Passing through Portland

A few days passed since Minos and his group had left the capital of Stone Island.

Right now, they were about to arrive in Portland, from where they could return to the continent.

Minos wanted to see if any of the alchemists and array masters with whom he had spoken previously had changed their minds and decided to join him. It would be a great benefit for the Black Plain if any of these specialists came along with them.

Minos could offer a subsidy for these specialists, and they would also be allowed to sell their products within Dry City at a low price. The reason was that any pill or spiritual array would be costly for the ordinary and weaker people, which made up most of the population under Minos' territory.

The group then slowly entered the city of Portland, heading straight for the local Alchemy Guild. Of all the people Minos had spoken to before, the most promising of them seemed to be the alchemist Davis.

After a while, the group finally arrived in front of a rectangular building, where a strong medicinal fragrance emanated.

This was the Alchemy Guild of Portland!

Without wasting any time, Minos immediately entered the building and headed straight to the second floor, the place where high-level grade-1 alchemists did their business. 

Reaching there, he searched for the alchemist Davis's bench in the previous place where he had seen before.

It didn't take long before Minos noticed the person he was looking for, Davis was sitting on a low-traffic bench.

"Alchemist Davis, it's good to see you again. I'm here to know what your decision is to what I talked to you about earlier. So? What did you decide?" the young Stuart asked with a welcoming smile on his face.

The middle-aged man at the bench looked at Minos for a moment as he tried to remember who this young man was and then finally said, "Ah! So, it's you. I didn't expect that you were truly going to be here again."

He then continued, "Your offer is outstanding, but I am not sure if I will be able to do business in the Dry City. Unfortunately, ordinary people don't have that many crystals to buy spiritual pills."

Minos understood Davis' concerns and then nodded, "You're right. Indeed, a 'common' population, such as that of a city like Dry City, could not buy pills, arrays, or spiritual weapons."

"And even for a part of the inhabitants of my city, it will certainly take a long time before they can afford these items. However, that is not true for the soldiers in my army!" Minos said with a confident face.

"I won't go into too much detail since you're not a member of my forces yet, but rest assured, the number of soldiers who can pay for the services of an alchemist like you is definitely not small, and I'm almost sure that you can do more business with them than you are doing here at the Alchemy Guild."

What Minos said was indeed true. If we were to consider only the soldiers who are in the Corporal hierarchy, each of them receives a salary of 400 crystals per month. And with such a salary, if such a soldier saved for about four months, they would undoubtedly have enough crystals to buy a high-level grade-1 pill without much effort.

Of course, the same would not be applicable to arrays or spiritual weapons as these two types of items were considered durable goods, which could be used numerous times. Therefore, they are naturally more expensive.

And for alchemists, most of their business was done through personal transactions, with people who usually bought only one or two pills at a time. Large purchases similar to the ones that Minos had done were sporadic and were done only by those great nobles and members of wealthy families.

And that way, if what Minos said to Davis was true, accepting this deal would be greatly advantageous for this middle-aged man. 

Davis thought for a while and then said, "I can go with you to your Dry City. If what you said is indeed true, I will see it with my own eyes. Then, just like that, I will be able to accept this offer."

Minos smiled and replied, "Good! This can work too. If you don't like how things are going in Dry City, then I won't insist on this deal anymore."

After that, Minos and his group stayed at the Olson Hotel in Portland while waiting for their rented ship to be prepared for the journey. Minos also wanted to see other people with whom he had previously spoken, hoping that some of them might accept to come with them as well.

…

The next day, the group of Minos was already aboard a big boat, heading towards the continent and the Maritime City. This trip would take almost two days of sailing.

As for the people Minos had contacted in Portland, other than Davis, no one else had agreed to come to the Black Plain.

…

Meanwhile, in a city between the border region of the Kingdom of Waves and the Black Plain, there was a medium-sized mansion at the center of that town.

A large number of men with grotesque expressions were scattered throughout this property.

This was the former seat of the local government of Yellow City, the only city in this region bordering the Black Plain. It had about 70,000 inhabitants, and the local government had been replaced by bandits from the surrounding areas for some time.

Unlike the other places of Black Plain, this region had sufficient resources for the development of some criminal groups and to take control of the surrounding areas. Because no noble families ruled the Yellow City, these criminal organizations banded together, kidnapped the regent who had been sent here and seized the local power in their own hands.

Within the mansion was a large room with a large conference table in the middle with several men seated around as they talked actively.

At that moment, one of the men said out loud, "Chief Gul, one of the merchants captured by my subordinates seems to have seen something interesting in our region."

At that moment, everyone in the room ceased their random conversations and concentrated on listening to what that man had to continue.

The man in question then let out a loud laugh and exclaimed, "Haha, we may have a big chance soon. While one of my men was torturing a trader, he opened his mouth and brawled about something he had seen not far from here."

"According to him, he apparently saw a fox-like spiritual beast. But this beast was very unusual from other normal foxes. It had five tails and also seemed to be pregnant!"

The man then drank a large jug of alcohol before he continued, "I don't know what breed this beast is, but her cub can yield hundreds of thousands of low-grade crystals if we sell it in the kingdom's capital."

"Oh! Is there such a beast?" Someone wondered amid the group of criminals.

"Hmm, we just have to look around. Since this fox was pregnant when that merchant saw her, I'm sure she will stay in the same place for at least a few weeks."

"And it must also be weakened. That is our chance. The worst that can happen is that the beast might not be as valuable as we think. However, I believe that it is worth trying," the man called chief Gul said out loud.

He was the leader of this bandit group and was already at level 47!

As for why despite his level was living in a place almost as poor as the Black Plain, well, that was because that man was a criminal and was wanted by one of the great families of the Kingdom of Waves.

And neither could he escape to other kingdoms, as these large families had relations throughout the northern region of the Central Continent and so, he could only live a relatively safe life in almost abandoned places.

And unlike the Black Plain, where the Brown Kingdom still maintained a port city, there was no power belonging to large families of the Kingdom of Waves in the region of the Yellow City.

This was because the Kingdom of Waves had a large coastal territory and did not need to rely on such a point to do business with other regions.

And therefore, many years ago, Gul had created his group of bandits in this region that was near the Black Plain. 

However, Yellow City was not as weak as Dry City, as in the city controlled by Minos, there were no natives above level 39, while in the town now commanded by Gul, it was not uncommon to find people with level 40 in the streets!

"Well, we're going to send two groups to track this fox. When it's found, you definitely aren't allowed to attack it. We'll leave it up to me and some of the strongest in the group to resolve this," Gul said with a strange smile on his face.

"That's it!" Some of the men shouted in excitement as they listened to chief Gul's orders.

"As for the subject of these traders who came from outside the kingdom, it's better to decrease our actions for the time being as this can attract some unwanted attention from some families in the region..."

"Hmm."

Many nodded in agreement.