Imperial Crown.

Chapter 123: Deep into the Nord Province
In the cold wind, the girl sat quietly on her horse. Her bright yellow priest robe made her look as delicate as apricot blossoms in early spring.

This flower also bloomed in Raven's heart.

His breathing paused for a moment, Raven raised his arms, his personal soldiers slowly stopped their horses, and he himself rode forward and came to the girl's side.

But before he could say anything, the girl's voice rang out: "I'll go with you."

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

The girl held the reins tightly, looked into Raven's eyes, and spoke softly but seriously:

"Yes, let's go together."

It looked like if Raven didn't take her with him, she would have to follow on her own.

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

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

The team continued on their journey. They did not feel uncomfortable because of the sudden appearance of a woman. Instead, their morale improved a little.

Because this person is Priest Lacus.

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

Although all personnel were equipped with war horses and supplies were transported by pack horses, the overall advance speed was not very fast.

After being strengthened twice, the semi-demonized warhorse has excellent physical strength and speed. If it charges at full speed, without considering logistics, it can reach Mon'en City in three or four days at most.

But you can't do that.

If you fight for profit within fifty miles, you will defeat the general.

Raven had to ensure that his personal soldiers always maintained their combat effectiveness and physical strength—at least they had the strength to escape.

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

After all, there are too few troops at hand, so it is better to join forces with other nobles as soon as possible to better ensure one's own safety.

The Nord Province covers an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, which is no smaller 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 towns".

There are a total of seventeen 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 Hippok County, Derby County, Harold County in turn, and then detour to Hodges County before you can reach the City of Monn.

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

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

Although he was not allowed to enter castles or towns to rest, when he was stationed outside the city, local chambers of commerce and government officials would still come to "comfort" him with wine and meat, and some would even invite Raven to a banquet, showing their hospitality.

After all, we are all neighbors in Xuefeng County. We see each other every day, so it is only natural that we can give each other some convenience and care.

In communicating with these neighbors, Raven also obtained some new information.

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

But as wave after wave of troops passed through the territory, these lords began to waver in their hearts.

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

It takes tremendous courage to be an outlier.

Therefore, many nobles who did not accept the Slater family's transfer order at the beginning later joined the ranks to fight against the Death Hand Cult. At the very least, they would do the same as Angel and send their unimportant sons and relatives to lead the cannon fodder troops.

The relatively easy march passed quickly.

Starting from the sixth day, after the troops entered Hippok County, they gradually became tense from inside out and felt a sense of "end of the world".

Many corpses can be seen on the road. At the beginning, they can only be seen sporadically on the roadside every few miles. Later, as we go deeper, the frequency becomes higher and higher, and the number also increases.

There were groups of three or five people, with dead and wounded everywhere, and even the corpses piled up like a small mountain.

Most of them were refugees, both men and women, young and old. They had all been stripped of their clothes. They were skinny and had dark skin. Some had sickly bloated bellies. Their arms and legs were stretched out in twisted shapes, and from a distance they looked like strange tree branches.

Some refugees had knife wounds on their bodies, which must have been caused by their starvation when they tried to attack towns or military logistics.

The lords and officials of Hippok County were not as enthusiastic as those of Xuefeng County, but perhaps because they were worried that Raven would temporarily "change jobs" to become a bandit, they did provide some supplies.

It is worth mentioning that since the entire Eagle Territory knew about Lux's kindness, when the soldiers saw the corpses for the first time, they were worried that Lux would ask to bury them, 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 prayers 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 thirteenth night of the march, Raven and his party left Hippoc County and entered Derby County.

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

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

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

And the facts also confirmed Raven's judgment.

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

This town was about the same size as Goldshine Town, large enough to accommodate four to five thousand people, but now it was completely covered in snow, with no signs of any human activity.

The once tidy houses have turned into ruins, with collapsed roofs and collapsed walls. There is only snow lying on the wooden beds where people should have been sleeping.

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

"Ka-"

The hoarse cry echoed in the air.

Volaf suddenly pointed to the side and said in a trembling voice: "Baron, look!"

Raven looked in the direction of his finger and his breath suddenly stopped.

That's where the crow just stayed.

In the midst of the white snow, there stands quietly an altar, a bloody altar.

It is not built with stone or wood, but with the flesh and blood of living people!
The corpses 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. The dead were placed head to head, foot to foot, and hands connected together. Each head was facing the sky, with fear on their distorted faces.

Right in the center of the altar, there is a young mother. She is naked, her abdomen has been cut open, and she is half-kneeling on the ground. Her hands are sculpted into an image of raised high, and in her hands, she is dragging the body of a baby.

The baby's eyes had been pecked out by crows, his body was covered with scars, and his skin was dry and wrinkled, like that of an eighty or ninety-year-old man.

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

Raven did not say anything, but suddenly began to chant a spell. A few seconds later, an orange-red fireball with a hint of blood flew out and landed on the altar. Amidst the loud bang, the flames spread out in an instant and engulfed the entire altar.

Lux folded her hands over her chest and prayed silently.

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

Because this place is so much like their hometown, they can't imagine how they would feel if their hometown became like this.

In the next few days, as they had already entered the war zone, Raven became more cautious, which was reflected in his increasingly slower marching speed.

The soldiers also became more vigilant.

This is not the Bloody Highlands, but the interior of the Nord Province. If we march at full speed and head straight to the central city of Monn, it will only take two days.

But they didn't even see a living person.

Raven finally intuitively realized what it meant to have "bones exposed in the wild, and no rooster crowing for a thousand miles"!
During this period, scouts led by Simon also discovered the remnants of a battlefield.

The battlefield had been cleaned up. Apart from scattered broken bones and blades, no corpses were seen. Judging from the traces, someone had once burned corpses here on a large scale.

On the twenty-third day after setting out from Eagle Territory, just as they were about to reach Harold County, Simon finally brought good news - he had discovered 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 inform the other party first, so as to prevent the other party from mistaking him for 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.

After two hours of marching, when Raven arrived at the camp, he finally understood why Simon had that expression.

too messy!
It was more like a bustling market than a camp. The wooden fences on the outside were placed randomly and were not aligned at all. They could be broken through with any rush and were completely ineffective in stopping the enemy.

All kinds of tents were crowded together, some of which did not even stand and collapsed directly. You could see what supplies were piled up inside. There was a forest not far away, and it would be impossible to rescue the people if they were just set on fire.

The soldier standing at the camp gate was completely unvigilant and only opened his eyes when Raven on his warhorse could clearly see the 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 just like sleeping in your own home. If he were his soldier, Raven would definitely break his whip!

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

……

(End of this chapter)