New Gods of North America.

Chapter 419 Explanation
The next morning,
Wayne and his exorcism team led by Tom Hagen saw black smoke floating in the sky from afar before they even entered the territory belonging to George Berg.

Speeding up and moving forward, a small team even rode directly to the manor ahead of time.
But when Wayne arrived at the scene, what he saw was the burned-down manor house and the bodies of servants scattered everywhere.

The police from Georgeburg arrived earlier, and the local exorcism department also came.
David Mills is handing over his duties to Sheriff Bill Tench.

Tom Hagen didn't say much to David Mills. After seeing the team members in front, he led them directly to the basement entrance that Wayne mentioned.
The main house of the manor was a brick and stone building, but there were also many wooden components inside. The hall had now collapsed beyond recognition, but some of the large logs that had fallen from the burnt wood had not yet been completely burned out, as if they still carried residual warmth without fire.

The exorcists who arrived ahead of time initially opened up a path in the ruined space.
Walking down the stairs, the original storage room was in a mess, with varying shades of charred black everywhere. After the ashes and fire-fighting water mixed together, they did not accumulate on the floor, but left mud-like black stains in the smoky and burnt environment.

The original lamps in the small room had been destroyed, and candlesticks belonging to the church were nailed to the walls of the room.

The two stone platforms were still there, but the magic circles on the walls and the ground had been deliberately painted and messed up and burned.

Only the statue in the middle of the room remained, still standing in its original place.

It was clearly covered with black cracks and had mottled erosion from the years.

At this moment, in the charred black, it appeared "clean" and "white".

Three exorcist priests were now standing by the statue, examining it with candlesticks and something like a compass.
After seeing Tom Hagen coming over, one of them gave a preliminary conclusion, "It does look like those heretical things from the Church of Light, but no remnants of extraordinary power have been detected so far."

Tom Hagen then turned around and looked over. "Was it like this here before?"

Wayne learned a lesson from his failure. He was hiding outside the door of the small room with the rune cloth pulled up.
He confirmed it with his simple vision, and then looked at the many exorcists present near and far. He carefully stretched out his toes and probed inside. Then he stepped into the room that had been sprinkled with spices and holy oil and continued to look around:

"Originally there should have been a magic circle here, or more like an altar. The statue has also changed. At least it looked more like a special object at that time."

Tom Hagen and the leading exorcist nodded after listening to it, and then asked questions almost at the same time.
"Why didn't those heretics take this statue away?"

……

The so-called "evidence of guilt" has been confirmed.
However, the names of the pastors who had visited the manor mentioned by Wayne forced Tom Hagen to respond with caution.

Arriving at the parish church in Georgeburg, the church members who were notified to attend the meeting sat around a long table. Tom Hagen, who represented the bishop's will, sat at the head of the table.
Wayne obediently chose the last seat and looked around, looking for a pastor whose face he thought was familiar.

Most of the church members who were eligible to attend the meeting had been to that manor. If the scope was limited to the so-called "pastors", the proportion would be even higher.
Of course, those people sitting in the upper seats at the meeting were not necessarily priests of any church. Some of them might officially be the abbot of a certain monastery or something like that. But as an outsider, it was not wrong for Wayne to call them priests.

For serious investigators, sometimes the most troublesome thing in their work is not finding "evidence of guilt", but proving the connection between "evidence of guilt" and "criminal".

Wayne didn't think that "all priests who had appeared in the manor" were members of the Church of Light, but if someone said that there were no bad people among them, Wayne would feel that his IQ was insulted.

Tom Hagen probably had similar thoughts. An exorcist leaned over to his ear and said something. Wayne probably said something like "everyone is here", and then the meeting began:

"We invited you all here this time because the Cathedral has received clues about the evil god worship organization 'The Church of Light', and has already conducted investigations and confirmed that the situation is true."

Surprise and whispers were heard,
The Reverend Tyrell, who was sitting next to Tom Hagen, turned his gaze to Wayne's face in surprise, as if asking, "Didn't you give me this clue?"

Wayne could only spread his hands and shrug his shoulders innocently, and shook his head slightly, trying to express that "that's another clue."

Tom Hagen did not ask for silence, but held up a piece of letter. The paper was of very good quality, and one could make the paper stand up by pinching a corner:
"I have received the official authorization from the Bishop to investigate this incident. According to the practice of dealing with the Church of Light, all church-related personnel in Georgeburg are temporarily under my command." After saying this, he looked at one of the two nearest seats, "Reverend Tyrell, what do you think?"

Reverend Tyrell always looked like a good guy. He turned around and nodded happily. "Since you have the authorization from Bishop Corleone, I have no objection... Okay?"

Tom Hagen nodded, and without waiting for the continuation of his words, he followed Reverend Tyrell's line of sight and quickly turned his gaze to the other side. "Reverend Bazini, what about you?"

Pastor Bazzini's expression changed from frowning to smiling, and he nodded leisurely, "Even the Exorcist Association team, which has special immunity, has agreed. Georgeburg Parish will of course fully cooperate."

Tom Hagen then looked across the long table to the opposite side of Wayne, "David Mills, what is the opinion of the local exorcism department?"

"Resolutely obey the command of the cathedral!" This guy's voice was a little too loud, and Wayne couldn't help but shrink his neck.

"very good."

Tom Hagen also seemed relieved, his expression became warmer, and after asking the so-called "everyone" again to the air, the meeting officially began.

Wayne was just thinking about having fun, but he didn't expect that the next second, Tom Hagen actually looked over at him:

"This is Wayne Constantine, the founder of a private detective agency, and the one who recently initiated the public duel. According to the bishop's intention, since the clue this time was discovered by Wayne's detective agency, he will explain the situation to you all."

No,

The Lord taught him...you...I...

Faced with the piercing gazes coming at him, Wayne quickly regained his composure.

It's hard to say what happened to the two attackers from the outer perimeter of the Exorcist Association. The candidate bishop did me a favor. If necessary, we can "shoot the arrow first and draw the target later".
I sold the clue of Mr. Weisman myself, and it doesn't feel good to have it exposed now, so I'm going to shrink the battle line for the time being.

Wayne quickly sorted out his thoughts:

“I believe everyone has heard recently about the public duel I challenged Mr. Baker from Cohen Pharmaceuticals to.

"According to our detective agency's accidental discovery, he once secretly visited a manor of George Berg. In order to confirm whether it was the secret base of Cohen Pharmaceuticals, we investigated the manor..."

As Wayne explained, Tom Hagen had someone bring out a box engraved with holy emblems and runes, and revealed the statue inside.

Then the names were read out one by one, and Wayne pointed out the people in the seats.

Amid the various expressions in the conference room, Tom Hagen made a final statement:
"According to our preliminary investigation - thanks to Reverend Tyrell's reconfirmation before the meeting - the actual long-term user of the manor is Reverend Pycelle of the College Church.

"He has been found dead in his residence in the city, and it is not yet clear whether he was silenced or committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

"Wayne and the others discovered the evil god statue last night. The murderer or the instigator should still be on George Berg's territory - if he is sitting among us."

　Recently, it's really hard to describe... I will try to update more from tomorrow to make up for the previous debt. Thank you to all the gentlemen who have been following me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)