Last Gun Alchemist

Two servants of House Miles quietly approached Ezra and Blake.

Their movements were well practiced and graceful.

They stopped before the two young nobles before bowing politely.

"Which snack and drink would you like, Sirs?"

They asked respectfully.

Ezra’s attention never left Gena.

His blank black eyes remained fixed on her as he calmly waited for her explanation.

"Nothing for now."

He answered in his usual flat tone.

The maid gave a small nod.

"As you wish, Sir."

Without another word, she stepped back and quietly returned to her position.

At almost the same moment...

"I’ll have the vanilla cookies, please."

Blake smiled politely.

"One serving for me...and another for my maid."

He glanced toward Gwen before looking back at the servant.

"What would you like to drink, Sir?"

The maid asked again with the same gentle smile.

"Cold milk."

Blake replied.

"Thank you."

"Certainly."

She bowed once again before leaving to prepare his order.

The room gradually became quiet again.

Everyone’s attention naturally returned to Gena.

She slowly folded both arms.

The cheerful smile she had worn earlier disappeared.

Instead...

A trace of irritation slowly surfaced on her face.

"The issue between our family and that trash Baroness Orvain..."

She frowned deeply as soon as she mentioned the woman’s name.

Her fingers unconsciously tightened against her sleeves.

It was obvious she genuinely hated the Baroness.

"Around the same time your Phantom Rolls exploded across Skynet and everyone in Britannia was talking about it..."

She continued.

"...our family suddenly received a debt letter."

She sighed through clenched teeth.

"And not just ours."

Her eyes shifted toward Blake.

"As you already know...The other three Baron Houses received one as well."

She paused briefly.

Almost as though she still found the whole matter unbelievable.

"The letter stated...that each of the four Baron Houses owed House Orvain five thousand Dals."

Silence immediately filled the room.

"Five thousand..."

Lucy’s eyes slowly widened.

"...Dals?"

She instinctively repeated.

"Not gold coins... But Dals? Wait... it’s all four Barons?"

Even Gwen’s breathing paused for a moment.

Blake quietly lowered his head.

At that moment, the maid who took Blake’s order, came back with the snacks and drink.

She carefully handed the plate to him and Gwen, then dropped the drink on a small glass table at his left side.

Blake and Gwen nodded slightly, before the Maid walked back to her position.

Lucy finally understood why House Wellston looked as miserable as it did.

No wonder Sir Blake’s family is standing on the edge of collapse...

She thought silently.

Five thousand Dals...

That wasn’t a simple debt.

For a Baron House...

That amount practically almost represented the majority of their family’s wealth.

Losing that much money would cripple almost any Baron family.

And now...

It wasn’t just one house.

Nor two.

Nor three.

Four different Baron Houses had somehow become indebted to House Orvain for that unbelievable amount.

The more Lucy thought about it...

The more ridiculous it sounded.

"That’s..."

She slowly exhaled.

"...an unbelievable amount."

Ezra quietly looked down at the large circular glass table standing at the center of the waiting room.

Its polished surface reflected the ceiling above him.

His expression remained calm.

"That really is a ridiculous figure."

He finally spoke.

His voice remained as flat as ever.

"Exactly."

Gena nodded immediately.

She folded her arms even tighter.

"It doesn’t make any sense."

She shook her head repeatedly.

"Why would my father recklessly sign an agreement capable of bankrupting our family?"

Her tone became more emotional.

"My father would never do something like that."

"Mine too."

Blake nodded while holding a half-eaten vanilla cookie.

Crumbs remained on his fingers.

"It wasn’t even related to an investment."

He looked toward Ezra.

"My father told me the debt practically appeared out of nowhere."

"It definitely wasn’t connected to any business deal."

Gena continued.

She leaned back against the sofa.

Her frustration had only grown stronger as she recalled everything that had happened over the past weeks.

Ezra remained silent.

His blank eyes quietly rested upon the glass table.

From the outside...

He looked completely expressionless.

But his thoughts had already begun moving.

"What do you think, Master?"

Lucy softly asked.

She had already become used to Ezra noticing details everyone else overlooked.

Gwen quietly glanced toward Lucy.

Does he already have an answer...?

She couldn’t help wondering.

She still found it difficult to believe someone their age could solve a mystery that had completely stumped multiple noble houses.

Ezra finally spoke.

"The debt letter..."

He calmly raised his eyes toward Gena.

"It contained your father’s blood signature. Correct?"

"Yes."

Gena answered immediately.

"That’s exactly the problem."

She sighed heavily.

"Even though everything seem absurd...it was impossible to challenge."

She rubbed her forehead.

"No matter how strange everything looked...the signature was genuine."

Lucy frowned thoughtfully.

"Miss Gena..."

She looked toward her.

"Didn’t Lord Miles report it to the Finance Corps of the Main Family as fraud?"

"He did."

Gena answered without hesitation.

"Actually...The other Barons did the same, they all went to the Velcryon Finance Bank to report fraud, and even took her to court for that."

She leaned forward slightly.

"The situation was too strange. So, everyone immediately suspected Baroness Orvain was playing dirty."

She clicked her tongue.

"But...The blood signature passed every verification, and the agreement itself was also confirmed to be legitimate."

She sounded even more annoyed after saying those words aloud.

Ezra quietly listened.

Then...

He asked another question.

"Did Lord Miles request an Illusionary Alchemy inspection?"

His voice remained calm.

Gena blinked.

She paused to think.

"...Yes."

She slowly nodded.

"I remember now. My uncle was the first person to suggest that possibility. He believed a rogue Illusionary Alchemist could secretly be assisting House Orvain."

She continued recalling everything.

"My father even requested the State Alchemists to examine him. They investigated whether Cognis had been used to manipulate his thoughts...or influence his decisions."

She slowly shook her head.

"But they found absolutely nothing."

Blake immediately raised one finger.

"I remember that too. My Father even requested for repeat inspection. But... The results never changed."

"So..."

Ezra quietly leaned back into the sofa.

"The debt naturally became recognized as legitimate."

He looked toward the crystal ceiling.

"Exactly."

Gwen nodded.

"Because every legal requirement had been fulfilled... the Finance Corps ended up approving the debt."

She lowered her eyes.

"After that...Nobody knew how to fight back anymore."

The room gradually became silent again.

Blood signature...

A perfectly laid out legal agreement...

No traces of Cognis...

Ezra quietly organized every piece of information inside his mind.

This...

Feels strangely familiar.

A not-too-distant memory quietly resurfaced.

A certain old man from House Ashenlocke.

The contract.

The attempt to force him into signing against his will.

His eyes briefly shifted toward Lucy.

Then returned to the ceiling.

Illusionary Alchemy...

Always leaves traces of Cognis behind.

That was common knowledge among Alchemists.

Even if one attempted to erase those traces...

Some residue would always remain.

Yet...

The State Alchemists had found absolutely nothing.

Which meant...

Only one realistic possibility remained.

Ezra slowly folded both arms.

Drug.

The conclusion quietly settled inside his mind.

His reasoning came entirely from memories of his previous life.

Back then...

Alcohol had often caused ordinary people to lose their judgment when ever it was drank excessively.

He even remembered a fellow soldier once boasting inside their dormitory.

The man had proudly explained how he intended to get a female soldier drunk before manipulating the situation in his favor.

Several soldiers had immediately condemned the idea.

Because...

No matter how the man justified it...

It violated her consent.

Yet...

The man insisted, something unsettling.

As long as he carefully guided the conversation...

Fed her enough alcohol...

And allowed her emotions and desires to cloud her judgment...

She would eventually agree to things she normally never would.

Afterward...

Everyone would simply dismiss it as a drunken mistake.

That unpleasant memory suddenly connected itself to the present.

Ezra’s eyes slowly narrowed.

If alcohol can cloud judgment...

Then...

A specially designed drug could push that effect much further.

A drug capable of placing someone into an extremely vulnerable state.

A drug capable of making them obey.

A drug capable of leaving memory fragmented afterward.

Everything suddenly fit together.

Ezra finally looked toward the others.

"The four Barons attended the same gathering before those debt letters appeared."

His tone remained calm.

"And... I’m willing to bet... That was the exact gathering where Baroness Orvain claimed the agreement had been signed."

Unlike everyone else...

Ezra didn’t sound as though he were asking a question.

He sounded completely certain.

Gena slowly nodded.

"...Yes."

Her answer carried visible surprise.

She had the strange feeling Ezra had somehow been present that day himself.

"But..."

Ezra calmly continued.

"Your fathers can’t remember what actually happened during that meeting."

He looked at Gena and Blake one after another.

"They can’t even remember what led them to sign the agreement."

His blank black eyes remained steady.

"It’s almost as though...a part of their memories was forcibly erased."

The room immediately fell silent.

"Oh..."

Gena’s eyes widened.

"That’s exactly what happened."

She unconsciously leaned forward.

"My mother spent days trying to help Father retrace everything that happened during the meeting."

She slowly shook her head.

"No matter what she asked...he couldn’t remember. It was like that entire part of the day simply disappeared."

Her brows knitted together.

"The more he tried to remember...The worse his headache became."

Blake also looked stunned.

"My father was exactly the same."

He looked toward Ezra with open admiration.

"He couldn’t remember anything after arriving at the gathering. The next thing he remembered...was already being back home."

He paused briefly.

"I hadn’t even told you that part yet."

His eyes remained fixed on Ezra.

"But... You still figured it out."

Gwen quietly blinked several times.

She stared at Ezra as though she had just heard something impossible.

He deduced all of that...

Just from the little information we gave him?

For the first time since meeting Ezra...

She genuinely understood why Lucy trusted him so completely.

He wasn’t simply intelligent.

His ability to notice details other people overlooked and calmly connected them together.

It almost felt unnatural.

Gena leaned even closer.

Her earlier playful attitude had completely disappeared.

Only worry remained in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Does that mean..."

She asked quietly.

"You already know what happened to my father?"

She tightly held the edge of the sofa.

"What could’ve caused all of them...to fall into that evil woman’s scheme?"

Ezra answered almost immediately.

"A drug."

His tone remained calm.

The words themselves, however...

Immediately shocked everyone inside the room.

"A drug?"

Gwen gasped.

Both of her hands unconsciously covered her mouth.

"How..."

She looked completely bewildered.

"How could a Baroness use something like that?"

Her voice carried obvious disbelief.

She had never imagined a noble of such standing would resort to methods like that.

"Drugs..."

Blake slowly lowered his head.

He quietly repeated the word to himself.

"So... My father was drugged into signing the agreement."

He slowly looked back toward Ezra.

"But... Does a drug like that even exist?"

He genuinely looked confused.

"A drug capable of making a fully grown man vulnerable...while also making him lose his memory afterward?"

He found it difficult to believe.

Lucy also quietly looked toward Ezra.

She had never heard of such a thing before either.

Ezra remained calm.

"I don’t know what specific drug was used."

He honestly admitted.

"But... It is currently the explanation that best fits every piece of information we’ve gathered."

He calmly folded both hands together.

"Memory loss. No traces of Illusionary Alchemy. A legally signed agreement. Four different Barons."

He listed each point one after another.

"When those facts are combined... A drug becomes the most reasonable answer."

Everyone quietly thought about his words.

None of them could immediately refute his reasoning.

Because...

It really explained everything.

Gena suddenly stood up.

Her chair slid backward slightly.

"If that’s true..."

Hope quickly appeared inside her eyes.

"Then we can expose Baroness Orvain."

She looked at Ezra expectantly.

"Is there a way to prove Father was drugged? If we can prove that... We can use it as evidence against her."

Her voice became increasingly excited.

For the first time in weeks...

She felt like she had finally found a path forward.

Unfortunately...

Ezra slowly shook his head.

"There is."

He answered honestly.

"But... The opportunity has already passed."

Gena’s hopeful expression froze.

Ezra calmly continued.

"Too much time has passed since the gathering. The drug residues would’ve already left your fathers’ bodies."

He looked toward Blake.

"There would no longer be any physical evidence remaining."

The hope inside the room instantly weakened again.

"...I see."

Gena slowly sat back down.

Her shoulders quietly slumped.

Blake lowered his eyes.

His fingers unconsciously tightened around the untouched glass of milk sitting before him.

"So..."

He softly asked.

"What do we do now?"

His voice sounded much quieter than before.

Ezra didn’t answer immediately.

Instead...

He quietly leaned back against the sofa.

His blank eyes rested upon the crystal ceiling for several seconds.

His mind carefully arranged every clue they had gathered so far.

Finally...

He spoke.

"Our only option... is to investigate House Orvain."

Everyone looked toward him.

"We need to discover what Baroness Orvain is actually doing with all the money she collected from the four Baron Houses."

His tone remained flat.

"If she’s using it for something illegal... then we expose it. We use that as leverage against her."

The room became quiet once again.

Compared to trying to prove the drug itself...

This method sounded far more realistic.

Gwen slowly crossed her arms.

Unlike the others...

She didn’t immediately accept Ezra’s conclusion.

Instead...

She quietly studied him.

Her raised eyebrow made it obvious she was still thinking.

"If I may ask..."

She finally spoke.

"What made you arrive at that conclusion so quickly?"

Her tone wasn’t disrespectful.

It carried genuine curiosity.

Ezra calmly looked at her.

"The person behind this entire plan... is Baroness Orvain herself."

He began explaining without hesitation.

His voice remained plain and easy to follow.

"House Orvain isn’t a poor Baron House. They’re very much financially stable, and they’ve remained that way for years."

He continued.

"So... There is no logical reason for her to desperately seize another Baron’s wealth simply to enrich her own family."

He slowly raised one finger.

His gesture naturally drew everyone’s attention.

"Which leaves us with a different question."

He looked around the room.

"What exactly... does she intend to gain by gathering such an enormous amount of money from the other Baron Houses?"

The question quietly settled inside everyone’s mind.

Nobody answered.

Because...

None of them had ever thought about it that way before.

Ezra allowed the silence to linger for a brief moment.

He wanted each of them to think through the question themselves before he continued with the reasoning he had already begun piecing together.