Guild Meeting (1)
Approximately a week later, Rockefeller received an unexpected call from the church.
It was a summons from Bishop Verkis, and Rockefeller, who knew the reason, quickly left his residence in the company of Leo, who had come to fetch him.
"Have you heard anything about the result?" he asked Leo.
"No, I was only told to bring you, but I didn't hear why they wanted to bring you, Rockefeller Hyung" Leo admitted.
They reached Lyon Cathedral.
There, Rockefeller was able to meet Bishop Verkis again after about a week.
"You've arrived. Please sit down."
From his bright expression from the start, it seemed like the result must have been positive. However, Rockefeller asked a bit anxiously, just in case, "Has the result come out?"
"Haha, isn't the result obvious?" The Bishop began to boast proudly, as if it were nothing.
At the good news, Rockefeller's face naturally brightens too.
"It seems the results turned out well."
"A goldsmith isn't such a big deal, anyway. You requested for you and your younger brother, wasn't it? I don't know him, so I told them to make all of your family —at any rate, all of you are now goldsmiths. Unless it's a big problem, it won’t be an issue."
Guild Meeting (2)
Rockefeller smiled faintly and said,
"The royal family might find it strange. They were asked to make an entire family of goldsmiths in an instant. Even I would have thought it was strange."
"Ha ha, it might be strange. It's funny that I have to step in for such a thing, but who's request is it? The royal family has no choice but to listen to whatever is asked."
"Of course. Who would dare refuse the request of the church?"
The outcome turned out well anyway.
Rockefeller, who was finally able to relax, started to speak about what he had been thinking for the past week.
"Your Excellency the Bishop, there will be a guild meeting hosted by Benjamin in about a week."
"A guild meeting?"
Bishop Verkis was not unaware of the guild meeting where all the bankers gathered.
"What's going on with them that they have to hold a guild meeting all of a sudden?"
"Your Excellency must not know anything yet. I guess that's possible. You're not a banker, so no one would have told you."
"Even if it's a guild meeting, what could it be?"
Rockefeller continued in a rather serious tone toward Verkis, who seemed to think it was not a big deal.
"In fact, that meeting is quite important to us."
"An important meeting?"
"Yes, they plan to announce a new decree there."
"What kind of decree?"
"It's about the interest payment issue. Benjamin plans to ban all interest payments for gold deposits at the meeting he's hosting."
"What?"
Bishop Verkis furrowed his brows.
"Are they going to ban it by making a decree?"
"Yes, Your Excellency knows well, right? How Benjamin thinks about the interest business I'm running."
"Right, but that's not the point. Who benefits from that? And he's going to ban it just like that?"
As Verkis showed his displeasure, Rockefeller was secretly satisfied.
'Of course, that reaction is natural. The one who will suffer the most from this is none other than the church.'
"It seems that Benjamin is not so friendly to the church. He's a different person from me."
With a frown on his face, Bishop Verkis asked,
"Then what will happen to the interest business you're running?"
"It's definitely going to be difficult. We, the weak bankers on the outskirts, have absolutely no strength to resist the guild decree."
"But didn't you promise me?"
"That promise was valid only when the guild decree was not issued. If I were to force it for Your Excellency, not only would our bank be automatically expelled from the guild, but the trust in our bank would decrease, and we might have to stop all the businesses we are currently running."
"But you promised me. Are you planning to break your promise with me like this?"
Instead of getting angry at Bishop Verkis, Rockefeller calmly began to persuade him.
"Your Excellency, you wouldn't want to keep the church's funds tied up in a bank that's not doing any business. This is a concern I have for the church's property in the Holy City."
"That's not possible. That's a different kind of money."
"I feel the same way. If it were money entrusted by someone else, I would have been greedy and continued to lie that it was okay. But I can't dare do that with the church's property."
"Heh..."
"Your Excellency, I am extremely sorry to say this, but I don't think it's fair to say that I broke my promise. It's just that something unexpected happened and I couldn't do anything about it."
Bishop Verkis said,
"So, you're saying that you can't keep your promise with me because of the guild decree?"
"For now, yes."
"Ha..."
Who should he blame for this?
It was hard to blame Rockefeller, as his words made sense.
A bank not belonging to the guild could not do well in business.
So, fortunately, Bishop Verkis's target of criticism was directed at Benjamin, the guild leader who was pushing for the guild decree, rather than Rockefeller next to him.
"How much have I done for that guy so far? No matter how much we are from the same family, is that how it should be? Does he have to block it like that?"
"This is purely my thought, but it seems that Benjamin really hated it."
Bishop Verkis thought that if he could just block the guild decree, things would work out somehow.
"Can't I stop it?"
"Are you saying that Your Excellency will personally step in?"
"If you can't stop it, I'll have to step in and try to stop it."
Then, Rockefeller shook his head in disagreement.
"Your Excellency, I think it would be difficult for you."
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