New Gods of North America.

Chapter 648 Help
In the workshop's kitchen, a thick-cut steak, originally intended for tomorrow's extra meal, was taken out separately from the marinating container.
The large iron plate that had just been set up tonight for mass-frying steaks had already been heated up again by the fire below.

Melt the butter, add the steak,
The oil is sizzling.

The person performing this action was Wayne. He wasn't very good at cooking, but he had watched teppanyaki documentaries and knew how to pose for the food.

So after both sides were slightly browned, Wayne used kitchen tongs to "stand" the steak upright and seal the edges to lock in the juices.

It's decided. I'll build a small dining area, fix the large metal plate in the middle, and then create a transparent kitchen.

From now on, the detective agency will always serve guests simple meals like this: everyone sits around a table, eating and talking at the same time, and the cooked food is simply handed out to them, saving everyone the trouble of carrying plates around.

As for why Parker wasn't the one busy, it's because the chef was sitting opposite Wayne, staring blankly, pretending to be dead.
Meanwhile, the fat man in black who had come to visit in the middle of the night with his men was now carefully looking Parker up and down, as if admiring a beautiful piece of jewelry—to be honest, the sight of two grown men facing each other so close together was a bit too much.

Peter Clements had now removed his top hat, and his gleaming bald head, slightly reflecting the candlelight, made him look like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.
But what he said still made Wayne's heart skip a beat:
"William's best work, an alchemical masterpiece stolen from the School of Life, a living doll once certified as a treasure by the Holy See. I had only seen portraits and descriptions of them before, but I never imagined that the real thing could be so lifelike as to be close to 'ordinary' and 'common'."

Inessa once briefly recounted Parker's background, and some of Lena's everyday actions also revealed Parker's extraordinary nature.
However, perhaps because Parker is sometimes stuffed into boxes or corners of carriages by Lena, and doesn't usually avoid outsiders, he seems rather casual. So Wayne has almost come to regard the chef as ordinary, thinking, "Maybe expensive, but probably not that expensive."

But to his surprise, this big fat man actually thought this way about Parker, and even knew so much about Parker's background.

The detective agency certainly wouldn't just introduce anyone to the chef, especially since this guy claimed to be Tom Hagen's "former colleague," clearly indicating connections to the Church of the Holy Spirit.

However, the request to see Parker was made formally after he revealed his identity. The fat man's exact words were something like, "I heard you have a moving puppet that can also help with cooking. I'm also hungry, so why don't we eat and chat?"

Lina didn't object; she was standing behind the fat man to the side, while Inessa kept an eye on the fat man's henchmen outside.

The meaning they were subtly conveying was quite clear—they sensed that these guys were not to be trifled with and might cause casualties and losses to the detective agency. If they weren't enemies and were merely "taking a look" at Parker, then letting this fat guy see the world a little wouldn't hurt.

After admiring it for a while, Peter Clements looked up and asked, "Didn't you say someone could make it move? Why not let it cook?"

Lina chimed in from behind him, "Manipulating it requires extraordinary abilities. We don't trust you that much, so it's necessary to conserve your spiritual power."

She snapped her fingers as soon as she finished speaking.
Parker's eyes instantly brightened, and he raised his head slightly, only to quickly droop it back down as if the power had been cut off.

Wow, that's amazing!

The fat man clapped his hands enthusiastically twice before saying, "I see. No wonder these living puppets have been around for so long. This is the first time in recent decades that I've heard of anyone being able to manipulate them in such a complex way again. It turns out the method is similar to that of the legendary puppeteer from the Middle Ages, requiring specific extraordinary abilities to indirectly control them."

After chatting for a while longer, and when the fat man seemed to have finally lost interest in Parker, Lina dragged a chair and pulled Parker toward the cafeteria connected to the kitchen.

Wayne, holding a small spatula in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other, was already skillfully cutting the thick-cut steak into neat little cubes on the hot plate, pouring hot oil over them to ensure even heating. "You came here tonight just to see a moving puppet?"

"Of course not, viewing the dolls was just a side thing."

Peter Clements looked in the direction where Lina had disappeared. "Don... well, that is, the Bishop Corleone you mentioned. He once instructed me to keep an eye on a few local kids, and you are one of them."

Sensing that Lina had no intention of returning, he turned his head again: "I heard you were attacked, and I wanted to ask if you needed any help. But judging from your behavior just now, this little trouble doesn't seem to require anyone else's intervention."

These few sentences contain a lot of information...

Bishop Corleone's name was "Vito," which Wayne had seen on the tombstone when he attended the bishop's funeral.

As for the "Tang" mentioned by the fat man, it is similar to words like "De," "Feng," and "Fan" used in personal names in the Old World, all of which, in a sense, have a flavor of highlighting aristocratic status and family heritage.

Using "Tang" to refer to a bishop is a bit like hearing government clerks address their superiors as "boss" or "chief"—it's somewhat informal.

It's not that there's anything wrong with this form of address, but the personal relationship it subtly reveals is worth considering. It feels more like a "gangster" relationship, and the personal connection sounds better. The recognition of the other party is more inclined to so-called "personal loyalty" rather than simply subordinates obeying "official orders" from superiors.

Wayne had already scooped some of the medium-rare cubed meat into his plate. After sprinkling it with black pepper and salt, he even imitated the chef's usual practice, using a spoon to draw a shape of sauce in the empty space on the plate.
As he handed the plate to the other person, he tentatively expressed his thoughts, "Could you help me find out who's behind those people?"

What Wayne was thinking about at that moment was something else—the question that Bishop Tyrell had asked him before he was formally ordained.

He said that the bishop's guard is usually divided into two parts, one of which is always subordinate to the cathedral, much like the Merlin brothers that Wayne recently came into contact with.
The other part is formed and arranged by each bishop himself, and is more like a private team for each bishop. In theory, the handover should be arranged before the change of bishops, or at least a record should be made.

However, Bishop Corleone's guard was not handed over to Bishop Tyrell, who didn't even know their general whereabouts and had to come and test Wayne.

He was familiar with both Bishop Corleone and Tom Hagen, managed to sneak into the detective agency's guard post in the middle of the night, and even got Lina to act like "there's no need for conflict if there's no benefit to it."

After filtering through these criteria, the other party's identity becomes almost obvious.

Incidentally, Inessa's reaction is less relevant in this situation; her operational philosophy would primarily be based on judgments of the objective state of the target and her subjective actions.
It feels like even if someone brought out a terrifyingly evil god, she would probably try to stop it if necessary, but when faced with a harmless but arrogant fool, it feels like she would choose to back down without any temper...

Peter Clements ignored the fork Wayne had placed on the side of his plate, picked up a piece with his hand, and popped it into his mouth like he was eating peanuts.

“That’s outside my area of ​​expertise; Tom Hagen is probably better at that. The proper procedure between us should be that you tell me a name, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Good guy,
This feels even more conclusive.

"The crux of the gang problem lies in ecological governance; sometimes it cannot be solved simply by eliminating a single individual."

Wayne opted for a compromise, then revealed his true intentions: "Can I save this opportunity to help for later, when I need it?"

"Sure. After all, this is the old man's instruction, and you are actually a bit like me back then, only we took different paths."

Peter Clements tossed another piece of meat into his mouth. "However, I'm planning to leave Virginia soon and may not be able to get back in time. I won't help with everything, so you'll at least have to give me a good reason—like this attack on you and the monk."

"Where are you planning to go?" Wayne asked curiously. He then scooped a few more medium-rare pieces of meat into a small plate and handed it over.

"I might go to Illinois first, and then probably to Pennsylvania. As for the specific details, you shouldn't keep asking."

After Peter Clements finished speaking, he grinned slightly. "For his sake, you can tell Tyrell this news. Tyrell will probably feel a little relieved, though he might also suffer from short-term insomnia."

Hmm... that's a good idea.

In the eyes of the Bishop of Tyrell, this intelligence might be more valuable than capturing a group of cultists.

"When do you plan to depart? I will report to the cathedral after you have left."

"About two weeks later. We need to observe the situation in Virginia a bit more. In another two weeks, it should be relatively stable."

There should be enough time to deal with the sailors' gang...

"According to our preliminary investigation, the people who recently attacked me seem to be from the Erlan riot gang. If their backers get involved, can you help resolve the situation?"

“The Erlan…Andrew Prier? I won’t let your actions against him have too much of an impact. But if you ask, I might be able to give him a heads-up. For example, make some of his men mysteriously disappear, and then put a row of fingers on his sheets. I believe he wouldn’t mind getting a new mattress.”

Wuhu

With neither the Bishop of Tyrell nor the Secretary of State in their sights, this situation seems surprisingly stable.

Wayne's curiosity then wandered elsewhere:

"I have a personal question. You should know Inessa, right? If we had actually fought just now, who would have been stronger between you and her?"

(End of this chapter)