The Rise of the Black Plain

"Hahaha, and to think those people did such a thing!" Minos said in satisfaction as he leaned back in the chair while holding the Northern News newspaper in his hands.

"That is truly a pleasant surprise!" Ruth said in joy for her boyfriend. "You and your allies were worried all this time that Dean Chambers had escaped to the Scourges of the Devil headquarters..."

"But all this time, he was in House Snow's hands!"

"You are very 'lucky,' Minos." She said, smiling as she looked at the figure of her boyfriend, who stood on the other side of the table that separated them.

That indeed demanded a bit of luck. After all, as much as Minos had done several things to make the Snows stand against the Chambers, that could only increase the chances of incidents like this being beneficial to him.

There would always be the possibility that Prince Ambrose's family would ignore Minos' provocations.

This young man did not have enough power to control other people at will. And with free will, one could always choose the hard way over the easy way, irrational choices over rational ones, and so on.

Many might think acting in a rational manner was simple. However, sometimes, even if one knew that doing something would not be good, one would still make such decisions.

After all, living beings have other stimuli besides the rational side.

As such, Minos' actions could only increase the chances of something happening without guaranteeing that the best results for him would be obtained as consequences.

But as Ruth had said, this young man had been lucky enough that things had worked out better than they had planned!

Previously, Minos wanted the Snows to do something against the Chambers family because that could benefit House Hayes. This organization he needed on his side, and not in a war that didn't matter so much to the Black Plain.

But he had never imagined that House Snow would go so far as to murder the patriarch of that family so brutally!

In any case, he was more than happy to find out about it, since the benefits brought by the consequences of such an event would be more significant than he had expected.

He then placed that paper on top of Abby's desk and said. "I must admit that I underestimated the audacity of this crown prince of the Snow Kingdom."

"I never imagined he had such a decisive personality to do something of that gravity."

Ruth nodded in agreement and added. "It's no different for King Snow. For him to have allowed such a thing is awe-inspiring!"

"I wonder if they have something in mind?"

"Probably..." Minos said as his eyes sparkled at the thought of a specific possibility. 'Dean was at least a few months at the Snow family's mercy...'

'They definitely interrogated him!'

He then commented to his girlfriend, the only person in that place with him at the moment. "Maybe they have the information about the Scourges of the Devil we're looking for."

"Oh?"

"Do you intend to contact them?"

Ruth knew about some of what was going on in Dry City, the local army, as well as some of her boyfriend's wishes. Hence, she was not ignorant about the Hayes family's unsuccessful pursuits.

After the Persephone Tragedy, the Hayes had been pursuing the remnants of the Chambers family, intending to eliminate the nobles of that organization and gather information about the Scourges of the Devil.

But even though they had already caught up with many of those individuals who had fled previously, nothing very relevant had been discovered.

Even the attacks on some of the Scourge of the Devil outposts around this region had not made any significant discoveries.

At most, they had found out about other outposts of that organization, as well as the identity of some of the killers.

But none of this had helped young Stuart so far.

And knowing that, Ruth couldn't help but wonder about that!

"Maybe, but not now," Minos replied after thinking for a moment. "Let's see how the Cromwell family will react to Dean Chambers' death."

"If they do face each other, it will be best for us to let them weaken before we try to get involved with the Snows."

"On the other hand, soon the Counter-Revolutionary Statute is expected to be summoned... So, we'd better leave that for later."

"Oh? You're not in a hurry?"

"No."

"Having the location of this enemy now would be nice. But since I won't be able to do anything about it in the short term, leaving it to go after it further down the road won't be problematic."

"After all, if the Snows have that information, even if they go to war with the Cromwells, it's unlikely that everyone who knows about it will perish."

"That's why I'm not worried about communicating with them at the moment."

"The most important thing for me at the moment is the start of the war against the Brown Kingdom!" He said as he made his priority clear to the black-haired woman in front of him.

Upon hearing this, Ruth laughed proudly, feeling good that her boyfriend didn't rush at such a possibility. "You are a good leader, Minos."

"I'm sure many sovereigns in your situation would run to get such information and try to initiate their individual vengeance..."

Minos then smiled funnily, raised his shoulders, and gestured with his arms. "You know me. I do what I can..."

"You truly are an asshole, Minos!" She jokingly commented as she threw a little paper ball in the direction of his face for the lack of humility in his comment.

After a few laughs, the two became more serious as they discussed what had been reported in the other publication.

"What do you think about this story? Do you think it is very detrimental to the independence of the Black Plain?" Ruth asked as she pointed to that newspaper on the table.

"Well, at the very least, it doesn't help us much..."

"It will probably make it easier for King Brown to call for the Counter-Revolutionary Statute. Which is not good for us."

"On the other hand, now the whole region knows that there is something big going on in this kingdom. And that attraction might not be good for us..." He said, trying to understand the reaction of the outside powers of this state.

Initially, Minos did not want to draw too much attention from the outside powers before his enemy summoned the Counter-Revolutionary Statute. After all, he would rather be underestimated, be treated as a fanatic rather than the leader of a force capable of causing so much damage to a royal family.

So, already being treated as a real threat before his rebellion became known to the region was not good for him.

"But at the end of the day, it wouldn't make that much difference either..."

"Since we tried to make the Browns worry about why Collins family ships had attacked them, that information would still leak out in a few days."

This action in question had been designed to make the enemies of the Black Plain waste time with each other.

That is, the Brown family could not ignore the potential represented by the presence of those Collins family warships in that attack.

That could indicate much bigger problems than just an internal rebellion!

With that said, it was virtually sure that this action would cause that organization to waste some time discovering that the Collins family had not acted against them.

But this was not only beneficial!

By using this option, Minos knew the Collins would find out sooner than expected about the origin of the organization that had caused them so much loss. And with that, information about the rebellion in the Brown Kingdom would be spread throughout the region in no time, even if that periodical had not taken advantage of the opportunity.

In any case, this sovereign knew how to adapt to the circumstances and was already planning ways to adapt his plans.

Minos thought for a while and then said. "But since things are speeding up, we might as well take advantage of this to improve our image..."

"What do you mean?"

"Since the enemies already know that there is a problem in the kingdom and the Brown family is acting to use the Counter-Revolutionary Statute, let's use that to our advantage."

"Let's show the region what we propose, our side of the story in an exhibition of power!"