all, nobles are also human, and human beings have times when they can't hold on, whether on the battlefield or in other private places. There will always be times when they need Master Lu's help!

Lude had actually noticed before that a lot of guys in full armor had appeared on the field, but he hadn’t said that outsiders were not allowed to visit, so as long as they didn’t cause trouble on his turf, Lude didn’t bother to say anything more.

But these guys are clearly going too far! What they're doing right now isn't exactly heinous, it's just plain rude and offensive, but the target of their rudeness is a thirteen-year-old boy.

Without any grudge or real benefit, they just swore and wanted to feel good by making others unhappy. Lu De had seen many people like this on the internet in his past life, especially in team-based competitive online games. They could always provoke you to the point of exploding anger with just a few words, making you want to immediately go through the internet and slap them a few times!

Lude never expected to encounter such people after transmigrating to another world. Some less-than-pleasant "memories of his past life" immediately surfaced in his mind, so he strode towards the group of Zaun nobles...

End of this chapter

The Zaun Knights were unaware that they were being targeted, and that Lu would arrive at the scene in thirty seconds.