The Rise of the Black Plain



After 4 hours since passing the previous boat store, Minos finally returned to that place with all the items he thought he needed for the following week's trip.

As he entered that store to receive his medium-sized yacht, a level 79 Spiritual Saint watched him from afar, alert to every step he took.

This man and another in the intelligence center of the imperial guard in this city were listening to everything Minos was saying through the identification array he had received earlier.

So this person watching him knew everything Minos had done and couldn't help but be interested in how this local 'resident' was putting aside his commitment to the imperial guard to buy boats and items for travel.

'It looks like he's not interested in staying in the city for long...' This man thought, finding it a bit strange that Minos was acting in such an unusual manner after losing his ID.

It was unusual for a Spiritual Saint to buy a yacht of hundreds of thousands of high-grade crystals. It even happened occasionally, but this was not the kind of occasion done on the spur of the moment. That was something to be planned and not to be done right after arriving in the city after a time fighting outside.

At the same time, he seemed to want to leave the city as soon as possible, which went against the fact that he had asked for permission to enter on the grounds that he had lost his identification.

In this man's view, the person under his observation could have entered the city as a visitor or merchant and would not have had much trouble. And with this, this observer was slowly becoming suspicious that Minos might not have been planning to report to the imperial guard and that this person was probably not a local citizen.

However, despite being questionable, Minos had not yet committed any crimes and had given no hints that he was considering acting against the empire. Also, he could still report to the imperial guard to regularize his situation later, so this man did not yet think he had room to act.

He would just watch him more closely, as he was already doing, and keep his superiors alert that Minos could be a potential enemy of the empire.

Seeing Minos being directed to the yacht, ready to leave, in the waters of the small bay nearby, this man used his communicator and said. "Central, send a boat with men to pursue this person. I believe he will leave the city without reporting to us, which may indicate that he lied in his entry."

Lying was not a serious thing in everyday situations, but lying to the emperor and his men was a severe problem!

If found to be lying, people could be arrested and even sentenced to a few decades in prison, depending on how serious their lie was and also the severity of the consequences of it.

As such, upon receiving the warning from this level 79 man, the center immediately put out another alert about Minos' identification and sent messages to the coast guard vessels closest to there.

Meanwhile, Minos had just received his yacht and had been introduced to its functions by an arrays master.

It was not difficult to operate arrays. Anyone with experience in doing this with lower-quality ones could quickly adapt to new arrays of even higher quality. 

So, in the blink of an eye, Minos thanked the array master for his tips and watched everyone from that store leave his yacht.

He immediately went to the control zone of his yacht and made the initial procedures to start moving towards the sea.

With his commands, the yacht's anchor was soon retracted, and the arrays that promoted the craft's movement moved it forward in the opposite direction to that boat store.

Minos smiled as he felt the motion of his yacht, for the first time piloting one of these. 

Soon he would increase its speed, heading northwest to where he felt his place of interest was.

After 5 minutes since starting the arrays, Minos finally left the previous bay, entering the open sea, where many boats smaller and larger than his were either sailing or stationary.

There was no naval blockade over this area, as entering or leaving the city was impossible without identifying oneself to local guards. Because of this, Minos found no problem in going to the open sea.

But after 10 minutes of sailing, when he had finally put his yacht into automatic mode and left the cockpit to observe the surroundings, he noticed that two boats were following him.

Minos noticed the symbols of the coast guard of this state and took the identification array in his hands.

"Friend of the imperial guard, what is the meaning of this? I thought a citizen had the right to leave his own city..." He said disappointedly, knowing that item could send his words to those chasing them.

Then the people chasing him became angry at his comment, and one of them said through his communication array. "Our citizens can do that when they wish. But lying to the empire is a serious crime!"

"Oh? So I'm lying to the empire? Where did that come from?" Minos questioned. 

"Don't play dumb. If you were a real citizen, you wouldn't have failed to report to the necessary post and regularize your status!" One of the heads of the vessels in pursuit of Minos said, replacing the previous level 79 man.

Those pursuing Minos were more numerous and powerful, with even level 82 and 83 Spiritual Sages among them.

Minos' situation had worsened, so his pursuers had to be stronger than him!

Minos laughed upon hearing that, "My life is at stake. A local group threatened me, and if I stayed in the city any longer, I would be killed before dawn the next day!

So I used the fact that you watched me to safely enter the city, buy a boat, and leave!" He shouted, showing his irritation with his 'fellow countrymen.'

"Tsk! What group are you talking about? There is no such thing! No one would dare act inside the city." The commander of the second ship shouted. "Stop talking excuses. Stop yachting and surrender, or we will act violently!"

Minos no longer answered but instead threw away that array and increased the speed of his yacht.

...