"Lara, good to see you. I heard that you needed help with the creation of the professional organizations," said Orazio as he sat comfortably on a welcoming couch with a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked like an ordinary grandfather welcoming his granddaughter home after a long journey. There was nothing intimidating about his relaxed posture or the warm expression on his face. Yet Lara knew better than most that this seemingly harmless old man was one of the most ruthless political figures in Europe.
Orazio was the head of an ancient political house with connections stretching across the entire world. His family had called Europe home for generations, and anyone who dared to threaten its position quickly learned why the great houses were feared. The friendly act he was putting on was entirely deliberate, but it was not meant to intimidate her. In fact, Orazio believed that deliberately appearing intimidating was usually pointless because it only highlighted the insecurities of the person trying to appear powerful.
There were certainly situations where such an approach was useful. If Orazio were dealing with a room full of yes-men who existed only to agree with whatever he said, then sitting behind an enormous desk and making himself appear imposing would have been perfectly reasonable. There was little reason to pretend to be approachable when the people in front of him had no intention of challenging him. Lara, however, was not one of those people.
She was an accomplished politician who had already spent decades working within European politics. More importantly, Orazio considered it highly likely that she would remain in positions of influence for centuries, especially once the current political restrictions on long-term office began to change. He had no reason to frighten someone who might become one of the most influential political figures in Europe.
If anything, being kind and approachable was far more unsettling for someone in Lara's position. She knew exactly who was sitting across from her, and that knowledge made every friendly gesture feel heavier than an obvious threat. A ruthless man who openly threatened her would be easy to understand. A ruthless man who treated her like a welcomed guest was much harder to predict.
"Yes, sir. I ran into some trouble regarding the position of the trade families," Lara replied. "Since I have not visited you or any of the other great houses since I took office, and you all know far more about the trade families than we do, I would like to ask for your advice regarding their position."
"Please, you do not have to call me sir. Just call me Orazio," he replied with an easy smile. "We are actually glad that you finally visited us, and we have already read your proposal. We also have our own thoughts about it."
Orazio was speaking not only for himself but for the great houses as a whole. They had already discussed what they expected from the new office and the direction they wanted it to take. In fact, the great houses had helped ensure that Lara could become Minister of Professions once the political opposition against her had been removed. Her ideology happened to serve their interests perfectly at this particular moment.
Lara had not yet visited the great house of her homeland, Austria, but there was a reason she had chosen Orazio as her first stop. His family possessed some of the strongest connections to the trade families in Europe. Those connections extended even to the two trade families that had previously remained hidden from the public.
That level of knowledge was hardly surprising when considering the age of Orazio's house. His family was one of the oldest great houses still operating in the modern world. Its history stretched back through countless generations, and its influence had survived political changes that had destroyed many other powerful families.
His ancestors had even helped the Assassin family escape through Italy when they were being hunted. That old connection had never completely disappeared, and Orazio's family remained on speaking terms with both the Sonnenbergs and the Assassin family in the present day. The relationships were complicated, but they were still strong enough to provide information that few other political families could obtain.
They even knew about the sabotage being carried out by both families. Unfortunately, knowing something and being able to act against it were two completely different matters. The great houses had no solid evidence that could support their claims, and at their level of politics, evidence was simultaneously everything and nothing.
Against an equal, proof was essential because political accusations could easily turn against the person making them. Against someone with no influence, however, evidence was often considered unnecessary because power itself could determine the outcome. Orazio's family had neither the desire nor the justification to begin a conflict without something substantial to support their accusations.
That matter, however, was not on today's agenda. Orazio had more immediate concerns to discuss with Lara, and the first was the enormous number of guilds she wanted to establish. "Regarding the number of guilds you want to create, there are simply too many at this stage," Orazio said, his expression becoming noticeably more serious.
"Yes, I know," Lara admitted. She lowered her head slightly before adding, "But can you blame me for trying? The bird that cries the loudest gets the worm."
Her expression made it obvious that she knew exactly what she was doing. She looked almost guilty, but Orazio immediately recognized the act for what it was. Lara was waiting for him to give in because she knew that the treasury controlled by the great houses was considerably larger than what the government could easily access.
She had come prepared to ask for more money, and she knew precisely which man she needed to convince. Orazio stared at her for several seconds before suddenly bursting into laughter. "Yes, you are right," he said between laughs. "But there is no prize for you."
Lara's expression immediately changed as she waited for the inevitable refusal. Instead, Orazio continued speaking as if the matter had already been decided. "What we will do is provide one hundred thousand silver coins to the top one hundred guilds as their starting capital," he explained.
"For the remaining professions, they will need to apply to the government for verification," Orazio continued. "Once their profession is verified, the government can provide ten thousand silver coins for the establishment of their guild. After that, the rest will be their responsibility."
Lara had been prepared to argue against him, but she stopped before she could say anything. The expression on Orazio's face made it clear that this was already his final decision. He was willing to provide a substantial amount of money, but he was not willing to open the treasury and allow every proposed guild to drain it without limit.
The arrangement was actually more generous than Lara had expected. The strongest professions would receive enough funding to establish themselves properly, while smaller professions would still receive enough support to create their organizations. At the same time, the government would not be forced to finance every expense indefinitely.
Orazio leaned back into the couch before suddenly looking at his empty cup. "Oh, look at me. I have been serving you nothing to drink. What would you like? Coffee, tea, or something else?" he asked.
"Just black coffee would be fine," Lara replied nervously. She watched as Orazio stood up and prepared another cup for her before returning to his seat. He then added several sugar cubes to his own coffee as though the man serving her personally was not one of the most powerful political figures in Europe.
Lara could not help staring at him for a moment. Orazio noticed her expression and raised an eyebrow. "What? You did not expect me to have servants do everything around here?" he asked curiously.
Lara nodded concisely. She had expected someone with his position to have people waiting on him for even the smallest tasks. Instead, he had simply stood up, prepared her coffee, and returned to his seat without giving the matter a second thought.
"If we did that, we would eventually have no free will left," Orazio replied. "We would just become pigs being fattened up." His tone remained casual as he took another sip of his coffee. "Now, enough delays."
His expression became more serious once again as he returned to the subject of the trade families. "Regarding your concerns about them, they are not unfounded," Orazio said. "Many of the scenarios you are worried about will indeed happen with a large portion of the guilds, although the truly ancient trade families are a different matter."
Lara listened carefully. She had expected Orazio to disagree with some of her concerns, but she had not expected him to confirm them so quickly. The trade families had already become a complicated issue since they had begun appearing openly in the public eye. Their reputation had grown so quickly that ordinary businesses were already attempting to imitate them.
The Bingen and Roth families were the clearest examples of what had happened. Once their names became famous, hundreds of thousands of copycats began appearing. Businesses discovered that simply attaching the name of a trade family to their products could make those products seem more valuable.
The situation became so ridiculous that only two trade families were generally considered legitimate by the public. Without the Bingen family explicitly speaking out, many people would assume that almost every other family claiming to possess an ancient trade tradition was fake. Even the Sonnenbergs were dismissed despite their original recruitment method having been widely discussed.
Unfortunately, that recruitment method had been publicized on the internet more than three years ago. In the modern world, three years was an incredibly long time for information to remain relevant. Most people had already forgotten the details, while newer stories had pushed the original information out of public attention.
Orazio found the situation deeply irritating. The fake families were not merely copying businesses; they were attaching themselves to histories they had never earned. They were using the reputation of genuine trade families to increase their own profits, effectively turning centuries of history into a marketing tool.
Honestly, Orazio would have liked to imprison every person involved in the entire affair. The blatant misuse of the names and traditions of the genuine trade families offended him on a personal level. To someone from an ancient house, history was not simply a story written in a book but something that had been carried forward through generations.
Yet the actual trade families themselves did not seem particularly concerned. They had more important matters occupying their attention. Their response had essentially been to forbid anyone connected to their businesses from ever conducting business with the imposters.
Beyond that, they simply ignored them. The genuine trade families were far more interested in their own professions than in wasting time fighting every person who attempted to imitate them. Their attitude was simple: if someone wanted to pretend to be a trade family, they could do so, provided they stayed away from their actual businesses.
Orazio understood their position even if he did not particularly like it. The ancient families had survived for generations precisely because they knew where to spend their attention. They had no intention of allowing thousands of imitators to distract them from the professions that had made their families powerful in the first place.