The Rise of the Black Plain

Meanwhile, at the branch of the Spiritual Church in the Brown Kingdom!

Pa!

Someone in the main hall of the church temple in that state's capital hit his hand hard into a table while having an angry expression on his face. "Bastard brat!"

"He truly thought his actions through!"

"Tsk!"

"Brother Zeph, take it easy."

"Hmm, stay calm, Zeph!"

"But this brat messed up our plans, and now he's doing this..." Zeph was saying, still standing on that spot, while his veins were trembling with anger.

Not only was he one of the local Bishops of the church in this state, but he was also an ally of the Brown family behind the curtains. So, he couldn't help but be irritated by Minos getting in the middle of his plans.

To make matters worse, the situation in the region was already quite sensitive. So, if that one more variable was added, this could get out of hand!

"But his move was truly well thought out..." But while Bishop Zeph stood there furious, another of those experts couldn't help but appreciate Minos' move.

"If he had immediately accepted us into Dry City, then we could act in many ways to stop his rebellion. However..."

"Now that he and the Brown family are already estranged, even if we wanted to cause trouble for him, we probably couldn't!" This Bishop said while he had a joyful expression on his face.

This man also didn't like the idea of having a war in this kingdom, plus a conflict in the northern region of the Central Continent. But as someone who had his history with that other Bishop, he couldn't help but smile at the distress of that other individual.

While one was working under the covers for the local royal family, the other was acting in secret for a local trade organization. So, while one organization would engage in a war, the other would probably not be affected at all by all this.

Hence, his situation was much better than Zeph's.

And that allowed him to appreciate Minos' move, even if the overall situation was not good for them.

Another person there then nodded in agreement to this Bishop who had just spoken. "Indeed. His action is very timely and shows that he has probably been planning for years to rebel against the kingdom..."

"That means he won't bend his knees to King Brown!"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean he will survive... I mean, what does the Black Plain have to use against the entire kingdom?"

"Even though that place is probably much better than what we know, I still can't imagine them fighting the kingdom and having any chance..."

"That's true... But maybe that place has made alliances with other noble families from outside the Brown kingdom or with other powerful organizations in our region."

"Then I think they probably have enough at least to cause a big mess in the short term!" Some elder there said, having his eyes closed, already imagining what would happen next.

"In any case, we won't be able to get into that city until this matter is resolved..." He remembered that just as the Spiritual Church negated actions of outside powers to influence the local authorities, the same was true for these individuals.

They even had some freedom during times of peace since it would be complicated for anyone to investigate what these low-level church members were doing.

But with a war going on in the kingdom and maybe even a regional scale conflict across the northern part of the Central Continent, the situation would be different.

Their every action could be monitored by their superiors, which could very quickly end the lives of the most corrupt individuals in this organization.

Precisely why that other individual was so angry, despite the clear advantage that the Brown family had.

That is, of course, considering what they knew.

The church supported these individuals, specifically the branch located in the Flaming Empire. But the church in this region had too many members, and the subsidies they received were not more significant than the collections of this organization in the area.

They shared a good part of the fortune in the region and received some opportunities from the church, such as artifacts from that empire and some internship chances outside. But other than that, they usually didn't have enough crystals to focus on their training without worrying about other things.

Therefore, to supplement their incomes and increase their chances of reaching higher levels, many church members had outside relationships.

But if some problem happened that prevented them from acting, or these families ran out of ways to pay the 'subsidies' of these individuals, then they would have financial problems!

Anyway, hearing that Bishop's comment, the other people in that place couldn't help but agree.

One of them then asked. "What do we do now?"

"Well, let's wait to find out what the real strength of the Black Plain is."

"If that place is just a fraud, then the kingdom will resolve with it before we have any more trouble."

"Whereas if that place is strong enough to sustain a war of a few months, then we will have to inform the Kingdom of the Waves branch so that they will ask for help from outside the region."

"A war in our region won't be good for anyone!"

"From the local organizations to the empire's sects and the church. A large-scale conflict will only eliminate the good seeds we can harvest here!"

...

And so, three more days passed.

Nothing new had happened in Dry City since the previous incident.

All the local forces were prepared to act as soon as the enemies arrived on their territory. But, on the other hand, the citizens were already aware that it would happen soon, and they were working even harder for the good of this city.

Since the shadow of war was already entirely over this city, Minos had already passed the local command to Dillian so that he would have time to deal with the war situations.

His army's conflicts with enemy forces would become more and more common from now on. So, he would no longer have much time to deal with the affairs of the city's development.

So that he wouldn't have to neglect both jobs, he would leave his city in Dillian's hands while he dealt more closely with war affairs.

That was the plan, and he was finishing talking about it with his butler at this very moment.

...

"Young master, be unconcerned about Dry City."

"We have all the city's development under control. Furthermore, with the massive migration of the population from Maritime City to here, we will be quite busy with the plans already made by the young master." Dillian said as he rubbed his black mustache, sitting in Minos' armchair.

Dillian was talking about Minos' plan for that coastal city. So far, they had only attracted the more common population of that place, as well as low numbers, something difficult to realize on a day-to-day basis.

But as the war was on their doorstep, it would not take long for Minos' forces to use that place to eliminate part of their enemies. Hence, when that happened, they would have no alternative but to bring as many people as possible from that city to Dry City.

Otherwise, it would not be long before that place would be surrounded by the royal forces, forcing Minos' group to lose that vast population.

But as this young man always prized act first, he would not miss the opportunity to bring those people to his city. Consequently, the army had already planned the massive migration of the population from that city to here!

Hearing this, Minos smiled, satisfied. "Good. There are a lot of things to happen in this period, so I hope we can develop these changes well..."

Pa! Pa!

"Young master?" After knocking on the door twice, Mia then entered that place, interrupting Minos' speech.

"What is it, Mia?"

"Young master, butler Dillian, the outside group has just notified us of the arrival of the first enemy troops."

"They are only a hundred kilometers from the city and should not take long to get here!"