Chapter 619: First Semester Ends

The day of the final ceremony of the Grand First-Year Combat Festival ended like any other day.

After the ceremony, many noble and Non-Noble families spent the remaining time they had with their children around the Royal Academy. Some went out to eat, while others gathered at restaurants and public places to discuss the festival and the newly released ranking list.

Their conversations often returned to the same things.

Their children’s performances.

The students who had ranked above them.

And the results they hoped to achieve during the next semester.

Some parents had already begun advising their children on how to improve their Alchemy abilities, while others discussed the fellow students their children should try to get closer to. After all, the Royal Academy was not simply a place where young people came to learn Alchemy.

To many parents, it was also a place where their children could build connections with the future leaders of the Kingdom.

The friends they made, the people they came to know, and the relationships they formed during their time at the Academy could become useful in the future. For noble families in particular, such connections could be just as important as the knowledge their children gained from their studies.

And so, even after the Combat Festival had ended, many families still had plenty to discuss.

By the morning of the next day, however, the atmosphere around the Royal Academy had changed.

Families and visitors began taking their leave, while the students prepared to return home for the holidays. Servants moved luggage from the residences, Steam carriages waited outside the buildings, and the roads around the Academy became busier as people made their final preparations to depart.

The First Semester had come to an end.

For the students, it was time to leave the Academy behind for a while and prepare themselves for the next semester.

At least, that was what most of them intended to do.

Back at the East Wing First-Year Academy District, inside Ezra’s residence...

"Have you checked all the devices I asked you to recheck, Lucy?"

Ezra asked while gathering some papers into a suitcase in his study room.

He had just finished cleaning the room completely, though it had already been kept tidy before then. The books on the shelves were arranged neatly, the furniture had been put back in place, and the desk where he usually worked had been cleared of everything except the documents he still needed.

Even so, Ezra had taken the time to check the room again before packing.

"Yes, Master. I’m almost done with the checkup."

Lucy answered from a short distance away.

Ezra did not reply, since there was no need to.

He continued sorting through the papers in his hands, checking their contents before placing them inside the suitcase.

One of them contained the sketches for the Exterior body shape of the Nano Bots he had already begun working on before the Combat Festival started.

The page was filled with different shapes.

There were boxes, triangles, rectangles, and even polygons, each drawn to represent a possible design for the Nano Bots he wanted to create. Some of the sketches were rough, while others had small notes beside them, reminding him of the details he needed to consider during development.

The designs were still a work in progress, and he had not settled on every detail yet.

He picked up another sheet of paper.

This one contained a short write-up on the philosophies behind the Nano Path.

Most of the major and minor details, however, had already been stored inside his Zphone Tablet. The papers were useful for reference, but they did not contain everything he had planned.

It was the same with the Guns from his past life’s world.

Ezra had kept records of the ideas and designs he wanted to work on, rather than relying on his memory alone. There was no reason to risk forgetting an important detail when he could simply record it and return to it later.

After checking the remaining papers, he packed them into the suitcase along with the books he had bought from the Academy’s bookstores at the Main Administrative Center and the First-Year Academy District.

He closed the suitcase, took hold of its handle, and walked out of the study room.

By the time he reached the entrance of his residence, the door was already open.

Lucy had taken the luggage outside and was arranging it inside the boot of the Royal Steam Carriage belonging to the Ashenlocke House.

The vehicle stood waiting in front of the residence, its polished exterior reflecting the morning light. The golden crossed twin revolvers of the Crest of Ash were imprinted on its body, making the vehicle’s affiliation clear to anyone who passed by.

Lucy was placing the luggage neatly inside the boot, making sure the cases were arranged properly before the remaining items were brought out.

"Hey, Ezra!!"

A familiar voice called from the side.

Ezra turned his head.

"Good morning, Cyrus."

He raised a hand and waved once at Cyrus Burnwick, who was busy packing his own luggage into a Royal Steam Carriage.

Instead of allowing his servants to handle everything, Cyrus was using Alchemy Levitation to move his luggage himself.

Several servants stood nearby, watching their Young Master with awkward expressions as the luggage floated toward the vehicle.

They seemed unsure whether they should help him or simply stand aside.

Cyrus, however, did not appear to care about their confusion. He guided another piece of luggage into the boot before lowering it into place.

Once he had finished, he turned away from his carriage and walked toward Ezra.

Ezra had also brought out his final piece of luggage. Lucy took it from him and arranged it neatly with the others, leaving enough space for the boot to close without trouble.

Cyrus looked at his friend for a moment before straightening his expression.

"My popular friend, or should I say, the Silent Architect?"

He tried to sound serious, even going so far as to stern his face as he delivered the title.

Ezra narrowed his eyes at him.

Cyrus held the expression for a little longer, clearly pleased with himself.

"Oh, my scholars, who knew Ezra Ashenlocke was living in the East Wing with us?"

"I didn’t know either."

"Wow, and even the Wax Light of Burn is his neighbour."

"Lucky..."

"I knew he was living here since the day we got here."

"I also knew. I constantly sent letters to him, but he doesn’t reply."

Ezra and Cyrus looked at each other for a moment.

The voices came from a distance away, but their hearing was sharp enough for them to catch the low conversations taking place nearby. Some of the students and visitors were discussing Ezra’s residence, while others seemed more interested in the fact that Cyrus Burnwick lived close to him.

Neither boy needed to turn around to know that their names were being mentioned.

Cyrus’s mouth slowly curved into a mischievous smile.

"Hehe... Hehe."

He leaned closer to Ezra, lowering his voice.

"Your life at the Academy when the Second Semester begins will be filled with many visits."

"I don’t see that has a problem, though."

Ezra replied plainly.

"If they keep coming, Lucy will just have to keep sending them on their way."

He pointed toward Lucy, who was still bending slightly as she arranged the luggage inside the boot.

"Ehn?"

Lucy looked up at her Master, a little confused as to why he had suddenly pointed at her.

Cyrus turned to look at her, putting on an expression of exaggerated pity.

"Poor Lucy."

He even acted as though a tear were rolling down his face.

"She’ll have to work hard to keep unwanted ladies away from her Master now."

Lucy looked at him with a displeased expression.

"Humph... It’s not as if Master wasn’t already being disturbed by letters from ladies."

She knew what the future might hold for both herself and her Master.

Ezra had already attracted attention from several young ladies, since he began his academy life.

And now...

His recent title would only give people another reason to approach him.

If the letters had been troublesome before, there was little reason to believe that things would become easier now.

Cyrus seemed amused by her response, but he did not continue teasing her.

"Oh, well. I’ll see you guys at the Palace Grand Hall for the First Semester Ending Ceremony."

He smiled calmly before turning around and walking back toward his vehicle.

Ezra and Lucy waved at him as he left.

After Cyrus had returned to his carriage, Lucy brought her hands together in front of her chest. Her eyes sparkled as the thought of visiting the Palace finally sank in.

"I can’t wait to go to the Palace of Britannia! Oh, my scholars, I’m so excited!"

Her excitement was plain to see.

Ezra, on the other hand, had a different opinion.

"I’d rather choose not to go, though."

He said it in his usual tone before entering the Royal Steam Carriage.

The Ashenlocke driver, who had been sent to pick him up, held the door open respectfully as Ezra stepped inside.

Lucy immediately turned toward him, her excitement giving way to complete shock.

"What do you mean, rather, Master?"

She entered the vehicle through the other door, still looking at him as though she could not believe what she had just heard.

Ezra settled into his seat while the driver waited outside.

"You do know we have an appointment with the Eclipse, right?"

He reminded her as the driver began closing the door.

Lucy placed her right hand against her chest, a proud smile returning to her face.

"I will never forget that, especially when I know I’m soon going to become a driver of the Phantom Rolls vehicle."

She sounded pleased with herself, and there was no mistaking how much the thought meant to her.

Ezra looked at her for a moment before replying.

"Then I have to check your overall improvement in your Alchemy abilities, as well as work on my own projects."

He paused briefly, his expression remaining plain.

"I really don’t have time for any of this ceremony."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at her Master, pouting slightly.

"Or maybe it’s because of the number of annoying things that will happen during the ceremony."

She knew her Master had given many Britannians reasons to talk about him, and it was not only because of his Alchemy abilities.

His strange interactions with several of the Flowers of the Kingdom had also become a subject of discussion. The Welcome Ball, his encounters with Vera, his time with Willow, and the other incidents during the semester had given people plenty of things to remember.

Now, the ending ceremony would bring many of the Kingdom’s important figures together in the same place.

With so many people attending, the possibility of something strange or annoying happening was certainly not impossible.

Lucy had good reason to suspect that her Master was already thinking about it.

But, of course, Ezra had plenty of work waiting for him even without considering the ceremony.

The Nano Path still needed development, and he had his own Alchemy abilities to improve.

The appointment with the Eclipse was another matter he could not ignore, and he had already made plans for what he needed to accomplish during the holidays.

There was simply a lot on his plate.

For Ezra, attending a ceremony was not exactly the most appealing way to spend his time.