The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

At this moment, Isa Nebert, the female protagonist of the game, is leading a group of refugees in Luye Territory, waiting for the lord to distribute relief food.

Because she deviated from the original game's storyline, Isa did not become a saint. Instead, she returned to the war-torn North and used her abilities to heal and save lives at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation.

As the northern front continued to crumble, large tracts of farmland were destroyed, leading to a large number of rural residents becoming refugees.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in the North could no longer accommodate so many refugees, who had no choice but to become displaced people and begin fleeing south.

It was under these circumstances that Isa left the church and led the group of refugees south. However, as the number of refugees increased, Isa began to feel overwhelmed. The savings she had accumulated from working in the capital were running out, but the number of refugees following her in their escape was growing.

"Old village chief, drink this holy water, and you will recover soon. May the goddess protect you."

After saying that, Isa handed the medicine bottle to an old man's lips.

“Sister, how can an old man like me use such precious holy water? Perhaps... perhaps we should leave it for the younger generation.”

The old man was barely breathing, as if his days were numbered.

"Don't worry, old village chief, I still have plenty. The relief grain from the Lars family was delivered to the castle yesterday and will be distributed soon."

At Isha's urging, the old man finally drank some of the holy water, and his expression improved considerably.

In reality, Isa's potion had already been used up on the way. The water in the bottle, in modern terms, has a more accurate name—a placebo, which is actually just ordinary river water mixed with wood ash.

For Isa, the three years of study in the royal city were like a dream. Isa once wondered what would have happened if she had accepted the church's invitation to become a saint's handmaiden in the royal city. At least she wouldn't be wandering around with a group of refugees like she is now.

Even his once striking silver hair turned a dull gray-white during his escape.

But Isa doesn't regret it. Even if she had to choose again, Isa feels she would still return to the North to save the refugees.

After taking good care of the elderly, Isa returned to the group. Several days had passed since they arrived in Luye Territory, but the local lord, Earl Yage, showed no intention of distributing relief food.

As the number of refugees in the North increased, Grand Duke Lars issued a relief decree, ordering all vassals of the Lars family in the North to be obligated to distribute relief food to the refugees who came to the territory, while the Lars family would be responsible for compensating the nobles who distributed the relief food with food or money.

The refugees naturally heard this news, but unfortunately, so far no refugee group has received the so-called relief food.

Looking at the gradually dimming holy light in her hand, Isha fell into confusion.

The strength of a clergyman's holy light does not necessarily indicate the firmness of his faith, because the holy light is influenced not only by faith but also by magical talent.

However, if a clergyman's holy light becomes weaker and weaker, or even dims, then there is only one possibility: that the clergyman's faith has wavered.

In an effort to reflect on why her faith had wavered, Isha had been studying religious texts for the past few days, but the more she studied them, the more she realized how incompatible reality was with the scriptures.

The goddess teaches that all people are God's children and that all God's children are equal, so why are there distinctions between rich and poor, noble and lowly?

The goddess's teachings clearly state that sin is unforgivable and must be severely punished to atone for it, so why can the rich use indulgences to escape punishment?

Excommunication is clearly the prerogative of the goddess and the pope, so why would monks use excommunication to threaten ordinary believers and force them to donate money?

The goddess's oracle clearly instructed her people to unite, but the high bishop interpreted it as someone slapping your left cheek and you should offer your right cheek to be slapped.

Isa initially didn't think there was anything wrong with the church's commentary in her hands, but when she actually returned to the North to investigate, she discovered that the wonderful world described in the book didn't exist at all.

The demons won't stop their war just because you offer them your right cheek, and the church's so-called unity only applies to the nobles.

The less money a believer has, the more money they need to "donate".

Isa felt that her faith was indeed wavering.

Especially when refugees following Isa began to starve to death, yet no lord or noble was willing to provide food, and even churches in various places kept their doors closed.

If nothing is done soon, the refugees brought from the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation will likely all starve to death in Luyeh Territory.

Among the refugees, a man was polishing a shovel he had used to guard against bandits along the way.

Although the rusty iron sheet of the shovel could not become sharper because of the man's polishing, the man still continued to polish it with red eyes.

The man held a shriveled, rotting infant corpse in his arms.

Two days ago, Count Jacob opened the gates and released grain, but for just a small bag of grain, he had to exchange it for a woman, and she had to be a young and beautiful woman.

This was not relief food, because Count Jacob said at the time: "First, let's define what a refugee is. Those who can reach Luye Territory are people who have the strength to eat their fill, so they cannot be considered refugees. Therefore, I cannot give you relief food."

The man's wife was chosen to enter the castle that day, and in exchange, she received a bag of grain for her child.

But the bag of grain seemed to be expired rice that had gone bad. The man's child developed a high fever after eating it, and because there was no medicine and he suffered from long-term malnutrition, he died the next day.

Isha's holy water could not save the child, nor could the increasingly dim holy light.

No one blamed Isa. This silver-haired nun had sold everything she could along the way, even her nun's certificate, just to get more food so that everyone could survive until the relief territories were distributed. Isa had long since become the spiritual leader of the group.

But whenever Isa recalled the man holding the child's corpse and crying in front of her, saying, "It must be that the goddess liked this child, which is why she took him to the kingdom of the gods," Isa's heart felt as if it were being clenched.

In fact, it wasn't just the men; many of the refugees waiting outside the castle for relief food gripped their farm tools tightly.

Some people even chopped down the wood and sharpened it into spears, and everyone unconsciously moved closer to Isha.

Two days ago, Count Jacob not only exchanged expired rice for the women among the refugees, but also saw that Isa couldn't produce any church credentials and tried to forcibly drag her into the castle, only to be pushed away by Isa.

To everyone's surprise, Count Jacob was not angry at all, but even more excited. He gave Isa two days to consider. If Isa refused again after two days, Count Jacob would send his guards to kill all the beggars blocking the gates of his castle.

These past two days, Isa did not sit idly by. Although the Holy Light was becoming increasingly dim, Isa still preached every day. However, the content of her sermons was Isa's own insights from the Basilica of Our Lady of Salvation to Luye.

This is a theory that originates from the scriptures but departs from traditional interpretation. It focuses more on poverty, oppression, and injustice, and strives for social justice and equality. It emphasizes the parallel existence of divine authority and human rights. But what are the means to achieve all this?

It is violence.

Isa had realized that studying medicine could not save the North; only struggle could bring liberation.

Although these ideas are still in the early stages of enlightenment, if Linde, who was far away in the gray-collar world, heard them, he would probably shout "Holy crap, liberation theology!"