New Gods of North America

The next day, Wayne and his friends went to the town's police station to exchange the reward.

Then he sold some valuables such as guns, and through the sheriff's help, he contacted the townspeople who worked at the railway inspection station in the town.

In the original "Chris" team, the injury of a member suddenly worsened rapidly. Perhaps the wound was infected or something like that, and he needed to go to a town with better medical conditions for treatment.

The inspection station cooperated and said that passing steam trains could be allowed to stop temporarily so that they could take the passengers to nearby stations and towns, but this was only limited to freight steam trains.

Wayne looked at the map. The detective agency had already reached the state border and would leave Virginia. They had basically cleared the steam train route.

Calculating the time, it has taken the detective agency members two months from their departure. If they return now, after returning to Georgeburg, there will be about half a month before the start of school, which is just the right time to take a short break.

So the large team that had been assembled temporarily was disbanded.

Doug took the two detectives and peripheral members of the detective agency and continued to return in a carriage with horses. This was a "trial opportunity" for Doug to temporarily lead the team.

Wayne and his friends were ready to take a ride and go ahead.

"Chris's" team was originally a temporary gathering, consisting of bounty hunters who were not familiar with each other. At this time, except for the wounded companions, everyone else was ready to leave.

As for Mr. Daggett's story, Wayne felt that there was still more to be discovered.

Although he himself said that the small town was one of their bases, judging from the proportion of Extraordinary people among their members and their level of competence, they should be members of some organization.

But for now, everyone is still living in peace, so Wayne doesn't bother to find out other people's secrets.

In the end, it was Mr. Daggett who revealed his identity before leaving:

"We are members of the 'Breath of Nature' organization. We'll see you again someday."

Wayne turned around and asked Inissa and Lina about it. The reputation of this secret organization was pretty good. Although it was within the church's attack range and its relationship with the Hunter Association was average, it had no bad deeds.

…

After boarding a steam train loaded with wheat, Wayne and his companions parted ways at Clarisseburg.

Wayne paid the other party several dozen dollars out of his own pocket as some medical expenses and nutritional expenses for his companion who had traveled with him all the way.

The news of the gang being repelled seemed to spread quickly in the industry, and the main focus of the publicity was to praise the steam train staff and the brave passengers.

As the "companion" who helped them fight off the criminals in the report, the detective agency has gained some extra goodwill among the staff.

Although conditions were limited and everyone could only squeeze into the empty space of the freight car, the staff still shared hot tea and some snacks with them, and Wayne also left some wine.

"Yeah! City! Richmond!"

After being squeezed on the steam train for more than a day, the fully loaded freight steam train rarely stopped in the middle and ran day and night, so its speed was faster than the passenger train.

It was almost late at night, but the city was still relatively bright. Under the illumination of the building lights and kerosene street lamps, it gave people a feeling of "civilization" and "stability".

After calling a horse-drawn carriage, Wayne and his companions drove to the hotel where they had stayed.

Lina happily chose a room with a big bed and prepared to have a good night's rest.

The next day, Wayne and Inessa went to the cathedral to show their presence, reporting to the church that their men had returned, and also reported the hidden cave of the "Thin Gang".

Tom Hagen also chatted with Wayne for a while and told him about his recent situation.

"How's the previous 'Seven Deadly Sins' case going?" Wayne was curious about the things he had been involved in.

Tom Hagen did not hide it:

"It's basically the same. We can only deal with it coldly. Roy Stampler and several people involved in the crime have been sent to a monastery. As for the other 'contaminated' members, some have also gone to the monastery, while others have been dispersed and assigned to various institutions and small parishes. They still need to be observed in the short term.

"As for the specific situation, you can ask David Mills after you return to Georgeburg."

"Huh? Shouldn't his vacation have ended? Why is he still in Georgeburg now?" Wayne asked.

Tom Hagen's face was expressionless:

“Such a big mistake has happened in the Georgeberg Diocese. The head of the exorcism department has resigned and has been transferred to the monastery to serve as a guard.

"As for David, he has learned law well before, so he can go to the small parish to apply and practice his knowledge. He can be regarded as taking over the work there. Well, this is the order of the bishop."

Hmm...

Wayne was sensible enough not to comment on this, but took the opportunity to ask Tom Hagen for some holy water.

"That's easy. Our cathedral will have some holy water for exorcists to use. How much do you need?"

"A dozen? If they have barrels, I'll just take a barrel."

“…”

Tom Hagen fell into silence for a moment, but finally gave Wayne a note and asked him to go to the monk to collect it himself.

After making his presence known in the cathedral, Wayne went to visit Mr. Russell to explain the situation in general and see how to settle the remuneration.

After he explained his identity and purpose at the manor, Wayne was led by the butler to the reception room in the main house.

I hadn't been sitting there for long when I found out that Mr. Russell came with the butler.

And it looks quite enthusiastic:

"Our big star is back! I was just wondering how to contact you guys recently, but it turns out you guys have returned to Richmond."

Wayne exchanged pleasantries with Mr. Russell and walked towards his study with him.

Mr. Russell was not particularly concerned about the fact that the detective agency had wiped out two well-known gangs, the Gary Adventure and the Skinny Gang.

What he enjoyed talking about more were some comments in the newspapers:

“You have done a great job this time. You have successfully made a good impression on several congressmen. I believe they will no longer reject our participation in the competition for the operation rights of their steam train routes.

"And with such cases, the employees on the steam train will no longer have an excuse to evade their responsibilities. We have rewarded the crew members at that time to encourage more employees to resist the robbers. We strive to reduce the incidence of steam train robberies."

Wayne brought the topic back to the payment of the reward, and also hinted that the detective agency wanted to contract the security of the steam train line:

“Some things are better left to professionals. After all, the staff on the steam train lack experience in this area, which can easily cause unnecessary casualties, and may not be a good thing for the passengers.

"Our detective agency is more confident in this regard and can properly consider the interests of all parties. For example, the cooperation with the train staff this time has been very effective. If our detective agency takes over the security of the entire line, I believe the effect will be even better."

Mr. Russell did not give an immediate reply, but only said that he would consider it.

Regarding the confirmation of the amount of remuneration, a secretary was called in to take the supporting documents from Wayne for subsequent processing.

What surprised Wayne a little was that Mr. Russell was relatively generous in paying the remuneration.

He glanced over the small note handed to him by the secretary, and then wrote Wayne a check for $1,000. The portion exceeding 20% ​​of the fee was a reward for the detective agency for avoiding cases involving steam trains.