The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The governor of the North, who shared the same name as his older brother, frantically hinted in the letter that he was about to collapse, that the Golden Plains were about to crumble, and that the North was doomed.

However, the actual situation of the war was not mentioned at all. Instead, the focus was on Lilith's symbolic request for help, and the new model of artillery and muskets of the Gray Collar were introduced to Lilith in a friendly manner.

Do you want it?

Need to pay more.

Not a buddy? Who would be thinking of selling weapons to make money when they're on their last legs? Lilith knew the other party wasn't stupid; the only explanation was that the gray-collar workers still had some strength left, and the tug-of-war on the Golden Harvest Plains was far from their limit.

Or perhaps the other party still has a lot of unsold inventory, and the situation is far from being extremely dangerous.

The purpose of this letter is quite clear: to stir up trouble and bait people.

That's right, I'm dying, so you should quickly surrender to the demons.

The opening paragraph by Linde is less about the gray-collar workers being unable to hold on and more about urging the capital to quickly surrender to the demons. But because it is so straightforward, and the tone of the letter is even quite expectant, even someone who is completely unaware of the situation can guess what kind of trap it contains.

Lilith slumped into her chair. Had the Governor of the North actually told her about the current state of the war in the North? If so...

Each noble will likely only see what they want to see in this letter; those who want to bring the demons back will naturally only see that the Northern Territory is on the verge of collapse.

Those who didn't want the demons to return felt that the trap behind the letter was too obvious; it was clearly a bait-and-switch tactic. What if the other side was just waiting for us to defect to the demons so they could find a reason to declare war?

But the nobles who want to bring the demons back also have something to say. What if the governor of the North anticipated this situation and therefore did the opposite, saying that he was no longer capable when he really was, in order to prevent the capital from making any rash moves?

The interpretation of Lind's letter has become like a layered cake, and in the end it will only be that Lind thought of what you thought of, and what Lind thought of, and so on in an endless cycle.

Lilith could already imagine the nobles arguing wildly at the meeting.

Soon, Nora also arrived at the palace. After seeing the letter in Lilith's hand, she frowned.

"Your Majesty, could we keep this letter safe and not let those guys see it? Or should we just forge one?"

Lilith shook her head and said, "No, this letter was sent through the highest-level channel. Everyone in the inner and outer cities knows that I have received this letter, and I cannot break the trust between me and them now."

The main reason why the nobles of the capital trusted Lilith was not only because of her ability and prestige in mediating between various forces, but also because of her excellent political reputation and full trust in all parties. Although everyone knew that the New Party was His Majesty's people, His Majesty never took sides.

Seeing Nora's handsome face contorted into a grimace, Lilith had no choice but to give the order: "Let the meeting proceed as scheduled."

Soon, the roundtable meetings, which had become a regular occurrence, began once again in the palace.

Sure enough, the moment the contents of the letter were revealed, the scene erupted into chaos.

"The North has been so badly attacked that they have to sell weapons to raise money!"

"The North still has the capacity to sell us weapons!"

Both of these explanations are plausible, to the point that Lind's letter has become a Rashomon-like situation, where everyone can only see the side they want to see.

Linde's ideas really did become a layered cake. Whether Linde had that many ideas or not was not important. What was important was that these nobles thought Linde had that many ideas.

Although Nora tried her best to maintain order, she couldn't stop the increasingly chaotic scene. The howling north wind outside the window did not calm the nobles down, but instead fanned the flames, making the scene dangerously likely to catch fire at any moment.

Amidst the chaotic argument, Judith stood out, lost in thought. Lind must have a deeper meaning behind his actions! But what exactly did he mean?

Linde didn't really mean anything by it; he was just stirring up trouble as usual. After all, in Linde's view, the capital would be an enemy sooner or later.

Lilith wasn't in a hurry. Instead, she swung her legs on her high chair and carefully observed the nobles arguing.

Overall, the new party dislikes demons because of Lilith's policies, while the old party, although it has severed ties, still has people who have made private deals with demons to some extent. If demons were to return, it would definitely benefit the old party.

Normally, the attitudes of the new and old parties towards the demon race should be clearly distinct, but the actual situation is even more chaotic than Lilith imagined.

Some radicals within the New Party believe that they should use the Demon Clan to break free from the control of the capital city by the Gray and White Collars through the war on the southwestern border. They argue that they can contact the Demon Clan while simultaneously putting pressure on the Gray and White Collars, allowing the two monsters to fight each other in the northern border, while the capital city only needs to maintain a balance, sit back and watch the two fight, and then find an opportunity to reap the benefits.

Among the old party, there were also extreme conservatives who felt that the demon race was no good. They believed that they should not make a statement so early, but should adopt a more conservative and withdrawn strategy. If necessary, they should even unite with the Holy See and return to the situation where the whole country fought against the demon race.

As expected, the Eastern Territory, which had always been on Lilith's list and had close ties with the demons, dominated the meeting and enthusiastically supported the demons' return, appearing almost fanatical.

But everyone could understand, since there were still normal businesses being done with the demons, and the most normal businesses were those in the Eastern Territory, which currently borders the demons.

On the other hand, the Vatican was unusually radical at the roundtable meeting. After all, the doctrines of the so-called Demon God Cult of the Demon Race could be described as blasphemous. Even if the Vatican was weak now, it had to make a symbolic protest.

The entire roundtable meeting descended into chaos.

Lilith actually supports the strategies of the conservative faction within the Old Party, both from the Queen's and the Saintess's perspectives.

After all, the condition for sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight is that you must be strong enough to subdue the tigers. Is the current situation in the North what you call sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight? That's called raising a venomous snake!

Some members of the New Party are still too young. This radical strategy has no cost for trial and error; it's a pure gamble on the nation's fate.

But what if the demons actually win? Even the gray-collar workers can't defeat the demons, so how can the king stop them?

After observing everyone's stance, Lilith sighed helplessly and tapped the ground with her scepter.

The noisy nobles quieted down as the scepter struck the marble floor with a crisp, clear sound.

"I am sorry, Your Majesty, but as the prime minister, I have failed to maintain order at the meeting."

Nora took the lead in standing up to apologize, and the other nobles also realized what was happening and stood up to bow and apologize to Lilith.

"It's alright, I believe you are all doing this for the country."

From Lilith's perspective, although the situation on the Golden Harvest Plain is tense, the gray and white-collar workers are far from collapsing.

Besides exacerbating internal conflicts in the capital and putting pressure on Lilith, the letter's main purpose was to pave the way for the future war between the Gray and White Collars and the capital.

If Lilith truly believed the implications in the letter and clearly sided with the demons, then for the soldiers of the Grey and White Collar, the capital, or rather the royal family, would be completely demystified. The last vestige of respect that the soldiers and ordinary people of the North had for the royal family would vanish. What king? They wouldn't know him.

The gray-collar workers essentially fabricated a claim out of thin air: "Your capital has all sided with the demons, and we are at war with the demons, so it's perfectly normal for us to declare war on you, right?" In that case, the gray-collar workers could easily obtain a pretext for war against the capital.

There's absolutely no need for that. Even if a white-collar worker simply said, "I am a barbarian," there would still be people arguing with them.

But this behavior is truly disgusting. Even at this point, the other party is still scheming to weaken the capital's influence in the North and manipulate the situation in the capital. With a single move, they have made a mess of the capital's situation and are also planting seeds of trouble for Lilith.

Dealing with this kind of person left Lilith feeling utterly exhausted, almost to the point of tears. Unfortunately, even tears have their limits, and no one would jump out to comfort her.

"But it's too early to discuss things in the North right now."

Lilith continued, "We should still focus on our current enemy, our old rival, the Kingdom of Anjou."

Now that things have come to this, the best course of action is to simply give up. No matter what tricks you come up with, I will not take them. As for the people below, let them do whatever they want, just don't drag Her Majesty the Queen into it.

As for the official stance, Lilith still felt it was best to wait and see, until the two monsters in the North had truly determined a victor.

The nobles understood Her Majesty's meaning and began to pretend to discuss the Kingdom of Anjou.