Chapter 417 Wealth Bank (2513)
Cecil Solas was only slightly curious about Wanfang Trading Company, but he didn't take it seriously.
It's just a trading company. Even if it comes up with some new things, it's just a businessman.
The only thing worth noting is the identity of the other party's druid.
According to the introduction of a passing caravan, this druid named Fangis looks to be only in his early twenties and should be a level two druid.
Therefore, the key to the problem lies in the Temple of Wealth.
I want to see what these money-stinking rats, who have tarnished the title of "righteous gods," are up to!
The journey, which was supposed to take at least three days, was completed in two days. By the time they reached the outskirts of Albery, the white Verdolan woodland horse under Cecil Solas's butt was already steaming from its nostrils.
Isn't Albery a small town? How come it's so prosperous?
Before entering the Elbery region, still in the area where Seranden in Russen and Elbery meet, Cecil and his party saw several civilian settlements that were comparable in size to medium-sized villages in Luwak.
And it is clear that these settlements formed spontaneously.
What surprised them even more was that the Temple of Wealth had stationed priest servants and low-level priests in these settlements who could at least cast 0-level wealth spells.
Cecil Solas was shocked when he discovered this.
For thousands of years, the Temple of Wealth has only been concerned with making money and has never tried to develop its influence among the common people. Does this mean that it wants to establish a grassroots organization?
Although the Temple of Wealth had accumulated a large amount of wealth and had a huge influence among the people, the most important reason why it was not taken seriously by other temples was that it had never tried to develop its influence among the common people.
But now, the Temple of Wealth has actually begun to establish grassroots organizations. Is it to promote the beliefs of the Temple of Wealth?
This is a big event!
This is a major event that may lead to a decrease in faith in the Temple of Light!
In most countries in this world, ordinary believers other than clergy can believe in other gods.
For example, those who believe in the god of life may also believe in the god of courage.
In most cases, in addition to believing in the six main gods, people also believe in a subordinate god. In most cases, they are gods from the same pantheon, but it is not uncommon for gods from different pantheons to do so.
All major temples accept this.
After all, there really are gods in this world, and monotheistic things simply don't work here.
Because the gods require sacrifices of spiritual power, most temples have some doctrinal restrictions on multiple beliefs.
This situation is actually somewhat similar to a combination of the Great Zhou Dynasty, ancient Greece, ancient Rome and the Middle Ages.
In fact, it is understandable. If you believe in two gods, it is equivalent to dividing your tribute into two. When the total amount of tribute is fixed, the feedback you get from a single god will naturally be reduced by half.
But it doesn't matter to 99% of the common people. They can't become extraordinary people themselves. They just believe in one more god and may have to pay one more cent.
Although the God of Wealth does not belong to any of the six major pantheons, he is also in the camp of righteous gods. Previously, although the major temples did not encourage, they did not prohibit their believers from believing in the God of Wealth at the same time.
After all, everyone has the dream of getting rich, and it is impossible to stop it.
Except for the Temple of Light.
The Temple of Light absolutely forbids believers from worshipping the God of Wealth.
If there are believers who believe in it, it will not fall, but it will be expelled from the Temple of Light and will no longer be able to obtain the protection of the Temple of Light.
This is because the beliefs of the Temple of Light and the Temple of Wealth are completely incompatible.
If the teachings of the Temple of Life, the Temple of Nature, and even the Temple of Death can be complementary to those of the Temple of Wealth and do not affect the struggle for faith, then wealth and light are two completely incompatible beliefs.
The Temple of Light believes in light, order, protection of the weak, dedication to sacrifice, sincerity and integrity.
And what about the Temple of Wealth?
Just like faith - money.
Many pastors of the god of wealth openly say that "wealth is morality."
Many academic priests of the Temple of Light believe that there is no essential difference between believing in the Temple of Wealth and "degeneration".
Some people hold more extreme views and even believe that "belief in wealth" itself is the source of corruption.
At least one of the sources.
If it weren't for the restrictions of the "Oath of the Six Gods", and the fact that the Temple of Wealth has never valued civilian believers and never developed believers among civilians, the Temple of Light would have sent troops to eliminate what they considered to be the "source of corruption" long ago.
It’s not that the Temple of Wealth is not actively developing believers because it is concerned about the reactions of the major temples. It’s mainly because the money-grubbing priests of the Temple of Wealth were too lazy to develop believers.
What good is there for those poor people to develop?
Can you afford the casting fee?
In this world where the Gini coefficient exceeds 0.8, developing one million commoners will not bring as much profit as developing one hundred nobles and wealthy merchants.
The Temple of Wealth, which hadn't developed followers among the common people for thousands of years, had actually begun to reach the grassroots!?
No, this matter must be reported to His Excellency the Archbishop immediately!
Just as Cecil was about to write a letter to Archbishop Caramon, he discovered that the situation seemed different from what he had imagined.
These wealthy servants and low-level priests stationed in the emerging settlements did not spread any faith in wealth, nor did they provide any spellcasting assistance to the people. Instead, they stayed in the newly built chapel all day long, providing a free... "convenient service" to the passing caravans?
Oh, by the way, they seem to call these little chapels "wealth banks" or something?
What a weird name.
Whether it is a wealth bank or a chapel, it is just a name. What is most important is what it does.
Caravans usually carry a large amount of gold, silver and copper coins from various countries.
Therefore, in previous large-scale transactions, caravans faced two problems:
1. Cash security issues. The world is not peaceful. Carrying large amounts of cash, especially heavy metal coins, affects the efficiency of transportation. If you encounter danger and need to escape, you may lose everything in an instant.
In the past, many wealthy businessmen would choose the "treasure hiding magic" of the Temple of Wealth to protect the safety of their cash.
However, the "treasure magic" costs a lot of money, and once the recipient dies suddenly, the treasure inside cannot be taken out, so the audience is very small.
Second, the values of currencies of different countries are not the same. Even the cash held by the same caravan may contain currencies from five or six different countries. Before buying or selling any goods, it takes a long time to calculate the currency values, which is very troublesome.
But now, these caravans seem to be able to exchange their coins for the standard precious metal currency of the Temple of Wealth for free in the small chapels of the Temple of Wealth in these emerging settlements.
At the same time, they can also store their wealth in this small chapel for free. The Temple of Wealth has produced several different currency certificates, divided into 100 gold dukes, 50 gold dukes, 10 gold dukes, and 1 gold duke. Holders of these strange paper currency certificates imbued with divine power can exchange them for an equivalent amount of the Temple of Wealth's standard currency in all the small chapels of the Temple of Wealth.
The authenticity of these paper currency certificates can be easily verified using the magical "banknote detector" sold by the Temple of Wealth.
Of course, there are also free "money detectors" in each chapel for caravans to use.
This solved the problems of cash security and currency value that most caravans had faced before.
Cecil, in a white robe with gold threads, stood at the doorway of the small chapel of the Temple of Wealth in a newly established settlement on the outskirts of Elbery, watching the three priests and attendants inside, sweating profusely as they collected, exchanged, and verified money even on such a cold winter day...
They are just like a group of rats foraging in the mud!
Cecil snorted disdainfully.
But at the same time, a hint of doubt flashed across Cecil's eyes.
All these services are free, so what benefits can the Temple of Wealth bring?
Building a chapel, oh no, it costs money to build a wealth bank, it costs money to make these divine money detectors, it costs money to add divine anti-counterfeiting to these so-called "banknotes", and it also costs money to add these low-level priests. Does the Temple of Wealth spend so much money just to provide convenience for the caravans?
He didn't believe that these money-grubbing rats could be so kind.
In short, we are about to arrive in Elbery, and after meeting their "acting pope", everything will become clear!
(End of this chapter)
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