The Rise of the Black Plain

As Minos finished listening to the reports of what had happened at the two enemy outposts, he was pretty pleased with it all.

In a single day, dozens of enemy Spiritual Kings had been killed by his army's actions.

That was something very gratifying indeed!

And even if the enemies killed only represented a portion of the experts in this kingdom, that in itself was already quite good for Minos.

After all, in addition to these actions have diminished the power of the enemy forces, it had given them more time!

There were still tens of thousands of enemies around young Stuart's territory. But in general, these people were temporarily leaderless, something that would undoubtedly hinder, or even diminish, their actions in the short term.

And even if the Brown family sent more specialists quickly, the Counter-Revolutionary Army would still have some problems before acting on the Black Plain.

That is, Minos had acted against them promptly when they had barely established themselves around this territory.

So, they had to worry about the very safety of their camps before they began their attempt to occupy this territory!

It would not be good to send more and more specialists here if Minos' forces could attack them at any moment, undermining their forces little by little.

Doing so would be like handing over the knife and the cheese to the enemies!

As a result of their actions two days ago, the Black Plain Army's soldiers gained additional time to prepare themselves for future battles against their tens of thousands of opponents.

On the other hand, the belongings of the individuals killed by the three groups that had attacked after the confrontation began in Maritime City contained vast fortunes. Such were the sums in the collected spatial rings that there was enough in them to pay for the three attacks, and still millions of crystals could be saved to be invested in the future!

There were also many Black-grade techniques in each of the collected rings, which would be helpful for the soldiers in young Stuart's army and some plans of Minos.

And for all that, young Stuart was quite satisfied at the moment.

He then said. "Well, in the end, things came out almost perfect." 

"It's a shame that one of the target enemies of Elena's group was not eliminated. But it was much more important to us that none of our allies were more seriously injured in that fight." 

"And the fact that such survivor had lost one of his hands in the battle already helps us a lot!" He commented, looking in the direction of the three subordinate Spiritual Kings of the Cohen family, the people who had participated in that confrontation led by Elena and the Hayes family.

Although it was a shame that this enemy had survived, that was a good thing. 

Unlike the enemy group under the command of the Miller family, the one attacked by Elena's team needed no survivors. Only the one with Abby's family had to appear to have fought well enough to scare off the Dry City forces and have surviving specialists.

As for the others, the more powerful enemies they killed, the better it was for Minos and his territory.

In any case, each Spiritual King was worth far more to Minos' alliance than to the Brown family. With that said, Elena's group not having eliminated all the targeted specialists was not the end of the world.

After hearing what young Stuart had said, one of those subordinates of House Cohen, who was lying in a bed, looked at that sovereign and said. "But despite this setback, young Minos, I believe we will have good news from the Hayes family soon."

"Oh?"

"That's right..." One of those three commented upon hearing what his companion was about to say.

Such a person then explained to Minos and the other people there. "It seems that the Hayes family has better results than anticipated regarding the pursuit of the Chambers family members!"

"So, that's it..."

"That's a surprise. Those Chambers people have always been as tough as cockroaches..."

"Indeed!"

"I didn't imagine they would fail so quickly..."

Some of those experts from other regional noble families commented on that in low tones, still paying attention to that member of the Cohen family.

That person then reported what he had discovered with some members of the Hayes family during that attack. "Several people from House Chambers who fled from the Cromwell Kingdom during or after the Persephone Tragedy have been captured by their pursuers in the days since that operation."

"Even two of the seven remaining Chambers family specialists were killed in that period!" He commented in satisfaction as he remembered this critical piece of information.

The Chambers family Spiritual Kings were the ones most likely to have signed Soul Contracts with other regional organizations. That way, every one of these surviving experts who died meant that the Hayes and Chambers family war was closer to being over.

With this, the Black Plain Army could rely more quickly on the support of Vivian and Davy's family!

And upon hearing this information, Minos couldn't help but feel better about the future of his war of independence. "That's for the best!"

"I fear that in this early part of the war, we will be put in a not-so-good situation... Hence, the more of our allies who are in a position to help us, the better our situation will be." He honestly said as he spoke of something evident to every person in that room.

Even considering all Minos ' allies and subordinates, the enemies had far greater numbers than those in Dry City. So, although the first move was favorable to their side, things would not always be this way!

But still, Minos had his strategies, alliances, and things in place that would create room for them. Hence, no one there was desperate to hear the alliance leader assume that they would soon be at a disadvantage.

And in thinking about the many variables, Minos remembered something and asked those three members of the Cohen family in that place. "What about the Cromwell family? Did House Hayes face any problems because of the Snow family's 'involvement'?"

"Uhh..."

"Well, yes, they faced..." One of those three said, recalling such information, just after they looked at each other. 

"House Cromwell questioned the Hayes about the Snow family's involvement in the Persephone Tragedy. They wanted to know if one of their vassals had conspired in action by a rival who might have been trying to sabotage them."

"But since there was no evidence of a Hayes conspiracy with the Snows, our allies were able to escape major trouble."

"For now, the excuse that the Hayes were just fighting their war and the Snows were after their revenge should be enough."

"However, it is undeniable that now our friends are probably being watched by the Cromwells. When they commit the smallest of infractions, they will not have an easy time in that kingdom..." Such a person declared, finishing what he knew about this matter.

"Hmm, that's not a good sign..."

"True. If the royal family of the Cromwell Kingdom gets the chance, its members will probably try to act against our allies!"

"Yes. In fact, I think they have probably already started ostracizing the Hayes family as they search for evidence..."

"Well, they're probably already talking about giving the region formerly ruled by the Chambers family to some rival of House Hayes..."

Listening to the comments of his allies and subordinates, Minos could not disagree with these points. But he wasn't worried about that at the moment. "For the time being, nothing will happen to House Hayes."

"After all, if there was a conspiracy, the people in that royal family must be more concerned about House Snow and not the Hayes family."

"On the other hand, news of the war in the Black Plain shouldn't take long to reach other states in the Central Continent."

"Once that happens, the Cromwells' focus will be shifted toward us and the Snows."

"There will be no room for them to think about the Hayes family!" He commented in confidence as he looked at Vivian and the other person from that family who was in Dry City.

After saying that, it didn't take long for Minos to say goodbye to those people and head towards his headquarters, where he had his business to attend to.

Now that he was aware of what occurred in the other two battles, all that remained was for the group from Maritime City to return and inform him of that place's operation's outcome.

The wounded who had arrived so far did not know much about this since they had no such information. With that, only when some of the key people from that place returned would Minos understand what happened and better know what to do from now on.

....