When Meredith entered the administration office, she noticed that there had almost nobody there. At a few desks at the back of the First Floor, a few administrators were already working at their desks, but most of the employees hadn't arrived yet.
Since the half-fox remembered where the vice principal's office was, because she and John walked by there a week before to make their registrations, she walked naturally to it. The people in the office saw someone stepping with such confidence in the background that their minds didn't even notice that it was a student.
Arriving at the door of Namor's office, she used the master key, which she stole from the guard, to unlock the door. When the iron lock clicked, she turned the knob and walked naturally into the man's office.
Lucky for Meredith, she didn't have to search hurriedly for the teachers' schedules because on the board behind the door was a long list showing the schedules of all the teachers' classes.
'Since the door was closed when I came here, I couldn't see that.' She deduced while copying all of Professor Vinigo's schedules, and for some reason, Luke's too, onto a sheet of paper with a pencil.
The class schedules weren't top-secret information; thus, they weren't confined in an obsidian vault.
Many times per day, Namor needed to talk with teachers, then he was consequently required to go to their rooms, so he left the class schedules of all of them within reach of his eyes.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt'Right! Now I need to show this to Luke... But what if I go myself?'
Suddenly, the half-fox's plan changed because she noticed that Professor Vinigo would have to teach three classes in a row that morning, which meant that he would be three hours away from his office.
'I have enough time to find the office, look for information, and leave! All very easy!' she thought while smiling. Meredith could almost see Luke's proud smile, congratulating her many times.
For some time now, Meredith had felt like she was being useless to the half-wolf compared to the other women. Moreover, even after months of meeting Luke again, she felt guilty for leaving him behind and running away, so she thought this might be the perfect opportunity to redeem herself.
Then, Meredith left Namor's office without much thought, so that fear wouldn't overwhelm her. After leaving the office, the guard was confused because the vice director hadn't arrived yet, and she clearly wanted to talk to him.
The half-fox slapped him on the back and exclaimed:
"I can't keep waiting for him all day! I'm going to my class!" Meredith nodded, as she walked away.
The guard was unresponsive because of the weak slap, and after he heard his keys fall on the floor, he was back to normal. Naturally, he crouched down to pick them up, deducing that the woman's slap had caused them to fall from his belt.
As Luke revealed where he found the Alchemy Professor's office on the second floor, Meredith went down into the basement of the Academy.
The people she passed by didn't recognize her, but they didn't dare question her either because Meredith was beautiful and had a sympathetic look, despite being a half-beast, which attracted a harsher look from some people.
Before she started looking for Vinigo's office, the half-fox chose to go to his classroom.
'Room 528... Room 529... Room 530! Finally!' She mentally celebrated when she finally found the room numbering she was looking for.
To her misfortune, the wooden door to the classroom was closed, and hardly any sound of the voice was coming from inside. There was no way for her to know whether Vinigo was in or not.
Still, she didn't turn around and returned to the surface. Meredith covered her lower ears, which were hidden by her long hair, and focused her hearing on her surroundings. Now, Meredith's fox ears could detect the smallest vibrations within fifty meters.
Although she couldn't keep her focus on her hearing for more than twenty seconds, that was long enough for her to notice that there was no one roaming the nearby hallways and that no classes were happening in several of the rooms around the Alchemy classroom.
'Well... now I can peek through the lock without fear of being caught by someone.' She thought and put her left eye to look through the wooden door lock.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWhen she looked inside the room, she noticed a bearded and fat man sitting at the teacher's desk. He was writing something with black ink and paper on a parchment. This man had gray hair and a weak expression, as if he was a bit ill.
'Apparently, he hasn't fully recovered yet from when he was sick...' Meredith deduced that man was Vinigo; after all, he was seated at the professor's desk. 'Anyway, if he really is here now, I can look for his office without any problems.'
So, the half-fox left that area and started looking for the old man's office door.
She regretted that she didn't have a piece of Vinigo's clothing to be able to do reverse tracking and follow his scent to the office. However, she also thought that she wouldn't like to have the odor of an old man impregnated in her nose for a few days.
Still, after fifty minutes of relentless searching, she finally found a large door whose attached plaque declared it was the office of the Alchemy Professor.
Before daring to open the door, Meredith swallowed some saliva, because what she was about to do was one of the riskiest things she had ever done alone in her entire life.
Infiltrating the Oukiwa Noble Academy, invading the Vice Principal's office, and also invading a Professor's office? I must be crazy...' She thought while opening the heavy door.
Meredith had to exert quite a bit of force to open the heavy door, but she managed. She found a completely dark environment, and a strong smell of dust that hung over the entire room.
"<Licht>." Meredith muttered to herself, with her right palm pointed forward.
From that palm, dozens of one-centimeter spheres of light spewed out and hovered over the room, illuminating it as much as thousands of fireflies gathered together.
This was a Normal Gene Skill that Luke had been gifted four months ago, on the half-fox's birthday.
'Now it's time to start the search.' She thought.