New Gods of North America.

Chapter 389 Redemption
"You want to exchange it for extraordinary materials from the 'Death' realm?"

Facing Wayne's request, Tom Hagen thought for a moment, and then his expression became a little ridiculous, "The cathedral doesn't have such 'business'."

Fortunately, his words did not end there:

"However, considering the contribution your detective agency has made to the security of Georgeburg over the past period of time, I can apply for you. I believe that if it is just a special case, the bishop should agree."

Then, at Tom Hagen's signal, Wayne followed a monk to the deep part of the cathedral that seemed to be pickled with "spicy flavor" to identify the extraordinary materials he brought.
But to take the things away, it seems that one has to wait for Bishop Corleone's nod. In Tom Hagen's original words, "You should be able to come and get them after your duel with Mr. Baker is over."

I feel that the church also has the "big business disease" in a sense. Things that comply with the system can be done quickly, but things that are not within the system, even buying a nail, still need to be approved.

The person in charge of "identifying" the extraordinary materials Wayne brought was an old monk who looked old but healthy.
He used a tool to pull apart the "film" that Seth had attached with his extraordinary power through the strange lens with a stand on the workbench.

He picked up the extraordinary material from the plate with a pair of tongs that looked like brass, then changed to a cylindrical lens and looked a little closer, and lit a small lamp with an unusually bright flame to provide "backlight".

This extraordinary material looks a bit like strange amber, crystal clear but not very transparent.

After being tinkered with by the other party, it seems to have a bit of flavor of "scientific research".

"Hmm... This should be an extraordinary material in the field of 'life'. It seems that it has not completely lost its vitality. It is very tenacious and very interesting."

The old monk nodded behind the lens and gently pointed out Wayne's mistake like a mentor. "The precipitation of extraordinary materials does not necessarily mean the complete end of the other party's 'life'. In the future, when we complete the collection, we may need to conduct more detailed inspections. Otherwise, accidents may occur."

Wayne hadn't thought about this. If the cathedral thought he had secretly sent a "time bomb" over, it would be a big misunderstanding.

Perhaps because Wayne was brought here by other monks, and there was a "little note" written by Tom Hagen, the old monk did not doubt this, but skillfully took out a box of waxy stuff from the sealed cabinet next to him.

After melting, the "amber" was covered with another layer of outer shell, some mysterious symbols were carved on it, and the depressions were filled with golden powder.

After that, there was a very interesting "weighing" session.
After opening the heavy iron door, Wayne entered a small secret room that made him feel very "stuffy". The walls, ceiling, and floor were covered with various mysterious symbols. There were bright oil lamps in all eight corners, and he couldn't even find the ventilation holes.

On the small table in the center of the secret room, there was an antique bronze balance that looked almost rusted.
The old monk removed the cover inlaid with glass or crystal, poured some strange oily substance on the pillar in the middle of the scale, placed the extraordinary material on one end of the scale, and took out "weights" from a wooden box one by one, placing or taking them on the other end of the scale.

These "weights" are small bottles that are sealed, with various small gadgets soaked in clear liquid. From the perspective of simple lines, those things are also extraordinary materials.

The old monk kept working and gave Wayne some "scientific advice":
"This is the 'Scale of Judgment' that the church found in the local Hunter Association headquarters. The prototype should be the scale of death used to weigh people's hearts in the mythology of the old world's southern continent. It is said that the Hunter Association of Windsor also first obtained it in the southern continent.

"Ah, don't get me wrong, it's obviously not the one in the myth. But this little fellow numbered 087 can also 'weigh' the rank of the extraordinary materials on both sides.

"Although it is troublesome to keep it, and Windsor has been trying to take it back, it has saved us a lot of trouble. Many archdioceses envy us and hope to have such a convenient 'little assistant'."

It is also interesting that the Holy Spirit Church has given numbers to some important and extraordinary items.
According to the old monk, nowadays basically every diocese has its own numbering method. Some arrange them in order of acquisition of different levels, while others re-sort them every few years and sort them according to their importance or degree of danger. Some things are even explicitly called "taboo objects" or "sealed objects."

However, a "purely numerical" number means that the corresponding extraordinary item belongs to the entire "Church of the Holy Spirit". The local cathedrals only have priority custody and use rights. The number is also determined by the bishops' conference and is usually not easily changed.

Then after some tinkering, the extraordinary material was "weighed" to be level 4.

It is higher than Wayne imagined.

Then, returning to the "studio", the old monk placed the extraordinary materials into a peculiar cabinet, waiting for the next step of processing.

He registered Wayne first and wrote a "receipt" to indicate that the warehousing work had basically been completed.

According to normal procedures, after confirming the situation, church staff will calculate and distribute the "contributions" of relevant personnel.
Wayne didn't need to go through this process this time. He could leave first after knowing the quality of the extraordinary materials he brought. As for the subsequent exchange, it was not the responsibility of the old monk. When he was brought out from the depths of the cathedral by another monk, it was already bright.
The believers who arrived earlier have quietly found seats in the prayer hall, waiting to listen to the pastor's sermon.

Wayne had not planned to attend the service today, but as soon as he reached the square outside the cathedral where the carriages were parked,
He found himself "going against the flow" with a large group of people.

Since Wayne had been selling lottery tickets at a stall for a few days, he was working hard to sign autographs in the carriage next to him.
So many people recognized Wayne at this time, and they all slowed down or stopped their pace tacitly, vaguely showing an attitude of watching.

Many people, including some wealthy people or politicians who were surrounded by them, were talking to the people next to them while looking at Wayne, seemingly discussing the topic of today's public duel.
Then following their gaze in another direction, Wayne saw a guy who he was not very familiar with, the "Mr. Baker" who was going to duel today.

I was wondering why these people seemed to be looking at a monkey, and it turns out this guy is also there,

And the other party was walking towards Wayne, that is, the direction of the cathedral.

The road between enemies is narrow...

Although dueling is very popular among the American people, especially in the South, both the Holy See in the Old World and the Holy Spirit Church in the New World have long "disapproved" this folk custom.

Therefore, out of respect for the church, even the most naive believers would not go to the church to publicize duels - it is okay to pray for forgiveness from the Holy Spirit after killing someone, and there is no problem in chatting about it in private.

Westerners don't have the habit of talking too much trash before a duel, but they don't like to admit defeat either.
Seeing the other party getting closer and closer under everyone's attention, Wayne naturally chose to stand still, waiting for the other party to go around or come over to provoke him.

Unexpectedly, after Mr. Baker approached, he moved closer and lowered his voice:

"I'll give you $10,000, and if you give up the duel, I'll pretend that what happened before never happened."

10000 USD?!
If you start talking like this at the beginning, you will be a big client of the detective agency, and I will have to treat you to dinner and smoke cigars.

But now there have been several waves of deadly attacks, a lot of newspaper press releases have been issued, and a piece of extraordinary material has been exchanged to alleviate Inissa's injuries. The battle array has been set, and you expect the detective agency to slap itself in the face?

After causing trouble and realizing you can’t win, do you just hope others will “let it go”?
There are so many potential clients and "trolls" watching us now. Will our detective agency not have to take on any more business in the future? We can just serve Cohen Pharmaceuticals.

Wayne was about to refute him when he saw Liam trotting over from the carriage and hurriedly handed him something.
I took it and looked at it.
Damn, why is it a pair of white gloves?

It seems that this is no longer popular these days.

At this time, Liam also began to shout in an encouraging manner, attracting everyone's attention.

Some people who were watching the fun from far and near also joined in the noise, and voices like "Yoho" and "Wuhu" were heard everywhere.
Wayne thought that there was nothing to say at this time, so he raised his hand and raised the pair of white gloves and threw them at Mr. Baker.

Finally, amidst Liam's vigorous clapping, the sudden noise of discussion around him, and the exclamations of a few ladies,

The atmosphere has been set, and it's still early for the duel.

Wayne had nowhere to go for the moment, so he could only try to leave a handsome back view, turn around and walk back towards the cathedral, pretending that he had come out on purpose to block the other party.

What the hell is going on...

It seems that Connor will have to teach Liam a lesson later.

(End of this chapter)