The Rise of the Black Plain

After hearing Minos' question, Elen sighed and began to speak. "Yes, we are here because of the pressure from other Stone Island powers. Our businesses are too attractive to most of them, and many families are asking for information and wanting to bond with you."

"There are those who probably want to steal this business from me, like the dealer of your items on Stone Island. But most are only interested in buying your products to consume its internally."

After Elen said this, Elena immediately completed her friend's line. "This is the case for my family. The elders want to make an agreement with you so that we can buy the food planted on the Black Plain, to be consumed among family members."

"Oh? Interesting... How much is your family willing to give for this?" Minos asked the beautiful Elena.

"My family is willing to make a big deal... You seem interested in going ahead with this. So, what would your price be?"

Minos then continued to stare at Elena, who wore a dress that valued her beautiful breasts. He then smiled and said. "If your family is willing to deliver some specialized techniques of the blacksmith's profession, I can sell my products for 150% of the price sold by Elen."

After hearing this, a gleam appeared in Elena's eyes. "Blacksmith techniques? I think it can be done, but for what do you want that kind of technique?"

"Of course, it's for my town's blacksmith guild. We don't have many Blue-grade techniques and not one Black-grade one. So, achieving this is very important to me." Minos replied sincerely.

That was part of the Black Plains development program. Achieving better techniques from any profession was the same as raising the quality of local products. With this, the territory of Minos could count on other sources of income besides agriculture!

"I see… But how many are we talking about? And to what classification?" Elena asked. In her opinion, it was worth delivering some techniques from her family if that meant a deal with the Black Plain.

They had over a thousand Blue-grade techniques and a few hundred Black-grade ones. Or rather, they had many different techniques, and they had at least dozens of copies for each of them.

"I want 8 copies of different Black-grade techniques and 60 different Blue-grade ones. With that, we will be able to do business following the cost I told you earlier." Minos replied after giving this matter some thought.

Black-grade techniques were valuable in any regional power. However, the deal the Neel family wanted with Minos involved values far above the price of Black-grade techniques. Because of this, he was not afraid to say those values.

'All this?' Elen thought to herself as she watched Elena and Minos negotiate. That was a lot of techniques for getting involved in a negotiation, even considering the potential of this deal.

"Don't you think this is too much?" Elena looked at Minos seriously as she tried to bargain. "Didn't you say you wanted to give these techniques to your guild? Don't tell me you intend to put Black-grade techniques for the public to learn?"

"No, Blue-grade techniques are for the guild, and Black-grade techniques are for my army." He responded promptly, not bothering to discuss the amounts mentioned.

The army of Minos would need blacksmiths. After all, it wouldn't be interesting to buy all the artifacts on the outside, even with Dry City blacksmiths. After all, these professionals had to sell to the population too, so there would always be some waiting.

However, military power would demand resources at a higher speed and could not simply compete with ordinary citizens. With this, Minos wanted to add blacksmiths to his army, people who would only develop artifacts for him.

In return, these people would receive Black-grade techniques instead of the Blue-grade ones he would put in the guild.

But for now, he still couldn't do that either for blacksmiths or for any other spiritual profession because he didn't have those Black-grade techniques!

It would often be harder to get someone like a blacksmith or an alchemist to give up their lucrative career as a self-employed person without such things.

For now, professionals from the alchemy guilds, array masters, and Dry City blacksmiths all received support from the local government but were not direct Minos' employees. They even gave some preference to army soldiers. Still, none of them produced just for the young Stuart, earning a regular salary or something.

Minos had promised freedom for these professionals, and that's what they were getting. However, the time would come when he would offer better conditions, but with certain restrictions...

And for that, he would need the Black-grade techniques.

"Looks like you don't want to depend on outside smiths in the future, huh?" Elen said in a low voice while looking at Minos sideways.

"Alright, I'll send a crow to my family to know about your offer. If they accept, we can talk more about it later." Elena finished while she had a discontented expression on her face.

Minos didn't seem willing to lower the amount asked, so Elena could only shut up and wait to see what her family would think about it.

And right after her friend finished speaking, Elen immediately went back to explaining the situation on Stone Island to Minos. She quickly said of the problem with the Allen family, emphasizing that this organization had been rigorously pursuing her for months.

She also explained how she had gotten this far without leaving a trace, assuring him that he would not be discovered now.

"So, your bodyguards are in the Kingdom of the Waves? Will they come here, or will they stay there?" The young man asked while looking at Elen.

Unlike Elena, she dressed more discreetly. However, it was still easy for her to stand out with her beautiful body, even with discreet clothes.

Elen shook her head and said. "No, because it would be too dangerous for them. At least in the short term, it wouldn't work."

"That's better… But how long do you two intend to stay here? With all this trouble, it wouldn't be good if you two came back too soon. They could calculate the travel time and find out the area you were in during this period."

"Hmm, you're right. We'll probably have to stay here in the Dry City for a few months. You wouldn't mind, right?" Elen asked as she smiled at Minos.

She knew she had to disappear for a while, so the Allen family would get the wrong clue that Elen had left the northern part of the Central Continent. Thus, considering that she had left the Kingdom of the Waves on a 4th stage beast, she and Elena had to stay awhile without giving news for at least 8-12 months!

Only after this period could the two return to their homes without attracting attention. After all, this would be more or less the time to go and return to the territories closest to the north of the Central Continent, departing from the capital of the Kingdom of the Waves.

"Haha, you can stay here as long as you like!" He casually said as he looked at the two young women in front of him. "But soon, I'll have to travel to the Kingdom of the Waves, so I'll be away for a while."

"Oh? Are you going to do business there?" Elena asked.

"That's right. I have to get spiritual techniques from different specializations, as well as grade-2 arrays and pills, which would not be easily found on Stone Island."

Minos could try to buy a medium-level grade-2 sword with the Neel family. However, two problems made him not include such a thing in that agreement.

The first one was the time. Even if Minos ordered it from Elena's family, it would take months to arrive, and by then, he would be in the Kingdom of the Waves.

And second, because he was already going to this state to do his business. So, his sword could be bought directly from the place he would pass through, avoiding exposing his territory!