“What?” The two members of the Allen family exclaimed in defeat. “Bishops, please, we are not kidding! How can there not be a power trying to influence our region?”

“See what’s happening in our state!”

“Most of the noble powers are acting under the Nash family’s wishes just because of this outside influence!”

“From your perspective, this may not have seemed so far-fetched, but how long will it be before this organization alters its priorities and completely takes over Stone Island?” Supreme elder Rolf said this in an agitated way, as his bald head sweated and he turned as red as a tomato.

On hearing such a thing, the Bishop who had given his report earlier shook his head and said. “I disagree.”

“Brothers, all of us in this room investigated matters about the recent turbulence on Stone Island as soon as the situation between the Allen and Nash families began to heat up.”

“Hmm, it’s true…” Several of them commented in low, deep voices as they looked in Josh’s direction.

“And as everyone here has found out, these families just made commercial deals with this outside power, which is totally allowed. So, as for the change in the position of these families, in my view, this is just the expected reaction.”

“The Nash family is responsible for delivering this organization’s products to the various families of Stone Island. But with the ships of such a family constantly under attack, it is only expected that the powers that be not receiving their resources will take extreme positions on this matter…”

“In my opinion, there is nothing strange about it. If anyone wants this to change, then the power responsible for these attacks should just change their strategy.”

“Furthermore, the Stone Island royal family also seems to agree with this, as they haven’t done anything about it. Furthermore, they would definitely be the biggest losers if there was an attempt of an outside influence!” He said this clearly, hitting the crux.

In fact, invasion or attempted outside influence cases were far worse for royal families than for noble organizations. That’s because, due to the presence of the church, these stronger powers in each state generally had relatively large autonomy under the influence of the church, something they wouldn’t want to lose!

After all, the Spiritual Church was enormous and only involved itself in more significant matters. But such a thing could be different for outside powers!

An empire like the one from which Ruth came not only had organizations of great power, as in the example of the Gray Cloud Sect. No, there were dozens, if not hundreds of organizations in those states being led by Spiritual Emperors, powers a step above the maximum strength of the northern region of the Central Continent.

And for these powers, which, by the way, were fully capable of dominating any family in that region of Minos, there were benefits in controlling entire states!

The reason for this was evident, such powers were stronger, but despite that, the difference was not so brutal. And organizations from this part of the continent could provide a lot, either with resources or personnel…

Therefore, for royal families, cases like the one denounced by these two men from the Allen family used to be very problematic for such powers since the loss of autonomy could be very significant!

In contrast, noble powers generally didn’t lose much in situations like this, as many factors historically restrained this type of organization. Therefore, many of these noble houses wouldn’t mind taking orders from the ‘A’ side or the ‘B’ side.

Anyway, after Bishop Josh finished speaking, the other nine men seated around that table looked at each other for a moment. One of them then nodded and looked in the direction of Duncan and Rolf. “I agree with Bishop Josh.”

“This accusation of the Allen family seems lacking in terms of evidence. Even the greatest potential harmed in such a situation doesn’t seem to be concerned about it at all…”

“Hmm, the royal family is tranquil. I’ve even heard from one of my informants that the high-ranking people see the Nash family ally as being quite friendly.”

“Yes, I heard the same. But, if I’m not mistaken, the king himself said that there is no possibility of this organization threatening the local sovereignty of the royal family…”

Pa!

The bishops talked among themselves until finally, the Bishop in charge of that place slapped his hand on that table and said. “Well, there seems to be nothing else to talk about… Therefore, those who agree to the filing of Messrs. Duncan Allen and Rolf Allen’s complaint, raise your left hand and say yes.”

“Yes.”

…

After all ten Bishops agreed not to accept this denunciation, old Shaun looked from one side to the other and then at the two men standing in that room. “We unanimously refused your request, Duncan and Allen.”

“As I said before, don’t come back here to talk about the same subject again, otherwise… You already know, right?”

The two nodded their heads in agreement as they felt their minds boil over this failure. But there was nothing they could do about it. Trying to pursue this matter would only lead to the Allen family receiving heavy penalties from the Spiritual Church.

And while they were standing in the middle of that place, the ten men began to get up when the strongest of them commented aloud, with a smile on his face. “Since you understand, goodbye.”

“We don’t have more time to waste with your little games!”

…

At the same time, two people were approaching the Dry City in two low-ranking beasts.

These two looked quite tired, with beads of sweat running down their foreheads. They seemed to be suffering from the nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104oF) heat they were experiencing now.

None of them wore clothes typical of hot regions and didn’t even have hats to protect their heads. Plus, to make matters worse, the adjacent terrain didn’t help them, as there was no vegetation outside the Dry City surroundings.

It could take decades or even centuries for vegetation to spread across this territory, even if the spiritual root no longer hampered such growth on local soils!

Consequently, there was almost no shadow in the hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of Black Plain territory. And this would make it very difficult for people below the 5th stage of cultivation to travel, as in the case of these two men.

Below that cultivation stage, they could not ignore the thermal sensation of traveling in the sun. Then, they would only have to rely on their clothes. But, not everything goes as planned, and these two had thought they would not need these things on this trip…

‘Damn it. It’s too bad only one of us has a low-level grade-1 spatial ring. Otherwise, we wouldn’t go through this!’ The young man thought to himself as he looked at the man beside him, his father.

Not having enough space to carry everything they needed was a problem for anyone traveling through this region without the presence of carriages.

“Ralf, how do you think those two are?” The older man asked as he stared straight ahead, still unable to see the Dry City wall.

Ralf and Railan had departed the Gill family headquarters a few weeks ago to head towards Dry City.

After many days of traveling, they had finally arrived close to their destination, where they had a duty to supervise the Black Star Academy. Plus, try to attack the two youths who had studied with Ralf…

Anyway, after hearing his father’s question, Ralf thought for a moment on that subject and then answered it. “I hear they have Black-grade cultivation technique… So, even if the local resources aren’t as good as the Gill family’s, I think they should be at the beginning of the 4th stage, just like me.”

….