The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Soon after, Lind stood on the high platform and announced the mobilization to the soldiers and the people.

Linde had originally thought a lot about how to soothe the fear of the people and soldiers, and also wanted to maintain and comfort the mental health of the soldiers, telling them the necessity of this battle so that no one would develop war-weariness.

But the moment Linde stood on the platform, he suddenly realized that he had been overthinking things, just like before.

Most of the people in the territory, including the original owner of Linde's body, harbored an indelible hatred for the demon race. Not to mention psychological preparation, Linde even felt that he needed to soothe their emotions and calm them down first.

"I remember that among the soldiers selected, many had fled with me, and many had come to Gray and White Collar with Isa."

"I prepared a lot of things to say, and I spent an afternoon writing the draft."

After saying this, Linde tore the manuscript in front of him to shreds.

"But right now I just want to talk about what those beasts who are getting closer and closer to us have done."

"Many people from the northern frontiers know Saint Flora, especially those who came to Gray Collar with Ms. Isa. You all came from the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation, so I'm sure you know Saint Flora better than I do."

At this point, the soldiers who had come from the Basilica of Our Lady of Salvation clenched their fists, all with a bad feeling.

"And now, Saintess Flora is with the other refugees next to that group of newborns. They have all been infected with the plague and curse. Every day, the saintess can only protect the refugees while being driven by these beasts, wandering around the northern border. Because of this group of newborns, the saintess cannot even commit suicide to stop the spread of the plague!"

Before the soldiers below the stage could understand what was happening, Lind called over the scouts he had sent out earlier. The scouts cried as they recounted the situation of Flora and the nun refugees.

To be honest, anyone who came from the frontier had received some blessings from the Basilica of Our Lady of Salvation, and among the refugees, there might even be family members or relatives of the soldiers and civilians present.

Before the scout could finish speaking, some soldiers couldn't bear to listen anymore. Long-term obedience training had kept these soldiers silent, but they all started wiping away tears.

Infected by the atmosphere, the scout couldn't continue speaking and burst into tears on stage.

Linde stepped forward, said nothing more, and simply stood on the high platform, asking all the soldiers and civilians, "To fight or not to fight?"

"Hit him! Hit the hell out of him!"

"Kill them all!"

"Kill! Kill!"

Watching the gradually unifying shouts of battle from below the stage, Lin De slowly understood why the soldiers of the United States suffered from PTSD every day in his previous life, while the Chinese wished he had killed more people back then.

"Alright! Let's fight!"

Meanwhile, due to Bulken's arrogance, the gray-collar scouts had ample opportunity to observe the demon soldiers' camp.

Fortunately, because the plague and curse on the refugees and nuns were uncontrollable, the demon soldiers and refugees were kept at a distance that was neither too close nor too far apart, and alchemical powder was used for isolation.

This provides a sufficient buffer zone for gray-collar workers to rescue and protect refugees.

In fact, the fifty heavy cavalrymen that Lena brought alone could easily crush these demons.

But Linde still chose to send the regular soldiers who had been trained for a long time.

Because in the war between humans and demons, there is always a saying that every demon is a professional, and ordinary humans are completely unable to defeat them.

There were even myths like "invincible with ten thousand."

If Linde hadn't used these ordinary soldiers to defeat the demons head-on, but instead used Lena's heavy cavalry, then there would still be people who stubbornly insist that only professionals can contend with the demons.

If they really face the demons in the future, the mentality of ordinary soldiers will also be affected.

What Linde needs to do now is to break these myths and remove the mental imprints on ordinary people.

The demon race is not invincible at all. The claim that all demons are professionals is just an exaggeration by some people with ulterior motives.

Demons do indeed become able to use specific magic at a certain age; these spells, which can be used from birth, are called bloodline magic.

However, bloodline magic is fixed, and it is almost impossible for demons who possess bloodline magic to learn new spells.

This is also the biggest difference between demons and elves. Elves are born with the ability to sense and manipulate magic, and all their magic is learned through study. They are a true magical race.

Demons, on the other hand, are like NPCs who are born with a set of fixed moves. They have no idea what magic is or how to use it. I just think they know how to use this magic.

Furthermore, the use of bloodline magic has created an innate dependence on the manipulation of magic power among demons. When using other types of magic, whether it is spell models or magic power manipulation, they will lean towards bloodline magic. As a result, the cost for most talented demons to learn magic is much higher than that for humans, and their use of spells other than bloodline magic will appear quite abnormal.

If these demons were placed among humans, they would basically be the lowest-ranking apprentices in a mage tower who only know one or two tricks and can't even pass the professional rating. But once they're on the battlefield, throwing a couple of wind blades can make them a force to be reckoned with by ordinary people.

The most famous tactic of the demon race is to harass you from a distance with bloodline magic, fighting and running away until you are exhausted before charging in with your sword.

This actually exposes the problem of the demon race. Although they are all supposed to be professionals, they are neither like knight professionals who can withstand your rain of arrows and charge in, nor can they directly take you down with firepower like mages. Instead, they can only harass and wear you down, and in the end, they still have to rely on physical charges to deliver the fatal blow to the opponent.

However, the Demon race's advantage has now been neutralized by equipment and gunpowder. Once the musket is successfully developed, the balance of power will truly shift.

The gray-collar workers set off, all the soldiers carrying full sets of equipment, with plenty of grenades and healing potions.

Darcy, who had lied about his age, was among them. Shorter than the others, Darcy was excitedly stroking his split-plate armor.

Thanks to the recruitment of a large number of people from the mountains to work in the gray-white collar area, Darcy accumulated a lot of work points, but instead of using these work points to exchange for supplies, he requested to join the army.

Although he was shorter than others, Darcy's long life as a hunter had made him very strong, and at sixteen, the minimum age for conscription, he was still growing, so no one felt anything was wrong.

I heard that this mission is to fight against the demons. Many people in the team have a deep hatred for the demons and are eager to try.

While Darcy, who grew up in the mountains, didn't have such intense hatred, he also lacked the invincible mindset of the demon race.

With this equipment, even if the lord said he wanted to rebel, Darcy wouldn't even flinch.

Moreover, following behind this army were fifty professional heavy cavalrymen, all of whom had undergone military training.

These are Lena's knights. Although they do not participate in the battle directly, they are responsible for maintaining order and preventing any escapees.

Linde, who grew up in a peaceful era in his previous life, actually knew nothing about warfare. He was completely ignorant about it. His knowledge of war was limited to watching movies and reading novels, and at most, he could only look at war scenes on a sand table.

Therefore, Linde intends to hand over command completely to Laurie, the only veteran in the territory who has fought on the battlefield and commanded combat.

Linde himself was only responsible for coordinating and allocating resources.

That's a bit of an exaggeration, after all, the opponent was just a demon army of twenty men. But even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. If he could, Linde would love to bring over all the cannons that were still in the experimental stage.

"Boss, a human army seems to be heading our way."

A green-skinned demon let out a burp and looked at the army that was raising the banner of the North Wind Bear not far away.

"How many people? Are there any professionals among them?"

Bulken sprang to his feet and asked the demon soldier whose eyes had been enhanced with bloodline magic.

"Their numbers seem to be about the same as ours, all infantry. Although they are all wearing armor, there appears to be only one professional among them."

Upon hearing this answer, Bulken lay down again. There was only one professional, and their numbers were about the same as his side, and they were all unmounted. Weren't they just there to be killed?

Don't claim to be a noble demon race. Even if both sides are inferior humans, once one side mounts their warhorse, the combat strength of the two sides will no longer be on the same level.

It's possible that the nearby lord was stressed and sent a squad of soldiers to make a show of it before making contact.

Thinking of this, Bulken yawned, completely unaware that in another direction, Laurie was leading another group of soldiers to begin a flanking maneuver.

"Boss, something doesn't seem right?"

Sensing something was wrong, the demon soldier shook Bulken, who had just lain down.

"What's wrong? Can those soldiers fly now?"

Burken scratched his belly, which was bloated from eating too much, and sat up lazily.

"No, no, boss, they didn't come in our direction, they went towards the refugees."

"Then we don't need to worry about it anymore. I was just worried that the human lords were too hospitable, making it impossible to send out these plague curses."

After saying that, Burken took out a sharpened bone from his waist and started picking his teeth.

This was a female human's collarbone. Bulken originally liked that female human quite a bit, and was even once very obsessed with her. Unfortunately, after hearing the Demon King's theory of the inferiority of humans, Bulken suddenly found that human woman somewhat disgusting, so he killed her directly.

But after killing her, Bulken regretted it and picked out the human woman's collarbone, sharpened it, and used it as a toothpick.

Every time he used a toothpick, Bulken felt that he was truly devoted and romantic.