Last Gun Alchemist

The day finally came to an end.

After spending most of the day at the Mix Arena, Ezra, Lucy, and Cyrus left the area together as usual.

The streets around the arena were still busy even though the sun had already gone down. Students continued moving between the club buildings, carrying boxes, pieces of wood, signs, and other materials for the upcoming Club Tournament. Dirigibles could still be seen in the distance above the city, their lights standing out against the darkening sky.

Ezra looked around the crowd for a familiar figure.

He hadn’t seen Vera during the little time he had spent inside the club building.

It turned out that she had been outside with President Luke, leading the organizing crew of club members as they arranged their club booth.

Because of that, they hadn’t been able to meet.

Ezra didn’t think too much about it.

He simply continued walking with Lucy and Cyrus until they eventually separated and returned to their own homes.

By the time Ezra got back home, the familiar quiet of his residence immediately replaced the noise of the Mix Arena.

He went upstairs to freshen up while Lucy also went to clean herself up before preparing dinner.

After washing away the dirt and sweat from the day, Ezra walked out of his room looking more relaxed.

He had finally returned to the comfort of home.

The smell of freshly prepared food had already spread through the house, and it reached him before he even entered the dining room.

Lucy had finished preparing the dinner.

The two of them sat down and ate quietly.

There was no need for much conversation.

After everything that had happened to Ezra the Black Zone, Lucy didn’t seem particularly interested in filling the quiet with unnecessary words.

Once they finished eating, Ezra helped Lucy clean up.

Instead of returning to his usual personal study afterward, however, he went into the living room and rested on one of the couches.

He leaned back comfortably and took out his Starlix 11.

The glass screen lit up in his hand.

Ezra scrolled through the latest news.

His attention eventually settled on the reports surrounding Blake’s invention.

The Steam Bicycle was already attracting attention.

Ezra read through several of the reports while scrolling down the screen.

He also opened Blake’s messages.

There were many of them.

Most were filled with excited words about finally completing his invention and making it available to the public.

Blake had also asked Ezra for advice on how he should proceed with releasing the invention.

Unfortunately, Ezra hadn’t been able to reply.

Blake had eventually decided to handle the matter in Ezra’s usual style.

And surprisingly, it worked.

Things had become even easier after Blake followed Lucy’s earlier advice and used Ezra’s name to get Elder Ivanhoe on board.

That had given Blake enough support to move forward with the release.

The Ashenlockes would gain more from the arrangement because of their position and the rights they had received, while Ezra’s own name would also spread through the connection.

Perhaps it wouldn’t spread as much as Blake’s name as the actual inventor.

But...

His name has already spread enough as the rising young inventor of the kingdom, and now.

He was involved in the creation of the Steam Bicycle.

That would boost Ezra’s popularity yet again.

More importantly, Blake had earned enough money to increase the wealth of his family.

Ezra stared at the news for a moment.

He could already imagine the pressure Blake must have been receiving from his parents and the rest of his family.

With the Steam Bicycle attracting attention, companies would already be trying to reach him.

The Ashenlockes wouldn’t be the only ones interested in obtaining a contract with him.

He should have kept my name as a helper between him and Elder Ivanhoe.

Ezra thought to himself while he scrolled through his messages again.

He typed several replies to the important messages that needed his attention before moving on to Gena’s messages.

"Master."

Lucy walked closer to the couch.

Ezra turned his plain black eyes toward her.

She was already dressed in her nightwear, and her expression was quieter than usual.

"You must already know about the news concerning the criminals that the Guards of Derlis and the State Alchemist caught in that illegal drug facility."

Lucy said, her voice noticeably quieter than it normally was.

Ezra already knew why.

Among the new information Cyrus had told him earlier, there had been more news about that situation.

The BNC Broadcasting Group had revealed additional details about the illegal facility and the people who had been captured there.

The drugs produced inside the facility were stated to have an effect that could brainwash people for a duration of six minutes.

Ezra’s eyes remained on Lucy.

That information immediately brought his mind back to a certain incident he and Lucy had experienced with Gena and Blake during their time in Velcryon.

The memory hadn’t disappeared.

He simply hadn’t expected it to connect to something like this.

"Your friend isn’t part of the people they caught."

Ezra said plainly.

He sat up slightly on the couch.

"So, why are you worried?"

He tilted his head.

Lucy hesitated.

Her fingers tightened slightly.

She slowly turned her body away from Ezra before slowly moving her hair to one side.

"I already told you about my past and my relationship with the House of Melody."

She said,

Her voice became quieter.

Lucy removed her nightwear top.

She kept her left hand across her chest as she turned her back toward Ezra.

Ezra looked at her back without saying anything.

"One of the men they caught was shirtless, and I saw this on his back."

Lucy said with a troubled tone.

Ezra’s eyes settled on the tattoo covering her back.

It wasn’t a small mark.

The tattoo covered almost her entire back, its lines spreading across her skin in a pattern that Ezra hadn’t seen before.

Lucy lowered her head slightly.

"I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about this. I wanted to show you, but I was scared that... that it would disgust you."

She said sadly.

Ezra continued examining the tattoo.

"So, this tattoo was imprinted on your body by the House of Melody, which means they are somehow connected to the organization your friend works for, huh?"

Ezra leaned forward.

His eyes followed the markings carefully.

"Puff..."

Lucy suddenly almost laughed.

She quickly covered her mouth and stopped herself.

I forgot Master was the type of person to react like this.

She thought, feeling a little stupid for worrying so much about showing him the tattoo.

She had expected something different.

Because of what the tattoo represented, Lucy had thought Ezra might see her differently.

To her, it was the mark of someone who had once been branded as an object belonging to the House of Melody.

She had worried that Ezra would think she couldn’t be trusted.

That he would think she was still a tool of the House of Melody because the marking remained on her body.

But Ezra wasn’t thinking about any of that.

His mind was already putting other pieces together.

He hadn’t even considered questioning her loyalty to him.

Lucy felt even more foolish for forgetting how quickly her master could understand things.

The probability of Ezra knowing if she truly wasn’t loyal to him is on a high level.

Thanks to his overly conscious mentality and observant nature.

So, he didn’t need a tattoo to decide that.

"You can wear your night top back."

Ezra said plainly.

Lucy blinked.

"You sure you don’t want to look more?"

She teased, a small smile appearing on her face.

Bam!

Ezra grabbed the couch pillow beside him and threw it at her.

The pillow struck Lucy directly on the head.

"Ouch!"

Lucy held her head while pretending to be in pain.

"Get dressed."

Ezra said flatly as he leaned back against the couch again.

"You are bullying me, Master. That’s assault."

Lucy accused him while picking up her night top and putting it back on.

"Humph."

She walked over to the sofa opposite Ezra’s couch and sat down, picking up the controller for the glass television and switched it on.

The screen immediately lit up the living room.

Lucy selected a theater romance series based on one of her favorite novels.

The voices of the actors soon filled the room.

Ezra looked down at the screen of his Starlix 11.

But his attention wasn’t really on the news anymore.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the tattoo on Lucy’s back.

He could already tell what Lucy had been thinking about when she hesitated to show it to him.

But now that he had seen it...

Something deeper rested in Ezra’s mind.

Something far more serious than simply discovering a connection between the House of Melody and the mysterious organization.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

That tattoo is an Alchemy Circle.

Ezra thought to himself.

The image of the tattoo remained clear in his mind, almost as if he could still see it spread across Lucy’s back.

An Alchemy Circle.

But there were unknown symbols within it.

Ezra had seen many different Alchemy Symbols during his studies.

None of the symbols in that circle matched any symbols amongst the general Alchemy Symbols he had seen before.

Except...

Ezra’s thoughts stopped.

His eyes slowly shifted toward Lucy.

She was sitting on the opposite sofa, completely absorbed in the theater romance series.

A handkerchief was pressed against her eyes as she quietly wiped away tears.

She was crying because of something happening in the story.

Ezra’s attention returned to the thought he had stopped on.

It’s a forgotten Alchemy Symbol?

His brow furrowed slightly.

But how?

How could either the House of Melody or the mysterious organization made up of commoners obtain knowledge of an unknown Alchemy Symbol?

Ezra’s fingers tightened slightly around his Starlix 11.

"Tsk."

His expression became more serious.

Things are getting more and more troublesome.

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