The Rise of the Black Plain

What Minos had planned was to use the greed of some individuals with positions of power in that family to deceive them, making them keep information about the Dry City.

Minos no longer had many options for action. So, he considered using a portion of the truth about the Dry City to demonstrate to the Gill family elders how valuable this place was. And how bad it would be if they just delivered it on a 'platter' to the local royal family.

That is, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that the Brown family would surely take over the Dry City if they found this place valuable for them. Moreover, if some noble family denounced Minos and his forces about any infraction that had happened, they would use that as an excuse to occupy the Black Plain!

The royal family was, in fact, the owner of the territories and, in theory, could take the sovereignty of the noble families and allocate those territories to other powers. But to do this without a plausible excuse would be somewhat unfavorable for the morals of such a power, which would certainly need to maintain order and respect upon itself.

Being powerful and feared was all well and good, but that alone wouldn't do it. After all, if everyone hates you, then the day when everyone revolts might not be too far away...

In this case, even royal families did not do everything they could. So, they would need to guarantee their 'words' that they would not simply take things from the nobles for no reasonable reason.

That also ensured that Minos could keep the Black Plain in his possession even if the royal family discovered this location. Of course, this would have many consequences, and he would have to pay a heavy tax burden, but House Brown would not take his place if this young man were willing to bend his knee and accept such reality.

On the other hand, he would definitely not receive any protection from the royal family. It would just wait for the day when this young man fell to the other families. After all, other powers wouldn't stop at such an opportunity!

However, it would definitely be much more attractive to the Brown family if they ruled the Black Plain without attracting the hatred of everyone in the state!

So, if the Gill family sent the Dry City information to such power and denounced Minos' offense against the Black Star Academy, such power would have its justifications. As a result, Minos would lose his sovereignty, and the Gill family would gain nothing from it!

It was precisely on these points that Minos' plan was based.

He would try to deceive the Gill family into believing that the Dry City had been taken over by the group of Winston, Russ, and Lionel. But, at the same time, he would send truthful information about his land, things that such an organization already knew due to the coming of Railan and Ralf to this place.

As, for example, information regarding the plantations of high spiritual concentration present in this region.

On the other hand, there would be false information regarding the forces of the local army, population, etc. Things that would make that power believe its domain would be secure even without sending large numbers of guards here.

Finally, he intended to make that family believe that he would be under the control of such an organization!

If something went wrong and the royal family discovered the Dry City, the Gills could simply claim they had nothing to do with it and blame it all on Minos!

At least, that's what Minos wanted the ambitious leaders of that organization to realize after reading the reports from Winston, Russ, and Lionel.

These reports would make clear to the influential people of that noble family how the Dry City territory had fallen to Winston's group's control. How young Stuart, a weak and fearful person, had become a puppet for that organization. Lastly, the potential that this place had to be exploited, in addition to the absence of internal threats...

Anyway, that was Minos' plan to resolve this issue temporarily.

Was it a perfect plan? No, it certainly wasn't since there were risks of the Gill family ignoring all this and simply handing the Dry City over to the royal family.

But the chances of this working, at least in the short term, were not small. That is, at least in the span of weeks to months, this would likely not result in the start of a war between the Black Plain Army and the royal family.

Minos and his forces would just have to deal with the Gill family, which was much better compared to the other option...

But Minos wasn't worried about initiating that plan right now. He and Dry City still had more than ten days until the deadline given by the Gill family for the Winston group came to an end, and they had to send in their reports.

Minos wanted to send those reports only at the last minute to buy as much time as possible.

And even if such a thing could generate questions, doubts related to the difficulty of the Dry City's subduing, young Stuart had already thought of an excellent justification for this.

Even if his city were supposed to be easily taken, that wouldn't stop delays from happening. Fearful and weak people could find many ways to hide, making such a mission a little longer...

With that, he could be used as an excuse for why the Dry City invasion took longer than it should!

...

Anyway, while Minos waited for the time to begin that plan, he was dealing with the local affairs of the Dry City in his office.

Right now, he was sitting behind his desk while he had his arms resting on this piece of furniture, his hands clasped together at the level of his mouth. But, on the other hand, in front of his desk was a man dressed in a uniform similar to the one used by the municipal police officers.

This man presented some data about the local prisoners, which had already become numerous enough for this subject to become relevant for local development.

"Young master, the prisoners, brought from the Maritime City is already working in the agricultural fields. But, as for the Gill family guards, they still need a few more days before they can work as farmers…" He continued to explain the situation of those people to the young sovereign with a calm expression on his face.

Both the royal guards brought to the Dry City and the people of the Gill family were receiving the same kind of treatment. That was compulsory work in the agricultural fields!

They were prisoners of war, and Minos had no intention of letting them do nothing while draining the Dry City coffers...

After all, even if they didn't need much, such people had to eat regularly. In addition, they would demand cleaning services in their cells, guards to monitor them, etc. Thus, there were many costs to keep a person incarcerated, and with Minos' plans, such numbers would only increase in the future.

In this case, rather than wasting Black Plain funds on these individuals, Minos would make them work to pay for such things!

And as there was so much need for more labor in the local agricultural fields, these people were an excellent addition. That is because, even with their cultivations sealed, each of these prisoners was stronger than the average local farmer.

In this case, they could produce a lot and help speed up local development!

But Minos wouldn't be unfair to such individuals. In the future, they would receive a slice of the earnings generated by their work. That would only be a part of what ordinary farmers would earn for the same job, as they would have to pay various fees.

However, this was already very good for those imprisoned and living in the enemy's hands. When they were released, they would undoubtedly receive significant amounts of crystals by the standards of this region.

That was a good thing for both sides in this situation, something that would make this relationship more acceptable... At least such prisoners would not be enslaved and would face the constant punishment that would come if other enemies caught them.

So, those people had readily accepted it.

Anyway, it didn't take long for that soldier to finish his business with Minos and return to his regular workplace.

On the other hand, sometime after that person left Minos' office, Mia went in there and communicated with her boss. "Young master, Miss Mendy is here to see you...."