The day after Minos and Oswald arrived...
Abby, Kendrick, and Sarah were dealing with a large number of relatives and people close to the imperial family wanting to meet the little prince and see the princess again.
Meanwhile, Ruth, Minos, and Gloria were working to solve local problems, updating themselves on the current situation on the Black Plain.
Currently, they have large reserves of crystals, agricultural production, and many allies on their side to manage and get the best out of every part. So as they returned to the core of their state after years away, they had a lot to worry about at this point.
Ruth was dealing with matters concerning the actions of the imperial government in the domains conquered by Minos after the absorption of Brown and Cromwell. At the same time, Gloria was dealing with Church affairs alongside her husband, who was leaving the core affairs of her state to one side for the moment.
The Black Plain core was coming along well, with the best possible results and forces. So the emperor was putting that aside to solve a more urgent problem.
...
At the headquarters of the Spiritual Church for the northern region, in the center of Dry City...
In this place built in previous years, concluding Minos and Gloria's plans for the Church's entry into their domain, Emperor Stuart and the leader of this post were in the meeting hall of this place.
There, where the most powerful members of the Church in the region were together with the two of them, they had telecommunication arrays connecting them with some of their faction members around the empire.
Three large screens showed Church members in Blackrock, Rosser, and Flaming Empire, new and old members of Gloria's faction.
"Well, I've called everyone to this meeting today because we'll have trouble soon." Minos said, sitting next to Gloria at the leading end of the table where they and the other seven individuals in that room were facing the screens of the communication arrays.
Of those seven individuals, all were Spiritual Saints, one of them being someone at level 78, the leader of the Church post for Vogel, who was also currently part of that faction.
Minos continued with his words, "Some Church factions are starting to keep an eye on our group due to our recent growth in numbers, but also the situation of the empire."
Where a faction was based was very important in determining the potential of that group. After all, the group would be limited by the possibilities of the state in which they operated.
Since the Black Plain had been developing continuously over the years and reached a relevant level on the continental scene, Gloria's faction was positively gaining from this.
It was becoming more attractive for Church members to join, especially young talents, as this was a developing group, where those who joined now could better enjoy the benefits in the future.
At the same time, due to the development of the Black Plain Empire, more people were attracted to join the Church locally and naturally became part of this faction.
With all this, Gloria's group had been drawing attention from other factions for a few years now and was now reaching the point where they could no longer be ignored as just a group with potential. Now they really had the weight to influence many things on the continent!
That might seem an exaggeration, considering that Gloria was only at level 76. But her faction dominated the territory of the Black Plain Empire, a place that could soon give birth to Spiritual Sages.
The territory of Minos showed no signs that it was getting close to a bottleneck or would not have influential experts on the continent in the future. The opposite of that, with the emergence of floating islands and the presence of Silver-talented people in the region, it was only a matter of time before high-level Spiritual Sages and even Demigods would emerge in the area.
The Church's top experts were already keeping an eye on this and wanted to lure Gloria to their side to have the future experts of this area in their core of influence!
Even other states were already beginning to look at the Black Plain differently, with some of them realizing there was no point in ignoring Minos.
Emperor Stuart's state had come to stay and would develop to a relevant level, not just stop below the 8th stage!
"Soon, we will be visited and pressed by various parties. So prepare yourselves for that." Minos said, looking at those men and women. "Even the group of one of the princes of the Evergreen Empire is already eyeing our faction."
"Of one of the princes?" The leading Patriarch of the Blackrock outpost asked in surprise, feeling this was a bit much.
They were members of a faction that didn't even have Spiritual Sages. But one of the heirs of a family with Spiritual Demigods in its ranks was watching them!
Everyone in that room, including the others on the long-range call, opened their eyes wider, unsure what to say.
"What exactly are we going to do?" One of the Spiritual Saints in that Church post in Dry City asked.
Gloria answered in her husband's place. "We will do the obvious. We will withstand any pressure, fight back against anyone who challenges us, and increase our base of influence.
They are stronger than us but don't reach all points on the continent. This will be our chance. To reach domains that they cannot covet."
Prince Calvert's faction was not the only one in the Spiritual Church. There was the group of the current Supreme Pontiff, who had his candidate for succession, and several other gatherings of like-minded individuals.
These factions were not only disputing the passage of power within the Church, disputing the most critical posts in the organization. They also disputed territories of influence, mines, techniques, artifacts, in short, everything that was to be disputed.
For example, the faction to which Gloria's father belonged 'owned' the area of the Flaming Empire and the enemy kingdoms of this state, Vogel, Blakcrock, Albano, and Rosser.
People from this group also oversaw the area of the northern region. However, Church members in posts in this region were not part of any faction, and the territory itself was not owned before Minos. Because of this, the Black Plain area was currently an uncontested, ownerless territory that could be used and fought over.
In practical terms, Gloria's faction owned the area, as it was the only one actively operating there. But in theory, this was invalid, as the Church itself had not decided this.
So while Calvert's group, for example, could not use the territory of the Flaming Empire casually without causing internal trouble, in most of the Black Plain, he could!
Besides the Black Plain, there were other areas without 'owners' within the Church's territory, which Gloria was referring to.
Minos said. "We will continue evolving the quality of the empire's core to ensure the faction's improvement. But we will also reach out to places without owners to further strengthen our influence network.
Prince Calvert may think we are easy to dominate, but he doesn't know us well enough.
The Black Plain is not for amateurs!"
