Gun of Ashes

”Hello, teacher!”

”Hello, student!”

The conversation in the carriage suddenly fell silent from their loud greeting, and not caring about the gazes of those around them, the two maniacs sang and danced, clinking glasses.

After the excitement, Oscar seemed to remember something, and he said.

”Oh right, this is Buscalo, my friend, he’s a doctor.”

As he spoke, he introduced Buscalo, who wore an awkward grimace on his face. Before he could continue, Lorenzo shouted first.

”Nice to meet you! Mr. Buscalo.”

He reached out with a friendly hand, but Lorenzo’s face was full of murderous intent, a look of ”I’ll kill you if you say too much.”

Buscalo nodded hesitantly and replied, nice to meet you.

Happy?

Well, it was indeed something to be happy about; at least this time, Lorenzo, the lunatic, didn’t point that damned shotgun at his head.

Thinking this, Buscalo touched his bald forehead and wiped off the sweat.

He still remembered the dramatic encounters each time he met Lorenzo, and interestingly, the girl he brought was always different.

”You don’t look too well?”

Oscar looked at his friend, whose face was slightly flushed, covered in sweat.

”Maybe the air is a bit stuffy!”

Lorenzo answered directly, throwing a glance at Buscalo.

Buscalo was momentarily stunned, then nodded vigorously.

”Yes, it must be the air that’s stuffy.”

To maintain warmth, the entire carriage was sealed, the temperature was comfortable, but for Buscalo, it was somewhat uncomfortable.

”Speaking of which, I really didn’t expect to see you again, Lorenzo, did you drop out?”

After a brief introduction, Oscar exclaimed.

At that time, Lorenzo was quite a notable figure in the academy, but one day, he suddenly disappeared without a trace.

His name was not on the list, nor was there any record of him, existing only in the memories of teachers and students. If it weren’t for a few pieces of handwritten homework proving he truly existed, Oscar might have thought everyone was experiencing a collective hallucination.

”Reluctantly...you could say that.”

Lorenzo answered ambiguously.

Back then, Lorenzo would often audit classes learning peculiar things, and after mastering them, he’d leave mysteriously.

Logically, he shouldn’t have any interaction with those people anymore, but today was quite an exception.

”Hmm?”

Oscar stared at Lorenzo’s face, paused for a moment, and didn’t ask more.

Perhaps he thought Lorenzo was the child of some prominent figure; those folks always did that, hiding their child’s name and sending them to study incognito, and then leaving quietly. There’s a gray list like that with the principal.

Oscar wore a gentle smile, his gaze instead turned to Selyu.

Lorenzo’s heart tightened, for Selyu’s identity was the future Duke of Stuart, he couldn’t risk her being recognized.

”Who is this...?”

Oscar asked curiously, probably due to Selyu’s faint presence, only now noticing the silent girl.

”She’s my...”

”Selyu!”

Selyu suddenly interrupted Lorenzo, giving him no room to elaborate.

Could this twisted hostage relationship be breaking? Her shout might make everyone on the train think he’s a kidnapper.

Though as a Demon Hunter, he wielded the Nail Sword famously, if Selyu were to spread nonsense, Lorenzo might struggle with the moral backlash.

Yet the unfolding situation surprised Lorenzo.

”Selyu, Selyu Holmes, I’m his sister, nice to meet you.”

She said.

Not only Lorenzo was stunned, Oscar was too.

The old fellow glanced at Lorenzo, with his stubbly unkempt beard, then looked at Selyu, the girl was exquisite like a doll.

He couldn’t help but shake his head, as though scrutinizing something, evaluating, before he sighed.

”What are you sighing about!”

Lorenzo couldn’t help shouting.

”Nothing! Nothing!”

Oscar quickly said.

Seeing Lorenzo’s aggressive demeanor, Selyu recalled what Lorenzo had said about this person.

A particularly warped teacher, who was a playwright before teaching, passionate about comedies, as long as you entertained him, you could get high marks in his class.

”Hello! Hello!”

Oscar shook the hand Selyu extended.

”Meeting such a beautiful girl is a pleasant surprise!”

Holding the young hand made him feel somewhat rejuvenated, the old fellow seemed very happy.

”Speaking of why you are here?”

Lorenzo asked.

”Traveling.”

Oscar replied.

”Isn’t this the tourist line?”

Okay, he got the question wrong, but then Oscar continued speaking.

”I’ve hit a bottleneck in my writing, I need some inspiration. I heard the snow scenery in the north is beautiful, so I wanted to see it.”

Listening to him, Lorenzo glanced at Buscalo beside him, sensing Lorenzo’s gaze, Oscar continued.

”It’s a bit lonely traveling alone, fortunately, Buscalo was free, so I brought him along.”

He kept speaking.

”He’s quite pitiful, his wife just divorced him and took their daughter, though he tried to reconcile, his ex-wife took the child and returned to her hometown.”

His gaze carried pity, reminding Lorenzo of the church’s Priest, who tended to follow this look with ”poor child.”