The Rise of the Black Plain

After young Stuart's sudden revelation, each of those people in Ambrose's office stood silently with their mouths open, shocked by how Minos had manipulated them.

'How can this be?' Ambrose's eyes almost fell out of their sockets as he thought about this matter.

The fact that they had found out about the Chambers had led them into a confrontation with the Cromwell family, which had weakened both sides. At the same time, they had also discovered the location of the Scourge of the Devil headquarters, one of Minos' targets.

In other words, that young man's action had caused the Snow family to create several positive consequences for himself!

Thinking about it, the people in that place could not help but be surprised and shocked by the profundity of Minos' schemes.

'That villain!'

'He planned all this from the beginning!'

'He truly made us weaken ourselves for him, only to now easily dominate us!' The queen thought of this, green with anger, feeling ashamed that her organization had been manipulated by a young man under 25.

And not only was she feeling this way. All those people there were aware that they, too, and most of the regional leaders, had been manipulated in some way by Minos' actions.

"Unbelievable!"

"I didn't think doing something like that was possible!"

"Damn!"

"It's not for nothing that he was always so calm! The wretch was just waiting for the right moment to use his cards!"

"The region is lost!"

Several comments sounded in the surroundings of that place, as those people lost all the rest of the confidence they had.

They were already in a desperate situation and had no expectations of escaping subservience to Minos. However, as long as there was life, there were opportunities for change.

They would compromise with Minos, but their descendants and subordinates could still act against the interests of the Black Plain. And with that, however small, there was hope in the hearts of those people.

But realizing how problematic it could be to deal with someone so meticulous, these Spiritual Kings soon began to feel that there was no hope for them.

The light at the end of the tunnel was just a childish dream!

If Minos had done such things to them, then what might have happened in the past between this young man and the Carline and Walker families?

The Walker family certainly did not have 'good luck' like them. But, that organization had been allowed to continue to exist, even with him having the power to eliminate it!

As for the Carline family, that organization might as well have already accepted surrender to Minos. After all, why would he spend two whole days at that organization's headquarters without something having happened?

It was bizarre indeed!

Thinking about it, those who stayed in Ambrose's office after Minos left assumed the worst.

"More than half the region must have deals with him by now!" The individual who had done the capture and interrogation of Dean Chambers said this out loud, confident of this possibility.

"Why are you saying that?"

"That can't be! How would he have half the region and still waste time on us?"

That man then said, looking mainly at Ambrose. "Stone Island will certainly support him once the balance of war is reached."

"And from what I've heard recently, the battles on the Black Plain are increasingly balanced, slowly shifting in favor of the rebel territory."

"And with that young man's recent visits to the Kingdom of the Waves and the Kingdom of the End, I can't imagine the forces of those two states maintaining their previous attitudes."

"In other words..."

"They're already on Minos Stuart's side!"

This man was not making this analysis considering only Minos' visit. Such a thing could just be bullying, as the regional periodicals had been portraying the young Stuart's travels.

However, because of Minos' 'offer,' that man could not help but think that the same thing had happened when young Stuart 'visited' these two other royal families.

"So, that's it..." Ambrose commented in a low voice, feeling that there was no error in that level 57 cultivator's line of reasoning.

"Well, it makes no difference..." The queen stood up from her armchair, speaking to those people still with a sour expression on her pretty face. "Our fate is already destined, so we should just enjoy trying to see the bright side in all of this."

"At least we'll be on the winning side!" She thought it would be impossible for Minos to lose this war if the three northernmost kingdoms in that region changed sides in this conflict.

That would make four of the six states in that region somehow favorable to the Black Plain. So, even if the two remaining states could get their reinforcements from the empire, they would never defeat young Stuart!

It would be a completely unfair fight in which four kingdoms and one state in rebellion would oppose two kingdoms!

Furthermore, Minos did not seem to suffer from the problems of a lack of regional resources and cultivated as if even sleeping made him stronger.

Thus, with only the reinforcements coming from the Flaming Empire, the new Black Plain force should be enough to handle the rest of the war.

That is, of course, if no higher-level powers decided to get involved in this mess. But since the Spiritual Church watched over this region and had little interest in the local intrigues to get more directly involved, the chances of such a thing happening were small. 

With that in mind, the queen no longer had any doubt that it made no sense to stand against Minos in this chaotic northern region of the Central Continent.

If they had not gotten involved in any of this from the beginning, as House Stone had done for most of the conflict, they might have had better results.

But the milk had already been spilled, and now they could only deal with that reality.

So, she was prepared to help the Black Plain and at least ensure minor losses for her family!

"Your Majesty..."

"Mother..."

"Don't overthink on that matter." She said to those people as she walked towards her son's office exit. "In certain situations, it is better to simply stop fighting the current and let it carry you along."

"As long as the Minos current doesn't take us over a cliff, we'll be fine..." She said in a low voice, soon afterward sighing profoundly.

After that, Ambrose and the rest of those people continued in that place until he finally gave his final orders. "Call the spiritual judge Hum. Let's hurry with the preparations for the agreement with the Black Plain."

"Your Highness..." One of them tried to say something but was soon stopped by the supreme elder of that organization.

"Make it quick. There's no room for deception here, so the quicker we resolve this, the less time that person stays under our roof."

"Or would you rather have him around here?"

Gulp!

"I'd rather be tortured day to a day than that..."

"It's too much pressure... He could kill us at any moment!"

"Hmmm, that..."

Murmurs continued there until Ambrose also decided to leave to tell young Stuart the information about the Scourges of the Devil.

There was not much else to be done in this situation, and even if he had responsibilities to the kingdom, this prince did not have the peace to deal with it now.

It was simply too stressful to have to deal with the possibility of sudden death and lose the precious independence of this state.

As much as the idea of a state was largely virtual, which depended a lot on people's beliefs, this was still something that had existed for tens of thousands of years!

And with so much history, there was no way that Ambrose could not have a certain sense of belonging, a pride in the kingdom and his family.

But now, so suddenly, they had been overwhelmed by a power fighting for its independence!

It was extraordinary to think about!

A rebel fighting for his freedom... 

What a beautiful idea! 

Not so much when thinking about how he was now fighting to take away the freedom of others...

How ironic... 

But that was life. They had oppressed and created the monster that now terrorized them. 

There were no innocents and no guilty here. There were only winners and losers at the end of the day!

And they had lost!