The Rise of the Black Plain

Meanwhile, in the far westernmost kingdom of the Central Continent...

In this place where the Spiritual Church had no influence whatsoever, the days and nights began and ended without major conflicts, as this was the most peaceful area in the entire continent.

To the east was the mighty Western Empire. Still, the forces of this state were focused on their enemy, Eastern Empire. So hardly any conflicts were coming to this kingdom.

At the same time, all the other borders of this state were with the Equatorial Ocean, where there were no portions of land for hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

Following west from that sea, the first point of land a traveler would spot would be the Divide Continent, which was on the other side of the Spiritual World compared to the Central Continent.

Going southwest, one would reach Elves Island after weeks traveling on a 9th-stage beast. But if one went northwest, after a few months on a similar beast, such a traveler would reach the Continent of the Beasts.

Furthermore, no one could depart from that state and reach anywhere else by following the sea routes, as the atmospheric and sea currents prevented other routes. Due to this reality, the borders of this state were extraordinarily safe, and only internal conflicts took place at this end of the Central Continent.

However, this was a state with centralized power, which in turn was much stronger than the noble houses, something necessary for stability in a state.

A centralized state was usually very stable as long as the ruling family maintained its strength. Only in times of vulnerability of such families would such kingdoms become more 'troubled' with the greed of some getting out of control.

In any case, the current generation of the royal family of this state was mighty, so the inhabitants of this place enjoyed a peaceful time hardly found elsewhere in the Spiritual World.

In fact, apart from Elves Island, this was probably the most peaceful place to live in the entire Spiritual World!

And not for nothing, someone Minos had met in the recent past had chosen this place to live with his family...

After five years after meeting Minos, the former King Vogel had managed to settle what was left of his family in this state, where they were now trying to live in peace.

They were fugitives from the Spiritual Church, but no one cared about such an organization in this place. Not only that, but because the local leadership had Spiritual Demigods, few from that organization would dare to enter this territory on account of small fries like them.

Hence, even though there were already wanted posters after his head all over the Spiritual World, King Vogel and his wife lived without hiding in this place.

They had obtained a small farm somewhere in this state and started their colony, where they worked, cultivated, and lived in the countryside without hiding but without much contact with the outside world.

However, from time to time, news of interest to the people in this family reached them, as the Spiritual World was one, and news spread in all directions...

...

"Wretched Stuart!" King Vogel, still at level 77, cried out in frustration as he read the news that his great enemy had successfully formed an empire.

The text he and his wife read had information regarding Minos reaching level 65 and being crowned by the Spiritual Church as the emperor of the Black Plain Empire.

At the same time, there was also information about the little princess of that state, the fact that a Matriarch was the mother of that child, and that Vogel was part of such an empire.

Considering all this, this man could not help but feel disgusted and angry at the world that he had been so unfair to him.

'The wretch and the damned Spiritual Church are in collusion! That's it! But how could they favor the bastard so much? They even tried to destroy us to help the bastard!' He threw the journal he had read on the ground and stomped on it 50 times, sweating with rage.

At the same time, the former Queen of Vogel could not help but feel that maybe they would never get revenge.

Previously she had wished that one day she could return to that region and at least make Minos pay for what he had brought upon them.

However, while they had not improved a single level, that young man had already reached level 65, as far as they knew...

Thinking about how he was already capable of creating something as heinous as the Black Hole Back then, this woman imagined that he was already unstoppable for them.

"He is very abnormal..." She commented to her husband as she sat on a wooden stool in front of a canyon with a beautiful view from where they were standing. "This person has accomplished so many things in just five years."

She looked at her husband. "He has advanced his cultivation at an incredible speed, but the most impressive thing is how he has achieved the approval of the noble families of our state."

King Vogel heard this and agreed, knowing that Minos had made quite a move in that state, empowering the noble families to secure his position.

"The bastard did this to secure a piece of the cake for himself while he is weak, hoping to fool those nobles long enough for him to dominate them." He analyzed the situation correctly, feeling terrible that someone so undeserving was having the winds blowing in his favor.

"At the current rate, he might make it." She looked at another version of the journal from which they had gotten that information. "It seems that the Flaming Empire is thirsty to attack our... Those states' alliance."

King Vogel looked with his narrowed eyes at the horizon, wondering if this was true. 'Why is Harold taking so long? Does he not want a war?'

Meanwhile, this man's wife was thinking about their son, who had put this family in the current decadent situation.

Many of them had fled after Abe's warning at that time. But less than 40% of the members of this old royalty had managed to survive. Not only that, those who survived had had to struggle many times, having suffered considerably to reach the 'paradise' they lived in today.

So this woman could only think of transferring all her vengeance to this unworthy son she had given birth to.

'Abe, you better hide or stay well away from your mother or...' She clenched her fists, unsure whether she actually wanted to see this son of hers again.

...

While most of the survivors of the Vogel family were trying to move on in that westernmost kingdom of the Central Continent, the Spiritual Church had already stopped searching for them.

The Church still had orders for the deaths of people from the Vogel family. Still, the investigations into the whereabouts of those people had come to an end after several years without results.

However, wanted posters with the faces of each of the members of this family were spread all over the Church's domain and also in states friendly to this organization.

Just in one of these places, one of Abe's servants who had fled with him had one of these posters in his hands at this very moment. He saw the prize of 1 million medium-grade crystals for the head of that former Vogel heir and thought about this.

...