The Rise of the Black Plain

When it was already night in the capital of Vogel, Minos and his wives arrived in the area where the royal palace of this kingdom formerly stood.

There, a place not as well lit as the local squares but well enough to observe the ruins of this place, Minos and his wives settled down in a not-so-affected part of this area.

Several temporary lampposts were there due to the restoration actions the Church was promoting in this city that had suffered so much from the Vogel family's escape. Also, for this reason, the worst debris had already been removed, and parts of the old palace could be accessed easily by credentialed people.

Not everyone could enter there, as the area could be dangerous for weak people. But since Minos had a connection to the Spiritual Church and his guests were local experts, each person who came to this place to meet with him could get there easily.

That was true even for Elen's group, who were near this city when Minos sent his message.

Thus, slowly the royal throne room of this state, which had only been partially destroyed, was filling up with more than a dozen people, primarily Spiritual Saints.

"Minos, I didn't expect you to show up here..." Elen said as she approached the throne of this place, where Minos was comfortably seated at this instant.

Minos bitterly smiled upon hearing that. "Me neither... But anyway, I was forced to come to this city, so let's see if we can speed up our plans."

"Hmm, with you here, that is certainly possible." She said as she heard the murmurs in the surrounding area from the local experts who were already there.

Elen then looked at Gloria's belly and noticed the difference between the months since their group had left Dry City. "You are getting more and more beautiful..." She complimented this redheaded woman as she exchanged a few words with Minos' wives.

Meanwhile, Lulu kept an eye on Minos, remembering the last time she had seen this young man when he was only at level 60. 'These people from the Black Plain truly cultivate fast... How do they do it?'

'Maybe it's because of that place in Dry City?' She wondered as she remembered the strong spiritual fluctuation she had felt coming from the Dry City Cultivation Tower on her passage through such a city.

But since, in addition to Minos, Ruth, Gloria and Abby had also improved since she had last seen them, she knew that the issue here was not as simple as a supernatural talent on his part.

With that, she kept paying attention to the four of them as the last guests of this occasion arrived in those ruins.

At the same time, the local nobles were looking at Minos with various expressions on their faces, trying to read the figure of this unique young man who had appeared in their lives in recent times.

"Is this fellow the same as the one from that day? No mistake about that?" Someone asked in a low voice to the others, already waiting for the conversations to begin.

"The Spiritual Sage of the Spiritual Church who recognized him, so it must be true..."

"But doesn't that just make it worse? If he's the same person as before, doesn't that mean he has something terrible to use against us?" Someone gestured without making too much noise so as not to draw Minos' attention.

"That is indeed a concern... We thought he would be harmless, but the truth is not so simple!"

"Yes, we have to review all our concepts..." So someone was saying this when Louise indicated to Minos that all the guests, local nobles, and representatives of the royalty of Albano, Rosser, and Blackrock were already there.

Elen then returned to her group's side, while only Minos and his wives remained in that central place in the royal throne hall.

Minos raised one of his hands, asking for attention from the more than 20 people there, and said. "Well, thank you for answering my humble request and coming to this meeting..." He waved to some he had already seen during the situation months ago in front of his Black Hole.

He also paid attention to those he had not seen, among them a young man with an ugly expression as he looked at him. "I didn't plan to be here today, but since fate has brought me to this place, let's take the opportunity to talk business."

As he finished saying this, one of the local leaders, the patriarch of the 3rd most prominent family in this state, asked Minos. "What does Your Majesty propose that differs from what Miss Nash has already told us?"

Minos smiled at that fellow and said. "Nothing, I'm just here to remove your doubts and convince those still uncertain about me. The Flaming Empire is powerful, so perhaps it is in all of our interests to resolve this situation as soon as possible..."

Some people there were satisfied with this since part of them already feared that Minos would try to extort them somehow because of the weapon up his sleeve.

The man who was making an unfriendly expression as he looked at Minos then asked. "What about that thing? How can we trust you when you have something so scary? Who will guarantee that you won't use such a weapon up your sleeve against us in the future? Will we be able to claim our freedom in the future?"

Minos had already noticed this fellow and heard Louise explaining in one of his ears. "This Spiritual Saint had his original body swallowed up for that thing. So he has a bit of a grudge against you..."

"Oh?" Minos looked interestedly at that fellow who was now at level 72, weaker than when he had almost died due to the Black Hole.

King Stuart then momentarily closed his eyes, not blaming that man for that. "I promise that unless you try to act against my state and family, I will not use that against you. At worst, you will have to deal with my other powers..."

After hearing that, the people there felt much better.

'Without that, he's just a Spiritual Emperor... He's not a threat!' Some of them thought similar things.

Minos then continued. "As for this question of your status, I feel it's too early for us to talk about that, no? You guys haven't even made up your minds to accept me as the local sovereign, and you're already thinking about the day you'll overthrow me?" He laughed.

"I think you guys should worry about the Flaming Empire, not me." He made a more serious expression. "And at the end of the day, what other choice do you have here that is even remotely comparable to my family taking on this state?"

"Will you prefer to be dominated by the Flaming Empire? Or perhaps fight amongst yourselves while your allies suffer what you will suffer in a matter of months or years? Maybe choose one family among your own to lead this state and end up getting a tyranny in a few decades?" Minos played out the options for these people to feel the drama they were in at the moment.

"No... I don't think so, right? You are smarter than that!"

...