After several months of work, a group of soldiers sent by Minos to capture regional pirates had finally succeeded in their hunt!
During the period since Minos' order, several pirates had fallen to the Black Plain forces around the regional seas. However, most of them had no relation to the Blood Triangle Pirates, as was the case with the targets of that order.
However, with months of work and constant growth of the Black Plain forces, one of the groups sent by Minos had finally gotten their hands on people with information!
In fact, this group had just completed this mission and were stopping to rest in the city under the control of the Miller family before returning to the sea to head for the New Maritime City.
So, as soon as this group disembarked from their warship, six people followed the well-built pier in that area.
There, these people could see a harbor with eight ships with the Miller family symbols and another three with the Black Plain symbol. But, on the other hand, besides that port that appears to have a lot of quality, anyone there could see the city in that area's background.
The local port was about 5 kilometers north of the city, a place with beautiful beaches with many coconut palms along the waterfront. There, an urban area extended over a few square kilometers in a locality that was not much larger than a village.
However, despite the small size, this place exhibited a similar quality to the cities already built by the government of the Black Plain, with streets paved in hexagonal blocks, well-signed and tree-lined.
At the same time, the buildings also followed some standards of the Black Plain. But they had a design that was more in keeping with the coast, which already made this place unique compared to other coastal cities in the region.
That had not been an achievement of the Miller family, who had perhaps adapted what their members had already seen in Dry City. No, this place followed the designs handed down by Minos to this family, something similar to what he had given to his other allies or subordinates.
Minos wanted to build a state with striking cities capable of generating a tourist attraction within that region. So, using his previously inherited knowledge, he replicated every kind of practical design to construct his cities.
That's why this place looked so different, making each newly arrived individuals look at the surroundings with a sparkle in their eyes, already looking forward to the future.
...
Upon arriving in that small city, the group led by Dumas, level 51, was soon passing by the main avenue, which had two lanes separated by a line of trees. These two separate areas were extensive, with enough room for up to six carriages to circulate simultaneously.
Anyway, while walking along there, these people were looking at the buildings in the area that did not exceed five stories in height, the limit allowed for this place.
On the other hand, even though the place was of high quality, they encountered a lot of dust in some spots now and then. But there was nothing to be done about it. After all, this area was also developing like the other places on the Black Plain.
The Miller family did not have as many funds as the Black Plain, but still, they could develop this place to a much higher level than it is now. As such, since they were already expecting many migrants soon, this place was being developed with much effort on the part of Abby's family.
Noticing this, those individuals soon entered the local government building, where the Miller patriarch was.
Not all of the Miller family were in this place. In fact, more than two-thirds of that organization was scattered around this state, with many of them in Dry City to protect the capital.
But many influential members of the future queen's family were already there, among them the patriarch and several other Spiritual Kings.
...
"Lieutenant Dumas, I heard you wanted to talk to me?" Patriarch Miller, level 58, asked the middle-aged man in front of him, inside the luxurious office overlooking one of the local beaches.
"Hmm."
"My group has completed a mission passed down by His Grace, so I want to send that information to Dry City as soon as possible."
"Can you help me with that? We lost our crows during a recent storm."
"Oh? That's it? Haha, leave it to me. I'll send a crow to Dry City notifying them of your accomplishments."
After smiling and saying that, that expert then asked. "By the way, how is the situation with the pirates in this area? We have fought repeatedly against groups of them, but unfortunately, the wretched ones can hide better than cockroaches."
"Hmm. There are many pirate groups in this region, and some of them have headquarters on islands."
"Also, because not all of them know that this area formerly dominated by outlaws is now under our control, many still come here ignorantly."
"But patriarch Miller, don't worry, this place is already starting to gain a reputation among outlaws. So, it shouldn't be long before they give up coming here."
"I see..."
"As for their numbers, I'm afraid it's impossible to estimate them for sure or even to eliminate them completely."
"At least for the moment..."
The eyes of that blue and white-haired man shone with that comment as the Black Plain grew by leaps and bounds. Because of that, even something impossible in the present might not be in a few years.
"Well, let's continue with the previous arrangements then..."
...
While the group of Black Plain soldiers was resting in the city ruled by the Miller family, the other cities in this territory also organized themselves through the actions of subordinates and allies.
The abandoned Yellow City had already undergone a complete renovation in the area formerly part of the Kingdom of the Waves. As a result, it no longer looked like the place Minos had met Emlyn almost ten years ago.
In that city was one of the Black Plain Army camps, where thousands of migrants passed through every day, most going deeper into this state but dozens of them staying there.
And besides the expansions that such a place was also experiencing, unlike the Miller family city, in Yellow City, there were workers building parts of a road to Dry City.
Traveling through the northern part of the Central Continent was extremely dangerous for ordinary people, not only because of the presence of wild beasts in certain areas but primarily because of the human actions in others.
Minos had experienced this more than once in his travels through the region, so he had already put the development of safe roads into his plans.
Therefore, the cities closest to Dry City, such as Yellow City, New Maritime City, and the City of Waters, were already building such routes.
That was a way to cheapen travel within the state, improve safety, decrease travel time, and even improve the efficiency of the means of transportation. After all, items and people were usually transported by carriages, things that could be damaged!
All added costs to travel, which a road could solve very practically.
Thus, tens of kilometers of roads were already being made daily in that state, gradually improving the quality of travel for migrants and citizens of the Black Plain!
That could be seen most significantly in the City of Waters. This place had advanced the most in Minos' developmental projects.
But this was not for nothing. After all, such a city was one of the least affected by the war for many months, where two noble families formerly part of the Cromwell Kingdom had come together to lead the place.
With the establishment of the Black Plain as a state, the Hayes family had left this place to rule another area of the Cromwell Kingdom territory annexed to the state of Minos. Still, even so, the effects of their joint actions with the Stokes family had remained.
Because of this and the fact that this place already had well over 100,000 inhabitants even before the current migrations, the City of Waters had already finished its part of the construction of the road to Dry City. At the same time, the renovation work in this urban area was also nearing completion.
With this, only the Black Plain cities that were previously part of the Brown Kingdom were left to follow Minos' development projects.
...
