The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Chapter 297 Preparing for War

Barnard's last letter never reached Lilith, who was unaware that Barnard had been detained by the missing Claire.

But Lilith was still busy with matters in the East. Although Barnard's letter hadn't arrived, she had definitely received her brother's message from her previous life.

Unexplained black clouds and fog have appeared in the Eastern Territory, and anyone who comes into contact with them will turn into the mud monsters that once roamed the Golden Harvest Plains in the Northern Territory.

Not only that, as Linde's investigation deepened, demons and demon god offspring also began to appear in the Eastern Territory, clearly indicating that the demons had launched an undeclared war on the Eastern Territory.

Moreover, the Dorian family is also in grave danger, after all, Harold has already died while delivering the message, and Lilith didn't even have time to mourn her brother before quickly convening a meeting.

At the meeting, almost all the nobles fell silent upon hearing the news. No one dared to ask Her Majesty the Queen how she got the information; just looking at Her Majesty's serious expression, they knew that the other party was not joking.

The one who found it most unacceptable was Monroe. Monroe knew that the demons were constantly transporting people to the Eastern Territory, and he also knew that the demons had designs on the Eastern Territory. However, having already secretly sided with the demons, Monroe turned a blind eye to this. In Monroe's mind, if one day the demons used the Eastern Territory as a springboard to conquer the kingdom, he could at least become a founding duke or something.

The two sides should have been cooperating, but unexpectedly, the demons destroyed Monroe's house.

All eyes were on Monroe, who kept muttering, "It's fake, it's all fake. I haven't even received any news. It must all be fake."

It would have been one thing if his house had been destroyed, since Monroe would have supported the demons if they really wanted it. But he didn't expect that the demons hadn't even mentioned it to him. This made Monroe feel an unprecedented sense of crisis.

"Whether it's true or false, we must take action. Your Majesty, send a team of professionals deep into the Eastern Territory to gather intelligence."

Judith glanced at the somewhat deranged Monroe and said, "Now we should activate the King's special powers and have you take over the Eastern Territory."

This was originally a policy devised by Augustine III to deal with the North, intended to provide the capital with a pretext to take over the North when it descended into chaos.

However, this policy was never implemented before it died with the sudden death of Augustine III.

"There's no need to send anyone to investigate anymore. Let's go straight into a state of war."

Lilith shook her head and sighed. With her brother in charge in the North, there wouldn't be any problems, but fighting on two fronts was already putting a lot of pressure on Capet. Her brother's suggestion to her was simple: if you can't win, run. As long as you escape to the North, at least your life will be safe.

But Lilith did not run away immediately. If she ran away, it would mean that the kingdom would be completely without its leader. Putting aside the southwestern border, the central region might fall completely, and the capital would be in imminent danger. Lilith could not simply abandon the people of the capital.

What worried Lilith even more was her father and brothers back in this life. Lilith quietly wiped away her tears and began to issue orders in a tough manner, sending the garrison of the capital to the eastern border. The entire capital entered a state of being relaxed on the outside but tense on the inside, trying to cooperate with her brother to keep those demons within the eastern border and try not to cause chaos.

On the other side, Linde also received a message from Lilith. Seeing that his younger sister refused to run away and insisted on staying in the capital, Linde couldn't help but feel that his younger sister had grown up and become responsible. But to be honest, this was not a small matter of being bullied. Linde still hoped that his younger sister could run directly to him like before.

The North has returned to a state of war, but it's clear that most people are still very excited, with many eager to seek revenge against the demons.

The fact that the Northern army rejoices at the prospect of war is the biggest difference between it and other armies of the time.

Based on Laurie's initial report and subsequent detailed reports, Linde had come to understand the demons' intentions. The demons had abandoned the territories outside of Broken Snow Territory, and they planned to use these territories in exchange for Linde not intervening in the Eastern Territory incident.

Lind received the entire North, and the Daedric received part of the East. Apart from the East and the Cape, both sides seemed to accept this outcome.

Subsequent letters from Antipas almost explicitly stated this matter, and Antipas even proposed the idea of ​​dividing up Capet.

But it's clear that Antipa didn't understand one thing: in Linde's eyes, the land outside of Broken Snow Territory would be taken back sooner or later, and it had nothing to do with whether the demon race gave up or not.

Moreover, just as Linde had told Lilith, his minimum requirement was the entire Cape, and he had no intention of drawing lines and ruling from the demons.

Antipas's vision was still somewhat short-sighted. Perhaps the demons had gotten used to hiding in the eternal tundra and assumed that others were the same as them, and that they would seize any territory they could.

However, we still need to take back the land outside Duanxue Territory. For no other reason than to cut off the Demon Clan's supply to the Eastern Territory through the land outside Duanxue Territory. Although the Demon Clan certainly has other supply routes, we still have to do it.

Meanwhile, to ensure his sister's safety, Linde sent people to prevent anyone from blowing up the railway, even though it wasn't fully completed yet. However, Linde was very worried about the intelligence work and espionage efforts in the capital.

Furthermore, Lind approved White, who was in charge of the eastern border defense, to use brand-new weapons. Although the tanks that were still being tested were not sent over, some new weapons from the territory were already available for White to use.

The entire North, like a sophisticated machine, resumed operation after a brief rest.

Because Leighton was active in the resistance alongside Isa, he was incorporated into White's forces after the war, according to Leighton's personal wishes.

At this moment, Layton was with White inspecting the new equipment that had been approved for use.

"Alas, ever since the battle of the Golden Harvest Plain, our northern border has become increasingly impoverished. Now, a squad only has one musket. We applied to the governor for more weapons, but he refused, saying that everyone is already short of weapons and that we should overcome our difficulties."

White grumbled as he led Layton to the armory.

Layton comforted him, saying, "After all, the Governor has his own difficulties. As his subordinates, we should be more considerate and share his burdens."

However, Layton also asked, "But with ten people in a class, isn't one musket a bit too few? Back then, our resistance frontline soldiers could manage one or two people per musket."

Layton knew the previous battle had caused great losses to the North, but he hadn't expected it to be this great.

“Isn’t that right? Alright, Sergeant Layton, let me introduce you to the musket. Although some of our soldiers have been trained, I’m worried that some of them still don’t know how to use it or use it well. As officers, we need to know more about these weapons than the soldiers do.”

Layton nodded, but as for muskets, while not everyone in the North knew how to use them, everyone in the army was familiar with them.

But when Layton saw the new weapon that had been approved for use, he was dumbfounded.

"Is this a musket?"

He pointed to his head.

"You're telling me this is a musket?"

"Of course, what else could it be but a musket?"

White lifted the large cylinder covered by the red, blue and white cloth and showed it to Layton. Even with White's professional strength, he could still feel how heavy the cylinder was, but White didn't care at all. He also showed Layton the accompanying equipment next to it.

"Look, it can even be fitted with ammunition belts."