The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

St. John's Fort, a gateway city in the central region, is famous because a saint performed miracles there in history, and many people have come to worship there.

However, it fell into obscurity and became an ordinary territory because the local Hubert lord, in conjunction with the local church, ruthlessly exploited the believers.

In fact, before the Church's power declined, the Hubert family did not dare to exploit the believers excessively. However, by the time of Augustine III, the Church could only survive by relying on the imperial power, which led St. John's Castle to begin to exploit them even more severely.

After the believers could no longer tolerate this excessive exploitation, Hubert turned his attention to the ordinary people.

At this moment, two guards were idly patrolling around the castle.

"This awful weather! It's the middle of the day, how come it's foggy?"

"Could it be some kind of magic used by someone trying to infiltrate the Viscount's castle?"

Faced with this unusual weather, the two guards seemed a little uneasy, but in the end they simply sat down on the ground and started to slack off.

After all, if a professional who could manipulate mist really wanted to enter the manor, the two of them couldn't stop him; it wasn't something they, as ordinary guards, should be concerned with.

Why not take advantage of this fog and sit down to relax for a while?

"But this fog is really strange, why is it all gray and hazy?"

"Are you stupid? The fog isn't grayish, you expect it to be white?"

"No, that's not what I meant. I just feel like the fog is a bit dark."

After saying that, the guard took off his gloves, wiped his hand on the arm armor that was already covered in condensation, and then showed it to his companion, saying, "Look, the water that comes out of this mist is all black."

"It's not completely black, but it is definitely a bit dirty."

As the two were slacking off and talking about the strange weather, many blurry figures suddenly appeared in the thick fog.

"Halt! This is the Viscount's Castle. Ordinary people are not allowed to pass!"

Upon seeing someone approaching, the two guards immediately stopped slacking off and drew their swords from their waists.

However, one of the guards felt that the hand he had just wiped the moisture off his arm armor was inexplicably itchy.

......

Barnard was very lucky. It seemed that because the commotion on his father's and brother's side was greater, the monsters all gathered there. Barnard, on the other hand, broke through the monsters' blockade in Oregon with great ease. Afterward, Barnard took off all his armor, wrapped himself in a scarf, and traveled lightly to the capital. When Barnard arrived at St. John's Castle, only one of the three horses that old Coent had given him was left.

Even so, Barnard still couldn't outrun the fog.

The only good news is that it seems the further away from the basil region you are, the lower the blackness of the fog becomes.

In the Basil region, black rain still poured down, while Oregon was filled with black fog, making it feel like being in a black sandstorm. The fog in St. John's Fortress was more of a dark gray, not much different from the fog in some other areas.

Even so, Barnard didn't encounter many living people along the way, and he didn't know how much longer his horse could last. He couldn't even find someone to exchange his horse for another one.

Barnard dared not let the horse run at full speed anymore, otherwise he would have to run the rest of the way to the capital to deliver the message himself.

If there was anywhere there were horses, it would surely be at the local lord's castle. With this in mind, Barnard cautiously made his way through the fog toward the lord's castle in St. John's Castle.

Along the way, Barnard kept praying, hoping that the local residents were only staying indoors because of the thick fog and had not been turned into monsters.

Although shrouded in fog, the magnificent castle of the Hubert family was still quite conspicuous, but Barnard's mood was not much better because of it, since the Hubert castle was most famous for its lights that shone day and night to highlight the glory of the saints.

In modern terms, the Hubert family used to put on large-scale LED light shows on their castle, but now that magnificent and huge castle is as silent as a dead city under a thick fog.

Upon approaching the castle, the absence of any patrolling guards further extinguished Barnard's spirits. When he entered the castle, the tragic scene before him caused him to cover his eyes in despair.

A group of half-human, half-mud monsters were dragging a pile of noble corpses and gnawing on them, while the castle towers and walls were also covered with people whose bodies had turned into black rotten mud.

This left Barnard, who was trying to find the stables, in utter despair. What made Barnard even more desperate was that even though he had been extremely careful, the half-human, half-mud monsters still noticed him.

"The new... noble lord."

Hearing the monsters whisper "noble lord," Barnard felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

Barnard just wanted to get out of the monster-infested castle as soon as possible, but he soon discovered that the walls behind him were also covered with monsters, all staring at him.

"My lord, eat it!"

The monsters' tone seemed to turn fierce, and more and more monsters gradually approached Barnard.

But Barnard quickly noticed the difference between these monsters and those in Oregon. These half-human monsters clearly retained human sanity, and their whispers were not incomprehensible; they might even be able to communicate.

"and many more!"

Barnard mustered all his courage and shouted, "I am not a member of the Hubert family!"

Upon hearing this, the half-human monsters actually stopped moving.

Unexpectedly, Barnard continued, "I am Barnard Dorian from Oregon, the elder brother of Her Majesty the Queen. The entire Eastern Territory has now become a living hell, and I must pass on important information to Her Majesty!"

Barnard had no idea whether these half-human monsters were capable of thinking or what they were thinking. He simply brought up Lilith instinctively because Lilith had a very good reputation among the common people. He hoped that these people would spare his life for Lilith's sake and for the sake of the kingdom.

Although these half-human monsters only have half-human features, it is still clear that they are almost all ordinary people.

"Your Majesty..."

"Your Holiness..."

For some reason, the monsters present suddenly began to sob.

The half-human monsters' emotions suddenly began to collapse upon hearing Lilith's name.

This made Barnard nervous again, wondering if his words had backfired.

But just as Barnard was feeling uneasy, one of the half-human monsters suddenly spoke up and asked, "My lord, are you really His Majesty's elder brother?"

"It's natural!"

Even if he were eaten alive by these monsters, Barnard would not deny the fact. After saying this, Barnard patted the Dorian family insignia on his clothes.

"Please leave here quickly, sir. We...we don't know when we'll completely turn into monsters. You'd better run away quickly, sir."

After he finished speaking, the monsters actually made way for him without any hesitation.

Stunned by the scene before him, Barnard was about to take a step forward when he stopped, bent down, and asked the half-human monster he had just spoken to, "What exactly happened here? Don't you still have reason? Why did you attack Hubert's castle?"

"My lord...we can't survive. We've run out of food. The harvest was already bad, and now the lord has collected taxes for another thirty years."

"When the Holy Maiden's messenger came, the lord was a little more restrained. But as soon as the Holy Maiden's messenger left, he started to collect taxes even more heavily, and even his children had to pay taxes to the lord when they got married."

Listening to all sorts of fancy taxes, Barnard felt his mind go blank. Putting aside everything else, at least Barnard and old Coenter had always collected taxes honestly, and even often exempted them from taxes. He never thought that taxes could be collected for another thirty years.

Not to mention the taxes that require people to pay them.

This is just the simplest form of exploitation. The local Hubert family even used the power of religion to begin exploiting the local populace and transferring assets through religious influence.

Lilith's start was too hasty. Its influence has already reached a great extent in border areas like the central region, but it still lacks sufficient control over the nobles in these border areas who are far from the capital.

Because Lilith's policies became more radical, the nobles, fearing they would lose money in the future, began to exploit her even more ruthlessly.

"We were desperate, so we prayed to God, and it seemed like we actually got a response. We turned into monsters, we broke into the castle, and we ate the lord and all those guys."

"Sir, please kill us! We feel like we're losing control of ourselves. If this continues, we'll only cause trouble for others."

Looking at the half-human monster begging him to kill her, and at the corpses scattered on the ground being devoured, Barnard suddenly felt that he could no longer sympathize with these fellow nobles.

These monsters are so humble that even now they worry about causing trouble for others.