Upon hearing Lulu, Minos quickly thanked her for her words and greeted her.
This woman had grown stronger in recent years, having reached level 66, still being stronger than him in terms of level, but with a smaller difference than before.
Lulu noticed this immediately as she stood face to face with Minos, sensing how abundant this level 65 young man's strength was.
"What do you want here? Some situation in your state? Any business?" Minos asked, but he figured Lulu was there to talk to him about the same subject as the Assembly of Vogel's envoy.
"Sort of..." She said. "My mother is very curious about the formation of the Black Plain Empire."
"Is that so?" He smiled. "What do you want to know? Or rather, what are your questions?"
The envoy of the Vogel Assembly turned his attention to Minos and thanked Lulu for arriving to help him quickly resolve this matter.
The women around Sarah continued to watch this baby. Still, they began to pay attention to the conversation between Minos and Lulu, who were a few meters away from them.
They had all heard that the Black Plain was taking steps towards forming an empire in the northern part of the Central Continent, so everyone there was curious.
That was especially true for Isabella, the heiress of the Flaming Empire, who was already aware of the agreements between Minos and her father.
Lulu then said. "We want to know the reason for this now and if it will affect our interests. We are already in a complicated situation, so you going out to make trouble may create hindrances to solving our problem."
The problem for Iris was not him dominating kingdoms in the northern region and threatening Albano. She did not see it that way. What bothered her was that King Stuart was the only one capable of dialoguing with the Empire and negotiating a non-aggression agreement. But if he was busy fighting a war...
This was the problem!
That was why Iris had sent Lulu to talk to Minos while that man from Vogel was there to ascertain the ambitions of King Stuart.
Minos understood what Lulu wanted to know and said. "Well, the Brown and Cromwell kingdoms have been having some problems for years. That is hindering our plans for the northern region. At the same time, we currently have a good position, so we decided that the best solution to the problem is this strategy we're adopting."
"So it's to solve the problems of those states?" Lulu opened her eyes in surprise, feeling that Minos was being a scoundrel for using a lame excuse.
How could he justify invading two states with an 'I am helping them'?
This was ridiculous!
He was obviously doing it for his own interests!
Minos said with a straight face. "Of course. I've always called for regional harmony and work for local progress. So I won't let these states barbarize each other forever."
The people there looked at him strangely, but nobody said anything.
Minos then continued. "But don't worry, this won't create any problems for the Black Plain. The strongest organizations in the two states have already agreed to our terms and are cooperating to form the Empire."
Abby then said with a smile on her face. "We have even received requests from other states in the region for them to join us as Black Plain territories."
"What? States are offering themselves to you?" The envoy of Vogel questioned in incomprehension, not understanding how these powers could choose the path of dependence.
Usually, powers desired more independence and moved toward forming alliances. So it was surprising to that old expert that some royal family offered themselves to do this that Abby had said.
Ruth affirmed her harem sister's line. "Yes, the Stone Island royal family has already made themselves available to us. This organization wants to become the first island under the Black Plain's command."
The Stone family was quick in its decisions, having already enjoyed the advantages of being an ally of Minos for too many years to hesitate at this decisive moment.
But for the moment, Minos would not extend his actions to other states so he not commit the sin of gluttony and lose control over his state.
His government had already sent communications to the organizations that had contacted him to make it clear that there would be no additions for the time being.
Abby and Ruth's lines impressed the people in that royal hall. Most of them did not pay enough attention to the rest of the northern region to realize that such a thing was not so strange.
They usually only looked at Minos and the Black Plain, so they put themselves in this situation of being surprised by the obvious.
"Anyway," Minos said. "The formation of my empire will not be a problem. It will not hinder me at all. My wives will handle everything, and the royal families of the two states are already cooperating."
"They won't fight or do anything dangerous."
"So that's how it is..." Lulu sighed in satisfaction upon hearing Minos' explanation. She found it quite impressive that he could already do something like this, considering that he was fighting a war of independence only a few years ago.
Since her family's only questions had been answered, she put the matter aside to watch little Sarah.
But then, Vogel's envoy asked. "Your Grace, what will be Vogel's situation in your empire? How will the Spiritual Church handle this matter?"
Minos looked at Gloria and indicated for her to answer this man.
"From the Church's point of view, it doesn't matter if the Assembly of Vogel is the one who rules this state. Minos is the sovereign, and with the formation of an empire, the territory of Vogel will be part of it just like the Brown Kingdom, for example." She said as she looked thoughtfully at that person.
That man did not like to hear that and questioned Minos. "But that was not our agreement. Our agreement is only for 20 years!"
"Hmm." Minos nodded. "When it is the time of that, if you decide to remove me from the throne, we will change the situation with the Church, and there will be no problems. But until then, Vogel will be part of the empire."
That man realized Minos' little game, but since this, in fact, did not go against the rules of this young man's contracts with the leaders of that state, he could not do much about it.
But then he remembered something crucial and laughed, noticing that Minos had overlooked an important factor. "Your Grace, I hope you will change your mind. After all, if that doesn't happen, wouldn't this move of yours take your territory out of the northern region?"
"Will there still be any reason for the Spiritual Church to prevent outside powers above the 7th stage from interfering in the region? I fear Spiritual Saints will be looking here with covetous eyes before long..." He jokingly said, wondering how foolish it would be to go ahead with something that would take away all protections from this place.
...
