The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Lind declined Jefferson's request to stay overnight and took Lena back to Gray Collar that same day.

Jefferson's information about the female protagonist, Isa, was not entirely useless; at least two points among those outrageous pieces of information could be confirmed.

First, the female protagonist, Isa Nebet, killed the lord of Luye Territory, proclaimed herself the White Saintess, and raised the banner of rebellion.

Secondly, the female protagonist, Isa Nebert, is currently heading west towards the North, specifically towards the Grey and White Collar region.

It's pointless to delve into the reasons behind Isa's rebellion now; what Linde cares about most is when the heroine will reach the gray-collar level and how many people she'll be with.

Although the information written by the bard on the parchment was exaggerated, according to Lind's calculations, the number of people the heroine brought was not large, at most a few thousand, and certainly not tens of millions. There weren't that many people in the entire North.

Although it was said to be a rebellion, the female protagonist did not have a base of operations, and she did not even manage to capture Luye Territory, which she initially attacked.

Linde guessed that it was because the female protagonist, Isa, did not have any powerful forces behind her rebellion, nor many professionals. She could not occupy a place for long with a group of civilians. After all, there is still an insurmountable gap between ordinary people and professionals.

The reason for heading west in the North is mostly because there are many minor nobles there, and the nobles' power is generally not strong. In addition, even in the vast and sparsely populated North, the western side is a place with a very low population density, so occupying a hill in the west might really go unnoticed.

After returning to his territory, or more accurately, to the camp's gray-collar workers, Lind ignored Reina, who was chattering beside him, wanting to see how the sugar was produced, and pondered the possibility of recruiting the female protagonist, Isa.

In the present North, there is an invasion from the demon race, internal chaos among noble factions, and the largest lord is engaged in a succession war. No one really cares about one or two rebels.

The only problem is that the female protagonist has already killed a count.

So, which is more important: to protect a traitor who killed a nobleman, or to win over a chosen one?

Okay, even hesitating for a second is disrespectful to the female lead.

According to the setting, the female protagonist is not only the living god designated by the goddess, but also a saint in the true sense. In the later stages of the game, she can actually perform miracles. Even when the situation in the North is completely chaotic, as long as the female protagonist waves her hand, she can easily perform a miracle in the game and establish a new religion on the spot.

This doesn't even take into account the heroine's incredible luck, to the point that Linde thought it wasn't impossible that a meteorite suddenly fell from the sky and killed Count Jacob when the heroine attacked the castle, as written on the parchment.

As for the rebels brought by the female protagonist, they were more accurately described as a group of refugees.

Are they refugees? No, they are laborers!

Linde had just earned a sum of money from Jefferson and didn't know what to do with it. If this place could accept the refugees brought by the female protagonist, the reclamation and development of the territory could be accelerated. Including the many experiments that Linde had been longing for, he could also carry out them with confidence and without worrying about occupying the territory's important population.

Moreover, whether from the game or now, the female protagonist is a rare talent in management, so shouldn't she be exploited to the fullest?

Thinking of this, Lin De's smile became harder to suppress than an AK.

"Brother? Brother!"

Seeing Lind seemingly lost in thought and then suddenly bursting into silly laughter, Lena worriedly shook Lind's hand, wondering if he had been working tirelessly managing the territory lately and had gone mad from exhaustion.

But Lind suddenly snapped out of his reverie and, with an expression befitting someone discussing serious matters, asked Lena, "Miss Lars, what do you think of that rebel, Isa?"

Seeing that Lind had returned to normal, Lena breathed a sigh of relief, pulled up a chair and sat down comfortably, asking in return, "What? Is that Isa Nebert your relative?"

"more or less."

Linde chose to gloss over the issue, since he had inherited the female lead's attributes, so calling them relatives was plausible.

“I want to arrange for her to come to the territory. You know the territory is short of people, and our grandfather’s help is only a distant solution to our immediate needs.”

"But she's a traitor."

Lena frowned slightly.

Being a rebel is also a military achievement, one of the criteria for Grand Duke Lars to assess his successor. In Lena's eyes, the female protagonist, Isa, is more like a walking military achievement.

Lena used to go into the mountains every day not just to hunt, but also to look for any bandits or rebels who had taken over the mountains.

Unfortunately, the group of fully armed professional cavalry was too conspicuous, so Lena had not made any progress. Moreover, most of the bandits were actually the nobles' black gloves. Who would be crazy enough to target the granddaughter of the most powerful noble in the North?

Although Lena objected, persuading her was not a problem for Lind, and he immediately started playing with her like a child.

"Miss Lars, do you think the people Isa brought are refugees?"

Hearing Lind's question, Lena was a little puzzled and replied, "Of course, although those people were traitors for killing Count Yage, they were indeed refugees from the northern border."

"Didn't our grandfather issue a relief decree and provide us with food for refugees?"

“That’s right, I didn’t think any refugees would come to such an out-of-the-way territory.”

The relief food that Grand Duke Lars distributed to the lords of the North was naturally also received by the Grey-White Collar, but this portion seemed more like a gift from Grand Duke Lars to his granddaughter, since how could there be any refugees coming to such a remote Grey-White Collar?

“Then let me ask you this: since the people Isa brought are refugees, and our grandfather has given the order that Lars’ people must help the refugees, shouldn’t we provide relief to these refugees?”

"what?"

Lena's mind was a bit fried. The logic seemed to make sense, but something felt off.

"But they were rebels too!"

Lena suddenly had a flash of inspiration and pointed out the crux of the problem: she was just a little slow in thinking, not really stupid.

Linde was somewhat shocked. He hadn't been fooled after all? It seemed that Lena was smarter than he had imagined. At least he wouldn't have to worry about her being kidnapped when she went to the battlefield in the future.

“That’s right, they are traitors, so after they finish receiving their relief food, I will punish them by making them work hard on my territory to atone for their sins. Is there a problem with that?”

"No...no."

Lena felt something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It seemed that pointing out that Isha and her group were traitors had already used up all of Lena's memory for the day.

"And as for Isa Nebert, the leader of the rebels, she will be captured and brought to our territory. As a prisoner, she will naturally have to work for us on our territory. Is there a problem?"

"No, no."

Seeing Lena's blank stare and dazed reply, Lind knew he had successfully fooled her. Satisfied, he then summoned Laurie and Lila, two people who had died from overwork, to discuss how to receive the refugees brought by Isa.

Upon hearing that someone could share their workload, the two naturally agreed to Lind's proposal with both hands. Even Lila, who always had a poker face, revealed an evil smile.

This chilled Lena, who had been watching from the sidelines. She wanted to tell Lind that treating prisoners like this was inhumane, but it was clearly too late.