Chapter 270: Into the Shadows Part – Five
"Lucy... Gena."
Ezra quietly called their names.
His voice remained as calm and plain as ever, but the seriousness hidden beneath it immediately caught their attention.
Neither girl replied.
They simply looked toward him.
"Conceal your Cognis."
He spoke without turning around.
His pitch-black eyes remained fixed on the corridor ahead.
The words were short.
There was no explanation.
There didn’t need to be.
Without asking a single question...
Lucy and Gena immediately closed their eyes.
The Cognis flowing around their bodies gradually settled.
The faint pressure surrounding them slowly disappeared until it became almost impossible for another Alchemist to sense their exact cultivation level.
Only after completely concealing her Cognis did Lucy carefully spread her perception outward again.
Her senses stretched through the surrounding corridors.
A second later...
Her expression stiffened.
"...Half-Star Alchemists."
She muttered under her breath.
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Even so...
Everyone heard her.
Blake instinctively swallowed.
"They’re Alchemists?"
His eyes widened as he glanced around the corridor.
"Inside this building?"
His voice became noticeably quieter.
"Don’t tell me... we’re going to have to kill people again."
The image of the watchtower guard Ezra had silently killed earlier flashed through his mind.
His stomach tightened again.
The uncomfortable feeling returned.
Although he managed to stop himself from vomiting this time...
His face still turned slightly pale.
Gena casually folded her arms.
A confident smile appeared on her face.
"Relax."
She lightly tapped her chest.
"They’re only Half-Star Alchemists."
She spoke as though it wasn’t worth worrying about.
"They’re weak compared to Ezra and me."
She then looked toward Lucy.
"I don’t know exactly how strong Miss Maid is..."
A faint grin appeared.
"But after seeing what she did back outside... I’m pretty sure she’s more than capable of handling herself too."
Lucy, however, gently shook her head.
"I don’t think there’s any reason for us to fight recklessly."
She quietly stepped closer to Ezra.
Her voice remained calm.
"Especially..."
She looked at him.
"...when we’re only here to collect evidence of illegal activities."
She paused for a moment.
Her eyes searched Ezra’s face.
She wanted confirmation.
She wanted to know whether her way of thinking matched his.
Ezra neither replied...
Nor looked back.
He simply resumed walking.
His footsteps remained light.
Almost silent.
Yet...
For Lucy...
That was already enough.
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
She understood.
If Ezra continued moving forward without correcting her...
Then her judgment had been right.
The group silently followed after him.
No one spoke again.
The deeper they went into the facility...
The quieter everyone became.
Several security guards continuously patrolled the corridors.
Steam pipes stretched across the ceilings.
Bright white lamps illuminated every corner of the building.
Security cameras had been installed near almost every intersection.
The red indicator lights quietly blinked as they slowly rotated from side to side.
Fortunately...
Ezra’s senses continuously stayed one step ahead.
Every patrol route...
Every camera angle...
Every blind spot...
Appeared inside his mind before they reached it.
Whenever a guard approached...
Ezra simply raised one finger.
The group immediately froze.
When the patrol passed...
He quietly continued walking.
The coordination between them became smoother with every passing minute.
No unnecessary words.
Only silent trust.
Eventually...
The group arrived outside another section of the building.
A heavy metallic door stood slightly open.
The moment they approached...
CLANG!
BANG!
The loud echo of steel striking steel burst from inside.
Steam pressure hissed continuously.
The rhythmic pounding of massive forging hammers shook the surrounding floor.
Without hesitation...
Ezra quietly moved toward a stack of enormous wooden crates positioned beside the entrance.
Everyone immediately followed.
The crates provided perfect cover.
Carefully...
Blake lowered himself just enough to peek through the narrow opening.
The instant his eyes entered the room...
"What..."
He froze.
"The hell is this?"
His eyes widened in disbelief.
The manufacturing floor before them was enormous.
Rows upon rows of massive steam furnaces glowed with orange light.
White steam continuously escaped from pressure vents.
Countless craftsmen moved busily throughout the workshop.
Some transported glowing metal.
Others carefully monitored furnace temperatures.
Several teams worked together around enormous circuit-marking ovens.
The entire place resembled a fully operational military manufacturing facility.
"They’re..."
Gena stared quietly.
"...really serious about whatever they’re making."
Even she hadn’t expected something this large.
Gwen slowly looked around the room.
"So..."
Her voice carried disbelief.
"This... is what Baroness Orvain has been using the money from the four Baron Houses to build?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Everyone continued watching.
Groups of craftsmen pushed heavy carts loaded with dark metallic ores toward the furnaces.
The workers carefully lifted the materials before feeding them into the blazing chambers one after another.
Lucy narrowed her eyes.
Her gaze eventually settled on another familiar machine.
"The Circuit Marking Oven..."
She quietly muttered.
Her eyes immediately recognized it.
Back when she worked alongside Ezra inside Rogers’ workshop...
She had seen the exact same equipment.
Only...
The ones here were much larger.
"What exactly are they making?"
Lucy whispered.
She continued watching every process carefully.
"I don’t know..."
Gena suddenly pointed toward one of the incoming carts.
"But... isn’t that Umbrium?"
Everyone immediately looked.
Dozens of neatly stacked black metallic bars rested inside the crates.
Even from a distance...
Their distinctive appearance couldn’t be mistaken.
"And... There are so many of them."
Gena couldn’t hide her surprise.
Obtaining Umbrium itself wasn’t considered illegal.
After all...
It was simply another rare ore.
However...
Actually, acquiring large quantities of it...
Was a completely different matter.
Umbrium remained one of Britannia’s most tightly controlled rare metals.
Finding natural deposits was already incredibly difficult.
Refining it required even greater resources.
Most importantly...
Very few Alchemists had any interest in using it.
Only certain specialized Alchemists...
Such as high-ranking Illusionary Alchemists...
Or the House Ashenlocke Ashcraft department...
Ever seriously considered incorporating Umbrium into their creations.
Gena naturally knew this.
As a member of House Ash...
She had studied nearly every rare ore controlled by the Mainline families.
Understanding those resources had become necessary for improving her own Gun Alchemy.
Even so...
Seeing this many crates gathered together...
Still shocked her.
Throughout the entire conversation...
Ezra never spoke.
His expression remained unchanged.
His attention wasn’t focused on the manufacturing process.
Nor was it on the Umbrium.
Instead...
He quietly listened.
Every conversation occurring throughout the workshop naturally entered his enhanced hearing.
His senses calmly filtered countless overlapping voices.
Ignoring the meaningless ones.
Searching only for the important discussions.
Finally...
His attention settled upon the center of the manufacturing floor.
There...
Where the finished products had been neatly arranged upon several long metal tables...
Three people stood talking together.
One of them...
Was Baroness Terenza Orvain.
She stood with both arms folded across her chest.
Beside her stood an elderly man whose face remained completely concealed beneath a dark hood.
Standing opposite them...
Was another mysterious man whose identity also remained hidden.
The three quietly observed the finished products together.
"Your plan..."
The elderly man calmly spoke.
"...went remarkably well, Baroness."
He slowly walked toward one of the long tables.
Several finished creations rested inside carefully prepared storage boxes.
He gently ran his fingers across the smooth metallic surface of one of them.
His voice carried obvious excitement.
"With Umbrium combined together with Adamantite... these armored suits will become the key component in our..."
"Tch."
Terenza frowned.
She immediately interrupted him.
"Adamantite is still far too difficult to obtain."
Her irritation couldn’t be hidden.
"Do you have any idea how much money I had to spend... just to purchase all those crates of Umbrium through the Black Market?"
She sighed heavily.
Her brows remained tightly furrowed.
Another male voice suddenly sounded behind her.
"So what?"
The second mysterious man slowly stepped closer.
He folded his arms.
"It isn’t even your money."
His tone carried obvious mockery.
"Why are you acting like you’re the one losing something?"
"When I agreed to help you two..."
Terenza let out an annoyed sigh.
She folded her arms tightly beneath her chest while looking at the rows of finished products lying on the tables.
"I honestly thought I would gain a great deal from this partnership."
Her brows furrowed.
"But instead... I’m the one spending more and more money."
The complaint was obvious in her voice.
"I’ve been pouring one fortune after another into this project."
She clicked her tongue.
"It’s becoming irritating."
The mysterious man slowly narrowed his eyes.
Even though his face remained hidden...
The pressure coming from his gaze alone made Terenza feel uncomfortable.
For a brief second...
She instinctively looked away.
"...Ah."
She forced out a small laugh.
Quickly calming herself down, she straightened her posture.
"Well..."
She lightly waved her hand.
"If it’s for the sake of our goal... then it’s better this way."
She spoke as though trying to convince herself more than anyone else.
The mysterious man quietly watched her for another moment before speaking again.
"What about..."
He folded his arms.
"...the creator of the Phantom Rolls? What do you think of him after finally meeting him?"
The question immediately caught Ezra’s attention.
"Tch..."
Terenza scoffed.
"That kid..."
She paused.
"He has a very strange personality."
Her expression gradually became thoughtful.
"The composure he carries... isn’t something a child his age should possess."
She recalled the conversation during the auction.
"The entire time... I felt like I was speaking to an experienced adult rather than a fourteen-year-old child."
She narrowed her eyes.
"It honestly made me uncomfortable."
The elderly hooded man quietly chuckled.
"Aren’t most noble children raised that way?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"They’re educated from childhood and they naturally mature faster than ordinary children."
Terenza slowly shook her head.
"No."
Her answer came immediately.
"This one feels different."
She couldn’t fully explain it.
"But every time he looked at me... it felt as though he had already seen through everything."
She exhaled quietly.
"Still..."
A faint smile appeared.
"I’ll learn much more about him soon enough."
Her eyes casually drifted toward another section of the manufacturing floor where several blacksmiths continued forging metal.
Ezra quietly lowered his head.
"...This just became troublesome."
He muttered under his breath.
The voice was extremely soft.
Even so...
Lucy heard him immediately.
"Hm?"
She looked toward him.
"What is it, Master?"
She quietly crawled closer.
Her voice remained calm.
"What happened?"
Ezra slowly turned.
His blank black eyes met hers.
He didn’t say a single word.
He simply looked at her.
That gaze alone...
Was enough.
Lucy’s pupils immediately shrank.
"...No."
Her voice broke.
Disbelief filled her expression.
Her breathing unconsciously became slower.
She had understood exactly what Ezra meant.
At almost the same time...
Gena quietly crawled closer while taking her Starlix 13 from her pocket.
"Hey, Ezra."
She whispered.
"Should I start taking pictures and recording everything now?"
She activated the camera while speaking.
However...
The moment she reached Ezra...
She noticed Lucy’s unusually pale expression.
The confidence Lucy normally carried had disappeared.
Instead...
Only tension remained.
"...What’s wrong?"
Gena immediately asked.
Her smile vanished.
Without waiting for an answer...
She instantly expanded her senses.
Cognis quietly spread throughout the surrounding room.
Her perception swept across the workshop.
Left...
Right...
Her breathing suddenly stopped.
Her eyes widened.
She had discovered exactly what Lucy had sensed moments earlier.
"...Ahhh."
Ezra quietly exhaled.
The sound wasn’t frustration.
Nor panic.
It sounded more like confirmation.
Everything had already happened.
Before anyone could react...
"GUYS!"
Blake’s voice suddenly echoed throughout the workshop.
The shout completely shattered the silence.
Gena’s head instantly snapped toward him.
Lucy also turned.
Only Ezra...
Didn’t move.
His blank eyes calmly remained where they were.
Lucy’s expression instantly changed.
Her fists tightened so hard her knuckles turned white.
Even her lips slightly trembled.
"What the hell..."
She shouted.
"...do you think you’re doing, Gwen?!"
Her voice echoed throughout the manufacturing hall.
There was no point remaining hidden anymore.
Their location had already been exposed.
The moment Blake shouted...
Dozens of guards immediately emerged from every direction.
Heavy footsteps echoed across the iron floor.
Rows of Kalthoff Repeaters were calmly raised.
Cold black barrels pointed directly toward Ezra’s group.
Not one guard looked nervous.
Their movements were disciplined.
Almost military.
They had clearly prepared for this.
Standing close to them...
Gwen quietly smiled.
She held Blake.
One arm wrapped around his shoulders.
The other hand pressed a small dagger firmly against his neck.
The sharp edge lightly touched his skin.
One slight movement...
Would be enough to draw blood.
She looked toward Lucy.
"...Why are you shouting all of a sudden?"
Her voice sounded soft.
Gentle even.
Yet...
The warmth Lucy once knew had completely disappeared.
Only cold indifference remained.
"G-Gwen..."
Blake’s breathing became uneven.
His eyes slowly lowered toward the dagger resting against his neck.
His entire body stiffened.
"...Why?"
His voice trembled.
"Why are you doing this?"
He couldn’t understand.
His mind desperately searched for another explanation.
"...Please. Tell me this isn’t real."
His voice nearly broke.
The Gwen who raised him.
The Gwen who protected him.
The Gwen who laughed with him every day...
Couldn’t possibly be standing here.
Could she?
"HALT!"
A senior guard suddenly stepped forward.
His commanding voice echoed throughout the workshop.
"If any one of you makes even the slightest movement... we will immediately open fire!"
The dozens of Kalthoff Repeaters remained perfectly aimed.
Safety catches had already been released.
The guards simply waited for an order.
Gena looked around in confusion.
Everything had happened far too quickly.
She quietly leaned toward Ezra.
"...Isn’t she supposed to be Blake’s maid?"
She whispered.
Ezra answered without changing his expression.
"...How am I supposed to know?"
His flat reply almost made Gena laugh despite the dangerous situation.
She glanced at him.
"So..."
A faint smile appeared.
"Even you got caught off guard?"
Ezra calmly looked back at her.
"...You think so?"
His tone remained exactly the same as always.
No panic.
No frustration.
Nothing.
Gena quietly stared at him for another second.
Then...
A faint smile slowly appeared on her face.
He’s still this calm...
Then it means all is well.
Meanwhile...
Gwen slowly stood.
Still gripping Blake tightly.
She calmly walked backward toward the guards.
Blake unwillingly stumbled along with her.
His face had completely lost its color.
Every step only pushed him farther away from Ezra’s group.
Once Gwen reached the line of armed guards...
She suddenly released him.
Without warning...
Bang!
Her foot slammed directly into Blake’s side.
The kick sent him flying backward.
"ARGH!"
Blake crashed heavily onto the cold iron floor.
His body rolled several times before finally coming to a stop near Ezra and the others.
He groaned painfully while clutching his ribs.
The workshop instantly fell silent once more.
Only the sound of the steam furnaces continued echoing throughout the enormous manufacturing hall.
And standing opposite them...
Gwen calmly watched everything unfold.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of hesitation left in her eyes.
"This..."
Lucy’s voice trembled.
Her breathing had become uneven.
"...This has to be some kind of joke..."
Her brown eyes remained fixed on Gwen.
Disbelief completely filled her face.
"Right, Gwen?"
She slowly took a step forward without realizing it.
"Why..."
Her voice cracked.
"Why would you kick your own Young Master like that?"
She pointed at Blake, who was still lying painfully on the cold iron floor.
"Why are you standing with them? Why?"
The final question escaped almost like a plea.
Countless memories flashed through her mind.
The Gwen she knew...
The girl she grew up with.
The girl who smiled beside her under the old bridge.
The girl who comforted younger children.
The girl who risked herself for others.
How...
How had that person become this woman standing before her?
Lucy’s eyes filled with countless questions.
Questions she couldn’t answer herself.
"Gwen..."
Her voice became quieter.
"...Tell me this isn’t real."
For a brief moment...
Gwen’s expression softened.
She quietly looked at Lucy.
Her gaze became complicated.
As though something buried deep inside her heart had been disturbed.
"...Lucy."
She softly called.
A faint emotion briefly appeared within her eyes.
Then...
It disappeared.
Her face gradually returned to its cold expression.
"It is exactly what it looks like."
Her voice carried no warmth.
No hesitation.
Only indifference.
Lucy unconsciously clenched both fists.
"No..."
She whispered.
"You... would never become someone like this."
Before anyone else spoke...
"You were the one who created the drug."
Ezra calmly asked.
His tone remained exactly the same.
Neither accusing.
Nor emotional.
It sounded as though he were simply confirming an answer he had already reached.
"...Ehn?"
Gwen blinked.
Then...
She suddenly laughed.
"Hehehe..."
She shook her head.
Even now...
She couldn’t help finding Ezra amusing.
"You really..."
She wiped the corner of one eye.
"...still talk like that even in a situation like this?"
Her laughter continued for another moment before finally settling.
"Fine."
She smiled.
A smug smile slowly appeared across her face.
"I’ll give you credit."
She looked directly at Ezra.
Out of everyone standing here...
Only Ezra still looked completely unchanged.
No anger.
No surprise.
No panic.
Nothing.
"I was the one who created the drug."
She openly admitted.
"And... I was also the one who personally mixed it into the drinks those Barons consumed."
She slowly spread both hands.
Almost proudly.
As though confessing to an achievement.
A pleased smile remained on her face.
"What..."
Blake’s breathing stopped.
His body slowly stood upright.
His eyes widened until they almost trembled.
"You..."
He stared at Gwen.
"...You did it?"
He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
His lips trembled uncontrollably.
"But... My family... took you in."
He pointed toward her with a shaking hand.
"They gave you a home. They treated you like family."
His voice gradually became louder.
"Was Baroness Orvain threatening you?"
He desperately searched for another explanation.
"There has to be another reason! The Gwen I know... would never do something like this!"
He almost shouted the words.
"The Gwen I know..."
His breathing became ragged.
"...is kind...She would never..."
His voice slowly weakened.
The moment Gwen looked back at him...
Her cold eyes completely crushed the last bit of hope remaining inside him.
His hand slowly dropped.
"...Why?"
His head gradually lowered.
"...Why would you..."
He couldn’t finish the sentence.
Not because he didn’t know what to ask...
But because he no longer knew who the woman before him truly was.
Ezra quietly stood.
One hand rested against the nearby wooden crate.
His gaze calmly swept across Terenza...
The two mysterious men...
The armed guards...
Then finally Gwen.
"Lure."
He quietly muttered.
His eyes remained calm.
"No."
He corrected himself.
"It wasn’t simply a lure."
He looked toward Gwen.
"She revealed our destination."
His voice remained steady.
"Then allowed us to continue advancing until we reached the deepest part of the base."
His blank eyes shifted toward the surrounding guards.
"By the time we arrived... our escape routes had already been sealed."
He calmly concluded.
"We were surrounded from the very beginning."
The guards instinctively tightened their grips around their Kalthoff Repeaters.
Several fingers rested against the triggers.
They carefully watched Ezra.
His sudden movement had immediately placed everyone on edge.
Yet...
Not one of them dared fire.
Even surrounded...
The calmness displayed by the fourteen-year-old boy somehow made the experienced guards feel uneasy.
The elderly mysterious man quietly stepped forward.
He slowly raised one finger.
Pointing directly toward Ezra.
"...You."
His voice became deeper.
"Are you brave..."
He tilted his head slightly.
"...or simply stupid?"
Before Ezra answered...
"No."
Gwen interrupted.
She lightly laughed.
"He’s just stupid."
She looked toward Ezra with obvious mockery.
"I already reported every single thing to Baroness Orvain."
She folded her arms.
"And while all of you..."
Her eyes swept across Lucy...
Gena...
Blake...
"...were happily explaining your wonderful little plan to me like complete idiots..."
She couldn’t stop herself from laughing again.
"We simply decided to watch."
She shrugged.
"We wanted to see how far a bunch of children could actually get."
She looked around the hidden manufacturing base.
"I honestly never expected you to make it this far."
She slowly clapped her hands.
Clap...
Clap...
The sarcastic applause echoed throughout the workshop.
"I’ll admit..."
She smiled wider.
"...I was genuinely surprised."
The clapping stopped.
Only the smug smile remained.
"It really was a well-made plan."
She admitted honestly.
Then...
Her smile became colder.
"But..."
She looked directly into Ezra’s eyes.
"...you kids forgot one thing."
She raised one finger.
"We adults... will always be several steps ahead of children."
Standing nearby...
Baroness Terenza slowly smiled.
She gracefully folded her fan before lightly tapping it against her palm.
"Well said."
She nodded approvingly.
"A clever plan."
She looked toward Ezra almost as though praising him.
"But..."
She smiled proudly.
"...it was still only the plan of a child."
A quiet silence followed.
The guards continued aiming their weapons.
Steam escaped from nearby furnaces.
Heavy hammers continued striking metal somewhere deeper inside the workshop.
The entire room seemed frozen.
Only Ezra remained exactly the same.
His expression never changed.
His blank black eyes calmly traveled across every weapon pointed toward him.
One gun...
Two...
Five...
Ten...
Dozens.
He quietly observed every position.
Every angle.
Every possible movement.
Nothing escaped his attention.
Then...
A single thought quietly crossed his mind.
Did she really think...
I never suspected she was hiding something from the beginning?