The Rise of the Black Plain

One week later...

While changes were taking place on the northern and southern borders of the Black Plain, Minos had already gotten considerably closer to the capital of the Kingdom of the End.

He had had a smooth journey in this travel period, with no random confrontations against spiritual beasts or regional criminals.

With that, he had trained and cultivated quite a bit in this period alongside Maida, having done so much more than during his short trip with Gloria.

Not that he had not enjoyed his time at that beauty's side. After all, watching Gloria and seeing her smile was soothing to the soul, something men and even women would be glad to see daily.

Still, as a person committed to his future, Minos felt how much more efficient he was when he was not around that beauty he had had to hide his abilities.

In any case, Minos had advanced only two months ago, so he was still far from level 54. However, this young man was not too worried about this now, as he was almost at his next destination, the last one in this state.

After weeks of heading towards the coast of this state, Minos had finally reached the western coastal region of the Kingdom of the End, where the capital of this state was located.

But since Mirabella was at one of the northernmost points of this western coastal part of the Kingdom of the End, Minos still had a few days to travel to the city of Kara.

So, he was currently passing through the penultimate city before his goal, a relatively small place compared to the larger regional centers but decent enough to accommodate visitors.

...

As he walked through the streets of that coastal city, Minos could see that the financial power of the Hargraves family city could not be seen everywhere in this state.

Not only had this place indicated this to him. But several villages and towns that he had visited in the time he had spent traveling also showed that such a city could be considered an exception.

But Minos had already understood the reasons behind this, as the Hargraves family was one of the few local organizations that had managed to absorb much of the Schmidt family's territories.

So, for one of the few expansionist powers in this kingdom, it should not be strange what he had seen before. 

Hence, now he could better understand the situation of this kingdom, which, although better than the other states in the region, in general, did not have such superior wealth to the others.

It was undoubtedly something significant to the point that anyone could realize this by observing this state's ordinary cities and citizens. But it was not so tremendous that all the rest of the region had to be ashamed of its humility.

And seeing this city now, Minos no longer felt strange or curious about these differences between states.

With that, he watched the early evening in this city as he walked towards a place where he intended to eat something.

He had several resources in his spatial ring, but eating something hot and freshly made was always better than just tasting dry food or fruits. Especially considering how cold it was in this place, where everyone on the street was walking around in warm coats and with bandannas around their necks.

'Hmm, that smells good...' Minos thought about it silent as he looked at a place a few dozen meters in front of him, where there was a tavern full of people.

From that place came a tasty, intense smell that made young Stuart's mouth salivate in response. And since he had not eaten food prepared by cooks for a few days now, he could not help but swallow his saliva in anticipation of this long-awaited meal.

Gulp!

'I don't like such crowded places, but I'll have to endure that this time...' He thought about this as he entered that place, dodging the several people standing around the entrance.

And in doing so, it did not take long for young Stuart to spot where the tasty smell was coming from, where there were several skewers with meat on different grills.

Seeing this, he immediately made his way to get his meal, at first ignoring his surroundings.

"Sir, I want six..." He then gave his order to the person responsible for taking care of the meats there, as he felt the smell of those options slowly permeating his nostrils.

But as he looked at what he would soon eat, Minos slowly began to pay attention to the surroundings, curious to know why there were so many people there.

The smell of that meat was delicious, but was there a need in a relatively small city for so many people in one place?

Or was there something else he was overlooking?

Thinking about this, he looked around carefully.

Finally, he saw that the crowd in the place seemed to be around a table, where a middle-aged man was sitting on one of the many wooden chairs in this establishment.

There, everyone in the surroundings was trying to make as little noise as possible while that individual was talking in a low voice.

"... Back then, the current leaders of the kingdom were just juniors of the younger generation, struggling to secure their names in the region."

"Not only that, the queen hadn't even left her home state to come and live alongside His Majesty, as neither of them knew each other until then."

"But at that time when the current three experts of the kingdom were just beginning to show themselves, terrifying things happened in some villages around the kingdom."

"Entire villages disappeared overnight, while survivors occasionally appeared out of nowhere, completely disoriented, not knowing who they were, where they had come from, or what had happened to themselves."

"Sigh..."

"So many people disappeared in similar situations that the previous king even had to declare martial law from time to time in an attempt to understand how these disappearances were happening."

"But it had all been useless. The invaders were very good at what they did, and they were able to get thousands of people in and out of our cities whenever they wanted."

"Not only that, even after all this time, no one ever really understood what was happening in these places!"

Gulp!

"This had been going on for a long time before His Majesty's youth and continued until about 200 years ago when the strange phenomenon in our kingdom finally disappeared!" The man said this with eyes focused on the ground as if he could see something in that place.

But there was nothing there. Only that person's memory showed him some of the terrible things he had seen in his many years of life.

After making a momentary silence, that man then heard the voice of a young man. "Elder, I heard from my grandmother the legend of the Bag Man. Isn't this just a joke to scare children? Did that truly happen?"

"Even the royal family has already come out publicly to say that many of these stories are nothing but mass hysteria..."

And as Minos watched the young man saying those words, the same man from before answered such questions. "Young man, I gain nothing by lying to you. I am not charging you to speak these things, you who asked me to expose some of my memories."

"But I don't blame you. The invaders are terrible, and they have a strange power capable of manipulating the memories of people of lower levels than theirs."

"Because of this, not only are those involved in these incidents hardly aware of what happened to them when they survive, but the invaders have also manipulated local organizations!"

"Oh? And how do you know that since they manipulate everyone?" The same young man from before asked with a smile on his face.

The man frowned his eyebrows but did not shy away from that young man's question. "I saw with my own eyes when an entire city disappeared in the blink of an eye."

"Not only that, I feel the power of the invaders' technique, something so extreme that even at my level..." He paused for a single moment, almost without letting the people there notice his change in tone.

"Even the regional leaders could not understand!"

"Finally, while I was traveling in the vicinity of the North Sea long ago, unfortunately, my crew had been thrown into that damned place. On that day, I felt the same power I had felt in that city."

"So, I know that this legend is based on a fact that is much worse than you can imagine!"

After he finished, that man saw the people in his surroundings laughing in satisfaction as if they had finished listening to the town liar telling another one of his tales.

None of them believed this man, but they liked to hear the stories of this individual, so they constantly gathered for this.

As for him, such a person did not bother whether or not these low-level individuals would believe his story.

He was already old and crippled. So, as long as these stories reached the right people, he would succeed in his purpose of passing on this information to those who could do something against the invaders!

'Bastards!'

'The day will come when we will force you back into the hole from which you came!'

'We will avenge the death of our countrymen!' He thought about it in anger, still sitting in the same place as before, ignoring the people in his surroundings.

...