The Rise of the Black Plain

While Minos was quietly cultivating in the hotel room where he was staying, his soldiers had already spread across the city of Hadia by this time.

Each of them had gone to different places, at points where they could hear specifics conversations and news from the region, something that happened anywhere.

The cultivator's life could go far, so there were always those who liked to be entertained, looking forward to other people's affairs. Consequently, it was not difficult to hear certain news if one went to popular places in any urbanization.

But the soldiers weren't just going to popular places. They were also looking for people who had participated in the auction a few days ago, which they already had a bit of information.

After all, Dumas and his crowd had arrived longer in the city of Hadia than Minos' group, so they already knew where to find some of the wealthier people in this place.

...

In an aging part of Hadia, there was a commercial establishment with some people talking. At the same time, they ate and drank at tables distributed along the side of that street.

"Ahh, old Phil, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I mean, I'm neither worse nor better." An old man said to the person who had asked him the question.

"Oh? Well, I guess that's for the best. At least you're not getting worse... If you were lucky enough to have an item like the one that was sold a few days ago at the biweekly auction..." The person who had asked earlier regretted recalling the news he had heard a few hours ago when he returned from a week of work outside that region.

"Don't even talk about it, kid. This kind of thing is not for ordinary people like me. I'm already resigned to being able to live for just another 50 years." The old man said, with a serene look on his face.

"I understand, but..."

And while the group continued to talk, suddenly a person approached them little by little, until he finally asked politely. "Sir, could you tell me about this item that was sold at auction? I just arrived in town, and I was curious to hear your conversation..."

"Oh? A visitor, huh? It's not a problem to talk about it, a few days ago..."

...

Meanwhile, in another part of town, a group of three men was wearing armors of the same type, which carried the symbol of one of the noble families of the Cromwell Kingdom.

That place they were in looked like a blacksmith's shop, where you could buy and repair spiritual artifacts.

The three men talked beside a glass shelf, which contained various weapons of different types, such as knives, axes, bows, etc.

They seemed preoccupied with some problem, talking as if a big issue had just come up.

"Brothers, what are we going to do? Even if that young man in the Chambers family is with the Spring of Life, he's probably already at his family's regional base! It won't do us any good to go there!" The one who appeared to be the youngest of the three said this, watching the others.

Upon hearing this man's question, another of them agreed. "It's true, at that point, unless Kevin is an idiot and leaves the northwest base of the Chambers family, no one is going to be able to take that item from him!"

"True, if only we had stayed at the auction until the end…" The other one, who still hadn't said anything, lamented. They had left the auction earlier that day, so it was only after two days that they had found out about Spring of Life being sold to Kevin.

And while they were talking there, a man approached them and said. "Friends, I'm new here in the Cromwell Kingdom. Can you help me take some directions?"

Hearing this, one of them asked. "Maybe, we don't know the entire kingdom, but I'm confident in talking about the region where we're. Where are you going?"

"A business partner of mine had a problem during his trip, and he is near a Chambers family base in this region. Do you know where this is?"

"Oh? It's not distant. You just need to..."

...

Time passed quickly, and the sun promptly crossed the entire horizon, gradually giving way to the night and leaving behind a lovely image of an orange sky for anyone in Hadia to see this.

Minos's soldiers had gathered the missing information in the hours that had passed, and they now had nothing else to do in Hadia except deal with Del's group.

Because of this, as soon as the sun began to set, many of Minos' soldiers had already gathered at the southern end of the city, where Del and his associates had gone.

That wasn't exactly the busiest place in town, as it was a place where most of the passersby were bandits or pirates, but there was a good deal of movement in the streets there.

The place wasn't far from the beach, where some smaller boats were moored, and it wasn't fully dark either. Consequently, there was still a specific movement in that region, enough for the group of Minos to go unnoticed.

Of course, the soldiers weren't all gathered, being scattered in smaller groups, which were at different points around a large area surrounded by a wall while talking as if they were just passing through.

They already knew how to proceed during this operation, so the group was just waiting for the right moment to invade that place after Minos' signal.

As for when that would be, well, the young Stuart was just waiting for it to completely darken, lessening the chances of unwanted spectators showing up.

After all, even if cultivators could use spiritual energy to see better in the dark, that would only happen if a person made an effort to do so.

Then, if someone weren't paying attention to them, identifying their group or observing Minos' actions would be much more challenging at night than during the day.

...

Anyway, while more than 50 soldiers were preparing to attack that place that was surrounded by a wall, on the south side of the city of Hadia, inside that place, Del's group was enjoying life, the way they wanted...

That place where they were, was a property with a big house in the back, which was so big that it could certainly accommodate more than 200 people. At the same time, outside, a large plot of land was surrounded by the wall, with some plants on the sides and a space with tables and chairs.

Also, several frames outside that house looked a lot like beds, scattered here and there without any order.

And if someone looked closer, they could see that there were women of different sizes and ages in some of those beds. Many of them appeared to be unconscious, while many bruises on their bodies could be seen, along with smears of bodily fluid scattered everywhere.

But there weren't many girls. At least not for everyone...

In that place should be at this moment, about more than 150 men. At the same time, there were only 40 women who were there to satisfy the fetishes of those men, customers of this establishment.

Finally, besides the tables, several men could be seen eating and drinking at the same time. There, close to where they were, there was a big fire roasting a piece of meat, giving off its characteristic odor amidst the white smoke of the embers.

Occasionally, some screams could be heard, but in general, the noise of conversations could drown out almost all the sounds typical of an establishment like this.

And while most of the men in that place were having fun outside the house, Del was at this moment, inside that residence, leaning in his arms on a balcony on the second floor of that place.

He had a four-inch cigar in his mouth, being shirtless and laughing as he watched the movement outside the house.

Del's group only had 40 people, but even though they had to share this place with other people, they were OK with it.

There was a lot of affinity between these individuals who frequented this establishment. Some even enjoyed watching other people's animal acts... It was like watching a fight. Even if you weren't doing anything, it could still be exciting just watching...

And as for Del, he was enjoying this time off he'd allowed himself to have. With a 'new' ship and the hundreds of thousands of low-grade crystals, there weren't too many issues on Del's mind at the moment.

All he saw was the weeks of drinking, bingeing, and sex that he could have around here without having to worry about looking for the Blood Triangle Pirates' item of interest.

After all, it was no fun looking around for an old piece of fabric that they didn't even know where it was. It might be interesting to go after a relic that was in a limited region, but doing that with something that could be anywhere, in millions of square kilometers, was completely different...