New Gods of North America

“Wayne, this was all Priest Bazini's idea…”

After understanding Priest Tiriel's one-sided accusations in a few sentences, Wayne couldn't sit still any longer and decided to quickly stop this “misunderstanding.”

As an expression of sincerity, Priest Tiriel handed over one of the large rings he wore on his finger.

Not as a gift to Wayne, but as proof that Wayne was “authorized” by Priest Tiriel, allowing his men to give up on continuing the plan when they saw it.

The plan itself wasn't sophisticated. While the detective agency's partners were away from home, they would find some people to sneak into the detective agency, and then find some people to attract the exorcists currently in Georgeberg City to chase after them.

Then, when the exorcists arrived at the detective agency, hey, what a coincidence, there was an unexpected gain.

This way, the detective agency's investigation into the Church of Light might be slandered as a “dog-eat-dog” fight between heretics.

After that, regardless of whether the detective agency could clear its name, at least the people related to the detective agency wouldn't be able to participate in the investigation during this period.

If the priests took the opportunity to stir up trouble and the cathedral didn't step in to protect them, the “people” in the detective agency might be fine, but if their plan succeeded, whether there would still be a “detective agency” in the future would probably become a question mark.

According to Priest Tiriel, Priest Bazini believed that the current investigation was entirely a conspiracy launched by Bishop Corleone, a “northerner,” against the “southern priests,” and that the detective agency was acting as an “accomplice” in it.

Wayne felt that this unwarranted disaster was a bit absurd, so he left a sentence to Priest Tiriel when he was rushing to leave:

“I'm from Can克斯, neither a southerner nor a northerner, but a 'westerner.'”

This was actually a bit of an exaggeration, but Wayne mainly wanted to vent his anger and express his innocence.

As for what the other party thought, that would have to wait until the results came out.

Since it only involved the detective agency, and this reconciled “misunderstanding” itself wasn't suitable to be exposed to the public, it wasn't appropriate to go over with a large group.

Wayne got into the carriage driven by Sanders, called up the agents stationed at the church, and drove straight to the detective agency.

The key point of the whole plan was the things used to frame them. They were originally spoils of war that Priest Tiriel's men had seized during their missions.

The church and the Exorcist Association themselves allowed the existence of something similar to a “small treasury,” which wasn't very in line with the rules, but as long as the person in charge had enough status, some things could actually be “ratified afterwards” or “not be taken as an example.”

However, like other so-called stolen goods, once they appeared in the wrong place and there was no suitable person to claim them, they could be called “evidence.”

The detective agency was relatively empty at the moment. If they were attacked, they might know to retreat in time, but if someone secretly came to “deliver things,” they might not be able to defend against it.

Wayne imagined a little, for example, if someone secretly threw a gold ornament with an inconspicuous evil god mark into the yard without any extraordinary reaction,

the agents' reaction might be to pick it up and keep it, waiting for the partners to confirm and dispose of it.

Damn it, the more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt.

He had to add a line to the agent's manual, “No picking up things randomly.”

Fortunately, the detective agency was guarded by the owl and Damon McReady. The people sent by the other side weren't here for a direct conflict.

When Wayne returned to the detective agency, Damon McReady, who was guarding the roof of the warehouse, even had the mood to stick his head out to say hello, saying that the agents guarding the house had driven away several waves of "little mice" tonight.

Out of caution, Wayne himself checked the detective agency with the agents and didn't find anything suspicious, but he did pick up a little loli who turned into a meat lump and crawled around in the middle of the night.

After scolding Emma a few words, Wayne felt that Damon McReady was too indulgent with the bear child. There was no such phenomenon when Lina brought the baby before.

When the owl came back and issued a warning that strangers were approaching the small yard, Wayne used the simplified lines of sight to look over and said “cancel the operation” from a distance, and then approached to show the ring. The other party seemed to retreat willingly.

In fact, Wayne had originally thought about “keeping” these people, but during the trial, he found that the leader seemed not easy to deal with. When the other party tried to activate extraordinary abilities, Wayne could vaguely perceive danger, a feeling of “evenly matched opponents.”

So the temporary idea of “black eat black” was abandoned. However, Wayne took advantage of the other party's lack of knowledge of the situation and asked people to leave the things behind, preparing to file a case with Tom Hagen and then keep them for himself.

The detective agency doesn't have many extraordinary items of its own. Although the heretical things are unclean, since they are the collection selected by Priest Tiriel, they are estimated to be of some value.

He weighed it slightly and counted the number. There were four things, none of which were made of gold, but there were some inlaid with gems, and one of them looked like an obvious extraordinary item.

Because he had agreed with Priest Tiriel that this was just a “misunderstanding,” when Wayne took the things back and saw a team of exorcists chasing a few horse riders in the direction of the detective agency, he didn't stop them.

But the place where he should be angry still had to be angry, and he couldn't just let it go with a simple “misunderstanding,” otherwise there might be more misunderstandings in the future.

Therefore, Wayne took out a few lever rifles from under the seat of the carriage and lent them to the exorcists, telling them that this was better to use when chasing, and also reminded them that the detective agency had been attacked a lot recently, and there were traps around the small yard.

He hoped that the traps that Doug and Damon McReady had temporarily set up wouldn't blow up the exorcists too…

Back at the church, Wayne first took the things to Tom Hagen to take a look, saying that he had just received a tip from Priest Tiriel that a petty thief was planning to attack the detective agency tonight, and that these things were seized by the detective agency from the attackers just now.

Tom Hagen asked about the casualties, and looked at the things. The cunning ghost probably guessed something, and then arranged for people to conduct a preliminary inspection and file a record, and reminded Wayne not to play too much.

When he went to see Priest Tiriel again, Wayne was unhappy in his heart, but he basically confirmed that this old man should not have much relationship with the Church of Light.

After all, the Church of Light is now listed as a key target by the Church of the Holy Spirit for its lurking parasitism. Priest Tiriel has become a bishop candidate. If he is really a heretic of the Church of Light, then he would not use his private soldiers to play tricks such as framing, and he should not be so "gentle" when he starts.

Nor would he easily expose the hidden manpower to outsiders like Wayne.

As long as it is not exposed, then there will be plenty of opportunities to do it when the storm passes.

Although the attack was indeed a bit dark, Priest Tiriel's thinking as a whole looked more inclined to the “good guy perspective.”

So after Wayne met him again, he first said that the matter had been resolved, and then threw out a question for consideration:

“Priest Tiriel, assuming that tonight's misunderstanding could not be eliminated in time, and our detective agency happened to be unscathed, who do you think would be the actual beneficiary of the matter?”

In fact, according to Wayne's idea, with similar reasoning, it can basically be deduced that Priest Bazini is also likely not a heretic of the Church of Light.

But since others have stabbed him in the back, even if Wayne doesn't resent the “knife” itself, he can't pretend not to see the person holding the knife—what if the other person chooses to take a gun next time.

Priest Tiriel, this old man, just seems a little “not enough to see” compared to guys like Priest Bazini or Tom Hagen. People who can sit in this position, no matter how simple they are, can't be too simple.

Therefore, he hardly thought, and his eyes followed the position that Wayne had looked at before.

His gaze seemed to pass through the wall and look towards Priest Bazini's office in the church.