Chapter 76: Ghost town

Lucien frowned as he and his team walked past the northern gate of the empire rather smoothly. After the event of today, no one dared look down on him because he's only a first year.

They could remember that Lucardo family knight struggling to break free from the wind domain spell and Lucien slashing off his right hand with his invisible wind whip. He was planning to finish him off but then Instructor Han of the academy appeared with a few royal guards and the old Lucardo family head.

Many expected Lucien to be punished but instead, he was treated with respect and asked to forget the matter and continue with his expedition. If it were only an instructor from the academy who came and took Lucien's side, everyone would have just assumed the academy was protecting their student but this time, the Lucardo clan head was involved in this matter and even then he treated Lucien with respect! Seeing that is enough to make people wonder what was Lucien's relationship with the Lucardo clan or if this an attempt by them to get in the prodigy's favor.

'This is my way of thanking you, for protecting my grandson during the test… he would have been dead if it weren't for you'

The words of the Head of the Lucardo clan echoed in Lucien's ears while he walked silently. Although those words were sincere, he couldn't understand why the old man of the Lucardo clan was unusually happy when he arrived, and even after seeing everything that happened the smile only widened.

"You did great today… They call me Titan" The huge third-year said out loud while walking forward and not bothering to look back.

"And I am Lucy! Nice to meet you" The brown-haired girl said.

She had an average looking face and wrapped green clothe across her chest and a short green skirt. It was at this point that Lucien realized that this was the first time he was actually looking at the rest of his teammates since their journey began. Seeing the green waist beads that complimented her delicate hips and had no footwear on, Lucien swallowed hard as strange thoughts kept creeping into his head but he did well to suppress it

"She's an earth element user… maybe you have heard that people with the earth element prefer to wear less sing they believe that their senses and control over the earth element increases with the less amount of clothing they wear" Titan said.

"Does it really work or is this an excuse for you to wear less?" Lucien asked casually. He has never heard of something like this so it was very reasonable for him to be suspicious of it.

"hahaha hahaha!" Everyone around except Lucien began laughing.

What was funny wasn't the fact that Lucien considered such an outrageous rumor to be true but it was his straightforward question! He didn't even bother sugar-coating his words! These are the signs of an innocent young man! Someone who Lucy found attractive!

"Young… powerful and promising… definitely my type" Lucy muttered softly while licking her lips only to realize Instructor Emma's murderous glare was pinned on her.

During the day's Journey, Lucien got to know more about them but refused to reveal too much about himself and the magic weapon Habakiri. He was still cautious of them and they understood his reasons and chose not to judge.

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It was late that night and they decided to camp deep within the forest! In normal situations, a first-year like Lucien should be terrified or at least uncomfortable, but to their greatest surprise Lucien didn't even show any hint of fear, neither did he reject the plan of camping in the dark forest.

Around the campfire set were mud houses, serving as a tent which Lucy created with her ability. The team gathered around the campfire and summoned food stored there. Lucien watched them bring out all sorts of delicacies but all he pulled out from his omini pocket dimension was two large pieces of steak, with a small jug of water.

"You really love meat…" Titan commented while the others nodded in approval.

"Since I was little I only at steak… only on very rare occasions do I eat something else" Lucien answered truthfully.

"Why do you do things like this?" Alucard asked.

"Because I enjoy meat…" Lucien was a bit confused by the question.

The others shot each other a glance as they all silently suspected the same thing. What if the artifact that gave Lucien the beast assimilation ability is slowly turning him into a beast! Lucien soon understood the reason for the strange glares and restlessness on their faces.

"Don't be stupid!" He laughed. "I have always been like this even before I got the sealed artifact… I can assure you nothing changed" He added.

Saying this, Lucien expected them to calm down but contrary to his expectations, their fear in their eyes deepened as Instructor Emma asked.

"Are you sure you were never a monster from the start?" She said.

"Yea… I heard you destroyed the affinity checking orb during the test… your affinity for your primary and secondary elements are just too strong… that's definitely unusual" Alucard said.

"Aaah! I also heard you could perform the shift at a very young age! They said you had an unusually strong link to the Raizen God beast" Titan added.

Hearing all of this, Lucien slapped his face with his palm while wearing an extremely frustrated expression on his face. He felt like jumping over and ripping the trio to shreds but he wasn't confident he would win the fight so he decided to endure.

"Okay, okay! No more teasing him" Instructor Emma said after she noticed the frustrated look on Lucien's face.

She soon remembered that this boy is still the same Raizen clan family heir, who is considered a genius and lacks a sense of humor, so joking around this way will only infuriate him.

"Have you all heard of the Ghost town?" She said.