I'm suggesting that you build a data model module in Perl to be configured with your data; the module and its methods are not in config. just its data. This is one of the things I think Catalyst does very well. It's too complicated, for the time I have today, to write a working demo. This is the idea in a Catalyst idiom.

# Load application. Application loads its data models.
# Instantiate model(s) with conf.
String::Thing:
  strings:
    - one
    - two, etc
# Use models via application or bare if you prefer.

# This $conf-{'test'}->myPrint("strings_to_print") beomes
$app->model("StringThing")->strings;
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It might not be the right approach for your problem but might be good. You have a complicated problem that is a little under described.