The Rise of the Black Plain

After hearing Minos' question, Vivian stared at him without saying anything.

Instead, Grace stepped forward and answered his question respectfully. "It's not that Vivian is angry with you. She just doesn't understand why that happened to Davy... After all, losing an arm is difficult for anyone."

"Yes, it must be complicated..." Minos turned around and walked back towards his residence. "I did it because it was easier to kill Leroy that way than if I had gone out of my way just to drive Davy to exhaustion and then deal with that person."

"Just because it was easier?" Vivian asked in an irritated manner.

"Hmm, your brother had allowed someone else to manipulate him and had even refused to listen to my advice for him to retreat from the fight... So, he deserved what happened at the end of that battle."

"But you don't need to thank me for that... I taught him that lesson for free." Minos said, smiling, as he teased that woman.

He was teasing that woman to see how she would react, but what he had just spoken was, in fact, a truth.

Davy had allowed Leroy to manipulate him. However, that young man murdered by Minos was very humble compared to the tens of millions of people in the Flaming Empire.

And since Davy wanted to go to that empire at that time, overcoming the 'gift' given by Minos was an excellent chance for him to become stronger mentally. Otherwise, he would sooner or later end up in an even worse situation. 

Hence, such a thing really could be considered as a learning chance that young Stuart had given to Davy!

As mistakes themselves usually provide the best learning conditions, that young man could very well have a more peaceful time in the Flaming Empire because of such a thing.

Of course, that would undoubtedly hinder him at first since he would be one step below those on the same level as him. However, having the right mindset would already make him fitter, and in the long run, he might have a better chance of success!

Anyway, upon hearing Minos' arrogant comment, Vivian turned red with anger as she advanced towards him. "What did you say?" She shouted in anger as she grabbed one of that sovereign's arms.

However, she didn't even have time to think about doing anything else when suddenly her girlfriend pulled her back. "Calm down, Vivian!"

But Vivian did not calm down. Instead, she pressed her jaw tightly before finally brandishing it loudly. "Minos, I dare you to say that again!"

"Hehe, anyway, back then, your brother was on my enemy's side, and he suffered for deciding to protect Leroy. What did you expect? What would you have done if you were about to kill an enemy and an idiot appeared in your way to stop you?"

"Sigh... Your brother was fortunate that I wasn't interested in him, or he wouldn't have lost just one arm..." He seriously said as he looked back in the direction of that woman's brown eyes.

"Minos!"

"No matter his mistakes, he is my brother! You can't talk about him like that!"

"Ah, Vivian..."

"You are very stressed. Hasn't all this already happened? What difference does it make now?" Grace tried to calm her down while squeezing this woman's waist, who was looking steadily at Minos.

"Hmm, your girlfriend is right, Vivian. You shouldn't be bothered about the past. Didn't your brother turn out okay at the end of it all?" He asked in a calm tone as he ignored the anger that Vivian seemed to be experiencing at the moment. "By the way, how is he doing? He went to which sect in the Flaming Empire?" 

Hearing this from Minos, Vivian was still pressing her teeth as she made a noise with her closed mouth and looked at him steadily. Grace then answered for her. "Davy is doing relatively well. He is already at level 49 and will have a chance to be chosen as an in-name disciple of one of the Mountain Sect elders next year."

"Oh? That's not bad... Maybe he'll make a full recovery sooner than you think, Vivian." 

"Aren't you happy, Vivian?" He cynically asked as he looked into that woman's eyes.

"Miserable!"

However, Minos was not bothered by this, as he massaged Vivian's head and said calmly. "Ah, don't worry about that. If our alliance works out in the future, then I will allow one of my doctors to do his treatment for free."

"What do you think?"

She was then silent for a moment as she clenched her fists tightly. "Fine." She said in a tone that indicated that she was still unhappy. But she wasn't dumb to pass up this opportunity.

'This Minos is a daring person...' Grace thought to herself as she watched how that young man spoke to Vivian.

Grace knew that Minos was speaking truths, but she also understood that he was joking with Vivian. So, she had not been so angry.

But for Vivian, who was very 'close' to the problem, it was somewhat difficult to distinguish that this was nothing more than a tease to test her.

"Well, I'm glad you're a sensible person."

"Come on. The food should be on the table by now..." He commented in satisfaction, massaging one of Vivian's shoulders and directing those two to his residence.

...

Quickly a few hours passed.

After having lunch with those two, Minos had left for the Spatial Kingdom to do the train, which he usually did at this time of day.

As for the two of them, they had left Minos' residence and headed for the streets of Dry City, where they intended to get to know this place a little more.

Previously they hadn't tried to get to know anything here since they were interested in going directly to talk to Minos as soon as they arrived in this city. But after doing so, they could no longer ignore their curiosity to know this place.

They would know a lot from their bodyguards, but experiencing something would always be better than hearing a report from someone else. Therefore, they would get to know a little of Dry City for at least a day or two.

After this, they would leave in the direction of the headquarters of the Hayes family in the Cromwell Kingdom.

Anyway, at the moment, the two were passing in front of the local cultivation tower, a part of the city where there were many services of high importance for cultivators.

"This place is very nice." Grace began to speak as the two passed through the shade of the trees on one side of that street they were on. "The amount of Spiritual Kings here is not small either... So, assuming that these people are members of Minos' army, then he already has expert numbers almost equal to those of mid-level noble families."

"Then, making a deal with him is a big deal for our families. Maybe that's the action we so desperately needed."

"Hmm, I know." Vivian commented with an expression that was still a little irritated.

She had already regained her reason and realized that Minos was testing her. But there was still a bit of irritation in her mind...

"That Minos is disgusting. He teased me like that earlier and then acted as if nothing happened..." 

Hearing this, Grace looked away for a moment as she remembered what had happened. 'He even tried to court us...'

'Good thing Vivian was too stressed to notice that. Otherwise, she would have been even more irritated.'

But just after thinking about it briefly, Grace shook her head and returned her attention to Vivian's voice.

"But I can't deny that a partnership with him is just what we need."

"Not to mention that he alone should be much stronger than ordinary Spiritual Kings... So, our possibilities will be even better in the future when he fully matures."

"Hmm, well, I guess we'd better look up those two to find out a little more about what they've met in the meantime."

"All right."

...

Meanwhile, in the Spatial Kingdom...

Minos was in front of all his soldiers who were in that place while sitting on a wooden chair, with a flute in his hand.