New Gods of North America.

Chapter 576 Thanks
After discovering that the other side had already started exploiting bugs in the newspaper, Wayne simply chose to give up.
The next day, Wayne went to the cathedral to attend the ordination ceremony of the new bishop. After witnessing the transformation of "Priest of Tyrell" into "Bishop of Tyrell", Wayne went to the police station to report in advance, and then took the agents to the mill that the Beeton family had borrowed for team building.

While it's called "laissez-faire," it wasn't actually that thorough.
The inauguration ceremony was to be "solemn yet joyous." Wayne had approached the Basque elder of the Beaton family beforehand and, half-jokingly, mentioned it to the crowd. Mr. Basque even made a few lighthearted remarks in front of everyone.
Inessa helped find Miss Olivia among the noble ladies and also indirectly conveyed a message to the Bishop of Tyrell through members of the Exorcist Guild.

Lina didn't attend the ceremony, but during that time she took Liam to give out candy to the children.

Basically, they would speak out within a certain scope to declare the detective agency innocent, and incidentally ask around to hire online trolls to retaliate.

If you don't fight for the battleground of public opinion, someone else will probably take it firmly.

As for the other reporter who published defamatory articles about them in the newspaper, the detective agency ignored them completely.

Wayne and Lina even secretly made a bet, wondering if the latest one would also suddenly die—if every one they criticized died, Wayne was a little worried that the other side might not have enough reporters.

Inessa was slightly puzzled by Wayne's attitude and asked on the way to the mill, "Is that enough? Although the police haven't officially listed you as a suspect yet, it might be safer for us to investigate ourselves if we want to find out the truth."

Wayne seemed quite nonchalant. "The court won't make a judgment based solely on the newspapers. Since I'm innocent, the other side certainly can't produce any evidence. At most, they can only spread some false information to try and mislead the public. There's no need to worry too much."

To be honest, this whole thing looks more like a setup. Since they dared to target the detective agency and even tried to anticipate their predictions, there might be a series of traps waiting for Wayne to fall into them.

The detective agency currently has a grudge against the local intelligence organization, and its relationship with the new bishop isn't exactly good either. Being called a "gangster" a few times isn't a big deal, the key is to find out who is making the accusations. So they might as well see if anyone can "produce evidence"—no matter how fancy the preamble is, in the end someone will have to "fight to the death."

Furthermore, there are some things Wayne can't really say to Inessa.
For example, when someone accuses you of being a "gang leader," in some situations, you'd better actually be one.

Wayne guessed that the "Bishop of Tyrell," who had just officially donned the melon-seed hat today, might also want the Detective Agency to become a kind of "gangster."
After all, the Bishop of Tyrell had given Wayne a list beforehand, and some of his intentions were self-evident—a "detective agency" was nowhere near as easy to control as a tainted "gang."

Therefore, expecting the current cathedral to help in this matter would be counterproductive.

On the other hand, if Wayne really gets caught up in it, the Bishop of Tyrell might lend a hand, provided that the detective agency doesn't appear useless, and the price would naturally be that they have to obey orders from now on.

……

I haven't been here for three days, but with Doug supervising at the mill, the progress isn't slow at all.

Although the mill renovation is not yet complete, a wooden wall has already been erected around it, making it look like a small mountain stronghold from a distance.

The process wasn't supposed to be this fast. The church had two days of funerals for Bishop Corleone, followed by the ordination of the new bishop. Many craftsmen took leave to attend the ceremonies; it wasn't something that could be resolved simply by offering more money.
It was thanks to the help of the Beaton family that the slaves on the plantation were called in by the foreman to work overtime these past two days. With more people, there is more strength. The technical difficulty of building a wooden stake wall is not high. The speed at which they were moving the timber was almost as fast as the speed at which they were building the wall.

As Wayne attempted to scale the wall to inspect the construction work, the plantation foreman quickly returned with his entourage, including a female slave led by one of the horses. Once they had circled around through the "gate" of the wall, the foreman immediately explained his purpose upon meeting Wayne:
"As Mr. Pastor intended, we were fortunate to receive your Detective Agency's help a few days ago, otherwise there would have been any casualties. Since Miss Lina likes it, this female slave will be presented to your Detective Agency as a token of the Beaton family's gratitude."

Mr. Pastor is the "father" in the Beaton family.
Wayne turned and glared at Lina. "Did you mention it to Mr. Pastor?"

Lina was pacing back and forth on top of the wall when she looked down and glared back: "I haven't even been to the cathedral these past few days, how could I possibly have run into them?"

The manager quickly explained with a smile, "I mentioned this incident unintentionally when I was reporting the situation that night to Mr. Pastor. Then Mr. Pastor made the decision, and I hope Mr. Wayne won't mind."

After saying this, the foreman glanced behind him, and a supervisor yanked on the rope in his hand, half-pulling the mixed-race female slave over with considerable force.
The foreman took one end of the rope, looked at Wayne and then at Lina, unsure of who to hand it to.

Upon closer inspection, this mixed-race female slave was quite pretty, with a skin tone close to wheat, at least more in line with Wayne's aesthetic preferences than the freckled girl. But he could only "look" at her, unlike some white immigrants who had a taste for "tanning."
Moreover, according to Wayne's understanding, being a slave on a plantation would certainly not be better than being a maid. At worst, one could work for a few years and then be released, which was at least more legitimate than the "Underground Railroad" approach.

Wayne then turned and glanced at Lina. "So she's now under your control?"

"Really?"

Lina jumped down from the wall, leaned close to the slave girl, and craned her neck to look at her. The girl, frightened, lowered her head and shrank back.

Lina turned to the steward and asked, "I've heard that pretty female slaves are quite popular in America. Mr. Pastor, are you willing to give them up?"

“Of course.” The steward nodded repeatedly, and in addition to the rope, he also took out some documents. “The Beaton family’s family tradition is conservative. In order to ensure the value of mixed-race female slaves, they will keep them pure before they are sold, so you can rest assured in this regard.”

After saying that, the steward glanced at Wayne, seemingly unintentionally.

Lina took the document and was casually glancing at it, not paying attention to this, but Wayne, having been exposed to American history classes at the academy, understood it instantly.

I feel like I've unwittingly and inexplicably been unfairly blamed again...

Wayne sighed slightly. "Then I'll trouble you, sir, to convey my thanks to Mr. Pastor."

The manager successfully completed his task and nodded with satisfaction, saying, "I will definitely relay this to him truthfully."

(End of this chapter)