The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Chapter 16 The Current Status of the Female Lead

At this moment, Isa Nebert, the protagonist of this game, or rather this world, is leading the refugees toward the gray-collar and white-collar areas.

Although a large number of refugees died during the initial attack on Yage's castle and on the way, the number of refugees joining them along the way actually increased.

Just as Lind had guessed, Isa captured Count Jacob's castle, but was unable to hold it.

Once the news of Count Jacob's death and the fall of the castle reaches the territories of the surrounding nobles, those nobles will immediately raise the banner of revenge for Jacob and attack Isa. Whether they genuinely want revenge or just want to take advantage of the chaos, they will all get a share of the spoils after Isa is captured.

Unable to replicate the miraculous meteorite event of that day, Isa could no longer resist the attacks of these nobles, so she simply abandoned Luye Territory and began to move westward.

As expected, when Isha gave up, the nobles did not rush to pursue her. Instead, they began to dismantle the Woolleaf Territory and distribute the spoils in Yage's castle.

After obtaining the nearly rotten food stored by Yag, Isa thought she could lead the refugees safely to the western side of the North and settle down. However, as more and more refugees joined along the way, the food was consumed rapidly.

In addition to the suppression and harassment from some nobles along the way, by the time Isa was about to reach the Gray and White Collar, many people had been hungry for a long time.

Fortunately, there were no more nobles around, so Isa could settle down with peace of mind.

Although I've heard there's a noble territory called Gray Collar not far away, that territory is only just beginning to develop, with only a few hundred people, and it's still a campground full of tents.

This is also why Isa chose to go west; these minor nobles don't have much help from professionals, and their combat strength is generally not high.

If a conflict were to break out, the other side would also suffer a thankless task, and any noble with a sound mind would turn a blind eye to Isha's group of over a thousand people.

Managing a team of over a thousand people left Isa feeling physically and mentally exhausted, but fortunately, she had the help of the refugees from when she conquered Luye Territory. Those refugees had all witnessed the meteor shower from the sky and believed it to be a miracle performed by the goddess for Isa. Now, they were absolutely loyal to Isa.

Moreover, the old village chief who had drunk Isha's holy water had miraculously recovered and was able to help Isha share some of the burden.

"Your Holiness, don't forget to send scouts out to check on that gray-collar worker."

It was also the idea of ​​the old village chief named Jack to have Isa claim to be a saint. There were countless rebels in the North, and the Church's control was not strong. Having multiple rebel saintesses was a trivial matter for the Church, but it would greatly help Isa unite the people.

"Don't worry, old village chief. I already arranged for Bruno to go there. Judging by the timeline, he should be back soon."

Isa handled these small matters with ease, but the current situation was not optimistic. At least most people were still hungry, and at night they had to huddle together for warmth. If the neighboring territory only had tents, Isa now couldn't even afford a tent.

No sooner had Isha finished speaking than the man named Bruno, who was carrying a shovel, returned with two relatively strong-looking refugees.

Since burying his wife and children, Bruno has shaken off his muddled state.

Bruno, who is usually efficient and never wastes words, looked troubled at this moment, unsure of how to start a conversation with Isa.

"What's wrong, Bruno? Did you run into some difficulties while investigating that gray-collar worker?"

Isa looked at Bruno with concern. Bruno didn't seem to be in danger; rather, he seemed to have encountered something strange.

"Your Holiness, do you think all nobles are truly evil?"

Isa fell silent, puzzled by Bruno's seemingly random question. Isa did not believe that all nobles were evil. As she had seen when she was studying in the capital, many nobles, though only concerned with appearances, genuinely cared about the common people.

Moreover, although few in number, there are indeed some nobles who genuinely fight for the interests of the common people.

At this point, Isa already had the concept that "there will be no class that betrays its class, but there will be people who betray their class," but she was not yet able to summarize it.

But what puzzled Isa was that the one who asked the question was Bruno, the man whose wife had been played to death by nobles and hung on the city wall, and whose child had died after eating the nobles' spoiled food.

"Probably, but we haven't encountered any along the way, have we?"

Upon hearing Isa's answer, Bruno and the two scouts seemed to see a glimmer of hope and finally spoke out about what they had seen in the gray-collar area.

“Your Majesty, I saw… I saw that gray-collar worker cooking porridge in our direction, and there was a sign. I’m not very literate, but the scout I brought with me who can read said it said it was the place to collect relief food from the Lars family.”

"what?"

Now it was Isa and Old Jack's turn to be shocked. Could there really be nobles who would distribute relief food?

"Don't worry, this could also be a conspiracy by the nobles."

The experienced old Jack didn't immediately believe the scout's words and continued, "Look at that Grey-White Collar, it only has a few hundred people. Even if they're really willing to give relief food, where would they get the relief food for us, a little over a thousand people? It can't be that Grand Duke Lars has been transporting supplies to that territory all this time, can it?"

Upon hearing this, Isa and the scouts realized that it was indeed unbelievable, and that old Jack's speculation was more reasonable.

But Isa felt that the lord of the gray-collar area wasn't the type who couldn't be negotiated with; at least he had taken a relatively mild stance. So she planned to have Bruno go and see if he could contact the lord.

Just then, the ground beneath Isa’s feet suddenly began to tremble, and many refugees became nervous. They recognized this as the lord’s heavy cavalry being deployed, as they had fled all the way. Although these heavy cavalrymen usually only drove people away, they still left an indelible mark of fear on these refugees.

"Get ready to meet the enemy!"

As Isha shouted, the refugees who had witnessed the meteorite miracle began to maintain order in the camp.

Considering that the other side was a small territory with only a few hundred people, Isa believed that as long as her side did not lose its composure, she could make the other side wary by virtue of her numerical advantage.

But Isa soon realized she was wrong, terribly wrong. The heavy cavalry that came were all dressed in blue and white armor, each with three horses, wielding enchanted lances and warhammers that emitted a faint glow, and carrying longbows with strings made from the tendons of liger beasts on their backs.

The female knight in particular was equipped with equipment that was not just luxurious, but outrageous. It was as if she had simply copied the defensive runes used in a castle onto her armor. Even a high-level professional could not afford to wear such an outfit.

Most importantly, their armor and cloaks are printed with the North Wind Bear, which represents the Lars family.

They are knights of the Lars family, and all of them are professionals.

"I'm so sorry, Your Holiness, it's all because of me."

Bruno felt extremely guilty. The cavalry appeared immediately after he returned to camp, clearly indicating that his reconnaissance had been discovered and that they had followed him directly.

"No, it's not your fault. The other party is much stronger than you."

Isa fell into deep despair.