The Rise of the Black Plain

Six days later...

At this moment, Minos was standing outside the Snow family's royal palace, being quietly escorted by the most influential individuals on that estate.

This time he was without his mask, walking around that place alongside 15 individuals, smiling as if he were on a stroll.

But the people in his surroundings were breaking into a cold sweat, feeling the pressure of having to welcome such a monster into their own home.

Unlike what had happened recently at the Carline family headquarters, as soon as Minos identified himself at the House Snow headquarters entrance, the guards quickly did what he had asked.

They notified the strongest individuals in the palace and relayed the information of Minos' arrival to the crown prince. Then, the people who were escorting young Stuart at this instant had come to accompany him on this 'visit' of his to House Snow.

The people in this organization had already assumed that Minos could appear by this place since his trajectory up to that point seemed to bring him here.

And considering the things he had done until now, this organization's members had decided that if such a terrible thing did happen, then peacefully welcoming him would be for the best.

That is, there was not even a level 59 Spiritual King in this place at the moment, so how could they put up any resistance?

Well, they knew that even if they had such support, it would not make any difference, but if only King Snow had been here, these people might have had more confidence against Minos.

However, with their current vulnerability, with Minos' insurgent reputation, there was no need for them to suffer by fighting impossible battles to win.

By doing so, they would further irritate this enemy, cause problems for the local population, incur financial losses, and invariably die at his hands.

However, if it were more 'docile,' they had much better chances here!

Minos had not completely exterminated any organization in his journey of terror. So, there was no reason for the members of the local royalty to think that he would try anything of the sort here.

With that, they had merely chosen the diplomatic route to deal with Minos, something that had, in a way, greatly pleased this young man.

For all the time he had been seeking independence from the Black Plain, Minos had always preferred to settle his affairs with words!

He was prepared and willing to fight if necessary. Still, he preferred to solve his problems peacefully, without worrying about having to stress about battles all the time.

Hell, he would prefer to have spent all those months traveling in Dry City alongside Abby and many of his female friends!

So, after noticing the clever way the members of House Snow were using to solve this problem, Minos was delighted.

"You guys are not bad at all..." He commented aloud to the people who nervously escorted him to the place where the crown prince was supposed to be. "Handling the situation so peaceful is truly admirable!"

"I must confess that I'm impressed that I don't hear anyone yelling that they're going to kill me or things like that..."

"Congratulations!"

"In the future, perhaps your descendants will become good members of my state."

"I don't think it's bad to have smart people working for me."

Hearing those words, no one there dared to say anything, but they watched young Stuart with looks that showed anger and fear.

An enemy had just entered their city, and now they were being treated as future subordinates? How could this not anger those proud people of House Snow?

Some of them were even people close to the local royal succession line!

Consequently, the way Minos treated them was not pleasant!

In any case, strength meant a lot in this world, and now that Minos had that with him, he had the privilege of saying these things and not hearing any complaints.

Instead, after an awkward silence hung over that place, the oldest of those men gave Minos an answer.

"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Stuart."

"Hehehehe, you're welcome!"

...

After a few moments, Minos and those people finally entered the palace, where many of the people who worked there were already breaking into a cold sweat as they watched his entourage pass by.

Seeing the many people working there, Minos smiled and waved to some strangers as he walked through the halls.

"Hmmm."

"Okay, guys, you have done a good job so far. That way, I hope you won't fail when you are under new management." He joked aloud as he shook the hands of some people standing in front of Ambrose Snow's office.

"Mister, this way..." A mature, well-dressed, slender-bodied woman said this in a low voice, indicating the way to young Stuart.

"Hmm."

Minos nodded in satisfaction at that woman, approving how she was behaving. "You must be Ambrose's secretary, right?"

"Uh... Yes..."

"Very good..."

"You seem very responsible... Maybe I'll take you with me to the Black Plain." He said this in a flirtatious tone as he stood between that woman and the door, with his face close to one of her ears.

Upon hearing that, that woman turned red with embarrassment. Still, the fear in her eyes could not be ignored even in this situation. "That..."

"Hehe, I'm joking!"

"Sure, if you want to accompany me, we can make it happen." He said this as he smiled and walked towards that office.

"I'm afraid I'm not good enough for Mr. Stuart..." She replied, afraid to piss him off.

"OK then..."

After that, Minos left that woman aside, and when the door to that office closed, he began to pay attention to the people waiting for him.

Three people were in that place beside the individuals who had accompanied him there. One of them was Ambrose, whom Minos had easily recognized since that person was the only one there who could be close in age to his.

As for the other two, one of them should be the supreme elder of this family, as he was at level 58 and was, therefore, the strongest person there. Finally, the last person was a middle-aged woman who had white hair that was unusual to see in this region.

White hair could be seen on people already in the final parts of their livers. But there were rarely people in this region with this color of hair at the age that such a woman was supposed to be.

But seeing her, Minos also did not find it difficult to understand who she would be.

'The lady must be the queen, huh?' He thought about it as he looked at that person, who looked great despite being in her middle age.

After observing each of those three people standing on one side of the main table there, Minos promptly sat opposite them.

"Well, it is a pleasure that such relevant people are willing to receive me so well..."

"You Snow Kingdom people truly know how to welcome a guest!" Minos commented on this as he greeted each of those three with a handshake.

Gulp!

Sounds of saliva being swallowed reverberated through that place, as the silence brought a certain pressure to the hearts of the people there.

Ambrose then smiled forcefully and asked. "Mr. Stuart, to what do we owe your visit?"

"Straight to the point... I like it!" Minos commented in satisfaction as he looked at that woman from before. "It seems that you and King Snow have not educated him badly..."

"Very good!"

"It's just a pity that your husband is not here, or our negotiations could develop more easily."

The queen then looked coldly at the young Stuart, not understanding what he was getting at. "What do you want to say?"

"Well, I want something you have, but since I'm already in this place, I can't waste this trip, right?"

"Let's not fool ourselves. We are enemies, and you are trying to destroy my territory. So, obviously, we'll deal with it here and now!"

Gulp!

Minos then noticed the movements of those people as if they were preparing to pull out their respective weapons. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"There is a chance for all of you to survive."

"You just need to give me what I want and become my subordinates." He then smiled as he thought of something.

"Let's use our troops to exterminate the enemies on the Black Plain!"

...