The Rise of the Black Plain

Anyway, after talking for a while more about Joey's past, the group finally learned a little more about this old figure.

He had gone through hard times early in his life, and after that, he spent most of his years traveling across the northern part of the Central Continent. Finally, several months ago, he had been a victim of Del's former group, kidnapped in the Kingdom of the End.

After they finished talking about Joey, the group of five people had already eaten dinner. At this point, a couple of housekeepers were serving desserts to the guests.

This dessert was being served in special, transparent cups from which they could all see the dessert contained there.

It contained three layers: the bottom being a light yellow, made of sweet paste, the second a deep yellow, with several pineapple pieces, and a white layer of cream. There were also some edible ornaments on top of the dessert, which embellished it.

"Ah! Pineapple delight, my favorite dessert!" Abby commented in a low voice as she looked at Minos sideways. 'Looks like you haven't forgotten...' She thought for a moment.

However, as his friend tasted dessert and watched him in the corner, Minos thought of something completely different. At this point, he had already heard the stories of Robin and Joey, and all that remained was to hear Barbara's past.

So far, what he'd heard hadn't been all that problematic, as the threat of what had happened to Joey seemed to be far away from them. And the young Robin, on the other hand, had nothing but to contribute to the Black Plain.

Anyway, he had already heard a little of each one before this meeting. He knew because of Peter that Barbara was by far the most complicated of all. And because of that, he was even more curious to hear her story in more detail than the little that the Sergeant had told him.

He then looked at her and started to speak. "Barbara, I heard a little bit about you from Peter, but I still have a lot of curiosities. Therefore, I would like to know a little more about your origins in the Kingdom of the End."

After he said this, Barbara, who had a spoon in her mouth at this very moment, watched him for a moment and then began to speak, still tasting the dessert from time to time. "Well, for starters, originally I was like Peter, an ordinary person who was born with Black talent into a humble family."

"Because of that, like most people in my condition, I joined a noble family as soon as I turned 10 and started cultivating."

"Which power were you a part of?" Abby asked.

Hearing this, Barbara looked at Minos' friend and promptly replied. "I was a subordinate of the Schmidt family, a noble house in the Kingdom of the End."

The Schmidt family used to be a medium-sized organization in that state, having been one of 19 noble families there.

"Oh? Schmidt family, huh... I heard that the strength of this family was not small and that they weren't involved in war matters." Abby commented for a moment, remembering the information about this family. "Excuse my rudeness, but as an organization like that, how did it get to the point of being destroyed in a war between families?" Then, she got right to the point.

The Kingdom of the End was not a peaceful place, as it would be anywhere in the Spiritual World. There would always be dangers anywhere in the cultivation world.

However, this state had always been somewhat different from the others in the region. For example, slavery was not allowed in that place, which already demonstrated that the royal family was not wholly negligent...

There was also the great importance of the financial system in that place since the biggest banks in this region came from that state. And precisely because of this fact, the Kingdom of the End had fewer military powers than any other in this region!

In places like the Brown Kingdom, or the Cromwell Kingdom, the strongest powers were always mainly involved in military affairs. The same was true for most other states in the region.

After all, whoever had the 'greatest hand' in the Spiritual World could rule!

And as a result, this reality had taken root in the majority of the Minos region. However, due to the Kingdom of the End's proximity to the North Sea and the Elves Island, the number of medium-grade crystal mines in that state was not insignificant!

So, naturally, the families there had concentrated on the financial affairs of the region, with several families owning banks where people could exchange crystals of different degrees.

With that, this had removed them from a militaristic state, focused on confrontations and expansions, where usually the strongest would be the families of warriors!

But obviously, that didn't mean they didn't have the strength!

If that were the case, then they would have long since been wiped out and would have lost their territories to invaders.

But in addition to these banking families being powerful, given their financial capabilities, the royal family of that state could be considered the strongest in the entire northern region of the Central Continent!

The Carline family!

Such was the power of this family that there was a famous saying that even a level 60, Spiritual Emperor, would not have the courage to challenge them!

Finally, because of all this, the Kingdom of the End was considerably more stable than the rest of the states in the region. That's why Abby was curious.

She, or rather the Miller family, had not discovered the exact reasons for the downfall of Barbara's family, and this intrigued them. Why would a non-war power, an important regional bank owner, be destroyed in such a short time?

Just to give you an idea, until about a year ago, the Schmidt family was untouched, doing as well as it usually would be. However, in just the interval that had passed, that power had been destroyed, having all its important members killed during the battles.

Other than these, all the powerful subordinates had been killed, and as far as was known to the public, only a few weaker ones were sold to bandits and pirate groups.

In that place, slavery was not allowed, so that was the only way for the power that destroyed them to profit even more...

As for the possibility of survivors from that family, well, that didn't matter. Even if a nobleman had survived and was talented enough, given the current situation, any vengeance could take thousands of years and would be unlikely to succeed.

After all, a power that had lost all its specialists, resources, techniques, bases, allies would be like any other typical organization, at the lowest levels. Returning to previous heights might be impossible, as those who had destroyed them would continue to grow stronger!

In any case, the Schmidt family had met its end, all of a sudden, and few knew the truth of what had happened.

And at this point, the other four people eating the dessert made were looking at her expectantly. Old Joey had already calmed his emotions for remembering his past and now wanted to know a little more about this young woman beside him.

They had spent several months on Del's group ship, but he still didn't exactly know what had happened to her. After all, they weren't exactly best friends, so they only knew the basics of each other.

As for Robin, although this kind of knowledge is good for deepening relationships, she wanted to know more about it because of her own curiosity. Just like in the case of Abby...

And finally, Minos would be a leader of this region in the future, so he already worried about finding out about matters like this whenever he could!

Barbara then sighed in defeat and then began to explain what had happened to the Schmidt family.  "It all started about a year and a half ago when one of our family groups found a ship stranded on the northern coast of the kingdom..."