After hearing Minos' unparalleled suggestion, the Spiritual Saints in that area of the local Spiritual Church temple stopped for a moment to ponder the matter.
Minos had spoken some nonsense, but the idea of the Church taking over the state for a finite time was not bad. If this were to happen, they would have their advantages and could still stay out of trouble among the candidates for the new royal family.
Many there were 'friends' of the Vogel family, but they were only friends with their interests. Once they had a better chance with others, they would not feel bad about having to move!
As such, many there had already accepted that House Vogel had sentenced itself to destruction, and now they were thinking about what they could best do for their future.
'If we take over this state, we can manipulate some resources and taxes in our favor without anyone knowing...' Someone thought as he looked at the ground.
'It will be easy to take advantage. After all, we'll be able to justify that anything missing was the fault of House Vogel, who 'destroyed' their estate before it fell...'
'We will also be able to control the direction this state will take from the contest for the royal family seat...' A woman looked at the surrounding trees and imagined the bright future ahead of her. 'That will be my chance to leave this state!'
As for the part of the Black Plain, the people there understood that if Minos were an outer member of the Church and had the support of the Gray Clouds Sect, it would be possible for him to help this place. But they did not see how the newly established Stuart family could join the conflict and become the victor.
So they ignored that part of what Minos had talked about while they thought of alternatives to solve the problematic situation that this state would be in before long.
"Sigh..."
'We'll still have months, years to think about it. So, we don't need to find something now.' One of the strongest in this post thought, trying to put that aside for the moment to go and resolve the pending matter.
These Church Spiritual Saints did not think of the good of ordinary people out of pure altruism. No, it was in the interest of this organization that peace prevailed in its territories, so its members always sought to maintain a certain level of stability in their states.
Thus, there were several of them thinking about it, although others were considering their gains.
"Anyway, we have to act against the Vogel family now," Minos said to them as he felt the need to hurry.
"What? Do you want us to move? That is not our responsibility. That is the purview of the Iron Hearts groups..." One of them was saying, but Minos interrupted him.
"I'm not saying we should go and exterminate them now. But if we do nothing, when the group from headquarters arrives, there will be no more criminals to be punished." He seriously said. "Worse, maybe those outlaws will try to kill you before they escape!"
The people in that area frowned at this possibility, fearful of the worst happening but uncertain whether they should act even before the investigations.
"If you have doubts, let's just visit them. I bet many have already escaped, so this will be the final proof for you to accept reality." Minos said as he walked out of that area.
With that said, the white-haired woman, the leader of this post, sighed and gave her orders. "Gather all our post's Spiritual Emperors and Saints in the vicinity of the royal palace in the next 30 minutes."
"If I give my signal, everyone should act to put into custody as many people as possible in that place!" She said as she looked at the strongest people and waved her hands for them to follow her. "You will go with young Pyke and me."
"Yes, Matriarch!" Several of them shouted as they felt their hearts beating faster, given the excitement of starting something unique in the history of the Church.
...
Meanwhile, in the royal palace...
King Vogel had just returned from the site where Minos' black hole had terrorized the capital of his kingdom.
He was furious and went directly to his residence while being accompanied by his highest-level generals, each of them silent given the king's mood.
Unfortunately, upon arriving at that place, these people did not find the peace they would typically find there. Instead, several handmaidens were running around with things in their hands, while the queen's aura showed that there was something wrong going on.
Sensing this, those men accompanied King Vogel into the courtyard of that residence, where they soon found this woman holding a head in one of her hands.
Blood was dripping down that piece of a human body, which still had its eyes open but had an expression of utter terror that indicated that it had died by strangulation.
And, in fact, the queen's hand was in part strangled in the neck, which had been forcibly removed, not cut.
Blood could be seen on the queen's white dress, with traces spattered up to her face and on several plants nearby.
When they saw the headless body of one of Abe's bodyguards lying at the queen's feet, these people swallowed their saliva and felt that something was very wrong there.
"What?" The king exclaimed in surprise, shocked to see his dear wife with an expression of pure hatred on her angelic face, not understanding why she had done that.
Hearing her husband's voice, the queen turned to him and threw that head on the ground as if such a thing were worth no more than old rags. "Honey, Abe has done a great dumb thing, and now we are under the threat of extermination!"
"That ungrateful son betrayed us and conspired with powers of the Flaming Empire against the Black Plain, sending Spiritual Saints to that damned place!"
The men in front of her opened their eyes and mouths wide, unable to believe such a thing had happened.
The queen continued. "And not only did he and his minions fail in their actions, but they have also done something in our city because an investigative group had suspicion against them!"
Gulp!
"Don't tell me that..." King Vogel understood what this was about, remembering how aggressive Minos had been against him, and used all means to talk to the Church people first.
'If this is true, by now, the fucking Spiritual Church headquarters must have received notice of the suspicion against us...' Cold sweat began to drip down this man's back as he imagined the worst.
The queen answered her husband before he finished. "Yes, the person who sacrificed himself earlier was one of his men!"
"No, it can't be..."
"How dare His Highness?" Those men in the king's group muttered together as they felt their legs weakening.
Some of them were even at Abe's party. But few knew about the daring operations of the ambitious man who had risked so much...
As such, these people felt one of the worst feelings of their lives in this instant!
"Where is he?" The king asked as he clenched his fists tightly, speaking in a thick tone that he had never used in his life until this moment.
"He has already escaped!"
...
