The Rise of the Black Plain

Upon hearing the question from Esmond, the chief bodyguard of the Goddess of Life's relatives, Minos remembered the situation this family had with the rulers of the Veora Kingdom.

The Veora family had persecuted the relatives of the Goddess of Life for a long time because of an item that an ancestor of that family had stolen and hidden from the royal house.

Because of this, the relatives of the Goddess of Life, who didn't know anything about it, were persecuted for a long time and naturally wanted revenge.

In addition, Minos himself wanted to help his current subordinates complete their revenge because the item in question that had caused them so much suffering could help him.

These people related to the Goddess of Life didn't have the idol with them, but they knew where to look for it. But to do so, they would have to act in the Veora Kingdom, which meant that they would have to complete their revenge before searching for such an item.

Remembering this, Minos answered Esmond's question. "The Veora family is a power with mid-level Demigods. So we can't act against them until we have such people in our army.

But we're not far from that. Before we reach the worst moment of the ice age, we can do what you want."

Esmond didn't want to die in a vendetta that was impossible to complete. So, waiting for his group to get stronger wasn't a problem for him. 

He had only questioned Minos that day, for the young leader had been away for several years and might have forgotten the subject. But as someone who had only agreed to join the Black Plain Army because of Emperor Stuart's promise regarding this revenge, he couldn't let the matter 'die.'

"Then I'll prepare my leaders for this moment. More time won't hurt. That way, they'll be able to act on our side when the time comes." Esmond commented with a smile while Minos remembered the three.

"How are they?"

"Well, they're currently..."

They continued walking near the imperial palace while Minos' young children played near him.

Meanwhile, a group of imperial guards stood around them, watching over the children but also there to keep citizens or members of the government from approaching their leader.

At the moment, the area protected by Dry City's dome was as large as the city itself. Also, the core of the capital, where practically only government buildings were located, was a very busy place, even though it was a difficult area to access.

With such a large government and army, this city area was bustling, even though more than 90% of the capital's population couldn't enter it.

Since Minos had become a famous public figure and was increasingly difficult to see, many curious people could approach him if they weren't intimidated by guards.

Whenever he walked through the central parts of the city, as he was doing today, his soldiers would accompany him so as not to waste time.

But while these imperial guards were watching the surroundings, a member of the Spiritual Church, dressed in the uniform of a Patriarch, was suddenly noticed by one of these guards and quickly approached Minos.

"You there, stop where you are!" A level 80 man said to the level 76 Spirit Saint standing there under Gloria's orders.

Minos saw the Church member standing there and imagined this was some kind of message from Gloria.

"What do you want?" He asked as Esmond looked at the Spiritual Saint.

The red-robed Saint replied as he bowed his head. "Your Majesty, I was sent here by Cardinal Frost. She wishes to speak with Your Majesty urgently."

Minos narrowed his eyes, sensing that serious trouble was approaching.

He looked at Lily, the eldest of the children with him, and said. "Follow Uncle Eduard for now. Behave yourselves." 

The three children stopped running around at their father's command while Lily tugged on Rowan's ear to get him closer to Eduard.

Meanwhile, Minos disappeared from their sight, quickly making his way to the temple of the Spiritual Church in Dry City, where he soon found Gloria waiting for him with a terrible expression on her face.

Next to Gloria was Sarah, extremely pale and frightened, her heart pounding in her chest.

Seeing them there, Minos looked at them in silence for a moment, trying to understand the problem.

But he didn't notice anything right away. Sarah had been careful in her adventures, and Minos hadn't really paid enough attention to his daughter's body to notice the obvious.

If he had done so, he would have noticed that she was much more beautiful than ever, even if her strength hadn't changed much in the past years.

"What's wrong?" He asked, slowly walking over to the two women standing in Gloria's office.

"Fath..."

"Quiet!" Gloria interrupted her daughter, aware that Minos had spoiled this girl for too long and couldn't let her speak.

"Minos, do you know what this girl has done?" She looked into her husband's eyes and asked.

"What?" Minos asked curiously, not understanding what this was all about. 'Did Sarah do something she wasn't supposed to?'

Minos' mind was on higher-level problems, not the affairs of young people getting to know their bodies. He didn't notice the problem right away, but Gloria would soon open his eyes.

"Your daughter is dating!" Gloria said with a disappointed tone. "Not only that, but the boyfriend of hers is a prince from Sista, to whom she gave herself, even though he's a spy in our state!" Gloria said, looking at Sarah disappointedly, seeing what a fool her daughter was.

She herself couldn't remember how many times Minos had tricked her in the past...

Minos clenched his fists as he felt his heart beat faster, receiving terrible news for a father like him.

Minos saw no problem in his daughter looking for love and someone to relate to. But he wanted her to introduce him to her family first and do her thing within the rules.

He didn't want his little girl unprotected with some scoundrels!

"Oh? Did you do it, Sarah?" He asked in a louder tone, terribly shocked.

The feeling Minos had now was similar to that of being betrayed! 

He couldn't believe his little girl had tricked him and acted behind his back!

"Father..." Sarah didn't dare to look at him. She felt terrible now.

Unfortunately, she hadn't given it much thought when she had done her thing with George... After she'd done it once, twice, three times, it wouldn't have made any difference if she'd done it again, so she'd continued.

But now, with her father in front of her, she felt the weight of having done so much for so long behind her family's back.

They at least deserved to know that she had a boyfriend, especially who he was!

...