The Penguin group for this book is: **, I didn't expect this to be a forbidden word. Those who are interested can click on it.
The sky was overcast, covered by gray clouds, accompanied by a moderate drizzle. It was indeed a typical bad weather day.
Rin, dressed in black and holding a large black umbrella, arrived alone at Misaki City's deep mountain cemetery, like an orphaned girl attending the funeral of a loved one.
But who could guess that she was actually there to dig up a grave... Stepping in her small black boots, she walked into the cemetery grounds. The puddles on the muddy ground automatically parted as she stepped, not staining her boots.
Rin pulled out a folded white paper from her pocket, repeatedly looking up to scan the grounds and comparing them with the marked locations on the paper. Following the planned route on the map, she finally arrived before a solitary grave in a secluded corner.
"Eh?"
When Rin found the spot, she discovered an unexpected person already standing there.
A tall figure, wearing a long, teal-green, form-fitting evening gown, with short orange-red hair, holding a large black umbrella identical to Rin's, stood silently before the tombstone of the previous generation's Old Magus of the Fifth Magic.
Seemingly hearing Rin's surprised sound, the beautiful figure turned around. Her face bore an eighty percent resemblance to Aoko, the other two parts being the maturity and composure that Aoko lacked. Wearing glasses, her entire being exuded an aura of intellect.
Aozaki Touko.
Rin silently gazed at the beautiful Magus before her. Rin had been hesitating on how to explain her suspicions to her, unable to decide, when she unexpectedly met her in such a place.
But... how should the conversation proceed? Touko asks what I'm doing here, and I say I'm here to dig up your old man's grave.
Isn't that clearly asking for trouble... "So you've come after all. Is it you?" A low yet clear voice first entered Rin's ears. Touko spoke first, but the meaning she conveyed left Rin perplexed.
From what she said, it sounded like she was waiting for me here?
"Are you waiting for me here?" Rin couldn't resist her curiosity and asked.
"Something like that," Aozaki Touko replied. "I have some knowledge of divination, so I trust my premonitions. In the early hours of this morning, I suddenly had the urge to come here to take a look. You know, I've never set foot in this place before. This is where the person I absolutely refuse to forgive is buried. If something wasn't going to happen, I would never have had the thought of coming here."
Aozaki Touko paused, then continued, "At Shirainuzuka three days ago, the one who fought Alice was you, wasn't it? That you walked out alive means you won. But you neither killed Alice nor took Aoko's Magic Crest. So what is your purpose? The runaway eldest daughter of the Tohsaka Family, Tohsaka Rin."
"Huh? How do you know me?" Rin was stunned. It was the first time she had been recognized since leaving home for so long, and by someone she was meeting for the first time.
"Hmph, you underestimate the information dissemination capabilities among Maguss." Aozaki Touko raised her left hand, which wasn't holding an umbrella, and a yellowish parchment scroll unfurled in her hand.
"You privately betrayed your family. Your father, Tohsaka Tokiomi, has already issued a warrant for your arrest through the Mage's Association. Anyone who can bring you alive to the Tohsaka Family will receive 70% of the Tohsaka Family's patents registered with the Mage's Association. This warrant has been distributed to every Magus registered with the Mage's Association worldwide. I'm afraid the only Magus in the world who doesn't know you is an unregistered Magus like Alice Kuonji, who is isolated from the world."
Rin couldn't help but smile bitterly upon hearing this, but she still felt a warmth from the bottom of her heart that her father was willing to pay such a huge price to find her. "I didn't expect to become so famous in the magical world."
"Don't be careless. Right now, it's just an arrest warrant because Tohsaka Tokiomi still holds a glimmer of hope for you. Once he truly decides to pass the family Magic Crest to your sister, he will probably issue a statement expelling you from the Tohsaka lineage. At that point, whether you live or die, Tohsaka Tokiomi will not ask a single question," Aozaki Touko said, raising a hand to adjust her glasses.
"No matter, it's only right."
"Is that so? It has nothing to do with me anyway," Aozaki Touko said with cold indifference. "Actually, I'm very curious. Compared to me, why did you betray your family? As long as you stayed in the family, the Tohsaka Family's Magic Crest would inevitably be yours. What reason did you have to betray them?"
"For my sister."
"What?" Aozaki Touko's gaze turned cold. Clearly, the word'sister' was also a taboo for her.
"So that my sister, Tohsaka Sakura, wouldn't be adopted into the Matou Family because she lacked a family Magic Crest!" Her sister's matter was also a taboo in Rin's heart. Whenever she thought of it, scenes of Sakura trapped in the worm pit would appear before her eyes, like an endless nightmare, entangling her.
"My sister is one year younger than me. She was born because I almost died during a Magic Circuit aptitude test shortly after my birth, which led my parents to have her. She was exposed to the path of magic from a young age and needed a Magic Crest to grow up safely. However, I didn't die in that calamity, so the Tohsaka Family ended up with two children exposed to the path of magic, but only one family Magic Crest!"
Aozaki Touko looked at Rin, her eyes flickering, and asked, "What is this so-called adoption?"
"The Makiri family, which was in Fuyuki City with the Tohsaka Family, was renamed the Matou Family after relocating to Japan. They have always been allies of the Tohsaka Family. Because they left the magical foundation of their own family, the Matou Family's descendants withered generation after generation until this generation completely lost their magical aptitude. After understanding our family's situation, Matou Zouken, the head of the Matou Family, intended to adopt one of us two sisters into the Matou Family to inherit the Matou Family's Magic Crest."
Aozaki Touko watched Rin, who was speaking with her head down, without changing her expression, and said indifferently, "Isn't that a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...?"
"Shut up!" Rin roared at Aozaki Touko, her voice sharp with anger. "What do you know! Matou Zouken is an old monster who has lived for over five hundred years! He has transformed himself into a bug using the Matou Family's insect magic! How could an old monster whose soul has decayed like his have such good intentions! If Sakura is to inherit the Matou Family, she must undergo the transformation of insect magic! Countless Engraving Worms like vile insects will burrow into her body to forcibly expand her Magic Circuits! Change her magical attribute! Be parasitized by yin worms and become a constitution that can only survive by relying on a Magus's essence! How could I! How could I possibly! Allow my sister! To face such a fate!!!"
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