Goddess Wanhua Mirror

End of this chapter

Two days later, the village was ready to go out. Apart from Lu De and Aina, who insisted on coming along, there were six other villagers, led by the village chief's eldest son, Ron.

In addition to hiring two mercenaries for their trip, they also brought two carts of goods to the city to exchange some money, in case thirty silver coins were not enough.The two large carts were mainly loaded with vegetables and agricultural products that were not very durable and in short supply from the forest, and it was estimated that they could be exchanged for a lot of money.

On the day of departure, more than 200 men, women and children from the village came to see them off at the entrance of the village, wishing them a safe journey and returning early.

"Go back, everyone, we'll be back in a few days."

After waving goodbye to the villagers, Lu De and his party set off on the road in a donkey cart.

Among the group, it was the first time for Aina to go out, so she looked very excited, like a primary school student participating in a spring outing, while Lu De sat across from her with her eyes closed.Ron, who was in charge of driving, held the reins in one hand, and caressed the new dagger around his waist with the other. This was the first batch of finished products made by the blacksmith Bank, and he gave each of them a pair of them when they went out.

Ron has loved to dance with guns and clubs since he was a child, but as the eldest son, he must follow his father's instructions and work in the farm with his second brother at home, so he envies the third and fourth who can go out to serve in the army, and also worships his father who has fought in battle .However, he has a new idol recently, that is, Lord Bloody Hand Duanhun who is sitting in the back compartment, so he has been thinking about how to strike up a conversation right now!

"Master Priest, I heard from you last time that you fought in a distant eastern country. Aren't you from the Kingdom of Duran?"

"I come from a very distant eastern country. In my hometown, there is an old proverb that it is better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books. So I traveled all the way west, and finally I was inspired by the goddess, asking me to stand here for her. Spread the gospel in a mortal world full of suffering. Children, what about you? Before you became pioneers, where were you from in the kingdom?"

"We! In the beginning, we were in the interior of the kingdom, a village next to the capital. It was much more lively and peaceful than the side of the border, but my father said that the whole family did not rush over there. There are a dozen or so people, and the income from farming is not enough to pay the poll tax, so they responded to the king's order to open up wasteland and moved here. The situation of other families in the village is similar, and everyone gathered in the interior .On the way here at the beginning, there was the king’s army escorting us, but unfortunately, they were responsible for sending us there, and then ignored it.”

The situation that Ron mentioned, Lude had learned from other villagers in Pine Tree Village before, and it was indeed the same situation. In the original place, they belonged to the poor at the bottom, because the king issued an order to open up wilderness, giving citizens who voluntarily went to the border Five-year tax-free benefits, so those who left their hometowns came to the border to settle down.

Through this situation, it is not difficult to see that the more developed central region of the Duran Kingdom has begun to experience the problem of "population pressure".The reason for this is that apart from the fact that the new king has been governed well after he ascended the throne, and the weather has been smooth all these years, it is also related to the fact that there has not been a large-scale war in the past ten years.

The good thing is that the domestic situation is stable, but the bad thing is that the population continues to rise year after year, and the developed areas in the inland are almost unable to support themselves.

We must know that agriculture in this world is still very backward. There are not only optimized and superior varieties, but also no chemical fertilizers to care for the healthy growth of crops, so the land output is very limited.Take Songshu Village as an example. The fields in the village are all fertile black soil, but the average yield per mu is only a little over a hundred catties.

Therefore, in the middle of the kingdom where the land is almost exhausted, if the population is allowed to continue to expand, the consequences will be unimaginable in the event of a disaster year.Therefore, we must find a way to move out the excess population, or simply "consume" them.

Fortunately, the current king is a very intelligent person, and the Kingdom of Duran is next to the Void Forest, and there is no man's land that can be obtained without war.

So the king encouraged those poor people in the interior to voluntarily go to the border as pioneers through tax-free benefits.If they can take root there, that would be a good thing. Once the five-year welfare period is over, as a territory directly under the king's jurisdiction, it will be a new source of tax revenue.And if natural disasters and man-made disasters cause some pioneer villages to disappear, the king doesn't need to be too distressed, just send the second batch.

This is the same as old farmers growing vegetables. As long as there are no large-scale pests and diseases, if a few vegetable seedlings have problems, just pull them out and replant them.

As a ruler, the people of Li are nothing more than numbers in the eyes of the king. As long as the overall statistics continue to rise, the misfortune of some people will naturally become a trivial matter in their eyes.

As with mortal kings, so with gods in heaven!

Along the way, everyone chatted relaxedly, just like the carriage that the protagonist rode at the beginning of the game "The Elder Scrolls 5". Everyone was bathed in the warm and warm sunshine, talking and laughing as they drove towards the town ahead.

The people traveled this road for two days by car, walking on the road during the day and staying overnight in the villages they passed by at night.Because Pine Tree Village is next to the Void Forest, it can't get a lot of mountain goods that are in short supply. In addition, Lude has the status of a priest, so he can receive good courtesy in the village where he lives.

At noon on the third day, the group finally arrived at their destination - Unos Town.Lude had never been to this place before, and at first glance, it was indeed much more flowery than Ximu Town, which is close to Pine Tree Village.Just having a decent stone city wall is way higher than the pitted earth wall in Ximu Town!

But when they were about to enter the city, everyone found that the management of this place was much stricter than that of Ximu Town, and the gate tax was five copper coins per person.At first, the guard at the gate saw that Lude and Aina were dressed as priests, and wanted to follow the rules to avoid it, but the officer who led the team ran up and asked which sect Lude belonged to, and he had never heard of it. The God of Medicine Sect immediately changed his expression like a chameleon, demanding that Lu De must also pay the same as everyone else.

Fortunately, the entrance tax of five copper coins is not particularly heavy, but Lu De looked back at the long queue behind him, and thought that it would be a lot of money to gather sand into a tower on this day.

The group finally entered the city. Looking at the busy main road and the houses lined up on both sides, Lude heard that this town is the second largest town in the Earl of Lumley, with a permanent population of tens of thousands, second only to As for the capital, Lumley City, what he said is indeed true.

Lude looked at the other people accompanying him. Except for Ron, who was pretty decent when he had seen the royal city back then, the others all looked like shameless old hats who had never seen the world, while Aina was roasted by a roadside stall. The skewers attracted all the attention, and even the saliva almost came out.

And just when Lu De was lamenting these shameful things, in an alley not far from the street, a mysterious woman with a hood on her head was hiding in the shadow of the alley, secretly observing the people here. Lourdes.

"Young man, I finally found you!"

End of this chapter

It was the first time that Lude entered the city, and this was the first time that Lude used his own eyes instead of the memory left by little Lude to appreciate the prosperous side of this magical world.Although it is far inferior to the great country he lived in in his previous life, it still has an exotic flavor.

However, after entering the city, Lude's biggest intuitive feeling is that the religious atmosphere is many times stronger than that of the rural areas!

Walking on the street, Lude can see people of various religions everywhere, as well as shops with sect logos hanging brightly. It is not known whether it is the property of the sect, or the owner wants to show that he is a believer of a certain sect.

Lu De observed secretly and found that most of these sects have uniform uniforms, so they are very easy to identify. Although they seem to be in harmony with each other on the surface, they are distinct and have their own territory.

And Lude, who was wearing a linen priest robe, was like a KFC grandpa who strayed into a McDonald's fast food restaurant. No matter where he went, he would attract some unfriendly eyes.

"I knew I would change clothes before going to town..."

Along the way, before Lude had gone 200 meters, he ran into three waves of religious people who came up to chat. Some were more polite, while others were more direct. Ask which sect Lude belongs to?What's the point of coming to Unos?

Lu De didn't want to have any unnecessary conflicts with these people, so he always greeted them with a smile on his face, saying that he just went to the city to buy some things and would leave in two days.Believe it or not, these people were more restrained and did not embarrass him.

Turning around, Lude discovered that although there are many sects in the city, the ones with relatively strong influence are actually the three sects of the Light God Sect, the Four Seasons Goddess Sect, and the God of War Sect.They are all the most typical "international sects", with forces distributed in many countries on the mainland, and have considerable influence.

The Kingdom of Duran is a big country in the north. The current king ascended the throne ten years ago and issued a decree to allow various sects to preach freely in the country, but they must respect the laws of the kingdom and not create disputes among believers.Therefore, in the past ten years, various sects have flocked here and developed rapidly in the kingdom.

On the surface, the current king is trying to lure wolves into his house, but after careful observation, he finds that this is actually a "smart plan" to drive away wolves and tigers!

Because there is a group of powerful self-proclaimed gods in this world, the religious forces are very strong, and the royal power representing the secular world is slightly weak.

King Duran knew very well that if he openly opposed religion, he would definitely become the target of public criticism. If he took refuge in one of the families and left the other party as a country, if things went on like this, he might lose power and make the kingdom a theocracy. There are many similar examples, Du The Lan royal family does not want to repeat the same mistakes.

So the current king thought of a way to "confront religion with religion". He knew very well that there was always an irreconcilable conflict of interest between these sects because of the problems of believers. Will not band together against themselves.

Therefore, King Duran opened the country and invited all these major sects to come in and give them a stage for public competition. Then no matter who wants to become a great master in Duran Kingdom, he will inevitably be hostile by other sects.As a mediator, the king secretly stirs up shit and maintains a relatively balanced and stable state.

The principle sounds not difficult, but the actual operation is a test of skill. The current king not only did not overturn, but also introduced religious forces to settle in, and vigorously attracted major religious sects to invest in his country, making the country's development flourishing. It can be seen that he is indeed very capable. The...shit stirrer!

A group of people walked through the streets and found a very cheap small hotel very quickly. The conditions were definitely not as good as those on the main road, but it was still passable.

Ron opened a total of two rooms, one for Lude and Aina, and the other for them to squeeze in with the remaining six old men. Two donkey carts temporarily parked in the hotel yard, also according to one room. Price charged.

After everyone settled down and saluted, they split up and acted immediately. Ron and another old and prudent villager uncle went to the mercenary agency and the adventurer's house to see if they could hire two mercenaries, preferably those who were in their forties. The above-mentioned veterans, this kind of adventurers have generally passed their peak physical fitness, so their strength has declined, and their worth is also cheaper than that of middle-aged adventurers, but the advantage is that they have rich experience, and it can be said that it is perfect to help them train the militia in their village.

They can even ask if there is anyone who wants to retire, and directly lure people to settle in the village, so that even the commission will be saved.

The other four villagers are responsible for selling goods on the street, taking advantage of the two days in the city to sell all the agricultural products and mountain products they brought, and then purchase some things that the village needs.

The most leisurely ones in the group were Lude and Aina. They put on a hooded cape and went shopping again.

Before going out, Lude originally wanted to change out his priest's robe and Aina's nun's uniform, and wear civilian clothes directly, but then he thought that religious clothing should have a certain deterrent effect on the city's hooligans, so he only An extra layer of cloak is added on the outside, which can reveal the identity when necessary.

The two first asked the shopkeeper where they could buy papyrus and quills in the town, preferably the cheaper ones, so the enthusiastic shopkeeper aunt pointed them out, saying that such things that ordinary people can't use, You have to go to Laurel Lane in the south to buy it. There are a few shops opened by alchemists there, specializing in strange things.

So the two of them went out of the hotel, and seeing that it was still early in the day, they wandered leisurely on the street.Unable to withstand Aina's repeated begging, Lu De bought her some skewers.Looking at the unconsciously happy look on his goddess' face when she ate the skewers, Lu De couldn't help shaking his head and smiling.

"It's really more and more like raising a daughter!"

"Master, what did you just say?"

"It's nothing, let's eat! Don't run around."

"Ok!"

The two walked one after the other, and Lu De observed the bustle of the street and the mental outlook of the passers-by, so as to infer the level of governance of the city lord.

However, as he was walking, Lude suddenly felt a throbbing in his heart, followed by a slight itchy feeling on his cheeks. He was so frightened that he quickly reached out and touched his face to make sure that "Hume's smile" was normal.

This strange feeling was fleeting, and Lu De continued to walk forward pretending that nothing happened, and patrolled the surroundings vigilantly from the corner of his eyes.Eight years of undercover police work in his previous life gave Lu De a good anti-stalking ability, and his keen intuition told him that there was a high possibility that he was being followed!

End of this chapter

Based on feeling alone, Lude could not be sure of the identity and purpose of the stalker. The other party might be a member of a sect in the city, or it might be a pickpocket who was looking for fat sheep. Therefore, although Lude was aware of the other party's existence, he still Still pretending not to notice, he led Aina to continue walking towards South Street.

Along the way, Lude saw many monks preaching on the street, just like making street speeches, they set up a platform at random, stood on it and loudly read their own teachings to the passing people.

Lude would occasionally stop and listen for a while, but he was soon quite disappointed to find that the content read by these missionaries was really empty and boring. force.

This is also a problem that Lude has discovered a long time ago. The ways in which various sects in this world develop believers are definitely not just a billion points worse than the MLM organizations on the other side of the earth!Most missionaries will only take the teachings and preach according to the scriptures. The content is nothing more than how powerful and great their own gods are. If you believe in my gods, you will have eternal life.

For Lude, a modern person on the earth, this kind of thing feels a bit fresh after listening to it once or twice, and it feels disgusting after listening to it too much.It is true that local foolish people can be fooled, but most of them are muddleheaded. Some have just taken the oath of religion, and when they turn their heads, they forget who the god they want to believe in is.

In contrast, Lude's gameplay is much more clever. He did not use fatigue bombing tactics to repeatedly indoctrinate believers with false teachings. Instead, he made up some "goddess stories" and told them .

Without exception, these stories are all about the glorious deeds of the goddess, how to punish the evil and promote the good, and how to help the weak in difficulties.Using the actions in the story to establish a perfect image of the goddess is far more impressive than singing praises in the words of the car.

These little stories may be old and out of date, even elementary school students would not be interested, but for the villagers of Songshu Village, they are an unprecedented source of happiness in their boring lives.Even Aina herself was fascinated by listening to "her own story"!

So for these sects in Unos Town, Lude proudly gave a "nothing more than that" evaluation in his heart.

Seeing people coming and going on the street, and missionaries of various sects working so hard on propaganda, Lu De secretly controlled the original fire in his body, allowing his eyes to see the faith in the air.

Before entering the city, Lude was worried that the ability to strengthen the absorption of faith possessed by the original fire in his body would be noticed by the gods through the temples set up in the city by various sects.So he used the control ability he had found out on his own to shrink the scope of action of the original fire to his own body.

Back in Pine Tree Village, Lude asked Aina to do a test, and found that there was a certain bond between the idol in the temple and her. Aina could remotely see and hear the picture and sound in the temple through the statue The voice can remotely absorb the beliefs generated by believers when praying to the idol, and it can also consume a certain amount of divine power to communicate with Lud in front of the idol in real time, or even directly teleport.

That is to say, a statue can be a one-way camera, a money transfer machine, or a two-way video phone, and it can also be used as a positioning beacon for transdimensional transmission. It can be said to be very versatile.

Theoretically speaking, as long as the current Lude doesn't want to die, and goes under the statues of other people's gods to "open up his position", those gods may not be able to find him...probably.

With the power of the original fire, Lude once again saw the faith flying around in the air. The concentration is indeed much higher than that of Pine Tree Village. Countless light spots are flying around, just like colorful snowflakes flying all over the sky. Same.

Most light clusters are pure faith without belief, but some are prayers, which contain some wishes or words of believers.

When Aina heard the voice of prayer for the first time, she was taken aback. Later, she realized how to block these voices by herself.

Interestingly, most sects encourage believers to pray more and tell their wishes to the gods they believe in. As long as the hearts are sincere enough, the gods will use their omnipotent power to help you realize your wishes.

When some believers' dreams come true, they naturally think that their prayers have come true. The gods are moved by their sincerity, and their beliefs become more firm and pious. Their success will also be used by missionaries as an example for propaganda.And some believers failed to realize their dreams. At this time, the priest will tell them sincerely that God will not help you because your hearts are not sincere enough.

Anyway, those gods are right!

Lude, who has been teaching the liar for eight years, is very clear about this little trick that takes advantage of the deviation of the survivors, but he hates using this trick to fool believers into resigning themselves to their fate.So he usually tells his followers that the Goddess will bless those who are determined to move forward bravely, but also hate those useless people who just want to sit back and enjoy what they get for nothing. Therefore, on the road to success, you must rely more on yourself!

After observing for a while, Lu De suddenly discovered a strange phenomenon, that is, although there were many lights of faith flying on the street, most of them were really like snowflakes, melting and disappearing by themselves as they flew. It never happened in Pine Village.

Lude suddenly realized that this was the function of the original fire!

In order to find out the cause of this phenomenon, Lude came near a missionary who was giving a speech, and secretly observed the passers-by who were listening to his sermon under his stage. Indeed, a few people had faith on the spot. The light group flickered towards the temple not far away.

But at this moment, one of the young women was dragged by the man next to her. The two of them seemed to have something urgent to do and couldn't waste time here.So the woman had no choice but to follow him away, and the clump of faith generated above her head disappeared before it even flew to the temple.

Instantly!Lude felt that he understood it!He now knows how those beliefs that are floating and disappearing disappear.Factors such as the distance from religious sites and the strength of beliefs of believers will have an impact on the collection of beliefs.

"No wonder these gods want their sects to build temples everywhere, and they like densely populated cities the most."

"Master, what's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing, I just suddenly had some interesting ideas. When we go back to the village, I'll teach you how to make some interesting things!"

End of this chapter

After walking alone for a while, I finally came to the South Street that the hotel aunt said, and I saw a signboard with words in the distance, which was an alchemy shop called "Cat's Tail".

Due to the extremely high illiteracy rate in this world, there are few people who can read and write on the streets, so in fact, most of the shop signs in the city have no words, and various icons are painted on them.For example, a tavern is a glass of bubbling wine, and a blacksmith's shop is a big anvil, which is clear at a glance.

So among these various patterns, Lude inevitably had to take a few more glances when he finally saw one with words.

"It seems that the shop owner is also a cultural person!"

Just as Lu De opened the door and was about to enter the room, he was greeted with an indescribably strange smell, as if someone was brewing medicine in the industrial waste gas of a chemical factory, and suddenly inhaled it into his nasal cavity, causing his brain to tremble along with it.Aina immediately covered her mouth with her sleeve, and took several steps back.

"Master, I won't go in at the door!"

Ignoring Aina's protest, Lu De forced the reluctant nun into the door together.Really leave this stupid goddess alone at the door, maybe Lu De will be abducted by traffickers as soon as she turns her head.

The two endured the strange smell and entered the shop, only to find that, apart from the pungent smell in the air, which was a bit driving, the interior of the shop was actually very nicely decorated, clean and tidy.A variety of shops are displayed in rows of wooden containers. Although there are no glass windows, they are covered with a layer of finely crafted barbed wire. The coin-sized holes cannot be reached by hand, but you can just see the display inside. commodity.

Looking at these strange products, Lu De couldn't help being amazed. At this moment, a slightly immature voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Two guests, what do you want to buy?"

Suddenly looking back, Lu De was surprised to find that he had only heard his voice but not seen him.It wasn't until Aina ran to the counter following the sound, tiptoed to peek inside, that she realized that the owner of the sound was behind.

"Master, where is the person here? How small!"

Hearing Aina calling him, Lude realized that sitting behind the counter was a little guy whose height was definitely not more than one meter. At first glance, he looked like a five or six-year-old human child, but he had a small lump on his chin. The well-groomed goatee looks indescribably joyful.

At this time, Lude noticed that the other party's ears were pointed and thin, and they were slightly upturned, and he immediately understood that this was a demihuman.But the other party said in an obviously displeased tone because of Aina's move to reach out and touch his head.

"This...Mr. Priest, please discipline your disciple. It is very rude to evaluate the body shape of the cave elf face to face. I hope she can stop it and apologize to me."

"I'm sorry for the trouble you caused. She is still a child. It's the first time I've seen a cave elf. Don't be too familiar with her."

Lude smiled and apologized to the cave elf in front of him, while searching for information about the other party's race in his mind.

Cave elves, as the name suggests, are elves living in caves. They are one of the many sub-human races that survived the battle of the gods. Because of their short stature, they are also called elves. They were once confused with another race called goblins. Pass.