The Rise of the Black Plain

"Oh? That fast?" Minos said in surprise, just after he finished listening to Mia speak.

"That was pretty fast indeed... So, this group must not be big, right?" Dillian asked as he looked in Mia's direction, hoping to confirm his impression.

He knew that the Brown family would send troops to the Black Plain quickly. Still, it took time to transport thousands of people from one place to another, even if the distances were not unreasonable.

After all, no regional organization had enough beasts to carry many troops at once. And because of this reality, transportation would have to happen slowly, something that could delay the apex of the war by months!

And this was even worse considering the reality of this region, the Black Plain, where the local royal family had no troops stationed before.

There was even the outpost of Maritime City, but that place didn't have enough people, nor people with the power to be used in a war against the Black Plain.

Hence, all the troops and materials needed for camps, and so on, would all have to be brought here before the royal family could start fighting for the territory.

They could send smaller troops here to fight Minos' forces, but whether or not they won the battles, they had no local posts to hold the annexed territories.

But that wouldn't be interesting in a war. After all, taking the enemy's territory would not only take away the other side's potential but also increase pressure, hindering trade routes, space for action, and so on.

But to hold the territories taken, an organization would need massive forces spread over such areas.

And that forces naturally could not be assembled, prepared, and sent to the Black Plain in such a short time!

So, Dillian had assumed that the enemy side could not be numerous.

"Yes, butler Dillian, the enemy side is not that numerous. From the report sent by the soldiers, they are about 1,500 people." Mia promptly said as she reported the details of the warning sent to Dry City an hour ago.

"But we don't know what the strength of the enemy group is. The group that made that observation was too far away from the enemies to be able to check their average strength."

That was a wise thing to do. 

There were no Black Plain Army troops around this territory with sufficient numbers to face a group with that many people head-on!

Therefore, it would be stupid to approach the enemies only to check their strength. By doing so, the soldiers would most likely get caught by the enemies, and the army would lose any advantage that these advanced individuals could bring.

So, it indeed wasn't worth taking such a risk unless the other group was small, like others who had passed through the Black Plain in the past.

"So, that's how it is..." Dillian said in a low voice as he understood the situation.

But he could do nothing about it. At most, he would stay in this place to help lessen the burden on Minos' shoulders while this young man went out to settle this matter.

Finally, Minos sighed and then stood up from where he was. "Well, since there is no more information about that group, then I will leave to settle this." 

"I'll leave things here with you two from now on..."

"Hmm, see you later, young master."

"Good luck, young master."

After they said their goodbyes, it didn't take long, and Minos made his way to his headquarters, from where he would begin to operate the affairs of the war from now on.

...

A while later, the Brown family group was almost close enough to Dry City when they finally stopped a few dozen kilometers east of that city.

This group was the combination of the investigative team dispatched soon after the death of the individuals from before and the guards sent by the king to give Minos an ultimatum.

The first group had already been sent here when the king found out about Minos' dangerous acts, which indicated the young man's desire for rebellion.

But with the help of the swift spiritual crows, the people on this team had been warned to stop their journey and wait for the arrival of the larger group.

There was not much left to investigate, and it would be better if they joined the rest of those people, who were here on the Black Plain to test Minos' strength.

The group exterminated by young Stuart's soldiers earlier was simply too weak, and King Brown needed to test his enemy before sending massive troops into this territory.

After all, the costs of a war were not low, and no one would follow through with a conflict that didn't pay for itself. 

The Black Plain certainly had good defenses and millions of crystals. But would it be the best alternative to use a large part of the royal family's force against Minos, or would only a fraction be enough?

If 10,000 people could do the job, it would be better not to send 100,000 warriors here!

And this group had the role in finding this out, to probe the strength of Minos' organization.

The king actually didn't believe that Minos would step back and give up. And even though he knew there was a possibility that his people would be massacred here, this was the best method for him to find out about the strength of this young man.

Thomas knew that he could not trust the data about the Black Plain that he had previously received. So, he had no idea how to treat Minos.

Was he just a madman with lots of crystals but no power?

Was he a madman with crystals and power?

Was that power enough for the kingdom to have to use full force to stop this Black Plain rebellion?

Should the kingdom invest 1 million crystals or 100 million in this war?

All these questions could somehow be answered by sending this group here.

Such a team had ten Spiritual Kings, five at the first three levels of this stage, four at the intermediate levels, and one at the final part of that stage.

As for the Spiritual Generals, such people were subdivided into groups of similar numbers of people at the beginning, intermediate, and end parts of the 5th stage.

Such a formation was quite strong and fulfilled the role of a test.

Suppose Minos' forces managed to exterminate the entire group. In that case, the king could focus all his attention on dealing with the Black Plain because that young man's organization was already a serious threat to the kingdom.

Suppose Minos' forces could only eliminate the weakest of that group, those low-level Spiritual Generals and Spiritual Kings. In that case, it would mean that there were not many experts nor powerful troops in the Black Plain. Consequently, King Brown wouldn't need to invest so much in this war, and he could probably end the revolt in a short time. 

Anyway, there were several possibilities for this group, but all of them would give King Brown a hint on how to deal with Minos.

Thomas was willing to sacrifice this group to find this out, and these forces would not be missed so much by his family.

He preferred not to risk the life of someone at level 57, such as the leader of this group. After all, such an individual was a high-level expert in this region and would be valued in any organization.

But the potential loss to the Brown family would be much more significant if they simply underestimated Minos and didn't know how strong his organization could be.

Thus, to avoid errors in judgment, Thomas Brown had convinced himself that this sacrifice would be worth it.

That is, of course, if Minos's forces were indeed much more frightening than had been thought.

But if it weren't, then the strongest of those ten individuals would probably be able to escape.

And as for the rest, well, they wouldn't be missed and could easily be replaced!

Anyway, as they stopped before they arrived in Dry City, the strongest of that group soon began to gather to discuss what to do next.

"General Edgar, what do we do now? Do we challenge the local sovereign? Or perhaps you have a different strategy?" One of those stronger individuals there asked the leader of that group.

Upon hearing this, the level 57 cultivator then looked in the direction of Dry City, from where they still couldn't see the dome, and said. "His Majesty probably sent us here to test this brat's strength..."

"If this brat hides there, then we will simply prevent people from leaving and entering his city."

"We will force him out of that damned dome!"

"We'll see what they're capable of!"