The Rise of the Black Plain

"But she will have to join my army. Otherwise, you can forget it." Minos said, just so he and Vivian could hear. "I don't do charity."

Obviously, they were talking about Grace, who was right behind Vivian on White's back. As for what Davy's sister had asked Minos, well, that was for this young man to give her girlfriend a chance to learn the army techniques.

But Minos would not do such a thing without motivation. What would he get out of it if Grace got stronger but had no obligation to help him?

It would be foolish to do something like that!

As such, he had promptly told Vivian what would be the only possibility for Grace to take advantage of chances similar to the ones she would have.

Grace was not part of the Hayes family but a member of a minor noble family of the Cromwell Kingdom, a noble house created through one of Vivian's family subordinates. And because of this, she had no chance of being one of the five people who could enjoy the consequences of Minos' agreement with that noble family.

But still, Vivian had tried. This woman had even fought and, in a way, caused a war with the Chambers family on Grace's account. So, it wasn't strange for her to ask Minos for something like this.

Anyway, upon hearing Minos' 'dry' answer, this woman frowned, realizing that other things could not move this young man.

She had asked him about this before, making offers inclusive, but he had always refused. But now, with this different answer from him, she knew that there were no other alternatives.

However, she didn't like the idea of Grace having to subordinate herself to Minos' organization. After all, in doing so, in a way, the life of anyone who made such a choice was going to be connected with the future of that organization.

That would mean that if things went from bad to worse, the chance of survival would be slight. As for if things went well, this would not mean that such a person who subordinated himself would benefit from it.

Usually, only those most prominent figures and their descendants enjoyed the best part of the sweet fruits of success.

So, joining an organization as a subordinate was not easy.

When it came to significant forces, already consolidated organizations, as in the example of the great sects of the Flaming Empire, it wouldn't be so challenging for someone to accept that. But what about the Black Plain? Was it strong enough for a nobleman to subordinate himself so quickly?

Was it worth having obligations to such power?

That is, there were undoubtedly many advantages to allying with the Black Plain Army, but to subordinate oneself was an entirely different thing.

And for Vivian, who had seen Dry City for only a couple of days, she didn't have enough signs to make her see that this wouldn't be such a bad idea.

She had not spent months in Dry City, as in Elena's case, who had the opportunity to see the power of that place, to have seen the speed of the city's improvements, etc.

As such, she didn't think it was good to talk about such a thing at the moment.

"Tsk!"

"Let's leave this subject for another time." She said after thinking about it for a while.

"Hehehe." Minos laughed as he looked back and saw Vivian's pretty face, which was currently with an unfriendly expression.

'Ahh, but it is truly a shame that these two don't like men... Otherwise, this trip wouldn't have to be so tedious.' Minos thought about it, just after turning his face forward and seeing the beautiful blue sky of the Black Plain.

Abby and Ruth had not traveled with him during this period. That's because while one had to take care of army affairs, the other could not be seen doing suspicious things around this region...

That is, Ruth could accompany Minos wherever he went. But since this young man had gone out to make an alliance with a regional organization at war with another local power, it would be problematic for her to accompany him.

What if someone related this and the presence of a member of one of the sects in the Flaming Empire?

That would be very different than the trip he had made to the Miller family earlier. After all, Abby's family was not getting involved in any conflict, and there would be no suspicions regarding Ruth's presence with Minos.

But it was entirely different for the Hayes family.

That was because, in addition to this power currently being in the middle of a conflict with the Chambers family, Minos planned to help this organization so that they could more easily deal with these enemies.

So, if Ruth was seen with Minos in a place where he made an alliance with a power that in the future might get more substantial and such a thing help them resolve that conflict, this could look very suspicious...

Anyway, someone could try to use the Spiritual Church against Minos, and if he gave that kind of opportunity, a lot of trouble could happen.

As such, Ruth had not come with him on this trip.

And with that, this young man had made this two-week trip unaccompanied, having had no opportunities to release pressure on his shoulders in certain activities...

He had even tried something with Vivian and Grace. Still, unlike the many bisexual women he knew, these two only liked women.

As young Stuart lamented in his mind about this little misfortune of his, suddenly Grace's voice reached his ears. "Minos, how much longer will it take us to reach Dry City?"

"An hour." He promptly answered as he looked out over the lifeless lands of the Black Plain, hundreds of feet up from sea level.

From that spot, he could see an entirely desert-like vista without any presence of vegetation, rivers, or even beasts.

It was an empty place, with nothing flashy to observe while traveling that way.

"When will you settle this combined matter on this trip? Do you have all the arrangements ready?" Grace asked as she remembered the little she knew about Minos' arrangement with the Hayes family.

After hearing this, Vivian's eyes sparkled as she watched Minos' back, waiting for that answer. 'I hope he won't take long in taking action against the Chambers family...' She thought briefly until finally, Minos answered Grace's question.

'Well, that won't take long to happen. During this trip of mine to the Cromwell Kingdom, I left some clues that might lead some people who are after me towards the Yellow City." He said, smiling.

"Yellow City?" The two asked.

They didn't know the details of this mission that Minos would do in conjunction with some House Hayes forces. After all, neither of them had the strength to get involved in it, and they too would have to stay in Dry City from now on.

Hence, although Vivian had heard from Minos some of what he wanted to do to deal a significant blow to the Chambers family, she was in the dark about the details.

"Yes. Since I cannot control who will receive this information, I cannot lure the enemies to the City of Waters, where royal forces exist. So, acting in Yellow City, where there are no subordinates of any other regional power, seems the best option to me."

He would not try to lure anyone to Dry City. And since there weren't many places left where his plan could work, that city where one of his secret bases was had been chosen.

Minos hoped to lure some of the Chambers family specialists to that location, where he would take the opportunity to deal a decisive blow to that organization.

"Anyway, it shouldn't take long before that happens. I don't have the date since that depends more on our enemies than on me. But it shouldn't take long."

"And yes, everything is ready for it. It is just a matter of your family's spies or the soldiers in my army sending the warning to me, and we can act immediately!"