After Minos said his last sentence to Abby, the three individuals he had called entered that office, formally greeting them.
"Your Grace, Ma'am." The three said this, making some typical regional etiquette gestures.
Seeing that, Minos raised one of his hands, asking them not to continue. "Please, you don't have to do that when we are in private places."
"Hmmm." Abby nodded in agreement, feeling a little strange being called that way.
After realizing that all three were in agreement with this, Minos looked carefully at each of them, noting their levels. Barbara was still at level 51, Vivian at level 52, and Maxwell at level 50.
"Well, Maxwell, you have just advanced to the 6th stage. Congratulations!"
"But are you ready to fight?" He asked that young man before looking at Vivian and saying the following. "I will soon leave to take revenge on the Scourges of the Devil."
"Oh?"
"Finally!" Vivian said this in a determined tone, looking forward to the day she could take revenge on the person who had killed her bodyguard after she obtained the Spring of Life.
Such a person had managed to escape the sieges on the Chambers family, having gone into hiding with the regional assassins. And in possession of this knowledge, Vivian had long-awaited Minos' decision to leave for that organization's headquarters.
On the other hand, Maxwell was no less pleased than she was. He wanted to kill one of the assassins of that organization, so Minos' words sounded superb to him.
He then answered Minos' question. "When I had no Silver-grade technique, I was already willing to risk death to get revenge, so it won't be now that I will step back!"
"Hmm." Minos nodded at him without saying much more.
It was not this sovereign place to tell this person how to live his life, to want revenge so badly that he did not even care about his own life.
Of course, he cared about his soldiers and would not advise anyone to follow choices like his. But given Maxwell's determined look, any words of advice would be futile.
With that, Minos simply looked at Vivian and said. "Will you be taking anyone else with you? We will be leaving in a week, so you had better prepare everything necessary in that time."
"Only Grace will be coming with me." She commented about her girlfriend, a member of the Black Plain Army.
Minos saw no problem letting such a person join them since Grace was only at level 53, and the Black Plain would not miss her in such a period.
He then looked at Barbara and got straight to the point. "Barbara, you fought bravely in the war and managed to raise your strength tremendously."
"Thank you for your words, Your Grace."
"In any case, I have not forgotten your desires for revenge and have already taken care of your strongest enemies. That way, now it only remains for you to decide whether or not to act against them."
"If you wish to settle such a thing, I will give you as much time as you feel is necessary to carry out your revenge." He calmly said as if he were talking about something trivial.
After hearing that, Barbara clenched her hands in excitement, feeling it was finally time for her to act and solve her nightmares.
The war had taken up a lot of her time and kept her from part of her past. But traumatic events could be tough to forget, and even during the war, she remembered now and then how terrible her days of slavery had been.
In fact, these moments had already made her think she had survived the war with some peace of mind because of how much she had changed after her time as an enslaved person.
In any case, she would not forgive the people who had made her suffer so much, even if she had achieved better results due to these. Consequently, she wanted more than anything in this world to lay her hands on the wretched people that had tried to destroy her!
"I thank you for your kindness, Your Grace." She made a thankful stance, speaking with all the sincerity of her heart. "I promise to settle my past and return stronger to the Black Plain."
"After that, I will finally be able to give my all to Your Grace!"
"Hmmm." Minos liked that, while Abby at his side looked at him, not liking these not so well thought out words from Barbara.
'I'll let it go this time because Barbara has been someone long on our side, and Minos is not interested in his subordinates. But I will no longer allow women outside our circle to behave like that with him!' She made up her mind, already thinking about how to discipline the women in their forces.
As the future queen of the Black Plain, she needed to impose certain limits!
"Well, if you are okay with that, prepare for departure." He said to those two before looking into Barbara's eyes. "As for you, it's up to your judgment when to return to the Kingdom of the End. From now on, you can leave whenever you want."
"Yes, Your Grace!"
...
Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
In this period, as expected by the local administration, no problems coming from the Flaming Empire reached Dry City.
Because of this, local development continued smoothly in those days, and finally, the time had come for King Stuart's group to leave this territory for the Endless Snow Mountain Range.
Minos had already informed his subordinates in the Snow Kingdom of his departure, warning those who wanted to join him to meet him near that state border.
On the other hand, all preparations regarding local security had already been made. The strongest cultivators of the Black Plain were standing by in Dry City, prepared to fight for this place if need be.
With that, he and his group were saying goodbye to family members and people of great local importance.
"Lee, Alison, you are close to level 49, so I hope to meet you near the 6th stage when I return." Minos said this to the two in front of him, this couple who had even married during the period since the end of the war.
"All right, master!" The two said excitedly, looking forward to becoming Spiritual Kings, which had been a dream since they began their journeys into the cultivation world.
Minos then completed before releasing those two. "When you reach level 50, I will see how you two do ruling one of my cities."
"Okay!" The two felt extremely happy upon hearing that, thanking Minos for the opportunity before rushing back to Dry City.
Minos then looked at Dillian and said. "Perhaps an acquaintance of mine will arrive in Dry City during this period when I will be away..."
"Oh? You mean that storyteller?" Dillian's eyes widened as he remembered Minos' curious journey through the Kingdom of the End.
"Yes, if he has met up with the soldiers we sent, he should be here in no time. So receive him well and see if there is anything for us to improve his condition."
"Hmm, all right, I'll do that, Your Grace."
After that, Minos observed the surroundings and saw that Maxwell was already at Maida's back, along with Vivian and Grace, waiting for him. He then saw that Abby had said goodbye to her parents and Mona, already standing on top of a Feathered Serpent of the same level as Maida, level 56.
Minos had promised to take Kyla with him on his next trip. Still, due to the current circumstances, he had only placed that Nine-tailed Fox in the Spatial Kingdom along with his Elite Squad soldiers.
With that, when they had to stop to rest or cultivate, he would let her get to know a bit of that region. But it would not do for him to use her as a mount at the moment since she was still only at level 48.
As for Emlyn, given the importance of this level 57 spiritual beast to Dry City in the absence of Minos, she would not be able to travel with this group.
Minos sighed before finally saying to everyone there, "Well, when I return, I want to find a Black Plain at least twice as big as now!"
"Take good care of the migration, smartly allocate our crystals, and most importantly, don't hesitate against Spiritual Emperors!"
"Until next time!"
Then, the two flying beasts departed, quickly flying and disappearing over the horizon.
