Chapter 400 (1/2)
«You too, Ruslan? But you are not a Clinton…» – Milan said bitterly.
«I used to be… I am still under patriarch Horace's orders. I am sorry, I didn't want to do this, but I had no choice... Please, accept my resignation effective today…» – The high-ranking investigator handed in his letter of resignation with tears in his eyes. He had been working for many years to get this position, but an order that came from the top made him lose everything.
{Screw you, D.i.c.k…} – The head of the department accepted the letter with a heavy heart. He had lost two 2-nd rank and nine 3-d rank investigators. All of them had brought a letter of resignation at patriarch Horace's order. It must have been the fat blackmailer's scheme! Milan started to respect D.i.c.k against his will. What trick would he pull next?
…
Kyon received a spatial ring from the trade guild and found a secluded room to examine Andrew's hefty corpse. It was real! Even a tiniest chance that the patriarch hadn't killed Andrew would be fatal for D.i.c.k Baker. Imperial phasers were too strong. Even a shot from a pulse rifle in the head wouldn't kill them unless they protect it with pure energy.
A closer examination revealed that Andrew had died from a broken neck. His keys had been removed, which came as no surprise as nine imperial phase keys cost a leg and an arm. It was one-tenth of what Kyon had earned in the forest tournament.
As a matter of fact, it was quite common to remove the keys from the dead. The deceased gave their descendants a chance to get rich, and therefore get stronger. A gesture of generosity. If anyone refused to donate their keys after death, their bodies would stay untouched. However, graves were often desecrated for easy gain.
Kyon remembered something: he could never find any keys in the dead bodies in the tombs even if their shelf life was unlimited. He concluded that the voracious keys of light and darkness gobbled up their owners' keys after death, as they did with Kyon's keys of light and darkness back in the tomb.
After Lovr finished examining the body, he made sure that Horace had fulfilled his demand regarding the investigators and returned to the hotel room with complete peace of mind.
«Hi, daddy!» … «What's up!» – The girls ran up to Zosimos.
«How have you been, my sweet ones?» – Zosimos asked cheerfully.
«Romeo invited me to take a walk around the garden! He had such a cute little puppy in his hands... So sweet! But I restrained myself from petting it…» – Eve said sadly. – «And I didn't accept his invitation.»
«Good girl. Daddy is so proud of you.» – Kyon wanted to pat his little fairy on the head, but she shyly stepped back, still afraid of contact with the opposite s.e.x.
«Here you are, honey.»
«But it's only a jar! And it's half full!!! Is it some kind of joke?» – The little pixie protested, her hands balled into fists.
«You won't sleep if you eat too much candy, begging for fairy tales all night long.»
Leila pursed her lips and grabbed the jar with candies: «Alright! It will do… But you will give me more tomorrow! You promised to bring me a pile of jelly bears! You should keep your promise.»
«I will.» – Kyon nodded.
«Good. What else do you have for me?» – Leila asked defiantly, raising her delicate eyebrows.
«I can give you a nice spanking.» – Zosimos gave her a sly wink.
«No, not spanking!» – Leila rushed to her room but a second later, she realized the absurdity of the situation and came out, proudly sticking out her c.h.e.s.t. – «Are you strong enough for that?»
At the moment, Kyon was concerned about Leila even more than the Clintons or Valeera's clan. He would be in big trouble if he couldn't manipulate her with cartoons anymore. There was only one way to make Leila obey him: establish his parental authority. But how to do it? She had significantly changed her attitude towards Zosimos after going to the dwarfs' factory, but it wasn't enough. Cartoons about obedient children weren't effective either because everything she heard went in one ear and out the other.
A week ago, Kyon could have earned the little pixie's respect if he had not allowed any flippancy from her and spanked her for any sign of disobedience. However, this method could work with ordinary children, not with Leila, who had regained her strength and would be happy to take the pot-bellied daddy down a notch. If he had been using this method, Leila would have considered that Zosimus could no longer control her, which meant that he would lose his authority over her. If he had forbidden Leila to watch cartoons after that, she would have thought that he was acting out of despair. His paternal authority would have been hurt. He couldn't allow that.
«This attitude will deprive you of watching cartoons.» – Kyon said.
«No, don't forbid me to watch cartoons!» – Leila ran back into the room, looking really concerned.
Eve giggled merrily. She enjoyed watching her dad manipulate the naughty and mischievous elder sister, shamelessly hitting her weak spot.
Leila looked out from behind the door and cried out angrily: «Why are you laughing? It's not funny!»
«Unlike you, I can live without cartoons!» – Eve retorted proudly.
«Me too… It's just… I don't want to…» – Leila mumbled uncertainly.
Eve raised her beautiful green eyes and said to Zosimos: «I want to work out, daddy, fly on birds or visit some events... When are you going to spend some time with us?»
«Tomorrow, we will pay a visit to someone, and the day after tomorrow, we might do some practice.»
«A visit to whom?» – The girls asked at once.
…
A large mansion on the outskirts of an elite Dantes district. It's a place for wealthy people without a noble family name.