Victor waited in awkward silence for several seconds as he waited for someone to actually do something. It seemed as if everyone else was also waiting, which absolutely did not make him any more comfortable with the situation.

After several more seconds, the mechanical doors at the dead end of the short hallway beyond the guards slid open, and another woman emerged.

It was hard for Victor to pinpoint what was different about her. Sure, he could list the mundane differences between her clothes and those of the casino clerk, or how she carried herself differently from the two guards…

But really, there was just an aura about her that was as professionally businesslike as the clerk and as stern and unwavering as that of the guards.

While she carried no visible weapon and wore no apparent armor, Victor instantly registered her as dangerous.

Listen to your instincts, Lord Harvey once told him. They may not always be right, but there’s always a reason for them, even if you yourself don’t understand why.

“Good afternoon,” she greeted them in a cool, crisp, thin-lipped voice. “Welcome to La Island Bonita, Lord Harvey.”

“Deva.” Victor spared a sideways glance to Lord Harvey. The master alchemist remained completely unfazed and at ease, and it would seem that he recognized the newcomer.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” he continued. “A most welcome surprise.”

The woman — Deva — remained as impassive as a rock. “I will be escorting you to see Lord Grantly for your meeting today.” Shifting her gaze slightly to land on Victor, she pursed her lips for a moment. “I trust that your aide won’t be troubled remaining with our esteemed Casino Representative?”

Deva subtly indicated the clerk with the last comment, and Victor tensed slightly while reminding himself of the number one rule: brave men die in glory, but cowards live.

If they wouldn’t allow him to continue, he would turn back. You can always try again if you aren’t dead.

“On the contrary,” Lord Harvey drawled while clasping both calloused hands atop his polished black cane, “I must insist that my aide Pierre accompany me all the way to our host.” Frowning, he cocked his head to the side at Victor. “On account of my poor health, I have decided that I must always be accompanied by an adequately prepared personal aide.”

Deva frowned as well, but Lord Harvey continued. “If it is truly not possible to continue alongside my companion, I must request that we reschedule and relocate our meeting to a less sensitive location.”

Deva flicked her eyes back and forth between the pair before straightening her already stiff posture. “Very well then.” She then glanced between the two statuesque guards. “Guards, if you would please validate them.”

The guard on the right — the one with the clawed mitt — stepped forward, while her sword bearing partner remained at attention. Victor suspected that the policy was for one guard to conduct the search while the other kept watch — both over his partner and the people being searched, as well as remaining vigilant over the entrance as a whole.

The female guard beckoned for Lord Harvey to step forward, and he obliged. Raising her mitt, she slowly and methodically waved her hand across the entirety of his body, carefully wiggling and curling her fingers as she did so.

To Victor, the whole process looked rather silly, but he didn’t doubt that what she was actually doing was complex, and he also knew better than to not take it seriously.

Halfway through, the guard frowned. “Do you have any alchemical products in your coat pockets?”

“Yes. My medicines.”

Victor licked his lips, flicking his gaze between the guard and his boss. What happened next was critical to the success — or failure — of the entire mission.

“May I see them?”

Slowly and carefully, Lord Harvey unbuttoned his luxurious scarlet coat. Reaching into the interior breast pockets, he retrieved three small vials of pale yellow liquid, along with a simple metal tin — which Victor knew contained several dozen pills that the alchemist had synthesized himself.

Raising her mitt again, the guard inspected the items, tilting her head and frowning as she did so. Finally, she glanced back at Deva with a torn expression on her face. “Per protocols, I really don’t think we’re supposed to allow anything like this through…”

Victor’s gaze bounced back and forth between the guard, Deva, and Lord Harvey like a child’s toy ball.

Deva had now pursed her lips again, clearly scrutinizing the items herself. After a tense moment, she flicked her eyes up to meet Lord Harvey’s flat gaze. “Would you be willing to leave the medicine here with our guards? I can ensure that they will have it ready at a moment’s notice, if absolutely necessary.”

Lord Harvey remained silent for a moment, but lowered his hand. “Yes, I can do that.”

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Victor’s muscles loosened, and he restrained a sigh of relief. It looked like they would be able to proceed according to plan after all.

Retrieving a small, velvety pouch, the guard held it open and Lord Harvey carefully deposited the three vials and the tin inside.

The guard attached it to her belt and then beckoned Lord Harvey to step through.

Once he had passed through and stopped next to Deva, the guard indicated that it was Victor’s turn to step forward. He obliged, and the guard began the same process she had performed with his boss.

This time, Victor definitely didn’t think it was silly. The best way he could describe the sensation was like if someone were blowing cool air across his bare skin — except he could also feel it inside of his body. It was highly disorienting, not to mention just plain uncomfortable, and he didn’t bother to conceal his relief when she lowered the mitt.

“He’s good,” the guard called back.

“What about the ring?” Deva pointed to Victor’s left hand.

Shrugging, the guard motioned for Victor to raise his hand, and she held her own up to it.

“It’s just a loop of metal,” she replied. “Completely mundane.”

Nodding, Deva beckoned for Victor to step through. “Very well then.”

Actually, the guard was wrong, but Victor couldn’t fault her. The ring was actually part of a pair of incredibly valuable enchanted items which Lord Harvey had only recently — and begrudgingly — allowed Victor and Pierre to use.

The enchantment itself was just a common, low value, short range signaling device — all it could do is send and receive a notification with the other ring with no additional context.

What made the pair of items so incredibly valuable is that they were supposedly completely immune to nearly all forms of enchantment detection — a claim which they had rigorously tested, and which continued to prove true, as demonstrated by this very occasion.

Stepping past the guards, Victor joined Lord Harvey and Deva.

“You may return to your station,” Deva told the casino clerk, who departed with a silent bow. “Follow me,” she instructed while turning around and striding over to the mechanical doors of the lift.

As soon as she was within several paces, the iron doors slid open, which Victor noted with mild interest.

The interior of the lift was small — but not cramped — and rather plain and utilitarian, unlike the rest of the casino.

Victor suspected the rest of the vaults would be similarly lackluster. They didn’t need to be interesting — their contents ought to be interesting enough on their own.

As the trio descended down below the surface, Victor couldn’t help but imagine the staggering power and wealth contained within the space that they were about to enter — all just an arm’s length away, and none of it would ever be accessible to him.

And he made his peace with that. If he wanted to improve his situation at all, he needed to aim for what he could actually achieve, not what was most tantalizing.

Which is exactly why Lord Harvey had finally entrusted him with the ring — an item worth more than the entirety of what Victor had been paid since he started working for the crime boss. Victor had proven again and again that he was capable of prioritizing safe, stable gains rather than taking wildly reckless risks.

The lift stopped, and the doors slid open, revealing a dimly lit, dreary stone corridor. Victor instantly recognized it as a fully claimed dungeon passage.

An ideal choice for such a vault. While fully claiming a portion of the dungeon that the entire city was build out of was long, hard, and expensive work, it could certainly pay off.

Granted, you obviously wouldn’t be able to delve it anymore, and so the empire put restrictions on how much could be fully claimed in the first place — but for applications like this, having that degree of control and security was ideal.

Breaking in would be nigh impossible.

Unless you happened to work for an obscenely wealthy corrupt philanthropist who could easily arrange a meeting with the vault’s manager…

“Welcome to La Isla Bonita Vault.” Lord Harvey stepped out first, Victor followed, and Deva took up the rear, before striding ahead to take the lead again.

As the trio made their way down the corridor, Victor restrained himself from peering into every room and side passage they passed. A degree of curiosity was understandable, of course, but he didn’t want to look too interested.

Nevertheless, his eye still wandered over all manner of treasures, as well as what appeared to be research laboratories, workshops, and ordinary offices.

After what was probably less than a minute but felt far longer, the trio arrived at a set of brass double doors. Heaving them open, Deva indicated for Lord Harvey and Victor to step inside, and the two men obliged.

Victor hadn’t really expected anything at all, to be fair, but he would still say he most definitely did not expect a library.

The tall, cylindrical chamber was lined with nothing but shelves and shelves of books, tablets, and scrolls, with a wide, cozy sitting area occupying the middle of the floor below. Looking up and then back down, Victor observed that the entrance was approximately in the middle.

There was one other person in the room — a slim, plainly dressed, sharp looking middle aged man with slicked back salt and pepper hair, sitting at the largest desk down below. Lord Grantly, Victor presumed as he associated prior descriptions with the appearance of the man below him.

He didn’t realize the door had closed behind him until Deva stepped in front of the pair and began making her way down the metal staircase zig zagging down to the lower level.

Victor shared a glance with his boss. Stairs weren’t the most kind to the old alchemist, but together they could manage reasonably well.

Supporting Lord Harvey by the shoulder, Victor helped his employer down one step at a time.

A minute or so later, the pair joined Deva at the foot of the staircase, and the trio approached the seated man in silence.

Their host appeared to be engrossed in what Victor guessed was some kind of record book, occasionally marking down a quick note with a silver fountain pen.

Instead of announcing their presence, Deva merely remained motionless with her hands folded, leaving Victor no choice but to do likewise. After making a few more entries, the man looked up, glancing between Victor and Lord Harvey with an emotionally devoid, hollow gaze.

“Lord Harvey. May it be my pleasure to welcome you to La Isla Bonita Vault.”

Tilting his head, Lord Harvey smiled slightly. “I regret to inform you that Miss Deva has already done so.”

Lord Grantly stared at the old alchemist blankly for several seconds. Finally, he blinked. “Please, take a seat.”

Stepping forward, Lord Harvey eased himself down into the single cushioned chair directly across the broad wooden desk from their host.

As there was only one chair, Victor remained standing beside Deva.

“So,” Lord Grantly began as he steepled his bony fingers, “here to steal one of our artifacts?”

Victor blinked, and Lord Harvey coughed.

Lord Grantly chuckled. It was a strange sound, vaguely reminiscent of a rusty hinge creaking back and forth. “That was a joke.” He frowned. “Anyway. I’d like to dispense with the usual formalities and get straight to business, if that’s alright with you.”

Right as he finished speaking, Victor received an alert from his ring.

Pierre was alerting him that it was time to make his move.