A few hours later...
After resolving his issues with the coachman who had been working for him and dealing with Athela's underworld people hired earlier, Minos had headed towards the central area of this city.
In such a place, he was on the rooftop of the city's leading hotel, from where he could observe the royal palace and the temple of the Spiritual Church.
Such a place had a privileged view and was also within a short enough distance for Minos to use his spiritual senses to scan the surroundings of those two places in question.
Minos knew that Gloria would not act against him without him directly attacking the church. But since it could be very problematic for him to settle his affairs in this city in her presence, he wanted to avoid her at all costs.
If he had to act against Charles in front of her, Gloria might feel forced to at least protect the royals, which would essentially be the end of Minos' mission.
Therefore, he was patiently waiting for this woman to come out from where she was so that he could be sure that she would not be around at the time of his attack.
Previously, he had paid someone to watch the royal palace and the church temple movements. Because of this, he knew that Gloria was staying at that church post and, at this moment, was in the Walker family palace.
Thus, he was standing next to a young man passed out on that rooftop, waiting for the moment when his recent traveling companion would leave that place and go to rest in the church building.
'I wonder if she will be shocked when she discovers my identity...' Minos thought about this as he yawned, enduring the monotony of watching those places.
Minos was sure that Gloria would discover his identity after today since the survivors would undoubtedly talk about his distinctive features.
And considering that he had advanced while at Gloria's side and received his new weapon from her, it would be hard for a woman to ignore so many coincidences.
Even the fact that he had not demonstrated his abilities in front of her would make her question his identity. As such, Minos already took it for sure that Gloria would discover his identity.
But from the point of view of the Black Plain, this would no longer be a bad thing. After all, after today, it would make no difference to it whether or not she knew about it.
So, he was relaxed about the matter.
'Will it increase her interest in me? Or will it be the complete opposite?'
'Well, it doesn't matter...'
'If it doesn't, then we just weren't predestined.' He thought about that as he finally saw the figure of the beautiful Gloria from afar.
"Oh?"
'Finally!' He celebrated while watching Gloria's route toward that church post.
He had stayed at that place for over 3 hours straight, so it was genuinely incredible for him to see that beautiful woman leaving such a place.
'I will wait for another 1 hour, and if she doesn't come out again, I will start my mission!' Then, he made up his mind, remembering the information that the fainted person next to him had told him.
From what that individual observed in the previous days, Gloria always spent all night in the church temple after dinner.
So, Minos now only had to confirm that she would not change her routine before he could act!
...
After a little over an hour, Minos was already heading towards the royal palace, feeling the cold of the night mixing with his cold killing intent.
But as he walked along the almost empty sidewalks of that part of the city, he slowly calmed his heart, preparing himself to act.
In Minos' view, he had two alternatives now.
One was to directly attack enemy headquarters, which was simpler to do, but which would attract the attention of the neighbors in that area...
The other was to infiltrate that place, which was more difficult but had the potential to keep his actions secret for longer.
And as expected of someone with young Stuart's personality, he had opted for the second alternative, going directly to the entrance of that palace, where royal guards were patrolling.
At that place, there were two checkpoints. The first was 'unprotected,' where any visitor would first pass to be allowed or not to enter the protected area.
This place was where the entrance guardhouse was, connected to the main avenue of that city.
As for the second post, this was the one protected by the medium-level grade-2 defensive array, which only allowed entry to those who had obtained authorization from the first post.
If such a visitor did not do anything dangerous, such as, for example, threatening the royal guards at that first post. If this happened, even if the enemy killed all the royal guards, the post protected by the barrier created through that array would prevent such a person from entering that area.
And knowing how that place worked, Minos peacefully made his way toward the guards at that first post, suppressing his intention to kill as much as possible.
"Hello, good evening, everyone." He said as he reached the side of a window while still wearing his mask.
After noticing the newcomer's cultivation level, the several guards there looked at Minos respectfully but without subservience.
One of them said. "Sir, official business can only be settled tomorrow after 8. So, please, don't insist."
Minos then laughed and spoke. "Friends, I know how your job here works, and I don't want to make anything difficult for anyone. But I have an urgent matter to take up with His Highness."
"His Highness?"
"As I said, you will have to wait until tomorrow..." The same guard from before was about to say something but stopped along the way as he remembered a particular thing.
"No, you will have to wait until the day after tomorrow since His Highness will spend tomorrow busy with His Majesty's funeral."
But Minos did not care about such excuses. Instead, he just looked from one side to the other as if trying to avoid being seen doing something he should not.
He then looked into that man's eyes and made a gesture with one of his hands, asking such a person to come to him.
As he followed the masked man's instruction, that guard heard Minos' whisper in one of his ears. "I am here to speak to His Highness about the location of Blake and those traitors..."
"You know what I'm talking about, right?"
Gulp!
That royal guard swallowed his saliva in fear, feeling that he should not have asked anything. Instead, he should have just allowed the damned masked man to pass!
But now... Now he was involved in the affairs of royalty!
Everyone knew that Charles wanted to kill Blake. After all, Wilfred was a cripple and would never be able to take power from Charles since the family itself would not support such a person. But the second prince, well, he could attempt a coup and succeed, eventually even getting the support of the family!
And considering that the royal family did not allow such actions publicly, that guard could not help but feel fearful about being erased just so that all loose ends could be tied up.
'Damn, I hope no one finds out about this!'
He then whispered to Minos. "Sir, can you keep this between us? I... I have a family to take care of..."
Minos smiled, satisfied upon hearing that fellow's nervous tone. "Well, that's up to you..."
"If I can report the information I have to His Highness as soon as possible, I think we can pretend we never had this conversation..."
"Otherwise, I can't promise anything."
Upon hearing this, that man sighed in relief just before shouting for his companions to clear the way for the masked man to enter the estate of the local royal family.
And Minos did not take long to follow his path.
He saw the entrance gate opening for him and simply walked calmly towards his goal, already noticing the same guard as before coming to accompany him to the next post.
But after arriving at the second post, the Spiritual King on standby frowned as he heard the appealing way that the royal guard from before had used to justify Minos' passage.
"You..." That Spiritual King inside the area protected by the local defensive array said this while pointing with one of his fingers at Minos.
"Why don't you pass the information on to me? Then, I can go to His Highness myself. That way, it will be easier for everyone..."
"Hahaha, very funny!"
"And what do I gain from it? I had a lot of work to get the information that His Highness wants so badly..."
"Of course, I won't let anyone take away my privilege of telling him about it!" Minos said confidently.
"This..."
