I Became the illegitimate son of a duke

110 – Conflict of Interest (2)

“The war is over.”

For merchants, a war in a neighboring country unrelated to their home country is like gold nuggets falling from the sky.

Of course, you have to be careful because if you wander around the battlefield ignorantly, you will be plundered quickly, but in other words, if you are careful, you can wipe out money.

As merchants of Rotaring, there is no choice but to regret that the civil war of the Holy Empire ended sooner than expected.

“But this is another chance.”

“Yes, Your Majesty has given us a very nice present.”

But the merchants of Rotaring don’t care much.

Of course. They threw me a thick piece of meat that would make me salivate at the customs exemption, but couldn’t I complain about taking the bone I was just chewing? If you complain about this, beyond the level of lack of conscience, you just didn’t have the eyes to be a merchant in the first place.

“To be honest, it’s amazing to me that you’re getting a government exemption that can destroy a foreign country’s foundation while making a profit. Until now, the nobles I’ve dealt with have been reluctant to play with money like this as vulgar, but Your Majesty is interested in the level. Do you know everything beyond that?”

“That’s right, now that I think about it, I’m a little puzzled.”

The merchants are slightly suspicious of Claude, who pays attention to this kind of money play.

If they were nobles, they would say that talking about money was filthy and would not even mention it, and would throw all the minor tasks over to the attendants, and would always hold their heads stiff arrogantly. This is because it completely deviated from stereotypes.

Raising the Merchants of Rotaring and at the same time ending the Merchants of the Empire, a rival nation, is only one thing to end? Of course, those of us who are accustomed to dealing with money would be able to think of it, but I can’t imagine that a noble person would think of it.

It is possible that such a proposal was made by an attendant rather than His Majesty, but there had never been a case in which a policy was made in this way until just before His Majesty ascended the throne, and an attendant with enough power to propose a policy as soon as His Majesty ascended the throne suddenly exploded. It wasn’t that it was created by doing so, so it is certain that His Majesty’s will intervened.

“Right, now that I think about it, it’s the same with banks. Rumors have been overflowing in the streets that even though it is forbidden by religious precepts, the bank was approved through direct negotiations with the Seonghwangcheong.”

“The more I think about it, the more amazing it is. How can a noble person pay attention to playing with money?”

“Hmm… Perhaps His Majesty’s origins are the cause—”

“Look!”

The merchants, who were talking about Claude, who pays attention to this kind of money play, start a game at someone’s unreasonable words.

“ㅡEup…Ah, ahahahaha… I made a mistake on this. Forget about it.”

If you think about it, there is only one reason that could explain the king’s behavior. The issue of birth, which is what differentiates His Majesty the most from other nobles of the time.

But I can’t say why. How could you bring that up when there are not one or two people who attacked Your Majesty with it and got their heads cut off at a pig slaughterhouse?

The merchants shudder as they recall the scene where a pig’s neck and a human’s neck are entangled together. The hall, which had been buzzing just a moment ago, became quiet in an instant.

“hahahahaha, it’s just because Your Majesty studied a lot. You have a wise monarch, isn’t it something you should like?”

“Ah, ahahahaha… Yes, that’s right. Alright, everyone, the food is going to cool down. Eat quickly. Shouldn’t we agree after dinner how to divide the empire’s commerce?”

“hahahaha… That’s right, yes. Then, let’s enjoy our meal. Thank you for making this a good place, Chairman.”

The merchants try to enjoy the banquet, making an effort to make the noise that just happened. Of course, it is impossible to hide that the overall atmosphere has been greatly lowered, but the attending colossus completely ignores that fact.

If you walk out because the atmosphere is too bad, wouldn’t the rest of you tear away the empire’s commercial power? I never see anything like that for big colossus, covering everything.

…………

“…I still can’t come to my senses.”

“Armand?”

“Ah, I didn’t mean to Jeanne. I’m sorry.”

Suddenly seeing Armand read her letter and get angry, Jeanne is puzzled, and Armand smiles kindly and reassures Jeanne.

Jeanne and Armand had been meeting for the first time in a while and were chatting happily about the things that had happened in the meantime, like a grandfather and granddaughter relationship.

“The corrupt priests are struggling ugly to keep their power.”

“…Is that so?”

“To be honest, I want to burn everything down to the root… But it’s a bit difficult right now. Maybe we’ll have to wait until the students who graduated from theological colleges are properly established in Korea… By then, it will be five years later at the shortest possible time. You’ll be very late.”

As Armand said, he let out a deep sigh.

What is the most important thing when purging a group?

Some say it’s justification, others say it’s power, but in Armand’s eyes, the most important thing is speed.

Justification? A purge means that a higher-ranking person has already decided to eliminate a lower-ranking person. What justification is needed here?

Force? No matter how strong you are, if your speed is slow, won’t it give the target time to respond to the purge? It is dozens of times better to deal with it quickly than to press it slowly with force.

However, the speed at which Rotaring processes church spirits is too slow.

“Your Majesty’s judgment is extremely correct… But I can’t help but feel regretful.”

You could see what was slow, considering that the church territory was confiscated in an instant by interpreting the existing law differently, but the problem was that he had a fight with the Seonghwangcheong afterwards.

The Church Spirit was disintegrated and the power decreased a little, but the influence of the clergy did not decrease significantly.

And the clergy who are angry because the church domination has been violated are projecting their influence everywhere and trying to regain the ecclesiastical domination. The Cardinal overseeing the construction of the Provincial Archdiocese was bothered by this question.

“Are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“Even before, you were worried a lot about whether to follow His Majesty or the Holy Spirit.”

“Oh, you mean that? It doesn’t matter now. Following Your Majesty has become following the Faith. I wish I had reached a conclusion a little sooner…”

Answering Jeanne’s question like that, Armand laughs and burns the letter with the request written on it in a candle flame to ash.

“No, because of my ambiguous attitude in the past, people who still think I’m on their side are giving me information like this, so there’s a good side to it.”

“Whoops, that’s right.”

Jane also looked at Armand with a smile.

Armand’s eyes are full of conviction and conviction.

“Religious people only have to serve God. They have to pray, so they have to have a big temple? Then, what do you mean by the many prophets who prayed in the cave? You can’t forgive them for covering their own greed with faith. .”

“And to atone for them is to serve the Lord and be loyal to the Son at the same time. All of them must… Be wiped out.”

“Yes.”

After that, the two no longer talk about the remnants. Even if you don’t have to bother opening your mouth, you know each other’s thoughts, so there’s no need to say what you know again.

The two, who had been having a bloody conversation until recently, return to their granddaughter and grandfather as if they had never done that.

Jeanne smiles and boasts about the things she did well in school and how cool Saint-Sa was until now, while Armand smiles kindly and praises Jeanne.

…………

“Factions?”

“Yes, Ellen and other professors say that the number of cliques and gangs within the university has increased.”

Cliques can arise in college. In the first place, the nobles were gathered, but there was no way that nothing would happen.

“And when the factions met each other, they severely checked the opposing group, or even mobilized physical events. In the worst case, there were even cases where blood was drawn by requesting a duel.”

But what are you talking about?

Why are you having a fight in college? No, I wonder if it could be because I put a lot of hot-blooded 20-year-olds in one place… But if it comes to my ears, rumors have already spread around the neighborhood, isn’t it embarrassing as an aristocrat?

“I did research and it seems that the church and the military academy had a great influence. There were many dukes in the noble families to exclude the other party by forming factions in advance in order to eat the power of the military academy and the disbanded church. In the process, it is judged that several high-spirited young aristocrats who became sarcasm were responsible.”

“What? Aside from the church, I will personally assign teachers who have distinguished themselves in the Holy Empire’s civil war to the positions of teachers in the military academy. They fight over it?”

“Yes.”

That’s why I’m thinking about who to give the rice cake to, but the people who will receive the rice cake are getting rid of their competitors saying they’ll get it. What are you talking about

What is it? Aren’t you cheap?