Just How Many Moves Ahead Had He Seen?

Early the next evening.

At the monastery's dining hall, Abbot Hieronie was busy talking with the city council members and wealthy donors who had come to make donations.

Normally, he would have gone out to greet Daniel, but the donation event happened to coincide with Daniel's visit, leaving him no choice but to attend to his guests.

Daniel was important, of course, but from Hieronie's position as abbot, money to feed the many orphans was more important.

Donations for the orphans were already gradually drying up, so Hieronie was doing everything he could to win the council members over.

“The war is causing the number of orphans to increase, yet it's truly ironic that donations for them are decreasing more and more. What on earth are the companies profiting from the war doing…….”

At the councilman's affected remark, Hieronie nodded with an awkward smile.

“Councilman Reden, you are truly a benefactor. You have volunteered to donate a generous sum to our monastery for the sake of the orphans. This is surely God's grace.”

“A generous sum? That's far too much praise. And I'm sorry to say this, but our city council may cut the budget allocated to the orphanage in the future.”

Despite his efforts to curry favor, the result was not good...