The Rise of the Black Plain

Todd didn't know about the threats that Dry City had been experiencing recently. After all, these problems had only started to appear recently, from about two months ago to now.

On the other hand, although Todd's family and Black Plain were business partners, one side had no obligation to communicate to the other about problems of this nature. That is, the Dry City had no responsibility to help the Cohen family in difficult times, just as such a noble house did not have to send forces to support the territory of Minos.

Obviously, there was goodwill on the part of both sides since they had had mutually beneficial times. However, for a greater connection between these powers, it would be necessary for their relationship to move beyond something purely commercial, as it had been until then.

But before something of this nature could happen, one side would not interfere too much in the more private affairs of the other.

Precisely because Todd didn't know everything about Dry City, he hadn't realized that such information dispersed by the Northern News could actually help Minos' forces.

That was because soon Dry City would be exposed, at least, to the noble houses of the Brown Kingdom!

However, even if at first only the powers of that kingdom were to have such information, sooner or later such news would reach the other states in this region. That way, the Black Plain could quickly become the focus of regional attention.

And that was not good.

However, with some of the spies of the prominent regional families looking for the whereabouts of the competitor Minos, the news about the Black Plain would be delayed to some degree. That is, such news spread by the Northern News might cause spies from powers outside the Brown Kingdom not to pay as much attention to a local problem in young Stuart's territory.

And such a thing was positive for Minos!

Minos then explained this to Todd and Ruth. "You both know that I killed Leroy Chambers, and everyone who watched or participated in the Spiritual Tournament also knows."

"Yes..." The two readily agreed with him.

"With that, the Chambers family certainly see the competitor Minos as an enemy that must be eliminated..." He then briefly  paused as he snapped the fingers of his hands. "The Chambers family is at war and is still suspected by a royal family of having ordered the death of a certain prince..."

"Imagine what would happen if they discovered my location? What possibilities would their many enemies have if part of their forces started targeting me? Hehehe."

Upon hearing this, those two youths and Abby also looked at Minos with a curious expression. "You want to use this to create a trap for the Chambers family?"

"Hmm, sort of."

"But that's too dangerous, Minos!" Abby firmly said as she took one of her boyfriend's hands and squeezed it.

"Don't worry, that won't happen for now... We'll let the Chambers family exhaust themselves a little more, hehe."

However, while Abby was worried about dealing with the Chambers family, suddenly Todd asked in a serious tone. "But, Minos, what if they found you before you set that trap?"

"Any other power could find you and cause trouble for Dry City, and that could bring you much worse enemies than the Chambers family!"

"He's right, Minos. Don't you find that troubling?" Ruth asked just after Todd stopped talking.

Minos then shook his head and made an uncertain expression. "Well, there is indeed a possibility of that happening. But that is very unlikely. You see, sooner or later, they will find me on the Black Plain, but most likely, it will happen in a few years."

"After all, an investigation like this is not done overnight!"

"But of course, someone might decide by coincidence to go through the Dry City and find out everything... But that would be like a gamble. After all, there is no trace that I came here!"

When Minos had returned from the Spiritual Tournament, he, Ruth, and Peter had traveled on White's back without passing through many human cities. In fact, they had only stopped a few times in such places to buy items needed for their trip and also to rest.

But this had not happened as often as on Minos and Ruth's way to the capital of the Cromwell Kingdom. After all, Ruth was in a hurry to get back to the Flaming Empire on the way back from that competition due to the short deadline she had to meet.

So, they had traveled as much as they could at that time without making unnecessary stops.

And the result of this was that there were few traces left behind that could help investigators discover the route used by Minos to return to Dry City.

On the other hand, even considering his going with Ruth to the Cromwell Kingdom, this would still be difficult to get investigators to come to the Black Plain. That is because this young man could have come from any other kingdom in the region that was further north of the Cromwell Kingdom!

In this case, the area of investigation would be vast and such investigators could take a long time to discover Minos in the Black Plain. An example of this was Urban's group, which local soldiers had recently exterminated.

Such a group had been researching the deaths of those people from the Silva family for over three years!

However, their search area was small and encompassed only the Black Plain and some other parts of the borders of Stone Island, Kingdom of the Waves, and the Cromwell Kingdom. In other words, such an investigation involved a much smaller area than the area in which the competitor Minos might be.

Because of this, Minos was confident that it would be challenging to track him back to Dry City in a short time. Or rather, unless he was very unlucky and the investigators made a gigantic bet, it would not happen in a short time.

Hence, he could take advantage of the fact that some investigators and spies from powers outside the Brown Kingdom would be partially occupied with such a distraction!

"So, that's it..."

"Well, that makes some sense." Todd said in a low voice while looking down thoughtfully.

On the other hand, his bodyguard listened to the whole thing with interest, shocked at Minos' audacity. 'This young man wants to reap a noble family using himself as bait? He must have very big balls to say such a thing so casually!'

While the bodyguard of this young blond man was thinking of many conspiracy theories, Minos suddenly relaxed in his seat and casually asked that business ally of his. "By the way, Todd, how is your grandfather? Have you guys..."

After that, they began to talk about some less dangerous matters, something related to the business between the Black Plain and the House Cohen.

But nothing of great importance had been decided until Todd left that mansion and headed towards the Four Seasons Hotel, where he would stay in this city.

He wanted to study some arrangements he could make with Minos to strengthen his family's ties with the Black Plains. But he wasn't in a hurry to do that.

After all, he had just arrived in this city and was eager to find out all the local changes. Also, he wants to understand this place better before he talks about official matters with young Stuart.

...

Quickly, a whole day passed.

And while Dry City went about its usual business, without any incident inside or outside, a large group of carriages and people had just entered the territory of the Black Plain!

There were thousands of people in that group, with over 400 similar carriages. At the same time, over a thousand beasts could be seen side by side, each carrying one or two humans.

And not far from that group of people, there was a small village, where several people were on the westernmost side of that place, all of them watching that group traveling together.

"Is this some kind of military exercise, village leader?" One of the inhabitants of that village asked in curiosity.

"This... I have no idea." A man with a white beard said in an uncertain tone. 'That is a group from the Silva family... But why would they send such a group to the Black Plain? The Red Valley is so far away from here...'

On the other hand, a specific person in that place was breaking into a cold sweat right now. 'It can't be! I wonder.... Could this have something to do with those people?'