The Rise of the Black Plain

A few hours after his arrival in the Hargraves family city, Minos had gotten to know the basics of this place and understood where his targets were.

That was a great city, with over a million inhabitants. Still, it did not have a large urban area, which made young Stuart's analysis job much more straightforward.

On the other hand, considering that Minos intended to eliminate only the strongest Spiritual Kings in this place, usually people above level 55, his analysis was even easier.

Even in places like Athela, there were not many Spiritual Kings above that level. So, it would not be here in this place that he would find many such individuals.

And considering that he was in search of the leaders of this city, it made no sense to think that any of them would be hiding in this place, like some of his recent targets.

Someone could even be hiding around this city, but Minos did not want to spend too much time in this place. His goal was to spread chaos and fear throughout the region while doing a small favor for one of his subordinates. But for this, he would not need to do as impressive a job as the one against the Walker family.

So, if one or another enemy survived today, it would not make that much difference to this young man's plans. So, he had not bothered to investigate this entire city thoroughly.

He had only done the basics, identifying the strongest people in this place and the enemy headquarters. After this, he already had the locations of his targets and was just waiting for the moment to act!

Minos could act at any time, but to do a 'clean' job, he thought that acting late at night would be best since less of the local population would be on the streets of this city.

He thought that acting without drawing too much attention might lessen the negative feeling that the citizens of this city would have towards the Black Plain.

In his opinion, by acting 'quietly,' he would indeed be feared for his actions. Still, he would not be as disliked as if he did it rudely when there were many 'viewers.' 

He and the Black Plain would be less 'bad' if the action in question were more 'quiet,' as the vast majority of local citizens would only learn of the tragedy the next day.

Minos believed that experiencing an invasion was much worse than waking up to find that it was all over. As such, he was waiting for midnight, when he could act in a way that would maximize his gains in this place.

And while doing so, he had already fired the previous coachman and proceeded on foot to the central part of this city, where his targets were.

...

Minos was walking silently, observing his surroundings while standing in that beautiful, well-wooded center, with no imperfections in the sidewalks, avenues, and several well-kept buildings.

As he did so, he was dressed in a large black overcoat, walking with his hands in the pockets of this clothing specially made for cold places, as was the case in this city.

The Kingdom of the End had more aggressive temperatures during most of the year due to its above-average spiritual density in the region.

Because of this, the days within this state could be freezing or boiling, sometimes with a difference of a few hours between one type and the other.

That, of course, came with other natural phenomena, such as storms or sunny days, which could come at any time.

But none of this was so relevant that the people in this part of the northern part of the Central Continent suffered from it. After all, the spiritual density of this great area was not enough to cause significant weather effects.

Anyway, the Kingdom of the End experienced a less stable climate than other parts of this region. So, young Stuart needed to wear clothes like that to maintain his body temperature, as it would not be interesting for him to spend his energy doing this.

And with that, he was walking through that well-developed area of the Hargraves family city in warm clothing, thinking about the information he had in mind. 

'From what that coachman told me, this city has gotten quite rich during the years it has had a partnership with the former heir to the Kingdom of the Waves...'

'On the other hand, they have also managed to absorb quite a bit of the power left behind by the Schmidt family after these years since the fall of Barbara's old organization.' He thought about this as he observed the few people left on the streets of that central part.

Some were in groups, talking while smiling as if they had just left a restaurant and were returning home.

On the other hand, others were alone, as if they were either going home after finishing their shifts or doing the opposite.

However, most seemed to dress well and did not seem pressured by the need to work for crystals.

'Could it be that this wealth originated only from the support of that worm? Or is there something more?' Minos' eyebrows frowned as he remembered the connection of Emlyn's story with Barbara's.

That family had been destroyed after some of its members had discovered many high-level beasts that had escaped from a particular shipwreck. At that time, House Schmidt had tried to absorb the power of those beings into their organization.

But when that had happened, the beasts' pursuers were strong and had used that to their advantage to make medium-sized families of this state revolt against House Schmidt.

And considering the opportunism that any smaller organization would have to try to reach for higher flights, organizations like House Hargraves had taken advantage of the addition of experts to carry out a massacre!

Knowing all this history of the Schmidt family and also of Emlyn, Minos could not help but wonder about the possibility that House Hargraves still maintained contact with the people on the crew of the ship of the Blood Triangle Pirates group that had wrecked in this kingdom.

He had no concrete evidence to believe this, nor did he think there was a high probability that an organization from outside this region was investing in some local power. But still, the wealth of this place had caught his attention so that this concern had appeared in his mind.

That could be due to the differences between this state and the others in this region. But since Minos had no deep knowledge about the economic situation of this place, he also could not claim that this reality could not be caused by something else.

"Hmmm..."

His eyes then sharpened as he observed the headquarters of this place, a beautiful palace that had several parts of its building in vaulted models. 'Perhaps I should ask a few questions...'

'The case of the ship crew that brought Emlyn to this region seemed like just an accident. Still, I remember seeing members of that pirate organization while I was traveling alongside Ruth in the Cromwell Kingdom...'

'Considering the time difference between Emlyn's arrival and my time in the Cromwell Kingdom, I don't believe those people were the same individuals who made the scheme against the Schmidt's.'

'Maybe that pirate organization isn't just after spiritual beasts!'

"Well..." He muttered this as he made up his mind while his dark red-bladed sword appeared in his right hand.

At the same time, he continued walking around that place, still with his golden mask on his face but already without his previous overcoat.

"Time to act!"

"I'll find out whatever there is after I meet with the remaining leaders of this family." He muttered, looking with interest at the palace of this place.

Then, as some of the guards patrolling that area looked curiously at Minos, this young man began to activate his techniques, rushing to that place.

'There's no way I can infiltrate the enemy base this time, so I'll do the simple thing...' So, he thought about it as he began to absorb the energies of the defensive barrier of that place while moving his sword, intending to attack!

He then raised his sword above his head before jumping with all his might, following with a decisive move against that structure.

Spatial Sword!

Swooish!

...