New Gods of North America

After the Bishop arrived, the meeting officially began.

There were only five people who could be considered "official attendees":

Bishop Corleone, Priest Tyrrell, Priest Bazzini, a straight-backed middle-aged man, and Wayne…

Even Tom Hagen was only considered to be "attending," and David Mills wasn't even present.

Bishop Corleone looked slightly tired.

Perhaps because of this, the Bishop seemed to be in a bad mood, with a hint of impatience and even murderous intent on his face.

Wayne didn't know what the others were thinking,

but he was sitting on the large sofa like a good boy.

After Bishop Corleone sat down in the center of the main sofa in the small conference room, he opened his mouth with his low and hoarse voice,

as if making small talk before the formal meeting:

"I heard that something happened to Georgeberg recently? And this time it seems to have affected dozens of 'Academy' students?"

Priest Bazzini lowered his head and bowed slightly, "It was my negligence that I didn't detect the intrusion of the dangerous fallen in time."

"It can't be said that way."

Bishop Corleone waved his hand as if discarding something, "Look at Priest Tyrrell, ah, and Wayne, they are also in Georgeberg now, and they didn't discover the problem in advance either?"

Priest Tyrrell smiled awkwardly, while Wayne obediently nodded, indicating that he accepted the reprimand.

Speaking of which,

Priest Tyrrell seemed to be a generation older than Bishop Corleone, and it was unclear how the Church chose its Bishops.

In theory, most Bishops, apart from the few directly appointed by the College of Bishops, are elected by the priests within the Archdiocese who are eligible to vote, and the ordination ceremony is just a formality.

But perhaps like choosing a sheriff in a small town, not everyone is really qualified to be a candidate, and the specific inside story may only be clear to a few people.

Tom Hagen was a good friend of the detective agency,

and at this time he stood behind the Bishop and said a few good words for Wayne:

"I heard that the dangerous fallen with a bad record was killed by Wayne on the spot. It is said that a fire broke out at the scene, and he was the first to save people."

Bishop Corleone didn't respond, but waved his hand,

indicating that the meeting officially began.

Unexpectedly, the main speaker of the meeting was Tom Hagen, and the content was also strange.

The theme was actually "The Situation in the Old World."

This world was different from the one Wayne was roughly familiar with, lacking the so-called "Central Continent,"

but the direction of many historical events seemed to be similar.

For example, the current situation of the various old powers in the Old World,

the strongest Windsor Kingdom in the world faced the North Continent of the Old World across the sea, and was conducting offshore balancing around the world,

Frank, as the long-term "center" of the North Continent of the Old World, was both the birthplace of many ideas and the focus of many countries' defenses,

Although the Hans Federation was also called a "Federation", its most powerful entity was the actively expanding Prussian "Kingdom", which maintained the hereditary monarchy and opposed "constitutionalism" and "republicanism\

,"In addition, there were the former world hegemon Frankish Kingdom, which had been kicked off the altar by the Windsor Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire, which was now considered to be declining, and the Austrian Empire, which inherited the "Holy Roman Emperor's" right to veto the election of the Pope by the Holy See, and so on.

—The distinction between "Kingdom" and "Empire" in the Old World mainly depended on whether they were recognized as inheriting the "legitimacy" of the Holy Roman Empire, even if it was a divided "legitimacy".

But this had no absolute correlation with their current national strength. The countries still recognized the title of "Empire" mainly because of the remaining power of the Roman Empire.

Anyway, these old powers in the Old World,

could fight each other over "legitimacy", form the so-called "Holy Alliance" to confront each other over "political systems", and talk endlessly about geopolitics and interests,

If you add the historical origins, love and hatred between them and the Holy See, it is basically a situation where "a few people can create more than a dozen groups".

Wayne found it a little difficult to listen to,

After all, the two worlds were similar but not the same, and maritime transport in this era was too slow. He didn't have any plans to "go abroad" for the time being, so he wasn't particularly concerned about these things before,

However, he noticed the most important information revealed in the meeting content—

The old powers in the Old World, which were currently fighting fiercely, might temporarily cease fighting.

Although if you only look at newspapers and public opinion, there was not the slightest sign that the war in the Old World was about to stop, as if it could continue until the end of the world,

But according to the information obtained by the Holy Spirit Church, some of the participating countries had actually ceased fighting, and were only continuing to maintain the front line and local skirmishes.

Comprehensive ceasefire negotiations were also underway, and the intention was basically determined, but they were still "bargaining", and it was expected to be completed, signed and announced within half a year.

Regardless of how long this ceasefire would last, the overall intensity of the war in the Old World would definitely decrease for a period of time.

Then Wayne couldn't help but wonder if he really understood…

Bishop Corleone was not a professor in the Academy, and there was no reason to call himself to the Cathedral to listen to a "current affairs politics class" for no reason, at least the "students" attending the class shouldn't be this lineup,

Moreover, the other people attending the meeting seemed very serious at this time, giving people a feeling of being in the face of a formidable enemy, or being determined to win.

…

Bishop Corleone didn't stay long after the meeting ended, and slowly left the small conference room first,

Then the other attendees also quickly left in a hurry, leaving only Wayne there a little confused.

Fortunately, Wayne was a relatively frank type,

If he didn't understand, he would just ask.

If he couldn't get an answer, he would find another way.

After waiting for a while in Tom Hagen's office, a monk quickly appeared and took Wayne to another place deep in the Cathedral,

This place was not particularly far from the warehouse where Wayne had previously selected extraordinary materials, but it was deeper, and the burning sensation in the air was obviously stronger.

When Wayne was led into a warehouse by the monk,

Bishop Corleone seemed to be admiring a sculpture inside, and Tom Hagen was standing beside him.

"Wayne, do you know whose statue this is?" Bishop Corleone asked without turning his head.

Art general knowledge and Old World civilization history textbooks had content in this area, and Wayne had flipped through them in advance,

But after Wayne went over, he still pretended to know a little bit, "Does it look like the 'Goddess of Justice' in ancient mythology of the Old World?"

"Only the 'Holy Spirit' is the only true God."

Bishop Corleone corrected slightly, but didn't mean to reprimand, "But you're right, in the corresponding mythology, she is indeed the creator and guardian of order, symbolizing fairness and justice."

At this time, a monk came out from the inner room of the warehouse, stood at the door and respectfully bowed his head to wait,

Bishop Corleone then walked slowly towards that side:

"Wayne, you can look around here for a while, and ask Tom if you don't understand anything.

"But time seems to be more urgent than I thought, so I have to remind you. As maintainers of order, sometimes we may have to be like her—blindfold our eyes, and then hold a scale in one hand and a sword in the other."

So you're not going to give me this statue?

After the Bishop walked into the inner room, Wayne really began to ask his doubts,

Tom Hagen also tried to answer in a way that was easier to understand:

"You may have realized that the fastest way for an extraordinary person to advance is to collect various extraordinary materials, or to hunt other extraordinary people.

"In the real world, there is a simple synonym for a method that can achieve both of these things with high efficiency, called 'war'.

"So long-term wars often mean that a group of higher-level extraordinary people will be born. And when the flames of war subside, these fierce beasts that have gone through fighting lose their hunting grounds, and are likely to wander to places where predators have not yet appeared."

Um…

"In other words, some 'predators' from the Old World may choose to come to America to 'hunt'? So we need to prepare in advance?" Wayne asked back.

"There are many possibilities, for example, some extraordinary people will hope to become stronger, some 'predators' will hunt down some 'prey' that escaped from the hunting ground before, and some beasts that failed in the competition will take the opportunity to strengthen themselves and try to regain their territory. But yes, this is the challenge and opportunity we will face."

Wayne thought for a while, "But if that's the case, it sounds like we don't seem to have an advantage at the moment? After all, it seems difficult for normal people to fight against 'beasts'."

"Very good, you have realized the existence of the 'sword'. Next, you can try to guess why the goddess responsible for guarding order should blindfold her eyes?"

I knock,

Settle internal affairs before resisting foreign aggression?!