The Rise of the Black Plain

After Alina left that place where the applications for the selection of recruits for the Black Plain Army were made, quickly a few hours passed, and it was already night in the Dry City.

At this time, the crowd of people who were in those stalls, as well as the queue of people leaving that place, had been fully attended.

That was an initial moment where only a basic check was done, so it wasn't something that would take much longer than a day to do. So, even though more than 10,000 people passed through this place today, everyone who met the requirements had been duly entered into the competition.

Obviously, some tried to apply even though they were outside the standards required by the organization. But, there was nothing to do. There would be people who would try to take shortcuts in every community, making their journeys easier.

However, these people were not very numerous, so they had not caused a significant problem, such as delaying the registration of regular participants.

Finally, the first day of selection was over, and now the hundreds of Corporals and Soldiers of the local army would begin researching these people enrolled in the selection.

This was not a difficult task, as Minos merely wished to eliminate the most troublesome individuals, those with the most obvious personality flaws, who had already committed something 'worrying.'

Of course, this was not only taken into account by the selection, since during the physical examination, which would take place after this first moment, there would also be a written test.

This test would have a complementary role to this previous research done by Minos' soldiers to assess the personality of these people. That's because, even if ordinary people have some difficulty hiding their true natures, there are always those who can.

Thus, even if a 'problematic' individual were not eliminated in this first part of the selection, there would still be other ways for him to be eliminated later.

But don't get it wrong, it's not like these people are criminals, murderers, or psychopaths. The exam served to eliminate people like that too, but these were separate cases, exceptions. Most of those eliminated could probably live well in society and even be respected citizens.

The problem is that some individuals, unfortunately, could change for the worse after experiencing power. Such people could become uncontrollable and could even become the weakest points in an organization.

And it was common knowledge that the worst enemy would always be the intern!

Therefore, all this care was being put into practice.

...

The night was pleasant in the Dry City, it was neither cold nor hot, and the sky was completely clear, giving space for people to see the beautiful starry sky in this region.

And, although there were already numerous light arrays illuminating residences and city streets, this was insufficient to intervene in this matter. Moreover, the area of the city was still small, so the local light still did not prevent the beautiful starry sky from being appreciated by the citizens.

On the other hand, for those passing through the city streets at this time, a pleasant smell of food could be felt, sometimes the smell of bread coming out of the oven, sometimes the smell of roasted meat.

The population of this part of the Central Continent enjoyed a lot of pasta and meat. And because of that, the aromas of the dishes related to these varieties of food could be easily felt by anyone passing through the Dry City.

In the mornings, the smell of bread was the most common, while in the evenings, there was a variety of fragrances, especially roasted meat.

And amidst this mixture of smells and the ideal time to walk the city streets, more than 20 carriages were currently entering the urban area of this place.

The carriages coming from the Cromwell Kingdom had just passed the southern entrance to the city's wall and had quickly reached the Dry City's built-up area.

Minos and the two Miller family's women followed in the carriage at the front of the convoy, with tired expressions on their faces. Abby was beside this young man while Eda sat in front of the two, already anxious to get to the mansion.

It had been almost three weeks since they left, and they all wanted to be able to get back to their respective routines.

On the other hand, in one of the carriages that came at the back of that train, the three people who were with Peter had surprised expressions on their faces.

Not just because the Dry City sounded so much more than they'd ever heard, but because Peter had just told them that this was their boss's territory.

"Are you serious? How could a person as strong as that has developed in a place like this?" Robin asked at the same time as she looked at Peter.

She had never come to this city before, but she knew that the Black Plain was an impoverished place, at least for a few hundred thousand years!

As for the other two, only old Joey had ever known Minos' territory. And he was utterly shocked by these changes.

On the other hand, Barbara did not know this region and knew even less of the impoverished fame of this place than Robin. After all, she had lived most of her short life in the Kingdom of the End, a very distant place that could take more than half a year to travel there from this place!

Anyway, Barbara was also having doubts about Peter's statement. Right now, she was also paying close attention to what he was going to say.

"I'm telling the truth. But you need to go out and see the city on your own so that you'll realize how different this place is." He said without much emotion as he saw old Joey looking out the carriage window while his mouth was wide open in shock.

Peter then continued. "When I arrived here, I also thought that Mr. Minos was playing a prank on me, but as soon as I got to know this place, I changed my mind. I soon decided that this would be my home as well as my family's. And months later, when I was bringing my family here, those pirates kidnapped me..."

"Oh? Is that person's name Minos?" Joey finally said something.

"Hmm, that's right. He's called Minos Stuart." Peter said calmly. There was no longer any need for him to hide Minos' name from these people at this point in the trip.

They were already in the Dry City, and very soon, these people would go out to see this place. And since all the locals knew Minos' name, there was no need to hide it from these three.

After Peter answered Joey's question, Barbara took her turn and asked something. "But you didn't explain how he improved this place and how it can be so strong, having developed in a place like this. Is there any great power behind it?"

"Well, I naturally don't know his secrets. After all, I'm just a newly hired soldier. But I don't believe there is one power behind him. Mr. Minos is building his organization from scratch. That's why this place is so valuable to people with Black talent like us."

"But if he doesn't have support, isn't that a bit unstable? Don't you feel insecure that this place is going to fall all of a sudden?" Barbara questioned him.

"No, I feel great here. But, of course, any organization has a chance of succumbing. But if we're going to fear that and don't join an organization just for that, then there would be no subordinates of noble families in this world."

He then looked at her apologetically and said. "I don't want to aggravate your wound, but the family to which you were subordinated and which was destroyed was a long-established organization with numerous powerful members, correct?"

After hearing this, Barbara's face darkened a little as she nodded and said. "Yes."

Old Joey then looked at her and spoke for Peter. "Yeah, traditional powers can fall too. In fact, even families like the one you were part of were once undeveloped organizations as well."

"But still…" Robin was talking when Peter suddenly interrupted her.

"As I said before, you will understand why Mr. Minos' army is different from these forces when you get to know the city." He then looked out the carriage window, already noting the many buildings that had been built while he was 'away.'

He then finished. "I genuinely believe that one day the Black Plain will be at the top of northern Central Continent."