The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Unlike the Kingdom of Anjou, which quickly established a new strategic direction and everything returned to order under Alberto's orders, the capital of Capet was in complete chaos.

Capet still doesn't have a reliable and detailed battle report. After all, Capet's capital city's intelligence system was originally quite weak. In addition, there are many factions in the capital city, and each faction's ideas cannot be unified. Everyone only accepts the information they want to know, resulting in extremely chaotic intelligence about the North in the capital city.

Although Lilith had previously said that the issue of the southwestern border would be considered first, as time went on, the issue of the northern border was brought up again.

At this moment, Monroe was dominating the roundtable meeting.

"The demons are almost unifying the northern border, so why won't you admit that the demons are indeed stronger than us humans?"

The other nobles at the meeting were so bewildered by Monroe's outburst that they couldn't lift their heads. They had no idea where Monroe got the information that the demons had defeated the Grey-White Collar and were planning to start their conquest of the entire Northern Territory from the Golden Plains.

According to previous intelligence, those tireless monsters of the demon race could indeed do it.

Many nobles who believed that Lilith should negotiate with the demons as soon as possible and quickly intervene to balance the situation also spoke up, hoping that Lilith could get involved quickly. If the boundaries were not demarcated with the demons now, the demons might really take over the entire northern territory, and then Lilith would not be able to negotiate even if she wanted to.

Seeing Lilith still sitting upright in the main seat, Monroe couldn't help but sigh and rub his forehead: "What's wrong with this country? Your Majesty, at this point, shouldn't we step in? The demons don't want much territory. They only need to cede a small portion of the current northern border. Then we can let the Grey-White Collar continue fighting with the demons. When both sides are exhausted, we can step in and reclaim the northern border in one fell swoop. Wouldn't that be better?"

Lilith wasn't in a hurry, but instead asked, "Sir Monroe, where did you get your information from?"

These were all pieces of information passed on to Monroe unilaterally by the demons, but Monroe certainly couldn't say that. Instead, he explained, "Your Majesty, our Eastern Territory does border the Northern Territory. This is information I obtained through personal channels."

"I've been working entirely for this country, Your Majesty! Please step in and negotiate peace with the North! Does Your Majesty truly not care about this country anymore?"

Monroe kept urging him on, and although he was polite on the surface, he began to attack Lilith in his words, which made the radical New Party members who, like Monroe, felt that they should step in as soon as possible to balance the North dissatisfied.

"But since the demons are already close to unifying the northern border, what's the point of us joining the fray? Do we really have the leverage to negotiate with the demons?"

Lilith cut to the heart of the matter: even if the intelligence is true, would the demons really be good people who would sit down and negotiate with you properly?

"Of course!"

Monroe, very confident, stood up and said, “Your Majesty, although I know you are dissatisfied with the demons’ previous lending practices in the capital, isn’t lending a normal thing? Which of you gentlemen present dares to say that your family has never lent money? Are you all so clean? The demons only charged slightly higher interest rates, so why should they be discriminated against?”

Many nobles present began to feel ashamed. It was only a few hundred million more, right? Just how much benefit had Monroe received from the demons that he was starting to lie through his teeth.

Many people also recalled the former Chancellor Cordyce, who also liked to lie through his teeth, but at that time many people actually believed his story.

Unaffected by the complex gazes of the nobles, Monroe continued, “The demons are different from us humans. They are not greedy. All they want is a peaceful place. If Your Majesty is willing to grant the demons a territory, then the kingdom will surely be able to make peace with the demons forever.”

"You fart!"

At this point, the people from the Vatican finally couldn't hold back any longer and stood up, shouting loudly, "How could those monsters of the demon race, who devour people, possibly be on eternal terms with humans? Don't you know what kind of war the demon race is using?"

At this moment, Claire suddenly perked up. The speaker was not only the church representative, but also Josephine, Lilith's deputy who had been placed by Claire's side. Josephine was a female paladin who hated evil and caused considerable trouble for Claire's complete control of the palace's defenses.

Monroe, however, seemed unfazed by Josephine's questioning, saying, "They're just lowly people. Those peasants are nothing but ants, born to struggle in the mud. In contrast, we carry ancient bloodlines and noble families, and the demons are also interested in contacting noble bloodlines like ours. What's wrong with sacrificing a few peasants for the sake of peace between us?"

Upon hearing this, even many of the nobles watching felt that Monroe had gone too far. Even if some nobles thought Monroe's words were correct, the officials still had to maintain appearances.

"Those are all living, breathing people!"

Josephine could no longer stand it and started a direct confrontation with Monroe.

Monroe, who also successfully matched with Josephine, said, "The demons have suffered far more than those peasants throughout history. Even the demons haven't said anything, so what right do the peasants have to complain?"

Monroe immediately centered his narrative on this topic, beginning to fabricate history and employ subtle, euphemistic writing to continuously attack Josephine.

This was a classic example of sophistry, but Josephine was not good at debating and did not know much about history. She was more focused on her faith in the goddess and her loyalty to Lilith. She was quickly rendered speechless by Munro's offensive.

Seeing this, Monroe pressed his advantage and launched a personal attack on Josephine.

Seeing the tense atmosphere and Josephine seemingly on the verge of exploding, Claire immediately spoke up, "Sir Josephine, let's talk this out, please don't let it turn into a fight!"

Upon hearing this, many nobles were dumbfounded. What did he mean by "don't fight each other"? Wasn't this just adding fuel to the fire?

As expected, Josephine heard this and immediately drew her sword from her waist in a rage. Weapons were definitely prohibited in the venue, but Josephine was different. She was originally Lilith's court guard and Claire's deputy, who was in charge of the entire palace's defense. It was perfectly normal for her to be able to carry a weapon and stay by Lilith's side.

Of course, Josephine didn't go all out. She didn't use magic or divine arts, but instead stabbed straight at Monroe. Even in her anger, Josephine retained a sliver of rationality and didn't attack his vitals.

Monroe was startled by the sudden provocation and hurriedly got up to back away.

But Josephine was immediately stopped by the people from the Vatican.

"Sir Josephine, calm down."

Josephine also snapped out of her rage and realized what she had done. She immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I am guilty and beg for your punishment."

This matter was quite egregious, but Lilith still decided to protect Josephine first, not only because Josephine was someone Lilith had arranged, but also because Monroe's previous remarks were simply too outrageous. Lilith decided to symbolically punish both Josephine and Monroe, defining the incident as a meeting conflict, raising it high and then letting it go gently.

Just as Lilith was about to jump down from her seat and announce the outcome, Claire jumped out again and knelt down beside Josephine, saying, "I have failed in my duty to manage my subordinates. It is all my fault. Please, Your Majesty, do not blame Sir Josephine. Please do not dismiss Sir Josephine from her post. Josephine has always been dedicated to protecting the palace. Today's incident was just a momentary impulse on Sir Josephine's part. The work of palace defense still cannot be done without Sir Josephine."

"..."

Lilith fell silent for a moment. Although Claire had jumped out to plead for her, could Lilith really punish Claire? On the contrary, Claire's words had changed the nature of the matter, escalating it from a violent conflict at the meeting to whether Josephine was still suitable to continue serving as the palace guard.

"Sir Josephine is temporarily relieved of her duties, and Sir Monroe is prohibited from speaking on this issue."

Finally, Lilith sighed and delivered her verdict. Upon hearing the verdict, Monroe clicked her tongue, seemingly very dissatisfied. She was forbidden from speaking on this topic, but the capital had been discussing this issue recently, so this was tantamount to a complete ban. Monroe considered herself the victim, and this treatment was clearly quite unfair. After all, Monroe was a duke of the Eastern Territory. In the past, this female knight could have been dragged out and beheaded.

But Monroe received a warning look from Claire and could only angrily sit back down in his seat.

Josephine, thinking Claire was helping her, was moved to give Claire a grateful look when she heard that she was only temporarily relieved of her duties.