Chapter 233: Chapter 220: Spirit and Faith Belong to God, Secularity and Flesh Belong to the King! (Please Subscribe)
[Hadlara] The royal capital, within a luxurious council hall, the handsome second Prince erupted in fury after hearing his subordinate’s report. He swept the flowerpot and the oak wine cup from the table to the floor, cursing with rage.
“Damn it… Damn it! Curse that Harold, curse that William!”
All the attendants present were trembling and kept their heads down, daring not to respond, except for an elderly man with white beard who remained calm, looking over his glass of wine, waiting for the Prince’s rage to subside before speaking indifferently.
“There’s no need to worry so much, Hattar, things aren’t as bad as you think.”
“But, Master Anthony, Harold almost won the favor of all the nobles at that banquet, and of course, my dear father King Basel…”
At this, Hattar’s expression twisted.
In order to surpass his brother Harold at this birthday banquet, he had gone to great lengths. He had acquired an extremely rare Crystal Stone and commissioned a master sculptor to engrave a lifelike portrait of their father’s most glorious achievement during a war against a foreign nation.
However, just when he thought he would shine at the banquet, that cursed Harold presented a peculiar treasure called “glass mirror,” which almost instantly diverted everyone’s attention to himself.
As a result, throughout the banquet, he felt like a ridiculous clown, ignored and sidelined by everyone.
How could he not feel humiliated!
“Hattar, you need to remember why those who support you do so—they wouldn’t abandon their interests over a so-called rare treasure,” Anthony said, placing his glass gently on the table.
“As for your father, King Basel, I believe that Harold’s gift of the round mirror will only have the opposite effect…”
Hattar looked at Anthony, puzzled.
“Because Harold did something very foolish—before the banquet, he couldn’t wait to give another round mirror to the Archbishop of the kingdom. What do you think your dear father would think?” Anthony calmly reminded him.
Hattar paused for a moment, quickly understanding Anthony’s point. His father, King Basel, had always been dedicated to consolidating royal authority.
Harold’s act of presenting the round mirror to Archbishop Losak undoubtedly stirred the thorn in King Basel’s heart once again.
And those nobles, although nominally the rulers of various territories, were often more influenced by the words of the archbishops than by their own decrees, much to the disgust of many high nobles who dared not express their anger.
Yet his brother Harold, in order to secure the throne for himself, had gone to great lengths to please that Archbishop. It was clear to anyone that, should Harold become King, the Church’s power would only grow greater than before.
The nobles supporting him were simply hoping that he, once he became King, could somewhat limit the clergy’s various privileges.
With this in mind, Hattar calmed down again, though his face still showed some worry. “Master Anthony, what if that Archbishop openly supports Harold? What then?”
This was his greatest concern. Even though they possessed extraordinary powers due to their royal lineage, not even his father, King Basel, could contend with an Archbishop.
The only real rival to the Archbishop in the entire capital was Wizard Anthony, but he clearly couldn’t make a move easily, for that would only provoke an onslaught from the Church…
“This is the worst-case scenario,” Anthony’s expression grew even graver.
Although the Church always maintained that spirit and faith should belong to God and the secular and the flesh to the King, these were just comforting platitudes for the nobility.
“What should we do now?” Hattar asked, quite vexed.
“I’ve heard that those dual round mirrors and the glass products that have recently appeared on the market are the handiwork of Viscount William. We could start from there and investigate where he’s obtaining these rare ores,” Anthony pondered aloud.
He was very interested in these glass products. During his research, he unexpectedly discovered that under specific curved structures, these items could magnify or reduce an object and could be used to create many useful alchemical instruments.
“Good, I will send someone to investigate immediately,” Hattar nodded in response.
Although William was only a viscount, he controlled a massive fleet and was also a famous wealthy merchant in the kingdom, one of Prince Harold’s most steadfast supporters.
If they could cut him out, then Harold would naturally lose an important source of support.
At the same moment, in the dean’s office of the Iyeta Academy, Lynn, after listening to the report from the shipwright sent by Laud, tapped his index finger lightly on the table and said slowly.
“So, are you saying that William has recently been quite restless and even wants to renegotiate the division of profits?”
“Exactly, William said these novel glass products easily attract the covetousness of others. He needs to spend a lot of thought and energy dealing with the Church and the kingdom’s nobility. The benefits we give him are far from enough; he hopes to split it in half…” the worker reported truthfully.
Lynn sneered, William was clearly overstepping, completely misjudging the situation.
Although he faced some additional pressure, comparatively, the most dangerous work of shipping was now entirely in their hands, and didn’t need William’s intervention. All he had to do was use his influence for some cover-up, bribe some superiors; giving him thirty percent of the profits was already extremely generous.
According to investigations by Laud and others, William had perfectly implemented his hunger marketing and product grading scheme, selling those glass products at exorbitant prices. In just two or three days, he had earned several thousand Imperial Gold Coins, enough to match his usual annual trading volume!
However, human greed apparently knows no bounds. It seemed that after learning of Archbishop Helram’s death, William had become somewhat inflated.
“Let Laud stall him for now, negotiate slowly, my bottom line is for each side to give up one layer of profits to placate those priests and great nobles,” Lynn thought for a moment, then made his decision.
William is now a viscount of the kingdom of Hadlata, and Laud had just arrived in the capital a week ago, still unclear about the full extent of the situation. It would be difficult to take over his entire force in a short time. It was better to stall for now, they could settle the accounts slowly later.
What he needed now were various ore resources and scarce alchemical materials; mere gold coins were of little significance to Lynn…