The Mech Lord

"How long do you people plan to take?!!" Dean Valen roared in anger as his gaze swept through all the Instructors in the room.

The culprit was still not in their hands. And, they were supposed to be one of the best Academies in the Universe.

The Leader of the Security Force sat there with his head hung low. He had nothing to say. All his people were already onto the matter. But, the culprit just couldn't be identified so easily. How the hell were they supposed to find out the person with only a picture of her back visible to them?

Obviously, they had already marked down a bunch of people with some similarity in figure, but there was nothing that seemed suspicious about them as of yet. Not to mention, they had to work within the rules and regulations. Meaning, they couldn't go overboard in their investigations.

All the Instructor's could only keep their mouths shut in silence while the Dean scolded them.

Jack was in the room as well. But, he didn't dare to look the Dean in the eye. He could only curse his luck. He hadn't slept since the day of the murder, but even all his patrolling had ended up with zero reward. There was no sight of the culprit.

Either the person had run away from the place, or he was hiding in silence.

It was better if it was the first, if not, then they would have to live in horror of another incident happening anytime.

"Clang!"

A metallic clang rang out of nowhere, and people were immediately shocked as the ventilation grill came crashing down on the table along with a cute little cat.

The scene suddenly left everyone dumbfounded.

'A cat?'

They couldn't help, but look at the little thing not knowing what to make out of the situation.

...

'Sh*t! That scared the crap out of me..' Aiden cursed internally. He didn't think the grill would plummet down the moment he step onto it.

'What now?' He looked around, and saw everyone looking at him.

'Damn it, I had plans to come out of the ventilations duct near the floor..' He looked in the corner and there was clear a connection to ventilation duct there as well. But, not he was here..

...

There were two people here who recognized the cat at a single glance.

First one was Jack, who knew the cat very well. The other one was Vanessa. Even though she hadn't previously met the Nyanden, Amelia had indeed sent her pics of their new family member.

"Where did this cat come from?" One of the Instructors frowned.

The Leader of Security Force looked at the Dean's ugly face, and gulped. First there was a murderer roaming around, and now, there was cat. Even though it was a harmless little thing, it didn't change the fact that his people couldn't discover a thing which was roaming around the campus freely.

What if it was not a harmless little cat, but some Arora beast?

He could feel sweat rolling down his forehead.

"I will take care of it.." He immediately decided to bring the situation under control. His Arora energy came out of his body turning into a red hand. And, it immediately went ahead to grab the little cat.

It was clear that he was being lenient by only using a Titled's ability to freely change the shape of his energy.

Aiden's eyes turned gravely when he saw that hand heading towards him. He knew that if he was caught by the guy, it would be all over. He had to get to the right person.

He immediately turned towards Jack, their eyes met.

It was then that he raised his head, and revealed a smart link tied around his neck.

"Bang!"

Two more Arora energy rushed out and clashed with Security Leader's energy. The clash sent waves of energy rolling around the room, and everything on the desks were sent flying away.

The scene shocked every Instructor as they looked at Jack and Vanessa who had suddenly gotten up from their seats.

"What are you two doing?" The Dean asked with a dark look on his face.

"It's my cat." Two voices simultaneously rang in the room, and everyone's face turned odd.

How could a single cat belong to two different people?

Vanessa frowned as she looked at Jack. She couldn't help but give Nyanden one more look, but no doubt about it, it was the same cat that she had seen in Amelia's pic. She could only think that the girl had secretly brought the cat to the Academy, and then ended up losing sight of it.

But, why was the Librarian claiming the cat to be his?

This left her in confusion.

Even the Dean couldn't help, but gave Jack a look. He knew this guy wasn't a cat lover. Hell, he hated cute animals to be specific. He loved more bloodthirsty ones.

There was a silence in the room, until Jack finally broke it, "Are you sure you aren't mistaken?"

He gave Vanessa a questioning look, and she didn't know how to react. She was sure if she went with the picture. But, she hadn't even met the thing in person, it was too early to assume it was the exact same cat. What if it was just a similar looking one?

If only she could confirm it with Amelia..

"Come here.." Jack suddenly gestured to the little cat.

Aiden's brows twitch. But, he controlled his anger. Even though it was humiliating, he didn't have a choice now. Hence, he could only act like a nice little cat who had seen his owner.

Once everybody saw the cat's reaction, it became very obvious. They couldn't help, but give Vanessa a look. Was this girl trying to steal someone's cat because she found it cute?

Vanessa's face turned a bit red in embarrassment. She knew that she must have been too early to judge. She could only apologize, saying that she might have confused it with her own cat.

Anyway, the situation calmed down, at least they thought so..

"May I know why that cat is roaming around freely, Mr. Jack?" Dean's voice rang in the room.

He didn't seem happy.

It was a rule that no matter what kind of pet it was. Once in the Academy, it had to be kept in control. The smaller ones, not exceeding the size of a cat, could be brought along inside on the condition that the owner would always be by their side. The one bigger than those had to be stationed into the area designated by the Academy.

"I couldn't bring it to the meeting. It must have followed after me. It's quite a smart one." Jack used the meeting as a shield to dodge the bullet.

His hand sneakily removed the smart link on the cat's neck. And, thankfully, it was unlocked.

But as soon as the screen turned bright, his eyes turned grim looking at the text being displayed in it.

It was actually Leo's text log with him. It showed all the messages that he had sent him to explain about the situation.

He couldn't help, but give his smart link a glance, and there were indeed dozens of messages in it.

'Damn it!' He cursed inwardly. He had to put the damn thing in silence because of the meeting. He didn't think that such a thing would happen during this time. Talk about bad luck.

He immediately stood up from his seat.

His actions made the Instructor's around frown.

"What are you doing? The meeting isn't over yet.." The Leader Of Security Force said with scrunched brows.

But, Jack just gave the Dean a look. And, it was enough for Dean to understand its meaning.

"You all can leave, there is nothing else to discuss here. I want the culprit by the end of the day." Dean Valen abruptly ended the meeting, and it left a few in confusion. But, they just didn't pay it much attention. After all, there indeed was nothing much to talk about. It was better to work in the direction of finding the person.

Vanessa felt a bit odd as she looked at Dean and Jack. Something really felt off.

…

Soon everyone left, and Vanessa too got up to leave.

But, her figure suddenly froze when she noticed a little guy quietly sneaking around in the corner heading towards the ventilation duct.

It was the cat.

As for it's owner Jack, the guy had left in such a hurry that he had once again left his pet all alone.

'I had heard that the librarian was odd even back as a student, but to think he would be brainless..' She shook her head, moved towards the cat before catching it.

'Sh*t-nya!' Aiden cried inwardly. He was really left speechless when Jack left him all alone. He was just thinking of quietly sneaking out and joining back with Leo when he was caught.

"Where do you think you are going?" Vanessa smiled as she looked at the little guy.

But, now that she looked at things very closely, it really was....this thing…

She pulled out a picture from her smart link, and when she compared it with the cat, a frown emerged on her face.

Wasn't this a bit too similar?

Something was definitely up here..

'I should go and see Amelia. It would become clear then..'

Hence, with Nyanden in her hands, she began to walk towards the classes of the first years.