Imperial Crown

In the cold wind, the girl sat quietly on the horse. The bright yellow priest robe made her look as delicate as the apricot blossoms in early spring.

This flower also bloomed in Raven's heart.

His breathing stopped for a moment. Raven raised his arms, and the soldiers slowly stopped their horses. He rode forward and came to the girl.

But before he could speak, the girl's voice sounded: "I'll go with you."

Raven didn't want her to face this unknown danger: "But..."

The girl held the reins tightly and looked into Raven's eyes. Her voice was soft, but her tone was extremely serious:

"We have to go, let's go together."

It looked like if Raven didn't take her, she would follow behind by herself.

After weighing the pros and cons, Raven had to nod: "Okay, you can follow me, but you have to follow my command in everything."

The girl nodded obediently, making Raven feel that his instructions were a bit redundant.

The team continued to set off. They didn't feel uncomfortable because of the sudden addition of a woman. Instead, their morale was somewhat improved.

Because this person was the priest Lacus.

Injuries are inevitable in battle, and as we all know, divine arts have excellent healing effects. With her, the probability of everyone returning home alive will undoubtedly increase.

Although all members are equipped with war horses and supplies are transported by pack horses, the overall speed of advancement is not very fast.

After two rounds of strengthening, the semi-magic beast war horses have excellent physical strength and speed. If they rush at full speed, without considering logistics, they can reach Monen City in three or four days at most.

But you can't do this.

Fighting for profit in fifty miles will lead to the fall of the general.

Raven must ensure that his soldiers always maintain combat effectiveness and physical strength - at least they must have the physical strength to escape.

However, he did not deliberately delay. He set out at dawn and found a place to camp before dark. The marching time was about seven to eight hours a day, and the distance was about 30 kilometers.

After all, there were too few troops in his hands, so it was better to join other nobles as soon as possible to ensure his own safety.

The area of ​​Nord Province is hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, not less than many countries in the previous life.

According to the administrative system of the empire, there are county-level administrative agencies under the provinces. The provinces have "governors" and "provincial capitals", and the counties also have their own "county governors" and "county cities".

There are a total of 17 counties in the Nord Province, some large and some small.

The Eagle Territory where Raven is located, together with Viscount John's Snow Maple Territory, Baron Angel's Iron Furnace Territory, and the territories of the other eleven barons and viscounts, together constitute the "Snow Maple County".

Starting from Snow Maple County, you need to pass through Hippoc County, Derby County, Harold County in turn, and then detour to Hodges County before you can reach Monn City.

In the first few days, Raven was marching in Snow Maple County.

During this period, they passed through several noble territories. Most of the lords of these places accepted the transfer orders and mobilization of the Slater family and had already set off, but they still left a certain amount of protection at home.

Although they could not enter the castle or town to rest, when they were stationed outside the city, the local Chamber of Commerce and government officials would still bring wine and meat to "comfort" them. Some would even invite Raven to a banquet, showing their hospitality.

After all, everyone was a neighbor of Xuefeng County. They would see each other every day, and it was reasonable for them to give each other some convenience and care.

In the communication with these neighbors, Raven also got some new information.

For example, not all nobles accepted the transfer order of the Slater family at the beginning. There were many who wanted to preserve their strength and wait and see the situation.

But when waves of troops passed through the territory, these lords were a little shaken.

It is difficult for anyone to avoid the herd mentality. Following the majority to make choices is not always right, but the cost of mistakes can always be shared.

It takes great courage to be an outlier.

So many nobles who did not accept the transfer order of the Slater family at the beginning later joined the ranks of fighting against the Death Hand Cult. At least, like Angel, they would send unimportant sons and relatives to lead the cannon fodder troops.

The relatively easy march passed quickly.

From the sixth day, after the troops entered Hippok County, they gradually became nervous from the inside out, and felt a hint of "end of the world".

Many corpses can be seen on the road. At first, they can only be seen sporadically on the roadside every few miles. Later, as they go deeper, the frequency and number of corpses increase.

In groups of three or five, there are dead and wounded, and even piles of corpses like a hill.

Most of them are refugees, men and women, old and young, their clothes have been stripped, and they are skinny and dark skinned. Some of them have sickly bloated bellies. Their hands and feet are twisted and stretched out, and from a distance, they look like strange branches.

Some refugees still have sword wounds on their bodies. They should have died when they were hungry and wanted to attack the town or the army logistics.

The lords and officials of Hippok County are not as enthusiastic as those of Xuefeng County, but perhaps they are worried that Raven will temporarily "change his job" to a robber, so they will provide some supplies.

It is worth mentioning that since the entire Eagle Territory knew about Lux's kindness, when the soldiers first saw the bodies, they were worried that Lux would ask them to bury, collect the bodies, or pray for them.

But it turned out that their worries were completely unnecessary. Lux was indeed praying, but she was just silently reciting the prayer in her own way. Except for personally praying for the souls of the dead when setting up camp, she did not delay the team's journey.

On the evening of the thirteenth day of the march, Raven and his party left Hippocshire and entered Derbyshire.

As usual, Raven camped near a town. The town called "Watson" was extremely quiet, with no one on the street. If it weren't for the smoke from every household, Raven would almost think he had come to a dead town.

The political officer here showed complete indifference and only sent a notice: If Raven dared to enter Watson Town, it would mean going to war with Viscount Ghana.

Being so vigilant can only mean one thing - next, we will enter the real war zone.

And the facts also confirmed Raven's judgment.

At noon on the fifteenth day, he found a destroyed town.

The size of this town is similar to that of Shining Gold Town, which can accommodate a population of four to five thousand, but now it is completely buried in snow, and there is no sign of any human activity.

The originally neat houses have become ruins, with collapsed roofs and collapsed walls, and only snow is lying on the wooden beds where people should sleep.

Raven led the team around the edge of the town, and the horses' hooves trampled the snow, startling a group of crows.

"Ga--"

The hoarse cry echoed in the air.

Volaf suddenly pointed to the side, his voice trembling: "Baron, look!"

Raven looked in the direction of his finger, and his breath was choked.

That was where the crows had just stopped.

In the white snow, there stood an altar, a bloody altar.

It was not built with stone or wood, but with the flesh and blood of living people!

The bodies were pieced together, squeezed, frozen together, and stuck together to form a circular altar with a diameter of more than ten meters.

This altar was obviously carefully designed, with the heads of the dead next to each other, feet next to each other, and their hands connected together. Everyone's head was facing the sky, and there was fear on their twisted faces.

In the center of the altar, there was a young mother, naked, with her abdomen cut open, half-kneeling on the ground, her hands raised high, and in her hands, she was dragging the body of a baby.

The baby's eyes had been pecked out by crows, and his body was covered with scars, with dry and wrinkled skin, like an old man in his eighties or nineties.

"Baron, this is the work of the Hand of Death." Margaret's voice rang in Raven's mind: "The baby was made to look withered, symbolizing the god of death they worship. Legend has it that the god of death Danathus controls the power of life and death, so he is both old and young."

Raven did not speak, but suddenly began to chant a spell. A few seconds later, a fireball with a hint of blood in the orange-red flew out and landed on the altar. Amid the roar, the flames spread in an instant, engulfing the entire altar.

Lux held her hands in front of her chest and prayed quietly.

The guards also became solemn and dignified, and some of them began to bow their heads in silence spontaneously.

Because this place is so much like their hometown, they dare not imagine what kind of mood they would be in if their hometown became like this.

In the next few days, as they had already entered the war zone, Raven acted more cautiously, which was reflected in the increasingly slow marching speed.

The soldiers also became more vigilant.

This is not the bloody highlands, but the interior of the Nord Province. If they march at full speed and head straight to the central city of Monen, it will only take two days.

But they didn't see a single living person.

Raven finally realized intuitively what it meant to "white bones exposed in the wild, and no cocks crowed for thousands of miles"!

During this period, the scouts led by Simon also found the remains of a battlefield.

The battlefield has been cleaned up. Except for the scattered broken bones and broken blades, no corpses were seen. From the traces, it can be seen that someone had burned corpses here on a large scale.

On the 23rd day from the Eagle Territory, just when they were about to arrive in Harold County, Simon finally brought good news - he found a huge camp that could accommodate at least 20,000 people; he also saw the flag of the Luke family belonging to Viscount John.

Although he was excited, Raven remained calm enough and asked Simon to go over with his visiting card to communicate with him first, so that the other party would not regard him as a lackey of the Hand of Death.

When Raven made this request, Simon showed an embarrassed expression on his face, but he still obeyed the order and left.

After two hours of marching, when Raven came to this camp, he finally understood why Simon had such an expression.

It was too messy!

Rather than calling it a camp, it was more like a noisy market. The wooden fences on the periphery were placed very casually and were not aligned at all. They could be rushed through at will, and could not play any role in blocking the enemy.

All kinds of tents were crowded together, and some did not stand up at all and collapsed directly. You could see what supplies were piled inside. There was a forest not far away, and you only needed to set a fire casually to make it impossible for people to be rescued.

The soldiers standing at the gate of the camp were not vigilant at all, and they opened their eyes only when Raven on the warhorse could clearly see the eye boogers in the corners of his eyes.

Seeing the battle flag behind Raven, the soldier immediately straightened his back: "Baron! Please come in!"

This is like sleeping in your own home. If he were his soldier, Raven would definitely break his whip!

"Which noble is the one in charge here? Take me to see him."

……