The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

On this continent, besides the two great powers of Anjou and Cape, there are many other countries with relatively small territories. Most of these countries do not have any particularly special customs or cultures; if one had to categorize them, they would say they belong to the same cultural sphere as Cape and Anjou.

Or rather, they lived in the same era.

The upper-class nobles of these countries were able to learn about things abroad. For example, many nobles used goods from Anjou or Capet, and even their castles and palaces were built with cement. They didn't know how cement was made or what it was made of; they only knew that it was used by powerful countries, and that what powerful countries used was good. Even the unattractive black-gray cement could be blown into a flower shape.

Therefore, most businessmen are very happy to do business with these neighboring small countries. A simple bag of cement can increase in price hundreds of times when it is transported to these small countries.

However, in return, these small countries are very popular with the demons, and almost every country has demon merchants doing business there.

The small countries surrounding Cape are alright, since the governor of Cape doesn't like demons, so it's difficult for demons to obtain goods from northern Cape. The surrounding small countries are almost entirely populated by human merchants.

However, the smaller countries closer to Anjou have many demon merchants who are still engaged in their old profession: loan sharking.

"My lord, please come this way."

A demon was diligently leading a demon army.

At the same time, he continued, "Savoy is not actually a small country. Although its land area is not large, it is still comparable to the two great kingdoms. Moreover, Savoy is rich in various metal ores, and its smelting, forging and handicraft industries are very developed. Its military equipment is also comparable to that of Anjou in the past. So please be careful, sirs."

Daniel had already learned about this country before landing, so he didn't care about the demon's introduction. No matter how advanced Savoy's forging industry was before, could it defeat the mixed forces of demons and Avars now armed with firearms? Not to mention Avars, even pure demons using the power of bloodline magic would be enough to give these small countries a hard time.

So Daniel asked directly, "Do you have money?"

"Yes, extremely wealthy! Not only the upper-class nobles, but also some ordinary people have a stable income by making decorative armor and exquisite toys for those nobles. They are a big fat sheep!"

"That's good."

Daniel was here mainly because he was lucky enough to escape with some of the demon race's high-ranking members.

Those Lars Knights were truly terrifying, but fortunately, Daniel was experienced in escaping. He made a "victorious retreat" at the first sign of trouble, and the Lars Knights didn't even catch a glimpse of Daniel.

Because of this purge, many demons were unable to evacuate, so the "deserter" Daniel successfully rose to power and took on the task of helping the Anjou and Avars invade the small country.

Meanwhile, the human nobles who escaped and some of the demons crossed the Sea of ​​Impermanence to prepare for their journey to the continent of Soron, while His Majesty the Demon King stayed behind with the core group to guard his happy old home in the Eternal Frozen Land.

"But aren't you already a Savoy? Is it really alright for you to lead the way like this?"

Daniel asked the demon who was leading the way, somewhat curiously.

"Oh, sir, what are you saying? I have always been a demon, and this place will eventually become demon territory, won't it?"

"Do not."

Daniel corrected, "It's the territory of the demons and the Avars."

"That's right, that's right!"

The demon who was leading the way smiled ingratiatingly and continued, "Furthermore, my lord, we have already contacted the prime minister of this country, and he will personally clear the way for us."

While the two major powers on this continent were physically embroiled in conflict, the smaller countries were not at peace either. However, the main issue among the smaller countries was choosing sides. Although Savoy did not directly take sides, it was actually leaning towards Anjou due to its geographical location. However, it seemed that some people within Savoy were still dissatisfied with this attitude.

After all, it's very difficult to govern a country well, but it's too easy to be a dog. If you don't want to kneel down completely, there are plenty of people behind you who do.

Silently, a great fire engulfed this country, renowned for its forging and handicrafts.

However, it was clear that the king of this country was not incompetent. He quickly realized what had happened and organized an army to fight back. But these old-fashioned armies were like paper in front of the Avars and demons, crumbling at the slightest touch.

Savoy's prized armor and weapon craftsmanship are virtually useless against firearms. Only a professional army poses a threat, but how many professionals can a small country muster? Even protecting the royal family is a struggle, let alone defending against foreign enemies.

Looking at the burning capital, Daniel couldn't help but smile. This was more like it; this was how the world should be. There were no terrifying red-robed nuns, no frightening Lars Knights, and no mobile cannons that constantly fired fireballs. This was the original face of the world.

In that instant, Daniel almost cured even his PTSD, which made him terrified of human knights.

"Sir, the enemy army has surrendered. Should we continue the attack?"

Hearing this title, Daniel felt even more delighted. Sure enough, anything can happen if you live long enough; he had actually become one of the leading figures of the demon race.

"No, no need, kill them all!"

Anjou naturally wanted the demons and Avars to stop short of killing them; if they wiped out the population, where would they get the labor force?

But for the demons and Avars, how could they take over someone else's territory if they didn't kill them all?

Moreover, this wasn't just the demand of the demons and Avars. The Church of War had also contacted Daniel privately, saying that the more they killed, the better, because the more they killed, the stronger the God of War would become.

Daniel didn't know what the Church of War meant by that, but the Church of War's promise to help the demons cover it up was enough.

And Daniel also noticed something was amiss.

Recently, the demon soldiers under his command have become increasingly fanatical in their faith in the Demon God, with some fanatics even seemingly able to use spells similar to divine magic.

These divine spells are bizarre and their authority is chaotic, but most of them are very similar to the divine spells of the Church of the God of War.

Daniel suppressed these matters, explaining only that the demons had awakened a new bloodline magic and secretly sent this discovery to the eternal frozen land.

Subsequently, Daniel was carrying out a massacre of most of the people in the city of this country, as instructed by the Avars. These were things that the demons were very familiar with, and most of the demons had just escaped from the black mist, and they seemed to be taking their anger out on these unarmed people.

An Avar officer who was passing by saw the demons' actions and shouted, "What are you doing? Didn't you say you were going to keep some of the younger children?"

Daniel, somewhat confused, looked at the officer and said, "Yeah, didn't you say you'd kill everyone taller than a car wheel?"

"I told you to stand the wheels up!"