Last Gun Alchemist

”GUYS!!”

Latisha’s voice echoed loudly through the reception hall as she came running toward the group, holding a sheet of paper in one hand.

The paper contained a long list of things the club still had to do as part of their arrangements for the upcoming Club Tournament.

”Latisha!”

Agnes immediately called her name and opened both arms.

”What about only Jeremy?”

Jeremy muttered to himself, still feeling hurt after everyone had ignored him earlier.

Latisha barely had time to react before Agnes reached her.

The two girls hugged tightly.

”I was scared that I would never see you again.”

Agnes cried as she held Latisha tightly, her arms wrapped around her while the worry she had been carrying finally came out.

Latisha gently rubbed her back.

”You did your best.”

She said softly.

Agnes pulled back slightly, her eyes still a little wet.

”I can’t believe you guys actually made it back from that kind of mission.”

The upperclassman who had ignored Jeremy earlier walked over with a grin on his face.

He looked at the group for a moment.

”Hehehe.”

Samuel laughed as he looked at Hugh and Emily.

The two turned toward him at almost the same time, both wearing similar expressions.

”Well...”

Samuel pointed toward Jeremy with a stylish motion of his hand.

Jeremy noticed the gesture and immediately understood what Samuel wanted him to show.

He reached into his Space Bag.

His fingers closed around the Space Container.

Then he pulled it out.

The container holding the dead body of the Elder Ghost Crawler appeared in his hand.

”Seriously!”

The upperclassman’s eyes widened as he stared at the container.

His earlier grin disappeared.

The reaction immediately attracted the attention of the first-years and other upperclassmen working inside the club building.

Several stopped what they were doing.

A few left the decorations they were carrying.

Others walked over from the reception hall to see what had caused the sudden reaction.

Within moments, a small crowd had gathered around the group.

”You guys actually caught the Ghost Crawler?”

Another upperclassman asked excitedly.

His eyes remained fixed on the container as though he still couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

”I thought you guys failed since you made it back within a few days. We aren’t even in the second week yet, and your group already completed the mission.”

More surprised voices rose from the surrounding students.

The reception hall, which had already been filled with movement, became even noisier.

Students whispered among themselves while looking at the container.

Some looked toward Jeremy.

Others looked toward Agnes, Hugh, Emily, Samuel, and Ezra.

Their expressions were filled with surprise and curiosity.

After all, the mission they had been sent on wasn’t supposed to be easy.

The fact that they had returned alive was already enough to make people curious.

But they had also completed the mission.

That was what made everyone gather around them.

Ezra quietly moved out of the crowd while the conversation surrounding the group’s mission continued behind him.

He didn’t have much interest in explaining the battle to every person who came asking.

Diane had also slipped away before anyone could gather around her.

She moved through the reception hall with her eyes half-closed, her body carrying the weight of the exhaustion she had accumulated during the mission.

She looked as though she could fall asleep while standing.

Hermione, who had been working diligently inside the laboratory of the clubhouse, ran out with Lucy following behind her.

They had heard the voices of the others talking about the Ghost Crawlers.

They had also heard the names of their master and mistress being mentioned.

”Mistress!”

Hermione immediately moved through the hallway.

She went straight toward Diane, who was sleepwalking beside Ezra.

Diane’s steps became slower.

Her eyes remained closed.

When Hermione finally reached her, Diane simply leaned forward.

Her body fell into Hermione’s arms.

”Hand me my sleeping eye cover and plugs.”

Diane said tiredly.

Her voice was so drained that she sounded as though even speaking required effort.

”Yes, Mistress.”

Hermione replied with a helpless smile.

She had already become familiar with Diane’s habit of falling asleep whenever she was exhausted.

”Master!”

Lucy looked toward Ezra.

She almost rushed forward to hug him, but stopped herself before reaching him.

Ezra looked at her.

”I’m back.”

He said plainly.

He reached out and patted Lucy’s hair once before continuing toward the resting center of the club building.

Lucy froze.

Her hand slowly moved to the spot where Ezra had patted her.

She stared at him for a moment.

Then a pleased smile appeared on her face.

”Welcome back, Master.”

She replied.

Ezra continued walking.

The entire club eventually settled into a warm welcome for the group that had gone toward what could easily have become their deaths in order to secure important research, research that could become their ticket toward winning the Club Tournament.

Nobody knew what the future would bring.

Nobody knew whether the research would actually be enough to help them win or whether the research would be picked to represent the club’s main presentation.

But at least...

They were back alive.

For everyone waiting for them, that was enough.

”Ezra, you’re back!”

Cyrus waved toward Ezra as he reached the resting center.

Cyrus stood up from the pavilion where he had been sitting with Maxwell, Cherry, who was glued to him, and a female upperclassman, who was seated with them.

Ezra looked at them before sitting down in an empty pavilion.

”You seem to have arrived way before us.”

Ezra said calmly while looking at Cyrus.

”We arrived only two days before you guys.”

Cyrus replied with a smile.

”And we all have him to thank for that.”

He pointed behind him.

Maxwell was trying to stop the female upperclassman from playfully bullying Cherry.

The scene looked more chaotic than serious.

”He made all of us in the group look like we were side characters in the fight, while Maxwell went wild, causing a whole war among the different Yeti tribes in the habitat so he could catch the Lord Yeti.”

Cyrus sat down closer to Ezra while Lucy had already returned to what she had been doing in the club laboratory.

”With his very hot Alchemy, which was like flames but wasn’t flames at the same time...”

Cyrus paused, searching for the right way to describe what he had seen.

”It was golden too.”

He added.

Even now, he still seemed amazed by the memory.

Cyrus leaned toward Ezra.

”Maxwell might be onto something about becoming the number one student, from what I’ve seen.”

He said quietly.

Then he sat back up and nodded to his own words, folding his hands together.

”That’s interesting.”

Ezra said flatly.

He looked at Cyrus with the same plain expression as always.

Cyrus narrowed his eyes.

”You don’t look interested.”

Ezra didn’t bother responding to that.

”So, did you hear anything new that happened while we were gone?”

He asked.

”Ehn... already straight into wanting to know about what you missed, and not even asking about your lady.”

Cyrus grinned playfully.

Ezra ignored his teasing.

”Well, I heard many things did happen during the few days we weren’t around. Honestly, I was shocked when I heard the details, and it wasn’t only around the academy either. It was happening around Britannia too.”

Cyrus replied calmly.

He leaned back against the seat while thinking about the things he had heard.

”I heard people are beginning to travel to the academy early for the Club Tournament.”

He continued.

Ezra’s eyes shifted slightly.

”That’s why I saw some Dirigibles in the air when we were coming.”

He said, looking a little thoughtful.

”Yeah, and it also seems your family is really on a roll.”

Cyrus smiled.

”They’re releasing a blueprint invention of something called a Steam Bicycle.”

He said, still slightly unsure whether he had remembered the name of the invention correctly.

”I saw the picture, and it was amazing.”

His expression became more excited as he remembered it.

”The creator is a Baron’s son named Blake Wellston, and it seems he’s a big fan of yours.”

Cyrus looked at Ezra with a suspicious expression.

”He didn’t sign a contract with the Ashenlocke family since he gave them the rights to the blueprint of the invention, but he did earn a lot of money for giving it to them.”

Cyrus paused.

His scarlet eyes remained locked on Ezra.

”But... I wonder if you didn’t have anything to do with making this invention.”

He said calmly.

Ezra’s expression didn’t change.

”Is that all for the things I missed?”

He replied plainly, ignoring Cyrus’s earlier words yet again.

”Hahaha...”

Cyrus laughed lightly.

He knew Ezra was deliberately avoiding the question.

Still, he continued telling Ezra about the things that had happened while he was gone.

He only mentioned the things he knew about after returning from his own mission, along with the events that had reached the club while Ezra and the others were inside the Black Zone.

Later...

Hugh came to call Ezra.

Professor Nine was looking for the whole group.

The Space Container holding the Elder Ghost Crawler had already been given to him.

The group probably expected to hear some words of praise after completing such a dangerous mission.

Instead, Professor Nine simply told them to begin completing their research report.

No congratulations.

No celebration.

Just more work.

Still, this gave them several days to rest before they had to finish the report.

So, for now, they could recover their strength and prepare everything they had learned from the Black Zone mission.