The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Carrying large bags and small packages, Sam arrived at the demon territory and greedily breathed in the fresh air.

It's so nice to be in a place ruled by demons; there's an atmosphere of freedom everywhere.

Most importantly, unlike the capital and the places previously ruled by Doug, where there were starving people and beggars everywhere, there wasn't a single poor person to be seen here.

As an alchemist and a progressive figure in the capital, Sam confidently arrived at the consulate in this concession with his self-written "On Liberty," ready to recommend himself. Back in the capital, he had once joined the heroic Chancellor Cordick in shouting "Peace, not war."

Sam was even praised by Chancellor Cordick at the time, although it was just a compliment in his eyes, but Sam felt that he was already different from those ordinary people.

Sam believed that the great and wise demons would surely be impressed by his "Theory of Freedom," and that he would definitely become as great as Chancellor Cordick.

"Hello, I request to see the consul here. I am a student of Prime Minister Cordick and hope you can make an exception."

After saying that, Sam handed over his identification, which was somewhat like a resume.

However, the human guard standing at the door didn't even glance at it before throwing the stack of waste paper back, while pointing to the bulletin board next to the consulate.

The notice board prominently displays the words: "No humans or dogs allowed."

Sam immediately explained, "I'm not one of those ordinary humans. I'm a professional, and I've spoken up for the demons in the capital. I'm not the lowly human described above."

What level?

The human guard at the gate spoke in a cold tone, as if it were colder than the winter wind.

"Second, second order."

Sam's spirits waned, but the human guard at the gate rang a bell and summoned a green-skinned demon. After explaining Sam's situation, the demon led Sam into the consulate.

Sam was somewhat excited; was his chance finally coming? However, instead of being led to a study or a reception room, Sam was taken directly to the dining room, where a demon was feasting. Most of the dishes on the table had been eaten once and then discarded.

"What's your specialty?"

The mountain-sized demon ate while asking Sam questions.

Sam immediately took out a stack of papers from his backpack and began to speak.

This is a summary by Sam based on Cordick's speech, mainly about the harm of war.

When Sam was about to conclude that war only brought the sneers of the beneficiaries, and was about to continue discussing how the demons should maintain peace and fight against Old Lars, the mountain-sized demon rudely interrupted him, asking directly, "Can you make enhancement potions?"

Sam immediately asked nervously, "Which kind of enhancement potion do you want?"

After the servant pulled Sam aside to explain, Sam stammered, "No, it can't be."

This potion is completely illegal; it can only be made by quack pharmacists on the black market. A proper alchemist and pharmacist like Sam can only make supplements, not such potent drugs.

As soon as he finished speaking, Sam was roughly thrown out, and even though he kept shouting about peace and freedom, the guards ignored him.

On the cold, dry streets of the North during the winter, Sam shivered from the cold. Because this was a territory leased by the Daedric, there were no professional guilds that could provide cheap accommodation, and the inns, seeing that Sam was an outsider, charged him exorbitant prices.

Just as Sam was about to find another place to spend the night, he saw a demon leading several humans chasing people down the street.

"The Consul is kind-hearted and cannot bear to see the poor."

As the demon spoke, he kicked the humans who were shivering in the cold wind, driving them away.

After being robbed of most of his money by demons on the road under the guise of human taxes, Sam managed to spend the night in a place where homeless people gathered before hurriedly leaving, as he only had the travel money he had hidden away left.

After returning to the old house left by his parents, Sam looked at his carefully written treatise on freedom and angrily slammed his fist on the table.

Sam felt deceived. The demons didn't seem to love peace as much as he had imagined. Otherwise, why didn't they value his theory of freedom at all?

Moreover, the leased territory was rife with discrimination. The demons in the capital repeatedly emphasized that they were discriminated against by humans, but Sam actually discovered that he encountered all the cases of discrimination that the demons in the capital mentioned in just two days in the leased territory.

This led Sam to suspect that the demons in the capital were simply projecting their own actions onto humans.

But life goes on. After a trip to the demon territory, Sam's wealth dwindled, and he even considered escaping to the gray-collar area to find his parents.

"No, no, we absolutely cannot go to that devil governor's territory."

Just as Sam was thinking this, the doorbell rang. It turned out that Doug's soldiers were informing him that Governor Doug had issued a new currency, and from today onwards, all transactions within the territory must be conducted in this currency, otherwise all property would be confiscated.

The soldiers also explained that this was to combat the free currency issued by the Grey and White Collars, and that each exchange was a show of support for Governor Doug and a blow to the evil Old Lars forces.

Sam was somewhat reluctant, after all, Doug's Doug Currency was paper money, and who would want to exchange a pile of gold and silver for worthless paper?

After hesitating for a moment, Sam followed his mother's advice and only replaced a portion of the items.

After Sam used it for two days, he found that the purchasing power of this paper money seemed to be stronger, and many people were frantically exchanging their gold and silver for this paper money.

"After all, it is the Governor's reputation that guarantees it."

"The Governor-General said that there will be absolutely no over-issuance!"

Amidst these assurances, in order to support Governor Doug's cause for freedom, Sam exchanged all the money he had for these paper Doug coins, then bought alchemical materials and food, and settled into his home to begin making the potion he had ordered.

However, when Sam arrived at the town's pub two weeks later, he saw people drinking heavily. Puzzled, Sam went up to them and asked, "Hey buddy, what's the occasion? Why is everyone drinking so fast?"

After finishing his drink, the burly man in front of Sam said, "If you don't drink quickly, the price might go up later!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the bartender prepared to change the sign from 700,000 Doug Dollars to 900,000. Upon seeing this, the burly man hurriedly went to settle the bill.

Sam stared in disbelief at the 20,000 Doug dollars in his pocket. Two weeks ago, it was a huge sum of money, but now it couldn't even buy a drink.

Sam immediately realized something was wrong and rushed to the post office, only to find that he couldn't even afford the Doug Dollars needed to send a letter. A loaf of bread was already approaching 500,000 Doug Dollars and was still rising in price.

And so, Sam went bankrupt.

With nowhere else to turn, Sam, carrying the last bit of food and alchemy materials, prepared to flee to find his parents.

However, on his escape, Sam encountered the demons leading Doug's soldiers to conscript men.

"Wait, wait! I'm a professional, I don't need to join the army!"

Sam immediately shouted at the soldiers and demons, but to his surprise, the soldiers and demons became even more excited after hearing it.

"A professional, that means he's rich, right? He doesn't look like a combat-type professional."

As the soldiers talked, they slowly approached Sam. As Sam retreated, they became even more certain that he was not a combat-type professional. They immediately swarmed forward and snatched the package from Sam's hands.

"Wait! That's the last thing I have left to eat. I can make potions, please don't take any more of my food!"

Sam cried out in despair, but the soldiers tore at the package while discussing where they would bury him.

Just then, Sam heard a muffled thud, followed by more sounds. The demons, along with their soldiers, fell one after another. Sam saw bright red flowers of blood burst open on their chests.

The flower was so perfect that Sam's resentment seemed to pour out with it as it bloomed.

"Are you OK?"

A man who looked like a farmer and was carrying a strange fire poker came up to Sam.

Seeing that Sam was still in a daze, he looked at the farmer-like uncle and extended his hand to introduce himself: "Layton, Lars Resistance Army."

Sam, who had originally been extremely hostile to the so-called resistance, now grabbed Layton's arm in a somewhat frantic manner.

"You want to fight against the demons and Doug, right? I want to join you! I want to join you!"

Faced with a loaf of bread worth 500,000 Dougs, Sam forgot the words he had spoken in the capital and chose to join the war.

A few days later, when Isa arrived at Camp Layton, some resistance recruits were training on how to use firearms.

"Didn't the gray-collar workers only receive bolt-action muskets?"

Isa listened to the sounds from the shooting range with an incredulous expression.

“A new recruit came a few days ago. He can pull the bolt so fast that it’s like a phantom. His current speed is the limit of a musket, not his.”

Layton explained.