The Rise of the Black Plain

While Albano criminals infiltrating the northern region of the Central Continent were moving, in a coastal state neighboring the southern part of the Cromwell Kingdom, the fate of Minos was being discussed at this very moment.

In this kingdom, Vogel, a group in the royal palace, gathered to discuss their plans regarding one of their recent actions. 

There, the state's crown prince, Abe Vogel, level 69, was with his top advisors and the royal guard responsible for his protection, someone at level 74.

"Your Highness, our recent plans have been developing just as we had assumed." A bearded man with no hair on his head reported with a smile as he sat in one of the three chairs on the opposite side of Abe's desk. "Those criminals are heading toward the Black Plain and already beginning to covet that place."

Hearing this, the young-looking man with blond hair and green eyes on the other side of that desk smiled in satisfaction. "That's better. After the failures two years ago, we couldn't just give up on solving that problem."

The man standing behind the prince said nothing but could not help but nod in agreement. 'What those people promised us is simply too tempting.'

'If His Highness gets that, he'll have a chance of surpassing His Majesty!'

The prince continued. "In any case, let's allow those criminals to distract that fellow for the hour. He can't do anything against so many people in so many different places, so eventually, the numbers of Spiritual Kings in that region will pass the limits he finds acceptable."

"When that happens, he will come out of hiding!" Abe clenched his fists, imagining the day when he could overthrow Minos.

This Vogel heir had been contacted by Minos' enemy, families of the Saints Killing Sect, years ago to deal with him.

Because of the resources offered, Abe had agreed to get involved in the matter and had even sent one of his Spiritual Saints to try to deal with that fellow on the Black Plain.

Unfortunately, King Vogel knew nothing of this, so this prince had not been able to send any Spiritual Saints stronger than level 70 people, those less important for his father to pay attention to.

On the other hand, someone much more powerful could also have drawn the Church's attention more than they planned. Hell, at first, the Church was not even supposed to know anything since that task should be an easily solved one.

However, plans do not always go as planned, and even someone not so flashy created problems and caused them to slow down their actions in this period.

Not only had the Church begun investigating the matter, but the Gray Clouds Sect was also searching for the Spiritual Saints who had attacked the Black Plain.

Because of this, that person had gone into seclusion to hide, while Prince Abe's team had changed their strategies to something more 'soft.'

Such a gentle way was basically to play other forces against Minos, to make this king suffer with more enemies than he could handle!

And then...

"When he comes out of his hiding place, we can finally deal with him once and for all!" Abe commented on this crucial part of his plans.

His subordinates had failed because of the arrays scattered across the Black Plain and how cautious Minos had been in recent years. But if he left his safety area, this prince was sure he could easily get rid of this target.

"Hmm, we already have a Spiritual Saint keeping an eye on that area, waiting for Minos Stuart's movement. Once he comes out of his hiding place and exhausts himself fighting those Spiritual Kings, our man will make a deadly attack." Another man there, someone at level 71, commented with a look full of certainty on his face.

"Good!" Abe nodded and ordered. "Keep spreading news in the Albano underworld that there are many good things in the Black Plain. Let's get more people from that state to let their greed control them to go to his state."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Abe could do that in his kingdom. But since it was much better not to shit where you eat, he had chosen his minor friendly allied state for it. That way, if something goes wrong, he would be much further away from the problem!

On the other hand, he was afraid that his father would find out about his boldness and think he was making moves because of a possible coup in the future... So, it was simply better not to do this in his kingdom!

...

At the same time, on the flying island of the Saints Killing Sect, two of the people who planned to use one of the enemies of the Flaming Empire against Minos were talking about this matter.

Near one of the free falls on that island, where they could see the clouds below where they were standing, a man and a woman had unpleasant expressions on their faces.

"I can hardly believe that a mere Spiritual King is giving us such a headache..." The woman said in a sighing tone, feeling the helplessness of not being able to go to the Black Plain and solve the problem.

"It is not for nothing that the descendants of our families have perished in that place. That fellow has his ways." The man beside her expressed as he observed the surroundings and felt the refreshing wind from that area.

"By the way, have you heard from those people from Vogel recently? Are they doing anything to solve the shit they've done?" The woman asked without looking at the man beside her.

"Hmmm." He nodded. "After several failures, they are excited about the new plan to deal with that brat."

"Oh? How's that? Do you think they can succeed?" She looked at him with interest in her eyes.

"The plan is not bad. They..." He quickly summarized what Abe's group was doing to ruin Minos and the Black Plain, little by little putting a smile on this woman's face.

"This isn't bad. This plan has a great chance of working out!" She agreed with his opinion, feeling that this burden would finally be removed.

She and all the other representatives of families in this sect that had matters to settle with Minos were quite upset by Abe's failures over the past two years. After all, this target of theirs was only a Spiritual King, so the inability of Vogel's forces to eliminate King Stuart was upsetting.

They had thought that it would be enough to wait the time it took for someone powerful to act against that target, and everything would be solved in one night. However, fate had played with them and shown that dealing with their target was much more complicated than they thought.

Due to the failure of the Spiritual Saints of Abe's team, now not only the Gray Clouds Sect was involved in the matter, but also the Spiritual Church. 

The problem with that? 

Well, if their plan had worked, such an act would be unlikely to bring trouble to them. Someone would certainly suspect that a high-level assassin had dealt with it, but tracking down the ultimate minds behind this crime would not be easy!

But since their plans had gone wrong and irrefutable evidence had been left behind, now everyone involved was at risk.

With that, they were anxious for this problem to be solved!

And so, besides taking extra care in dealing with the situation, they wished more than ever for Minos' death. If they could achieve this, such a thing would at least ensure that their efforts were not in vain!

"Well, let's wait for further information from that family. I think they will probably succeed, so let's just focus on the problems with the Gray Clouds Sect." She said after a few moments in silence.

Tensions between these two sects had increased dramatically over the past four years, with them even getting involved in an incident regarding a valuable resource that appeared a year ago.

With the troubled past between these sects and the sending of people to kill the grandson of the Gray Clouds Sect's master, the tension between the two parties had increased considerably. 

For all that, these two organizations were almost going to war against each other!

"On the other hand, there's still the matter of that little fugitive..."

"Ah, don't even tell me about that..." The two continued their conversation as they returned to the main city on that island.