The Rise of the Black Plain

"A group of pirates? There are several around here!" The man brandished.

"Hmm, we know that. But this specific group, its members had tattoos like this..." Dumas then showed a paper with a design that had a red triangle.

The group of soldiers who had been dispatched for this mission had discovered this through the lost limb of one of the two pirates who had died in the fight against Peter.

There was a tattoo like the one Dumas had shown the man in front of them on the arm left behind on the battlefield.

And when talking to the coachman who had accompanied the group of soldiers in the investigation of the place of the fight, that old man had said that he knew about this pirate group.

According to that old man, the group that kidnapped Peter operated in various parts of the north of the Central Continent for a long time. But what could easily distinguish them from others was precisely the tattoos that their members displayed, almost as if it were a badge of pride.

Some had more than one of these tattoos, sometimes on their backs, arms and some more exaggerated ones did it on their own foreheads!

So, Dumas was sure that this man, who appeared to be one of the managers of this seaport town, had to know something about the passage of those people that through here with Peter.

Finally, seeing the image drawn on an old sheet of paper, that man made a serious face for a moment, recognizing the pirate group which these people were talking about.

He actually knew about these individuals. After all, he hated them deeply.

Even for thugs, complete chaos was not good for their business and everyday life. And this man, as one of the local managers, didn't want to have to solve problems all the time, on account of hot-blooded people, who cause trouble at the slightest sign of misunderstanding.

And the pirates of the group in question, well, they could be considered the most arrogant in the business!

Although this pirate group from the north of the Central Continent was only a branch of the original group, its members were still very proud to be part of an organization from one of the strongest places on the Central Continent!

It made them feel a sense of invincibility, that nothing could go wrong for them...

And as a result, common bandits who wanted to live with a minimum of order, as was the case with this man who Minos' soldiers had kidnaped, had to endure the unbridled attitudes of those pirates!

After a while of thinking, the man on the floor of that dark forest suddenly burst out laughing and then started to speak. "Hahaha, so is it one of those pests you're talking about? Don't worry. I'll tell you everything I know!"

"Two weeks ago, this group that you are following arrived in this city where we were."

"But the group wasn't complete. Two of the pirates who normally traveled with them weren't with the group." The man said as he sat on the floor of that place, sometimes looking at the fire, sometimes watching Sergeant Dumas who was near him.

"What did they do around here?" Another soldier asked doubtfully.

"Cough, ehh, they were gathering captives and transporting them to their ship, which was docked in this town. However, after they arrived two weeks ago, they had finally completed all the spaces on the ship and then no longer hung around."

"And where did they go? Do you know?" Dumas asked.

He then replied sincerely. "Hehehe, I can't say where they are at this moment, but I know they went to the Black Market in the Cromwell Kingdom."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because thee told me."

The Cromwell Kingdom had numerous transactions with pirates and bandits from the Black Market, which were usually on the coast of these territories.

And the slave trade was one of the main activities in those places!

The Cromwell Kingdom had several families willing to buy captives in the slave markets. The main commercial activity of this state was agriculture, one of the areas that had the most potential for forced labor!

It was not difficult to get the captives to cultivate the fields. After all, it didn't require a great deal of knowledge, nor a good foundation for cultivation!

With that, the slaves could be controlled almost perfectly, with no chance to escape, since they were usually much weaker than their 'owners,' just as they were a cheap labor force!

With that, the Cromwell Kingdom ended up following the path of development through the enslavement of thousands of people throughout its history.

However, in recent history, slavery has not been so alarming since there has been no significant conflict on a regional scale in this part of the Central Continent.

Anyway, after hearing that man's answer, Dumas stopped to think for a moment while closing his eyes and feeling the light breeze of the night. 'Well, by now, these outlaws should be almost on the slave market in the Cromwell Kingdom...'

He then asked with a grim expression. "And what happens to those captives with Black talent?"

"Black talent, huh? Well, cough, they're sold directly to the big local noble families. After that, anything can happen. Sometimes one of these talented captives ends up becoming an attraction to the nobles, fighting for their lives in arenas, as a form of entertainment, or even becoming human cauldrons, there are many possibilities..."

Hearing this, all 20 soldiers looked at that man with strange faces, thinking about what he had just said.

Turning over a human cauldron was the term used for those individuals who were used by dual cultivators, having their cultivation bases slowly sucked up and transformed into spiritual strength for dual cultivators.

In the Spiritual World, dual cultivation was frowned upon in practice. It focused on stealing the other party's spiritual energy during sex through cultivation techniques focused on this aspect.

Thus, noble families focused on this type of practice often used talented slaves or captives for this. First, victims were forced to take pills and spiritual medicines, increasing their cultivation quickly, if they were much weaker than the dual cultivator that bought them.

Lastly, they would finally be used to strengthen those members of that family of double cultivators until all the cultivation of them was sucked away!

"What a terrible thing!" One of the soldiers muttered under his breath.

"Ah, there is also the possibility that they will use your friend to reproduce with other slaves. This should be the better for him..." The man said, not showing much feeling on his face.

This was another practice of those families. In fact, this was similar to what happened with high-potential spiritual beasts, as in the case of Emlyn.

Some noble families kidnapped couples of spiritual beasts and waited until the offsprings were born. After that, they would kill the parents and raise the newborn, making him believe he never had a family before...

With talented slaves, the same happened. Captive men and women were drugged with stimulants and ended up 'breeding.' And by doing this for a certain amount of time, there was a high possibility that a pregnancy would happen.

And with this, the parents would be killed, while the children would be raised within those families, not knowing anything about what had happened...

With that, both spiritual beasts, as humans, when being created by these families, would be entirely loyal to them and worth much more than slaves or intelligent beasts that could rebel!

"Hmm, do you know which noble families usually get involved in slavery?"

"Not exactly, but I know that the Reid family of Kingdom of the Waves, which is one of the slave families in our region, has strong ties to the Chambers family of the Cromwell Kingdom. So, I believe that the Chambers family must be involved in this, too. "

"OK." After saying this, Dumas walked away from that man and met with other Black Plains Army soldiers to discuss the matter.

"So, what do we do next, boss? Can we trust this man?" one of the Sergeants asked.

However, before Dumas could say anything, someone else in the group took the initiative and said. "Chief Dumas, I believe that man was telling the truth. I used my innate ability, Soul Noises, the entire time, but I didn't feel any bad intentions from him."

This soldier who had spoken had an innate support-type ability that could check variations that could occur in a person's soul.

"Oh? Well, that's good."

Dumas then continued. "We will start by sending four soldiers back to headquarters to inform the young master. At the same time, the rest of us will travel to the Cromwell Kingdom, towards the Black Market on the coast of that state."

Dumas wanted to start tracking Peter's whereabouts in that place as soon as possible, as he didn't want to take too much risk of that young man ending up being turned into a cauldron before they could save him!

"As for this man we kidnapped, we're going to knock him out and drop him off in one of the towns we pass so he can't track us." He finished while looking sideways at that man.

Despite being a criminal, that person hadn't really done anything against them and had even responded willingly. So, Dumas didn't want to kill someone without good reason, as there wasn't much of a chance this guy would cause trouble for the Black Plain!