The Rise of the Black Plain

After the assassination of the leading members of that group sent to the Black Plain to negotiate with Minos, the royal family had found out about it almost immediately.

Some of those individuals at the 5th stage and all the Spiritual Kings in that group had soul lamps in the royal family's headquarters.

Consequently, their deaths had not gone unnoticed, and the Brown family had immediately understood that there was something wrong in the Black Plain.

But just because the soul lamps had indicated the deaths of those people, it gave them no clue as to what had caused such an incident.

Could it be the forces in Dry City?

Could it have been some other regional royal family?

Perhaps some organization outside the northern region of the Central Continent? 

They couldn't be sure of any of this.

Obviously, the connection with the Black Plain was not small since such a team had been exterminated while in that area. Because of this, it was possible to associate it with the organization behind Dry City.

But there were so many other more plausible possibilities than this that it would be strange to consider that location as responsible for this incident without first having an investigation done.

Therefore, as they had obtained the information about the death of the eight most essential individuals in that group, this family had already sent some investigators to analyze the situation there.

At the same time, King Brown had sent a crow with a letter to Dry City, questioning the local sovereign about the incident.

Even though Minos might not have had anything to do with it, he could not evade responsibility since it had happened in his region.

And this was unacceptable!

But of course, there was the possibility that Minos himself and his forces had also succumbed...

However, there was no way for the people in the capital of the Brown Kingdom to know this. So, they had sent such a letter to Minos anyway.

But when the investigators of that family had just left the capital to investigate this incident, the letter sent earlier by that exterminated group arrived at the headquarters of the Brown family.

...

The royal hall of the Brown family palace...

In such an elliptical hall, King Brown was at the moment sitting on his throne, while he had an unfriendly expression on his face. 

At the same time, he seemed to have lost a good night's sleep, as some of his most important generals were there with him, talking about the possible threats to the Brown family.

Nobody exactly knew what had happened in Dry City, but this royal family already had to start their preparations. After all, no matter how great one was, there would always be enemies for one to protect himself.

Some enemies could be as strong as this organization was, as in the case of some large regional entities. But the parasite that tries to erode the large body little by little was not uncommon to find.

Hence, even organizations of lesser influence would have to be considered in situations like the one this family was now facing.

And then, those generals of the royal guard were giving their opinions, while the king and other high-ranking members of the royal family listened.

"We have to consider that this may be the work of other royal families. In particular, the Walker and Carline families!"

"These two royal houses, one from the Kingdom of the Waves and the other from the Kingdom of the End are the only ones in our region that have not faced problems recently. As such, we have to consider that this might be their acts..."

"Nonsense!"

"House Walker will soon lose King Walker, a powerful level 59 expert, so how could they not have faced problems recently? And how would attacking us right now be good for them?"

"Tsk!"

"They will lose King Walker soon, but they will continue to have someone of the same level on guard in that family... Maybe that's why they could be planning to cause a royal family conflict so that more peak powers will lose their experts and the regional situation will balance out."

"That makes some sense..." Someone else commented.

But then a woman's voice suddenly covered those comments. "Maybe that was caused by a regional royal family. But maybe not."

"That could very well be the stuff of the Scourges of the Devil or even some smaller organizations that are seeking regional chaos."

"How good wouldn't it be for some parasites if the big regional powers started to face each other?"

"Yes. These smaller families are the ones who plot the most and try to create bigger problems so they can grow by dealing with the dirty work. They definitely can't be underestimated!"

That was common sense. Some powers had a lot to lose, and every decision could carry tremendous weight. So, few peak organizations would risk everything on a bold move as provoking a regional war.

Destroying large organizations was relatively easy to do. But building one, well, that required the blood of their creators, the effort and sacrifice of hundreds of thousands for who knows how many centuries!

And every regional leader of these organizations knew how hard it had been to get where they were. Because of this, it would be tough for one of them to make a hazardous decision, one that had the potential to end their organization's millennia of work.

But for smaller organizations that had not existed for very long and were in search of more power, chaos could be their great opportunity!

Obviously, the dangers would not be few, but the potential gain they would have by taking the risk could be enough to be worth it.

So, some individuals from big regional powers would not underestimate the boldness of smaller organizations!

After that last comment, General Silva stepped forward and said. "Regardless of who is to blame for this, I believe we had better prepare ourselves."

"Whoever it is, that organization behind the attack on our group intends to stand against us. So, since we have already been provoked, I feel that preparing our troops for war is the best thing to do now!"

"As for the identity of the culprits, we will know when the investigative group reaches the Black Plain."

"Hmm, General Silva is right."

"We need to respond to whatever happens, and to do so; our troops need to prepare to march!"

"Yes!"

"We can't let this humiliation go on! Let's bring the heads of the culprits here!"

Several comments of agreement rang out in that place as the king watched and listened to all that, agreeing with most of what had been said there.

But as he was getting ready to speak, suddenly his secretary approached him, carrying a yellowish scroll, as she had a shocked expression on her face.

"Rosa, what's the matter?" He asked, looking at that mature woman's figure, who had voluptuous curves, capable of easily seducing men of less mental force.

"Your Majesty, this message was sent by the group that was on the Black Plain. It dates back three days." She said in a low voice, but several of the people in the surrounding area had heard this and promptly stopped talking.

"Oh?" He made a sound of surprise before finally picking up that item his secretary was carrying.

After that, he began to read the contents of that message while slowly silence fell over that hall.

And it didn't take long before King Brown's reaction began to change.

At first, he still had an ugly expression on his face, given the tremendous loss his family had just experienced. But upon receiving that message, the king's countenance had improved a little because he could find out the real culprit of those deaths with this letter.

But as he continued reading that, his expression worsened again, as his anger became more transparent.

"I don't believe it!"

"That son of a..." He grunted in anger as he finished reading that message, crumpling that paper and throwing it on the ground.

"Your Majesty, what's the problem? Does that say who attacked us?" The supreme elder finally asked that as he looked at his nephew sideways, curious.

Thomas then took a deep breath and then said aloud. "This here doesn't say who the culprit is. But from the contents of that message, I can tell that brat Minos Stuart has some relation to this incident..."

"No!"

"Not only is he related, but the brat is probably a rebel!"