HTLCCBFT Chapter 134

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 134

The deity who watches over the land of Laina, bestowing grace and wisdom through beautiful divine messengers, bringing harvest and happiness to the faithful living here…

Has truly descended!

This news swept through the entire Laina territory like a sudden summer storm, spreading in an instant.

When everyone heard that the mysterious, great, and benevolent God of Wealth had descended during Lord Oliver’s hymn of praise, they couldn’t help but show expressions of sudden understanding amidst their joyous celebration.

Of course.

When called upon so devoutly by such a beautiful person, even the lofty deity couldn’t resist the desire to draw near to him.

And at this moment, Baron Arte, who had witnessed this divine miracle with his own eyes and was immersed in unprecedented fervor, was undoubtedly the one feeling this most deeply.

His burning gaze remained fixed on Oliver’s serene profile, which still emanated a soft glow, even forgetting to glance at the still brilliantly golden Divine Statue.

For most people in Laina, who lacked rich vocabulary, even when fortunate enough to witness such ultimate beauty and filled with excitement, they could only utter dry phrases like “beautiful” or “can’t take my eyes off.”

But Arte, who was most skilled at capturing and depicting beauty, experienced the strongest impact every time he saw the slightest change in Oliver’s expression, as if completely falling into severe infatuation.

Just like now.

Oliver usually gave the impression of being gentle and kind, always smiling, yet when facing important matters, he displayed composure far beyond his years.

Whether it was his snow-white skin like the first snowfall, his flawless features, or his slender and graceful figure, he always reminded one of elegant, vibrant willow branches.

But when blessed by divine power, with a faint glow enveloping his body, his aura instantly transformed.

His eyelids half-closed, the corners of his exquisitely shaped lips slightly upturned, and every long, curled golden eyelash was clearly illuminated by the divine light.

He remained a compassionate angel, yet an icy, lofty majesty, like winter mist, slowly spread along with the faint rose fragrance emanating from his sacred being.

Even more incredible was how his slightly bowed neck appeared exceptionally slender, like the most noble and distant artwork, yet exuding… a feeling that made one unable to resist reaching out to touch, to caress carefully with fingertips, causing hearts to pound deeply.

But he didn’t dare.

This was perfection beyond what even the most talented artist could imagine—like pure water slowly flowing from the fingertips of an emotionless deity, luminous, transparent, and holy.

Arte gazed at him obsessively, his pupils trembling slightly.

Though he knew it was impossible, his occasionally accurate intuition kept telling him: such divine appearance and aura might not belong to someone merely favored by the deity, but rather to…

A greater existence before whom people would more willingly kneel at the steps of his throne, carefully bathe in his glory, and worship him.

After murmuring “as expected” several times, before his equally stunned attendants who didn’t know how to react, he couldn’t contain his fervor as he knelt on one knee before Oliver, softly reciting poetry he had heard from Bards.

That was when Oliver was still in the royal capital, during an ordinary banquet attended by numerous nobles—though ordinary only by the standards of the then highly favored duke. A poet, utterly captivated by boundless beauty, composed this song.

“Beautiful sovereign, heaven-gifted duke,

The golden strands cascading by your cheeks outshine even the sun’s rays.

The vibrant tassels adorning your exquisite crown, the precious diamonds set upon the broad silk ribbon—

None rival the warmth and brilliance of your smile.

When the deities above plucked a star from the sky, light descended upon the mortal realm with your arrival.

Your divinely gifted countenance shines so radiantly that darkness flees and light pales in comparison.

Even water yields to your noble and beautiful form, allowing you to tread upon it as if on solid ground.

You are a miracle, igniting hope and faith across the world.

The majestic God holds an eternal torch, yet his fingers never clench tightly;

His vast power lies in his slender fingers, and his favored star rests softly in his palm.

Those who defile such sacred beauty pierce the deity’s palm, forever losing divine grace, beyond redemption……”

This hymn of praise made Oliver’s scalp tingle, yet others wore expressions of profound conviction.

Even the true deity referenced in the poem listened with utmost seriousness, nodding slightly at parts He agreed with.

However, after patiently waiting for Arte to finish singing, He remarked earnestly, “Oliver, it is not a divine gift.”

How could such beauty, which stirred even his heart, be something He had created?

His abrupt statement left everyone momentarily stunned.

Only Oliver blinked, a faint sense of foreboding stirring within him.

Just as he tried to stop Him from continuing, He spoke again.

Facing the still-gleaming Divine Statue, He declared matter-of-factly, “God would not be so willing.”

If He had truly created it, if it belonged to Him…

He would never be willing to “gift” it to the people of Laina.

Oliver wore a stiff smile.

To avoid the awkwardness, he closed his eyes briefly, like the proverbial ostrich hiding its head in the sand.

—Thus, he missed the Divine Statue’s sudden brightening, as if in agreement, and the soft, surprised gasps of the crowd.

Fosse’s eyelid twitched violently.

He had recovered from his shock, but even he hadn’t expected this usually taciturn and seemingly clumsy young noble to deliver flattery so seamlessly and naturally.

“Enough,” Oliver said, unable to resist shooting a glance at the troublesome Cat God. He spoke as naturally as possible, “With divine favor and the Divine Temple, it’s time to select a suitable group of Divine Attendants.”

In other cities’ temples, Divine Attendants were either lesser nobles with no inheritance rights but relatively upright conduct, or freeborn children who had excelled in the Divinity Academy from a young age and possessed “pure” bloodlines.

Oliver had no intention of adopting that selection method in Laina City.

He wasn’t aiming to choose a bunch of aloof, vase-like charlatans who relied on corruption and empty boasts to get by.

Instead, he sought to select truly hardworking and dedicated public servants to serve all the people of Laina.

“To become a Divine Attendant of the great Cat God, one must not only possess the wisdom to pass trials but also a pure heart and noble virtue.”

Just like his former self: having received higher education, he threw himself with passion into the great cause of spiritual and material poverty alleviation as a volunteer.

Oliver smiled and said, “As Divine Attendants, their tasks are not the most dangerous or laborious, but the most tedious and meaningful. They are crucial to Laina—better left vacant than filled carelessly.”

He would not mistreat intermediate talents like Divine Attendants, but the benefits he offered would at most be upper-middle level among freemen. He would never allow them to shamelessly siphon off the people’s resources like Divine Attendants in other cities, living in luxury and decadence.

“Every three years, they must undergo another trial from the Cat God,” which was essentially a performance review, Oliver continued cheerfully: “to determine whether they will be promoted to intermediate Divine Attendant, remain as junior Divine Attendants, or step down…”

To become civil servants with stable jobs and high social status, one must naturally pass intensely competitive examinations.

Since Kane had asked him what trials those Albury people hoping to become Laina commoners should undergo, he simply decided to group them together—they could take the same exam.

Upon hearing the Lord’s words, even the ever-obedient loyal knight couldn’t help hesitating for a moment.

Kane pursed his lips, then couldn’t resist asking quietly: “Your Highness, should we… really provide books to the Albury people?”

“Yes.”

Oliver responded without hesitation: “Not just the Albury people. After some time, when we print more textbooks, if any booksellers are interested, we can sell to them too. Of course, the prices won’t be cheap.”

Kane couldn’t help gasping.

He glanced at the equally surprised Butler Fosse, then mustered his courage to dissuade: “But Your Highness, that knowledge belongs to the great Cat God and represents your wisdom!

The kind and benevolent Lord is willing to show favor even to slaves, but at least they’re still Laina people.

Shouldn’t this be treated as classified information, strictly guarded? Why allow people from other cities to learn it?”

Oliver smiled gently.

Where did that come from divine wisdom?

That was the accumulated wisdom of working people over so many years.

Wisdom belonging to the working people should naturally return to the working people—how could he shamelessly monopolize it?

“My loyal knight,” he thought for a moment, choosing not to explain too much, and said with a smile: “We don’t rely on selling grain for profits. In that case, what benefit would we gain from keeping people in other cities hungry? The ‘Primary Textbook’ comes from the Cat God’s benevolence toward all people, while the contents of the ‘Intermediate Textbook’ and ‘Advanced Textbook’ represent divine favor belonging exclusively to Laina… no, to all my people.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t plan to set book prices too low—those who could afford them definitely wouldn’t be poor slaves.

Moreover, slaves living in other cities didn’t have the learning environment that Laina people enjoyed.

They were still struggling for survival, unable to satisfy basic needs for food and clothing—where would they find leisure time to learn new knowledge?

Even if they learned it, they wouldn’t be allowed to implement it by the strict steward… Even if they managed to cultivate the land successfully, any surplus crop yield wouldn’t reach their mouths.

If there were free citizens or minor nobles from wealthy families who could afford books and were willing to share the knowledge from them freely with the local slaves, Oliver would certainly be pleased to see that.

Those were the sparks he had personally scattered.

Perhaps one day, they could become a blazing torch?

Promoting basic knowledge publicly while restricting advanced knowledge within a small circle… wouldn’t harm anyone’s interests.

It was his harmless little selfish desire, and also to make the people under his rule feel the satisfaction of being favored. Perhaps it could even help him recruit more capable high-level talents.

Oliver didn’t believe that after being exposed to the “Primary Textbook,” anyone wouldn’t become curious about the content contained in the “Intermediate Textbook.”

As for poverty relief volunteers… well, Divine Attendants, merely having “memorized the Primary Textbook thoroughly” – an achievement considered quite impressive in the eyes of most Laina people – wasn’t enough to meet Oliver’s standards.

He thus decided to have Fosse first select a group of people to temporarily fill the positions, and after the major examination this autumn, have the formal staff take office.

This meant that the compilation of the still non-existent “Intermediate Textbook” must be completed before summer arrives.

Even with Arte’s strong assistance, and being able to significantly reduce the need for illustrations while increasing the proportion of textual explanations thanks to the foundation laid by the “Primary Textbook”… as the actual and only person writing the substantive content of the textbook and providing the knowledge, Oliver felt completely overwhelmed thinking about the imminent deadline and enormous workload.

Tomorrow, then.

He rubbed his temples and decided to put it off until tomorrow no matter what.

Although temporary attendants hadn’t been selected for the Divine Temple yet, with a genuine strand of Divine Sense attached to the cat god statue, Oliver wasn’t at all worried that anyone in the territory would dare to commit destructive or thieving acts.

After returning to the castle with Arte and the others, he began successively receiving Farmur and others who came to report various matters to him.

The opening of the Divine Temple, along with the publicly witnessed divine descent that quickly spread throughout Laina, instantly brought the temple its first batch of fervent believers.

Unlike the slaves who, though as anxious as ants on a hot pan, still had to complete their fieldwork and couldn’t run around freely, for free citizens, delaying work for a short while didn’t matter much.

In everyone’s mind, it was far less important than coming to the Divine Temple to pray to the Divine Statue and express gratitude, or even just to catch a glimpse of the great deity’s true appearance.

With the continuous supply of divine power, the Divine Statue – which Oliver had once held in his arms every night like a pet cat and provided with an extremely important metal ingot daily – constantly emitted a bright, awe-inspiring glow.

Even though people didn’t dare look directly at the immensely majestic Divine Statue, only catching fleeting glimpses.

They still quickly noticed one thing.

The great and majestic Cat God… seemed somewhat different from the imagined tall, imposing, magnificent figure… or the breathtakingly beautiful appearance like that of the divine messenger.

Very different indeed.

Of course, even if given a hundred times the courage, they wouldn’t dare utter words like “seems rather round and cute,” “somewhat resembles the divine messenger’s favorite cat,” or “didn’t expect it to be so small.”

That would be fatal.

In reality, such rebellious thoughts were ruthlessly suppressed the moment they sprouted in their minds.

At least on the surface, after a brief moment of surprise, people naturally accepted everything.

Oliver was naturally the one who understood this best.

“The cat statue is just too adorable” was undoubtedly one of the main reasons he had delayed placing it outside for so long.

Even though Laina had completely escaped the shadow of famine, basically embarked on the right track of developing animal husbandry, was less dependent on the game system, and no longer short of metal ores… he could never forget the help it had given him.

Although the cat-eared deity was the true master, just based on the memories of holding it every night while chattering away, he couldn’t bear to keep it displayed in his bedroom forever.

Having borrowed its name for so long, he had to give something in return.

Because of this, Oliver was unwilling to change its external appearance, insisting on letting it be seen in its original form.

When the reverence of Laina’s people for the “Cat God” reached a certain level, whether its appearance was as majestic and imposing as other deities… no longer mattered.

In Oliver’s view, now was the perfect timing.

The development of the situation proceeded as smoothly as he had anticipated: although the Laina people who went to the Divine Temple to worship were somewhat taken aback, having witnessed so many divine miracles and seeing the Divine Statue glowing, they didn’t harbor the slightest doubt.

Instead, they readily accepted the cute appearance of the “Cat God.”

Everything was perfect, except—

“What is this?”

Oliver couldn’t help but ask.

The Lord of Laina City, who had been almost forgetting to eat and sleep while compiling the “Intermediate Textbook,” went for a walk in the fields at dusk to check on the growth of the first batch of crops when he came across something unexpected.

In the small shaded areas between the ridges—the slaves’ favorite spots to gather and cool off during the hot summer—was an exquisitely crafted palm-sized wooden carving placed in a stone structure resembling a shrine.

He couldn’t resist picking it up and examining it carefully.

At first, he thought it was a small divine statue: having carpenters make small statues for home worship was quite common in other cities.

This was because every visit to the temple would cost them considerable money taken by greedy priests as offerings to the deity… even wealthy nobles couldn’t go daily, let alone commoners.

But the Cat God he had “designed” followed a people-friendly approach.

It required no offerings, didn’t prevent slaves from entering the temple, and had no frequency requirements for worship.

So why would someone specifically make a small divine statue?

Oliver was completely unaware that when he casually asked this question, the slaves around him all wore expressions of terror.

A short while later, as he intently examined the small wooden carving, he couldn’t help but frown in confusion.

Clearly, this wasn’t directly modeled after the lucky cat statue in the Divine Temple.

Though it retained the features of cat ears and a cat tail, with the facial portion left blank, the body was distinctly humanoid.

Moreover, under the woodcarver’s delicate craftsmanship, this person possessed a head of very smooth, curly long hair…

The relaxed smile that had been hanging on Oliver’s lips gradually froze.

No way…?

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