After Regina came across those three members of the Blood Triangle Pirates, even though they were enemies, she had no choice but to direct them to Dry City.

They were powerful but did not seem to have bad intentions. At the same time, Dry City already had methods of dealing with people from the late 8th stage.

So even if it was dangerous and bad to deal with these people, she directed them to the local leaders, who could best solve the present situation.

Since Minos was not in the city, much less his wives, those three quickly arrived in front of Dillian and some Spiritual Saints from the Gray Clouds Sect.

…

In the imperial palace…

As usual, Dillian was taking over Minos’ duties when no one else from the imperial family was in this city.

He was the subordinate who had been at Minos’ side the longest but also someone who had years of experience running this state with the sovereign. So Minos had much more confidence in leaving his territory in this doctor’s hands than in one of the elders of his sect.

In any case, Dillian’s administrative work did not require strength, so the fact that he was still at level 68 was not a hindrance to him performing this function.

As such, he was sitting on the emperor’s throne alongside his wife, Eda, level 66, the men of the imperial guard, and the elders of the sect of Minos.

“Visitors to the empire, to what do we owe your passage through our humble lands?” Dillian questioned those people while he had a smile on his face.

He knew very well that Minos had marked the organization of these people as an enemy power because of the situation with Emlyn but also due to this pirate group monitoring a certain map. But even if they were on opposite sides, these newly arrived people did not know that, and he did not need to help them find out such a thing!

So Dillian was treating them in the way one would expect, with courtesy, since people like that could always bring benefits to poorer places like the Black Plain.

Those people did not find Dillian’s behavior or the Spiritual Saints watching them strange, and one of them replied. “We are after an item lost by one of our men in your region. This item can be identified as a map engraved on a cloth…”

One of the men quickly described what they were after, surprising the experts in that place, who had no idea what this was about, but helping Dillian understand what that map was.

‘That must be the same item that His Majesty found in young master Silva’s ring and that Spiritual Sage was looking for…’ Dillian thought as he kept his expression unchanged in front of these people.

“… Then we want to hire the services of the Stuart family to find that item for us. I am sure that no one else could do that service in the area better than you.” That person finished speaking, smiling, and showing these people that even though they were weak, they had been chosen.

Providing a service for the Blood Triangle Pirates should be a huge honor for these people!

The woman then added. “We intend to pay a great fortune if you can help us…”

“2 million high-grade crystals.” She said, making the people there swallow their saliva in nervousness.

That was the equivalent of 20 billion low-grade crystals!

That would be enough to build dozens of cities in the Black Plain Empire or even develop, from scratch, 5 level 79 Spiritual Saints!

It was not a tiny amount, even more so considering that this was only a research mission. In other words, what they searched for had an even higher value than that amount of crystals!

‘Hmm, it looks like His Majesty has something terribly dangerous on his hands…’ Dillian placed one of his hands on his chin, pondering the matter.

The level 79 Spiritual Saint looking after the security of the capital for Minos saw that Dillian was thinking hard about the matter and said nothing to try to convince him to accept.

He knew that this fellow was always aware of everything Minos decided, so maybe this doctor knew something he did not.

One of those newcomers realized that something was wrong and asked. “Is there a problem? Isn’t this enough for you to focus on finding this map for us?”

Dillian replied. “It’s not a problem with the value. It’s that His Majesty is traveling alongside the entire core of the imperial family. So there’s no one to accept that offer…”

“On the other hand, we are extremely busy expanding the empire’s borders at the moment, so I don’t know if we will have enough people for this service… Otherwise, I would tell you to wait a few weeks until they return. But I don’t think it’s worth it.” Dillian tried to make them leave.

“Oh? He’s not around here?” The woman asked, disregarding the second part of Dillian’s speech.

Whether or not it was worth their while to wait, that was for them to decide, not that level 68 man.

On the other hand, would Minos not accept such good service just because his state was expanding its borders to the north? That is, they were just low-level kingdoms. What importance could states without even Spiritual Saints have compared to a prize capable of nurturing peak Spiritual Saints?

So those people did not think they would fail in this place, and soon one of them said after seeing Dillian and others confirming the woman’s question. “Then we will stay by the Black Plain waiting for His Majesty. This place has grown a lot in the last few years, and we are curious to get to know the area a bit…”

“Is that so?” Dillian smiled. “Then make yourselves at home.”

…

As those people from the Evergreen Empire settled into Dry City, more than 30 hours have passed since the exercise of Minos and the 150 Spiritual Saints.

Right now, the news was beginning to leave that territory to reach those noble families’ allies. But even in this situation, Minos managed to reach Albano before the news reached the West family.

At that very moment, he had arrived in front of the local sovereign and received congratulations from that woman and her eldest daughter on the breakthrough he had passed.

“So, Minos, what do you want in my kingdom? Are you here to accept the offer I made you?” Iris asked somewhat casually, even considering that Emperor Stuart was already as big or bigger than her.

Minos was not bothered since he had known this woman for years and had been doing business with Albano since he reached the 7th stage.

He then said briefly. “A few hours ago, I acted against the Assembly of Vogel and defeated 150 of their elders, among them all the leaders of the noble families in that territory.”

Minos was also more ‘free’ in his words there since he knew these people better than those he met in Rosser.

Gulp!

…