Episode 82 20. Guild Meeting (2)
said Rockefeller with a small smile.
“The imperial family might find it strange. I must have thought it strange, because they asked me to make not just one person, but an entire family of goldsmiths.”
“Haha, you might find it strange. It’s funny that I have to do something like that, but who’s asking for it? No matter what you ask, the imperial family will have no choice but to listen.”
“That would be natural. Whose request would you dare refuse?”
Either way, the result turned out to be good.
Rockefeller, who has now been laid off for an hour, is starting to steer clear of what he has been thinking about for the past week.
“There, the bishop. A guild meeting will probably be held in a week, hosted by Prince Benjamin.”
“Guild meeting?”
Bishop Berkis did not know about the guild meeting where all the Banco traders were gathered.
“Is there something going on there that suddenly even led to a guild meeting?”
“Your Highness, I don’t think you know anything yet. I don’t know. Because I’m not a banco dealer, so no one would have told me.”
“Is there anything special about a guild meeting?”
Rockefeller continued to speak in a very serious tone towards him, who thought he was insignificant.
“Actually, that meeting is quite important for us.”
“An important meeting?”
“Yes, we are going to set up and announce a new code there.”
“What code?”
“It is an interest payment issue. It is said that he intends to completely ban the payment of interest on deposits of gold coins at a meeting hosted by Prince Benjamin.”
“what?”
Bishop Berkis frowned.
“Are you going to make a code and ban it?”
“Yes, Sir, do you know this well? What does Prince Benjamin think of my interest business?”
“No, it is. Who is benefiting from that, so you mean to ban it on their own?”
Rockefeller was somewhat contented inside when he gave him a bad look.
‘That reaction would be natural. The one that will suffer the most from that is none other than the church.’
“It seems that Prince Benjamin was not very fond of church affairs. He’s a little different from me.”
Bishop Berkis asked with a frown on his face.
“Then what happens to your interest-paying business?”
“Obviously it will be difficult. Even with the guild code, there is absolutely no room for a powerless banco contractor like us on the outskirts.”
“No, didn’t you promise me?”
“That promise was also valid when the guild code was not issued. If I force you to do that for the Bishop, maybe our Banco will be automatically expelled from the guild, and people’s trust in our Banco will be lowered, so we may have to stop all our current business.”
“Still, you made an appointment with me. Are you going to break your promise to me like this?”
On the contrary, toward Bishop Berkis who was angry with him, Rockefeller began to persuade him in a calm tone.
“Sir, Bishop. It’s a banco with no business at all, and you don’t want to keep the church funds tied up in such a place. This is a sacred property of the Church, so I am concerned about it first.”
“It doesn’t work. What kind of money is that?”
“So am I. If it was the money I entrusted to someone else, I would have lied that it was okay because I was greedy. But since it’s the property of the church, I wouldn’t dare to do that.”
“haha… … .”
“Sir, Bishop. I am very sorry to tell you this. It seems difficult to see that I have broken my promise. It just happened that something unexpected happened and I had no choice but to do it.”
Bishop Berkis said.
“Then you’re saying that you can’t keep your promise to me because of the guild’s code?”
“For now, yes.”
“under… … .”
Who is to blame for this?
To blame Rockefeller, he made sense.
It was because Banco, which did not belong to the guild, could not do well in business.
So, the target of Bishop Berkis’s criticism was fortunately directed to the Guild Leader Benjamin, who was trying to enforce the guild program, not Rockefeller, who was next to him.
“How much have I ever done to him? Even if they are from the same family. Do I have to stop doing it like that?”
“This is entirely my opinion. It seems that Prince Benjamin really hated it.”
In Bishop Berkis’s opinion, if only the guild code was blocked, something would happen.
“Can’t I just step in and stop it?”
“Are you talking about yourself, the Bishop?”
“It’s something you can’t even stop, but the country should step in and try to stop it.”
Rockefeller then shook his head in denial.
“Sir, Bishop. It must be difficult.”
“Why do you think so?”
“The strength of the guild leader in the Lyon Guild is absolute. The power of the bishop is great, but the guild leader is from the same family as the bishop, so would the guild leader blink an eye? It is obvious that other guild members would think this is the same.”
“But it is! Who am I!”
“And if you go that way.”
Rockefeller exclaimed from within.
This meant that all conversations so far were going according to their intentions.
“Even people from the same family can blush at each other. And who knows if it will turn into a muddy fight and the two of you will be worse off than others?”
Bishop Berkis, who had his forehead wrinkled without mercy, was so enraged that he faced Rockefeller and slammed the armrest of the chair with his clenched fist.
“How much have I done to him so far! No matter how much bullshit was thrown at the courthouse, who the hell stopped it! But is he saying this to me just to get a bowl of rice?”
His clenched fist was shaking violently, as if his anger had not yet subsided.
Bishop Berkis, who was staring at the guild leader Benjamin, who was not here, with scorching eyes, continued.
“What the hell is wrong with such a guy that I have been doing this all this time! I should have kicked it out as quickly as I could!”
Rockefeller, who was secretly looking at Bishop Berkis, spoke carefully.
“I stayed here and heard a lot of stories. One of them was that the Lyon Guild had grown so much because it was all possible because of the power of the Bishop.”
When Bishop Berkis looked at him, Rockefeller continued.
“But Prince Benjamin doesn’t seem to be very willing to repay that favor.”
“Even if that dog-like bastard is from the same family!”
“Your Excellency, didn’t you even defend yourself for the Lyon Guild, and then you went out of your way and lost your position as Archbishop?”
“How do you know that?”
“I just heard it everywhere.”
Hmmm!
Bishop Berkis, who coughed in vain, continued.
“It’s not exactly that, it’s a bit complicated. But to some extent that’s true. His banco dealer is from my family, so I tried to defend him, and that’s what happened.”
Rockefeller sided with him.
“It seems that the Bishop has done a lot, but from my point of view, it seems that Prince Benjamin is doing something very wrong.”
Rockefeller secretly made a proposal to Bishop Berkis, who couldn’t say anything and was still angry.
“In my view, if the Bishop dared to go with such a person. In the end, the Holy Father seems to have a hard time.”
Bishop Berkis reacted strongly to Rockefeller’s words.
“that is… … What are you talking about now? Holy Pope?”
He didn’t know where his reaction would go, though.
Rockefeller continued with the following words to entice him with certain confidence.
“Yes, what I just said is true. If you are lacking anything, there is no law that says you can’t become a pope, right?”
Was it so unexpected?
There was silence between the two of them for a moment, not knowing what Bishop Berkis had to say.
Hmmm!
After a brief cough, Bishop Berkis opened his mouth.
“The Holy Father can’t be just anyone. Only those appointed by heaven can dare to rise to that place.”
“Where is the heavenly decision? If you push him around, he becomes the Holy Father. And such a person is the one appointed by heaven.”
Bishop Berkis’s mysterious gaze turned to Rockefeller.
Looking at Rockefeller’s serious face, Bishop Berkis spoke again, who had been silent for a while.
“What do you think… … .”
But as soon as something came to mind, Bishop Berkis began to shake his head.
From his point of view, he thought it was impossible.
“no. i’m having a hard time Right now, I have a low position in the denomination, and my relationship with the Holy Father is not that good. I need to be ordained by the Holy Father in order to get to that position, but that won’t be easy.”
Then Rockefeller smiled softly and broke his luck.
“Where else in the world is impossible? If not, we have to make it happen.”
“I’m really envious of being able to think like you. But when you get to my age and detach yourself from things in the world to a certain extent, things like greed will naturally decrease.”
“But, isn’t your bishop’s desire to increase the church’s wealth by receiving interest also somewhat greedy?”
Rockefeller’s words were strangely appealing to Bishop Berkis.
“That’s it… … But what do you want to say? You are saying that because you want to say something.”
At this moment, Rockefeller broke his luck with an infinitely serious expression.
“Then let me tell you straight up. Change your running mate right now.”
“Running mate?”
“Yes, my running mate.”
Bishop Berkis expressed his doubts.
“What kind of running mate do you mean?”
“I would like to ask you one thing. Sir, do you have any dissatisfaction with the reality you are facing now? In my view, if you change the surrounding environment even a little, you will be able to rise to a higher position in the denomination even if it is not the Holy Father. I am curious what you think about it.”
Rockefeller’s question now.
Are you complacent with the given reality?
Or he seemed to be asking if he had any other dreams.
“So, if I made you my running mate, would you think that my current situation would be a little better?”
Rockefeller continued to speak in a confident tone.
“At least I can assure you that it will be better than the current situation.”
“Hmm… … .”
“Sometimes people benefit from being from the same family, but there are a lot of cases where it actually gets them stuck.”
Rockefeller continued what he was saying to Bishop Berkis, who did not respond.
“At least not for myself. How long will you be bound by blood? Now, shouldn’t you get out of that bondage and go to a higher place than you are now?”
The next words were what Rockefeller really wanted to say here.
“I am enough to run up there with the Bishop. I am saying that I am not the kind of selfish person who only takes care of his own rice bowl by throwing away people from the same family as anyone else.”