"What?"
"Impossible! How could someone so small dare to do this?"
"That can't be!"
"Who gave him such confidence?"
"And to think that his father was one of us..."
"What a great disgrace!"
Many people started uttering their opinions right after King Brown said those words, accusing Minos of being a rebel.
But while many were already thinking about how audacious the son of the late General Albert was, the supreme elder was somewhat surprised by this.
He genuinely hadn't expected that Minos would have any significant role in this region in the short term. After all, the Black Plain was not as impressive as other territories in the kingdom. And that young man's mother could not casually interfere in the region.
But upon hearing from his nephew that such a person had bad intentions regarding the integrity of the kingdom, this old figure couldn't help but take a step back in shock.
He then asked. "Your Majesty, what exactly was in that message? I don't believe the Black Plain is worth a war against us for this young man to do this, unless..." He then stopped his speech and looked apprehensively at his nephew.
The king then said aloud for all there to hear. "The message I just read said that the Dry City government was stalling negotiations as much as possible. The sovereign has shown no interest in bending the knee and accepting the kingdom's conditions."
"At the end of the message, Eden wrote that on that day, he would issue an ultimatum to the forces of Dry City..." He finished speaking while he had an angry expression on his face, feeling that his men had probably been killed because of this.
Upon hearing this, several of those people soon started talking again, some cursing Minos' ancestors, while others were already making their theories about this young man's motives.
"What an ingrate!"
"We gave him land, but still, the bastard betrays us the first chance he gets!"
"Damn his ancestors!"
"Your Majesty, I beg you to remove the name of the bastard's father from our hall of honors, or I fear the family name will be corrupted!"
"We must immediately march to Dry City and bring the brat in for a public execution!"
"Yes!"
"We must kill the traitors!"
"But I cannot believe the audacity of this fellow!"
"How does he have the nerve to act against us? Does he think we won't kill him just because of that whore of a mother of his?"
"Tsk!"
"That's degrading!"
"Even a worm who was useless until recently treats us like this!"
"Your Majesty, we have to deal with this quickly, or the family image will be thrown in the mud!"
"So, our companions went to give those bumpkins one last chance and ended up dead for it?"
"Damn you, Dry City fanatics!"
"They are completely crazy people. They don't follow any rules, Your Majesty."
"Who in their right mind kills the messengers? Only crazed fanatics!"
On the other hand, the more experienced ones there were already beginning to find this whole affair very strange.
'Why would he do that just for the Black Plain? In our analyses, even if that place is used to its fullest, it probably couldn't compare with a region like the Red Valley...'
'That's not enough for them to rebel!'
'The value is simply far less than the costs of a war of independence!'
And then the supreme elder made his comment. "Your Majesty, I'm afraid our information about the Black Plain is not correct, or none of this would happen."
"Oh?"
"The supreme elder is right. The value of the Black Plain needs to be much higher than we think for the enemy's reaction to make sense." Another high-level elder said this while standing on one side of that place.
"Yes. I fear that the forces behind Dry City have intercepted the information we received earlier..."
"Everything we know may be wrong!" So, the supreme elder said in earnest, while his old face was as dark as night.
Pa!
Thomas Brown then slammed his hand heavily on the arm of his royal throne as he felt the veins in his forehead quiver in hatred. 'Minos Stuart, brat, you messed with the wrong person!'
He then began to talk about what he would do next. 'At the end of the day, the Silvas were right. That damn place is a threat to the kingdom..."
"And it has even taken away 5 of our experts!"
"Rosa." He said, looking in the direction of his secretary, who was still standing there beside him. "Send reports to all our subordinates, vassals, and allies in our state."
"From now on, the Black Plain is in rebellion against the kingdom, and anyone who helps them will be considered an enemy of my family!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The king then looked in the direction of one of his generals and continued. "I want you to separate a group and go to Dry City. Tell that damned brat that I will give him a chance to surrender."
"Let him come and pay for his crimes in the capital, and maybe we can settle things peacefully with his death..."
"Otherwise, we will exterminate every single person in that place!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Thomas then looked in General Silva's direction and said. "Communicate your family members about this and ask them to come here. Let's deal with that damned place!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
And then, each of those three people began to leave that royal hall, rushing to be able to settle these matters as quickly as possible.
Every critical action of a great organization could take days to get out of the plans and become real. Hence, they needed to hurry so that the honor of the royal family could be cleared as soon as possible.
At first, they would not communicate with other regional families about this since, for the time being, this was only a local problem.
The Brown family had been cheated for weeks by Minos. So, they couldn't help but keep this humiliation of their opponents for a while longer.
It would be better if they solved everything before other peak powers in this region found out about it. Otherwise, they would have to bear the shame of being manipulated by a 20-year-old man.
But if this were not quickly resolved, they would have no alternative but to humiliate themselves with a notice to the other royal houses. After that, all that would be left is to use the Counter-Revolutionary Statute!
Anyway, while those three left to settle these more urgent matters, the rest of the people in that place continued to talk about what to do from now on.
"A damn rebel probably won't have the guts to surrender... So, what will we do if he refuses this generous offer, Your Majesty?" One of the elders there asked that.
"We'll mobilize our troops and completely crush that city!"
"That brat may think his defenses are outstanding, but that won't stop us from tearing his head off!"
"Then get our troops ready. Make everything ready for us to march into the Black Plain in a month at the most."
"If in that period that ungrateful son of Albert does not surrender, we will begin with the invasion of that territory!"
After saying those words, the king saw and heard his subordinates congratulate him on such a decision. Many of them were happy to march off to war.
Wars were times of opportunity, after all!
And if that place dared to flirt with independence, then there should be some minimally exciting things going on there. Consequently, if they marched into Dry City, then there would be plenty of resources at the disposal of those who would murder the most powerful enemies in that place.
In wars, ordinary soldiers had the opportunity to loot whatever was left behind by enemies and retain ownership of such items. So, this was the opportunity for many underlings to rise financially!
Because of this, many there were very happy to fight against the Black Plain!
Some of them even wished that Minos was someone who would not give himself up since if he did, the royal family would probably take everything in that territory.
But this would not be so beneficial for them.
And knowing this possibility of killing enemies and obtaining resources, many there were already starting to drool as they imagined their futures.
With this in mind, it didn't take long before those people began to disperse, hurrying towards their posts.
After so long of peace, it was time for a great conflict to occur in the kingdom!