“Demon soldiers? Is the border army doing nothing about it?”
Lind furrowed his brows. From the memories of the previous owner, the border troops in the Northern Border were retreating step by step, but they were far from collapsing. From Lind’s limited military perspective, as long as the Lars Family was willing to consolidate their lines, they could hold out for a long time. After all, the Northern Border had substantial strategic depth, making it difficult for a sudden defeat.
Seeing this, Jefferson began to explain to Lind about the recently signed Surde Treaty, leaving Lind dumbfounded.
This treaty would likely have been something that Li Hongzhang wouldn’t even dare to sign in his previous life. To put it in perspective, it was like losing thirty kills while playing in the canyon, and then a teammate glanced at the enemy and said, “Ten minutes until we hit the victory point.” Yet, they actually managed to organize four people to push their way to that victory point at the right time, having just consumed two plates of food, and they hadn’t even destroyed a single tower.
It might be a bit of an exaggeration to say that, but considering the Surde Treaty, the most it could be considered was a retreat to the second tower, which was already quite ridiculous.
Even a profit-focused noble like Jefferson had many grievances. Not only had they lost territory, but they had also lost markets.
Moreover, those green-skinned demons were proclaiming some sort of theory about the inferiority of humans, and this treaty only amplified those claims, suggesting that humans, who needed to learn to wield magic, were indeed inferior to the demon race.
There were even statements that demons should rule over humans.
Humans simply needed to obediently accept their rule, while demons had much more to consider.
This made Jefferson, who prided himself on being of noble descent, extremely dissatisfied, yet there was nothing he could do but discuss the treaty with Lind, filled with righteous indignation.
“Not only that, little brother, do you know why this demon army has come to the Northern Border?”
“They’re here to spread plague! They captured the nuns and commoners from the Cathedral of the Blessed Mother of Relief, implanted them with plague and curses, and then threw these infected people back into the Northern Border, even having this army guard them to prevent them from committing suicide or being dealt with by other nobles, calling it ‘escorting our citizens’.”
“Among them is even the esteemed Saintess Flora! This is utterly intolerable!”
Jefferson grew angrier as he spoke, even on the verge of throwing his cup to the floor.
Jim, who was nearby, joined in, knowing even more about this treaty. He began to curse the incompetence of the nobles in the royal capital, stating that Caudic was just a fraudster. Unlike Jefferson, who was dark and brooding, Jim was more radical, arguing that since Duke Lars hadn’t signed this treaty, it was simply a piece of toilet paper—no, it should be called a worthless piece of paper, as he wouldn’t even want to use it for wiping.
Fearing that Jefferson would let this slip to old Evans, Jim quickly covered his mouth. If old Evans heard that, Jim would undoubtedly face a stir-fried bamboo shoot punishment, especially since old Evans had just paid protection money to this demon race.
This was also the attitude of the nobles of the Northern Border who had some conscience; although they were angry, they felt helpless. When the demon troops passed, they still had to offer food and drink to prevent the demons from throwing these infected and cursed people into their territory.
Lind listened, feeling his head swell. Could there really be such absurd and magical events happening? He vaguely sensed that, for some reason, the current king was more wary of the Northern Border than of the demon race. To thoroughly ruin the Northern Border, he seemed willing to sell out the country.
This might be related to the kingdom’s system; Augustus III didn’t regard the Northern Border as part of his territory at all.
After all, once the precedent of actively betraying vassals was set, would the other dukes really willingly follow the kingdom? Wouldn’t they feel the sorrow of lost kin? Lind completely could not understand why the current Augustus III was acting so hastily.
“And I’ve heard that the demon army is already heading in our direction. I hope little brother can prepare some offerings to host this demon army; we shouldn’t be too rash.”
Jefferson’s face changed quickly. One moment he was filled with righteous indignation, and the next he was already considering how to treat the other party, especially advising Lind to stay calm.
It couldn’t be helped; after all, if the Graywhite Territory in Fasen Town were to become infected with plague, the lower district of Fasen Town would suffer.
The concession of the noble class was vividly reflected in Jefferson.
“Thank you for the reminder; I will prepare accordingly.”
Lind agreed and clinked glasses with Jefferson and Jim. Besides Jim, both parties silently shifted topics and discussed some details regarding the recovery potion business. Afterward, Lind personally escorted Jefferson onto the ship.
As he watched the Jefferson merchant group sail away, Lind said to the maid beside him, “Bring Miss Lena, Miss Isha, and the superiors here; prepare for an urgent meeting.”
Lind had been thinking about quietly developing himself, entering steadily, and preserving his strength. This way, no matter who won the heir war, the Graythorn Territory could remain unshaken; in fact, the longer the heir war lasted, the better it would be for the Graythorn Territory, which was continually absorbing refugees.
But he never imagined that while the front line was resisting the demon race, the rear was resisting the front line, and since the Cathedral of the Blessed Mother of Relief involved the female protagonist Isha, Lind could not afford to take the situation lightly regarding how to handle the incoming demon squad.
As expected, during the meeting, Isha, upon hearing about this matter, nearly flipped the table.
“How dare they? Spreading plague and curses among the living! Is the church just going to turn a blind eye?!”
“And even Lady Flora…”
Isha couldn’t continue, and tears flowed uncontrollably. Isha had initially left the Cathedral of the Blessed Mother of Relief with the refugees to avoid becoming a burden, but in the end, she found herself in the most perilous situation.
Her overly gentle nature led her to feel guilty, wondering why she hadn’t contacted the Cathedral of the Blessed Mother of Relief sooner to have Saintess Flora bring people over.
In fact, Isha had sent letters to the Cathedral of the Blessed Mother of Relief, but at that time, the front line was too chaotic for news to be reliably transmitted. However, this did not diminish Isha’s feelings of guilt.
Lena could not accept it either. The most well-connected and crucial mining area in the Northern Border had been handed over to the enemy just like that?
The atmosphere inside the lord’s tent became very oppressive in that instant.
At that moment, Isha seemed to remember something and looked up at Lind. Lind understood her, waved his hand, and dismissed a group of lower-ranking officials to leave. Only the core decision-making members of the Graythorn Territory remained in the tent.
“Lord!”
Isha had just opened her mouth when Lind interrupted her.
“I know what you’re implying, Miss Isha; you want to restore the production of holy water, right?”
Lauri, who was in charge of the army, asked with confusion, “Holy water? What holy water? Isn’t it about the recovery potion?”
Lila explained beside Lauri, “Actually, the territory has mastered the method of mass-producing holy water, but because you are too unreliable, we didn’t tell you.”
“No, no, no, no!”
Lauri shook his head in frustration, “Are you saying the holy water that requires high-level priests to focus on praying for a month to possibly produce a bottle?”
“What else then?”
Lila seemed to have known about this already and accepted it quite calmly.
“Wait! Do we have such high-level priests in our territory? Are you kidding me?”
After all, this was too beyond reason, and it was no wonder even a shallow believer like Lauri found it hard to believe. Even Lila only knew about the matter; she didn’t fully understand how holy water was made. There were only four people in the territory who knew the truth.
In the end, Lind had to helplessly say, “Let’s not get hung up on this issue; just consider it produced by me.”
“Ah?”
Lauri shouted with his mouth wide open:
“Wait, wait, wait! The holy water is obviously more outrageous than any demon army and church saintess! Don’t you guys have anything to say?”
Everyone shook their heads slightly.
Seeing this, Lauri’s expression was as if he heard a line from a song: “The world isolates me; let it mock me.”
