Chapter 656: Welcoming New Members

Since Liam had sent a pigeon back with a message in advance, by the time Wayne woke up for lunch, Doug had already taken his men and a cargo wagon to the steam train station to lie in wait.

Inessa led the sales team members back to the Dock Area. She was still worried that there might be some stragglers from the Silent Sect's evil god worshippers still lurking around. Lina, on the other hand, seemed to be filling the intelligence team's gap in high society connections; it was said she had gone out to socialize with Miss Harley and her friends.

Progress on Tax Officer Quinn's side probably wouldn't be that fast, so Wayne stayed home today, and as a partner of the Detective Agency, waited to welcome the new members.

The Detective Agency was quite "hands-off" when there were no missions. The previous batch of new members, following Lina's instructions, had dug a hole in the kitchen, buried the safe, and then joined Connal and Sanders for "sports class" involving competitive sparring.

"Slingshot" also didn't go with the sales team today. He had directly faced an exploding curse when destroying a ritual node earlier. Wayne's rescue at that time was quite timely, and he recovered quickly.

However, after he was given extraordinary materials this time, he reportedly advanced to Tier 3, but was injured even more severely than before. His body had several holes punched from the inside out, fortunately without damaging bones or vital organs.

It's unclear if those evil god worshippers are truly poisonous, but Inessa's preliminary diagnosis was that his condition was temporarily unstable. She then prescribed him medicine, a large pot of potion to drink like water every day.

As for his wounds, after bandaging, his mobility was still normal, but fighting was out of the question for now. He could only watch Connal and their friendly matches with Wayne.

Wayne looked at "Slingshot" in his current state, appearing old and creaky, wincing with every slight movement, feeling both worried and relieved.

He was worried that after his own big explosion, Wayne's appearance would likely be even more tragic than "Slingshot's." He was relieved, however, that Wayne at least had a "companion"; by then, he wouldn't be the only one in the Detective Agency injured from an advancement.

The last batch of new members, it was said, numbered a good ten or so. Counting the previous batch who hadn't yet undergone employee training, the total was estimated to be around twenty people.

Even after fully staffing the first two offices and leaving some people for rotation, the "Third Office" could prepare to report its establishment to Mr. Russell. It hadn't been long since Ryan went to open up the "Second Office," and Wayne hadn't yet decided whether to send someone to "take over" or someone new to "pioneer" this time.

Things in the Dock Area haven't been settled yet, new employee training can be done alongside combating gangs, and assigning two helpers to Willie's "Reputation Team" wouldn't be bad. The workshop also needs basic defenses.

But the Detective Agency can't keep so many people in Richmond indefinitely; a balance must be found. Agents have quite a few tasks to do at the main base, and this work doesn't come with bounties or client fees, so there needs to be a system for salary evaluation.

While he was pondering, the flock of crows in the workshop suddenly reacted. Even the Parrot and the peregrine falcon flew over from other places, seemingly to join the excitement.

Wayne guessed that Doug had probably returned with the new members, so he called out to the contestants and spectators to prepare for their arrival.

Everyone was actually gathered in the open space of the "living area" in the workshop, watching a few accompanying birds gradually approach from the direction of the workshop's main gate. The sound of hooves slowly grew louder, and then two carriages quickly appeared in everyone's sight.

Oh, no,

How did you manage to turn the carriages into a "Third Brother" style scene?

Several people were either squatting or lying prone on the hard canopy of the cargo wagon; couldn't they just squeeze a bit inside the carriage?

It doesn't look good coming all the way from the city like that.

Doug, who was the first to get off the small covered wagon in front, was also very helpless. He immediately explained to Wayne:

"Liam only said in his note that they had a bit too much luggage. I had already considered this point, but I didn't expect that even after bringing the large covered wagon, it still wasn't enough…"

When the cargo wagon stopped, Wayne only took one look and felt that they were indeed innocent.

The things in the shed were already piled almost to the "ceiling," and the remaining gaps were filled with things like cloth bundles. The people inside the carriage were practically packed like sardines; as soon as the cargo wagon stopped, some people immediately jumped out to get some air.

With things like this, Wayne didn't bother with any elaborate formalities. He clapped his hands and called everyone to help: "Let's all help move things first. Living quarters have been reserved, and the chef has prepared dinner. We'll discuss everything else after you've rested."

Among the crowd, there were some familiar faces Wayne had seen before, but most were new. Connal and Doug were more acquainted with them.

So, everyone exchanged simple greetings and began to work. A group of men, without needing to know each other, cooperated quite quickly in this situation.

Instead, Wayne gradually became speechless during this process:

"Are these wines specialties from Kankakee? What? These are Winchester apple ciders? Liam got them? Are these several baskets of apples too?"

"What's in this barrel? Hmm… mushrooms, un-tanned furs, and these few bottles are… honey? Liam not only took you on patrol but also collected these along the way?"

"These green things… oh, wild chives. No need to say more, I can already roughly guess how they came to be…"

So, most of the items that completely filled the carriages weren't the new members' luggage at all.

Along with these items, there was also a long letter personally written by Liam.

It detailed, yet somewhat haphazardly, a lot about the current situation of the First Office. It not only included approximate accounts and expenditures but even his personal evaluations of several new members, serving as a "pre-screening" during their brief journey together.

How should this feeling be described?

It was a bit like when Lina escorted the jewels to Georgia before.

Wayne no longer had to worry that Liam would let the First Office suffer losses while out, but he was instead more concerned that the team's style at the First Office might completely go off track…

If you were to say Liam did well, the report was full of hunting, fishing, and bird-nesting content, and he said that although he hadn't found any pumas, he had encountered red foxes and bobcats. If Inessa wanted to keep them, he could find a way to get Wayne some cubs.

But if you were to say he did poorly, Liam seemed to have a good relationship with the team and the steam train operating company staff. There were no security breaches, and there were new bounty earnings. The accounts and income/expenditure looked healthier than when Ryan was there, and he even had the presence of mind and spare capacity to bring specialties back to the main base…

Wayne thought about it and felt that some matters were better handled "separately."

When Liam rotates back, they could consider giving him an award like "Agent of the Year" depending on the situation.

Then, they could consider whether to have Sanders hang him up to correct his style…

Being active isn't a bad thing,

But when it's time to be serious, one must be able to be serious.