The Rise of the Black Plain

In the blink of an eye, an entire week had passed...

While Minos was out of Dry City, the negotiations with the representatives of the Brown family were finally reaching an untenable moment.

But before the blood of the invaders flowed through the lands of the Black Plain, an unexpected group had arrived on the outskirts of Dry City this morning.

Well, they weren't entirely unexpected since the soldiers around the Black Plain had already notified headquarters about such a group approaching Dry City. But it was undeniable that the soldiers of the Black Plain Army did not expect that such an organization would show up here just at this moment.

Hence, upon finding out that members of the Spiritual Church were coming here, the administrative soldiers couldn't help but feel surprised by the interest of such an organization.

Not because Dry City had nothing for this organization, but because only a few influential people in the Brown Kingdom should know about such a thing.

So, these administrative soldiers couldn't help but feel surprised and realize that the Spiritual Church probably had secret agents in some of the largest regional organizations!

...

Outside the dome of Dry City, more precisely 10 kilometers away from the eastern exit of this place, the church group was already in that joint camp of the local forces and the Brown family.

This group was composed of some low-level members of the church's branch in this kingdom, as this organization did not yet see this place as something so relevant as to send one of its few Bishops here.

After all, as much as the local potential was attractive, this place still had a lot of work ahead of it until one Bishop had to commit in talks with the local sovereign.

Such individuals were very few and had many responsibilities. So, their time was too short to be spent in this place!

But in any case, the church branch in this state had sent a group of 10 Deacons and 3 Priests to this place to negotiate the opening of a parish in this city.

The Spiritual Church needed to be close to the population to impose its worldviews, propagate its cultures and ideas, and finally attract more and more people to its organization. As a result, in order to gain more followers and future subordinates, the church could not help but try to establish a presence in the most important cities, where there would undoubtedly be more people and crystals.

So, because of this city's potential, if they wanted to nurture themselves in this place, the first step was to open a small parish here. 

Then, when this place developed further, perhaps they could build a more significant branch. But for the moment, this was just in their plans, and having a small parish in this town would be enough.

Once they had their foot planted in this place, they would never leave!

Anyway, with that in mind, those 13 individuals from the capital of the Brown Kingdom were already in that camp, together with the envoys from the local royal family.

"Marlon, it's unexpected to see you guys in this place, hahaha. So, what are you guys doing? Are you by any chance still negotiating with the local sovereign?" One of those Priests said this to one of the three nobles leading the negotiations in this place.

"Yes, it's like you said. We are negotiating..." Marlon said while he had an ugly expression on his face. 

He was not surprised by the arrival of representatives from the Spiritual Church in this place. After all, something like this was already expected on their part, and the local royal family wasn't worried about this organization coming to the Black Plain. 

But he was rather stressed at the moment since Minos' soldiers had not made the negotiations any easier. Hence, he was not happy and had an unfriendly expression on his face.

"Oh? That's strange..."

"Considering how long you guys have been here, we had thought that you had already reached an agreement." That level 45 Priest said this while having a curious look on his face. "What happened?"

"Tsk! Those rascals from Dry City are very arrogant and think they are smart!"

"They want to extend the negotiations because of every comma in our contract..." Another of those three nobles said this in a dissatisfied manner.

"This is truly a surprise..." Another Priest commented as he felt the wind sway his blue cloak. "The local sovereign must be quite capable, or he would not endure this long negotiating with you guys..."

"No way, that brat didn't even participate in the negotiations. Only his somewhat decent advisors."

"There's nothing else remarkable to talk about them."

"They're just a bunch of bumpkins who don't know the difference between heaven and earth!" The last of those three royal family members arrogantly said that.

"Is that so? So, what do you think they'll do to us when we head for that city? Will they be hard to curve?" A level 44 Priest asked calmly, feeling that this might make their affairs in that city difficult.

"Well, our Brown family and the Spiritual Church are quite distinct organizations. So, maybe you guys will get lucky."

"Oh? Hehehe, that wouldn't be a surprise." The group leader, level 46, said this while smiling, just before he turned and started walking in the opposite direction of those people. "Well, see you another time!"

"Hmm, good luck." The leader of the Brown family group in this place said this while looking thoughtfully in the direction of those 13 individuals. 'Maybe this will help us somehow to settle our affairs in this damned place...'

...

After some time, the group led by three Priests finally arrived in front of the eastern entrance to the local wall, where they wanted to pass through to proceed further into the interior of this place.

'Interesting...'

'This place seems to be much richer than we know!' The group leader considered while he had a broad smile on his face. At the same time, he couldn't help but plan what he would do next.

'First, we will meet the local sovereign to talk about building our branch in this city. With that, when they built our first parish here, we will be able to start taking advantage of this place...'

"Haha, this is our chance to shorten our path to the Flaming Empire branch!" One of them said, just before the soldiers stopped their group in that place.

"Gentlemen, identify yourselves and state your purpose for coming to Dry City!" One of the Sergeants at that place said aloud, looking at the two carriages that had individuals dressed in white cloaks on the outside and some people inside each of them.

This soldier had not identified these people at first.

Not because he didn't know about the unique feature of the clothes of the members of the Spiritual Church.

He did.

But as a native of Dry City, this man had never seen church members in his life!

So, it was not easy for him to readily identify where these people came from, even though he knew things about this organization.

"Oh? They can't identify us?" One of those three Priests commented among themselves, laughing inside one of the two carriages. "Looks like the folks in Marlon's group weren't wrong."

"This truly is a bumpkin place!"

"Haha."

"Hehe, you two, stop talking that sort of thing, or we'll have trouble negotiating with the local sovereign."

"Yes, Brother Norman." The two replied before finally stopping laughing and leaving that carriage along with that leader of theirs.

After all those 13 individuals got down from those carriages, the group leader finally answered that soldier's question. "Friends of Dry City, we have come from the branch of the Spiritual Church in the Brown Kingdom. We are here to talk with your sovereign!" 

"Spiritual Church?"

"You are here to talk to the young master?"

Several soldiers repeated those words in low voices while intently looking at those 13 people.

After that, someone dispatched the message about those people forward, and after a few seconds, a person came from inside that wall to deal with those people.

"Members of the Spiritual Church, at the moment our city is in negotiations with the Brown family. Hence, our sovereign, Minos Stuart, reluctantly refused to enter into any relationship with your organization at this time."

....