The Rise of the Black Plain

Blake and Wilfred headed toward the local government mansion after passing through the gates of one of the entrances to Dry City. At the same time, their group was escorted by some local soldiers.

After admiring this city as much as Lorelei and Adam had done previously, these two swallowed their saliva as they realized the powerful force that Minos had in this place.

With the end of the Black Plain's war of independence coming, they were already beginning to think about what the post-war power configuration would look like in the region.

As obvious as it was that the Black Plain would lead them all, these two had not thought that by now, Dry City had such a numerical advantage over them when it came to experts.

For comparison purposes, the Carline family, with the most significant number of Spiritual Kings in the region before the war, had only 75 such experts in its ranks, counting warriors and spiritual professionals.

However, after this war period, House Carline lost 10 of its experts, and several others would suffer from Minos' punishments in the future. And even counting these, the 65 high-level survivors of the most powerful family in the region were nowhere near the more than 100 Spiritual Kings of Dry City.

That was impressive!

It was impressive not only because this was a complex number for even the Spiritual Church in the region to reach. But because the Black Plain had fought a war for them for years, most of the time, fighting the region practically independently.

But even in such a drastic situation, this place had achieved such a feat!

Imagine what might have happened if this place had not lost several high-level Spiritual Generals and low-level Spiritual Kings in the war?

That was what the two young men of the Walker family had in mind as they saw and felt the grandeur of Dry City.

Consequently, neither of them could help but sigh in defeat, feeling that fate was on the side of Minos and these people.

"This place is a real oasis in the middle of the desert..." Wilfred commented in a low voice to Blake as he sat in the waiting room of Minos' office.

"Hmmm." Blake nodded to him as he looked in the direction of secretary Mia, who was wearing a beautiful outfit that enhanced her good-sized curves.

"Even his secretary, who is so young, is already at level 46."

"It seems he has invested a lot in this place and for longer than we had assumed."

But while the two were murmuring, Lieutenant Peter appeared in that place, coming out of Minos' office, drawing the attention of the two brothers.

"Mia, I'll be at headquarters for the rest of the day, but I'll come back for you later..." Peter said in his fiancée's ear, pleased to be back in Dry City to properly take care of this attractive woman.

But while talking to her in a low voice, he suddenly heard his name being called.

"Peter?" Blake asked in surprise, finding it unexpected to encounter such an individual who was previously a subordinate of Walker House in this place.

Not only was Blake surprised by this, but also by Peter's current level, since this Black Plain Army Lieutenant was already at level 51, just one level below his.

And it was not for nothing. Blake was a few years older than Peter, and previously the level difference between them was much more significant than just one level.

As such, Blake, as well as Wilfred, were open-mouthed as they looked at that fellow.

"Hmm?" Peter turned to observe who had called him, finally seeing the figures of Blake and Wilfred standing a few meters away from him.

"Oh? Is that you?" He said without much surprise in his tone since he already knew that these two were coming to Dry City.

Not only that, Peter was looking forward to watching the execution of Charles, the person who had ruined his time in the Walker family, almost destroying his future as a cultivator. So, he had expected to see these people again sooner or later.

"Peter! How long has it been since we've seen you?" Wilfred said aloud. "In fact, where have you been all this time?"

But Blake then interrupted his older brother. "Forget about it. How did you advance so fast? Are you using pills to force your advancements?"

"Tsk!"

"I don't need that kind of help just to become a Spiritual King..." He was not modest. "Maybe I'll use that when I become a Spiritual Emperor, but not for now."

"What?"

"When do you become?" One of the Spiritual Emperors who was traveling with Blake said this in surprise, finding it strange how that young man underestimated the advancement to the 7th stage.

"In any case, answering your question, I have been by Minos' side here in Dry City since the Spiritual Tournament."

"So that was it..." Blake lamented as he remembered the situation Charles had created with Peter. 'Ah, another one with power who will never make it easy for us.'

Peter then remembered something and asked. "By the way, how is Ava?"

"She's still alive if that's what you want to know." Wilfred commented in a low voice, feeling bad for knowing the things that woman had done to Charles all these years since Peter's expulsion from the Walker family.

"She recently reached level 47."

"I see... Good for her." He said without giving the matter much thought.

Peter had no love interests for Ava. He was just a good friend of hers from the time the two of them studied together at the spiritual academy in their city. And even though they had a great time together in the Walker family, that still was not enough for him to be moved by the thought of her.

After so many years apart, he had already spent more time next to several other people who were now much more important to him than she was back then.

Thus, besides the doubt about whether she was still alive, he truly did not have much interest in understanding himself more deeply about her current situation.

So, after that brief exchange of words, he said goodbye to those people, heading back to his local responsibilities.

As for Blake's group, they remained impressed by Peter's situation for a while longer until Mia finally allowed them to enter Minos' office.

...

After entering young Stuart's office, where a beautiful woman with black hair was with the sovereign, it did not take long for the visitors to sit down and start formal conversations.

"Well, now that you two are already here with a spiritual judge, I will let you check your mothers, and then we will sign this contract agreed upon between us." Minos said as he looked at the two sitting on the other side of his desk.

"Oh?" Blake's eyes widened in surprise, with him thinking that things were not going as badly as he had assumed they would.

"When can we see them? What about Charles?" Wilfred asked.

"You can see this fellow too, but I doubt he will want to receive you." Minos smiled as he remembered the depressed Charles, a man who had lost the will to live after all the tragedy he had suffered.

Charles' situation had been so bad that after only a few weeks since Minos' action, he had already lost almost twenty kilos. His hair had turned white like that of an old man on the verge of death.

Minos then continued. "Your mothers, stepmothers, and that fellow are in the local prison."

Minos had transferred them from the Spatial Kingdom to the local prison soon after returning to Dry City. After all, he had only used the Spatial Kingdom to guard those people because it would be too much trouble to carry them around while traveling through the region.

But upon arriving in this city weeks ago, Minos had wasted no time in getting those people transferred.

"If you want to visit them, I can have one of my soldiers escort you there."

"I assure you I didn't touch any of them in that period."

Gulp!

"Well, if it's not too much to ask, I'd like to see my mother before we sign this contract," Wilfred said as he pointed one of his fingers at the draft they had made together.

"Sure. Do that." Minos nodded without caring much about it. "But don't take too long. We'll be doing Charles Walker's execution tomorrow, and I want those contracts validated by then."

...