The Founder of the Great Financial Family

Chapter 86 (2)

On the day of the guild meeting.

In Lyon's Ghetto Nuovo, an unusual procession of carriages started to stir.

From expensive thoroughbreds leading carriages to fascinating carriages moving on their own with magic.

Various carriages gathered chaotically in front of the meeting hall where the guild meeting was to be held.

Those who got off the carriages were all Lyon guild members, mainly bankers who had come from afar to attend the meeting hosted by the guild master.

"You're here."

"Oh, Chris. It's been a long time."

"Has it been a year? Oh! There's Larsen too. Larsen! Over here! Come this way!"

Bankers in the guild were quite close, gathering to chat before attending the meeting.

"Have you heard about that rumor? The one about... not charging a gold coin storage fee, but rather paying interest."

"Yeah, I heard. They say this meeting was called because of that."

As one person started, other nearby bankers quickly joined the conversation.

"There's a lot of talk about it. Some think it's true, others think it's false. There are so many stories."

"Chris, what do you think?"

"I don't know. That's why I came all the way here, isn't it?"

"I heard Benjamin is planning to prohibit it."

"Prohibit it?"

"Yeah, I heard he's going to ban it by establishing a guild rule. If someone here does business like that, the rest will suffer losses, right? From the people's perspective, a bank that pays interest is better than one that charges a gold coin storage fee."

"That's obviously true, but..."

"We should just keep charging the gold coin storage fee as we have been. We shouldn't interfere with other people's businesses. And when such rumors spread widely, we won't be able to charge the gold coin storage fee anymore. Even if we want to, we won't be able to."

One of the bankers then began to express a different opinion.

"But if you can deposit a lot of gold coins, it wouldn't be so bad to give interest. Most people don't entrust their gold to the bank unless it's a special occasion because they're reluctant to pay the gold storage fee. Rather, if we take a little interest and expand the loan business, that would be more profitable."

"You're right. People usually don't entrust us with their gold because of the storage fees. Only those who have some special circumstances or feel insecure about keeping it at home use the bank."

The guild-affiliated bankers, meeting after a long time, excitedly chatted about the upcoming meeting agenda.

"What's the right thing to do?"

"Well, that'll be decided in this meeting. Our opinion is that we can't break the guild rules, no matter what."

"True. No one has the guts to risk being expelled from the guild to run their business."

Their conversation also clearly involved Rockefeller.

"Wasn't it a banker's assistant who first came up with that idea?"

"Oh, I heard that too. It seems that his assistant is quite talented. From what I heard, there are many rumors about him. He turned a lord into a debtor and took over the entire territory."

"I've heard the rumors, but where exactly is that place? What territory had such an incident?"

"I think it's Mon... Mon something."

"Ah, it must be Montefeltro territory."

"Right, that's the place."

A territory located on the outskirts of the empire.

Some people didn't even know about the territory because it was so remote.

"Montefeltro? Where on earth is that? I've never heard of it before."

"It's a remote area. It's practically abandoned by the country."

"Ah! No wonder I haven't heard of it."

"Even the dwarves abandoned it. The royal family doesn't seem to care if anyone touches it."

"But it's still a territory. Just by holding it, taxes would come in regularly. Why bother giving it up?"

"You don't know how difficult it is to manage and care for such a land. The royal family might even consider it a loss."

"Well... it must be annoying for the royal family to keep getting requests for help from the lord of such a trivial place."

As everyone nodded in agreement, one person changed the subject.

"Anyway, that's why the lord was taken advantage of, right? If it had been a decent territory, the royal family would have definitely said something. They don't look kindly on us bankers either."

"But would they only target the church? We always watch out for the church's eyes, but we don't pay attention to the royal family when they occasionally ask for loans, do we?"

"We do watch out for the royal family. They're the rightful owners of this land, after all."

"But not as much as the church. The royal family can't compete with the church. The emperor would immediately cower if the Pope said a word."

"Well, we have to go to heaven when we die."

"No, it's because following the church's words keeps the country peaceful. The emperor knows that too, so he's very submissive to the Pope's words."

"Listening to you, it seems like you're right. Oh, oh!"

The banker who finished speaking suddenly looked surprised and pointed with his index finger at someone.

"Look, that's him. As far as I know, that young man coming with Carter is the rumored assistant."

"Ah! Looking at him coming with Carter, it seems like you're right. He looks like the assistant."

"So, that neatly dressed young man is the rumored assistant?"

"It seems so."

"He looks quite decent."

Despite everyone around him whispering about him, Rockefeller, unfazed, entered the meeting room with Carter where the guild meeting was being held.

"Let's go in too."

"Yeah, the rumored assistant has arrived. We should go in and listen to what he has to say."

"Let's go quickly. We need to get a good seat."

As soon as Rockefeller entered the conference room, the bank operators who were chatting outside the door also began to swarm into the conference room.

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