A Temporary Plan

"Theodore is dead. This is the message that the throne sent me... Can you sense that your lord has changed?"

When Reed heard Darian say this, he closed his eyes, and his eyelids twitched slightly after realizing that his lord in a de facto sense had disappeared.

Then, Reed opened his eyes, his eyes filled with shock. He looked at Darian, hoping the other could offer some advice at this moment.

"Do you know who killed Theodore? We..." Reed asked tentatively.

Theodore's death is now a foregone conclusion, so the only questions that need to be answered are who killed him and who else is vying for the throne of Antir.

"You're still asking me? I came here to ask who exactly conquered so much of Theodore's territory..."

After Darian retorted, he paused for a moment, and then continued:

"But whoever it is, our goal is very clear..."

Reed's expression stiffened, then he gave a knowing smile. Although Theodore's death had shocked them both, it didn't affect what they were doing.

Ultimately, their collaboration wasn't about plotting against the entirety of Antir; neither of them had the ambition or the ability to do so.

Darian wanted to seize this new opportunity to drive the Shadow Cult into Antir. Once Reed joined the Shadow Cult, he wouldn't have to worry about the Shadow Cult having a foothold in Antir.

Reed's idea was even simpler: he wanted to contact Darian, a man from Lorinvik, to see if he could act as a go-between for the prince of Lorinvik so he could get a share of the spoils.

From this perspective, Reed is very suitable to become a follower of the Lord of Shadows.

Now that Theodore is dead, it won't affect their cooperation at all, even though they don't know the name of the person who killed Theodore or the reason why.

However, this will not affect their cooperation in Antir, nor will it prevent them from taking advantage of the chaos.

"Regardless of who killed Theodore, he must win the support of the lords, otherwise he can forget about ascending the throne."

"I think it's likely that someone will come here soon and ask you to go to the Royal Capital."

Reed touched the sparse stubble on his face and continued:

"Going to the Royal Capital... is such a hassle, but I have no choice but to go, otherwise I won't understand what's really going on."

Generally, when a new King of Antir wants to choose a successor, he will summon the lords from various regions to the Royal Capital to pledge their allegiance to the new king.

However, after hundreds of years of evolution, this is how things have become.

When a man who is about to become king summons all the lords, those lords who attend implicitly side with him.

Yes, now when the king summons lords, lords are free to refuse to attend. Lords who refuse to attend are considered neutral by default. This is a result of the chaotic succession struggles in Antir's history.

The one who truly becomes king will, after inheriting the throne, tour the entire territory of Antir and gain the allegiance of all the lords.

In other words, during the long struggle for the throne, the process of pledging allegiance to the lords was forced to be postponed.

By the time of Theodore, he no longer had the leisure to summon all the lords to one place. Knowing that the Royal Capital could not be captured in a short time, he would send a lord to him every now and then to pledge allegiance.

When Fran first arrived in Antir, Theodore had already fulfilled the allegiance of all the lords to him.

Now, even though Theodore has been killed, the problem of the lords still needs to be solved.

Although these lords were not as powerful Theodore, killing them would have far more serious consequences.

Truly intelligent people will send someone to exert pressure and offer certain benefits. The lords know they can't fight city hall, so they will obediently comply.

While the general trend cannot be defied, this does not mean that the two current leaders cannot gain certain benefits before a new king is born.

Reed can help the new king and Darian take the lead, promising to stand on their side, as long as he pays a relatively small price.

Darian could use the Shadow Cult to help the new king; all he wanted was for the Shadow Cult itself to grow stronger, which, in some people's eyes, came at no cost.

"Then I'll stay here for now... If someone summons you, let me think... I'll send a follower with you; he'll be an apprentice-level Profession."

Reed curled his lip, his gaze towards Darian turning colder. He hadn't expected that Darian couldn't even muster a Formal Rank Profession.

Darian ignored Reed's gaze, after all, he really couldn't afford to lose another Formal Rank Profession right now.

Who knows what kind of person the new king will be, or what his opinion of him will be?

There's absolutely no way he'd go on this trip; his identity is far too sensitive. If he did go, they might just lock him up there.

Therefore, he had to send a trusted confidant, but there weren't many First Order Profession left, so he naturally couldn't send one.

"Let's put that aside for now and talk about something else. I heard about the spices in Lorinvik..."

The two began new negotiations regarding the special transportation of traded goods, which was also profitable for them.

Now that Darian controls Horn Pass, he can naturally open a small road Horn Pass to it for transporting goods, but such goods transport is unlikely to pass through the hands of the gatekeepers.

Even the checkpoints in Lorinvik are the same; otherwise, how would Darian make money?

In the end, Anna did not demolish the Royal Palace first in the Royal Capital. The landmark was too conspicuous, and there was no manpower available to dismantle the huge building, as traffic in the Royal Capital was congested and manpower was insufficient.

Fran entered the Royal Palace again. This time, the Royal Palace was empty. When Theodore was there, there were many servants and some minor nobles who had accompanied Theodore's entourage.

Now all these people have been dragged down by those believers, and it's unknown whether they'll ever see the sun rise again tomorrow.

Fran approached the throne and gazed at the seat, which looked exactly like the one she remembered.

To be precise, it wasn't much different from the seats where the kings sat in her memory.

A large seat, resembling a red satin cushion, with smooth brown armrests and an intricately patterned backrest, sits on a small set of steps.

Fran stepped forward, approaching the throne. She could sense an attraction emanating from it, urging her to sit down quickly.

"As Territory Mage, I too can obtain the throne of Antir..."

Fran tilted her head and recorded the information in a small notebook; in her understanding, it was experimental data.

She naturally needed to record the details of obtaining the territory's blessing, as this was crucial for writing her Paper.

Fran's previous Paper were all Paper, but this one requires experimental data to support it.

"Like the Territory Knight Territory Mage Profession can also be drawn to the throne..."

Fran then wrote down another piece of information.

"Territory Mage will also be rejected by the throne if they do not acquire the corresponding territory required for it."

On this throne, besides the allure, Fran also felt repulsion, which she knew was because she controlled far too few territories.

We would need to acquire at least two-thirds of the entire territory of Antir to have any chance of sitting on it.

Just as Fran continued recording, a hurried footstep suddenly sounded.

Fran turned her head slightly and saw a familiar figure standing by the already broken gate, as if about to burst in.

"What's wrong, Elan?"

Elan calmed down when he saw Fran as he walked in. He took a breath and said directly:

"I'm sorry to bother you, Fran, but this matter requires your involvement... The Alliance's Investigator have arrived and say they want to examine the specifics of this throne struggle."

"Ah!? The Alliance's Investigator are here. How did they know about this?"

Fran remained completely calm in the face of this situation; she was simply curious as to why the Alliance knew about it.

It's important to understand that the mages of the Alliance don't care what's happening in Antir. Although the two places are geographically close, their lives aren't significantly affected.

The war in Antir might only cause a slight increase in the cost of living for civilians in the Alliance, since some caravans still need to pass through Antir to keep transportation costs down.

However, this has no impact on the vast majority of mages, as most of the spellcasting materials they use are locally produced within the Alliance.

This has resulted in the fact that although the war in Antir has been going on for a long time, no mages have ever paid attention to it, because the mages don't really care about what's going on here.

"I heard it was Theodore who sent them..."

Elan's expression was somewhat strange as he went on to recount the information he had gleaned from the servants.

"I heard that Theodore thought you were the former king's illegitimate son, which is why he did this at this time..."

"Ha..."

Fran smiled, paused slightly, and then said:

"So that's what happened. Theodore probably pinned all his hopes on the Alliance's mediation, but I have documents issued by the Alliance in my hand."

"Take me there, let's get rid of that Investigator quickly, he's getting in the way."

Elan nodded, but didn't move, so Fran asked curiously:

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with that Investigator?"

Elan paused for a moment before continuing:

"No, the Investigator was credentialed. It was just a misunderstanding; your people had a conflict with him. Miss Aila..."

Fran sighed deeply.