After hearing Minos' question, Eliot continued watching him for some time as he saw the three youths leaving that fighting stage.
At the same time, while Abby's father was open-mouthed looking at Minos, Nicole said, looking steadily at that young man. "Yes... But how did you get this? How could your strength be so great?"
"Hehe, that's a secret." Minos said as he smiled.
Seeing that this young man wouldn't go into detail regarding this, Nicole put this young man's strength aside for a moment. She questioned one other thing that had appeared in her mind right after she saw Minos' performance. "By the way, does the Black Plain have more Spiritual Kings? Are you the strongest there?"
"I know you must keep some information regarding this matter, but we truly need to get an idea of the strength we are dealing with."
"Eliot and I wouldn't worry about it if it were up to just us. But unfortunately, neither of us has reached the level where it would give us such influence in the family..."
Minos then nodded to Nicole. "I understand..."
"Well, it depends on what you are talking about. Because we have people capable of fighting Spiritual Kings but who have not yet reached that stage. On the other hand, we have some cultivators who are already at the 6th stage. And two of them are stronger than me."
What Minos had just said was partially true. That was because, in fact, there was one being stronger than him in the Black Plain Army, and that was none other than the Nine-tailed Fox, Emlyn.
Minos had lost his last fight to this fox a few weeks ago when they had had another duel. And as much as it was a victory due to a slight difference, it still put that fox on a slightly higher level than Minos.
On the other hand, Emlyn was very close to reaching level 54. Thus, her strength could still increase one more time before Minos' advance to the 6th stage of cultivation, thus making her the strongest in the army.
But there was one more variable, and that was Celeste.
This woman was currently no stronger than Minos since she had not learned all the Silver-grade techniques that she could. However, that was only a matter of a few more weeks, and she wouldn't even need to level up to be considered stronger than this ruler of the Black Plain.
Hence, he had included this woman among the people stronger than him in his organization.
That would be not easy to be discovered by the Miller family, as in a short time, it would indeed be something true. Besides, it was very positive to show this family that he was not utterly defenseless in Dry City...
"So you guys have more Spiritual Kings, huh..." Eliot commented in a low voice while feeling quite ignorant at the moment.
It was tough to have to deal with such a shocking change in his homeland... After all, this man was already a few centuries old, and to him, the Black Plain was nothing more than a place without possibilities.
Yet, now he had discovered that all that had changed and mysteriously that place now had opportunities and even a lot of experts!
The group then left that training room and returned to the place where they had been before.
On the way, Abby's parents were actively thinking about this subject as they tried to understand the new Black Plain better.
Neither of them had asked more specific questions than those from before since this would probably not be answered. But just from Minos' answer, they already had several hypotheses in mind.
'From what young Minos said, that organization of his has to have at least 4 Spiritual Kings. However, if we consider those who have just strength similar to 6th stage cultivators, then that number is at least 7.' Eliot thought to himself.
'But they can either have seven people with that force or have 100!'
'We can't be sure how strong his side is...' He shook his head from side to side as he realized that these numbers were probably not that important to him. After all, the margin of error was substantial!
'But we can say with certainty that their combat power must reach at least level 56. Or young Minos wouldn't say that there are people stronger than him in his organization.'
Eliot thought so because, for him, Minos' power was already close to that of a level 55 nobleman. Therefore, in his opinion, it would only make sense for this young man to say that there were people stronger than that if such individuals were close to level 56.
But this was all speculation. There was no way he could be sure that such individuals were not already stronger than this... Perhaps even as strong as the supreme elder of the Miller family, the strongest person of this power, someone who had already reached level 58!
On the other hand, there was no way he could be sure that Minos was telling the truth... But for the moment, he had no reason to doubt this young man, and it wouldn't make much sense either.
After all, the young Stuart had already achieved enough power for him to have a place at the table among the regional experts!
Consequently, Minos has room to negotiate with powers such as the Miller family.
So, this elder of the House Miller was not so concerned about the total veracity of what Minos had said.
Anyway, they returned to that room and sat down in the same seats as before, before finally getting back to talking about those matters that Minos wanted to deal with Abby's family.
"So, young Minos, what do you wish to negotiate with my family?" Eliot asked with an honest countenance on his face, looking steadily at his daughter's boyfriend.
Upon hearing this, young Stuart sighed for a second and then began to speak. "I want an agreement with the Miller family, which assures me that such an organization will not act against the Black Plains."
"Uh? And why would we act against you, young Minos?" Nicole asked while she had an expression of doubt on her face.
She didn't think about how her family could have problems with Minos. After all, the House Miller was a trading power, which sold its own items, the minority, and products from other organizations throughout the northern part of the Continent, the majority. As such, they would naturally not covet the stuff of those potential allies.
On the other hand, Nicole had no idea how rich the Black Plain was, nor Minos' rebellious thoughts...
First, even though it would take a lot of resources to have a force as good as the one Minos created, that didn't guarantee anything for this woman. That is, any organization could send its Spiritual Kings to the Black Plain, but even with that, such a place would not be considered rich...
Second, she didn't know that Minos wanted independence for that territory, nor that it would bring problems for him. That is, many knew that King Brown wouldn't mind seeing such a part of his kingdom become independent.
Hence, she really couldn't see the scenario where her Miller family could be considered a threat to young Minos' forces.
Minos then spoke again. "I intend to declare the independence of the Black Plain from the Brown Kingdom. But I have my reasons to believe that the royal family will find some excuse to refuse such a thing..."
"Consequently, I want to be prepared to protect myself. That is because I am afraid that they will claim me as a rebel and persecute me for setting an example..."
"On that account, I want that assurance that the Miller family will not attack me!" Minos said honestly.
There was no longer any justification in hiding this information that he wanted independence from this moment on. The Silva family should have already been notified of the Urban group's discovery. In this case, it would only be a matter of time before war would start.
But to reach a deal with the Miller family, Minos would need to tell them at least part of the truth. He would obviously not talk specifically about the wealth of his region, nor the numbers of his forces.
After all, this could end up hurting him more than helping.
But talking about independence was no longer a taboo for Minos' organization. So, there was no longer any need to hide that information.
"So, you want to have your own state..." Eliot and Nicole said simultaneously, surprised by what Minos had said.
....
