The Rise of the Black Plain

"We are in search of this person to extend an invitation to him." That level 51 Spiritual King said while looking at Minos' back.

After hearing such a thing, Minos finally stopped distancing himself from those people while smiling under his mask. "You are after a person, huh? Well, for the past three days, I've been investigating this town, and I saw some groups passing through here..."

"Oh?"

"That's good. Maybe he has some information concerning the whereabouts of that person!"

"Hmm, how lucky for us that we found a witness..."

Those people commented among themselves, speaking in low voices so that Minos wouldn't hear them. 

But even if this young man wasn't listening to the comments of those ten people next to that Spiritual King, he had a good idea of what they were talking about. 'It seems that the Cromwell family is impressed with my accomplishments...'

'They even want to extend me an invitation... How thoughtful of them, haha.' He then asked. "If you guys give me a description of this person, maybe I can help you with that..."

Hearing this, that level 51 cultivator looked carefully at Minos as he thought about this matter. 'If that person can help us, it will be of great help in our cause.'

'On the other hand, our matter with that competitor Minos is not exactly a secret...'

'His Majesty wants to recruit him, and I don't see how this person knowing about it can harm us.'

'At most, he would give us some wrong information... As for him going out talking about it in public, well, it wouldn't make any difference. It's natural for a talented young man to be invited to join the big regional families.'

Thinking about all this, this subordinate of the Cromwell family finally became convinced that it was worth trying to use this stranger's help. "All right, I have a drawing of this young man..." He said as he took a yellowish paper out of his spatial ring. "His name is Minos, and his level is probably between level 44 and 47."

"Oh? Minos, huh? Not such a common name in our region..." Young Stuart said as he approached that person.

Just then, Minos observed the drawing of his face on that paper that that level 51 Spiritual King had handed him. 'That's me, but this picture is very badly drawn...' So, he felt as he analyzed that item.

After doing that for a few moments, Minos passed the paper to that regional expert. He then crossed his arms at chest height and started looking on the ground as if trying to remember something.

"Hmm... I think..."

"Hmmm..."

"Yes!"

"Yes! Now I remember, there was someone like that!" He said in a firm tone, waving his arms and looking in the direction of those people.

"Is that right?"

"That's great! We'll be able to solve this sooner than we thought!"

"So? Where did he go? Do you know? Was he accompanied by anyone else?" Someone from that group asked as he took a step forward toward Minos.

"Well... Now that you have asked me... I feel like my memory is failing..."

"Maybe if I earned some medium-grade crystals... Maybe I could remember." Minos said, trying to negotiate such information with them.

He obviously couldn't just give this information to this group and think they would believe him. After all, he had no reason to help them. Hence, such an action would be very suspicious.

However, if he were someone trying to earn some crystals, his information would immediately become more credible. That is, they couldn't be sure that he was telling the truth, but at the very least, he would appear less suspicious.

"What?"

"Greedy bastard! So, that's what you wanted by approaching us, huh?"

"Tsk!"

"Can't you give us that information in exchange for a favor to the Cromwell family? If your information helps us find that person, we can reward you in the future." The Spiritual King said, trying to come to an agreement with Minos.

"Oh? A favor, eh? What guarantee do I have that I will gain something in the future? Maybe you guys will forget what happened here today and enjoy the benefits of my information..."

"I can say the same for your information. How do we know that it is, in fact, true? Maybe you're making all this up to deceive us..."

After those words were said, the two sides looked at each other intently for a moment as a slight tension grew in that place. 

"It's true..." Minos calmly said while he was ready to leave that place. "How about this, if you pay me 50 medium-grade crystals, I will give you the information. That's the minimum, so I don't lose anything if you guys forget today's agreement..."

"On the other hand, 50 medium-grade crystals are nothing to the Cromwell family... So, even if the information is incorrect, it's worth the risk." He then looked forward in the direction of that empty street and continued. "Otherwise, forget about it. I'll go my way, and you go yours..."

After that, he started walking again.

But just then, he felt something being thrown in his direction, causing him to turn around and catch a small cloth bag in the air.

"All right, take the crystals." That Spiritual King said this while having an ugly expression on his face. 

Although he was one level above Minos, this man was not underestimating this masked person. After all, he was only a subordinate of a royal family, and that person could very well be some noble.

So, there was a possibility that Minos had a higher fighting proficiency than him. Just for this reason, he had not tried to forcibly extract the information this person had!

"Hehehe, you are very good at your service."

"Well, since I already have my assurance, I feel that the information in my mind is much clearer..."

"Hehehe, this young man... What's his name again?"

"Minos."

"That's right, Minos."

"He passed here in this city three days ago. At that time, this level 45 young man was accompanied by some people who had their identities concealed."

"But those three people were all Spiritual Kings, with the weakest being at level 55 and the strongest at level 57."

"What?" The people there asked in surprise.

At the same time, that group leader frowned after hearing such a thing.

"That strong?"

"Hmm, I am not mistaken. In fact, if it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't have noticed that group..."

'Has another royal family contacted him?' This expert wondered doubtfully.

"Anyway, after that, I saw this young man's group meeting with six Spiritual Kings who were wearing armor with the same symbol..."

He then paused for a moment, placing one of his hands on his mask at the height of his forehead. "That symbol was a black star with a circumference at its center."

"Oh?"

'Chambers family, huh? What were they doing around here?' This Spiritual King thought about it. "And what happened when they met?"

Minos then promptly answered. "I don't know."

"After seeing them meeting, I felt that something bad would happen, so I moved away from this place and went to a mountain a few dozen miles east of here."

"It was only earlier yesterday that I saw that young man's group flying towards the Endless Snow Mountain Range, heading east." He said, with an evil smile beneath that mask.

He had told part of the truth of what had happened in this place since he needed these people to check that at least part of what he said was credible. After all, a good lie is always based on the truth!

As for the rest, this was just him putting more fuel on the fire.

Sooner or later, the Cromwell family would find out about the Snow family's intentions against the Chambers family. Therefore, it would be interesting to give these people one more piece of evidence that the Snow Kingdom royal family was already acting against a vassal of theirs.

"Endless Snow Mountain  Range?"

"East?"

Those people repeated that information as they looked at each other, trying to understand where such a group might have gone and what might have happened.

"What about the other group? Did you see them again?"

"No, when I returned here, there was no one else around. Only a few buildings that existed before had mysteriously disappeared...."