The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

As Flora led the nuns to the next village, a cloud of dust suddenly rose in the distance.

Although Flora remained very calm, some of the new members of the nun's order and the accompanying priests were quite flustered.

The knights of Lars drew their melting swords from their waists.

These Melt-Cutting Swords aren't the disposable kind used by musketeers; they're the improved versions that Linde gave to Rena, truly new-era knightly weapons.

But the knights quickly put down their molten-slicing swords, because the group running towards the nuns had raised a large banner with the words "Northerners don't fight Northerners" written on it in a crooked hand.

Before reaching a dangerous distance, the group stopped. The leader dismounted, discarded his horse and weapons, and raised his hands, as if afraid the nuns wouldn't realize he was there to surrender.

Flora led the Lars Knights forward to take a look. It seemed to be the Dogg Army, but Flora wasn't too sure, since the Dogg Army's equipment in the vicinity was not much different from that of bandits.

“Your Holiness, my name is Antoine, and I am the captain of the nearby Doug Army field unit. I have come to surrender with my brothers.”

The leading general immediately knelt down.

“You’ve come to the wrong people. If you want to surrender, you should go to the army or the nearest town. We don’t accept surrenders here.”

Although he knew what Flora meant, Antoine still felt a chill when she said she wouldn't accept surrender.

At this moment, the strategist beside Antoine added, "Your Holiness, we know the location of those mountain bandits and brigands nearby, and we also know that demons are causing trouble behind the scenes. Most of the mountain bandits are backed by demon armies that have entered the Northern Territory."

Before the strategist could finish speaking, Antoine continued, "So please, Your Holiness, give us a chance. We have done many bad things before, and now we only want to atone for our sins."

"Demons? You mean you know the location of the demons behind those bandits?"

Antoine wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the eyes of the saintess's bird-beak mask were flashing red.

"We know the location and camp of the mountain bandits, but the demons are elusive. We only know roughly where they operate, not the specifics..."

Antoine, feeling the air around him grow several degrees colder, quickly changed his tune, saying, "We can help you find the specifics! My brothers are very familiar with the surroundings; finding some demons would be a piece of cake for them."

The bandit general breathed a sigh of relief when he realized the frigid air had returned to normal.

Flora's hand was already inside her handbag, which contained not only rescue supplies but also weapons and equipment for killing.

But at this moment, Sir Lars, who was beside Flora, spoke up to remind her: "Your Holiness, this is not something we should interfere in. Our mission is to go to the next village and make sure there is no disease infection there."

Hearing this reminder, Flora calmed down.

Indeed, although the nuns were itching to do it, this was not Flora's main task. Her loyalty to the governor outweighed her desire for revenge, and in the end, Flora simply nodded slightly.

This is a small matter; someone will avenge the nuns.

Flora then rummaged through her bag, wrote a short letter, stamped it with her seal, and handed it to the so-called captain of the Dog Army field team kneeling before her. Whether his identity was real or fake didn't matter; as long as he seemed to be a Dog Army soldier, that was enough. As long as he could help Gray Collar find the mountain bandits and the demons' location later, that was fine.

"Take this letter and once you arrive at the nearest town to the gray and white-collar workers, someone will receive you."

Antoine couldn't hide the excitement in his eyes after receiving the letter. He carefully placed it against his chest; it was a talisman for himself and his brothers.

"Your Holiness, we are still a little far from the next town. May we travel with you?"

Flora glanced at the ordinary priests and nuns who were still trembling, nodded and said, "Okay, but you have to hand over your weapons. Just put them in our supply wagons."

Under the search of Knight Lars, the Dogg soldiers gleefully dumped all their weapons and equipment onto the supply wagons.

Fortunately, these people didn't have many weapons and equipment to begin with, and their quality was questionable. Some of the knights equipped with Lars simply threw them away after taking a look, as they would only increase their burden.

The nuns then led the group on their journey again.

Meanwhile, in the distance, a demon whose bloodline magic was reconnaissance witnessed all of this and reported it to Harun, who was hiding in the mountains.

Harlan had just finished eating a rabbit, let out a burp, rubbed his belly, and finally stood up, shouting, "Get up, brothers, we've got work to do!"

As the leader of the demon race who has ventured deep into the northern border, Harun's troops this time are already a small but elite force among the demons.

Not only do they possess a complete range of bloodline magic, but all of them are warriors with no logistical support, which makes them very characteristic of the ferocious demon race.

Anyway, the humans will take care of the logistics once we get to the North.

Just as Antoine had said before, Harlan had already made contact with the bandits and outlaws in the North. Not only had they made contact, but they had even reached some kind of agreement.

Harun gave these mountain bandits and demons the money and silver coins they had exploited, while these bandits provided the demons' troops with supplies and food, and helped the demons with some shady things.

Unfortunately, because the governor of the gray-collar workers was just as particular about hygiene as he was about food, Harlan has not yet been able to start a major epidemic.

The demons weren't really just using the guise of support to run rampant in the North; at the very least, they were trying to maintain some balance and prevent the situation in the North from becoming unified so quickly.

After all, everyone knows that the governor of the gray-collar workers despises the demons, just as the demons despise humans.

Unfortunately, the anticipated scenario of the gray-collar workers spreading plagues wherever they went did not occur. Not only did they fail to spread the plague, but even if the enemy left only a small force to defend the city, they would be instantly killed if they showed their faces to bandits.

Even if a small plague occasionally broke out, it would be immediately extinguished by the priests and nuns, which made Harlan feel very frustrated.

Now, Harlan is going to change his approach. Since the plague is being fought by the Sisters, why doesn't Harlan just attack the Sisters directly?

Even if the nuns were protected by the Knights of Lars, how could those few Knights of Lars possibly stop the elite troops of the demon race?

Harlan was also very curious about this group of nuns. They were clearly the same group of nuns that Bulken had escorted back then, but not only were they safe and sound, they were also fighting the plague everywhere.

It seems that the governor of the gray-collar area not only helped these nuns, but also killed Bulken.

Harlan picked his teeth, preparing to take the opportunity to avenge Burken this time.

As for the distress signal from Whitefrost Fortress, Harlen thought for a moment and decided that it wouldn't be too late to go there after dealing with the nuns.