The Rise of the Black Plain

Several hours later...

Time passed, and finally, Minos was outside the hotel room Gloria was staying in Dry City, where he intended to take her for a 'first' date of theirs.

After Minos promised that woman they would go out together, the promised two days had passed. Now he had rested and received all the information about his territory after his months of traveling. 

At the same time, Minos had already devoted most of his time to his two women. So, he was now ready to go out with Gloria and settle their situation.

Besides, there was not much else for him to do in Dry City as the peace negotiation attempt should occur in less than three days. Thus, he was eager to have this brief moment at her side and finally move towards the beginning of the end of the war.

After waiting outside Gloria's room for a few moments, Minos heard footsteps behind that door before it opened for him.

At that moment, Minos looked interestedly at the person who had greeted him. Although she was already a rare beauty to see even in everyday situations, she looked much more charming this instant.

Her face was flushed, and her lips seemed to shine slightly, making her very seductive, matching perfectly with the red dress well fitted to her perfect body.

"Gloria..." Minos said in a low voice as he observed the redhead in front of him.

He quickly looked at her from her bare ankles, following all the way down her body, having seen the slight cleavage, and then focusing on her beautiful face.

"You look amazing." He complimented her as he took a step forward.

She smiled graciously at him, noticing the stunning suit that fell perfectly on that sovereign's strong, tall body. "You look quite charming yourself, Minos." 

After that, the two embraced, but without going beyond the limits that people getting to know each other on a first date would naturally have.

"Can we go?" Minos waved one of his hands at Gloria while she extended one of her arms to him, finding the whole situation amusing.

"Where are you going to take me? Are there any special places in Dry City?"

"Well, we still have a lot of room for improvement, but we already have a restaurant with medium-level grade-2 cooks around here. So, I'll take you to that place today."

"Oh?"

He directed her to the elevator on that Four Seasons Hotel floor as he said. "But on future dates, I'll take you to sample appetizers prepared by grade-4 chefs..."

"Grade-4, huh?" She chuckled since not even in the Flaming Empire there were professionals of such a rating.

A low-level grade-4 professional had to at least be at level 80!

Therefore, Gloria could not help but think that Minos was just playing with her. After all, even if he took her in such a place, how would he pay the bill?

Such professionals were paid with high-grade crystals, and it was not as if one or two crystals could afford a meal from a chef of such quality!

She then asked. "So, you are telling me that we will have many more encounters like today's?"

"You got that right, dear Gloria." He smiled at her, showing his interest. "But let's not rush things."

"Let's just enjoy this first date and see what happens next."

She laughed softly, with one of her arms being held by Minos, walking beside him and feeling good about it all. "All right, let's see what happens."

"But don't you think it's too soon to try to get to know me better? You're not a Spiritual Emperor yet." She teased him, touching on the subject concerning the promise she had made to him.

"True, I am not a Spiritual Emperor, but I can easily defeat someone at level 60."

"Even someone with your background who is at that level is probably no match for me."

She then looked at his right face, interested in seeing him in action. "I have heard many stories related to your prowess, but I have yet to see you head-on to judge if you are that good."

"Why don't you show me that at another time?"

"Who knows in the future, but not now." Minos promptly refused.

He wanted to go out with Gloria, but showing her his techniques was something else. This woman was not like any of the other people he had fought in front of before.

Suppose she happened to have Golden-grade techniques. Then, she could effortlessly realize that he had a complete set of these techniques evaluating him with her powerful spiritual sense!

And since he still did not want to get deeply involved with the Spiritual Church nor other high-level powers, doing such a needlessly thing would be foolish.

"Tsk!"

...

After some time, Minos and Gloria were already seated face to face around an elegant table, with two plates of salads and two glasses of a dark red drink in front of them.

In the place they were in, the best restaurant in this city, they were in a wide area that had several other luxurious tables, but no one else in the vicinity.

In fact, except for the staff of the medium-level grade-2 cook serving them, there was no one there to bother Minos and Gloria.

However, despite the fact that there was enough room for at least another ten couples to dine comfortably there, Minos and Gloria could barely see the surroundings because the lighting was focused on their table.

And while they were tasting the dishes of that restaurant, Minos and Gloria were chatting about private things in their lives.

"... So, part of your family is from the Kingdom of the End, huh?" Minos said in curiosity, finding it interesting to find out such a thing about Gloria. 'It's no wonder she's a redhead.'

'That place was from the ancient times, the place with the highest concentration of people with that hair pigmentation on the continent.' He thought about this information left by Henricus Longus.

"Yes, my mother left that part of the continent many centuries ago through the Spiritual Tournament. After that, she met my father on a joint mission of the sect she was part of with a group from the Spiritual Church."

"Sometime later, they were married in the Spiritual Church." Gloria said this in a low voice, remembering the story she had heard many times as a child.

"So, that was it... Well, I must say that I am in awe of your mother's accomplishments. It certainly wasn't easy for her to leave that region and win in the Empire."

"Hmm, yes, she always told me that." Gloria smiled in pride.

"I wondered how your mother would react to the idea of going back to this region..." He smiled at Gloria, making her understand something subtly different from what he meant. 

"Have you ever imagined what it would be like to live here?"

Gloria's face flushed a little more, and she said. "No. Although my mother taught me about this region and her homeland, I never saw myself as someone from those areas."

"Why? Do you by any chance want to have me around so you can see me more often?"

Minos then smiled, not refusing that he would indeed find such a thing interesting. "I think you will be coming to live here soon."

"Really? Are you that confident?" She bit her lips and thought about how much he must desire her.

"Yes..."

"After all, why would the Spiritual Church continue to keep its regional leader aloof once someone around here surpasses her powers?"

"Uh?" Gloria made a sound of surprise, realizing that Minos was joking with her, talking about something different than what she had in mind. 'Wasn't he talking about taking me as his wife?' She thought about it with her face heating up at an alarming rate.

Minos realized the problem and held back his laughter. "When I pass your powers, the Church will naturally not need to worry about having a permanent representative in the region who is stronger than the regional leaders."

"At that time, you will most likely be sent to live around here..." He then placed one of his hands on Gloria's left hand and said softly. "Probably in Dry City."

Her eyes widened upon hearing this, realizing that this could happen if Minos overcame her. But soon after, her fluttering heart slowed a little, and she smiled at him. "Are you confident in doing this?"

"I don't want to put pressure on your shoulders, but my talent is high... I'm afraid this will not be easy."

...