Three days later.
Following King Brown's declaration of the Black Plain as a territory in rebellion against the kingdom, it wasn't long before all the families and prominent organizations in this state were informed.
There were 20 noble families in the Brown Kingdom and some smaller organizations, but with enough financial and military strength to have relevance to House Brown.
However, not all of these organizations had been notified of this. After all, the royal family had already been notified of the disappearance of the members of House Gill several days ago.
They did not know for sure where these individuals were since the soldiers of Minos had denied the presence of these people in their city. But even without being sure about this, they obviously couldn't help but be suspicious of the Black Plain, even more so after this incident that had happened days ago.
Hence, the Gill family had not been notified of this.
But it would make no difference. Whether they were in Dry City or elsewhere, House Brown no longer relied on this noble family for help.
So, with this exception, all the other local powers had learned of the audacity of the ruler of the Black Plain. A young man who had spit on the plate fed him and stabbed his superiors in the back.
With such boldness, many already secretly hated Minos, wishing for his death and the destruction of Dry City.
War could be an opportunity, and many people like the subordinates of the royal family loved times like this. But most cultivators preferred not to get involved in widespread conflicts in which the chances of dying were very high.
In times of war, one had to be careful with enemies and allied competitors.
Sometimes, it was difficult for some people to eliminate competitors in normal situations because of the dangers of being caught or blamed for it. And for the lack of opportunities, of course.
But in war, it was so common for people to be killed that the chance for someone to investigate each casualty thoroughly would be negligible. And with that, the battlefield could be the best place to settle old rivalries, hatred, retribution.
Apart from this, many other reasons would make most people, who prefer to develop in peace, fear times of war.
Because of all this, many already hated Minos, a bloodthirsty madman who, besides putting himself in danger, had dragged them into this mess!
...
In the Red Valley.
"Finally! Finally, we will avenge our losses!" One of the high-ranking elders of the sovereign family of this area shouted as he grinned from ear to ear.
At the same time, in that half-empty hall that he and a few other influential people from the Silva family were in, many sounds of happiness broke from the throats of these people.
After months of suffering constant losses, this noble house had received good news, the assurance that their problems would soon be solved.
Consequently, they would have the chance to unleash all their hatred on the people of Dry City, the damned individuals who had challenged them.
"Everybody, get ready for us to march into Dry City!" And then the patriarch Otis began to speak. "As soon as His Majesty gives his orders, we will join the groups that will attack that damned place."
"Finally!"
"Haha, we will finally be able to avenge our comrades!"
"Alleluia!"
"Death to the enemies!"
"Hehehe, now that the patriarch has reached level 58 and His Majesty is on our side, we will be unstoppable!" Someone said in a proud tone, feeling better and more confident after all their defeats.
Hearing this, the patriarch laughed in satisfaction and commented. "Rest assured, when the time comes, I will ask His Majesty to deal with that Minos Stuart brat myself."
"I will cut that bastard's head off myself!"
And so the conversations continued.
...
In another region of the Brown Kingdom...
In a part of this state where some medium-sized and many low-sized families were based, a meeting similar to the one taking place in the headquarters of the Silva family was also occurring here.
In fact, situations like this were happening all over the kingdom as soon as each of these organizations had gotten their hands on the notice sent by the Brown family.
Everyone had to make their preparations to help the kingdom if necessary and debate about this ruler of the Black Plain. After all, this whole matter concerning Minos' rebellion against the state had been somewhat unexpected for most of them.
Most local noble families were small organizations with similar membership numbers as the Black Plain Army, with much lower average power. Therefore, for these organizations that only dealt with their territory and tried not to get in the way of the more prominent families, they could get no information about the changes in that territory of Minos.
They even pay attention to significant issues and opportunities near them. Still, the Black Plain was a place with hundreds of thousands of years of poverty!
Consequently, none of these low-sized powers had noticed the changes in the Black Plain. Thus, they had been taken by surprise by this rebellion.
As for the mid-sized families, some of them had more information. Some of them knew about the losses of the Silva family and the increased tensions in the kingdom. But even they had no idea that the culprit of it all was the government behind the modest Dry City.
So, the most important members of these organizations had a lot to talk about, as in the case of this gathering that was taking place right now in a large city in the central region of the kingdom.
"It seems that the son of the late General Albert is completely insane!" Someone said amid a room full of Spiritual Kings.
"Damn you, Minos Stuart!"
"Forcing us to fight for what reasons? For the Black Plain? He's a madman!"
"Maybe there's more behind all this, Bob."
"Don't get ahead of yourself!"
"Tsk!"
"Anyway, that brat's bloodlust will force us to fight when we were doing so well!"
"Who knows what might happen from now on..." One person said while feeling a profound loss deep inside of his being.
House Austin was growing with each passing year.
The leaders of this organization were already preparing to pass the Gill family, their rivals, in the coming decades.
But when things were going so well for them, such news had reached the headquarters of this family.
It was a disgrace for them!
They didn't know what could be in the Black Plain for someone to be willing to fight for that place. But in any case, they were doing very well with just their business.
But now, with a war that could erupt at any moment in the kingdom, their peaceful development had been thrown into the mud.
Yes, they might have opportunities battling against the Black Plain.
But this was a gamble!
They didn't want to let go of the bird that was already in their hands just to take their chances with others that were flying around.
Who knows, maybe the damned Gills would take this opportunity to shoot them down?
That would be terrible!
As such, each of the 15 Spiritual Kings in that family already hated Minos with every fiber of their bodies.
"Calm down, guys. Maybe the Stuart boy will surrender when he feels the pressure of His Majesty's hand!"
"So, don't be hasty. We can still get away with this unharmed." A white-haired old man commented as he recalled this information.
They knew nothing of Minos, but wanting to fight an entire kingdom was madness. As such, this person thought that perhaps that young ruler of the Black Plain would quiver when he understood the mistake he had made.
"Maybe..."
"Yes, few idiots have insisted on wishes like that in our history..."
"Let's hope so, or we may lose the opportunity to continue developing ourselves in silence..."
"By the way, I heard that the members of the Gill family are disappeared. I wonder if they fled the war?"
"Haha, I don't doubt it!"
"I heard that they made the big blunder of provoking the Silvas. So, it's only natural that they are hiding somewhere."
"Or maybe they are preparing for something bigger. Don't underestimate the damn Gills!"
"They're idiots most of the time, but they wouldn't continue to exist for so many centuries if they weren't minimally competent!"
"Hmm, the supreme elder is right, people. Let's be careful with their actions since they may very well be on the Black Plain waiting for their big chance." Patriarch Austin said as he commented on this possibility.
He did not know precisely how the Gill family had provoked the Silva family or the Brown family's suspicions of this noble house being at the Black Plain.
That was because the Silvas had only talked about that incident on the Black Plain with a few organizations. And the other reason was that the king had only informed his vassals about the Black Plain rebellion over the kingdom and not his suspicion regarding the Gill family.
But even without this information, this patriarch couldn't help but worry about these rivals being in that place!
