Transmigrated To A Beastworld As The Lazy Wife Of The Fox Lord

Chapter 245: The boring stone.

Time seemed to pass slowly, as the stone was passed around from hand to hand, for careful examination. Sienna watched from the side, buttering her home baked bagel with blueberry jam. Elias, the Queen, grandpa Corven, they traded theories on the stone as if it was the single greatest creation in the world. Every spot on the stone was a clue. Every line, even it’s shape and size were all clues to them.

They settled it on a velvet cushion brought by the queen’s attendants from the ship. It was sitting on the table the same way a prize jewel sat on a podium during an auction.

To Sienna, it still looked like something anyone might trip over in the garden.

"I have more of those in the backyard if anyone wants some," she commented, sniggering as she bit into the bagel.

Shalin cleared her throat, "Lady, do you just enjoy being glared at?"

Right on cue, the team investigating the stone glared at her.

"This may be the key to our future." Elias intoned, eyes narrowed.

Sienna snorted into her tea. "Or the key to a very boring rock collection."

Her words were ignored. The queen waved her hand, and guards produced an array of tools. Some familiar, some so bizarre that Sienna nearly choked on her breakfast, There was a quantum gravity scanner, a stellar frequency prism and something that looked suspiciously like a hairdryer from old earth but was labeled Particle disruptor!

All three tools sounded like things you would find in a physics lab, used for conducting serious studies. Sienna sighed, "Aren’t you all taking this too far?"

Grandpa Corven squinted at the stone with his naked eyes, muttering, "In my day, we didn’t need machines. Mental strength was enough. I have examined it and I don’t see anything special about it. It is just a stone."

Sienna raised her cup in salute. "Finally, someone with sense."

But the king had been updated on the rock and he had sent experts. They arrived in a flurry of white hazmat bodysuits, with masks and pomp. One carried a nano-spectral probe that hummed like a swarm of bees. Its presence alerted Honey Thunder who objected loudly to the invasion.

Another wielded a gravity lens that bent the air around the stone, making everyone’s hair stand on end.

Sienna, chewing on another bagel muttered, "If this turns out to be a stone, my bees will be suing for emotional abuse."

Her mother shoved her on the shoulder, "Shut up. After what you hid from me about your father, this is all necessary. Everything about that man has to be analyzed under a microscope. The queen has made an appointment for me with a hypnotist. They want to look into my memories and see if I heard or saw anything of use back then. Hopefully, after it is done, we can put all of this behind us."

Meanwhile, a series of tests on the stone started. An expert tried to slice with it plasma scalpel. The blade sparked, fizzled and promptly died.

Sienna clapped her hands. "Bravo. You have discovered the world’s most expensive sharpener."

Elias groaned.

When exposed to heat, the stone glowed faintly, then cooled back to its dull gray.

Sienna chuckled. "Maybe we can use it to toast bread when you are finished."

When probed with the nano-spectral probe, the device emitted a shriek that made everyone cover their ears. The readout displayed a single word: Stone.

Sienna nearly fell off her chair laughing. "Oh, the suspense! What could it be? A stone? Or....wait for it...a stone!"

Lord Marius, who had only arrived five minutes ago, pulled grandpa Corven so that they could laugh, away from the sight of the queen. Sienna’s sarcastic but humorous commentary was not helping, but it was putting smiles on faces.

The king’s experts huddled together, whispering furiously. One insisted it was a fragment of a collapsed star core. Another claimed it was a fossilized egg of an ancient creature that didn’t exist anymore. A third suggested that it was a remnant from a weapon of a beast god, from millions of years ago!

Sienna’s jaw dropped, she waved her bagel. "Are you scientists hearing yourselves? Your machine has given you the answer: stone. It is a stone. Call it a rock if stone is too simple. Revolutionary theory, I know. Give me credit when you write a thesis."

Her grandfather laughed out loud, though Elias shot her a look that said please stop mocking some of the finest minds in the empire.

The queen, who was had been watching with regal patience, finally sighed. "So....it is a stone?"

The lead expert cleared his throat. "Yes, Your Highness. A stone of....remarkable resilience."

Sienna raised her bagel like a trophy. "Resilient enough to make a mockery of you all. But not me. I was Sienna Mochi Paws all over it right from the beginning."

Elias sighed. "Sienna, must you?"

"Yes," she said cheerfully, biting into her pastry. "It’s my civic duty."

She thought it would end there, but more experts arrived, including two priests! After three more hours of poking, prodding, scanning, theorizing and praying, the verdict was unanimous: the stone was, in fact, a stone. No hidden writings, no hidden power, no secret code, no ancestral memories. Just a stubborn lump of material.

The lion guards looked crestfallen. The queen pursed her lips. Elias stared at the stone as though sheer willpower might transform it into something more.

Only the falcons were relieved that it had not turned out to be something more.

Sienna, licking jam from a spoon declared, "Well, at least now we know Paris had a sense of humor. He sent us a stone and watched an empire lose its mind."

Grandpa Corven chuckled. "Well, the boy did always enjoy a good prank."

Sienna leaned back, satisfied. "And I have enjoyed the breakfast show. Imagine leaving a stone to your children as a legacy? I have said it before and I will say it again, Paris Rocland was an ass." She raised her cup to her grandfather. "A beloved ass to those who loved him, but an ass nonetheless. I regret that the ass cannot be here for an ass kicking."

"How many asses is that?" Marius whispered.

Grandpa Corven shook his head. "Who cares? Our asses are saved and that is what matters. Hopefully, there will be no more mystery packages."

The two men looked at the queen, who was less than pleased at the results. Despite the results, the stone was being packed up for transfer and further examination! For sure, the royal family would be keeping an eye on them even more, going forward.