The Rise of the Black Plain

One day later.

At the Brown family camp a few dozen kilometers from the eastern exit of the Dry City wall, the situation in this place was quite normal at the moment, despite the tension in the air.

The low-level people were doing their ordinary jobs, while stronger guards were guarding the place.

However, everyone there had ugly expressions on their faces, making anyone who saw them understand that everyone there was under a lot of stress.

Some had dark circles under their eyes, while others looked unfriendly.

But while these people's moods could almost lower the temperature of the place by a few degrees, the camp leaders were gathering in a large tent at this moment.

Every morning, before going out to negotiate with the soldiers of the Black Plain Army, these people gathered to talk.

And as such, they had not failed to follow this protocol on this day.

...

Inside that main tent of this camp, eight people were sitting around that area, some standing, others sitting on chairs around a large round table.

Of these people, five were wearing armor with the symbols of the local royal family, while three were wearing high-standard clothing.

One of these three individuals, one of the royals leading this mission, saw the disgruntled countenances of the people around him and commented about a problem that did not leave his mind. "This group from Dry City is acting very strangely."

"Every hour, they ask for more time to investigate the feasibility of the project, to check local conditions. And so, basically, all our time here has been spent on these excuses of theirs!"

"They constantly accept small, unimportant things, but every time we talk about what matters, the negotiations hit the brakes with their excuses."

He then paused briefly, at the same time clenching one of his fists and breathing like someone who is trying to calm down. "These people do not intend to sign an agreement with us!" He said, exposing his views of what was happening here to his companions.

Hearing this, none of those people seemed surprised by this man's opinion. But that was only to be expected. After all, they had already lost patience with Minos' soldiers and couldn't help but notice the ill will of such people.

"Yes, it seems that they are simply trying to delay us in these negotiations until we lose our patience and do something!" Another person commented as he made gestures with his hands, causing his noble attire to flutter.

One of the Spiritual Kings there nodded in agreement with what those people were saying while trying to figure out the motivations of those people from Dry City. 'But why are they doing such a thing? Don't they realize the danger of going this way?'

'Do they think that this dome will protect them from us?'

However, while that royal guard member was thinking about this, the strongest Spiritual King of this group finally gave his opinion. 'In my view, we should give the local forces an ultimatum. They accept what has already been agreed upon, or we will take appropriate action!"

"We can't keep wasting time in this place!"

"Yes, I think that is the best alternative..."

"It would be nice if they wanted to negotiate, and it wouldn't make any difference if it lasted that long. But they evidently aren't interested in the great deal we offered." Another Spiritual King commented, standing next to the exit of that tent.

"There's no sense in our continuing with it under those circumstances!"

"Yes, you are right."

"We have already made many concessions, and at this point, if they don't accept what has already been agreed to, we had better just end those negotiations!"

Hearing that all those Spiritual Kings agreed to put an end to this, those three members of the royalty couldn't help but feel that this was the best course of action.

They had the final say on this matter. But none of the three would fail to consider the opinion of these regional experts, even if they were only subordinates.

After all, each of them had vast baggage of experience!

And since everyone there seemed to agree on this issue, it didn't take long for one of those three to get up from where he was and announce what should be done.

"Let's get these negotiations over with today!"

We will send a letter to His Majesty to let him know that we had no options here, that the Dry City government who made things difficult until we got to this point."

"Let's not forget that!" He said with particular malice in his voice, making everyone understand what he meant.

'Since they are so stubborn, after that brat bends his knees, we will not protect this damn place from the other families in our state!'

'They deserve to suffer in order to learn to respect royal authority!'

After some of them thought about these possible consequences, it wasn't long before the expressions on their faces softened. But as they felt that they could finally leave this place and force the local sovereign to accept their demands, the voice of one of them sounded, summoning them to end it all.

"Come on!"

"I want to see the look on those damn soldiers' faces when they feel how bad their situation is!"

"Hahaha, those bumpkins thought they could negotiate on equal terms with a royal family..."

"Pathetic!"

"They are amateurs, after all..."

And with those comments, such a group finally left that tent behind, heading towards the joint camp, where the negotiations were taking place.

...

As those eight individuals set off to give their ultimatum to Minos' forces, there were already some soldiers scattered nearby on the outskirts of that Brown family camp.

They were not preparing to attack this place right now since Minos planned to let the enemy side make the first move before doing anything.

But for such a thing to work, the forces of this young ruler already had to be prepared to act the moment tensions exceeded acceptable limits.

Precisely for this reason, since the arrival of this royal entourage, several soldiers from Minos' army were in the vicinity of this camp, waiting for the moment to act.

But these soldiers were not so numerous as to draw the Brown famíly forces' attention.

There were only 15 individuals, all of them at level 44, who was on the outskirts of this place, spread out at a distance of a few hundred meters from the central point of this camp.

That was enough for them to notice if those people started to run away and not be detected by the enemy Spiritual Kings.

Moreover, that distance was enough for them to act when the time came.

For all that, these soldiers were fully capable of dealing with the people in that camp, who were mostly just Spiritual Generals or Spiritual Warriors.

As for the rest of that group, the stronger individuals, Minos' forces, were aware that such members of the Brown Kingdom royal family would not leave this place before giving an ultimatum.

After all, the royal family should be much stronger than the forces in Dry City, and they had everything to act confidently in this place.

Hence, the people who would deal with these more powerful threats were in the temporary camp, where the negotiations took place.

...

In the joint camp 10 kilometers away, east of the eastern exit of the local wall.

At this point, the group of eight people from the Brown family had finally arrived at this location, while they had varying expressions on their faces.

Some still had expressions of dissatisfaction on their faces, as the problems of the past two months could not be solved so easily.

But others already felt much better, as if this problem had already been solved, and they were only here to give a message before returning to the kingdom's capital.

So, they all went where they usually sat to negotiate with Minos' soldiers, where some people were already waiting for them.

In that place, Joey and some administrative soldiers were already sitting waiting for those people.

There were two Spiritual Kings from the army. One was Ernest, and another was Spiritual King from Stone Island. He was one of the individuals Elena had recently brought into Minos' army.

Anyway, they both were sitting there, just as they had been doing for several days.

"Good morning, friends of the Brown family... Ready to..." After seeing those people, Joey soon got up from his seat and started to talk about one of the recently discussed subjects.

However, he was soon stopped from continuing by one of those people.

"Soldier Joey, don't worry about it. We're not going to continue this farce anymore!" One of the three members of the royalty said that out loud.

"Tell your sovereign that he will sign our agreement as it stands, or we will take appropriate action!"

"Oh?" Everyone there made the same sound, as they understood that this day had finally arrived.