The hottest penthouse in the region was in a high-end hotel in Athela, which had the most expensive apartments to rent in this kingdom, where usually only kings could afford to stay.
This place was extremely luxurious, with many gold items, which could be seen from the doorknobs to even the door hinges.
There were also precious stones decorating light fixtures, adorning certain parts of the rooms of the apartments in the area. Not only this, as a place of a high standard, some walls in that area had paintings painted by medium-level grade-2 professionals, something challenging to see in this part of the continent.
And precisely in this place for the few, almost two dozen Spiritual Kings were in the vicinity.
Some were guarding the only corridor connecting the three apartments in that area, while others were working alongside their bosses.
And in one of those high luxury apartments, two of the ten strongest individuals in that region were sitting face to face.
Both individuals looked like old men, with various marks typical of their age on their faces and hair. However, their vitality was abundant, and both had resolute looks in their eyes, typical of those who still had many plans in their minds.
In any case, as they were sitting around a beautiful glass table in a living room, which was not far from the balcony that gave a 180-degree view of the central area of this capital city, the two were talking about the recent news.
"I thought that by coming to this city, I would be able to bring old Emmett over to our side..." The man who had a long white beard that went up to his waist height said this while lamenting the tragic death of the Walker ancestor.
"I was already counting on his help when we left for the Black Plain..."
Hearing this, the other level 59 Spiritual King there, who had half-red, half-white hair, nodded to the person before him, as his eyes showed colossal concern. "That was completely out of our most pessimistic predictions for this war..."
"The wretch does have frightening power!"
"Yes..."
"What do we do now?" King Snow asked this of Kara's father, feeling that their situation was only getting worse as time passed.
But King Carline was still not convinced that this was a sign from the world for them to stop. No, he continued to leave aside his daughter's warnings and the recent news about the Walker family tragedy. "What can we do but fight?"
"The damned thing is more than we can handle. However, now that the Spiritual Church has authorized us to call back our descendants in the Flaming Empire, we can reverse the power of that brat!"
"I have already sent requests for help to the sects of that state." He said, clenching one of his hands in anger, feeling bad for having to depend on the help of others to solve his own problems.
As for Adam Snow, he was not happy with the current situation either, but he had no choice but to think that this was the path with the best chances for them.
Minos was powerful, but so were some of the members of the regional families that were in the empire. And considering that there were several of them, the predictions they could make could not help but indicate that there were chances for them to solve the problem called Minos.
At the very least, they were still in a position to fight, something that in itself was better than just giving up their positions to accept the rise of Minos in the region.
Who knows what might happen if such a thing came true?
It would be much better for them to eliminate Minos and keep the variables already known!
As such, those men felt that there was still hope.
However, this did not diminish the fear they had of Minos at this moment. After all, this young man was outside the Black Plain and could be heading for the headquarters of one of their families!
These two kings had left their states to come to the Kingdom of the Waves to appeal for church support and, at the same time, to try to get Emmett to accompany them toward the Black Plain.
Because of this, their respective headquarters were weakened, and they could not help but worry about what might happen next.
So, even if there was hope, their minds were filled with worry, trying to figure out what to do next.
'Nevertheless, if we had arrived at this place a few days earlier, our situation would have been much worse...' King Snow thought about this in silence, feeling that he had narrowly escaped death.
Previously he had been going to the Black Plain. Still, with the changes in the strategy of the Counter-Revolutionary Army, which now wanted to get outside help to confront Minos, he had come to this place.
And thinking about when he had arrived in this regional capital, he wondered what would have happened if Minos' recent 'visit' had taken place while they were here.
As for King Carline, while his colleague was thinking about how lucky they were to have arrived at this place at the right time, this other individual remembered his daughter's words.
'Is what Kara said really for the best? I don't think it's good that we simply let a person capable of doing that to Emmett continue to grow...' He pondered this, regretting what had happened to that individual.
Previously he had been coming to this state with no intentions of attending King Walker's funeral. However, in recent days he had witnessed the processions of both William and Emmett.
Considering how terrible that person's death had been, this man could not see a promising future for his family if he did the absurd thing of kneeling to the Black Plain.
'What a headache!'
...
While those two regional experts were trying to understand the path ahead of them, other high-level powers were also discussing Minos' accomplishments on Stone Island.
In particular, the Stone family leadership had welcomed this information, something that had further solidified their views of the Black Plain.
But unlike those other two regional experts, the three siblings of the Stone family had just found that out while they were gathered in the king's office.
...
"It looks like it's almost time to join the war." The strongest person there, Lorelei Stone, said this while looking at her two younger brothers.
Upon hearing this, King Stone looked down at the newspaper on his desk while he had his elbows propped up on that desk and his hands crossed at the height of his nose.
"That seems to be the case..." He commented in a calm tone as he looked at the cover image of the newspaper.
On the cover of the Night News, there was a drawing of the regional map, where there was in the center of each state the symbol of their respective royal families. However, while the symbol of the Walker family looked bloodstained, with drops spreading like rivers across that state, the golden tree of the Black Plain looked more noble and distinguished than ever.
And also observing such a thing, the younger of these three, Garvin Stone, could not help but ask. "What will we do next?"
"Now that the Spiritual Church has approved that earlier request, the enemy families of the Black Plain are already preparing to bring help from outside..."
Hearing this, Lorelei uncrossed her legs and then stood up from her armchair. She looked thoughtfully at her brothers and said. "Let's call our members back, too."
"The church did not specify that this is only for those fighting on the Counter-Revolutionary Statute's side. So, we will act within this new possibility..."
"Lorelei..." The King said in surprise, not believing that his sister wanted to act so decisively.
"Eugene, our moment has finally come!"
"Minos is already powerful, and he may already be able to reverse much of the Black Plains' recent defeats. Therefore, to demonstrate our honesty, we must act!"
"So, when our descendants arrive, we will engage in the Black Plain's war of independence!"
