The Rise of the Black Plain

Elena and Elen had already left the port of this seaside town in the Kingdom of the Waves heading to a nearby hotel when the group of Allen family spies arrived from Stone Island.

They had traveled for days by boat as they crossed the north sea of Stone Island to this seaside town in the northwest of the Kingdom of the Waves.

The path had been pretty smooth most of the time. The only problem that accompanied Elen's group was that spies.

But for that matter, the two young women didn't have much to do. Amid a sea voyage, neither they nor the group sent by the Allen family could not increase or decrease the distance from one another much.

Despite having the best-developed marine industry in this northern part of the Central Continent, the difference between the boats on both sides was not great. Consequently, Minos' two business partners couldn't avoid being chased all the way here.

Finally, arriving in this city, the two intended to rest for a day or two and then head towards the capital of the kingdom, where they could do some business.

They knew it would be difficult to catch the Allen family spies off guard once she arrived in this state, so Elen intended to act normally.

Elen would conduct business and attend to certain appointments that she would typically schedule when she visited this realm to create an appearance that would fool the group of spies.

Only then would the two go to the Black Plain!

Anyway, in addition to these two young women that Minos already knew, two men accompanied them, their bodyguards.

One of them was someone Minos didn't know, Elena's bodyguard. He was a man who appeared to be in early middle age, with a body not very strong and with very tanned skin.

Other than that, this man had slightly ash-blond hair, being already at level 48.

As for the other bodyguard, this was the person who had always accompanied Elen on trips, Eduard. This tall, muscular man, in the meantime, with Elen's help, had already reached level 49 and could soon reach level 50!

He had been lucky enough to be able to purchase a copy of a Black-grade cultivation technique in the past year, which significantly improved his cultivation speed.

With business going well for Elen, given the negotiation involving the Black Plain's products, this bodyguard had not been forgotten by the girl. On the contrary, he had received over 40,000 low-grade crystals as a reward, something that had made it possible for him to buy that technique!

Eduard had traveled numerous times in Abby's place in recent months, sometimes to make the Black Plain payments and sometimes to conduct other business.

For example, Minos had placed an order several months ago that part of the payment should be made in medium-grade crystals. He had made it clear that he was more than willing to pay Elen a fee to help him with this, as he didn't want to expose himself.

And Abby had done it for Minos, charging only a nominal fee. After all, it indeed wasn't much work to do this job, and the Black Plain's own funds were paying the exchange rates.

In short, what she, or rather Eduard, was doing, was just going to one of the available banks on Stone Island or in other realms to make these transactions. So, Elen hadn't charged an excessive price.

After all, they both had a very profitable business, and this young merchant wouldn't risk losing an ally just over a minor matter like this.

And with situations like this, Eduard had gained a lot in that period!

As for why Minos had made that request to Elen, well, that was simple. This young man didn't have many crystals of that grade on hand, but he knew he would need them to make deals for higher-rated items in no time.

In addition, he also knew that Dillian would soon reach the 6th stage of cultivation. Thus, once the butler reached level 50, he would need medium-grade crystals to cultivate quickly and efficiently!

Even though the consumption of crystals of this degree by Spiritual Kings was not high, Minos couldn't simply allow the most valuable currency to be used in large part for a person's cultivation. After all, how would he do his business without these crystals?

By the time he had asked Elen for this, Minos had already known that he would need to start consuming more and more grade-2 items soon. And consequently, he would have to possess a reserve of medium-grade crystals so that these future deals could be financed.

Thus, Minos' order for Elen served to create a reserve of medium-grade crystals for the Black Plain.

That had been several months ago, and for now, Elen was paying Minos 60% low-grade crystals and the rest, medium-grade ones.

And given the values gained in the meantime, the Black Plains 'coffers' already had more than 70,000 medium-grade crystals!

That was essential preparation for the future of his territory, so Minos made no effort to resolve this, even if he had to pay almost 10% of the amounts in the exchange rate...

Anyway, while the group traveled through that seaside city in a hired carriage, Elen and Elena had been talking while their faces were a little tired at the time. After all, even if the Nash family's boats were pretty good and these women could ignore most senses with their cultivation, sleeping on a ship wasn't ideal!

"What are we going to do now, Elen? I think those people will soon be close to us again." Elena said at the same time as she watched the busy streets of the city.

Hearing this, Elen sighed for a moment and answered her friend's question. "Let's rest for today. It won't be good for our plans if we try to travel right away, as if we were in a hurry."

"The enemy group is in the radius of our tracks, so we'll act for a while until things calm down."

"Where do you want to start? We have several businesses in the Kingdom of the Waves..."

Elen then nodded and continued talking. "We are going to do some business in the capital, and we can already take the opportunity to know what is happening in this kingdom. That information about the selection of the crown prince over the next two years was very sudden. So, we have to see this."

And in addition to being something strange to Elen, this choice of the future king of the Kingdom of the Waves advanced was very relevant to her. Or rather, it was essential for any power involved in regional matters.

When a new king ascended the throne, various relationships could change, damaging some sides and favoring other new factions.

There was a whole competition in which the competing princes would compete for the title of the heir. At the same time, families and big powers could place their bets.

Supporting a prince who would become the future king of a state had always been a big deal, with tremendous potential for these organizations.

And not only the powers within that realm entered into this dispute but also some organizations from elsewhere in the northern part of the Central Continent. After all, the royal families were basically the regulators of regionally-run businesses, so they had tremendous suppressive power.

Thus, powers such as the Nash family had to keep an eye out for every change in the region's kingdoms to preserve their business and geopolitical position. Not to mention that the Kingdom of the Waves was simultaneously the richest and largest in the entire region.

Due to all this, Elen could not stop thinking about this subject and take the opportunity to be in this realm, to know a little more about it.

"If all goes well, we'll stay in the kingdom's capital for about ten days. Then we should have our chance to go to Minos' territory." Elen commented in a low voice, beside her friend Elena in that carriage.