The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Pierre was filled with mixed feelings after seeing his youngest daughter off. Although he had investigated beforehand and found that the Grey Collar army was very disciplined, trustworthy, and treated prisoners quite well, he still had his worries.

After Pierre stood there in a daze for a long time in the secret passage used for transporting troops, he finally came to his senses and walked out of the compartment. As soon as he came out, his eldest son, second son and other members of his clan were already waiting for him.

Pierre was not surprised, after all, many of the soldiers sent out were under the command of these people. Although this had helped to balance the power within the castle and made some people who wanted to seize the right to speak by relying on their large army behave themselves, it was impossible to avoid being discovered.

Pierre never expected that this matter would become common knowledge.

"Father, where is my younger sister? My soldiers and my sister are all gone! Did you send her to seek refuge?"

The eldest son launched the first attack, but Pierre did not panic. Instead, he delivered the prepared message: "Little Amy said tonight is perfect for a night raid, so she asked me for some troops tonight to storm the enemy camp. If we succeed, it will greatly relieve the pressure on us."

Hearing this answer, some of the others looked relieved, but the eldest and second sons became tense and asked, "Father, have you gone mad? How can you let your little sister do such a dangerous thing? If anyone should do it, it should be me, the older brother, who does it!"

Pierre had very mixed feelings. Although the two brothers were a bit foolish, they still cared about their sister. They were just too easily taken advantage of.

Then the rest of the Laurent family realized what was happening and everyone started to care about Emily. Some people who didn't get along with Emily came to offer their condolences to Pierre, and some even began to urge him to take it easy.

No one seemed to think there was anything wrong with it. After all, Emily had mentioned at a party in the castle that she wanted to go out and fight. Staying cooped up in the castle would only lead to her suffocation. It was no secret that Emily was a radical advocate of war.

Just as everyone was about to disperse, a scout from the watchtower rushed in, shouting in a panic, "Sir! Sir! The enemy camp is on fire! A unit wearing our armor is setting fire to the enemy camp!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked shocked, especially Pierre.

"Huh? This...is everything you're saying true?"

"Absolutely true! It was confirmed by the professional spellcaster on the watchtower using Eagle Eye!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Pierre's eldest son led his men to rush toward the watchtower. The others quickly realized what was happening and hurried away, leaving old Pierre completely bewildered.

No, that's impossible. Pierre knows his youngest daughter's current level, even though she has a promising future. Besides, the soldiers he took with him weren't elite at all. How could they possibly succeed in a night raid when the enemy knew they were going to be attacked?

Old Pierre immediately realized: There was a trap!

At that moment, Darcy and Hammond were chatting in front of a burning military tent.

"Do you think this will really lure the enemy out of the city to fight?"

Darcy looked at the burning military tents before him, then looked at Whitefrost Castle with expectant eyes.

Hammond continued Darcy's words, saying, "It was your idea, so why are you suddenly so insecure?"

"Because you once said that the opponent's command was also very rational, and if the conditions were equal, their strength was no less than yours."

Hammond laughed heartily after hearing this, which was also a form of tacit approval of Darcy.

“Sometimes you not only have to consider the level of the enemy’s commander-in-chief, but also the level of their subordinates, and whether they will really listen to the commander-in-chief. Humans are quite complex creatures. I think your plan is very good. At least even if it fails, we won’t lose anything.”

Around the two men, many soldiers were carrying buckets of water and running around. But if you looked closely, you would see that these soldiers were not trying to put out the fire. They were just running around the fire and only extinguishing the fire when they encountered any that might spread.

The items that were set on fire were mostly useless military tents and miscellaneous items, as well as wood cut down from nearby. Each fire was surrounded by fireproofing material to ensure that the fire would not spread outside. Hammond even calculated the wind direction to ensure that nothing went wrong.

Even if an accident were to occur, only the first camp would be burned down, and it wouldn't cause a chain fire.

Dalcy initially didn't intend for it to be this realistic, but Hammond insisted on going all out, so he tried to make the entire environment as realistic as possible.

Watching his own men, clad in enemy armor, charging through the fire in the distance, Hammond said to Darcy, "Let's go. I need to prepare the ambush. You keep an eye on that young lady; after all, she's the 'great hero' of Whitefrost Keep."

Darcy nodded: "A resounding success!"

"Haha, I hope they really will take the bait."

After a brief salute, the two said their goodbyes.

Darcy arrived at a camp at the rear. Although the prisoners were treated well, they could not be completely free. At least under the current circumstances, it was impossible for these prisoners to go and play football.

Seeing the Whitefrost Fortress soldiers, bound hand and foot and stripped of their armor, sitting quietly on the ground without crying or making a fuss, Darcy felt relieved. It seemed that the other side had little will to fight.

Meanwhile, Emily, the eldest daughter of the Laurent family, was being held down in a chair by two professional soldiers, her hands tied behind her back and her feet shackled.

There was no other way; this woman was a professional, and Darcy couldn't afford to do nothing.

Meanwhile, Emily was shouting inside the military tent, "Gulp! Kill me! Kill me!"

And it struggled while shouting.

The priest who was applying the medicine to Emily was caught off guard and was kicked away.

Darcy quickly helped the priest up, and then, while Emily was being held down again by the two professional soldiers, he reapplied the medicine to Emily.

"Are you the general of this army?"

Seeing the soldiers around her showing great respect to Dalcy, Emily curiously looked at Dalcy.

"No, the real general is still in the rear."

Darcy finished applying the medicine and began inspecting the environment inside the military tent.

"That's true. How could someone so young already be a general?"

Emily's tone was full of sarcasm, but Darcy had no intention of getting entangled with her and simply sat down opposite Emily.

"But even if you're not a general, you must be a general's son, right?"

Upon hearing this, Darcy finally reacted and said, "No, I am an orphan. I have been raising my sister and me since I was a child."

"So your sister married a general?"

"No, she's studying in a gray-collar school and plans to become a nun. She said she's afraid it will affect me, so she's not married yet."

"What about your other family members? Isn't anyone in the army?"

“I am an orphan, I just said that.”

"...sorry."

After a moment of silence, Emily suddenly said, "Could you please kill me?"

Faced with Emily's sudden change to politeness, Darcy asked, "Why? What good would it do us to kill you?"

"There was no benefit. The thought of my father sending me on a night raid, only to be captured before I even saw a glimpse of the enemy, makes me too ashamed to face anyone."

Emily then suddenly started crying, probably because she felt increasingly ashamed, realizing that she really was just a theorist.

Hearing this, Darcy was certain that the other person truly didn't know she had been sold out by her own father, even though his purpose was to protect her, and he had indeed succeeded.

Seeing Emily bursting into tears, Darcy comforted her:

"Cheer up! Is it possible that your night raid was a success?"

"What? We succeeded? How did we succeed?"

Emily immediately stopped crying and looked at Darcy in shock.

Darcy also pulled back the curtain of the military tent, and sure enough, there was a fire outside. But Emily immediately noticed that although there was a fire, the military camp was not in chaos at all. In fact, some soldiers not only did not put out the fire, but also ran out of the military camp wearing armor.

Emily immediately understood what was happening and cried even louder.