Twenty-six years ago, due to the constant requests from the people of Dry City, the then regent of the Black Plain had invited a regional specialist to study that region once again.
Such a demand from the population was not unusual. That's because some citizens always hoped that things would change for the better one day. After all, the world was vast, and natural phenomena could change a region in a few decades.
So, hope still existed.
Because of this, from the point in history furthest from the present that the large regional families were aware of, the Dry City citizens already make these kinds of demands.
That was something that didn't happen with each generation, as children or even grandchildren would see their ancestors talking about having heard from the mouths of experts that such a place had no future.
But over time, as several generations passed, there always came a time when some people could not accept this without a new attempt.
The story they had heard had been told by someone who had heard such a thing from other people, and so on until it reached the one who actually had the opportunity to listen to this truth from an expert.
So, people from that region sought new information from time to time.
Such a thing had happened a few hundred times in the last 200,000 years of history, with the investigations always reaching the same conclusion.
The latest attempt was 26 years ago.
And only because of this did King Brown know that until that time, the terrain of the Black Plain had not yet recovered.
The person who had gone to analyze the Black Plain at that time was no better than his predecessors. On the contrary, he was much more ordinary than his predecessors were. Therefore, he had discovered nothing new in that region.
In other words, 26 years ago, the soil of the Black Plain remained as poor as it had been for the last hundreds of thousands of years.
But after this latest investigation, the royal family had no news about attempts to solve the problem in that part of the Brown Kingdom. So, they could not be sure that Minos had had anything to do with it!
And that made sense. After all, knowing how to use the opportunity of a partially recovered Black Plain was not so impressive as to make these experts think that Minos had solved that region's problem.
Besides, since he was just a young man fighting between life and death until recently, it was tough to imagine him as responsible for that.
"Anyway, even if he is unrelated to this, it is undeniable that he is the closest one for any questions we might have regarding that place."
"After all, he wouldn't try to ask for independence without having some assurances." King Brown said as he sipped the contents of his cup.
"Indeed... Speaking of which, he must have taken quite a bit of advantage of the opportunities in that place in those little over five years he's been there, or he wouldn't have asked for independence now." The supreme elder commented as he remembered that detail.
Upon hearing this, the three Spiritual Kings at level 57 frowned as they realized that such a young man had probably evaded millions of crystals in taxes.
"What a clever brat! He stayed put while taking advantage of the opportunity to gather resources!"
"If other problems are not pressuring him, then he must have realized that his earnings were enough for him to start sharing with us."
"If that is the case, how will we deal with him? Regardless of whether or not this was rushed, it is a fact that he took the initiative to ask for independence and then agree to negotiate."
"In other words, this boy seems to be doing things the way he wants..." This level 57 individual then looked at the supreme elder and King Brown and said. "He won't be easy to deal with!"
The supreme elder then nodded in agreement. "Indeed, he seems to have his plans to get the best for himself. But that doesn't matter. Now that we know about that place, one way or another, the family will benefit from this more than anyone else."
The king then said. "The supreme elder is right. And as for this question of what he has gained these past years, we can't do anything about it. The Black Plain had no obligation to pay taxes, so we can't use that as a justification to try to collect the kingdom's share."
"But it doesn't matter. It was less than six years, so he probably didn't get enough funds to the point of attracting our attention..."
"That way, there's no point in us dirtying our image because of it."
"What matters is what we will be able to gain in the long run from that place!"
Upon hearing this, those three individuals soon understood what Thomas meant.
The royal family would remain the sovereign of the Brown Kingdom, and no one could threaten them. In fact, throughout the northern region of the Central Continent, for the past 200,000 years, the same families had run each of the local states.
And since rebels always failed, it would be most expected that the Black Plain would remain part of the kingdom for much longer.
With that, the taxes that the Brown family could earn from the Black Plain over millennia would be infinitely more significant than what Minos made in that less than six years...
"I see..."
...
Meanwhile, a few days had passed since Elena's return to Dry City.
Hence, this woman had done what she could do in that city in the days that had passed, as well as taking the opportunity to train in the Spatial Kingdom with the Elite Squad soldiers and the Spiritual Kings who were there.
After doing her poison treatment with Regina, this native of Stone Island took no time to say goodbye to Minos and the Spatial Kingdom group, heading straight to the City of Waters.
As scheduled, she had already replaced Eda in command of the secret army post in that city, which was responsible for monitoring movements coming from the Cromwell Kingdom.
Then, Eda returned to the Dry City to finally have some time off with Dillian... And, of course, train in the Spatial Kingdom.
But not only that, after years of not seeing her former superiors in the Miller family, this woman had found them in Dry City, now in a very different position.
Previously, she was only a level 48 Spiritual General who was Abby's bodyguard. But now, she was a Lieutenant of the Black Plain Army, who was already at level 52!
With that, her status could already be considered higher than that of some nobles in the Miller family, as in the case of Abby's mother, Nicole, who was only at level 50.
But no one was dissatisfied with this. Quite the contrary, with Eda being part of Minos' army and the House Miller, this family had one more person with connections to this organization based in Dry City.
On the other hand, Eda had become much more substantial than before and could now play a more active role in protecting the Miller family in the future.
Therefore, those nobles of the Miller family who were living in Dry City at the moment couldn't help but be pleased to see this woman again!
Anyway, everything was developing smoothly in these last few days, in which the city was functioning pretty much as it had in the past before Ralf and Railan had come here.
But times like this never lasted for long, and as such, gray clouds were approaching Dry City!
