The Rise of the Black Plain

After a few minutes, the carriage carrying Grant finally entered Dry City, where this man immediately realized the quality and attractiveness of the place.

Not only because this place was quite different from other parts of this region, but because, for some reason, he felt as if he had returned home or something.

And while he felt this strange feeling in his heart, Grant was watching the people coming and going on the sidewalks through the streets his group was passing, trying to remember.

After a while of making his old mind work, he understood the reason for his familiarity with Dry City. 'The models of this place look like those of the Western Empire!' He remembered his homeland, curious to know how Minos had done it.

'Did he have contact with people from my empire?'

But that was obviously not why Dry City had a similar construction style to the Western Empire's cities. After all, Minos had never left the region since childhood and had no contact with people from so far away.

The reason this city resembled those of Grant's homeland was not due to such a place inspiring Minos. Instead, it would be better to say that the Western Empire and Dry City had styles based on the same place and period.

But Grant had no way of knowing that, and he could not help but think that such a place's potential for sending him to the Western Empire was more significant than he had imagined!

'Good, good!'

'Now I just have to wait for my chance, and eventually, I'll be able to pass my message forward!'

...

As Grant observed the city he would live in from now on, Dillian had just finished with his business at the General Hospital and was returning to the government mansion.

After months since the end of the war, the queues of patients at the hospital were finally beginning to diminish. Because of this, such a man could already imagine the day when he would no longer have to deal with such a crowded place.

He loved his profession and helping people, especially considering that many of these people could make a difference to the forces of Minos. But living surrounded by hurting, fearful people was not ideal.

As such, he longed for a return to normalcy in the attendance numbers at that place under his control.

In any case, Dillian could not complain much about his present situation. The number of local doctors had increased dramatically after the war, and the situation of the citizens wounded in this confrontation was practically under the control of his administration.

As such, he was slowly getting more time to attend to local matters, as in the example of the current migration.

After weeks since Minos' departure, more than 300,000 people had already arrived on the main territory of the Black Plain. Of these, the vast majority were already working on the outskirts of Dry City or in Naval City-1.

But several groups were already beginning to build the foundations of the future satellite cities of Dry City, while many others were expanding the local plantation fields.

The government had enough funds to employ all these people simultaneously, so Dillian and Mia were not taking local investments lightly.

They knew that right now, the Black Plain's only problem in getting more people was crystal generation. So they were investing what they had to generate even more future dividends.

More food exports and taxes levied on domestic services could stimulate a virtuous growth cycle. Thus, they hoped to deliver a much more mature and developed Black Plain to Minos upon his return.

Because of these many ongoing projects, Dillian was rushing back to the government mansion for a few more hours of work!

...

Upon arriving at the government headquarters, Dillian soon found some people he did not know at the reception there, among them a man who had none of his legs.

And remembering what Minos had told him weeks ago, Dillian did not even need to hear from Mia about that person's identity. "Are you Mr. Grant?" He politely asked since his boss had told him that such a person had been a Spiritual Saint in the past.

Even though this was no longer Grant's reality, Dillian could not help but admire this person, who was by far the most powerful of all that butler's acquaintances.

Looking more closely at that level 56 person, Grant noticed that such a man had a high status in this place and said. "That's me. What's your name?"

That fellow with a black mustache then smiled and responded. "This one is called Dillian. I'm His Grace's butler and also a local doctor."

"So you are young Dillian... Well, as agreed with Minos, I have come to this place." He went straight to the point, interested if that sovereign's staff had prepared something for him. "I am curious to know what he expects from me. Maybe he just wants me to live in his city?"

"Well, let's talk about that in a more comfortable place..." Dillian nodded in the direction of one of the offices in that area.

After that, that man's caretakers helped him follow Dillian to a pleasant place, where both parties got to know each other better in a short time.

Minos' goal in bringing Grant to his side was to get information about whatever was in the North Sea and other minor details. Consequently, as long as he stayed in Dry City, this man would have to relay his information to the local army headquarters to catalog it.

On the other hand, since Grant had already been an expert by mainland standards, there was no reason to waste his presence in this city!

He could both give information about the rest of the continent to Minos' organization and advise the army's soldiers.

After all, crippled or not, he could still use his soul sense, something powerful for analyzing individual capabilities and other relevant points in a cultivator's life.

So, Dillian soon talked to Grant about all this, and the man accepted almost everything smoothly.

Especially the part about becoming an instructor at headquarters since, for the first time in countless years, he would have a serious job that he knew he could do well!

And with a sense of purpose in his heart, that man left this state's government seat satisfied with his choices, going to the place prepared for him by Minos' staff in a local hotel.

...

After Grant's departure, Dillian returned to his original subjects, the situation of the regional migration to the Black Plain.

"How are our borders?" He asked a soldier sitting across from him, around a rectangular glass table.

"The southernmost border is by far the one with the best situation at the moment. The Cromwell Kingdom has adopted some measures that their population has greatly approved, so we haven't had many problems so far in controlling the illegal migration of people coming from that state."

"On the other hand, our biggest problem at the moment is the northern border, with the Brown Kingdom and Kingdom of the Waves."

Other people there then said. "Our forces and those of those states are doing their best to bar illegal migration. But since this is the only route for people coming from the four states to the north, the numbers of people trying to enter our state illegally through this area is not small."

"As such, we estimate that more than a thousand illegal immigrants are daily entering the Black Plain."

"A thousand?" Dillian repeated that number, thinking about how he could solve this problem.

This amount of people entering the Black Plain was not problematic. Still, the situation could quickly spiral out of control.

He then said. "Well, let's put these people who arrive illegally to work in the construction camps of our future cities. Since they're already here, we'd better regularize their situation and put them to work."

"But let's make the regional periodicals publish news that illegal immigrants arriving in Black Plain are being deported and losing their right to return to our state."

"At the same time, we will run an ad saying that anyone who illegally immigrates here will immediately lose rights that Dry City citizens enjoy."

"For example, the right to compete for army vacancies!"