The Rise of the Black Plain

One day after the publication of that edition of the Night News, at the secret base of the Black Plain Army in Yellow City...

As usual, Eda was in the command room of this place, where many of the surveillance arrays of the area outside the local government mansion were.

There, several of the weaker soldiers of this post took over the surveillance duty. But, at the same time, she stood by to act more quickly if anything out of the ordinary occurred in the vicinity.

Minos' war against the royal family had not reached this place. Still, now and then, people passed through this area, especially after the beginning of the conflict on the Black Plain.

But this was not related to the recent news about that territory, as that had only come to light in the last few days, i.e., too little time for this to influence anything.

However, the noble families of the Brown Kingdom were increasingly calling back their members from outside this state to join their ranks.

Because of this, the flow of people passing through this abandoned city has increased recently.

On the other hand, the soldiers from this outpost were constantly active in the vicinity, attacking enemies that they had information about or that were located by accident, chance encounters.

In any case, the group at this secret base needed to be sure that their presence here was secure, that the enemies did not know about this critical outpost for Minos' army actions.

And to do this, they needed to keep an eye on the surroundings of this local government mansion and parts of this city.

With that, Eda's location was by far the most important of this base, and she constantly had things to do around here.

"Sector 25-blue is clear. Let's move on to the next..."

"We have the presence of a group passing through sector 14-red, in two carriages..."

"Some soldiers from sector 03-green are returning after the shift change..."

Several voices could be heard in that place, while new information came constantly.

Meanwhile, Eda seemed to be meditating in her armchair in the middle of the place, waiting for something that would demand her attention.

That was the shift of the day when there was usually the most activity around this city in the last weeks. Because of this, she had to be on standby, ready to act if necessary, not having the chance to cultivate or train her techniques at such a time.

But things were usually quieter at other times of the day, so this woman did not always have to be on guard!

Anyway, time began to pass in that place. Then, just when the star that illuminated this world was at sunset over Yellow City, something unusual was notified.

"Lieutenant Eda, we have a strange situation in sector 23-blue." One of those low-level soldiers said that out loud, right after receiving notification from one of the lookouts in that area.

Upon hearing this, Eda immediately left her previous state as she looked at the person who had said such a thing. "What is it?" She asked directly.

"Lieutenant, a Snow family carriage has just parked on the main avenue on the east side of the city!" He said.

'Snow family?' Eda wondered in surprise, not understanding what people from such a distant place wanted here in Yellow City.

'I wonder if this has anything to do with the royal representatives called by the Brown family?' She pondered this as she thought regarding the information that King Thomas would call the Counter-Revolutionary Statute.

Eda had not yet received any new communication from the Miller family about such representatives. So, she had thought about that option as she tried to reason out the presence of that organization in this city.

Previously Minos had used the Snow family in his plans, but that should not have brought people from this royal house to this city. After all, what young Stuart had done had been quite discreet, and such an organization should not have known of his interference.

On the other hand, there was nothing in the Yellow City.

Thus, Eda had thought of that option as the only likely one.

'If that is the case, I have to be careful. That group might have some Spiritual King strong enough to fight me!' She pondered before finally making up her mind.

"Well, let's send a group to approach them and try to find out what's going on. I will scan the surroundings from afar in case something happens."

"Yes, Lieutenant!"

...

And it was not long before one of the groups of local soldiers used the disguise of travelers to pass through the same avenue where the Snow family's carriage had stopped.

In doing so, Minos' soldiers soon realized that although the people in the opposing group were more substantial than them, they were not so dangerous as to scare them. So, they tried to talk to the other side, using the situation to their advantage.

"Snow families, huh? I didn't expect to encounter such an organization here in this place." So, one of those soldiers under disguise said to the coachman of that other carriage.

At the same time, as he chewed on a medicinal leaf, he pointed at that coachman and said once again. "We are from the Kingdom of the End. We are passing this place for the first time..." He then pointed to the surroundings and asked. "We thought we would have a nice place to sleep tonight, but... Uh, tell me something, is this situation normal? Can you tell me?"

"You don't know?" The Snow family's coachman asked, smiling. "Hehe, this city has been abandoned for years!"

"Friends from the Kingdom of the End, you must not be from big families, right?"

"Ahh, everywhere we humble ones are distinguished from the rest..." One of Minos' soldiers said in good humor. "But you are right, our organization is quite small, and we have never left our state before..."

"Hahaha, so that's why."

"So, you guys are just passing through here too, right? You must not have made the same mistake as us..." Another soldier said unassumingly.

"Oh? Actually..." One of them was about to say something but soon stopped before saying more than necessary to these strangers.

'These people are not just passing through!' The soldiers realized this almost simultaneously.

One of them then took the initiative and said. "Friends of the Snow family, we have been here for more than a day, and unfortunately, we are low on resources..."

"We stayed all this time looking for resources around this city, but we haven't had much luck."

"If..."

"If we can trade something with you, it would be of great help to us..." The soldier said as his face turned half red due to the shame of having made such an amateurish 'mistake' in his travels.

"Have you searched all over the place?"

"You want to trade something for resources?"

'Maybe...' One of the strongest of that Snow family group looked thoughtfully at the carriage in which those soldiers were passing and wondered if it was worth talking about Minos to strangers.

'Well, we are here to invite him to ally with us, and he already has an organization to help him... So, it makes no difference if other powers find out he was here!' That person thought to himself before making up his mind.

"Friends of the Kingdom of the End, we are after a young man by the name of Minos. We don't know his last name, but he was the finalist in the last Spiritual Tournament."

"We are in search of him because we have an offer to make him, uh, sorry, I can't go into details about that." That Snow family subordinate said that politely.

"Can you guys tell us if you have found any clues of such a person in this place?"

"We can trade that for resources."

"Minos?"

"Spiritual Tournament?"

All the soldiers in that group repeated those words as they looked at each other, shocked by what this person had just said.

'Is he serious?'

'Is the Snow family truly going to betray the Counter-Revolutionary Statute right now? No...'

'No, that doesn't make sense!'

'Don't tell me, don't tell me that...' The eyes of the strongest soldier there widened in realization as he understood the reason for all this.

"Friends, you... How long has it been since you guys received any information from your superiors?"

"What?"

"What's the relevance of that?"

The individuals in the Snow family group said such things, not understanding the question of that unknown 'traveler.' 

'So, that's it!'

'These people still don't know about the recent Night News!'

"Cough! Cough!"

"Uh, I'm sorry for the strange question, Snow family friends. It's just that recently the location of that competitor Minos was revealed..."

"Oh?"

"When did that happen?"

"A few days ago..."

"So, you have his location?" The eyes of the leader of that group sparkled in anticipation, eager to go straight to where Minos was.

"We do, but..."

"We'll pay whatever you ask!"

"Uh, I understand... But unlike resources, to us, the information of why you want to contact him is worth much more."

"Tsk!"

'I knew that would happen!'

'Hell!'

'Maybe I should eliminate them after telling that information?' So, that man carefully thought as he looked at those 'travelers.'

"Fine."

"We are here because we have the location of one of that young man's potential enemies, and we want to ask for an alliance with the organization behind him to attack such a place."

"What organization is that?"

"The Scourges of the Devil!"

....