When he woke up in the next morning with the sun's rays penetrating the window, Luke still had huge dark circles under his eyes. He slept only a few hours before sunrise, because a whirlwind of thoughts had plagued him throughout the night.
Instantly upon waking, Luke looked at his bed, expecting to find Nathalia sleeping peacefully. But she was no longer there, and his bed was already wholly made up.
"I slept so soundly when I finally was able to calm down that I didn't even hear her leave." Luke spoke as he stood up from the floor.
His back hurt, but that didn't matter, because Nathalia's scent was still strong in his bed, which took all his attention.
"I wonder if she might have been upset... We don't even say goodnight to each other, even though we sleep under the same roof. I hope things don't get weird from now on."
Confused about what he was actually feeling, Luke went to the dorm's communal teachers' bathroom and showered in his morning bath to be able to wake up properly.
In the bathroom, he trimmed his few strands of beard, which seemed to grow faster every day. In addition, Luke also brushed his tail and smoothed the hairs of his upper ears.
Finally, he put his teacher's uniform on and walked to the back of the Academy's central building, which had huge glass windows, covered internally by curtains with the institution's emblem, a five-pointed star made entirely of gold. Almost nobody went to the back of this building, even less at that time of the morning, so it was the perfect place for a secret meeting.
When he got there, Luke saw John and Meredith from afar, who were waiting for him.
"Finally, you decided to show up!" John exclaimed to the half-wolf, spreading his arms out to the sides.
Luke approached as he yawned and replied softly, "Good morning, guys..."
"Ow! Are you okay, man?" he asked, seeing the deep caves under the professor's eyes.
"Did you spend the night studying for your classes?" Meredith asked, concerned.
After being asked, the memories of last night returned to the half-wolf's mind, even though he wanted to just ignore them for now. While scratching his cheek and looking away, he answered:
"Ann... something like that. Let's change the topic... Have you guys found anything about the Professor Vinigo?"
Meredith took the lead and answered before John. "My classmates from first grade don't know him, but I talked to some boys from second grade yesterday, and they said that this Vinigo is just another boring teacher."
"Hmm~ Second grade boys...?" John asked, with his eyes clenched as he stared at Meredith closely. "Have you done any school boyfriends already?"
The half-fox rolled her eyes and delivered a left-handed punch to the dark-haired boy's skull. "OUCHHH!" John screamed in pain.
Luke and Meredith placed their index fingers in front of their mouths and called for silence, "Xiiiii!"
"But she just hit me-" John tried to explain, but was interrupted.
"Xiiiiiiii!"
Immediately, John crossed his arms and went quiet, with a nonconformist expression.
"What about you, Luke? Could you find anything?"
"Four days ago, I overheard some teachers talking about him being sick in his office on the underground floor. So, I immediately went there in my spare time, and after a few minutes of searching, I luckily found the office on the second floor. I went in, talked to him, and saw that he was really sick, but I ordered Bastet to step into his shadow. For now, we should just wait until he does something suspicious, which Bastet is ordered to come back to me to let me know." Luke explained in detail; after all, his friends were also involved in this plan.
"I see." Meredith spoke, as she placed her hand on her chin to think, just as Luke used to do. "I bet he won't do anything while he's sick. I wonder if he's better yet."
At that moment, John raised his hands to finally be able to speak, and his friends nodded to him, allowing him.
"I was in the library yesterday and there was a group of students avid for reading. They were sad that the Alchemy Professor had returned, because apparently his classes are too practical and not theoretical at all."
Luke was surprised, because he had spent all the time between his classes in the teacher's lounge the day before, yet he hadn't seen or heard about Vinigo one single time. He expected to run into his fellow teacher frequently when he returned to teaching.
"If he has returned to teaching, that's better for us. He should soon go find someone regarding the demons, so we can start connecting that network to the Smakusa, or find out more about him, at least enough to threaten him." Luke stated as he propped himself up against a wall of the building.
The plan was still to get an ally who could pass on information about the demons and the Smakusa, but if they could find that information without threatening the professor or blackmail him, that would be even better.
After this brief conversation, the trio of former thieves said their goodbyes, and each went to their own side of the Oukiwa Academy of Nobles.
However, Meredith wasn't satisfied with the current plan, because of the bunch of holes in it. If Professor Vinigo really did find any members of the Smakusa Family, how would that connect them to the demons or the betrayal of the Empire? What they really needed were concrete documents to prove this relationship. Then, they could perhaps advance their hearing with the Emperor by banning him from the council and arresting an infiltrator like Erick Smakusa.
The only place they could find such a document for the half-fox would be in Vinigo's office.
Still, Meredith knew that this wasn't the ideal job for her, but rather for Luke because he was faster and had more practice in break-ins than she was. However, she still felt that she could be helpful using her charm and a little wit.
After the trio parted, Meredith didn't go to her class, but to the Academy's board of directors.
There was a guard in front of this building, who was always guarding and checking who was coming in and who was going out. Typically, Luke would opt to try to find some window or parallel door to sneak into the building, but Meredith acted differently.
"Good morning!" She exclaimed cheerfully to the guard, surprising him with such energy first thing in the morning. "Has Vice Director Namor arrived yet?" Meredith was leaning forward, and through the neckline of her uniform, some of the skin of her breasts could be seen.
"N-no... Khum! Not yet..." The guard looked away and pretended to clear his throat to explain the flaw in his voice.
" So, I'm going in to wait for him!" Meredith stated and simply walked into the board.
"Wait—" Before the man could stop her, the half-fox had already entered. "Damn... if it's only a girl, it shouldn't be a problem." He shrugged.
As well as getting in, Meredith had also managed to steal the guard's master key, which was tied to his belt. She did this when she leaned over and distracted the man with her breasts. This key could open any door lock in the Academy, including the vice principal's office door, where the teachers' schedules probably were.
She planned to find Professor Vinigo's class schedules and hand them to Luke, who could take the opportunity to enter the doctor's office at the most opportune moment possible.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter