Orion Ernas was known to be a terrible liar, yet no one doubted his words. Everything he had said except for the reason of his staying was true.
His honesty was one of the reasons why Jirni loved Orion and yet now it caused her a great deal of pain. He had gone off script, using that opportunity to vent out the burden that had eaten at him for over a month.
Jirni Ernas had an awful reputation, but the sight of her crying in the middle of the street, after being rejected in such a cruel way despite all of her beggings was beyond pitiful.
She dusted her dress while calling for a stagecoach and then went to the Silver Swan, one of the best hotels in Ruham.
The quarrel between the couple made every person with a dirty business sigh in relief. Orion hadn't come to protect Manohar, just to get away from his wife's attempts to reconcile.
At the same time, however, it put the City Lord, Marquis Hassar Beilin, in an awkward spot. On the one hand, he couldn't ignore the visit of someone as important as Jirni. If he didn't invite her over at least for a tea he would lose a lot of face.
It was common courtesy between nobles to offer each other hospitality and help, especially during hard times. If one of his political rivals reached her first, they would exploit the opportunity to make friends with Jirni and destroy Beilin's reputation.
On top of that, avoiding her without a good reason would make people think that he had something to hide, which was true.
On the other hand, however, inviting the wolf in the sheepfold would have been dangerous. After all, Jirni's methods weren't a secret and the entire thing might have been staged.
The Marquis waited a few hours, following the developments from a safe distance by using his house staff as his eyes and ears. As he had feared, Lady Ernas received several invitations from the most important noble households of the city, starting from his political opponents.
She accepted them all, telling her story to whoever was willing to listen to her with insignificant variations from time to time. The only questions she asked were if any of her hosts had ever had a similar problem and how had it ended for them.
Soon Belin was forced to invite her as well not to be the only one left out. Lady Ernas gracefully accepted it despite coming so late, yet she had to postpone her visit to the following day since she already had a busy schedule.
'Damn my paranoia!' The Maquis thought while walking circles in his office. 'Not only have I become the laughingstock of the city, but I'm also forced to rely on third hand information that my enemies might as well have made up.'
Everyone was curious about what had brought Manohar to Ruham and why he had yet to leave. After consoling her to the best of their abilities, Jirni's guests had asked her what she knew, which wasn't much but still better than nothing.
The Marquis knew nothing of the content of those conversations except what the servants had overheard, shared with other servants external to their household who had then reported it to his own.
By putting them all together, it seemed that Manohar had come to investigate a plague caused by a traitor who was embezzling city funds for the Undead Courts in order to gain access to a secret vault.
Only a small part of that ridiculous story was true which meant that either the investigation was running in circles or that Manohar was onto something and was muddying the waters for the fun of it.
The Marquis spent the hours until the meeting with Jirni wondering if his role in the disappearance of the weapons had been discovered and what could have possibly gone wrong.
'I'm not dealing with the Courts and certainly, I caused no plague. On top of that, I have a perfect alibi for the day of the crime. Even if the vault Manohar is investigating is actually the armory, I can always frame one of my rivals.' He kept repeating to himself, yet his mind refused to calm down.
As for Jirni, the moment she was away from prying eyes, she wiped her on-cue tears and had a good cup of tea to stay hydrated for her next performance.
"How did my host behave after I left?" She asked.
After bawling her eyes out, she would always let one small detail slip at a time to study the reaction of her mark. She always started with an absurd story to make them feel safe just to mention a secret vault once they lowered their guard and were already anxious to get rid of her whining.
"The usual." Friya shrugged. "As soon as you left the house, they called all of their friends to gloat about your misfortunes and boasted how they manipulated the high and mighty Archon Ernas into betraying state secrets."
The reason why Jirni kept a schedule was to allow her daughters to know where she would be and give them the time to find a place from where they could intervene in the case Jirni needed backup.
They also had to monitor who would leave or enter the house after Jirni and listen to the calls that her host would make. Tapping a communication amulet required being close and above to it for the array to work and to know when the call was made.
In a city with an air sealing array, both issues could be solved by staking out a mark from a nearby building. Unless one had access to Spirit Magic, of course.
The girls had actually opened small Steps to listen to the conversations, even those with the servants, and take a look around. Yet they had discovered nothing of interest.
"It was worth the shot." Jirni sighed. "Keep up with the good work for the City Lord. He's our main target and I'm sure that one way or another he has heard all of the rumors that I spread.
"Between the wait and the bits of truth I inserted in-between lies stinging at his paranoia, I bet that he has no idea what's going on. If I'm right, we are going to have a reaction from him, but not in my presence."
"Don't worry, Mom. We already scouted the place and I know where to set up our stakeout." Quylla said.
While Jirni visited the nobles, Orion and Phloria used their Knight's Guards' tools to further the investigation. They checked the entire City Hall with spells that allowed them to find any trace of magical activity in the previous 24 hours and the time frame was even longer if powerful artifacts had been employed.
Unfortunately, they found nothing.
"This is simply absurd." Orion said after trying and failing to find any trace of tampering on the magical locks.
"Each one of these doors is protected by powerful arrays during the night. I get that as long as one knows where the armory is and how to open it, they can access the vault, but how did they enter the room in the first place?"
Phloria was a very tall woman by Mogar's standards, 1.8 meters (5'11") tall. She had the lean yet muscular build of a professional swimmer, olive-colored skin, and hazel eyes.
After Awakening, her waist-long unruly hair had become naturally straight, silky, and so black that they almost looked blue under the sunlight. Body refining had also perfectly harmonized her muscles with her physique, giving her gentler features and a more feminine appearance.
"Dad, you look terrible. You need to sit down, enjoy some good food, and rest a bit. When was the last time that you slept in your bed?"
Orion Ernas was a man in his mid-forties, over 1.96 meters (6'5") tall with black hair and brown eyes. The military training and the constant use of powerful spells as a Forgemaster had tempered his body, giving him toned muscles that made his uniform fit like a glove.
Even though Lith rejuvenated his body regularly, Orion had now some wrinkles around temples and bags under his eyes. He had yet to shave for the day and his stubble made him look even more tired than he actually was.
"I don't have time to-" Orion's words died in his throat when he looked into Phloria's eyes and saw how worried she was. "A few weeks ago."
"And I bet that you worked non-stop since you left the house. Dad, you need to take care of yourself."
Orion was an adult man and one of the most influential people of the Kingdom, yet it would always take his daughter just a few words to make him feel like a dumb kid. Ever since he had got three of them, every time he looked at himself through their eyes he felt as if he was facing a court martial.
"Fine. Let me treat you to something better than the army canteen." Orion said while offering her his arm.
"Really? Then maybe I can tempt you with a nap." She replied while walking arm in arm.
"Maybe."
Orion brought her to the Phoenix's Nest, one of the best restaurants of the capitol where the Ernas couple had a table always reserved. It was located in front of a panoramic window with a view into the inner garden of the establishment.
It allowed the customers to dine while enjoying the songs of the many birds that inhabited the place and the smell of the freshly watered flowers. Their table was also more spaced from the others, giving them privacy.
During the day, when most of the customers would be high officials of the Kingdom instead of couples, the Phoenix's Nest used enchanted tables that kept the conversations from being overheard.
Orion ordered a pint of dark beer, a fillet steak with green pepper sauce, spiced potatoes, and a vegetable cream for fibers. Phloria ordered the same and forbade the waiter to bring any alcohol to the table.
House Ernas had spent a small fortune to repair all the damage caused by Orion's drunken outbursts and throwing another in a public place would have destroyed more than furniture, it would have ruined Orion's career.
He grunted, steeling his gaze and preparing to give her a piece of his mind.
Then their eyes met and he was back on the stand of the court martial, reading a long list of charges of his own making.
They ate slowly, chatting only about the most insignificant details of their lives. Yet that moment of respite spent not worrying about what had happened but appreciating what he had, reminded Orion of how much he missed dining with his family.
Of how much he missed Jirni's nagging at him to be back home for every meal so that they could always spend some time together, no matter how heavy their workload was.
He pushed that painful memory away and kept only the warmth that his daughter had gifted him with.
"Thanks for being here with me, little Flower." Orion extended his hand and held Phloria's who was thankful for the table's Hush zone.
"Don't mention it, Dad. Also please stop calling me like that in public. It's embarrassing."
"I'm a lonely old man without a single grandchild. How can you be so cruel to take away from me the little joy I have left in life?" He said, trying to make her feel guilty for being still unmarried despite being already 22 years old.
"Gunyin gave you three already, Tulion-"
"Don't mention that name!" Orion snarled.
His philanderer second born was unmarried as well, yet he had quite the number of children from several different women. It caused the Ernas household great embarrassment and the need to give each one of them a minor noble title.
The children still carried the blood and the magical potential of the Ernas. Even though their father didn't feel responsible for them, Orion did. He made sure that they would grow up to a far cry better than Tulion.
"Fine. As for my sisters and I, it's hard to find a date when your father first locks you up for months and then he complains the moment you start to date. Let Quylla go out more often and maybe she could give you a cute little grandchild." Phloria said.
"My little girl with that long-haired hobo?" Orion turned pale at the mention of Morok Eari, the creepy ex-Ranger that courted his youngest daughter. "With that haircut and his poor manners, he's a disgrace for the army. Quylla cand do better than him!"
"Yeah, right. Because Great Mages that don't just aim to exploit the Ernas household grow on trees. I know something about it." Phloria said with a sigh.
"I'm sorry, little Flower. I didn't mean to remind you of that Kallion asshole."
"It's in the past, Dad." Phloria shook her head. "I've gotten more pressing problems in the present to worry about him."
"Is it something wrong with Lith? With your apprenticeship with the Hydra? Do you have a new boyfriend?" Orion asked, his voice increasing in intensity the uglier his hypotheses became.
"Wow, that escalated quickly." She chuckled. "At least you didn't ask me if I'm pregnant."
'Nah, you would have mentioned that earlier instead of defending that Morok.' Orion thought.
"I think you heard about what's happening with the Royal Court." Phloria said.
"You have to be a little more specific than that. Thrud? Undead? Famine? Political plays?" Orion sighed.
"A little bit of everything. The Kingdom is in dire straits to the point that the Royals have recalled in service every single Archmage, even Onia, the former Headmistress of the Black Griffon academy.
"I want to help, but after everything that Deirus and his accomplices did to me with the complicity of the army, I don't trust anyone anymore." Phloria said.
"Your sentiment is noble and your caution most sound." Orion nodded for her to continue.
"The Royal Court has already forced Lith back in the field claiming that he has done nothing for the Kingdom after his retirement from the army. It's only a matter of time before they turn against me as well.
"I'm going to beat them to the punch and volunteer for a mission.. This way the reputation of the Ernas will be safe and none of our opponents will be able to use me against Gunyin in the Court."
