The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

Noble gritted her teeth as another knock at the door precipitated two men entering. The professor didn't need to look to know one of them was a familiar Saint.

She turned slowly to see Nightingale with an army lieutenant in full uniform. The mundane soldier's face was grim.

"Excuse the disturbance. We have urgent official business," he said, sounding anything but rushed.

How many other doors had he knocked on before arriving here?

"May we ask what this is about?" Zeth stood, politely motioning them into the room.

The lieutenant folded his hands in front of him.

"Saint Nightingale has some questions for—"

"Master Noble?" Kai's winning smile flashed in her direction.

Thankfully, there were no crazed teens to see it. Noble met his gaze as calmly as she could.

"Saint Nightingale. I am surprised you remember me."

"Why wouldn't I? My visit to your Academy was quite memorable." The charming Saint nodded.

Noble was not sure if the impression had been good or bad. After all, it had involved Rain getting a head wound and Kai needing to step in to give an archery demonstration.

"Thank you again for your help that day. I'm here on Academy business, actually." Noble's eyes flicked toward the synthetic pages that had just finished printing.

"Ah, I understand. I am here on business too. I don't want to waste anyone's time, so I will get on with it." Kai sighed, wishing for a happier topic of discussion than what was about to occur. "We are here in search of any information on the mysterious Nobody who published the report on the Tomb of Ariel." 

"I don't mean to sound rude, but isn't that below your pay grade?" Teddy pulled her lips to one side. "I mean I am not complaining, but you really should." 

Kai viewed her with a complicated expression. "Well, the Great Clans have demanded an explanation. Because the publication happened in the Waking World, they expect the government to be the one to provide those answers. Having visited the Tomb of Ariel myself, I volunteered to conduct the investigation." 

Noble noted that Kai had left out one key qualification as to why he had likely been approached in the first place. Everyone in the government who was paying attention knew that he could tell when people were lying. 

And that was a huge problem because, on this particular matter, Noble had plenty to hide. She eyed the door, but it may as well have been a thousand kilometers away as a few meters. 

If she tried to leave now, that would be suspicious. Under normal circumstances, Noble would have been hanging on every word and learning as much as she could about the strange situation. 

The professor needed to sit tight and look interested. Perhaps then she would not need to be questioned. That was the best-case scenario at this point. 

'Please only talk to the government agents!' Noble pleaded silently. 

"The lieutenant only has a couple of questions, and then we can let you get back to work." 

Kai motioned for the soldier to continue. 

"Who wants to go first?" 

"I will," Zeth volunteered gallantly. 

"And you are?" 

"Zeth, I am one of the clerks here." The young man nodded as his curly hair bounced around his head. 

"Thank you." The soldier looked through his list and clicked on the man's name. "Please answer all questions with a complete sentence. When did you first hear about the Report on the Tomb of Ariel?" 

"I first learned about it this morning when I was having my breakfast." Zeth seemed to recall the moment as he spoke. 

"And do you have any idea who this mysterious Nobody might be?" 

"I do not." The clerk held the other man's gaze. 

The lieutenant waited a moment before cutting his eyes toward Nightingale. 

"He's clear," Kai confirmed. 

Marking down the information, the soldier moved on to the younger of the two women. 

"And your name, ma'am?" 

"I'm Awakened Teddy." 

"When did you first hear about the Report on the Tomb of Ariel?" The man's voice was almost robotic. 

"I was one of the first to know!" Teddy announced proudly. 

"Oh? Do you have any idea of who this mysterious Nobody might be?" 

"Of course I do! I know exactly who it is." The young woman spread her arms wide as if expecting a hug.

"Who?" Everyone in the room leaned in to hear. Even Noble was fascinated by the declaration. 

"Isn't it obvious? It has to be that Master Cellio. He completed the third Nightmare, and Changing Star and the others are protecting him from being discovered!" 

"Master Cellio?" Kai furrowed his brow. 

"Well, he would be Saint Cellio now, but yes. I don't know why you are trying to deny it. If this were a genuine search, you would be looking at the Archives where the article would have been uploaded instead of poking around here." Teddy crossed her arms. 

While Teddy had come to the wrong conclusion, some of her reasoning was sound. Why hadn't they gone to the Archives? 

'No, what am I thinking?! I don't want them to do that!' 

"Make a note to check on the Cellio fellow," Kai told the man with him. "And we have visited the Archives, but no one there was able to give us any information on who Nobody might be. The head of the Archives couldn't even tell us how the article made it into the system."

Noble breathed a small sigh of relief. At least for now, Hex was safe. He had covered his tracks well. 

"We will follow up with any additional questions," The soldier told Teddy before turning to Noble. "Name?" 

"Oh, uh... I don't work here. I doubt you will find me on whatever list you are using."

However, Noble's excuse only succeeded in frustrating the investigator. 

"Name?" the man repeated. 

"You know it is Master Noble." The professor hid her nervousness behind the gruff answer. 

Her heart beat wildly in her chest. Surely everyone could hear it! 

"When did you first hear about the Report on the Tomb of Ariel?" 

Taking a measured breath, Noble knew she must be honest. "I was one of the first to know about this report." 

'I was second after the one who wrote it!' 

"Do you have any idea of who this mysterious Nobody might be?" The soldier squinted at her, and Noble could feel sweat form on her brow. 

She wished that she had left without the papers for the school. Or even excused herself to go to the bathroom. Why hadn't she thought of that sooner?! 

Instead, she would have to answer. 

"I think I like Teddy's theory the best of any I have heard. And I know this Cellio fellow. He is the type to jump headlong into a Nightmare without a lot of thought. With the government's permission, I could introduce you..." 

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary just now." Kai motioned to the soldier. "We should be going. Thank you all for your time. We will contact you if we have any follow-up questions." 

"You can visit any time," Teddy called after him. She winked at Noble. "He'll be back." 

"I am sure you will find a way to bump into him again. As for me, I have to use the restroom," Noble called on her storage Memory and stuffed her papers inside with the other documents. "I will see you both later." 

Teddy pointed to the door. "The closest facility is down the hall and to the..." 

But the Master was already gone. 

"Or you can use the Dream Realm...that works too, I guess."