It is bound to be a humiliating negotiation.

Sitting on one side of the long table, Todd looked at the empty seats beside him, and then at the unscrupulous church staff sitting across from him, and he touched the bridge of his nose and thought.

Both Huggins and Karin offered to go with them, but the monk refused them. At the end of the day, neither of these two men was appropriate in the negotiations with the church.

Besides, the argument that negotiating this kind of thing is not a group fight, and the more people there are, the more people have an advantage, it is completely untenable.

"I don't seem to see Father Paul?"

Todd asked first.

A man dressed in a short white priest's robe said in a contemptuous tone: "Brother Paul has more important business in the church, and his time is more precious than you think. ”

This bastard!

There is a limit to no one in sight!

Calm down, calm down.

Thanks to the invincible face I developed in the face of leaders and students during my college years. Todd was full of evil fire in his heart, but his face was kind, he looked at the people opposite, his eyes rolled, and he opened his mouth and said: "I see, I can fully understand that Father Paul is in a high position, and when he talks to a small monk like me, he naturally doesn't need to work hard for him, but he has worked hard for everyone here." ”

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the people in the church were different.

Some people were not angry when they remembered something, some people had solemn expressions and began to talk to each other, and others, such as the assistant priest who had just spoken, looked like they were proud and exactly like that.

Paying close attention to the changes on the other side, Todd smiled at the corner of his mouth.

What I said just now didn't sound like a problem at first glance, but it was a test of status.

From this point of view, the people of the church who participated in the negotiation were by no means "monolithic".

They also belong to various small camps in the church, perhaps the bishop's cronies or the deacons' allies.

Even before this negotiation began, Father Paul made a huge mistake. He was the head of the bishop's assignment, but forgot that he was not the highest of the Holy Order in the group. In other words, he was on a par with many of the people in the Church visiting group. If he can be more modest and cautious, and coordinate the internal relationship of the team, he may be able to get along. But he did a stupid thing, in order to show his status, he deliberately absent from this negotiation, and instead assigned others to replace his subordinates like a leader commanding his subordinates.

This is disrespectful to colleagues and a sign of extreme arrogance.

Todd remembered that in the past, in order to apply for scientific research funds, he whispered to the head of the department, and when he went to dinner with the leading officials, not to mention whether to attend such a thing, even when toasting, the position of the wine glass should be lowered, there were detailed details.

This kind of human sophistication may not seem important, but once it is mentioned, it can always cause darkness in the depths of people's hearts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, although I am a monk, I still have some contact with the Church. I attended Bishop Fabian's Blessing Mass, and I was very impressed by the Bishop's study of the Word and his theological insights. ”

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the people in the church changed again.

The first to speak were the group of priests, whose faces were expressionless, as if they had nothing to do with them, but the other group looked happy and had relatives, and some even whispered in response.

Secretly noting people's faces, Todd smiled and stretched out his hands: "Fellow parishioners, let's talk." ”

The negotiations lasted from the afternoon to the evening, from the warm day to the beginning of the moon.

When it came to dinner in the evening, the original intention of the church was to invite Todd to dinner. Meals consisted of ordinary marching dishes, such as vegetable soup, boiled beans, ham and bread, and the drink was the sour pomegranate juice stored in the camp.

What they never expected was that Todd spared no expense to find someone to buy a large amount of red wine and food from nearby villages and send it to the church camp.

A dinner turned into a drinking feast.

Todd, who was attacking around with a wine glass, faintly found the feeling of his previous life, the just right praise on his lips, the thoughtful movements of the body salute, and the atmosphere that exploded at the right time, pushed the whole banquet to one climax after another. The laughter and praise of people can be heard even from miles away.

In the corner of the camp, Walton, a short and fat man with a barbecue in one hand and a wine glass in the other, walked up to the captain Alfonso, bowed his chin, motioned him to look at the monks who were not far away, and asked in a low voice, "Is it that we are obsolete or has the world changed?"

The Iron Mask Knight didn't speak, his eyes fixed on the gray-robed figure in the field, and he put his hand on his chin and rubbed it gently.

The outcome of this negotiation was naturally a joy for both the guests of honor.

The Church received a lot of first-hand information from Todd, and also received his promise to cooperate fully with the Church and enter the Monastery of San Sidlo.

Todd obtained the following powers from the Church: the Diocese of the Silver Ring, the right to recruit troops for the Exorcist Mission, the right to operate the Church's licensed merchandise, the duty-free access to the secular state, and most importantly, the exclusive right to operate the Harbor of the Twilight.

Walking out of the church camp, I looked back at the banquet that was still full of people and laughter.

Todd, whose face was flushed, tightened the several authorization documents in his arms, burped a long wine, and said with a secret smile in his heart: "How can you play with the human feelings and wine table culture inherited by the ancestors for 5,000 years?!"

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Three days later, the City of the Silver Ring, the Cathedral of St. Cove.

Bishop Fabian sat in his Roman chair and looked at the two reports in front of him with a smile.

One is from Father Paul, who describes the monk Todd as a copper-stinking, rude and ignorant pseudo-monk, with a glaring remark in the text, "By the power of the Father, he covers up the sin of greed."

Another report comes from the bishop's cronies. Todd is described as a church-hearted, learned brother who is devout and humble and should try to win him into the church.

The same person who participated in the same negotiation gave two very different reporting documents, and even the bishop began to wonder if someone had made a mistake. Fortunately, one thing was agreed upon in the two reports: Todd was a key figure in bringing the Abbey of San Cidro into the arms of the Church, and he was very willing to cooperate with the Church.

Bishop Fabian turned his gaze to another document at hand, a letter of complaint. The content was that some people in the church delegation accused Father Paul of arrogance and negligence.

Taking off his crystal glasses, the bishop rubbed his temples with only one doubt in his mind.

What happened at the Monastery of San Sidlo?