Tori Transmigrated - Chapter 146: Take Me to the Vault

“Are you crazy?” Gideon put down the treacherous creampuff from the tower Tori had brought to the palace. Tori watched his face go through disbelief and betrayal at the realization that she didn’t come by just to drop off a dessert tower to his mother.

Tori stood by the open French doors of the casual dining room where she was usually taken when they ate at the palace. While she didn’t want to come to the imperial palace, she had arrangements to make.

“No. I can’t guard you this week and the easiest way to ensure your safety is to also make you take a leave of absence.”

Gideon’s dismay didn’t shrink. “Why are you taking a leave of absence?”

“I told you: I have an experiment.”

“What experiment?”

“An important one.”

“You expect me to take a leave of absence when you won’t tell me why?” Gideon glowered.

“If I tell you it’s for Piers, will you take the leave of absence?” She didn’t want to reveal her experiment in detail or its end goal in case it didn’t work the way she wanted it. She especially did not want Piers to be disappointed. If she told Gideon, he’d cave in to just a single inquiry from Piers if not blab everything to Piers of his own free will.

Gideon narrowed his eyes. “What does this have to do with my brother?”

“Tori!” The Empress’ melodic voice filled the room as she swept in. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the conical tower of cream puffs. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Your Majesty.” Tori smiled at once and walked towards the Empress to greet her. She extended her hands and the Empress grasped them, pulling Tori towards her to kiss her cheeks. “I heard you were interested in my baking contest entry that won second place.”

“This only won second place?” Empress Monica shook her head as she pulled Tori towards the cream puff tower perched at one end of the long dining table. She walked around it, her eyes seemingly scanning every powdered sugar dusted puff with awe. She looked back towards Tori. “What beat you?”

“Senior Southard’s meat pie. I commissioned her to make me one last night since I was coming today. I thought you’d be curious.” Tori motioned to the heating box also on the table.

“Sarah, go and bring the coffee in! And some serving ware,” the Empress said as she called to one of the maids. “It’s just the right time for an afternoon snack.”

The maid bowed her head and scurried off to give the orders.

“I hope I’m not bothering you today,” Tori said as she stood to the side and waited until the Empress seemed satisfied at the cream puff tower.

“Oh, my dear girl, you’re not bothering me at all. It’s the weekend! I was just getting in some exercise,” the Empress said. It explained why she was wearing pants and a tunic. She glanced at Tori hopefully. “May I have a piece?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. This is all yours.” Tori winked. “You don’t have to share.”

The Empress laughed; her face filled with pleasure. “How can I be an Empress without being at least the smallest bit generous,” she said with an amused smile. She looked at Gideon. “Gideon, since you’re here, go and fetch your father.”

Gideon’s shoulders almost fell. “I’ll let a servant-”

“Gideon.” The Empress kept a smile on her face as she looked at her youngest son. “Go and fetch your father.” Tori drew her lips inward and bit them at the slight edge in the Empress’ voice.

The second prince lowered his head, defeated, and nodded. “Yes, Mother.” He turned around and let out a heavy breath as he walked out of the dining room.

The Empress gave the two servants standing on either side of the double doors of the entrance a nod. They swept in and grabbed the handles, closing the doors.

“Now then,” the Empress said as she fell back on to the seat to the right of the head of the table. She leaned forward and plucked one of the cream puffs from the middle of the tower, pausing for a moment to make sure it didn’t topple over. When it remained in place, she let out a small, relieved breath and brought the cream puff to her mouth. After biting into it, she motioned for Tori to take a seat next to her.

Tori pulled out the heavy wooden chair beside the Empress and sat down. “The cream puff is layered with custard, chopped strawberries, and whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar and a few streaks of melted sugar.”

The Empress closed her eyes, relishing the taste of the puff. “It’s delicious! Visually, though, it’s quite stunning.”

“You should’ve seen it with the candles for Axton’s birthday.”

The Empress chuckled and looked back at Tori with half a puff still pinched between two fingers. “Since we are alone, you can speak freely. You are Toni’s daughter. Everything you do must have a purpose.”

Tori held back a laugh and nodded. “I’d like to ask you to request that Prince Gideon have a leave of absence this week.”

The Empress furrowed her brows and tilted her head. “Why?”

“I am taking a leave of absence and cannot guard him.”

The Empress sat up straight, the playful look on her face becoming serious. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes and no. I believe His Majesty has informed you that I requested unrestricted access to the vaults at Université?”

“Yes. He said that the Université heads were very reluctant, but conceded. Despite not being a student, let alone an alumni, you will be allowed to access the vaults.”

“Part of the agreement was that I still had to follow procedures and rules regarding them. Considering that the collections and restricted vaults have rare and important pieces, I didn’t see a problem with following the rules. I’m not reckless with resources,” Tori said. She took a deep breath. “However, the Dean of Natural Sciences, who oversees the toxicology vault, is clearly resentful that I’ve been given such access and is making it difficult for me.”

The Empress frowned at once. “You came to the right place. Matthieu gave them an imperial order-”

“To allow me access, and they are,” Tori stressed. “I have to follow the procedures everyone else does. Unfortunately, I must wait for the vault keeper to not only let me in, but remain with us the entire time I’m doing my experiment. Normally, that’s fine. I completely understand why. Except that the vault keeper is a professor who teaches and does lab work, but only during times that I happen to be available to do the experiment. He’s free to escort us into the vault while I’m in class at Lycée.”

Empress Monica narrowed her eyes. “So, they’re following the imperial order, but purposely making it difficult for you.”

“Yes, but I don’t mind being compliant,” Tori said, perking up. She smiled wide. “Professor Lemaire’s availability is during Lycée’s class hours, so I’m taking a weeklong leave of absence. Papa has already given his approval and reached out to Lycée. Tomorrow morning, I will be waiting outside of Professor Lemaire’s early morning class to have him take me directly to the vault with Master Ramos and Instructor Ignatius.”

The Empress nearly choked with laughter. She turned her head to the side, letting out a very un-Empress-like snort of glee as her face flushed. “Brilliant!”

“That is why I’m asking for His Highness Prince Gideon to also take a leave of absence. I don’t feel I can properly guard him when I am gone for a week.”

The Empress nodded, her laughter dying down. She looked at Tori curiously. “Tori, I know that your experiment is likely complicated, and you don’t like to give details until it’s finalized, but I’d like to know what is so important that you’d go this far.”

Tori didn’t falter and expected the Empress to ask. In truth, it was fair for the Empress to ask, and Tori didn’t mind telling her specifically.

“I’m making Piers a ring and it needs to be done as soon as possible.”

The Empress’ curious face went blank almost immediately. “You…want to give my son a ring?” She began to tremble as her eyes dilated, and Tori sucked in a breath.

“It’s a crystal tool!” Her eyes went wide as she shook her head wildly. “It’s meant to replace food testing charms to decrease the chance of him being assassinated by poison! It’s only in ring form because a ring is the most inconspicuous and convenient piece of jewelry that can be brought near food. It’s easy to move around and visible to the wearer.”

The Empress deflated at once. “Oh…it’s a crystal tool.”

Tori crinkled her eyes. Did the Empress not catch the part about the ring decreasing the chance of assassination by poison? That was a particularly important point.

“I haven’t told anyone the goal for this experiment. I’ve done tests with different seafood, but not with poison. There are both liquid and powdered forms I need to register into a crystal to make it react. If a poisonous substance is detected within an arm’s length of the crystal, it will start to glow. This includes reacting to poison in the air….”

“Such as at the cabin,” the Empress said, nodding solemnly. “How confident are you that this will work?”

“Quite confident,” Tori replied. “The accuracy with the seafood, both cooked, raw, and mixed with other ingredients was extremely high. In fact, the sensitivity was more than an arm’s length.”

“This is more advantageous than a charm?”

Tori nodded and went through the various advantages the crystal tool would have over a charm and the Empress looked increasingly intrigued. “I understand. If that’s the case, this could be an important tool for anyone, especially my family.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Tori said. “I plan to sell it to the Emperor if it proves successful.”

The Empress squinted. “You plan to sell it to him?”

“My time and expertise are not free.”

“But aren’t you making it primarily for Piers?”

“Yes, Piers’ crystal will be free,” Tori said. “Other crystals will need to be purchased at a later fixed price.”

“If you’re making a ring, you’d need it mounted,” the Empress said carefully. “I can have our imperial jeweler-”

“Master Monde and Master Ramos are good friends, and he has already agreed to take on any job I have for mounting jewelry,” Tori said, without hesitation. She smiled weakly. “Piers’ ring mount is already selected.”

The Empress let out a tired sigh and leaned back against her chair. “You really are Toni’s daughter. When I see you with a weapon or chatting so cheerfully, I think you’re most definitely a Guevera, but you have your mother’s edge.” She pursed her lips. “I can’t say I don’t like it. Let me know what your price will be.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Tori gave her a small bow of her head. “Of course, please keep in mind that this is a secret. I don’t want Piers to be disappointed if it doesn’t work.”

“You have my word,” the Empress said as she looked at the puff tower. “It seems I was bought off. At least it comes with a meat pie.”

One of the doors opened and some maids came in, rolling in an elegant gilded and glass cart with coffee, plates, and utensils. As they set the place settings, Gideon arrived.

“Mother, Father will come as soon as he finishes this last memoriam.”

“Good, thank you, my son,” the Empress said as a maid poured some coffee. The maid added some cream and sugar before the Empress picked up the dainty cup. “By the way, there is no need to go back to Lycée tonight. You’ll be on a leave of absence for a week starting tomorrow.”

No one seemed to be more excited about Tori’s lawful-evil compliance to the procedures forced upon her by Dean Zanuto like Master Ramos. Tori was still staying at Lycée, but as soon as the gates opened in the morning, she was off. Two of Piers’ knights were waiting outside to escort her in SIG One.

She stopped to pick up breakfast for herself, her masters, drivers, the six knights on duty, and Piers and Axton from Cafe Fortuna before being taken to Piers’ house. When she arrived, Master Ramos was out in the courtyard with Alexander and a table had been prepared beneath a gazebo for their meal.

Tori passed out the breakfast sandwiches to the knights as she waited for Instructor Ignatius to join them. She knew he tended to sleep in, but Master Ramos had assured her he was awake, just slow. Piers and Axton also came to join them for breakfast and as they sat around, Tori checked her time piece.

“It’s about time to confirm,” she said before taking out her comcry.

“Confirm what?” Axton asked.

“That today will go as scheduled and there are no changes,” Tori said. She grinned. “I’d hate to arrive there and find that Professor Lemaire suddenly has a scheduling conflict.”

Master Ramos let out an indignant snort. “He seems the type that would.”

Tori slid her finger across her comcry. She watched the ring around the device pulse several times before a man’s voice answered somewhat arrogantly.

“Yes?”

“Good morning, Professor Lemaire. It’s Countess Guevera.” Even when she was greeting her actual customers at Lions Gate, Tori didn’t use this level of her customer service voice. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m well, Countess. How can I help you?” He sounded confident. As expected of someone who didn’t know they were going to be dragged into an underground laboratory and vault in an hour.

“I’m also well. Thank you for asking. I’m calling to confirm that your availability today still reflects the times given this weekend?” Tori asked, looking down at the notebook in front of her with a week-long schedule.

“Yes, my lady. I will be available during those times.”

“Great, I’ll see you then!”

“What time this afternoon-”

Tori’s smile dropped and she slid her finger across the comcry to end the call. I’ll see you in an hour, sucker….

Axton chuckled and shook his head.

“Tori, if they cause you more trouble, I will be on campus at these times.” He slid Tori his schedule and she nodded as she picked it up.

She unfolded the paper and found the neatly drawn-out schedule. She narrowed her eyes. At most, Piers has four hours of classes dotted throughout the day. Two days a week, he only had two hours of classes. The rest of the time slots were marked as libraries and collaborating with his professor.

“I should be able to manage it from here,” Tori said, tucking away the schedule. She took a deep breath and bit into her croissant. “Just wish me luck that this experiment is successful.”

They finished breakfast quickly and Tori left the cleanup of the meal to the knights before getting into the carriage with her masters. When they reached the west gate entrance, Instructor Ignatius took hold of the massive bag of supplies while Master Ramos took the smaller one with the more delicate crystals.

Tori adjusted her satchel, which had her notes, and walked Master Ramos and Instructor Ignatius to the entrance of the vault in the science building. Then, she went with Master Ramos to wait outside the door of Professor Lemaire’s first class, which was still currently in session.

Tori held on to her time piece, silently counting down until the class was over. A few seconds later, the door to the professor’s class opened and students began to file out. Tori tucked her time piece into her pocket and ignored the curious looks her way. For comfort and efficiency, she was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun. Aside from her hands, only her face and ears had exposed skin. Even her shirt collar covered her neck.

This was to prevent any poisons from touching her skin directly, even though they had safety equipment.

When there was a break in the students walking out, Tori slipped into the lecture hall. Professor Lemaire was talking with some students and answering questions. He didn’t seem to notice her. As the students nodded and dispersed, he began collecting his things into a bag. Just as he put it over his shoulder, Tori spoke up.

“Good morning, Professor Lemaire!”

Her cheerful voice was like lightning. Professor Lemaire snapped his head towards where she was standing and waving energetically to be as annoying as possible. His face fell and he froze where he stood.

“Countess Guevera?” He was looking at her as if she were a ghost. “What…what are you-”

“Yes, I’m here right on time! Your first class of the day is over, and your next class will not be for another six hours, according to the schedule you confirmed this weekend. That’s a good amount of time to take me to the vault,” she said with a winning smile. “Master Ramos is outside, and Instructor Ignatius is waiting for us by the vault entrance.”

He stood in place, appearing at a complete loss. “You’re here earlier than I expected.”

“Yes, I am.”

“What about your classes?” He climbed up the steps of the lecture hall towards her with a frown. “Countess Guevera, your education is no laughing matter. No matter how important you feel your experiment is, school should come first for a student your age.”

“It’s fine, Professor. I took a leave of absence approved by both my father, Marquis Guevera, and Headmaster Laurent.”

“You should go back to class, Countess. Losing a week’s worth of class-”

“I am ranked third in my year. The person who is taking notes while I am absent is not only the first ranked student of our year who also runs the much sought-after exam reviews, but is also my roommate,” Tori said, shamelessly cutting him off with an empty smile. “My education is secure, Professor Lemaire. Please take me to the vault.”

He gritted his teeth and looked away as he swept past her. As soon as he exited, Master Ramos greeted him with a jovial smile and launched into his excitement at how he was ready to watch his ‘most prized pupil’ work on her experiment. Tori wasn’t sure how Master Ramos was able to steer Professor Lemaire all the way to where Instructor Ignatius was waiting, but also managed to do so without letting the Professor get a word in.

Tori followed behind Master Ramos, smiling brightly as she watched the Professor’s frustration become irritation and then defeat. Master Ramos wouldn’t even let him slip away to put his belongings in his office. Master Ramos never ceased to amaze her.

Within fifteen minutes of kidnapping Professor Lemaire, Tori had secured the lab adjacent to the vault and began unpacking their things. On the weekend, Tori had Dean Zanuto walk her through the process of taking one poison out of the room at a time. Two people had to enter the vault, one of which was the vault keeper, then sign the sample out, then bring it to the lab.

They could not bring a sample outside of that area and the vault keeper needed to be there at all times.

First thing was first, Tori sorted the safety gear and then assigned jobs. Instructor Ignatius was to retrieve the poisons and put them on the examination table. Professor Lemaire was required to open the sample. Tori could take out the sample herself and put it on her crystal plate, register it to the master crystal, and then either return the sample or, if it could not be returned, have Professor Lemaire dispose of it. The sample required was about a drop of liquid or a dusting of powder.

It was a bit more complex with gasses, as the components were kept in separate jars.

She had many tools to use, as a clean pair would need to be used each time to get the purest sample registered. Master Ramos was charged with keeping track. They put on their safety equipment and Tori looked at Professor Lemaire, who still wore only his regular clothes.

“Don’t you have protective coverings and filters?” she asked from beneath her hood. She could see his exasperated face beyond her glass mask sink at the realization that he would be in the vault for hours without any sort of protection. Tori shook her head. “At least wear gloves and some sort of glasses, and cover your nose and mouth.”

Master Ramos also gave him a disapproving look. “You know this is the toxicology vault. How can you not be prepared to deal with toxins? What has Université become?”

Professor Lemaire flushed with embarrassment as Instructor Ignatius handed him some spares. Once everyone was ready, they began the long process.

“Poison 001A, tazia root, solid, ground,” Instructor Ignatius said as he followed Professor Lemaire. A small glass jar two-thirds full of a pale seafoam green coarse powder was placed in front of her, across the table. The Professor carefully opened the lid and Tori took a small metal spoon and scooped a tiny bit.

She put the powder into a dip in the quartz plate in front of her. Several black crystals were laid in a row over the painstakingly carved Old Sulfae. The quartz plate was essentially a large charm and rows of Old Sulfae were carved within text similar to Kasen’s detection charm.

It had taken Tori some time to get all the characters correct and in the correct order.

Tori took a deep breath and grounded. Resting in her palms inside her gloves were quartz that were taken from the plate and resonated. The carvings began to glow, and Tori’s eyes shut as she visualized the energy.

In the beginning, she thought of energy traces from objects as chemicals to make it easier for her to visualize. If the quartz could absorb the tiniest energy trace from a sample, it would remember the energy – it would remember something akin to its chemical makeup. From there, the crystal had to react.

Most programmed crystals had straight forward directions, such as searching to connect comcrys or locking and unlocking doors. Her current experiment technically had two functions: to detect poison and then release a signal if it did, but it would need to hold a lot of information.

The carvings were stacked with programs. The first was to read and register the poison when the plate was activated. The plate would then need to connect to the black crystals Tori connected the quartz’s energy to. The plate would feed the poison’s information to the crystal. If the crystal wasn’t on the plate, then another set of Old Sulfae was used to connect to that crystal through grounding, similar to how comcry connected to each other.

In this way, the black crystal that would be on Piers’ ring could be remotely updated with new poisons if the mother crystal – the plate, registered it. This made it incredibly easy to keep up to date. Tori used this system to program other crystals in bulk.

Next, the crystal itself needed to be sensitive to the poison. If the crystal were activated, it would actively absorb faint amounts of energy around to find and identify poison. If traces of poison were picked up, the crystal would react.

The black crystal would also give out a faint glow and cause nearby connected crystals to glow. Tori planned to use the same color-changing crystals she used on Alexander’s tag as the glow wouldn’t look too unnatural. Also, she discovered that those crystals were quite expensive. Her cat was wearing more expensive stones than most people did.

In the case that the glow would be unnoticed, such as in strong daylight or bright light, it also heated up. It wasn’t enough to burn the skin, but enough to get one’s attention, such as when her laptop overheated. Only by swiping over the top, like a comcry, could the crystal cool.

Tori directed the thread of energy from the quartz to sweep over the sample. When the energy thread retreated, it coursed through the plate and into the smaller crystals. Tori opened her eyes and picked up one of the black crystals with some metal tongs, then waved it over the open jar of powder.

The crystal began a very subtle glow that would’ve been unnoticed in the daylight, and Tori nodded.

She scraped what she could of the powder back into the jar, then wiped the plate clean. “Bring me the next one.”

Each sample required her to use her own energy to go through the crystals, but the energy required was minimal. After she healed from crystal shock, her channels were much clearer and wider. Gathering energy after grounding was much easier than before crystal shock. She still wasn’t anywhere near the same level as Sebastian, but her energy reservoir was deeper, and she could control the flow much better.

She could last longer doing this sort of work.

“Countess Guevera,” Professor Lemaire said about four hours into the progress of the experiment. “I would like to take a break.”

Tori finished wiping the plate clean. “A break is in order. Let’s take a fifteen-minute break. Get some fresh air, a drink of water, and use the toilets.”

The Professor looked relieved, as if he were afraid that she’d reject his request. He put the latest poison back with Instructor Ignatius with him, signing it back into the vault. Tori laid out some air crystals to cleanse the room before tucking away her crystal plate.

“You’re going to take that with you?” Master Ramos asked.

Tori nodded. She glanced towards the vault, where the Professor was. “It doesn’t hurt to be cautious.”

Master Ramos nodded with agreement. If the plate was damaged, they had a sister plate on Anahata Island that was mirroring this one. They locked the vault and the lab, then went above ground for their break. Tori and her masters continued to wear their smocks, gloves, and hoods, but removed the protective hoods once they reached the hallway.

At this time of the day, there were plenty of students and faculty in the science building. More than a couple looked at them strangely in their protective gear.

To ensure that Professor Lemaire would not run off, Master Ramos followed him. Instructor Ignatius knocked on an office door across from the vault’s entrance.

After a few moments, the door opened and Tori drew her head back, surprised. A familiar man in his late twenties appeared and immediately smiled when he saw them. He had bright green eyes and a neat goatee and mustache.

“Professor Stakes?” She looked around. “This is the geology department?” He was the professional who she was recommended to for surveying the delta. She knew he was teaching at Université, but didn’t expect to see him.

She looked him up and down. It was strange to see him in a suit and not having traces of dirt and mud on him.

“Countess Guevera!” Professor Stakes laughed at her confused expression and shook her head. “No, this is a shared science building. I’m an adjunct professor, so I don’t have a personal office. I share this one with other adjunct science professors.”

“I ran into him this morning and asked if he could hold our lunch in his office since it didn’t seem like a good idea to keep our food in the vault with us,” Instructor Ignatius said.

“That’s a good idea, thank you,” Tori said. “And thank you, Professor Stakes.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “My desk area is in this corner. If you need to leave anything, I’m here in the mornings.” He opened one of the lower cabinets of his desk and pulled out the large heating box. “By the way, have you considered making smaller versions of these to keep food warm for individual use?”

Tori stared at the heating box and wanted to slap herself. Fuck. “Lunch boxes.” I can’t believe I forgot about lunch boxes. I carried an insulated one to work for how many years, and I completely forgot about them.

“Are they going to come to market soon?” he asked as Instructor Ignatius opened the box and rummaged through for some snacks.

“I’ll make sure to send one to you when it does,” Tori said with a smile.

“Thank you, Professor. We’ll get the rest when it’s time for lunch,” Instructor Ignatius told him. She followed Instructor Ignatius outside to the courtyard behind the building. Master Ramos was already there with an exhausted-looking Professor Lemaire.

“All right let’s have a snack to keep up our energy. We have a few more hours before Professor Lemaire has to return to class. Then, we’ll meet him at the lecture hall to return here for a few more hours before his designated lab time.”

With each word, Professor Lemaire seemed to slump lower.

“My lady…how long do you think it will take to complete your experiment?”

“Well, considering how far we’ve come so far…how many have we gone through, Instructor Ignatius?”

“I’d say…less than 10%? We did stop several times to check to make sure the registry was performing correctly.”

Tori nodded. “We need to register all the samples in the vault, Professor Lemaire. How long we will need to stay and do this is entirely up to you,” she said in a calm voice. “Either we get it done this week in long blocks or you drag it out for months in one-hour increments.”

Master Ramos put his hand on Professor Lemaire’s shoulder and smiled pleasantly. “I believe you know what will work best for all of us, Professor.”

She could’ve sworn the Professor whimpered. He swallowed hard. “Then, let me see if I can reschedule some office time. I may also be free this weekend.”

Tori smiled until her eyes were crescents. “Thank you in advance, Professor.”

After the initial tests and once they got into the rhythm of the process, it went by faster. Thanks to Professor Lemaire’s generous sacrifice of his weekend, Tori was able to complete registering the poisons within a week’s time and had to restrain herself from cackling when she finished.

“It’s over!” Tori resisted the urge to jump and clap her hands as everything was packed away. The vault was sealed, and they came out of the science building. “The fresh air feels nice!”

“Professor Lemaire,” Master Ramos said, turning to face the man who looked as if he’d just shaken off a demon. “Thank you for your time this week.”

“Yes, Professor. I will let the Emperor know you did your job well,” Tori said with a bright smile. “We have some time today. Do you want to join us for dinner?”

“No!” He stumbled back at step. “No, it’s not necessary, my lady! I was only doing my job!”

“Are you sure?” Tori asked. “I’ve already made reservations at one of the top restaurants in the city-”

“Thank you for the offer, my lady, but I have work to catch up on!”

“All right, well, thank you again….” Her voice trailed off as she watched the Professor flee. She narrowed her eyes. “What’s he afraid of? I’m not a monster.” She heard a low chuckle beside her and turned to see her master smirking. “Then again, maybe it’s not me….”

Master Ramos snickered. “So, my pupil, where are you treating your masters to tonight?”

“The Three Queens!” Tori said, filling her face with a genuine smile. “Axton called the manager, and he is expecting us.”

“Ah, the Three Queens,” Master Ramos said, looking interested. “I’m hungry just thinking of it.”

“Should we change?” Instructor Ignatius looked down at his rather unkempt clothing. “It’s a very fancy restaurant.”

“Axton always says we don’t have to. We’ll be eating in the rooftop dining hall, anyway, but I think we should. The establishment calls for it and I do feel a bit self-conscious if I appear dressed like this.” She held her arms out, showing off her own dull work clothing.

“Since we were in the vault all day, we should also bathe before changing into clean, suitable clothing,” Master Ramos said.

“Then after I drop you off, I’ll go to Lycée. I must find a suitable dress, as I don’t like wearing my uniform there unless I have to,” Tori said. “I’ll likely take longer. Have the spare imperial carriage take you and I’ll take SIG One.”

They climbed into SIG One to be dropped off and as the knights unloaded their things into the house when they arrived, Instructor Ignatius furrowed his brows.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, does the name of your carriages mean something?”

Tori froze in her seat. No one had questioned her on the name of the carriage until now. “It’s short for an old word I read about in an obscure book. Short for…sigma. It means…sum.” That was the only thing she could think of off the top of her head and cursed that the first thing she thought of was the symbol of sigma in a spreadsheet. This is what I get for working in an office….

“Oh…” Instructor Ignatius nodded thoughtfully. “I thought it was an acronym.”

Tori laughed it off and quietly gave Mr. Novak the order to take her to go back to the dorm. No one needed to know that SIG was an acronym for ‘Suck It, Gideon’.