In the capital of the Kingdom of the End...


    King Carline was at this moment with his two wives in an office of the royal pce, looking at the journal in front of him with a nk look.


    He had no mercy on the troubled kingdoms about to be overrun by the ck in, but he was pretty afraid of what Minos'' action would bring to his state.


    After all, the local nobles would not ignore this fact!


    What would they think of it? That was obvious. They would desire Minos to do the same in their states to increase their powers in front of the powers of their respective royal families!


    For King Carline, with the formation of the ck in Empire underway, it would only be a matter of time before the local families would begin to rally against his house!


    Such noble organizations would probably initiate talks directly with the ck in Army. Or, in the best case, try to give the royal family an ultimatum to ask Minos for them to join his state.


    In any case, he and his organization would lose power due to Minos'' ambitious move!


    ''What a greedy wretch!'' He thought as he clenched his fists tightly, feeling what it meant to be weaker and unable to do anything about the injustices of the world...


    ''He said that we would be his subordinates only for a while, and then we would have the option of returning to what we were before.'' He remembered the proposal Minos had made to Kara years ago. ''He even gave us a lot of freedom during thest few years, only to now take everything away from us!''


    ''How can he be such a jerk?'' He felt betrayed, even forgetting that because of Minos, he had reached level 61 while Lte and Jade were already at level 62.


    Jade, this ck-haired woman, realized the problem in her husband''s mind and sighed.


    She loved giving herself to Minos, but she still loved her husband and had economic interests. Thus, at the moment, she and Lte had conflicting thoughts in their minds.


    On the one hand, they knew the positives of bing part of the ck in and how ''impressive'' Minos could be. That made them hopeful about the future. But on the other hand, it would mean that their family could not control their destiny and would be in the hands of King Stuart.


    That could have its advantages, too, since Minos was exceptionally qualified to rule territories. But it meant losing benefits, or rather, sharing what was theirs with many more powers and people than they already did.


    So they disagreed with Minos'' decision to create an Empire, although it was pretty impressive and also excited them.


    "Well, there''s nothing to do. Minos is the region''s leader, and we already have obligations to the ck in anyway." Lte tried to look on the bright side. "Then, won''t we better take the opportunity to ride the wave of ck in growths? At least we''ll be able to enjoy some of that."


    Her logic was simple. It was better to have a small fraction of something big than 100% of something small!


    Losing powers to an assembly of nobles and the ck in would be bad. But at the same time, local development could increase significantly.


    So even if they lost rights and resources at first, they could eventually earn much higher returns than they do now!<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Jade agreed with her redheaded harem sister. "That''s true, dear. Unfortunately, we have no choice, but we will probably have more at our disposal because of it."


    "Sigh..."


    ...


    As King Carline sighed beside his wives, the three strongest of the Stone Ind''s royalty were talking the matter over in their pce.


    The Stone siblings, the two men already at level 63 and Lorelei at level 64, were doing the math regarding the future of Stone Ind, considering what was likely to happen in a short time.


    They did not doubt that the entire region would move towards integration with the ck in Empire, as most of the powers would benefit from that. But, of course, that would also be incredible for the poption.


    With so few who might feel wronged by Minos'' actions, there would be no room for dialogue to refuse the natural evolution of this region.


    So the three were nning what to do to have the best results in the face of the impending local changes!


    "Stone Ind has grown greatly in thest decade because of our alliance with the ck in." Lorelei told her younger brothers as she sat in a brown armchair beside a pool in the courtyard of the king''s residence. "Without the development of that territory and subsequent benefits we have received, we would not have the 31 Spiritual Emperors today, nor the more than 30,000 Spiritual Kings."


    The two brothers could not disagree with that, and the king said. "But if we receive investments directly from the ck in, we can greatly increase local development."


    The Bank of the ck in had enabled people from all over the region to invest in their states. But Minos still did not allow people from his territory to invest outside of it. So by joining that state, this and other kingdoms could ess an absurdlyrge reserve of crystals!


    That could quickly facilitate the development of essential projects for the growth of Stone Ind but also increase the attractiveness of this state for immigrants from outside the region.


    For now, the most capable immigrants only wanted to go to the ck in. But if Stone Ind became part of the state of Minos, this ce would be more attractive because it would have lesspetition. At the same time, a local inhabitant would already have the same rights as people living in Dry City.


    With this, the three of them soon began to n what they could do immediately to lessen the loss of influence they would experience from this.


    "I think we should approach the noble families and start conversations with them." The youngest brother there said, thinking they would have to have a great rtionship with the nobility from the moment Minos absorbed Stone Ind.


    "Oh? Indeed, we''ll have to make more favorable policies for them and increase the talks, so we can keep some of our decision-making power." Eugene, King Stone, said.


    It was better for them to give something up themselves than to have their decisions questioned by others. This way, they could at least keep some of their dignity as royalty and state sovereigns.


    They continued to discuss this matter, then sent orders to their staff to begin preparations to better direct Stone Ind to the new regional reality.


    Simr things were happening in the Snow Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Waves, where their leaders were also thinking about the problems and advantages they could have soon.