As Fredrick 'felt' Davin's party going below the mountain, he thought…
'Maybe I can use this'
But shook his head in the next instant.
'No, I've taken more than enough. Just enough mana stones and mana crystals remain to lead the Empire on a wild goose chase, then they'll find Ilyon…and the rest will be history'
Fredrick glanced at the remaining mana stones that numbered only in the tens, before shaking off his greed.
In the first place, Ezra could have easily made Fredrick go stealthily, plunder the whole mountain for all it was worth, then vanish with nobody being none the wiser.
Yet he didn't do so. Why? Because chaos had to bloom for his future plans to go unobstructed.
This was the aim of the entire scheme, to cause chaos!
People would butt in others businesses when they had nothing to do.
To prevent that, Ezra had to give them something to occupy their time.
And what better way to cause chaos, as well as attract idle hands, than to start a war?!