New Gods of North America.

Chapter 606 Merlin
Upon reaching the cathedral, Wayne had just come from the "parking lot" and was about to turn the corner to the "front" of the cathedral when he was confronted by Bishop Tyrell and a retinue of ceremonial attendants surrounding him.
Before Wayne could even pull his head back, Bishop Tyrell spotted him immediately.

The four-wheeled white carriage, a symbol of the bishop's authority, was now parked on the main avenue outside the cathedral's main entrance. The group appeared to be preparing to leave "in their capacity," with a monk following half a step behind Bishop Tyrell, his head slightly bowed, seemingly eager to report to him.

Then Bishop Tyrell waved his hand toward Wayne, "Come here, is there some problem you need to deal with?"

Well……

Wayne has been consciously avoiding any public encounters with the new bishop, especially in front of people at the cathedral.
It wasn't that he had a problem with Bishop Tyrell, but rather that Wayne's relationship with him was clearly not as close as his relationship with Tom Hagen and the others.

For example, when Tom Hagen was still around, Wayne was often taken deeper into the cathedral. The other guards and monks, unaware of the situation, treated Wayne with relative friendliness. As a result, it was easy for Wayne to extract some non-classified information through casual conversation.
If Bishop Tyrell shows a different attitude towards Wayne in public, then some of the privileges afforded by the "new emperor, new courtiers" rule might expire.

But Wayne has already been summoned, so going there isn't an option.
So he walked into the crowd and, taking into account the situation, made up a reason on the spot: "I don't actually have any 'problems' here. However, I just went to check out an accident site in the dock area and suspect that the matter was secretly influenced by extraordinary forces, and the level of danger may be quite high. I think it is necessary to report to the cathedral."

The "wise sage" specifically warned Lina about this, so saying that "the level of danger is not low" shouldn't be an exaggeration, right?

"You also think there's a problem in the docklands right now?" Bishop Tyrell's face was expressionless, making it impossible to guess his attitude.

Then Wayne turned his head following the gaze of the Bishop of Tyrell and discovered that the monk who had been reporting to the Bishop of Tyrell was the same one Wayne had encountered in the docks late at night.
Bishop Tyrell's gaze swept back and forth between the two men. "Since you both think there's a problem with the dock area, then I'll leave it to you two to handle. Report back to me when you have the results."

After saying that, he bent down slightly and began to crawl into the spacious carriage.

"Yes!" The monk next to him immediately stood up straight, and Wayne echoed him.

Once Bishop Tyrell was seated in the carriage, he turned back to look at Wayne again. "It seems there's been no progress on the tasks I assigned you before?"

This is probably referring to the "list" from before...

It must be said that after becoming a bishop, the Bishop of Tyrell seemed to have a completely different demeanor. He no longer appeared as "nice guy" and "easy to talk to" as before, but rather much more dignified.
Wayne quickly adopted a respectful attitude, "I plan to take a relatively gentle approach, processing in batches by region. The initial preparations will take a little time, but once we start closing in, the progress will be very fast."

Bishop Tyrell neither confirmed nor denied this, and then, at his signal, the carriage door was slowly closed by one of his guards.

Wayne secretly breathed a sigh of relief: Not bad, at least he didn't "lose face" in front of others this time.

……

After watching the bishop's car depart, Wayne, who had inexplicably gained a "teammate," followed the bishop into the cathedral.
The man was wearing a loose-fitting monk's robe, but upon closer inspection, one could see through the gaps that he was wearing a relatively tight-fitting, waist-cinching uniform underneath, giving the impression that "one glimpse of a combatant is enough to reveal their true identity." As he led the way, he spoke, "My name is Merlin, the vice-captain of the cathedral guard. You can call me Brother Merlin. Since His Holiness the bishop has entrusted the incident in the dock area to the two of us, it's necessary for us to exchange information. How far have you progressed in your investigation?"

The name "Merlin" is actually the same word as "Merlin," the great wizard in the Windsor stories, but after a quick thought, Wayne deliberately used a slightly different, teasing translation.
The reason is simple: this guy speaks with an accent...

Because his train of thought had slightly wandered, Wayne only regained his focus after being asked and began to continue the reason he had just made up:

"Let me get straight to the conclusion. Based on the results of the investigation so far, I believe that this extraordinary event in the dock area may involve a relatively high-level extraordinary power. According to the Hunter Association's standards, it might even reach the level of Rank 6."

This number was, of course, a rough estimate by Wayne, but it wasn't entirely made up.
The reason is simple: since Wayne met Lina, she has hardly ever mentioned that the "wise sage" would issue a warning.

The first time was probably when the group first arrived in Kansas City, but that time it was because Lina was carrying some special counterfeit money, so it was directly related to her.

Last night's warning was unclear, but the level of warning seemed quite high. It's reasonable to suspect that it was a "danger" that could harm Lina, so estimating it as a "6" based on her rank shouldn't be too unreasonable... right?

But Brother Merlin clearly didn't think so. He immediately widened his eyes and said, "Level 6?! That's at least a Level IV threat."

Seeing the other party's reaction, Wayne immediately tried to smooth things over, "There might be some discrepancies. However, it's always better to be cautious than not to be overly prudent."

Brother Merlin's expression was slightly helpless: "I think I understand what you mean." Then he thought of a new problem, "Wait, the Hunter Association?!"

Before Wayne could respond, he continued to answer to himself, "That's right, Miss Inessa from the Exorcist's Guild is currently in your detective agency..."

This guy didn't seem too calculating, so Wayne started subtly probing, bringing up Tom Hagen's departure and recent personnel changes at the church.

He didn't get any inside information, and as for some personnel changes, this guy wasn't as well-informed as the detective agency's intelligence team. However, Wayne roughly understood what kind of person this Brother Merlin was.

The deputy captain of the cathedral guard could be considered a close confidant of the bishop, someone directly responsible for the bishop's personal safety.
However, he was not very familiar with Tom Hagen, and his relationship with the Bishop of Tyrell seemed to be just so-so. He had recently been stripped of his direct guard duties and his job was adjusted to the more peripheral "city guardianship".

His loyalty was never questioned, yet neither the previous nor the current bishops considered him "one of their own." Wasn't he just a slightly more senior "David Mills"?

(End of this chapter)