The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Barlow finished his day's work and walked wearily out of the mage tower.

A second-tier rune master in the remote countryside is someone who is personally received and treated with great courtesy by even lords and nobles.

But this is the royal capital. If you are made of gold, then the royal capital is magnificent and resplendent. Second-tier rune masters can only assist the masters in the mage tower.

Balo is considered one of the luckier ones, since the Twilight Tower he's in is a subordinate organization of the Royal Mage Tower, belonging to the Royal Professionals Association, so he's basically on government pay.

Barlow should have lived on the outskirts of the inner city, leading a life between the mage tower and his home, but as expected, an accident occurred.

Barlow's younger sister Sharon, with whom he had relied on each other since childhood, has contracted a strange illness. She is weak, coughs up blood constantly, and has sores on her body that slowly fester. Recently, it seems that more and more people in the capital are suffering from this previously rare disease, and alchemists have been racking their brains but have not been able to concoct an effective medicine.

Rumor has it that using the church's holy water can cure the disease, but holy water is already precious, and now its price has skyrocketed. Barlow, who has no connections in the church and no money, can only work part-time while carefully taking care of his sister.

Because of this illness, Sharon had to give up her studies. When she was about to give up, Barlow chose the mysterious loan that had begun to circulate in the capital.

With this loan, Barlow obtained a small bottle of holy water. After Sharon used it, her complexion improved significantly, and she is now able to go out for walks.

"You're back, bro?"

Seeing his younger sister, whose face had regained color, waiting for him, Balo felt that his exhaustion and the stench of the outer city were no longer so important.

Balo, who originally lived on the outskirts of the inner city, had to move to the outer city to save money for his sister's medical treatment.

"Don't you have a part-time job today?"

"I'm off work today, so I can take you out for a walk."

"No need, brother. I still need to spin yarn. The old lady next door lent me her spinning wheel. I need to spin the material into yarn in the next couple of days."

Barlow looked at his sister's hands and the simple spinning wheel behind her with some heartache, and said, "The priest said you need to go out more often and breathe some fresh air. I just got paid today, let's go for a walk in the inner city."

Seeing that Ballow's attitude was firm, his younger sister had no choice but to nod and follow him out.

The biggest change in the inner city of the royal capital is that there are more green-skinned demons on the streets.

Seeing his younger sister stealing a few curious glances at the green-skinned demons, Balo explained, "It's because the Prime Minister recently pushed through a 'Freedom Act,' which allows demons to travel freely within specific areas of the kingdom."

As soon as Barlow finished speaking, he saw several nobles leading students in a march not far away. There have been more and more marches in the capital recently. Although the Lars family has fallen and is said to have split into four parts, there is more and more dissatisfaction with the new king in the capital.

The nobleman leading the students shouted, "Restricted freedom is not true freedom! We hope Your Majesty can set aside your prejudices and allow the peace-loving demons to freely enter the Western and Southern Territories!"

The students behind them immediately started shouting along.

"What did His Majesty the King do?"

The younger sister looked at the parade in the distance with some curiosity. Because she hadn't been to school for a long time, she was no longer very familiar with the situation in the outside world.

"No, His Majesty the King did nothing. He simply stipulated in the Freedom Act that demons could not travel to the western and southern territories where war was being prepared. However, some people believe that this is not true freedom, but discrimination against demons and betrayal of allies."

As a member of the Royal Professionals Association, Barlow would inevitably hear such news, whether he liked it or not.

Barlow was somewhat puzzled. His Majesty the King had already granted these demons sufficient privileges, so why were these nobles still saying that His Majesty discriminated against them?

In Barlow's view, these nobles were simply looking for an excuse to criticize the new king while His Majesty was implementing reforms, in order to demonstrate their own authority.

Just then, a flippant voice rang out: "Hey little girl, are you free? How about we grab a bite to eat together?"

A green hand patted Sharon on the shoulder, and Sharon instinctively dodged towards Barlow, who also instinctively grabbed the hand.

"What do you want to do to my sister?"

But Balo soon regretted it, as the people harassing his sister were two demons.

The demon grinned wickedly upon seeing this and immediately began to shout, "Help! Humans are bullying demons again!"

Another demon raised his voice and shouted, "So what if we're a little ugly? I didn't expect you humans to discriminate against demons. Is this how you humans treat your guests?"

Immediately, all eyes on the street were drawn to it.

Barlow paused for a moment, then immediately released his grip on the other person's hand and explained, "No, I didn't. You guys approached me first."

But it was too late. The nobleman who was in the procession saw what was happening and immediately led his men to surround the area.

Upon seeing the humans arrive, a demon immediately began to wail and shout, saying that demons were originally just as noble as elves, born with the ability to use magic, but because of the jealousy of humans, they were driven to the eternal frozen land by the Lars family.

Another demon cried and wiped away tears, talking about how pitiful demons were, what inhuman treatment they had suffered, and how they were abused by the Lars family.

The more they spoke, the more enraged the surrounding nobles became, as if they wanted to devour the brother and sister alive.

"You humans look down on us. We demons have already helped you maintain peace in the north, but your king won't even let us into other parts of the kingdom."

“We just wanted to have a friendly cultural exchange with your sister, but you humans treated us like this.”

After saying this, the two demons were panting and shouting. As more and more people gathered around, Balo felt increasingly unable to defend himself. In the end, he had no choice but to grab his sister and run away before things got out of control.

After escaping home, Balo calmed his sister down, but the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He remembered that one of his colleagues had been fired for discriminating against demons, but that person genuinely looked down on demons. Balo, to be honest, didn't have any ill feelings towards demons.

Although Barlow had studied history and knew why the Lars family drove the demons to the eternal tundra, he felt that it was all in the past and that the sins of the past should not be borne by the demons of today.

Normally, when people see a demon named Balo, they don't go up to chat with him enthusiastically, but they just treat him as an ordinary person. Moreover, thanks to Cordick's vigorous propaganda, the demon race has long been portrayed as an intelligent, patient, and peace-loving race. With the strong support of the nobles in the capital, who would dare to look down on the demons in the capital?

Although it was clearly not his fault, Balo still thought he should find an opportunity to apologize to the other party tomorrow. With a feeling of unease, Balo comforted his sister and then fell into a deep sleep, exhausted.