Reincarnated Cat Becomes a Magical Beast

'Whoa, it happened again?! Though it was different this time... Instead of a temporary boost in strength, this time the Element of Self has permanently strengthened my soul. It truly is a mysterious power...' Lexa was lost in thought before she surveyed everyone's reactions, only to find that none of them had noticed. 'Looks like only someone on the level of that red furred freak's level could detect the Element of Self at work. Else, maybe it could be detected with the Conscious Eye if they had activated it at the moment it had happened.'

"Brother!" A familiar stoic voice cut into her thoughts. Lexa and everyone else at the table turned their heads to the Golden Cloud Inn's entrance, where the familiar bald headed Uncle Kil could be seen walking into the inn, quickly taking an empty seat at the table they were sitting around.

"Uncle Kil!!" Andria immediately shouted in greeting, waving her petite hand in an exaggerated wave. Caught up in her excitement, Lexa swung her tail back and forth in rhythm.

"About time you returned." Jonathan quipped.

"Hello, little niece, little lass!" Uncle Kil warmly greeted Andria and the kitten before glaring at Jonathan. "I've been working on investigating that incident."

"About that, has there been any clues, brother?" Alexander asked solemnly.

"Not much, we've had portraits of the two men made and shown them about town. But no one has recognised them so far." Uncle Kil let out a defeated sigh.

Alexander was at a loss too and could only sigh as well. Seeing the conversation turning serious, he turned to his daughter and spoke with a hesitant smile. "Why don't you and Lexa go in your room, let us grown ups talk for a bit, hmm?"

"Hmm..." Andria's lips immediately formed into a pout. She had just reunited with her brother and uncle and hadn't even had the chance to play with them yet. How difficult!

Seeing her reluctance and knowing the severity of the conversation at hand, Lexa spoke up to coax her. "Jonathan will definitely join us later, how about we prepare a surprise for him?"

"Really?" Andria's head tilted and her doe eyes looked at Jonathan in anticipation.

"Of course, I'll be up as soon as I can!" Jonathan couldn't refuse such a look from his youngest sister, though he wouldn't refuse anyway. He had always held a soft spot for this younger sister of his, unable to be as strict as he might be with the middle two. He thought this might be due to the large age gap between the two comparatively. "Pinky promise?"

"Yeh, pinky promise!" Andria nodded her head happily and held out her pinky at her brother and latched it around his bigger one.

The two shook their hands in rhythm as they spoke in unison. "May our pledge be seen by the Watcher in the Sky and heard by the Guardian of All!"

'Watcher in the Sky, Guardian of All?... I wonder what that's about.' Lexa refrained herself from asking for now and obediently leapt into Andria's arm who reluctantly bid her father, brother and uncle farewell.

"Meow~ everyone!" Lexa added in her goodbye to Uncle Kil's surprise.

Uncle Kil's laughed brightly, it had taken a minute to understand where that mysterious feminine voice had come from at first and he immediately asked the little kitten as soon as he did. "You finally got a communicator? Hey, whose more bad ass, me or Jonathan?"

Uncle Kil pointed between himself and Jonathan, who could only smile wryly.

"..." The little kitten didn't know whether she should laugh or cry. How competitive was this uncle over his own nephew?!

In the end, Lexa chose to stay mum as Andria giggled.

Soon after, the soft steps of the girl could be heard ascending the inn's stairs, heading to one of the rooms upstairs.

"Now then, was that really all you found out?" Jonathan asked, turning his attention back to his father and uncle.

"For the most part. Only, we have a strong inkling that it is related to them..." Uncle Kil answered solemnly, his eyes scanned the room and only finished his sentence when he noticed that the Wilderwolf family had long cleared the inn of everyone else. Even the inn's bartender was nowhere to be seen.

"You think it has something to do with those Farhawk's?" Alexander's eyes turned vicious at the thought.

"All we know is that our family has encountered a series of incidents lately that seemed to have a hostile party behind them, with this incident only being one of many. These incidents have been getting progressively worse, the worst being the one before this one, where the second young master, Peter was attacked during an Academy event. Luckily, he was able to recover from those wounds." Uncle Kil explained solemnly.

"*sigh*... Thankfully, Peter was saved by Julie, who was able to see through the illusive barrier that shielded the attack of his assailants. It didn't stop those bastards from running off though." Alexander found it harder and harder to hold back his anger when he thought on this. His second son had nearly lost his life that day if it weren't for his sister, how could he not hold an uncontrollable anger?

"Calm down father, we need to keep a calm head if we want to tackle this issue." Jonathan coaxed him. Alexander was usually cool headed and didn't take long to calm down, sending his son a thankful smile and quickly apologising for his temper.

"It was in that incident where we got our biggest clue however. If your little daughter's words are right, Julie said that when she broke through the barrier and saved Peter, she overheard one of the attacker's talking over a Calling Stone, mentioning the Farhawk's name by accident." Uncle Kil continued. "Whether this was truly an accident or a setup, that is yet to be seen but its currently our biggest clue at the moment."

"I just can't see it being Ronan Farhawk... While we have always been rivals, with him being the Right Hand of the King and Queen, while me being the Left Hand, he has never resorted to such underhanded tactics like this before... And things have been pretty peaceful between the two of us as of late, I just don't see what motive he would have..." Alexander pondered aloud, shaking his head helplessly as his thoughts took him nowhere.

"Our family is pretty small, consisting of only grandfather, us two brothers, your wife, our sister, and finally your four children. On the other hand, the Farhawk family is rather large, consisting of several siblings and cousins. Not all of them are going to agree on the same methods or uphold the same morals. We can't simply cut off the possibility of it actually being one of them just yet." Uncle Kil narrowed his eyes.

"Ah, we're never going to end up with any results at this rate." Alexander waved his sleeves dismissively with a sigh. "Lets talk about your side of the coin instead. I hear you have been planning on heading out of Falcio for the rest of Jonathan's coming of age adventure, brother?"

"That was what I was working on before this whole mess." Uncle Kil's mood lightened a little after their serious talk and he was now talking with a smile. "We're going to buy Magical Beast's and head around the Northern Mountain's and beyond, with the goal being the Claw Reverence Empire. Maybe run into Sister-in-Law and the rest if we're lucky."

"We'll probably not have the time though. Since the new year, the start of my coming of age adventure, nine months have passed, meaning that there is only three months left." Jonathan sighed solemnly. It had been a long time since he had seen his mother, not to mention his aunt and grandfather too. His solemn eyes turned even more so when he thought of another issue. 'It looks like it's not only father and sis that I'll be saying goodbye too soon... It would seem I'll have to say farewell to the little lass as well...'