The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Seeing the enthusiastic crowd, Linde waved his hand, signaling for quiet, and the cheers from the crowd disappeared like waves from front to back.

"Today, we have won a great victory. There is now only one governor in the North. We have not only defended our homeland, but also ended the civil war in the North. From this day forward, the North will be united under one banner!"

Those who already felt a sense of belonging to the North, and who viewed it as akin to a homeland, began to cheer, especially the young people, who, like the winter sun breaking through the clouds, were full of energy and excitedly waved the banners of the North Wind Bear.

Some of the old Lars family members couldn't help but sob quietly, and Sean, who was closest to Lind, had tears welling up in his eyes.

Fully supporting Linde is a huge gamble. After all, Linde is just a son-in-law, an outsider. No one knows if Linde will usurp the throne like Augustine III did.

But in hindsight, the Lars family made the right bet. Although Lind has been downplaying the Lars family and emphasizing the North as a whole, and the North Wind Bear banner has become more than just a symbol of the Lars family; it has evolved into a symbol of the entire North, Lind has indeed pulled the Lars family out of their predicament.

Putting everything else aside, as long as Lena's position is secure, then Lars and Lind are practically family.

After the cheers subsided, Lind continued, "We have defeated many enemies along the way, defeated Doug, defeated the demons, and even defeated those monsters of the demons. Our people are united, and our warriors are brave and fearless, but is that really enough?"

Linde's cloak fluttered in the north wind, but even the coldest north wind could not extinguish the flames that were gradually burning in people's hearts.

"The territory north of Duanxue Territory is still under the control of the demons. The demons run rampant in our cities, trampling on our faith, enslaving our people, and plundering our resources! They use our people for experiments, to breed monsters, and force our people to serve their false gods!"

"But our people, our soldiers, did not yield!"

As Linde began his speech, the doors of the other carriages on the North Wind train gradually opened, and soldiers slowly walked out of those carriages. At this moment, the north wind seemed to have sensed something and stopped howling, and people could finally see the soldiers walking out of the carriages.

Rather than walking, most soldiers came down using crutches, and some were even in wheelchairs with a long cloth covering their legs.

Although the logistics of the gray-collar workers were frighteningly strong, there were still quite a few wounded and disabled soldiers in the war against those demon god offspring. It was precisely because of the frighteningly strong logistics that some soldiers who would have been fatally wounded in the war of this era received the best medical resources. Holy water and potions were thrown at them like they were free, which allowed these soldiers to survive.

Many of them bore scars, some even missing arms or legs, but their eyes held little loss, only pride. Though they wore medals, their scars were their greatest badges of honor.

The scene was silent. Many people couldn't bear to look at the soldiers' miserable state and turned their heads away. Everyone knew that the North had won, but no one expected the victory to be so brutal.

But if Antipa were there, he'd probably be cursing. Is this what you call tragic? Not to mention the demon god's offspring who were wiped out, the mound of heads of the remaining demons that weren't converted is still standing on the Golden Harvest Plain. The entire demon army only managed to escape back to Daniel.

In other words, Daniel was scared out of his mind and ran away halfway through, while the remaining demons tried to escape but were relentlessly pursued and killed by humans.

Moreover, this casualty rate is already frighteningly low thanks to the strong logistics. If Antipas were in charge, he would be ecstatic, while the North is still reflecting on it.

Completely contrary to the public opinion on the Demon Clan's side, Linde's side didn't even bother to keep detailed records of their campaign against Doug. They basically only noted which day they arrived at which place and which day they won.

However, although we won this battle against the demons, it must be recorded in detail, and the entire battle situation must be fully documented and analyzed.

Seeing the scene calm down, Linde raised his fist and continued, "The demons want to obscure our faith and devour our dignity, but I want to tell them that the demons can take away our land, but they cannot take away our beliefs!"

"Our indomitable spirit and the flames of vengeance will reignite on this land! Our swords will shatter their armor, our knights will wash away our humiliation with the blood of our enemies, and our banners will once again fly high over every land that once belonged to us!"

At this moment, the wounded and disabled veterans kept shouting, "Victory! Victory!"

Lind's words and the shouts of these veterans were like igniting a furnace, and the shouts from the entire scene soared into the sky.

"Victory over the North!"

At this moment, Linde drew his sword and shouted, "This victory is just the beginning. There is only one North in this world. We will reclaim our land and turn the demons' rule to dust!"

Cheers erupted again in the square, their roar echoing through the sky.

But this was not the end. Lind struck while the iron was hot and started the medal-awarding ceremony right there at the station. Every soldier who got off the train was personally encouraged by Lind and Lena and given a medal, while Lucanus introduced each soldier's achievements.

At the same time, the construction of obelisks in the Golden Harvest Plain and the valley was put on the agenda. After all, the defense around the valley could not rely on the North Wind to transport magic stones and original sand containers for charging in the future.

The names of the soldiers who died in this battle will be engraved on these obelisks.

Pierre was increasingly alarmed. Although he didn't know what emotional value was, he had never seen so much care from Linde to his soldiers since the founding of the kingdom.

Although Linde's actions were solely aimed at the demon race from beginning to end, given the current situation on the continent, who can say for sure?

After the medal presentation to the soldiers' representatives was completed, Sean led a group of students into the venue; these were the school's top students.

The veterans tied the red sashes they wore to the students, and Lind explained, "The red on the sashes symbolizes the blood of the soldiers. I hope you will not let down the will of those fallen soldiers."

The students bowed excitedly, while the surrounding students looked on with more fervor than envy.

Pierre unconsciously took a step back as he watched this scene, and presented the students with the sash stained with the blood of the fallen soldiers to carry on their legacy. Although it was only symbolic, even the Church of the God of War could not do this much.