A group of soldiers, resembling refugees, emerged from the mountains, each covered in dirty snow and mud.
Ryan, who was lying on the back of an Apprentice Knight, couldn't help but droop his eyelids, but as he walked out of the forest, the scene in front of him shocked him.
He was standing on a mountain ridge, where dense trees had blocked his view for hours.
Across a drop of fifty or sixty meters in front of them appeared a plain, or rather, a snowfield.
A vast white world filled his eyes, with dozens of houses scattered across the thousands of square meters of snowfield.
Further ahead was a mountain peak resembling a rhino horn, probably two or three hundred meters high, and from Baron Ryan's former perspective, it formed an angle of about forty to fifty degrees with the ground.
The tip of the rhino horn pierced into the extreme cold wind and snow of the North, making Baron Ryan almost feel as if a giant rhino beast was standing beneath the ground, watching him.
It was shrouded in falling snow, and mortals could only vaguely make out its outline, yet the oppressive force it exuded still made the eight Apprentice Knights and Beard around him gasp for breath.
"This is Young Master Ryan's territory..."
Even though Old Butler looked like he was on the verge of collapse, he showed no signs of fatigue after such a long journey.
The physique of a formal Knight still made Baron Ryan envious.
Was this vast white world before him the place where he would spend the rest of his life?
Baron Ryan couldn't help but feel curious, but soon, none of the ten people could maintain their curiosity.
Because... it was cold.
Without the forest's obstruction, the Winter wind of the North made all ten people's teeth chatter, and the occasional snowflakes landing on Baron Ryan's neck made him shiver uncontrollably.
"So cold."
Even Old Butler, a formal Knight, couldn't help but huddle his body, but as he looked at Baron Ryan's pale face, the anger in his eyes almost dispelled all the cold.
"Damn it, if Young Master Ryan's belongings hadn't been impounded in the Imperial City, how could a precious young master like him have fallen to such a state?"
As he spoke, he looked at Baron Ryan, and tears welled up in his old eyes again.
"When the Earl returns, those people will surely not be spared."
Hearing Beard's words, Baron Ryan, who had passively forgotten his fatigue, also fell silent.
As a Baron personally crowned by the royal family, he certainly shouldn't have only this Old Butler and eight Apprentice Knights by his side.
During the coronation ceremony, Columbus III had granted him a hundred guards, thirty of whom were formal Knights, the remaining seventy were Apprentice Knights, and the three Knight Captains leading them possessed the strength of Silver Knights.
One hundred warhorses, and three carriages loaded with supplies for developing the territory, should have been worth no less than a thousand gold coins.
There were also dozens of slaves to serve him, the young Baron, including even cat-girls Columbus III used to corrupt him.
However, from the palace to the Imperial City gate, that short distance, his carriages were gone, his slaves were gone.
His guards were also detained outside the Imperial City for various reasons, and in the end, only fifty Apprentice Knights accompanied Baron Ryan when he left the Imperial City for North Wind Province.
Upon reaching North Wind Province, he was left with only eight Apprentice Knights and Old Butler Beard.
The remaining forty-two guards and Old Butler's son, Little Beard, were mostly detained in the checkpoints and territories along the way, and Little Beard was even imprisoned in Flying Wing Canyon, which connects North Wind Province with the other provinces of the Empire.
The previous Baron Ryan was filled with anger and resentment about this, even thinking about the counterattack when Earl Clayton returned to the Empire, and then being brought back to the warm and comfortable South.
But the current Baron Ryan was very clear that the various difficulties encountered along the way already represented the blockade of the Clayton Family by the entire Empire, one could say, the vast majority of interest groups.
If everything was settled before the Earl returned to the Empire, then by the time he returned, it would already be too late.
Moreover, even if the Earl was incredibly strong and could set things right, his status as Baron of Frozen Earth Territory in the North could not be changed; he was a Baron personally crowned by the royal family, and there was absolutely no possibility of alteration.
So even if the Clayton Family had a chance to counterattack, those things were no longer relevant to him.
From the moment he received his title, he had already separated from the Clayton Family.
From now on, his backing was not the Clayton Family, but Frozen Earth Territory, it was Baron Ryan.
In his name, a brand new family tree would begin with him.
Bang!
Baron Ryan was completely submerged in the snow, the cold white snow was no longer as beautiful as it had seemed before, and the biting cold made Baron Ryan, who had already lost too much blood, feel his consciousness blur.
When he came to, he was already on Old Butler Beard's back, and in front of him were seven kneeling guards and Guard Captain Deren, who was punching one of them.
"How dare you make the Baron fall, Rosen, you deserve to be cut into a thousand pieces!"
All of Deren's anger erupted onto the guard named Rosen; there was also fear in his eyes, as Baron Ryan's appearance of almost fainting just now made him feel as if he saw his own head rolling out a trail of bright red on this vast white land.
He drew his Knight's sword, but Baron Ryan's voice from behind him made his arm suspend in mid-air.
"That's enough, Deren."
Baron Ryan stopped the Guard Captain, after all, he only had these nine people left by his side.
He looked at Rosen, whose face was also somewhat pale, he didn't know if it was due to fear or the biting cold of the North.
"Rosen, and you all, get up first."
Baron Ryan insisted on getting down from Beard's back; although it was a bit uncomfortable, he felt that as the backbone, he must now show qualities that inspire hope.
Of course, the key reason was that he saw a relatively flat path leading into the village.
"From now on, this will be our home."
He didn't overly dote on Rosen; in this strict era, that was not a good thing.
Baron Ryan's small body, shivering slightly, walked on the dirt road, and at this moment, he was extremely grateful that he still had some foundation in the Knight training method.
Behind him, Old Butler Beard and the eight guards, all with varying expressions, looked at Baron Ryan's figure with some surprise.
And ahead, in this unknown village, over a dozen men holding pitchforks and other 'weapons' were already looking at him.
Baron Ryan took a deep breath, looking at the group of obviously malnourished villagers ahead, his voice childish yet naturally possessing authority.
"I am Ryan, the Lord of Frozen Earth Territory."
In this era, there was no possibility of impersonation; as nobles of the ruling class, everyone was related and knew each other.
And upon hearing Baron Ryan's words, the villagers in front instantly dropped everything in their hands and knelt before Baron Ryan.
"Lord, you've finally arrived."
"The Lord is here, we'll have food now."