Episode 87 21. Guild Meeting #(3)
Catacombs.
Even if the church rejects me, my faith will not change.
It was not that the usurers who were persecuted by the church in the past did not believe in God.
Rather, most of them wanted to develop their faith in order not to go to hell, and the place that was built for this was the Catacombs Church, the beginning of the Lyon Guild.
This place, which can be seen as a small church, has a structure similar to that of a chapel. Now, the guild members visit the Cathedral of Lyon, but in the past, they could not visit the church openly, so they gather here every week to pray to God and meet with guild members for the development of the guild. did it
That was the starting point of the Catacombs Guild Meeting.
‘It’s my first time at a guild meeting place. Is this the catacombs you’ve only heard of?’
The conference hall was similar to a general chapel.
The pulpit where Mass and the guild members were speaking was prepared in the front row, and behind that, the church chairs where the members and the guild members could sit were arranged in a row.
Rockefeller entered the conference hall and followed Carter to a suitable seat, and he could see the guild members whispering over him around him.
‘You seem to be conscious of me.’
Shortly after Rockefeller sat down.
The guild members who entered the conference hall also began to sit down in a noisy atmosphere.
They seemed to care a little about the owner of the rumor, Rockefeller, and continued talking amongst themselves in a low voice.
“It’s that person over there.”
“Oh, is that the rumor’s assistant?”
“Because it is. It is not enough to eat and eat his own lord, so rumors are spreading that he steals all the church property here and pays interest.”
After a while.
Bishop Berkis, who came out of the Lyon Cathedral, started to celebrate Mass.
It was a long tradition of the guild meeting to worship the gods before the guild meeting.
However, today’s worship service is different from usual in that Bishop Berkis, not an ordinary priest, comes to celebrate Mass.
However, since Bishop Berkis here was from the same family as the guild leader, the guild members did not question the fact that Bishop Berkis held the Mass himself.
After the Mass was over, the long-awaited time for the guild meeting came.
Benjamin, who took the position that Bishop Berkis had resigned from, began to raise his voice towards the guild members who were still standing.
“greatness! So, let’s start the guild meeting now.”
There were coughing sounds in various places, but overall the conference hall was quiet.
In that atmosphere, Benjamin continued.
“I have summoned all of you who are busy here today because there are some important issues that I need to discuss with you.”
Benjamin held his breath for a moment, then continued.
“First of all, the first thing we are going to discuss is the upcoming War of the Crown.”
When the story of the War of the Crown came out, the whole conference hall began to roar.
“quiet! The conversation is not over yet.”
Benjamin informed everyone at the meeting about what had happened the previous week.
The person of the 1st prince came and told him everything he had done to threaten himself, the guild leader.
“Like this, the 1st Prince told us not to support the 3rd Prince. He even said that he would be prepared later if he violated this rule. The determination here would be the same as not doing business with us.”
Even though Benjamin’s words were not finished, the guild members began to scream.
“What kind of bullshit is that! Everyone knows that we are on the side of the 3rd Prince!”
“Soundless!”
“The first prince seems to have no fear! To borrow money from someone later!”
“Do you think the Sinclairs will just exist?”
Benjamin’s expression did not change despite the angry guild member’s cry.
After the high castle came and went several times.
Benjamin spoke again.
“That is why we have gathered all of you here to hear good opinions. Any good comments?”
When he asked for a good opinion, several guild members all raised their hands in unison and asked him to speak.
Benjamin glanced at him and said, pointing to one familiar to him.
“Let me tell you.”
Hmmm!
An unknown guild member who got up from his seat with a cough began to raise his voice towards the guild members gathered at the seat.
“As we all know. Even if we die soon, we must seek the protection of the Sinclairs. Even if the first prince comes here now and says some bullshit. We are in a position where we cannot abandon the 3rd Prince who is unconditionally supported by the Sinclair family. It is an act of disobedience.”
His opinion was this.
No matter what the 1st Prince says, let’s keep our loyalty to the Sinclair family unconditionally.
In other words, it was no different than the sound of only the third prince pushing hard.
Then the backlash erupted from the other side.
“No, then, if the first prince wins the war for the crown, then what will he do? Will you still find only the Sinclairs! Say it once!”
Here, Benjamin intervened.
“Wow, from the start of the meeting, only the person I designate can speak in this hall. Everyone please follow the rules of the meeting.”
Then, the guild member who had protested earlier raised his hand.
It meant asking for a say.
Benjamin pointed to him and gave him the voice he wanted.
“I will give you the right to speak. tell me What opinions do you have?”
The guild member, who gained the right to speak, stood up and raised his voice proudly.
“The candidate most likely to win the upcoming crown war is His Majesty Lai Yan, the first prince. We know that His Majesty Layyan, well known as a maniac war-maniac, has the backing of the famous Tepez family and is very warlike.”
Rockefeller, who was sitting quietly, shook his head involuntarily.
‘I’m Rayyan… … You’ll hear the name here.’
As he said, the first prince of the Empire was a very warlike man.
He has a personality that never avoids the fights he has been through, and pays back if he has suffered.
He was a prince who inherited the blood of a typical Tepez family.
“If His Majesty Lai Yan wins the crown war, those of us who could not support him could be thrown away in an instant. Do you really want to play such a risky gamble?”
There was no one who gave an honest answer to that question.
“I am not good at vague gambling. Of course, there is no chance that the three princes will win the battle between the two of them, which we wanted to inform before. But if we look at the probability alone, the momentum of His Majesty the First Prince is very impressive.”
He ended his speech with these words.
“So, I hope that I will not support the Third Prince, even with various excuses. Rather, the Sinclair family will be dissatisfied with this, but the First Prince will win the war for the crown and we will not stop doing business, right?”
When the guild member finished talking and sat down, another guild member raised his hand.
When Benjamin pointed it out, this time the guild member with a bulging belly began to speak to everyone.
“I have heard the story of the two of you earlier. I also sympathize with and respect the views of both of them. Now we are in crisis. It’s a position that neither side can definitively push. So I would like to make this proposal.”
When everyone’s attention was focused on him, he began to repeat what he was about to say.
“Both of them are secretly supporting them all. Then there’s nothing to look at, do you?”
Then a guild member protested.
“Are you sure you won’t get caught!”
“So, we are talking about supporting everyone as much as possible without anyone knowing. Then there will be no problem? Whichever side wins, we have something to say.”
This time, another guild member got up from his seat and shook his head.
“It costs way too much money. Pushing one side in itself would cost a lot of money, but do both sides support it?”
There was blood on his neck.
“Do you know where money comes from? You’re doing this to make money! I know who is doing this to give me money!”
As his shouts continued, the whole conference hall became chaos due to the voices that sympathize with him.
“quiet! quietly!”
And, naturally, it was Benjamin’s responsibility to settle this commotion.
“be quiet!”
It wasn’t until he yelled several times that the hall managed to silence.
“I didn’t even give you the right to speak, so why are you suddenly interrupting me? If you keep doing that, you will be forced to leave the meeting room with the authority of the guild leader, so be aware.”
Hmmm!
After a brief cough, Benjamin called out to everyone.
“Are there any other good comments? If you have a good opinion that will convince everyone here, please do not think alone, I will give you a chance to speak in front of everyone.”
good comments.
Everyone who couldn’t be there just looked at each other in silence.
Seeing such guild members, even Benjamin felt like he was about to explode.
He did it because he also didn’t have a proper solution.
at that time.
‘what?’
I could see a young man who was vague to be considered a guild member quietly raising his hand.
When Benjamin saw the man with his hand raised, he frowned without realizing it.
‘What are you going to say?’
Rockefeller quietly raised his hand, but Benjamin was consistent in ignoring it.
I waited for a while to see if there were any other guild members to speak to, but there was no such guild member.
‘You keep bothering me. What the hell are you talking about?’
It was unwilling, but Rockefeller was needed on the second agenda.
It was only with his testimony that I was able to convince the guild members and enforce the new guild code.
‘I can’t help it.’
“You wouldn’t even be a guild member here. Still, let me hear your opinion.”
As Benjamin gave the speech, Rockefeller stood up and opened his mouth to everyone.
“As the guild leader said, I thought it might be a presumptuous remark, but I am not yet a guild member. Still, I feel like I have to say this for all of you, so I have the right to speak.”
As Rockefeller got up from his seat, most of the guild members who recognized him began to mourn with each other.
It was because the rumored Banco assistant got the say.
Rockefeller continued to speak towards those guild members.
“I don’t have any great solutions. But your attitude is very disappointing.”
At Rockefeller’s words, the entire conference hall began to roar.
Benjamin, with a wrinkled expression on his face, asked Rockefeller.
“Why do you think so? Does it seem funny to you that we are involved in the Crown War?”
And Benjamin implicitly laughed at Rockefeller.
I meant what a kid like you knew.
But Rockefeller shook his head and denied everything here.
“Money is power, virtually everything. And we are the ones holding it. However, our opponent looked down on us and left us a threat. And we!”
As if emphasizing it, Rockefeller continued to say the next thing, burning his eyes.
“I was embarrassed by that, and I bowed my head to them. It means that we only showed the typical side of the underdog without knowing our strength. This is it. It’s very problematic. Since when have we been the weak and the weak? Weren’t we supposed to form a guild like this and unite with each other to increase that power?”
There was no guild member to refute the last question.
They also wanted to become the strong, not the weak.
“As far as I know, the difference in power between the 1st and 3rd princes in the upcoming Crown War is not that great. So, everyone here has different opinions. If either side had a unilateral advantage, there was no need to even bring up this agenda.”
To all who agreed, Rockefeller continued speaking to me alone.
“Then what will happen if we push one side strongly in the midst of that clumsy scale?”
In silence, Rockefeller gave the answer.
“The one we push will soon become the emperor.”
At that moment, rumbling voices began to come from all over the conference hall.
If you think a little differently, Rockefeller was right to some extent.
“In this way, it is us who can decide which of the two princes will become emperor or not. But does it make sense to bow your head to them?”
Rockefeller denied it, shaking his head openly as if they had done something wrong.
“This is your fault.”