The Rise of the Black Plain

"Grant? What message?" Minos asked as he identified himself as the one the Spiritual Sage was looking for.

That level 84 man looked at Emperor Stuart and was surprised, remembering the words of his old friend, who told him that Minos was only a Spiritual Emperor.

But the young man in question was clearly a Spiritual Saint!

In any case, Minos was accompanied by several high-level Spiritual Saints and was probably even the local leader.

With that in mind, that man said. "Grant is arrested in the capital of the Western Empire.

After returning home after a long time away, he reported everything that happened concerning his incident to the imperial family forces. Because of this, he was spared most of the punishments he would suffer after being away for so long.

But even so, he has earned 100 years of house arrest in the capital and cannot leave to join you in the northern region."

Minos heard that, changing his expression little by little, more or less prepared for the fact that Grant could not return in the short term but surprised at the size of the punishment.

It was already expected that Grant would be held in the capital of the Western Empire for a few years. But a whole century was too much!

"A hundred years? All that?" He questioned.

"Yeah, Grant said some things... About his theories... Anyway, his ideas were not well received, and some think he's crazy and that his time in the northern region was too hard and he needs peace of mind in a safe place."

Nevertheless, Grant was being treated as a patriot who had lost his powers defending the imperial family.

He was in prison, but from the imperial family's point of view, this was more like sending him to a camp than to an actual prison.

He couldn't leave where he was, but the house and the resources he earned as payment for his back fees were generous to the point that he wouldn't even have to leave the house to have it all there.

But even though he was comfortable, he was being forced to stay under house arrest for the next century on the grounds that, in addition to the time he would have to pay for his absence, he was mentally confused.

Minos understood this, for Grant's ideas were really problematic for people with no prior information to see the logic in them.

He then asked. "But is he all right? Why did a Spiritual Sage come to deliver this information to me?"

That man smiled and said. "He is fine... Anyway, Grant is actually a good friend of mine even before his departure for that fateful journey in search of Her Highness.

At that time, he was already a level 70 Spiritual Saint, and I was only a level 65 Spiritual Emperor.

But I had known him since my youth.

We traveled countless times on imperial family missions. He helped me a lot since I was just a Spiritual Warrior. Eventually, we even became family when our children married..."

Because of this background, when this fellow discovered his old friend was still alive, he visited him and then promised to deliver a message to Minos.

That had happened weeks ago, so only now was this man there to meet this young man Grant had such high praise and expectations of.

"So you are a friend of his..." Minos understood why someone so powerful would serve as a messenger for Grant.

Only by an emotional decision would an expert lend himself to that kind of service.

"But then, what was the message he sent?"

That Spiritual Sage became more serious and said. "It's about what's in the North Sea. He told me he found a clue about that in our city."

Grant was under house arrest, but some people were working for him, and through that, he had been studying old books and buying information regarding his obsession.

With the time he had since arriving in that city, he improved his theories and came up with important information that could help him and Minos.

"Oh? What is it?" Minos asked with interest.

That Spiritual Sage narrowed his eyes, seeing that Minos seemed interested in this as if such information was very important to him.

'Does this young man believe what Grant has been talking about?' He wondered since, even though he was Grant's friend, he himself found it hard to believe those ideas.

In any case, he would keep his promise to his friend and say to Minos. "Kid, I'll tell you what he told me. But I'll tell you in advance that I didn't quite understand what Grant meant.

Anyway, he said that he found a map of an ancient island and that the home of the wicked lies in God's Right Eye, under the ominous Desolate Sea.

You will find the clues to your target by following the only path there."

"God's Right Eye?" The Spiritual Saints next to Minos and Gloria repeated those words without understanding their meaning.

But then that man hurled a map in Minos' direction; the item Grant had asked him to deliver to Emperor Stuart along with his words.

"Grant thinks you will find the answers you need if you can get to that place.

Supposedly, there are traces of enemies in that place."

Minos heard all this and looked at the map, unable to identify where this place was just from the map, as there were only the directions to inside the island and nothing else.

But there were countless islands in the Spiritual World, and much could have changed in the past millions of years.

So just because of Henricus Longus' memories alone, he would not readily know how to identify such a place from having that map in hand.

'I don't know where it is... But apparently, empires of the highest level seem to contain better information than mine about the phenomena related to the North Sea.' He thought about that as he noticed that Grant had gotten information easily just by being in that place.

Obviously, Grant had not stumbled upon this information or gotten it from a single informant. Instead, he had spent years connecting the dots, the many pieces of information he had come into contact with since his return.

But still, finding something like this that way could be considered easy, considering how mysterious the North Sea was to most people on the continent.

With that in mind, Minos promptly set the goal of visiting one of these states in the future before he began to resolve his doubts about the threat that Henricus Longus had warned him about.

"Very well. I will do my best to follow his hints and eventually visit him in the Western Empire with my findings." Minos said to that individual as he thanked him with a gesture of gratitude.

The Spiritual Sage saw this and asked with curiosity. "Do you believe in the things Grant fears? Do you think there is something in the North Sea that could threaten us all?"

"I believe it. Grant is not crazy." Minos said without hesitation. "In all his years in my city, he had always exhibited the same determination and poise as when I first met him in the Kingdom of the End."

'Other than that, I have my reasons for believing him...'