The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Having completed all the handover procedures, Pierre suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of relief, no longer needing to rack his brains over how to resist the gray-collar workers.

After surrendering, even his mental exhaustion was cured. Now, Pierre writes letters to other nobles in the North every day with an incredibly relaxed attitude, urging them to surrender.

As the investment leader, Pierre knew exactly where these nobles' pain points lay, and he addressed them precisely, explaining each noble's concerns one by one.

Of course, the most important issue is that even Whitefrost Fortress couldn't stop the Gray-White Collar's army. These nobles should consider whether their city walls are as strong as Whitefrost Fortress's.

The attitudes of the nobles towards this were very subtle. Some wrote back to Pierre saying that the North was currently experiencing an internal power struggle within the Lars family and that they would not get involved.

This suggests that while cutting ties with Doug, they also want to maintain a degree of flexibility, or perhaps they feel that the conditions offered by the gray-collar workers are not enough and want to pull them further.

Pierre was somewhat dismissive of this, as these people hadn't grasped the essence of fence-sitting at all. However, Pierre also expressed his understanding, since the conditions offered by the gray-collar workers were not much different from those offered after defeat. Could a nobleman who had lost his land still be called a nobleman?

These people, like Pierre before them, always thought they should hold on a little longer, resist a little longer, even if they couldn't withstand the Grey-White Collar's offensive, they could at least get better terms when they surrendered. They still fantasized that the Grey-White Collar would abandon their so-called regulations and laws, defeat Doug, and restore the North to what it was like during the reign of Grand Duke Lars.

Of course, judging from the implication in their words, if Linde were to abandon those complicated laws and regulations, these people would probably vote even faster, and might even become collaborators.

But in reality, after seeing the Grey-White Collar take over White Frost Castle and then wipe out the surrounding minor nobles as bandits, Pierre realized something.

The terms offered to you by the gray-collar workers at the beginning are actually the best. The governor who controls the gray-collar workers is not a very patient person. If you really try to play both sides, the other party will only choose to continue the war.

After all, it's not a question of whether gray-collar workers can completely flatten these aristocrats, but rather a question of cost and time.

Pierre is now very grateful that he still has some use for the gray and white-collar workers and that his attitude is relatively upright, but the great nobles after him are probably not so lucky. After all, the Laurent family, after surrendering, has set a positive example for those northern nobles. So, it's time to find a negative example.

In the past few days, besides writing letters, Pierre spent the rest of his time introducing Laurie to the various secret passages in White Frost Castle. After all, this place was going to be used as a military base for the Gray and White Collars in the future, and if anything went wrong, the Laurent family would definitely be held responsible.

Therefore, Pierre dared not hide anything.

After introducing the last secret passage, Pierre prepared to say goodbye to Laurie.

Next, Pierre and his family will return to Grey and White Collar under the escort of Knight Lars, and will hand Emily over to the nuns along the way.

Until the very end, Pierre didn't dare look back at White Frost Castle one last time. It's impossible to say he wasn't heartbroken; if he really wasn't, Pierre wouldn't have resisted so resolutely in the first place.

Aside from the guards arranged by Laurie, Pierre only brought his two sons and Emily. The rest of his family had been separated and scattered. The fact that Pierre's family was still able to stay together was a small favor granted by the governor.

Along the way, Pierre kept asking Knight Lars and officials in the cities they passed about the specific system of the grey and white collars, and he bought several copies of the newspaper.

As Pierre had predicted, there was a severe shortage of gray and white-collar workers, especially those with higher education. As a result, the governor had to employ former nobles.

Even for nobles, obtaining an official position was extremely difficult. Just learning about the examination system made Pierre's scalp tingle; it was hard to tell whether it was like being an official or going to jail. But that didn't stop a bunch of old nobles who wanted to reclaim their family power from flocking to it.

Pierre glanced at his two foolish sons and shook his head. Under the brothers' puzzled gazes, Pierre could only tell them to find a woman and settle down as soon as possible, and stop their aimless wandering.

Anyway, nobility is just an honorary title now, so Pierre doesn't need to go to great lengths to find someone to marry into. It's better to train a couple more alt accounts as soon as possible.

Pierre's mood eased slightly after glancing at Emily. Although Emily had made many mistakes, the main responsibility did not lie with her, so it could be considered a blessing in disguise.

Moreover, Emily was much more clever than her two brothers. Although she was only fighting bandits under the organization of the nuns, she had at least joined the army of the gray and white collars.

The burden of reviving the Laurent family now rests entirely on Emily's shoulders.

Pierre and his family arrived at Deepwater Harbor, the largest river port city in the North besides the Valley, but the original lord's estate there had seen little development.

The nuns had been waiting in the city for some time, and Pierre's family saw them providing free medical treatment as soon as they entered the city.

Emily wanted to go up and say hello, but hesitated after taking a closer look. Pierre also glanced at the group and noticed that most of the nuns in front of them were wearing red robes. Were they really not nuns from some cult?

Only when he got closer did Pierre realize that the other man's robe seemed to be stained with blood, and that he was wearing a bird-beak mask that was also stained with blood.

It's really strange that a group of nuns is providing free medical treatment to the people of Deepwater Harbor.

After hesitating for a moment, Emily mustered her courage and stepped forward to ask, "Excuse me, are you from the Sisters of Flora? I am Emily Laurent. General Laurie should have contacted you. I want to join you in the future to help you fight bandits."

After treating one patient, Flora stood up, nodded, and said, "I've heard everything from General Laurie. I'll leave it to you from now on. The rest of the Lars Knights will help you."

Emily was relieved to see the Lars Knights behind the nuns; she was just glad she wasn't going to lead these nuns to fight bandits.

However, Emily still asked curiously, "Your Holiness, why are your and these nuns' clothes all red?"

"Oh, this."

Flora pointed to a corner of her nun's robe that wasn't stained red and said, "This is all demon blood. They killed us when they blocked our way. We originally wanted to wash it clean, but we thought the red robes looked pretty, so we did some special treatment."

"Demons? Just for fun? Kill them?" For the first time, Pierre began to doubt his Common Language score.

Hearing Pierre say that, Flora nodded and said, "It's a pity that two of them escaped, otherwise I could have dyed the entire nun's habit red."

Flora's tone was truly as gentle as a saint's—no, she was a saint now, but Pierre somewhat regretted sending his youngest daughter into the nun's order to become a bandit-slaying knight.

This doesn't look like a proper nunnery.

"We...we're going to suppress bandits, right?"

"That's right, they're mainly bandits scattered around the town. Don't worry, there will be surrendered Dogg soldiers to guide you, and you'll be accompanied by Knight Lars."

Flora stepped forward and gently patted Emily's shoulder, just like an older sister, but Emily smelled a faint scent of blood beneath her robe, masked by the aroma of spices.

Although they have undergone special treatment, it seems that these spices will need some time to completely mask the smell of blood.

Emily resisted the urge to tremble and joined the nuns' bandit-fighting team.