Redacted

Redacted. 

An entire part of the document was completely blacked out and from the flow of the text, another section was removed entirely. 

'How high of a clearance does one need to see this?' Noble pursed her lips. 

Since Teddy had put in the request, it should have been given to her like Director Fort was going to read it. Unless he had a way of bypassing the redacted sections on his own. 

Noble sighed. 

'Maybe it is better this way.' 

She had confirmed that something was being covered up, but without any concrete knowledge, there was no way to go forward. 

It appeared to be a dead end. 

Reading over the words that were there, Noble understood why Lena thought the circumstances were suspicious. 

Director Lance had gone to a restaurant in the middle of the afternoon. That by itself wasn't exactly odd, except Noble's father had a strict work ethic. Eating at off times, especially leaving the office to do so, would have been rare for him. 

'The restaurant is so far from his office. It is practically in the outskirts. Not exactly the kind of establishment Dad would have gone to without a reason.' 

Noble read on. Lance went alone on this excursion and when he arrived, there was apparently no one inside the humble establishment. So when the building collapsed on Lance's head, the former Director was the only casualty. 

Later, a report came out that the building had been condemned the day before for faulty workmanship. Therefore, the investigation concluded that Lance was an unfortunate victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

'How convenient...' 

Teenage Noble had been so wrapped up in her preparations for her first trip into the Dream Realm that she hadn't asked as much as she wanted to about what had happened to her father. 

Everyone had called it a terrible accident, and since Noble could feel their grief, she had taken the words at face value. 

Looking at the report objectively right now, something didn't add up. 

'What was redacted? And what was removed?' 

The footnotes gave a little clarity. 

"Parts of the report related to an ongoing investigation have been removed to prevent contamination of evidence." 

If Lena was right and Lance had come to confront a Great Clan about a concern, then the statement could have been referring to that.

However, the secondary case would have been long over by now. Did things retire from being redacted by the government? It seemed not.

Noble held her head. As she had no idea how the other investigation was labeled, there was no good way to look it up without attracting attention.

Two years prior, the professor's android, Bee Two had overloaded the government system with one of Noble's requests. It had caused massive panic and almost led to Noble's arrest. 

Tripping another alert would certainly bring the new Master under unwanted scrutiny. For her sake and the sake of her family, it was better to stay out of trouble. 

The only other pieces of information were some notated pictures from the scene. Noble braced herself as she looked at the images. 

The building had collapsed in its entirety. That was why it had taken the police some time to locate and uncover her father's body.

If they had found him sooner, would he have survived?

'Probably not.' Noble tried to comfort herself. 

There was no use thinking about what could have been. That would only lead her to more heartache and anger. She had already had enough of that today. 

So instead she looked at the pictures like a puzzle to be solved. 

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see. 

'Rubble, rubble and more rubble.' Noble clicked her tongue softly. 'And is it my imagination or is all of the rock shiny?' 

It wasn't her imagination. All of the stones had a luminescent quality. A notation under a close-up of a broken rock stated that the stone was weak and the glittery pinkish strands running through it were strangely porous. The investigator recommended a follow-up inquiry into why the stone was used to construct the building in the first place. 

'Hmm, I wonder if that happened–' 

The door to the dojo suddenly opened. 

"Oh good! You are back! I thought maybe you had gotten lost in the Dream Realm again." Fort's voice was playful, but the real worry behind his words was not lost on Noble. 

"I'm sorry. I should have let you know that I was home." The professor dropped the communicator to her side and lowered her eyes. 

"What matters is that you are here and safe." Fort furrowed his brow. "Are you alright? My entrance seemed to have startled you, and I didn't know that was even possible anymore." His eyes traced down her arm to the communicator pressed up against her skirt. "Are you getting caught up on the Waking World? I can tell you most of the news isn't good." 

"What little I have read would agree with your assessment," Noble shook her head. "But I was engrossed in another matter. The one from earlier." 

The blonde man took a step into the room and shut the door. "The one having to do with your strange hypothetical questions? Bee..." 

Noble held up her hands in surrender. "I know. I should have left the matter alone, but now I think I can, at least for now. I will not take any actions or look into anything else without consulting you first."

"You promise?" Fort stared deeply into her eyes. 

Noble moved forward and entwined her fingers with her husband's. "I promise."

The blond man visibly relaxed before pulling his wife into a hug. He rested his cheek against her head and changed the subject.

"How was the new citadel?" 

"It was...unbelievable." Noble had no other word. "The palace has reconstructed itself—with some minor changes. The gateway is inside." 

"Really? The Spell really did roll out the red carpet for you, as it should." Fort smiled. 

"Ha! I don't know about that. But I do wish you could see it. It is pretty impressive, though a bit empty." Noble thought of the Great Hall and its lack of furniture.

"I'm sure you will get it furnished soon enough. I understand Sarai's new Ability might be able to help on that front. If not, surely Nickel can borrow some without anyone knowing he was there." Fort winked.

"I see you've been doing some research of your own. Did you study up on them for your job or your own curiosity?" Noble chuckled.

"Both, if I'm being honest." The Director shrugged. "How about the other part of your trip? Did the meeting with the government go well?"

"As well as can be expected when I really had no choice but to cooperate," Noble's voice held no judgment. "I was surprised to see Saint Cor handle the matter personally with all that is going on."

"Indeed." Fort's emotional spike caught Noble's attention.

"What's this? How much do you know about what the government Saint is up to? You have asked a lot of questions. Perhaps it is my turn for an interrogation." Noble tilted her head up and froze.

Her husband's face was so close to hers that she suddenly lost her ability to tease. A blush crept on her face.

"An interrogation?" A smile split Fort's face.

Before the director could comment further on his wife's choice of words inside the dark room, Noble pressed her lips against his.

Her mind flooded with pleasant thoughts, pushing everything else aside.

Unfortunately a moment later, Noble pulled away from the warm embrace.

Fort frowned, his heart racing. "What is it? Did I do something wrong? Because I will do anything…"

Noble pressed her finger gently to his lips with a sad smile. She glanced toward the door.

"The kids are back."