Supreme Magus novel Chapter 1687

"Infiltrating the City Hall is not that hard." Manohar shrugged. "You just have to get in during the day when the arrays are down, jam the lock so that the arrays don't trigger, and hide inside an empty room. Then you wait for people to leave, do what you have to, and get out in the morning."

"What about the guards? You can't just walk inside the City Hall unnoticed." Orion pointed out.

"You can, if you have the right face. I have done- I mean, it's one of the reasons I understood that I was dealing with a shapeshifter." Manohar saved himself at the last minute.

"Let me ask you one thing." Orion said. "You don't seem the kind of guy who asks for help nor did you want Jirni here. Then how did I get this job?"

"You are right. I don't need help and I never fail." Manohar said, puffing his chest out with pride.

"That's not what I-"

"I had the perfect plan to find our culprit before your arrival and I even got the Royal Permission to experiment on them and on their accomplices as much as I want after making them talk." Manohar cut him short.

"I'm not great at interrogating people, but usually it's enough to start from my experiments and the talking comes naturally."

"Then why am I here?" Orion asked.

"Well, let's say that usually a lot of my test subjects- I mean prisoners die from unexpected complications. The Crown wanted to make sure that this time I would follow their precious orders so they called your daughter."

"Phloria? Why not Jirni? She's the one they send to make you behave."

"Because they wanted the Beanpole to do something useful for once and drag you out of your slump. They knew that if they called Jirni you wouldn't have come. They are afraid that you're slipping."

"So I'm your babysitter and she's mine?" Orion was flabbergasted.

"Yes, Dad." Phloria nodded. "The Royals wanted me on a mission and I thought that this was the perfect occasion to make you meet Mom and maybe settle things between the two of you.

"I'm not asking you to forgive her, just to put this story behind you before it eats you alive. Lucky told me about your drinking problem and how it's affecting your career."

"Damn furball." Orion was angry at the Ry and moved by the concern that his daughters were showing him. "I promise you that I'll talk with your mother, okay?"

"That's unfair, dude!" Manohar said in outrage. "Maybe I shouldn't have spiked your drinks, but I made up for that by being honest with you. There's no reason to call my mother."

"He meant mine." Phloria said, making the god of healing sigh in relief.

"Wait, what do you mean, drinks? As in more than one?" Orion had wondered why that morning he didn't feel rested and his mouth tasted like trash.

Then he remembered the weird taste of his evening tea and that the staff of his hotel had complained about a wild animal making a mess of the kitchen dumpster.

"First of all, let's all remain calm, appreciate the fact that nothing bad happened, and remember that I'm certified insane." Manohar said as if it explained everything.

"You son of a…" Orion tried to assault him, but a powerful hard-light construct and Phloria stopped him.