After the previous incident, everyone who had heeded Minos' call to surrender realized he was not joking when he said he would wipe out an entire family.
Not only had those people witnessed the death of the Windrow family patriarch on that occasion, but dozens of hours later, they received news about the end of such an organization.
Everything had been swift, and in less than 24 hours, Minos' orders had reached the group on the outskirts of that family's headquarters, which carried out its duties quickly and efficiently.
In the end, only a day and a few hours after their arrival in Dry City, another organization from the Brown Kingdom had disappeared because of Minos' decisions.
After knowing this, the few hopefuls had finally given up their last chances of survival and now only had in mind to save what little they had left.
Some of that group were people who would die for the good of their organizations if they had to and were the least shocked by the current situation. But others did not have such a great sense of belonging and could not stop mourning the tragedy they had become involved in.
Minos was a terrible enemy. That was undeniable. But at the end of the day, everyone reaps what they plant, and whether this was just or not does not matter.
Every act has consequences, but not everyone is interested in them. People would look at the pretty side of things at every moment, sometimes ignoring the dangerous risks involved.
These people had flirted with death, killed countless lives in the Black Plain's war of independence, and sought victory at all costs, not caring about the losses.
Well, they had done what they wanted and then lost.
Now it was time for the charge of their bloodstained debts!
They did not want to face reality, but the promissory note of death signed when they decided to march into the Black Plain could not be ignored!
Now they could only mourn for the little time they had left!
...
Three weeks later...
After the Windrow family's demise, each group of noble families and the Brown Kingdom's royalty had done as Minos ordered. They summoned their Spiritual Kings and the most critical Spiritual Generals to Dry City.
Then, young Stuart and the strongest Spiritual Generals of those organizations signed Soul Contracts to seal their subordination agreements to Black Plain and him.
Such a thing had taken a few days to complete due to the large number of Soul Contracts that had been signed to ensure the best relationship between the parties in the future.
But by the end of the second week since Lovell's death, Minos had finally formalized the end of the war against the Brown Kingdom and secured the necessary agreements for their independence and border reshaping.
With that, two days after the acceptance of the surrender of the Brown Kingdom forces, of the 100 or so surviving Spiritual Kings of that state's war, only two were left alive to tell the story!
The future king, Raynard, and his mother, the queen.
Apart from them, all had been eliminated without exception, even the three other widows of Thomas Brown who had previously been at the 6th stage.
Anyway, on that fateful day, the sacrifices of those families were accepted by the Dry City government in a ceremony without many spectators or torture.
Everything had been done clean, without commotions, torture, or humiliation. Everything had been done transparently, with even members of those organizations participating in the final moment of their experts.
As promised, they departed this world without pain, having been carried away by a painless toxin created by the Black Plain Army's poison master, Regina Garza, level 59.
In this way, those nearly 100 people had died in Dry City and then been taken back to their respective families, something Minos did not mind accepting.
With this, the sovereign's affairs with these people had ended, and soon each of them began to follow up on the obligations relating to the contracts signed during this period.
Some were already withdrawing troops and branches of their families in the Brown Kingdom area ceded to the Black Plain. Others were preparing to bring the kingdom back to order.
The war had incredibly unbalanced the peaceful order of every state in the region, and it was no different for the Brown Kingdom. But since Minos wanted a functional region, all those powers now subordinate to him would have to take care of their kingdoms' problems.
Consequently, those organizations, among them the Brown family, had a lot to do ahead of them, and right now, their leaders had already returned to their territories to lead their organizations!
...
Finally, three weeks after the destruction of the Windrow family, the entire region found out about Minos' latest exploits and the end of the war of independence against the Brown Kingdom.
When the periodicals reported that nearly all of the Brown Kingdom's Spiritual Kings had been eliminated, even the region's most seasoned inhabitants were shocked.
Nothing of the sort had ever happened in this part of the Central Continent!
Consequently, many feared their positions, while others were relieved to have gotten out of the war in time.
Among the latter, each of the leaders of the three royal families visited by Minos, except for Jade, had spent sleepless nights, sweating cold from how close they had come to their own end.
With such a massacre in the Brown Kingdom, what could have happened in the region if they had not subordinated themselves to Minos before the end of the war?
They could only imagine the worst possible things, and thank heavens they had made it this far alive!
So, those families were already operating more efficiently than ever, while House Carline had already sent the people who were to suffer the punishments of the Black Plain.
King Carline wanted to delay delivering those people to Minos a little longer. Still, after such news, those subjects were sent toward their destination without further delay.
In any case, they were more than satisfied that, unlike the Spiritual Kings of the Brown Kingdom, they would not have to lose their lives but only their cultivations.
Finally, the information on the motivation for so many deaths and the extermination of the Windrow family had come to the attention of the surviving leaders of the Cromwell Kingdom's powers.
That was the only state that had not yet accepted the reality and was unwilling to bow down while one of its Spiritual Emperors was still alive somewhere in this region.
This information had not been reported in the regional newspapers but in a threatening letter from Minos.
That letter basically said that what had happened to House Windrow could happen to the powers of that kingdom if they did not surrender to the Black Plain.
At the same time, to avoid being bothered by Minos in the future, such powers would still have to sacrifice 50% of their surviving Spiritual Kings.
And considering that young Stuart's troops were already in the main cities of that state, the terror of those families upon discovering their fate had been no small matter.
Several had already considered simply abandoning their homes and fleeing to the more isolated parts of the region, where they would have a chance of survival. But of those who had tried such a thing, all of them were quickly killed by Minos' men in that state.
Because of this, the tension among those in danger of dying increased with each passing day as they pressed their leaders to accept the end of the conflict and Minos' conditions.
Their fate would be harsh. Still, at least the kingdom would not lose all its Spiritual Kings as happened to the Brown Kingdom. But, on the other hand, no one wanted to test Minos' patience to see if he would continue destroying families.
In this way, the regional news quickly helped to change the moods of millions of people around this area, ending the period of greatest darkness over this part of the continent.
However, golden rays were slowly showing somewhere in the sky amidst the black clouds, marking the beginning of a new era!
