The Rise of the Black Plain

The day after the local leaders met with Minos, he and his wives received representatives from smaller Vogel families, which also participated in the local political game.

All noble organizations with at least 5 Spiritual Saints in this state would be entitled to representatives in the future Assembly of Vogel. So, more organizations than were at the meeting the day before deserved to have their questions answered by him.

But that was the easiest part to negotiate with. Larger families that had a chance to get the local sovereign position were harder to talk to because of the greed of being so close to making a big step in political power.

Hence, if organizations like this that would be most affected by this state falling into Minos' lap had found his terms acceptable, it was unlikely that more minor powers would try to stand against him.

In this way, Minos and his wives were only resolving doubts from less prestigious local leaders, but without being in a position of having to appeal to strategies to secure more support for their cause.

At the same time, Elen and her group were doing similar things, only with other types of powers in this state.

Not every family or organization in a kingdom had titles of nobility. In addition, there were ascendant bourgeois powers with economic and military power, which were also relevant to the state's future.

Therefore, Minos' party had not forgotten about these relevant players and was working on all possible fronts to make his local ascension as smooth as possible.

And so, at the local lunch hour, he and his wives got a moment to speak with the Spiritual Sage in charge of this state.

...

"What do you people want here?" The old fellow asked as he sat behind a desk full of documents with orders to be issued.

Minos, standing in front of this fellow, next to Ruth, Gloria, and Abby, then said. "I want to know if you have an estimate of how long the Church will be in charge of this state. Do you have any idea?"

This man did not care how Minos referred to him and closed his eyes. "Are you in a hurry to take over this kingdom? But it was your idea for the Church to take the reins of this state temporarily, wasn't it?"

"My husband only wants to know about it so that we can better prepare ourselves for the consequences of the end of the Church's regency period..." Gloria said.

That Spiritual Sage then took his eyes off these four people in front of him and looked at the papers on his desk. "Sigh!"

"I don't know how long I will stay here. Since the royal family of this place has acted against the rules of the Church, the groups sent to this state must investigate all the operations of the current generation of that organization to make sure there are no more problems here."

"Then until we are sure that other local organizations have not been used against the Church, that there are no more culprits among the local leaders, we will not leave here." He seriously said as he pondered how much work there was for him and his subordinates to solve.

"It looks like that's going to take a while..." Ruth commented in a low voice.

"Hmm, at least one year. Probably more." Abby gave her opinion, considering how many people this organization would have to check out.

Minos placed one of his hands on his chin, pondering what would happen to the local forces in this period. 'By that time, I will probably have finished my journey and will be in the Black Plain...'

'But until this kingdom makes its new leadership official, there will be uncertainties that could intensify the Flaming Empire's threat of war with those other three kingdoms. In that case, the local families must move in this period to secure support for their allies and demonstrate their position to the Empire!'

Until the Church crowned him, all the news about him would only be rumors. And as such, the threat that a united kingdom in agreement with its allies would pose to the Flaming Empire would not be so intense as to frighten its enemies.

In this situation, there would undoubtedly be those people believing in the weakness of a leaderless state, in the enemy's game of narratives to delay their movements, in local disunity, etc. As long as the kingdom did not have a king and royal family, many doubts would exist, indicating an opportunity for attack, even in a relatively quiet situation such as the current one.

So, in Minos' opinion, the local powers would need to be prepared for the tests that the Empire would certainly try to impose to ascertain the rumors!

On the other hand, a state had its own economy and local dynamics besides war. Uncertainty decreased productivity, something that could negatively impact his plans. Thus, King Stuart already had in mind to talk about how the local families should act in the meantime to minimize the risks and damage to the kingdom.

He wanted to enjoy the benefits he would have as much as possible as a local ruler, so this was of utmost importance to him.

"Well, let's prepare the local families to endure this period..." He remarked before his group bid farewell to that Spiritual Sage to go settle related matters in this city.

...

Two days later...

After the period promised by most of the local leaders, they and several other relevant people in the kingdom returned to the destroyed palace in the central part of the capital of Vogel.

In this instant, they were all there to give their answers regarding Minos' project for this kingdom.

And with that, as more people finished arriving, some who had not been there before were talking among the members of their respective families.

"Patriarch, is it truly interesting that we accept this person as king?" A Spiritual Saint who had only heard of Minos' proposals in the past two days asked this of the leader of his family. "I mean, he's not even from our kingdom... How will we put someone like that on the royal throne?"

"Besides, his level is shallow..." Another person from that group commented.

But then the patriarch of that organization said, after sighing. "That part about his level doesn't matter since the representatives of local noble families will be the ones ruling the state... As for that other question, that is a humiliation we must accept if we want to survive against the Flaming Empire."

"But eventually, we will have a chance to remove him from his throne and choose someone who knows and shares our history." He looked at the empty throne, which was still waiting for Minos to arrive for this day of deal-making.

While this local patriarch coveted that symbol of local power, others in that place were doing the same thing, imagining themselves sitting in such a place in a few decades.

'Let's allow this fellow to sit on the king's place for a while, while things settle down. But eventually, I will be the one to lead Vogel!' A level 76 Spirit Saintual thought as he saw Minos and his wives arriving for the start of this occasion.

...