The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The Pétain Line was a defensive line built by Doug Lars at great expense.

The entire defensive line stretched endlessly, completely blocking the entrance to the North from the western part of the North.

Moreover, the entire defensive line is made up of fortresses, each with dedicated rune masters and alchemists to strengthen and maintain them. Doug Lars can guarantee that the strange catapult of the Grey Collar will not be able to destroy these fortresses.

Not to mention those strange catapults, even a fourth-order spell with a long chant couldn't completely break through the fortress's defenses.

Moreover, after a whole winter of fighting with the resistance, Doug's forces seized a considerable number of firearms.

These firearms were not difficult to replicate, especially since the alchemists had deciphered the same type of gunpowder.

Even the alchemists around Doug marveled at how simple the structure and application were, wondering why they hadn't thought of it themselves.

Soon, Doug also began producing and manufacturing these firearms and muskets, and used them on the soldiers of the Pétain Line and his own guards.

These muskets were even more powerful than those of the resistance fighters, especially Doug's muskets, which were not only made of the most expensive materials and inlaid with pearls and gems, but their power was also beyond question.

Although it was just a novel magical item for Doug, it significantly boosted the strength of his troops.

The only problem is that only alchemists on Doug's side can produce these muskets, which makes the musket ownership rate in the army not high. Moreover, muskets made by different alchemists may have different specifications. As winter was about to end, Doug had not yet completed the quantification and standardization of musket specifications.

Doug even believed that handcrafted muskets by alchemists would be more powerful and of better quality than the uniformly ugly muskets of the Resistance, which resulted in the muskets on Doug's side being quite bizarre in appearance.

It was precisely this carefree attitude that prevented Doug from truly mastering artillery, even though he had already grasped the basics.

Isn't it just a strangely shaped catapult? We have them here too, and there are even professionals who specialize in using them. Aren't you scared?

It gives the impression of launching a rocket with high-tech electronic components strapped to its tip.

However, this still gave the defenders of the Pétain Line great confidence, because after fighting with the resistance, they believed that the gray-collar workers who provided support to the resistance were nothing special.

Although it caused considerable trouble for the regular army, it was simply no match for the powerful mixed force of professionals and ordinary soldiers of the Dog Army.

The soldiers even felt that with this defensive line in place, they would have been more than capable of resisting the demons back then; it was just that the northern border didn't have enough money to build such a line at the time.

Doug wasn't entirely without military talent; he even learned the use of trenches during his battles with the resistance. To counter the potentially more powerful musket attacks from the Grey Collars, Pétain's defenses also dug trenches, ready to engage in positional warfare with the enemy.

That's what they say to the outside world, but in reality, Doug was so stunned by the trenches when he attacked the resistance positions that he simply copied them verbatim.

The Pétain Line was built with the blood and flesh of countless people. The number of civilians who fell just to build the fortress was countless. But Doug believed that civilians were just expendable resources, like weeds in the field, which would grow back after being cut down.

This defensive line, however, was like an insurmountable chasm, perfectly separating the west from the north, and could even be described as indestructible and unbreakable.

Anyway, it was all worth it.

A young knight lazily yawned inside the fortified position of the defensive line.

When will we be able to fight a war?

The knight gazed boredly at the barren forest leading to the western part of the North. There were indeed rebellious watchtowers and military installations in the forest, but the rebels seemed to have no intention of launching an attack.

"It probably won't happen this winter."

Another veteran sat down next to the knight.

When they first arrived at the Pétain Line, these people were still clearly divided into classes and adhered to the rules, but as time went on, they became more and more lax.

Moreover, these knights were originally just low-ranking knights, and they unknowingly ended up mixed up with the veterans.

"How boring. Are we really not in exile? I miss my champagne, I miss the ladies of those noble families, I miss the roast lamb at the guild."

After saying that, the knight kicked the clothes that were wrapped up in a ball on the ground.

This sport originated from the gray-collar workers, and it's not bad for relieving boredom.

Unfortunately, the defensive line was designed too cramped, leaving very little space for playing football.

There was no other way. Although Doug Lars had given this defense line absolute instructions and insisted that it must not be breached, when the alchemists went to ask for the budget, they said, "I have plenty of money," and approved a large sum of money directly.

However, when it came time to actually build it, they lamented that they "only had insufficient funds."

Where did all the money go? I don't know.

Fortunately, Doug Lars approved a lot of funding, so much so that even with a large portion of the funds unaccounted for, the defenses were still repaired, albeit at the cost of a lot of space and facilities.

The entertainment venues and facilities that were originally promised to the knights were not built.

As a result, many knights and soldiers are now playing football on the open ground in front of the fortress, completely ignoring the enemy in the forest on the other side.

As time went on, the enemy on the other side would even shout to the soldiers on the defensive line from a distance to exchange supplies, and they even played a game of football together once.

Although the two sides eventually fought over who was the real Northerner, they did not start a war as the knights had hoped after returning home.

"Isn't this kind of life pretty good? We can all play football, hunt, and just relax, and then we'll get our pay—if we have any."

The veteran took a sip of watered-down, cheap beer and watched the soldiers playing football in the distance with great satisfaction.

The knight took the cheap beer from the veteran, took a sip, and then spat it out.

"Pah, what is all this stuff? It looks just like the socks that my neighbor's aunt left in the barn and are starting to get moldy."

"How do you know what your neighbor's socks smell like when they're left in the barn and start to get moldy?"

As the veteran asked the question, he took the beer back and drank it with relish. Being able to drink beer now puts him ahead of 90% of the people in the North.

"Alright, let's talk about something else. I came here to kill enemies and gain promotions. If I don't have a single enemy, how am I supposed to get a title when I go back?"

"Actually, I'm more curious about how you knew about your neighbor, the old lady..."

The veteran, who was halfway through his sentence, saw the knight's face, which was even redder with shame and indignation than his own, and hurriedly interrupted himself, saying, "Don't worry, those who are destined for promotion will be promoted even if they do nothing, and those who are not destined for promotion will not be promoted even if you kill that governor on the other side."

After listening to the veteran's explanation, the knight felt relieved and said, "Governor Doug has been living and eating with us, and he has been talking to and teaching us. We are sure to be promoted."

The veteran smacked his lips, looking at the young knight with some sympathy. These training methods were actually passed down from the Lars family, and Doug had indeed followed them, but only half of them. The most important part, rewarding soldiers with supplies and giving them opportunities for promotion, was removed by Doug.

They say nice things, but they don't actually give you any benefits.