Old Neil Arrives

Dunn hesitated, suspecting that Lynch was practicing marksmanship to avenge Klein, but Ince Zangwill was already a demigod, and the damage from guns was negligible to him. Lynch would be better off digesting the Potion instead of practicing that.

However, seeing Lynch's serious expression, he nodded helplessly.

Well, as long as Lynch doesn't immediately engage in a life-or-death battle with Ince Zangwill, he'll be thankful that Lynch's still keeping a clear head if he wants to do anything else.

"Sure, you can go every Monday, but you'll also need to come and stand guard at Chanis Gate every night. We're short-staffed right now, so basically every member has to stand guard at Chanis Gate every week."

Dunn reminded him.

Lynch nodded.

Currently, the Nighthawks team has only five official members. Daly and Dunn said they can work four days a week, and the remaining three days need to be divided equally among Lynch and the others. Lynch was assigned Monday night.

He had Tuesday off, so he could go home after finishing his shift on Monday.

"That's good, you guys go eat now! I won't be treating you to dinner after this!"

After Lynch and Bersha had put away their bullets, Dunn immediately reminded them.

Lynch sighed helplessly; the old Dunn would never have been so stingy.

Fortunately, Miss Daly was generous; when she and Leonard returned in the afternoon, she brought some food for Lynch and Bersha.

Although they weren't full, Lynch and Bersha both said they would eat more after they finished their mission, and that they would make do with what they had for now.

This prompted Leonard to mock them both one by one.

"Have you finished investigating your case?"

Lynch ignored his mockery and asked with a curious expression.

"Not yet! We have to go back in a bit. We came here now to ask Dunn for another person and to apply for a Sealed Artifact."

Leonard explained.

He actually wanted Lynch, because Lynch possessed Sealed Artifact.

Who doesn't know that the Goddess gave Lynch all her Creeping Hunger?

They even sealed away the negative effects, leaving only the minor issue of Affliction during use.

However, Dunn said that Lynch had already done a mission during the day and had to do another one that night, so he directly refused on his behalf.

"I feel like no one can help you. Everyone is too busy, and we simply don't have enough manpower. I don't even know how the other teams are organized. With so few people, it's really too troublesome. We can't even gather enough people for a mission."

Lynch complained.

However, Leonard mysteriously waved his hand.

"Don't you know? Dunn just sent a telegram to the Holy Cathedral, wanting to bring in another member. He was just testing the waters, and the Holy Cathedral immediately replied, saying they would approve two more full-time positions and two more administrative positions for us."

We can choose these ourselves, or we can wait for the Holy Cathedral to send people over to us. Dunn wants the Holy Cathedral to send him a full member and a clerical staff as soon as possible, and he can choose another full member and a clerical staff position at his own pace.

The Holy Cathedral told him that a full member could arrive immediately, but the clerk would have to wait, as the Holy Cathedral needed to coordinate.

I suspect this is all because of you. The Goddess is too kind to you; she grants your every request. Things have never been this good before. Now I'm starting to wonder, what's going on between you and the Goddess?

Leonard said enviously.

Lynch chuckled awkwardly. What could possibly be the connection?

Isn't it just that the Evernight Goddess has taken a liking to Mr. Azik?

No, it's that it's set its sights on Death.

The Goddess is devouring death, so of course she should give him extra treatment.

Besides, the preferential treatment isn't much; it just means sending him more people and getting him some Potion to drink.

The Creeping Hunger was given to him by Mr. Azik; the Goddess merely bore the name.

However, in the eyes of others, the Goddess had already surpassed the Archbishop of the Holy Cathedral in his affections, and he was considered the Goddess's most valued child.

However, since Leonard had brought it up, Lynch couldn't just admit it casually. He smiled helplessly and said, "The Goddess has always been kind to her believers. You forgot, the Goddess even paid off Old Neil's loan!"

"Loans? What loans? Does the Goddess offer that kind of service?"

Bersha's eyes lit up; she had clearly already thought of a solution. If she ran out of money, she would borrow some, then pray to the Goddess and ask Goddess to repay the loan.

"Fate's gifts always come with a price tag. You probably don't know I almost lost control, right? I was even locked up for a while after the Chanis Gate!"

Just as Bersha was excitedly pondering this, an old voice rang out beside them.

Then Lynch suddenly turned his head and looked at Old Neil in shock.

"Why are you here? Did you come to see me? When are you leaving? Don't rush off. After I finish my mission, I'll take you out to eat. Wait here for me. I was just saying I'd come back to see you sometime!"

Lynch said with delight.

Old Neil rolled his eyes at him.

"How long will it take to get you back? I've applied for a transfer to Backlund."

"But isn't Tingen- handed? Dunn said we can't bring in any more people from Tingen."

Lynch looked at Old Neil with a puzzled expression.

Besides, Old Neil is getting on in years; didn't he say he was waiting to retire in Tingen?

"I'm getting old, Holy Cathedral was worried I'd retire at any time, so they transferred two clerical staff to Tingen. That means I could choose to come here, retire early, or just coast along in the team. After thinking about it, I decided to apply for Sequence 8 Potion for the Mystery Pryer. Now I'm Melee Scholar."

Old Neil spoke casually, but Lynch knew very well that Old Neil was just worried about him, so he specially took Sequence 8 Potion and came to help him.

Old Neil was getting on in years, and taking Sequence 8 Potion was practically a gamble with his life, but he still drank it.

No wonder they said someone was waiting at the Holy Cathedral; it turned out to be Old Neil.

"You were better off staying in Tingen. Coming to Backlund isn't so easy here!"

Lynch muttered something, but then immediately beamed and hugged Old Neil.

"Listen to me, you'll stay at my place from now on. I have an extra room!"

That was the room he had arranged for Klein, and now it's occupied by Old Neil.

As for Klein, there are still a few rooms on the third floor that he hasn't tidied up yet. He'll just have the servants tidy them up a bit when the time comes. Who knows when Klein will come back to stay?

"Perfect timing! I don't have a place to rent right now. If you have a place, I'd be happy to move in, but I really hope the environment isn't too bad."

Old Neil said awkwardly.

Lynch burst into laughter.

"Very nice, Dunn and Leonard chose it for me together. There are many rooms inside, all of which I reserved for you."

I was planning to bring you to live with me after you retired, but you came early and now you're all squeezed in with me. I'm living there alone now, and it's really boring."

Old Neil laughed.

After Lynch and the others left Tingen, he felt increasingly bored there. Even though he still had familiar members like Frye, something was missing, so he came to find Lynch.

He was already planning to leave all his inheritance to Lynch, so there was no problem with him staying with Lynch; after all, Lynch couldn't possibly kick him out.