441 Search (Part 1)

"This is much worse than I expected." Jirni paced around Dorian's office while assessing the gravity of Othre's predicament in the light of the most recent developments.

"Royal Constables don't deal with mages. It's the duty of the Mage Association to prevent idiots with more power than brains from endangering the Kingdom and its subjects. My problem is that if I call in the Knight's Guard without a proper cover story, panic will spread."

Even if she wasn't referring to him, Dorian felt the need to justify himself anyway.

"I assure you that there were no early signs of a conspiracy of this magnitude. I performed background checks on every mage that entered the city during the last months.

"Also, the materials necessary to build a lab need special permission to be bought. There's no record of someone applying for one in years."