New Gods of North America

When Wayne woke up the next day, it was already Friday.

Time flies when you're on vacation...

Lina's last pigeon flew back to the detective agency at noon, carrying a tightly rolled piece of paper:

"Expedited arrival in Atlanta, currently no personnel losses. I saw 'former colleagues' I used to know from MI7 near the designated delivery location, suspecting this is another trap for me. Currently planning to catch someone and interrogate them, after which I may return with the necklace..."

What's going on?!

They've already delivered it to your doorstep, and you're still bringing it back?!

And they're using something worth at least several thousand pounds as bait, is your former unit really that extravagant?!

Besides, it won't be easy to sell even if you bring it back, right?

I wonder if Simon Sherman would be interested...

"The Fisk family is apparently very wealthy; it feels like you could accidentally step on their family's land anywhere in Georgia. Someone claiming to be from the Fisk family came by earlier, saying that they would provide us with some assistance out of respect for Miss Ovelia and her siblings. I feel like our location has been compromised, so I don't plan to pay him any attention. I'll take the team and leave the hotel after dark..."

Lina's vigilance is reassuring,

But wait a minute, can you clarify the previous topic first?

I'm still quite interested in the Windsor's intelligence agency.

"By the way, it's best if the detective agency doesn't accept any commissions from South Carolina recently. I suspect we might already be wanted there. We didn't even dare to collect the bounties for some wanted criminals before..."

“……”

Wayne suddenly felt like he wasn't that interested in the topic of MI7 after all...

"We didn't do anything wrong, we just encountered attacks from unidentified people one after another, and there were some unpleasant small conflicts. Some locals don't recognize that we were acting in self-defense and want to classify the incident as a gang fight. We were able to leave as quickly as possible by borrowing the channels of the 'Underground Railroad' organization through the agent from the Hunter Association..."

Wayne felt completely indifferent at this point,

Anyway, the authority to "classify" the incident rests with either the local law enforcement agencies or the corresponding departments of the Church...

But judging from Lina's description, Wayne felt that even if he were there, he wouldn't choose to sit and wait for death in unfamiliar territory.

"Ah, also. We met someone who seemed quite wealthy on the road, who felt like he was from the 'Cult of Truth' or 'Wisdom Supreme,' and he helped us out. If anyone comes to the detective agency asking about me, please don't tell them you know me."

Hmm...

It feels like Lina's been living a very fulfilling life recently...

Unfortunately, she's constantly on the move, so there's no way to have the pigeons write back to her. I can only wait for the results.

If that necklace can be brought back, this commission doesn't seem like a loss at the moment.

The current exchange rates between currencies in this world mainly depend on the gold or silver content of the coins, but they can also fluctuate.

For example, when purchasing specific goods, you may be restricted to using only that country's currency for transactions. The exchange rate will also change depending on the market's currency supply.

Once the calculated average exchange rate is written into the contract, actual price differences may occur. Some banks and merchants even specialize in profiting from this.

Returning to this matter, a necklace worth several thousand pounds, even if discounted to a transaction price of just over 2000 pounds,

At an exchange rate of close to one to five, that's at least ten thousand US dollars.

This falls under "unexpected circumstances" that arise during the commission and is not part of the normal split with the agents. At most, a small portion will be given as an extra bonus to the participating agents, with the remaining profits belonging to the detective agency.

After all, the agents are only responsible for the "commission itself."

According to the detective agency's rules, if there is a failure in escorting or a loss of valuables, the agents are not required to fully bear the compensation responsibility based on the number of people, and may even receive injury or death subsidies.

A more extreme example is that if the commission seems fine, but the client eventually discovers that the valuables have been replaced, the agents may still be able to share the commission fee proportionally—because the problem may not have occurred during the "escort" process—but the detective agency may have to pay compensation.

The losses ultimately fall on the "detective agency," which is equivalent to taking money out of the partners' pockets.

Correspondingly, naturally, whoever bears the unexpected risks enjoys the unexpected gains. Just like the greater the risk of the commission involved, the higher the share the agents receive.

——The American ethos and philosophy are just and ruthless in this regard, deeply rooted in people's hearts.

So, if calculated properly, this may be the detective agency's largest profit since its opening.

It's just that the detective agency escorted the client's valuables and turned them into their own. If this gets out, what kind of reputation would that be...

After Wayne finished reading, he took the note to Ineisha,

And then planned to read a book and continue waiting for the progress of various recent events.

Wait for the office to operate smoothly, wait for Lina and the others to return, wait for the results of the potion identification, wait for Mcken Reeves to wake up.

Strange, it feels like the detective agency has a lot of things going on,

But I've become quite relaxed instead... I don't even have to go to class these days.

……

Facts prove that some things can't stand being muttered about,

Wayne still felt quite relaxed at noon, but just after dusk, he received a notice from the clergy of the cathedral.

The content of the notice was quite simple, it was just that the Bishop summoned him,

However, the meeting time was set for tonight, which meant he had to leave immediately after receiving the message.

Riding in the detective agency's carriage, following closely behind the church's carriage all the way,

When a monk led him to a room deep inside the cathedral, Wayne felt a sense of unease.

This was a rather bright and ornate "small conference hall,"

It was called a "small conference hall" because it seemed to formally accommodate a small number of people, but it wasn't to say that its area was really small.

At one end of the spacious space was the main seat, with a long sofa in the middle.

Along both sides of the main seat, several large sofas facing each other were placed against the wall, with a size that was probably "too wide for one person to sit comfortably, and too cramped for two people."

The distance between the sofas was not close, and it felt like it might be a bit difficult to talk to the person directly opposite.

In other words, this was more like a place for "big shots" to meet in a relatively formal manner, but not publicly.

Especially after seeing that the cathedral's treasurer, Tom Hagen, was even standing respectfully next to the long sofa, without even a seat,

And at this time, on the two "secondary" sofas, already sat Priest Tyrrell of the Exorcist Association, who was said to be a candidate for Bishop, and Priest Barzini, who was in charge of the Georgeberg parish,

Wayne felt that he was not worthy of being here...

——The rule of the road is that small matters require big meetings, big matters require small meetings, and bigger matters require no meetings.

Oh my god,

It's not like they're going to sacrifice me to the heavens, right.