The Rise of the Black Plain

Upon hearing Peter's sudden question, the other slaves who were there immediately turned to look in Joey's direction while paying attention to what he would say.

After all, except for Milton, none of them were from the Cromwell Kingdom. Therefore they knew nothing about the local families.

As for Milton, although he was from the Cromwell Kingdom, he did not know the symbol of the family that had bought them. The kingdom had a large population as well as a territory of millions of square kilometers.

Because of that, even though he knew the names of the great families of this state, knowing how to distinguish the respective symbols of those families was something he didn't know how to do.

Milton was not a prominent noble family member. He was not an ambitious person but someone who valued life and peace. So, even as a child, he had decided to enter a small family, where he could have some support while not taking significant risks...

But, well, it hadn't worked for him...

Anyway, as a minor family member with no influence and no dealings with significant houses, Milton was unsure how to distinguish the symbol from most families in the Cromwell Kingdom.

And he certainly didn't know this one, which could be seen on the sides of the carriages that carried them. So, even a native of this state like him was also curious to know where he was being taken.

And while all those captives looked at him, Joey then closed his eyes and shook his head as if regretting it.

"We were very unlucky." He said in a husky voice, with his eyes still closed.

As an old man who traveled across the north of the Central Continent, Joey knew virtually every noble family in this region. And that symbol of a black star, with a circumference in the middle of it, the color of skin, was something he knew.

And knowing this brand, Joey was not at all happy!

In fact, he was lamenting the cruel fate that was left for them!

This old man knew the Chambers family. This was a family without any moral principle, which had adopted the practice of slavery for thousands of years, using thousands of captives as a sacrifice for its success.

They used those most talented captives to reproduce, used dual cultivation techniques to increase the personal power of their members, and then killed their victims when they ceased to be useful.

For the less talented slaves, they were left to work in the fields until they died, sometimes being tortured, watching their loved ones raped, slowly killed by constant abuses, etc.

It was a family full of members like Leroy. Many of them were arrogant, saw themselves as the best, and always acted wildly against those who were weaker. But, on the other hand, when they had to face powerful people, they used despicable means, such as the manipulation used by Leroy in Davy, blackmail, the use of assassins, etc.

And knowing all this, Joey was sorry for all of them. If they had gone to any other noble family in the Cromwell Kingdom, there was still hope that they could get out of this reality. But in the Chambers family, it would be just a delusion to think of freedom.

He then said in a low voice so that only the captives in that cell would hear. "This is the symbol of the Chambers family!"

Hearing that, half the people there didn't know what it could mean, as they didn't understand how bad it could be to go to this family.

However, the other half was utterly frustrated to hear this, with many of them pale with terror. Milton was one of them.

He might not know the symbol of that family, but he knew of the Chambers' fame. In the Cromwell Kingdom, some families had some notoriety among the ordinary people.

For example, the royal family was said to be one of the three strongest in the north of the Central Continent, perhaps even being the strongest. The Hayes family was said to be the 'fairness' of the kingdom. They were known for their selfless and heroic deeds...

But as for the Chambers, they were real devils. It was said that if you were unlucky enough to meet someone from this family, the best thing to do was to try not to draw attention, not to look them in the eye, not to speak, to act in a subordinate way.

Otherwise, a sea of misfortune could be very close to you...

"Damn it! Did it have to be them?" Milton commented, a bit irritated.

Peter then lowered his head as he reflected. 'Ahh... Given the personality Leroy had, this family must be complicated...'

And seeing the reaction of her two traveling companions, Barbara, who knew nothing about the Chambers family, then asked Joey. "Is it that bad?"

"Hmm, it's not good for us. If you believe in a greater existence, then pray for something to happen before we reach Chambers family headquarters. After that, we'll already be in hell..."

...

While the carriages of Kevin's group were heading towards the Chambers family base in that region, some groups were leaving the city of Hadia while chasing them from some distance.

At least four different groups were doing this, whereas Vivian and her bodyguard were one of those.

As predicted by her, some of the other representatives of the realm's noble families could not ignore the value of the item Kevin was carrying and were already chasing him.

And even if they hadn't acted thus far, Kevin's group would still be a few days away from the Chambers family base, where it would be nearly impossible for these people to act...

For now, they were just following Kevin's trail to secure the Spring of Life's location while waiting for the right moment to act.

After all, most of them were weaker than Kevin's group or were in the same general power range. So with that, even if they attacked now, it probably wouldn't result in a good ending for them!

Anyway, Vivian's bodyguard then said at the same time that he had a serious look on his face. "Miss, if we are going to act, it has to happen before that boy arrives at the Chambers family base in this region. A Spiritual King is guarding that place, so I fear it will be impossible for us to reverse this problem if we take too long!"

"Hmm, I know."

...

At the same time that this pursuit was taking place, a few dozen kilometers from where Kevin was traveling, there was a group of three carriages running towards the city of Hadia.

Spiritual beasts that looked like horses pulled each of those carriages, while some men traveled with tired expressions on their faces.

There were 16 people in that group, all of them Spiritual Generals.

This was the Black Plain Army's group that had been dispatched by Minos a few weeks ago. They had traveled all the way from the southwest coast of the Kingdom of the Waves to the northwest coast of Cromwell Kingdom in just over a week.

From that moment when Dumas' group had interrogated the bandit Akar, whom they had kidnapped from the nameless city, they had immediately run to the place they were about to arrive, soon after dispatching those four soldiers who had returned to the Dry City to report the group's findings.

As for Akar, as he was not an enemy of the Black Plain, nor did he know the origin of Dumas' group, and as he had even helped them in this mission, he had been released after a few days of travel.

Dumas had kept this man unconscious for several days, having abandoned him in a town near the Cromwell Kingdom, on the coast, near the border with the Black Plain.

After that, they quickly continued their journey, having finally approached the city of Hadia this night, on the spot where the Cromwell Kingdom's Black Market was located!

It had been over one month since Peter was kidnapped. So, at this point, the Sergeants who were in this investigation group were sure that now that young man would have been sold to some noble family in the region.

Though terrestrial spiritual beasts were faster than ships, which didn't use the strength of beasts to move, the pirates of Del's group had had the advantage of time on their side.

Because of this, it would be challenging for Dumas' group to prevent Peter from falling into the hands of the Black Market!

That way, they had no hope of finding Peter around here.

Their job was to investigate what had happened so that when Minos sent in reinforcements, they could act decisively, without delay!

And after a while, the group of carriages finally arrived near the city of Hadia, from a point where they could all see the lights of that place gradually illuminating the darkened ground from which they came.

The group then stopped in the middle of the night darkness on the outskirts of the city, where there was vegetation not so dense as to impede their view of the city but enough for someone to hide in that place of passersby.

The group then gathered around Dumas when he finally started giving his orders. "We're going to split into four groups to enter the city, so we don't attract attention. Let's find out what happened to Sergeant Peter!"

...