The Rise of the Black Plain

One day later...

After arriving in the capital of the Cromwell Kingdom, the Spiritual Church representative for that region had spent the night in Capital City, waiting for the main event she would attend.

Upon arriving in that place, she had visited the local royal family, understood the royal funeral arrangements, and greeted James' close kin.

She did not know any of the people from the Cromwell family who were in that city, not even King Cromwell himself. But as a member of the Spiritual Church, she needed to show her respect and sorrow to such people.

It did not matter if she was genuinely sorry or had no regard for the people in that region. The church had a friendly relationship with the local powers, and as such, it was best for everyone just to follow protocol for similar situations.

And as a person intelligent enough to understand this, Gloria had shown how sorry the church was for losing such a regional figure, an irreplaceable pillar that had now been lost.

She had spoken to each of the Cromwell family elders left in Capital City and also spoke her words of comfort to the royal widows and, of course, the crown prince.

King Cromwell had had a few children during his centuries of existence. However, most of them were either women or had already died.

And since there remained only one capable of meeting the requirements to ascend as a royal heir, this problem had long since been solved.

Hence, this church representative had had no difficulty communicating with the future local leader without joining in local intrigues.

After understanding the preparations for James Cromwell's royal funeral, this woman had spent the rest of her time in this kingdom resting.

A royal funeral was not something complicated to do and would not require much effort on her part. But still, such a thing could be very tiring, or rather, boring.

When regional kings died, they were glorified as heroes, something that was done through the church and shown to thousands of people in that individual's state capital.

First of all, on the day of a king's funeral, no businesses could open their doors, and the entire population had to take a day off.

Second, a public banquet had to be held at the beginning of the day before the funeral procession began.

That was done so that the people would have as much stimulation as possible not to forget this very unusual day, on which they would say goodbye to their top 'protector'.

Thirdly, after the great banquet, the part of the ceremony in which the king's body would be exposed to its citizens would begin. It would travel along the capital's main avenues in a giant chariot.

In this chariot, which should be made of gold and decorated with high-level and beautiful materials, the king's body would be transported together with his closest relatives and the church representative until the hero ascended into heaven.

After a few hours of doing this, the church representative would fly off with the royal coffin, directing the dead man to the unique path that only monarchs would have after their death...

Finally, the last part of all this was more uncomplicated. That was the reclusive ceremony in the royal crypt, where only the closest relatives of the dead man and the church representative would be at the moment of the final farewell.

That was a royal funeral in this region, which could take a whole day from its beginning to its end.

Therefore, it was not easy, and Gloria had rested enough so that she could get through it without any significant annoyances!

...

Upon waking up in the morning, Gloria immediately got ready for the event that should not take long to begin, taking a hot shower before putting on her traditional black cloak.

Such a thing was the official uniform of the Archbishops of the Spiritual Church. But, although members of that organization often wore it, only in official situations, such as the one she was about to attend, was it mandatory.

Anyway, even though she was not a big fan of black clothes, Gloria wore the cloak of her organization combined with other garments of the same color.

She then ate some fruits before finally heading toward her appointment.

"Sigh..."

'This is going to be a long day...' She thought about it silently as she walked towards the royal palace, from where James' procession would leave.

'And after that, I still have to go to the Kingdom of the Waves to do the same, and then I still have to attend the coronation of two kings...'

But after thinking about how she would have to stay longer than Gloria wished in this poor region, she slightly smiled as she looked at the bright side of it all. 'Well, at least I didn't have to make two trips.'

'But this is all curious... I hadn't thought that things in this region would get so 'lively'!'

'That fellow... What's his name again?' She thought for a while as she looked from one side to the other of the street she was on. 'Minos!'

'That Minos is truly impressive!'

'Will he disrupt my life by killing other kings?' She thought about this possibility as she felt a chill on her back. 'Maybe I should take a look at the Black Plain?'

'No, regardless of what happens, it would not be suitable to contact him or his forces. It's better to let the locals work out their problems.

'If he succeeds, I will meet him when the Black Plain is proclaimed an independent state.'

'If that doesn't happen, then meeting him now would have no meaning...' So, she thought this when some individuals in purple cloaks politely approached her.

"Archbishop Frost." They said simultaneously, bringing this woman out of her previous thoughts.

"Oh? Bishops, what do you want? Is there something you want to talk to me about?"

"Archbishop, it's a grace that you were able to arrive so quickly... We thought we would have to wait longer to give King Cromwell his well-deserved rest."

"No, that happened by coincidence." She said quickly. "I was on my way to the Kingdom of the Waves when I received this local information..."

"It's truly a shame..."

"Yes, a tragedy."

"Poor James..."

"But... The Archbishop was going to the Kingdom of the Waves... Don't tell me that..."

"That's right. King Walker is not too far from joining King Cromwell." She said, interrupting that Bishop's question.

"Before I left the empire, I visited a church seer who told me that in 50 days, I would be leading that person's funeral ceremony."

"It has been a little over 20 days since I left the empire..."

"What?"

"Oh, God, so King Walker can't take it anymore..."

"How pitiful for our region!"

"So many heroic souls falling or at risk of dying, while the devil of the Black Plain does what he wants..."

"Tsk!"

Hearing these comments, Gloria looked with interest at those old men beside her, seeing how these people made their preferences clear to her.

"Is he truly that bad?" She asked.

"Of course, Archbishop. The devil already has a combat proficiency similar to that of Spiritual Emperors!"

"It's a real hell to think that our glorious leaders have to face such an opponent..."

One of them then took a deep breath and asked. "Please, Archbishop, do something for the northern region of the Central Continent, or we will be dominated by the devil Minos."

"Sigh..."

"This is not the time nor the place to talk about it." She said this, stopping glancing at those people, focusing on the crowd of citizens at the end of the street they were on.

"When I arrive in the Kingdom of the Waves and resolve King Walker's funeral, I will talk about it with my underlings and the regional families."

"So, for now, respect the moment we are in and don't come to me about it again."

Upon hearing this, they all bowed their heads and agreed to follow the orders of this influential expert.

"Come on, time for us to help James Cromwell finish his journey in this great world." She said to them as they passed through the entrance to the royal palace.

So, in the blink of an eye, the avenue in front of that palace, where many people were standing on the sidewalks while eating and waiting, witnessed the beginning of the royal procession!