After the routine meeting in the palace ended, Hattar rushed back to the manor without stopping, ordered people to invite Anthony over, and immediately told him the whole story of the meeting, and then asked in confusion.

"Master Anthony...what is going on? Why did father change his attitude so suddenly?"

After listening to Hattar's story, Anthony thought about it and quickly came up with a guess in his mind.

If they had simply defeated Grand Duke Rickman's army, the Kingdom of Bazel would certainly not have reacted so greatly.

But now it was different. The tens of thousands of troops and dozens of nobles heading to the earldom were all slaughtered, which not only seriously affected the balance of power within the kingdom, but the power they showed naturally made the king feel terrified! However, this was exactly what Lin En wanted. If he didn't show off his muscles, how could those fence-sitting nobles believe that they could fight against the powerful church?

"It seems that my previous predictions were wrong. Your good father is probably not planning to put you on the throne. He just uses you and me as bargaining chips to balance the power of the Holy See." Anthony shook his head and sighed.

He had previously underestimated King Bazel, who had ruled the kingdom for decades.

Anthony originally thought that the other party was dissatisfied with the church's excessive interference in secular affairs, so he was determined to put Hattar, who had a tendency to rebel against the church, on the throne.

But judging from the reaction of His Majesty the King now, things are not as simple as he thought. Basel just wants to use their power to weaken the power of the church and thus strengthen the royal power. He has no intention of really breaking up with the church.

After hearing Anthony's explanation and analysis, Hattar's pupils shrank slightly and his heart turned cold. He didn't want to believe it, but when he thought about his father's reaction in the hall, he had to believe it.

This time, Harold's faction was defeated in the expedition against the miners, and nearly half of the kingdom's elite forces were lost. Although the enemy's strength was far beyond expectations, his good father did not pursue any punishment. As for Harold, he did not even reprimand him. His bias was obvious.

"Master Anthony? What should we do now?" Hattar was suddenly panicked. In the past, he only needed to think about how to please his father and hope that the other party would help him ascend to the throne. However, now this idea has failed.

"That depends on whether your followers support His Majesty Bazel or you, the new king..." Anthony said calmly.

Hattar paused, his eyes flickering. He certainly understood what Anthony meant, but he couldn't make up his mind for the time being.

When faced with great nobles like Rickman and Joyce, as well as Harold's supporters, he could order the massacre without hesitation, but when it came to the actual rebellion, Hattar was a little hesitant.

Anthony saw Hattar's hesitation and reminded him.

"Now is the time when the resistance within the kingdom is at its weakest. It is also the best time for you to ascend the throne."

The death of Rickman and dozens of other nobles meant that the faction in the kingdom loyal to the Holy See had suffered an unprecedented blow. If Hattar could seize the opportunity at this time and deal with those wavering nobles, he would be able to directly rise to the top and seize the throne by physical means!

The reason why these wizards can stay safely in the palace is not only due to the help of the second prince, but the tacit approval of King Bazel is also a very important factor. However, the situation is about to change 180 degrees!

Hatar's expression changed again and again. Thinking about how all his efforts and flattery were met with his father's indifference, his eyes became more and more fierce, and he had already made a decision in his heart.

The fight for the throne can only end in victory or death. If his brother Harold succeeds to the throne, there is no possibility that he will let him go! "Master Anthony, I have a question. In order to destroy the legion led by Grand Duke Rickman, how many wizards did you send out? How many great wizards were there?" Hattar asked calmly.

"I think you've misunderstood. These 10,000 people are not enough for wizards to go to the battlefield." Anthony said proudly. "The ones who took action were just some ordinary soldiers who had some simple training and held alchemical artifacts in their hands."

Hattar was extremely shocked. No matter the reports from Nord and others in the hall or the secret reports from Gad's men, the information on them was enough to be described as exaggerated.

I heard that the whole sky was covered with fire rain, the thunderous roar was enough to break the eardrums, rows of soldiers kept falling down, and the whole battlefield was like purgatory... Could this really be done by ordinary people holding alchemical creations? Archbishop Nord swore that there must be an extremely powerful wizard who appeared on the battlefield and launched a shameless sneak attack on them.

When he first heard this information, he thought it was Anthony who took action personally, but after asking the spies, he found out that the great wizard had not left the capital...

"Without such power, what can we use to fight against the Church and the Empire..." Anthony said with a sneer.

Anthony's words undoubtedly gave Hattar a reassurance, so much so that the second prince had the illusion that the empire and the church were no more powerful than him.

Fortunately, Hattar was not blinded by such fantasies, but asked the second extremely crucial question.

"When I succeed to the throne, what kind of title will you need?"

"Of course, we want to allow wizards to walk in the secular world openly. As for the rest, just like before, magic belongs to wizards, and secular things belong to the kingdom!" Anthony said with a smile. "Of course, it would be best if we could have a part of the territory that belongs exclusively to us."

"Okay, no problem!" Hattar agreed without hesitation. Although the territories directly under the royal family were not many, when he ascended the throne, he had to clean up a few ignorant guys, such as the Rickman family that had lost power, take back the territories and find a few more to confer titles.

Hattar was not too worried that these wizards would turn against him. After hundreds of years of propaganda by the church, the idea that wizards represented evil was deeply rooted in the mind, and the other party needed to rely on them to survive in this kingdom, not to mention that they had a common enemy, the Empire and the Church.

Thinking of this, Hattar and Anthony discussed the plan to seize the throne...

(End of this chapter)