The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

"Hey Robert, your work is done for today. You can go home now."

The green-skinned demon standing at the palace gate glanced at the burning candles not far away and urged the people working in the Demon King's palace to leave.

These candles have time markings, which help the demons estimate time in the perpetually frozen land where they never see the sun, and they also serve to keep warm.

Although pocket watches do exist now, these candle clocks are still more popular in the permafrost.

The middle-aged man was already a little impatient when he heard the guard at the door call his name, so he immediately said ingratiatingly, "Yes, sir, I'll be leaving now."

Robert was the middle-aged man who led the children to excavate the remains of the Demon God, but the excavation work has recently been suspended.

Because the snowstorm was so severe, only two of the children Robert had taken with him had died. It was impossible to work outdoors in this kind of weather. The Demon King, unable to bear seeing humans die in vain, took pity on them and arranged shelter for them to rest properly during this cold winter.

But the so-called dwelling was nothing more than a slightly larger cave, without even a fire inside. People were thrown into the cave like objects, huddled together for warmth.

Every day, demons would come to check on the situation and bring food, but there was only one meal a day, which was just enough to keep people from starving. If anyone got sick, they would be thrown out without mercy to fend for themselves in the snow.

But at least this way, some people can still live. That's the nature of humans. When they're vulnerable, even a small wound can take their lives. When they're strong, they can survive with just a little bit of resources and willpower.

The real reason Antipas stopped work was not because he couldn't bear to see humans die in vain, but because the failure of the Northern invasion war meant that the number of newly brought laborers would begin to decrease sharply, and he had to find a way to keep these humans barely alive. Antipas had a premonition that it would be impossible to continue to capture and plunder people on the northern border as in the past.

Robert is an honorary demon, so naturally he doesn't have to squeeze into caves with those lowly humans and wait for the demons to give him a meal every day. Otherwise, wouldn't he be a useless honorary demon?

So Robert and the other honorable demons were honored to take on the task of adding firewood to the fireplaces throughout His Majesty the Demon King's palace every day during the coldest winter.

Although there are special magic circles and human professionals to heat the buildings and rooms, Antipa still prefers the specially made charcoal brought from the East. In order to ensure that he would not feel cold no matter which room he went into, or even in the corridor, all the fireplaces in the castle were running around the clock.

The Honor Demons naturally didn't feel it was a waste; in fact, they believed it was the Demon King's benevolence in finding them jobs where they wouldn't freeze in winter, and they were all deeply grateful.

"What are you dragging along for? Get out of here!"

After searching them and confirming that these honorary demons hadn't taken advantage of His Majesty the Demon King, the guard at the door kicked Robert out and then slammed the door shut.

Although he was an honorable member of the demon race, even a gatekeeper could speak rudely to Robert, yet no one found anything amiss.

There were other honored demons huddled together in front of the gate. They seemed to be waiting for Robert, but they weren't actually on good terms with him. When Robert finally came out, they quickly took off their cloaks and squeezed together. The tattered cloaks stuck together looked like a mobile tent, protecting everyone's warmth.

With Robert at the center, everyone moved slowly through the wind and snow in their mobile tents. Although the north wind had stopped howling and the white sea seemed calm at this moment, the weather in the permafrost was as unpredictable as the sea, and no one knew what would happen next.

Although this method of movement is slow, it is very safe.

Robert had no idea how the war between the demons and humans was going. Although His Majesty the Demon King said that the demons had won, the atmosphere in the palace was different from what was being publicized outside. It was somber and didn't seem like a victory at all. Robert even saw a lord with a large bump on his head walk out of His Majesty the Demon King's palace.

However, Robert didn't care about this. He knew that the more he cared about such things, the faster he would die. It was best if he didn't hear anything.

Moreover, thanks to the publicity surrounding the demons' victory, Robert finally had a brief reunion with his wife and children.

Humans no longer live separately from demons; instead, every human must serve the demons. Most humans now live as servants in demon households, which is no different from before, except that people have changed from public slaves to private slaves.

Antipas promoted this as one of his political achievements and planned to begin promoting it extensively in the demon-controlled territories.

Why is it considered a political achievement? Because the benefit of doing this is that people no longer have to worry about unemployment, and they certainly won't starve.

The downside is that while they won't starve, that's not necessarily true. After all, to the demons, humans are just tools. Who really cares about the life or death of a tool? The best-case scenario is simply that they won't starve.

However, this policy was not proposed by Antipa, or rather, it was not Antipa's original intention. After all, the humans were originally under Antipa's unified management. But in this way, these humans now have the premise of being the private property of a certain demon race. Antipa can no longer dispose of them arbitrarily as before. This is equivalent to distributing a part of Antipa's power.

This was a last resort. After a defeat, Antipas always had to pay a price to maintain internal unity, and this had little to do with the amount of power he wielded.

Robert was different from ordinary people. He was an honorary demon, so although his wife and children served as servants to demons, they were treated better, and even the demons they served had higher status.

When Robert returned home, he saw his mute wife sewing clothes. Robert had to admit that he had always felt he had made the right choice in marrying his wife. Not only was she skillful, but she also altered two sets of clothes for her son using the old clothes that Robert had picked up from the demon lord. She even had some extra fabric to knit a scarf for Robert.

When the mute girl saw Robert return, she happily dropped what she was doing, went up to him and hugged him. Feeling his wife's body temperature, Robert covered his wife with his still-warm cloak, and the two shared the precious warmth in the house.

"Is everything alright at home?"

The mute girl nodded, but looked at her son, who was sitting on the haystack eating a flatbread, with some worry.

This son is indeed not very bright. The pancake hanging around his neck has frozen, but he is still foolishly holding onto it and eating it.

At this age, he could have already gone to the school run by the demons. After all, Robert is an honorary demon, so his son should have priority in admission. But this silly son is not very promising.

The son used to be quite smart, but he's become increasingly dull-witted since coming to the permafrost. Maybe he's been frozen silly, or maybe it's just Robert's wishful thinking. After all, how can a child who's not even old enough to go to school be smart or not?

Robert thought for a moment, "Why don't we have another child with the mute girl?"

However, giving birth in permafrost is a high-risk activity.