Last Gun Alchemist

Inside the departing Noble Steam Carriage, Ezra rested one arm against the side of the window while placing his chin on his palm.

He quietly watched the streets passing outside.

It was already midnight.

The street lamps along the roads of the Royal Academy District had been switched on for several hours, their warm light stretching across the roads and reflecting against the windows of the passing Vehicles. Farther away, the lights of other buildings could still be seen, scattered across the dark landscape like small points of light.

Above them, the stars were visible between the clouds, shining over the Academy District as the Noble Steam Carriage continued toward the East Wing.

Ezra remained silent.

After the lively atmosphere of the Golden Circle Welcome Party, the quiet inside the carriage felt much more comfortable.

Lucy, however, was still occupied with something.

She sat across from him while holding his Starlix 11 in both hands, her attention completely focused on the holographic photographs displayed above the device.

Her finger moved across the screen.

Swipe.

Another picture appeared.

She looked at it carefully.

”Hmm...”

Her eyes moved slightly.

”This one looks good too.”

Lucy continued scrolling through the pictures they had taken during the Welcome Party.

There were photographs of her master, the Young Lord of Ash, Mr. Nickolas, Miss Tracy, Miss Linda, Cole, and Miss Tracy’s maid.

Some pictures showed everyone standing together.

Others were taken in smaller groups.

A few had been taken when someone wasn’t paying attention to the camera, leaving behind expressions that probably weren’t meant to be captured.

Lucy didn’t seem bothered by that.

She was enjoying herself as she went through them one by one.

”Awwn. This one looks really nice.”

She suddenly stopped.

Turning toward Ezra, she raised the Starlix slightly so that he could see the holographic image.

Ezra shifted his eyes away from the window.

He looked at the picture Lucy had selected.

It was the photograph where the group had somehow managed to make him smile.

He had actually smiled in the picture.

It wasn’t a large smile.

It was faint, barely enough to change the shape of his expression.

But it was still a smile.

And apparently, that small change had been enough to attract quite a bit of attention.

The girls who had been nearby when the picture was taken had looked at Ezra differently the moment he smiled, with several of them appearing almost lost for a moment as they stared at him.

Even Tracy had commented on how charming his faint smile looked.

Ezra stared at the picture for several seconds.

To him, however, there was nothing particularly special about it.

A faint smile still felt foreign.

He wasn’t used to smiling for photographs, and he certainly wasn’t amused by people reacting so strongly whenever he did.

Lucy continued scrolling.

”Oh, let me also send Mr. Cyrus pictures to my own Starlix.”

She glanced toward Ezra.

”I mean, who knows when you might delete them?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she said that.

Ezra turned his head toward her.

She wasn’t wrong.

Because of the amount of research, weapon designs, studies, and written records he kept, Ezra had accumulated a large number of files.

He had both soft copies and hard copies of almost everything he had written.

Research notes.

Gun designs.

Alchemy calculations.

Study records.

Personal observations.

There were simply too many things stored on his Starlix 11.

And because his current Starlix model wasn’t one with a large amount of storage, Ezra had to keep an eye on its available space.

He didn’t want to suddenly discover that he couldn’t save an important piece of research because Lucy or someone had filled the device with hundreds of photographs.

That’s why she was collecting the pictures into her own Starlix.

Lucy continued scrolling through the pictures.

She moved from one photograph to another, checking the images Cyrus had sent.

The pictures showed Cyrus with Sasha, Selena, Diane, and Vera together.

Some were group photographs.

Others showed only two people.

Then one person.

Lucy continued swiping without paying much attention to the order.

Swipe.

Another picture.

Swipe.

Another.

Then her finger suddenly stopped.

Her eyes twitched slightly.

”Master.”

Her voice sounded different.

Ezra noticed it immediately.

He was still looking through the carriage window at the midnight streets outside, but the slight change in Lucy’s voice made him turn his head.

”Yes?”

He answered.

There was no small trace of concern in his voice even though Lucy sounded troubled.

She raised the Starlix 11 slightly.

”Look at this.”

Ezra leaned his head toward the holographic image.

His expression remained calm.

He tilted his head slightly.

The picture showed an upperclassman who looked rather charming.

The young man had a warm smile on his face while speaking closely with Vera.

Vera, however, had her arms folded across her chest and was looking at him with her usual plain expression.

The upperclassman was tall enough that he had to look down toward Vera while speaking.

His smile was charming enough that it could probably make quite a few girls feel shy if they were the ones standing in front of him.

One of his hands was resting lightly against Vera’s hair.

Ezra stared at the image.

There was also a message underneath the picture.

’Someone is stealing your girl.’

Flame_00

Ezra’s eyes moved from the message to the photograph.

Then back to the message.

Then toward Lucy.

”Is this why you had that troubled look?”

He asked plainly.

Lucy immediately shook her head.

”No...”

Her answer came quickly.

She looked back at the picture.

”I just found it a bit shocking that Lady Vera would allow someone to get that close to her.”

Her expression remained troubled as she stared at the photograph.

Ezra narrowed his eyes slightly.

He looked at the picture again.

”This picture is taken out of context.”

He said plainly.

He then turned his attention back toward the window.

There wasn’t much else to look at.

The carriage continued along the road, its wheels rolling steadily over the paved street while the steam engine produced a low mechanical sound beneath the vehicle.

Lucy blinked.

”What do you mean, Master?”

She asked in confusion.

Ezra kept looking outside.

”Vera looked like she wanted to kill him for touching her hair.”

He replied in his usual plain tone.

Lucy froze.

”She did?”

She immediately looked back at the picture.

Her eyes moved between Vera’s expression and the upperclassman’s hand.

She studied the image again, this time trying to see what Ezra had apparently noticed.

But to Lucy, Lady Vera still looked plain as usual.

Her arms were folded.

Her expression was calm.

Her eyes weren’t wide.

She wasn’t shouting.

There wasn’t even an obvious look of anger on her face.

Lucy looked at Ezra again.

”How did you even notice that?”

Ezra didn’t answer immediately.

He simply continued watching the lights outside.

”I’m guessing after that incident...”

He finally spoke.

”Vera probably kicked his leg or walked away with those quick steps of hers.”

Lucy stared at him.

”Ehn...”

Her troubled expression slowly changed into a narrowed look.

”You seem very sure of this.”

Ezra glanced at her.

Lucy folded her arms.

”I didn’t know you and Lady Vera were that close to understand each other on that level.”

She paused.

”Almost like you two are already dat...”

She stopped herself.

Her lips closed immediately.

Ezra looked at her.

Lucy turned her face away.

”Knowing a person’s actions doesn’t always mean you are too close to them.”

Ezra replied, completely unbothered by what she had almost said.

He wasn’t trying to defend himself.

He was simply explaining the conclusion he had reached from the picture.

”Besides, the picture wasn’t sent by Cyrus himself.”

He added.

Lucy looked at him again.

”What do you mean, Master?”

Ezra’s eyes remained calm.

”It must be his sister trying to play around.”

He said with quiet confidence.

Lucy blinked.

Then she thought about Sasha.

She remembered what she had heard about her.

Sasha, the Flower of Burn.

If there was one thing Lucy had learned about her, it was that Sasha was more than capable of making a troublesome joke simply because she found it entertaining.

A picture like this could easily be one of those jokes.

Perhaps Cyrus had only sent it because Sasha had given it to him.

Perhaps he wanted to tease Ezra.

Or perhaps he simply wanted to see how his friend would react.

Whatever the case, Ezra hadn’t reacted in the way Lucy had expected.

Instead of becoming jealous, angry, or even curious about the upperclassman in the picture, he had immediately focused on Vera’s expression and the position of her body.

He had looked at the picture like a problem that needed to be solved.

Lucy slowly nodded.

She understood now.

Her master wasn’t reacting because he was secretly jealous.

He was simply being himself.

He was analyzing the situation.

He had looked at the small details he could see and used them to form a conclusion about what had most likely happened before or after the photograph was taken.

That was how Ezra usually thought.

He rarely needed complete information before forming a theory.

If he had only a few pieces of information, he would still try to connect them and calculate the most likely outcome.

Lucy felt relieved.

Deep inside, she had been worried.

She wasn’t particularly troubled by the possibility of Lady Vera becoming close to another young nobleman.

What worried her was what that might mean for her master.

She had wondered whether seeing Vera with another young man would finally cause Ezra to realize his feelings toward her.

After all, if Ezra suddenly became jealous, that could become the spark that finally pushed his relationship with Vera in a different direction.

That was why Lucy had watched his reaction so carefully.

And when Ezra had spoken about Vera as if he could already understand what she would do, Lucy had become even more concerned.

But now she understood.

Ezra wasn’t thinking about romance at all.

He was simply deducting.

He was taking the small amount of information he had, studying the picture, considering Vera’s personality, and then working out the most likely sequence of events.

Lucy looked toward him.

A small smile appeared on her face.

Master really is Master.

She thought.

The Noble Steam Carriage continued moving through the midnight streets.

Outside the window, other Vehicles were also traveling toward their different residences.

Some were Noble Steam-Carriages like theirs.

Others were ordinary Steam-Carriages carrying students and citizens back home.

The lights from the vehicles passed across the carriage windows one after another before disappearing behind them.

Inside the carriage, the conversation gradually came to an end.

Lucy returned her attention to the pictures on her Starlix.

Ezra once again rested his chin against his palm.

The night had become quieter.

The Golden Circle Welcome Party had finally come to an end.

But the events of the evening had left behind several new developments.

The First-Year Representative Election preparations had already begun to take shape.

The different Factions would soon begin preparing their candidates, building their support, and deciding who they wanted to represent their first-year members.

For Ezra, however, that wasn’t the most important thing waiting for him tomorrow.

There was another matter.

A much more immediate one.

The first-years who had claimed to have mastered the Law of Inversion would finally have to prove it.

Tomorrow, their General Studies of Alchemy class will continue.

And with it came the test on the Law of Inversion.

Ezra’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked through the window.

He remembered Maxwell.

The Mysterious Disciple of Andraver

The boy had openly claimed that he had mastered the Law of Inversion.

And tomorrow would be the day everyone finally discovered whether Maxwell was actually capable of backing up that claim or whether he had simply spoken too confidently.

The Academy life that had been interrupted by the Welcome Party would resume.

Classes.

Training.

Tests.

Competition.

Everything would return to its normal rhythm.

And tomorrow, every first-year who had claimed to master the Law of Inversion would have to show what they could actually do.

The Noble Steam Carriage continued toward the East Wing.

Ezra remained silent as the lights of the Royal Academy District moved past the window.

For now, there was nothing left to do except wait for tomorrow.