A few hours earlier, inside the Spatial Kingdom, two foxes were playing with each other. The great mother fox was entertaining her daughter at that moment, when suddenly a plant appeared out of nowhere, not far from the two of them.
Seeing this, the little fox showing her belly to her mother suddenly got up and ran towards the medicine that Minos had sent to that place.
She sprinted, showing her two tails that dangled as if she were showing off.
That is correct. Kyla had advanced to the 2nd stage of cultivation since Minos last saw her during the days that he was traveling with the lovely Ruth and was unable to enter this place.
It wasn't that Minos didn't trust Ruth, but there was no need to tell her all his secrets just because they were having sex!
If he was going to talk to her about it, well, that was something from the future and not now.
He would only bring her here if they were both in danger of imminent death!
Upon arriving in front of the plant, the little fox said in a beast language. "Mommy, can I eat?"
Kyla had already learned to speak her native language after increasing her level and improving her intelligence.
She was almost drooling when she saw this plant and that fruit. Its scent was delicious, and it was making the glutton Kyla wish for it.
However, seeing her like this, Emlyn just shook her head and said. "You can not. Minos said that we could only eat the medicines in this place after talking to him."
"But I want to eat..." Kyla said with tears in her eyes as she held the plant with Rainbow Fruit in both front legs.
"But you can not. Don't you like the apples that Minos brings here? Eat one for now. Maybe he'll let you eat this in the future." The mother lovingly said as she got up and went towards the plant that Minos had sent.
'If he sent the plant like that, it must be because he wants to plant it in this place...' She thought while thinking about what to do.
...
Six days passed outside the Spatial Kingdom when bodyguard Eduard finally arrived in the Dry City.
At this time, he was being accompanied by two other people, one of whom was one of Elen's subordinates, who was here to do any business of interest to this city. The other was a subordinate of the supreme elder of the Nash family, who was here to evaluate this place.
The two men looked very much alike, with tanned skin, black hair, and the shape of their faces. Both were siblings who had worked for the family for a long time, for the Nash's supreme elder. But one of them had been allocated to help Richard's daughter when Elen had started her journey as a merchant.
The two men who accompanied Eduard were utterly taken aback by the changes in this place, which now had several fields of cultures and a much more organized and beautiful city.
Being Nash family members, these two men were born traders who were well aware of the Black Plain region's problems, so they were terrified by such a change.
Upon entering the city, the subordinate of the supreme elder said in shock. "Unbelievable! I never thought the day would come when I would see the Black Plain rise from the bottom of the well!"
"Comparing this Minos with Vico Trevisani would not be an exaggeration!" He said in a low voice.
"Don't you think this is extreme? That guy from the Eastern Empire can protect his nation, alone, against the Western Empire. You're getting old, brother." Elen's subordinate said in disagreement.
"Of course, I know that. But Vico Trevisani also started his legend from below. Who knows how far the Black Plain can go..." The man said in awe of what Minos had done in that place.
It was not impossible to change a place as Minos had done. In fact, it was not difficult. The problem was that either the rulers did not have the means to improve the site and/or did not have an interest in doing so!
In most cases, the biggest problem was the second option. Many sovereigns saw their territories as places where they could do whatever they wanted without bothering to give returns to those regions.
That is why the subordinate of the supreme elder of the Nash family respected Minos. This young man had the means and the determination to improve this place and not just suck the crystals of this land for himself!
And while the pair of brothers admired the changes that the Dry City had undergone, their group finally arrived at the mansion in the center of the city.
At this moment, the sun was overhead in the Dry City.
There was a lot of movement in front of Minos' mansion when the group of three men finally arrived in this place. Upon entering the internal area of this building, the three passed through a garden. They then arrived at the administrative location of the building, where Minos' office was located.
...
Right now, Dillian was sitting in Minos' chair, talking to three soldiers from the Black Plain Army. He looked at the three and said. "Make preparations for the new recruits. In a maximum of three months, we will double the current contingent of soldiers."
"Carl, how many immigrants have arrived in the city these past few days?"
One of the soldiers then responded promptly. "More than 4,000 people moved to our city in the last week, butler Dillian."
"Oh! That is good. With such a thing, we will be able to increase the planted area even more..."
When Dillian was speaking, secretary Mia came through the office door and then went over to the side of the chair where the butler was sitting and said in a low voice. "Butler Dillian, Mr. Eduard is here with the crystals from Stone Island."
After hearing this, Dillian's eyes suddenly flashed, and he smiled broadly. That was just what they needed right now!
"Oh! That was faster than I thought. Let him in, quickly." He said while also saying goodbye to the three soldiers who were handing him some reports.
Not long after, three men entered Minos' office, while they had smiles on their faces and wore clothes with the Nash family's symbol.
Upon seeing these people, Dillian quickly greeted them and invited them to sit and have a cup of tea.
Eduard then said while handing a spatial ring to Dillian. "Butler Dillian, as agreed in the previous arrangement, here has 1.8 million low-grade spiritual crystals for the products that were sent to Stone Island."
"Oh! That is great." Dillian exclaimed in satisfaction.
Eduard then smiled and said. "We will be staying in the city for a few days, so if you need anything from Stone Island, just talk to us, and we will do everything to help you."
"Hmm, we will certainly need..."
The four men talked for a while until finally they separated and left the butler Dillian in that room, alone. He was thinking about the next steps.
'With these crystals, we will finally be able to increase the number of hectares planted, from 100 to 200! And we will be able to hire another 10,000 people for agriculture.'
"With the crystals leftover from the Dry City trade..." He murmured in a low voice as he calculated with his fingers. 'We can afford to fund the two alchemists in the city for the next three months and still buy 50 more high-level grade-1 spiritual weapons... and one low-level grade-2 array...'
The butler Dillian continued to do his accounts while thinking about what he could buy with their values. But even though there were many crystals, they were responsible for a city with almost 60 thousand inhabitants at this time!
And unlike other sovereigns, Minos gave a 70% subsidy to the two alchemists in the Dry City. With this alone and with the payment of city officials, counting soldiers and farmers, this was already more than 75% of what they were earning from the sale of their resources.
Therefore, the surplus of crystals to buy weapons and spiritual arrays was not high at this time. After all, raising the population level with spiritual pills was one of Minos' main goals for the Black Plain.
...
While Dillian and other members of the Black Plain government attempted to conduct business in the Dry City as efficiently as possible, Minos and Ruth had stopped to rest in a city in the heart of the Cromwell Kingdom at this very moment.
"Ruth, let's go straight to the hotel first, then we look for a restaurant to eat..." Minos looked into his partner's eyes and said this ambiguously.
They had spent the past two days fighting, traveling through a dangerous region, where they could not 'relax' together. With that, both wanted their time of fun in the hotel as soon as possible to continue with their other matters more peacefully.
It was not easy to ignore all the sexual tension between them!
"Hmm, I'm not hungry either. Let's do this first..." She said, her face subtly flushed.