Chapter 81 (1)

Chapter 81 (1)

Bonus chapter thanks to @ShadeSlasher's subscription to Dwarven Sovereign Tier on Ko-fi!

The Lyon Guild (9)

"Most guild members probably think that way."

"Why? Are you interested in being the guild leader?"

Rockefeller chuckled and replied.

"I'm not even a goldsmith yet."

"That's true. You're not a goldsmith yet. Yeah, I was having a silly thought."

Although he said that, Rockefeller was genuinely considering becoming the guild leader.

He could easily give up the position of lord, but the position of guild leader was different.

'It will be a significant position. The moment I become the guild leader, all the moneylenders in the guild will develop into a more evolved form than they are now.'

That is, into banks.

"From what I've heard, it seems that the guild leader is someone who is elected to help all the guild members."

The shop owner did not deny it.

"That's right. The original purpose of the Lyon Guild was for weak moneylenders to join forces. You may not know this, but just a few decades ago, moneylenders were practically trapped in this Ghetto Nuovo. At that time, they couldn't even be treated as people."

Why?

Because they were engaged in usury, and everyone despised and oppressed them.

"Only recently has that perception softened a bit, and it's all thanks to the help of the bishop. The church also needed money, you see. And since the moneylenders had the money, the church showed favor. It's funny, but the bishop here needs this to move up to a better position."

"You mean money?"

"Rather than going wrong, as I said before, he pushed himself too hard. It's not like money keeps falling from the sky."

"So, did what you mentioned earlier happen?"

"That's what happened. Initially, the Papal Court was happy, but as the donations here continued to decrease, they became discontent. In fact, they were still giving more donations than anywhere else."

"I see."

"People can be so cunning. When they became dissatisfied with the donations, the Papal Court began to question the faith here."

"It's a funny story. After all, it's still quite a bit of money."

"To appease them, Bishop Verkis tried to somehow raise money and asked Benjamin for help, but as I said earlier, it was too much from the start, and he failed."

At this point, Rockefeller asked a follow-up question.

"Did the relationship between the two become a little strained at the time? I'm talking about Bishop Verkis and Benjamin."

"Still, they were from the same family, so they knew each other's situations. Bishop Verkis eventually gave up, realizing it was too much."

"I see. So, the result was..."

"Obviously. The Holy See gave Archbishop Verkis the position of Archbishop, but when the church funds decreased, they demoted Verkis by one rank just because there are many moneylenders here. Unfortunately, it was because of the moneylenders that he reached the position of Archbishop, but his greed held him back and he was demoted to Bishop again."

"It's a pity."

"There wasn't anything particularly wrong with Archbishop Verkis, but if he hadn't been so greedy at that time."

"He could have had better results if he climbed up step by step."

"But I don't know this very well, but there was a rumor that the relationship between Archbishop Verkis and the Pope was not very good at that time. I don't know the details of the church affairs, so I'm not sure."

Rockefeller's ears perked up.

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