No postman. No magical disturbance.
It was as though the letter had passed through space out of thin air and appeared directly on the table, giving off the faint mingled scent of ink and magical energy.
"Letter of Admission."
Seiji Fujiwara broke the wax seal. The contents of the letter were concise and clear, written in elegant cursive English.
His application for admission had been approved.
In light of the astonishing talent he had displayed in that paper, he had been admitted as an exception in the status of "Auditor," and could enter directly into one of the highest lecture halls of the Modern Magecraft Department.
Lord El-Melloi II's classroom.
"Lord El-Melloi II... Waver Velvet."
The tip of Seiji's finger traced lightly across the name.
In his system's database, this name was tagged as a "high-value target."
A survivor of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
The former Master of the King of Conquerors, Iskandar.
One of the Twelve Lords of the Clock Tower, and head of the Modern Magecraft Department.
At the same time, a man whose heart was filled with contradiction and trauma, a man who could be exploited with the greatest of ease.
"There's no more suitable 'springboard' than him."
A satisfied smile crept onto Seiji's lips, the smile of a man whose plan was unfolding as intended.
Compared to the other old aristocratic lineages of the Clock Tower, with their bloodline supremacy and conservative xenophobia, Waver Velvet was himself the "outsider," born of a third-rate magus family. He valued ability over birth. For someone like Seiji, the son of a "fallen family," he was the perfect point of breakthrough.
Most importantly, he held an understanding of the "Holy Grail War" of a depth no outsider could imagine, and bore... psychological scars to match.
That made him the best "living dictionary" for Seiji to use in analyzing this world, and especially in analyzing the core Mystery of "Heroic Spirit Summoning."
...
Three days later.
Seiji Fujiwara set foot in the Clock Tower for the first time.
Following the directions in the letter, he found, in a hidden corner of the British Museum, the entrance that led to the world of magi.
He passed through a layer of invisible barrier, and the scene before him opened wide. The place was much as he had imagined, ancient and severe, the air saturated with the stale scent of magical energy. Throughout the corridors, magi in classical robes hurried by.
Their gazes, for the most part, were arrogant and cold. When they saw Seiji's unfamiliar Eastern face, those gazes took on an unconcealed scrutiny and contempt. Some boy from the East, from some nameless family, was qualified to set foot in the Clock Tower?
"Hey, newcomer, watch where you're going!"
A blond youth in an extravagant robe, with a family crest pinned to his chest, deliberately bumped into Seiji's shoulder and addressed him in an arrogant tone.
Seiji immediately slipped into his role to perfection.
He stumbled, his face taking on a perfectly calibrated alarm and dread, and quickly bowed in apology. "I'm sorry! I'm terribly sorry!"
"Tch, worthless."
The blond youth gave a contemptuous snort, straightened his collar, and walked off with his head held high.
Seiji straightened, lowered his head, and continued on his way at a hurried pace, his face wearing the awkwardness and unease of a country bumpkin in the big city. But hidden deep in his eyes was a cold killing intent, mingled with resentment and pride.
This appearance suited his persona to perfection.
He found the El-Melloi Classroom.
It was an enormous tiered lecture hall, capable of seating several hundred people. By now it was already filled with students. There were children of the nobility, of high birth and haughty expression, and there were students like him in plain clothes with nervous faces, sitting in different sections of the hall as cleanly divided as oil from water.
Seiji took the least conspicuous seat he could find in a corner of the last row.
He was not here to attend the lecture.
He was here to observe.
Before long, the door of the classroom opened.
A tall man with long black hair walked in, his face wearing an exhaustion and severity that could not be brushed away. A cigar was held between his lips, and the black trench coat on his back showed the wear of years.
This was Lord El-Melloi II, Waver Velvet.
The moment he stepped onto the lectern, the whole noisy classroom fell into total silence. Every gaze in the hall was fixed on him.
Seiji's own gaze, meanwhile, like a precision probe, began to dissect this man from every angle.
His magical energy was stable and deep. His words and bearing were rigorous and stiff. But deep in his eyes, in that fleeting moment when he glanced out the window at the sky, there was a wistfulness that betrayed the longing in his heart for a certain red-haired giant of a man...
"An idealistic realist, bound by the past."
Seiji rapidly settled on a definition in his mind.
He has the ability, the position, the knowledge, but there's a massive hole in his heart. He longs to prove himself, yet he lives in the shadow of the past.
And a hole like that is the best... point of entry.
Waver's lecture was indeed excellent. He could take those dry, tedious magecraft theories and explain them in a way that was clear and logical, accessible to laymen, leaving most of the students in the hall hanging on his every word.
But Seiji's attention was not on the content of the lecture at all. These theories had been fully analyzed by his system three days ago.
He was observing. He was waiting.
Waiting for an opportunity to stand out from among these several hundred students, an opportunity to be "seen" by Waver.
He was like a venomous snake lurking in the grass, quiet, patient, waiting for the moment when the prey would expose an opening.
He did nothing for the duration of this class.
He merely listened in silence and watched, like the most ordinary, most unremarkable student of them all.
Until the bell rang for the end of class.
Waver closed his lesson plan and announced the end of the lecture.
The students filed out one after another.
Seiji blended into the crowd and walked silently out of the classroom.
The first step was complete.
He had successfully entered the prey's field of vision.
The next question was how to make the prey... voluntarily notice this peculiar pebble of his.
...
...
Another week passed.
Seiji had fully settled into life at the Clock Tower.
Every day he appeared on time in the back row of the El-Melloi Classroom, quietly listening, diligently taking notes, never speaking up of his own accord and never striking up conversation with anyone.
He was like a transparent ghost, melted perfectly into the background.
But his "paper" had caused a small stir among the instructors of the Modern Magecraft Department. Everyone now knew that in the El-Melloi Classroom there was an "Auditor" whose grasp of theory was terrifyingly solid. The news naturally reached Waver's ears as well, and made him pay a little more attention to that Japanese youth who always sat in the corner.
Several times during his lectures, Waver had felt that gaze from the back-row corner, focused and sharp. It did not feel like a student listening to a class so much as a researcher of his own caliber appraising his theories.
It made him a touch uneasy, but it also made him more curious.
At last, in today's class, devoted to a discussion of "the Heroic Spirit Summoning system," Seiji knew that his opportunity had come.
"...In short, Heroic Spirit Summoning is a ritual that, by means of the Greater Grail's system, copies the 'information' of a hero's true self existing on the Throne of Heroes into the present world, and fits it into the outer shell of a 'Class.' And a Holy Relic is the most important 'coordinate' for ensuring the summoning of a specified hero..."
On the lectern, Waver spoke fluently, his voice echoing across the vast classroom.
Just as he was about to wrap up the topic.
A hand rose, slowly but firmly, from the very back row of the classroom.
It was that silent Auditor from Japan.
Waver pushed up his glasses and signaled that he could ask his question.
"Student Fujiwara, do you have a question?"
Seiji stood. Several hundred pairs of eyes in the classroom turned to him at once. There was curiosity, contempt, and the simple anticipation of watching a spectacle.
He cleared his throat, his face wearing a perfectly judged scholarly nervousness.
"Lord El-Melloi II, my question concerns the definition of a 'Holy Relic.'"
His voice was not loud, but each word was crisply enunciated, and it carried a strange penetrating quality that let every person present hear him clearly.
"You said earlier that a Holy Relic is a 'coordinate.' But what if a 'coordinate' itself were not pointed at a hero's 'past,' but rather at a hero's 'future'?"
"For instance, the descendant of a hero, one who shares an extremely deep blood relation with that hero. Could the bloodline itself be considered a kind of 'living Holy Relic'?"
"If we performed a summoning with such a 'Holy Relic,' what we summoned would be... an 'information copy' from the Throne of Heroes, or a soul 'pulled' from the future into the present world by the strength of the causal connection, a soul 'polluted' by the hero's legend?"
The moment the question was out, the entire classroom first fell into a moment of dead silence, then erupted into an uproar that could not be contained.
"What is he talking about?"
"A living Holy Relic? Such nonsense!"
"It's outrageous! That's not a question any student should be asking!"
This was no longer a question. It was practically a challenge to the foundational principles of the entire Heroic Spirit Summoning theory.
On the lectern, Waver's expression changed in an instant.
His pupils contracted sharply, his breathing stopped for half a second, and the cigar in his mouth nearly dropped to the floor.
Because this question had cut, with the precision of a scalpel, straight into the largest secret buried deep in his heart!
Gray!
This question was almost a naked description of Gray's existence! A descendant who had inherited King Arthur's face and bloodline, a distant relative "polluted" by the soul of a king!
This Japanese... how did he know?
No. Impossible. Those at the Clock Tower who knew Gray's secret could be counted on one hand. There was no way a newly arrived Auditor could possibly know.
It could only be... a coincidence.
A terrifyingly brilliant coincidence of theoretical deduction!
Waver forced down the shock in his chest and looked at Seiji with an extraordinarily complex expression. He did not answer the question directly, but gave an ambiguous and very official reply, then hurriedly brought the class to an end.
"Student Fujiwara, after class, come to my office."
Having left those words behind, he strode briskly out of the classroom.
At an angle no one could see, the corner of Seiji's mouth lifted in a faint, almost imperceptible curve.
The fish had taken the bait.
...
The Lord's office was thick with the heavy scent of cigar smoke.
The atmosphere felt weighted.
Waver sat behind his desk, fingers interlaced, regarding Seiji in silence with a scrutinizing gaze.
And behind him stood a petite figure in a grey cloak, hooded, almost her entire face hidden in the shadow.
Gray.
In her arms she held a birdcage that contained her Mystic Code "Add," that mysterious talking box.
From the moment Seiji set foot in the office, his system had let out a piercing alarm.
[Warning! Detected high-density divine spirit-particle reaction!]
[Warning! Detected sealed signature of the Concept Armament "Holy Lance Rhongomyniad"!]
[Performing Spirit-Origin resonance scan... scan complete.]
[Resonance signature match: 99.8%.]
[Target confirmed: Artoria Pendragon (Conceptually linked entity).]
Inside him, monstrous waves rose, but his face still wore that calm and humble expression.
It's her. Not the true body, but this aura... this aura of the King of Knights, with its purity and glory, there's no mistaking it. The primary target of this hunt!
"Student Fujiwara." Waver finally spoke, his voice low. "That question you raised in class... what exactly are you trying to say? Or rather, where did you read these theories?"
"My deepest apologies, my Lord." Seiji bowed at once, his face wearing an expression of trepidation. "It was nothing more than some half-formed conjectures I came up with while reading some fragments of ancient Celtic literature left behind by my family. I never imagined it would disrupt your class. I..."
He played to perfection the part of a "bookworm" who had blundered through innocence.
It was then.
The birdcage in Gray's arms shook violently.
The Add inside it seemed to sense something. It let out an uneasy, low growl, a sound that almost seemed to say, "This guy... is dangerous..."
"Add? What's wrong?" Gray quickly soothed the cage, murmuring something to it under her breath.
In doing so, her hood slipped down slightly, revealing a face almost identical to that of the legendary King of Knights, delicate and youthful. Those emerald eyes, with a flicker of wariness and curiosity, looked at Seiji.
Seiji's heart skipped a beat.
It was not from being dazzled.
It was the irrepressible thrill and shiver that ran through a hunter's soul when he laid eyes on his prey.
Found her.
At last, I've found her.
He had to summon all of his control to suppress the urge to reach out and touch that face.
"It's nothing." Waver sighed and waved at Gray to settle down, seemingly accepting the explanation of "a genius's coincidence." Looking at this young man, whose theoretical talent was terrifying yet who in person seemed to pose no threat at all, an idea surfaced in his mind.
Perhaps... he could keep this one by his side. His knowledge would be a tremendous help to his own research.
"Seiji Fujiwara." Waver's tone softened. "You seem to take quite an interest in Heroic Spirit Summoning theory. Have you ever considered making it your principal field of study?"
"From today on, you will remain in the El-Melloi Classroom as my special research assistant. On a trainee basis, of course."
Seiji's face instantly broke into a "deeply honored" expression of overwhelming joy.
He bowed deeply.
"Yes! Thank you for your favor, my Lord! I will not let your expectations down!"
But behind that lowered head, in those eyes shadowed beneath his bangs, what glittered was the cold, cruel, calculated gleam of a man whose plan had unfolded as intended.
The first piece had been placed.
He had successfully wedged himself into the core of this world.
After becoming a trainee assistant to Lord El-Melloi II, Seiji's life entered a wholly new stage.
He gained access to Waver's private study, and could lay hands on those top-secret materials concerning the Fourth Holy Grail War that were never made public. He was like a dry sponge, frantically absorbing every scrap of knowledge in this world.
And his "talent" only made Waver rely on him more heavily.
One afternoon, in Waver's study, the two of them were discussing a report on "the impact of the Holy Grail's wreckage on the Spiritual Veins of Fuyuki City." The light in the study was dim, with only one desk lamp on, and the air was thick with the distinctive scent of old books and cigars.
"Teacher, I believe there is a problem with the data model here."
Seiji pointed to a complex diagram of magical energy flow on the report. "The report assumes that the magical energy overflow from the Spiritual Veins decays uniformly, but that defies logic. According to the records of the Fourth War, although the black mud of Angra Mainyu was destroyed by Saber's holy sword, the 'concept' of its pollution cannot have vanished entirely. I would speculate that this pollution will, like cancer cells, concentrate at a certain node in the Spiritual Veins, causing the magical energy to exhibit an irregular, explosive growth pattern."