Lord El Melloi II Case Files

[Tenzen12]

Essentially it does take place in the FSN timelines instead of FSF timelines?

We can't say for sure in matter of fact. FSF and FSN timelines are identical until Fake War.

[TwilightsCall]

Chapter 3 Part 6

Chapter 3



Part 6



With Volumen Hydrargyrum wrapped around my body, my movements were close to double the speed that they had before.

In a manner of speaking, it was like a magically enhanced exoskeleton. Though I never saw it personally, perhaps it was the same logic behind the 'soft stone' armour of Heine Istari, who we met in Adra.

Twice, three times, I repeated my attack.

Distract the thorned monster, just until Flat could successfully interfere with the spell manifesting it.

Svin seemed to be working along the same lines. Though he should have been injured from his battle with Touko earlier, without so much as a hint of being being hurt, he tore the tentacles apart one after another.

I thought as my blade swung.

I had already met all kinds of people.

The number of people I had made contact with since I came to London was already many tens of times greater than when I was in my old home.

Both the incident here, and the incident at the Castle Adra had created that kind of ripple in my life.

As a result of that contact, I sometimes compromised, and sometimes stood firm. That was a part of me now. A past that was hard to deny. A history I could only accept.

The thorned tentacles took on a new shape. Tangling together into a complicated form, it seemed somehow to resemble a person.

Like a knight, holding a thorned blade. It appeared the monster within the 'box' had decided this was the most effective way to fight us. Though perhaps thinking of it as 'thinking' was already a mistake. After all, it was a foreign being, beyond the understanding of humans, relying on otherworldly instincts.

Ignoring the change, I charged in again.

With a shout, I drove the blade of my scythe into the creature. This time, however, I failed to cut through the denser collection of thorns.

With a gurgle, the creature's body began to rotate.

(-w-what?!)

Reacting entirely on instinct, I caught the diagonal slash with my own weapon.

It moved the same way I did.

After only a few minutes of fighting, it had perfectly replicated my style of fighting.

But the thorned monster wasn't restricted to a single body, it seemed.

Wrapping around each other again, the thorned tentacles attempted to create another familiar.

The thorned blade swung again, taking strands of my hair with it.

Had it not been for Volumen Hydrargyrum acting as my armour, it likely would have taken my carotid artery as well.

"-Gray?!"

Flat called out to me as I rolled across the floor. At the same time, I whispered to Add.

"Add, release the first stage limiter."

"Hahahahaha! Going with that, huh?! What a rare choice!" As magical energy surged into him once more, Add gave his characteristic piercing laugh.

Add was a Mystic Code whose purpose was to seal Rhongomyniad.

By using the magical energy sealed within it, though only in part, the scythe could replicate the abilities of that Noble Phantasm.

However, it's shape was not restricted to that of a scythe.

For a split second, Add returned to the shape of a box, spinning its face like a rubix cube, before deploying once more to cover the right side of my body.

A Great Shield.

All I had to do was survive the creature's attacks, to ward off that thorned blade.

Each time the blade struck, the shield shook painfully.

The scythe form of the Mystic Code ranked second in attack power among the forms available to it. In contrast, the shield now deployed wasn't restricted to just pure defensive power, but held another secret. Though it took some time, in order to buy that time, it took the form of a shield.

Once the blade struck for the sixth time, a wooshing noise accompanied a burst of countless flames erupting from the face of the shield.

"-Reverse!"

Together with my voice, magical energy burst forth from the flames. Though it was of course nothing compared to Rhongomyniad, it was nevertheless a burst of concentrated, high density magical energy. For some types of creatures, like the thorned monster in front of me, it carried a powerful offensive force.

Blasted apart, the complicated network of thorned tentacles fell to pieces, losing its shape.

"Analysis complete! I'm ready any time, Professor!" Flat declared with a daring smile.

Holding a cigar in his fingers, my master plainly replied.

"Go for it." He then turned to face backwards. "Atram Galiasta. There will likely be quite a reaction, so I'm going to have to ask you for defense."

"Heh, me? I'm not sure I'm quite the person you should be relying on here."

"I told you I'd charge a fee for spectating. After showing you all this, I'm not willing to take complaints."

"...I see. I thought so before, but you're not so bad at negotiating after all."

With a jerk of his chin, Atram's subordinates jumped into action.

As if impressed with his leadership, even Inorai gave a faint exclamation of surprise at the cooperative magecraft they used.

As they did so, Flat hummed his own incantation.

"

Game Select

Intervention Start

"

I had heard in class earlier that depending on the situation, whether he was reactively altering or proactively attacking another's magecraft, the incantation Flat used was different.

"Tantata, Tantata, Tantatatan♪"

As he continued singing something, his fingers moved as if striking a rhythm into a piano.

As he did so, I could feel magical energy begin creeping across the floor. This space was now completely under the control of the genius magus Flat. With his expanded consciousness, it was like we were all sucked into the palm of his hand.

The result of that soon became clear.

The remaining tentacles slowed in their movements, and were soon sucked back into the 'box' they came from.

-But.

For a brief moment, I saw it.

From the depths of that darkness within the box, in place of the tentacles, those two eyes were now approaching.

It's jaws opened wide, large enough to swallow me whole, dripping with viscous drool.

"It's no good!" I heard Svin say, as he swallowed nervously. "We did, too well."

That's right. Even though I didn't release the Noble Phantasm, we still were strong enough to attract the interest of the contents of that 'box.'

Against that, the only hope we had was Rhongomyniad.

But at this point, I had neither the time nor the magical energy to activate it.

The only thing I could do now was-

"First Stage Limited Form - Scythe"

The shield reassembled itself into a scythe. Launching myself between the retreating tentacles, I swung hard at a point-blank range.

"Gray?!"

With a shout, I smashed it with all my might.

The enormous amount of magical energy there exploded.

As the tremendous magical energy protecting the 'box' came into contact with that of Add, it exploded outwards.

In the face of that wave of pressure, even Volumen Hydrargyrum was thrown off of me.

"Hey! Gray! I know it's me we're talking about, but this is still too much!"

Though I felt somewhat sorry, I ignored Add's voice.

Well over the safe amount of magical energy I could absorb, the overflow tore through my nerves and Magic Circuits. That pain flooded my brain, as if I was being torn apart from the inside. It was like red hot spikes were driven all throughout my body, spinning through it. Turning into a sack of meat that remembered only pain, it felt like my consciousness had died a hundred years ago.

But the circulation of magical energy didn't stop.

Just as it had been instructed from the beginning, it automatically smashed its way into the 'box.'

"...ah....a...."

Groans, turn to power.

Pain, turn to strength.

Though my consciousness should have long since been wiped out, it still whispered.

It hurts.

But even then, I felt a suffering far greater than that pain up until now.

I was always rejecting the world - no, that was wrong. My body was the one rejecting this world. I knew that. I knew, but there was nothing I could do about it. No amount of screaming would make that better. So all I could do was kill my voice, and curl up in the corner of my room, right?

But even so.

Even so, now...

I was being watched.

I was being protected.

Even now, I could feel the eyes on my back.

With just that, I could take one more step forward.

"...g....o........ba....ck.....!!"

But, feelings couldn't be turned into magical energy.

The pressure from within accelerated in its growth.

The two small lights were joined by many more.

From inside the darkness, a tremendous howl that overwhelmed both rage and hunger filled my ears. Was there more than one of these beasts? Or was this the form of a single monster?

Just as that despair flooded my chest, just as it drowned my heart in black,

"-That's enough."

A calm voice called out.

I wasn't able to turn around. But with my enhanced senses, I could tell my master had placed a large object on the ground beside him.

(-that was, Touko Aozaki's...!)

The bag, from when I first felt the presence of this monster.

It appeared my master had found the bag while we had been fighting. Probably, when Touko had died, the spell concealing it had broken.

"I took the liberty of giving this bag a quick inspection," he said, stroking the surface of it. "In short, the bag is a Mystic Code that is only capable of keeping a connection open between 'there' and 'here' while magical energy is running through it. If the magus supplying it were to become unable to provide that energy, it would close all on its own. As such, it was the perfect fit for a rampaging monster like you. It certainly seems like a thing she would think of."

With equial parts admiration and exasperation, he shrugged.

"So if the magical energy supply was to come from within that 'box,' what would happen? It would create a möbius strip effect, of course, but the result? Will another copy of you appear? Or will you be torn apart by the paradox? What an interesting question. Please, by all means, let me see."

With what must have been a Strengthened hand, he threw the bag.

As the bag flew in an arc, I saw a cigar stuck to it. With its faint magical energy, I realizednthat it was a simple type of Mystic Code for the first time.

The thorned tentacles moved in a blind rush to stop it.

Whether it had understood my master's words, or was just acting on instinct, I couldn't tell.

With a spin of my scythe, those tentacles were each cut down.

Even so, before the crowd of appendages, I shouted.

"Add!"

"Ihihihihi! It's time for that, right! I love it!"

Four times, Add laughed as he transformed.

The form revealed of the Mystery within that Noble Phantasm was this time - a large hammer.

In one smooth motion, I spun my whole body. Releasing magical energy from the back of the hammer for an instant like a jet, it accelerated in a display of its full power.

For a Heroic Spirit, it was equivalent to a D Rank, Limited Form - Battering Ram.

"-aaaaaaAAAHHH!"

With all my strength, I smashed that bag.

Accelerated by the impact with the hammer, the bag fired off like a shooting star through the tentacles that were now unable to even slow its movement, into the depths of that 'box' of darkness.

Perhaps within that abyss there was in fact a sense of distance. Or maybe it was just time.

"Well then," my master flipped his palm at it.

"Eat yourself, you fucking nameless monster."

With a sharp, clean sound, he snapped his fingers.

The bag opened.

I don't know what happened next.

Something blew past, something even my heightened senses couldn't quite catch.

Was it a scream? In contrast to the spewing forth of thorned tentacles from before, the space that had become void began to consume all matter.

All I felt was that devouring presence.

The chandelier, the sofa, the spiral stairs, all were sucked in.

Everything. Bottomless. Greedily. Hungrily. Arrogantly. Lasciviously. Vividly. Cruelly.

As if all was but a dream. As if once consumed by that maw of hellfire, it would be the same as if the material world had never even existed at all.

-At that point, my consciousness snapped off.

Click after readingFor the record, that's Sanda's F-bomb, not mine. He even wrote it out in English!

Anyways, that's it for Chapter 3. Epilogue coming soon (tm). If things go according to schedule, I'll have it out with the commentary/afterword sometime this weekend.

[Rafflesiac]

...Sanda pls.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Whoa, that was certainly intense.

[Bugs]

So this is how a chuuni ages gracefully.

[mami-kouga]

Chapter 3 Part 6

Chapter 3



Part 6



With Volumen Hydrargyrum wrapped around my body, my movements were close to double the speed that they had before.

In a manner of speaking, it was like a magically enhanced exoskeleton. Though I never saw it personally, perhaps it was the same logic behind the 'soft stone' armour of Heine Istari, who we met in Adra.

Twice, three times, I repeated my attack.

Distract the thorned monster, just until Flat could successfully interfere with the spell manifesting it.

Svin seemed to be working along the same lines. Though he should have been injured from his battle with Touko earlier, without so much as a hint of being being hurt, he tore the tentacles apart one after another.

I thought as my blade swung.

I had already met all kinds of people.

The number of people I had made contact with since I came to London was already many tens of times greater than when I was in my old home.

Both the incident here, and the incident at the Castle Adra had created that kind of ripple in my life.

As a result of that contact, I sometimes compromised, and sometimes stood firm. That was a part of me now. A past that was hard to deny. A history I could only accept.

The thorned tentacles took on a new shape. Tangling together into a complicated form, it seemed somehow to resemble a person.

Like a knight, holding a thorned blade. It appeared the monster within the 'box' had decided this was the most effective way to fight us. Though perhaps thinking of it as 'thinking' was already a mistake. After all, it was a foreign being, beyond the understanding of humans, relying on otherworldly instincts.

Ignoring the change, I charged in again.

With a shout, I drove the blade of my scythe into the creature. This time, however, I failed to cut through the denser collection of thorns.

With a gurgle, the creature's body began to rotate.

(-w-what?!)

Reacting entirely on instinct, I caught the diagonal slash with my own weapon.

It moved the same way I did.

After only a few minutes of fighting, it had perfectly replicated my style of fighting.

But the thorned monster wasn't restricted to a single body, it seemed.

Wrapping around each other again, the thorned tentacles attempted to create another familiar.

The thorned blade swung again, taking strands of my hair with it.

Had it not been for Volumen Hydrargyrum acting as my armour, it likely would have taken my carotid artery as well.

"-Gray?!"

Flat called out to me as I rolled across the floor. At the same time, I whispered to Add.

"Add, release the first stage limiter."

"Hahahahaha! Going with that, huh?! What a rare choice!" As magical energy surged into him once more, Add gave his characteristic piercing laugh.

Add was a Mystic Code whose purpose was to seal Rhongomyniad.

By using the magical energy sealed within it, though only in part, the scythe could replicate the abilities of that Noble Phantasm.

However, it's shape was not restricted to that of a scythe.

For a split second, Add returned to the shape of a box, spinning its face like a rubix cube, before deploying once more to cover the right side of my body.

A Great Shield.

All I had to do was survive the creature's attacks, to ward off that thorned blade.

Each time the blade struck, the shield shook painfully.

The scythe form of the Mystic Code ranked second in attack power among the forms available to it. In contrast, the shield now deployed wasn't restricted to just pure defensive power, but held another secret. Though it took some time, in order to buy that time, it took the form of a shield.

Once the blade struck for the sixth time, a wooshing noise accompanied a burst of countless flames erupting from the face of the shield.

"-Reverse!"

Together with my voice, magical energy burst forth from the flames. Though it was of course nothing compared to Rhongomyniad, it was nevertheless a burst of concentrated, high density magical energy. For some types of creatures, like the thorned monster in front of me, it carried a powerful offensive force.

Blasted apart, the complicated network of thorned tentacles fell to pieces, losing its shape.

"Analysis complete! I'm ready any time, Professor!" Flat declared with a daring smile.

Holding a cigar in his fingers, my master plainly replied.

"Go for it." He then turned to face backwards. "Atram Galiasta. There will likely be quite a reaction, so I'm going to have to ask you for defense."

"Heh, me? I'm not sure I'm quite the person you should be relying on here."

"I told you I'd charge a fee for spectating. After showing you all this, I'm not willing to take complaints."

"...I see. I thought so before, but you're not so bad at negotiating after all."

With a jerk of his chin, Atram's subordinates jumped into action.

As if impressed with his leadership, even Inorai gave a faint exclamation of surprise at the cooperative magecraft they used.

As they did so, Flat hummed his own incantation.

"

Game Select

Intervention Start

"

I had heard in class earlier that depending on the situation, whether he was reactively altering or proactively attacking another's magecraft, the incantation Flat used was different.

"Tantata, Tantata, Tantatatan♪"

As he continued singing something, his fingers moved as if striking a rhythm into a piano.

As he did so, I could feel magical energy begin creeping across the floor. This space was now completely under the control of the genius magus Flat. With his expanded consciousness, it was like we were all sucked into the palm of his hand.

The result of that soon became clear.

The remaining tentacles slowed in their movements, and were soon sucked back into the 'box' they came from.

-But.

For a brief moment, I saw it.

From the depths of that darkness within the box, in place of the tentacles, those two eyes were now approaching.

It's jaws opened wide, large enough to swallow me whole, dripping with viscous drool.

"It's no good!" I heard Svin say, as he swallowed nervously. "We did, too well."

That's right. Even though I didn't release the Noble Phantasm, we still were strong enough to attract the interest of the contents of that 'box.'

Against that, the only hope we had was Rhongomyniad.

But at this point, I had neither the time nor the magical energy to activate it.

The only thing I could do now was-

"First Stage Limited Form - Scythe"

The shield reassembled itself into a scythe. Launching myself between the retreating tentacles, I swung hard at a point-blank range.

"Gray?!"

With a shout, I smashed it with all my might.

The enormous amount of magical energy there exploded.

As the tremendous magical energy protecting the 'box' came into contact with that of Add, it exploded outwards.

In the face of that wave of pressure, even Volumen Hydrargyrum was thrown off of me.

"Hey! Gray! I know it's me we're talking about, but this is still too much!"

Though I felt somewhat sorry, I ignored Add's voice.

Well over the safe amount of magical energy I could absorb, the overflow tore through my nerves and Magic Circuits. That pain flooded my brain, as if I was being torn apart from the inside. It was like red hot spikes were driven all throughout my body, spinning through it. Turning into a sack of meat that remembered only pain, it felt like my consciousness had died a hundred years ago.

But the circulation of magical energy didn't stop.

Just as it had been instructed from the beginning, it automatically smashed its way into the 'box.'

"...ah....a...."

Groans, turn to power.

Pain, turn to strength.

Though my consciousness should have long since been wiped out, it still whispered.

It hurts.

But even then, I felt a suffering far greater than that pain up until now.

I was always rejecting the world - no, that was wrong. My body was the one rejecting this world. I knew that. I knew, but there was nothing I could do about it. No amount of screaming would make that better. So all I could do was kill my voice, and curl up in the corner of my room, right?

But even so.

Even so, now...

I was being watched.

I was being protected.

Even now, I could feel the eyes on my back.

With just that, I could take one more step forward.

"...g....o........ba....ck.....!!"

But, feelings couldn't be turned into magical energy.

The pressure from within accelerated in its growth.

The two small lights were joined by many more.

From inside the darkness, a tremendous howl that overwhelmed both rage and hunger filled my ears. Was there more than one of these beasts? Or was this the form of a single monster?

Just as that despair flooded my chest, just as it drowned my heart in black,

"-That's enough."

A calm voice called out.

I wasn't able to turn around. But with my enhanced senses, I could tell my master had placed a large object on the ground beside him.

(-that was, Touko Aozaki's...!)

The bag, from when I first felt the presence of this monster.

It appeared my master had found the bag while we had been fighting. Probably, when Touko had died, the spell concealing it had broken.

"I took the liberty of giving this bag a quick inspection," he said, stroking the surface of it. "In short, the bag is a Mystic Code that is only capable of keeping a connection open between 'there' and 'here' while magical energy is running through it. If the magus supplying it were to become unable to provide that energy, it would close all on its own. As such, it was the perfect fit for a rampaging monster like you. It certainly seems like a thing she would think of."

With equial parts admiration and exasperation, he shrugged.

"So if the magical energy supply was to come from within that 'box,' what would happen? It would create a möbius strip effect, of course, but the result? Will another copy of you appear? Or will you be torn apart by the paradox? What an interesting question. Please, by all means, let me see."

With what must have been a Strengthened hand, he threw the bag.

As the bag flew in an arc, I saw a cigar stuck to it. With its faint magical energy, I realizednthat it was a simple type of Mystic Code for the first time.

The thorned tentacles moved in a blind rush to stop it.

Whether it had understood my master's words, or was just acting on instinct, I couldn't tell.

With a spin of my scythe, those tentacles were each cut down.

Even so, before the crowd of appendages, I shouted.

"Add!"

"Ihihihihi! It's time for that, right! I love it!"

Four times, Add laughed as he transformed.

The form revealed of the Mystery within that Noble Phantasm was this time - a large hammer.

In one smooth motion, I spun my whole body. Releasing magical energy from the back of the hammer for an instant like a jet, it accelerated in a display of its full power.

For a Heroic Spirit, it was equivalent to a D Rank, Limited Form - Battering Ram.

"-aaaaaaAAAHHH!"

With all my strength, I smashed that bag.

Accelerated by the impact with the hammer, the bag fired off like a shooting star through the tentacles that were now unable to even slow its movement, into the depths of that 'box' of darkness.

Perhaps within that abyss there was in fact a sense of distance. Or maybe it was just time.

"Well then," my master flipped his palm at it.

"Eat yourself, you fucking nameless monster."

With a sharp, clean sound, he snapped his fingers.

The bag opened.

I don't know what happened next.

Something blew past, something even my heightened senses couldn't quite catch.

Was it a scream? In contrast to the spewing forth of thorned tentacles from before, the space that had become void began to consume all matter.

All I felt was that devouring presence.

The chandelier, the sofa, the spiral stairs, all were sucked in.

Everything. Bottomless. Greedily. Hungrily. Arrogantly. Lasciviously. Vividly. Cruelly.

As if all was but a dream. As if once consumed by that maw of hellfire, it would be the same as if the material world had never even existed at all.

-At that point, my consciousness snapped off.

Click after readingFor the record, that's Sanda's F-bomb, not mine. He even wrote it out in English!

Anyways, that's it for Chapter 3. Epilogue coming soon (tm). If things go according to schedule, I'll have it out with the commentary/afterword sometime this weekend.

My poor girl almost kicked it, thanks for the save Waver! Though Jesus Christ, of course the only way to deal with it was to have it cannibalise itself

[TwilightsCall]

Epilogue

Epilogue



The name "Clock Tower" has two meanings.

One is, of course, the headquarters of the world of magecraft, the enormous organization.

The second meaning was the school in London - consisting of

Mystile

the Faculty of Fundamentals

, five Major Classrooms and seventy or so Minor Classrooms, it was the highest institute of learning in the world of magi.

To those on the outside, the mass of students just seemed to be attending an old university. And of course, utilizing both mystical and psychological barriers, it was precisely constructed and strictly monitored so that passers-by wouldn't carelessly walk in.

Once you entered the school for real, everything changed.

According to my master, "while the school has its own rules, the laws of Human Society no longer apply." So while it at first appeared to simply be an illustrious university, with just a small change in direction, rampaging mystical beasts and unchecked Elemental Magecraft would become everyday sights. Even now, in a great labyrinth beneath the ground, one could find the ruins of all sorts of Mysteries, or the remains of any number of phantasmal creatures. Carelessly walk into that, and even a high-ranking magus had no guarantees of a safe return. So I was warned when I first came to London.

In addition to the main school that was the Clock Tower, the remaining eleven Faculties had their own independent college towns scattered throughout the London suburbs, though that was as much due to the geopolitical situation of the Magic Association.

Now, my master was sitting in his private room within the Clock Tower.

Compared to the city of

Norwich

the Faculty of Modern Magecraft

- compared to the accomodations on Slur Street, this room was much better equipped, and was as spacious as a hotel suite.. The official looking desk and single sofa gave the air of well storied pieces of furniture, antiques in their own right. The gentle autumn sunlight pouring through the unconventional window over the delicate granite fireplace strengthened that image.

In the end though, that was all insufficient for the guest now sitting before my master.

"-So, how did it go?"

The question came from lips as beautiful as flower petals.

Her eyes stared straight at my master, like jewels of amber. The ringlets of her blonde hair were tied up in a blue ribbon, giving her the impression of a work of art made by the hand of heaven itself.

While her raw beauty may have fallen behind that of the Princesses of Gold and Silver, the gold-like pride she exuded from her entire body more than made up for the gap. The fact that beauty was not dependent on form, but on the way one lived, was vibrantly expressed by that girl as if it was a matter of course.

No matter how large the Clock Tower may have been, it would be a challenge to find another girl like her.

Luviagelita Edelfelt.

Having become rather involved during the events that transpired at the Castle Adra, she had now come to pay him a visit.

They had, after all, agreed that he would tutor her, so it was only natural she would visit, was her excuse. He said he would think about it and definitely didn't make any promises, or so was his reply. But just looking at them I could tell which of them would get their way.

"'How did it go?' That's it, there's nothing more. That was the end of the story." With a frustrated air, my master sat behind his desk shaking his head.

Cigar smoke rose into the air, wavering around the ceiling as if pushed by a false wind.

Within the Clock Tower, depending on where you were, air conditioning was managed by different magecraft based on wind, or by your more conventional ceiling fans. My master's private room was an example of the latter.

"Well, there's no way that's the case. After all, you haven't told me the most important part. Even if you and Gray passed out, you still returned home alive, did you not?"

"With his lower body devoured, Maio became thoroughly and permanently crippled. Lord Byron returned to his senses, only to immediately begin complaining that we didn't just kill him."

Maybe that was the obvious result.

His entire life had come to an end.

After the pursuit of ultimate beauty for untold generations, their goal had been forever stolen from them.

"Due to the killings and all around fraud at the Assembly, Iselma's holdings were entirely frozen by the Clock Tower. The Princess of Silver, Rejina, and Islo Sebunan are all to be investigated along with Lord Byron, but I doubt much more information will come out. Even Maio's act of murder was written off by the Brishisan family as an individual's act of violence, unrelated to them."

While I cleaned the room, I watched the two of them out of the corner of my eye.

Though my master had attempted to stop me since I was still recovering, I felt better to be doing something. As I was often in charge of cleaning the church of my old home, it was something I was good at. If I had to put it in words, it was something I could do without thinking. And the feeling of wiping that last bit of dust off of the window sill, or getting the polish of the floor done so it shined just right, was work I found pleasant.

Sitting deeply in the sofa, Luvia was enjoying the tea prepared by her Mohican butler behind her.

It appeared she was here to experience the Clock Tower before officially applying as a student.

Though it was entirely unexpected, it appeared she was considering taking up accomodations in the Norwich dormitory. Though I had overheard she was planning on taking the entire top floor of the dormitory for herself, so in the end it still ended up sounding a lot like her and the extravagant lifestyle she must lead.

By the way, Norwich was famous in the Clock Tower for being the Daddy Long Legs clan. The Faculty of Modern Magecraft had taken that as a second name, as since even before my master had become its Lord and Dean, it was the Faculty that doled out the most in student loans and financing. For a similar reason, the name of Norwich had come to be associated with adopting in students around the Clock Tower.

Putting down her porcelain cup, she fiddled with her hair a bit as if thinking before speaking.

"Since the Edelfelts are a member of the Democratic Faction, we've been hearing all sorts of rumors. It is the most disturbing event to have happened these days."

"One of Valueleta's strongest families has just suddenly been extinguished, after all." My master's reply was melancholic as his fountain pen continued moving.

Speaking only of the results, as part of the Aristocratic faction, the El-Melloi family scored quite well thanks to this event. After delivering a crushing blow to the Valueleta family of the Democratic faction, they had returned to the Clock Tower triumphant. Praised roundly by the nobles of the Clock Tower, even a great deal of assistance towards handling the El-Melloi family's debt had come pouring in.

But for someone who was in the middle of that incident, such a result was far from what we had all wished.

Who on earth would celebrate such an ending?

The sound of his pen scratching on paper highlighted the empty feeling in the room.

"Actually, I heard Miss Touko's body was a puppet, and that it contained some sort of monster," Luvia said, causing my master to look up from his writing.

"She said she has recently been spreading herself out, right? Even when she was under a Sealing Designation, she was able to escape capture numerous times. Apparently the losses had become so severe, they had to put a temporary hold on the Enforcers chasing her."

A story that sounded very appropriate for her.

At the same time, pressing him for that much information was also appropriate for one belonging to the Edelfelt family, "the most beautiful hyenas in the world."

My master gave a deep sigh.

"I wonder if she always operates using a remote-controlled puppet for a body."

"I find that hard to believe. If it was just a puppet, there's no reason the memory-blocking drug would have worked on her. And after spending a month with Iselma, surely she would have been discovered at some point."

"...then, why?" I blurted out by accident.

Slowly, Luvia turned her gaze to me, opening her mouth after a short pause.

"Though it may just be a fake rumor, it's always circled around that she is a puppet user who has lost the Concept of an actual body."

"No...actual body?"

"Yes. If you make a perfect replica, one that perfectly copies the ability of the original in every respect, there's no real distinction between that and the original."

A shiver ran up my spine.

Logically speaking, that seemed correct. If there was a puppet that was a perfect copy of me, maybe there wouldn't be much need for me anymore. But, how do you come to that decision? No matter how much a puppet resembled yourself, you would always see it as someone else, wouldn't you? To let a puppet take over your life, to let a puppet take the glory for your successes...what kind of person would ever find that acceptable?

"...if it was her, then I suppose it's not impossible," my master said.

"Though it's a lifestyle I find hard to imagine," Luvia added. Passing her now empty cup to her butler, he replaced it with a dish carrying a scone. It appeared he was perfectly in sync with his master's pace. If one ignored his height approaching two meters and his garish hairstyle, he'd look to anyone like the perfect manservant.

"Would you like one, Professor?" Luvia said, offering him another scone.

"I'm not in the mood for sweets. Also, don't call me that."

"Oh? Would you prefer I called you Tutor, then? Instructor El-Melloi? Or perhaps you've picked up a liking for the term Great Teacher in Asia?"

"...Professor is fine." With a bitter expression, he set down his fountain pen.

It appeared he had completed whatever he had been writing. Luvia had ignored it, but suddenly I had become curious.

"...master, is that a letter you're writing?"

"Yes, to Caleena's little sister. I couldn't give them precise information, so I thought I should at least return their family charm to them."

"...so, she had another sister."

"It appears there were three of them, of which two were employed by Iselma. Well, I had figured as much."

"As always, sticking your nose in to take care of others," Luvia said, looking at the broken, whorl-engraved stone in her hands.

"It was probably broken into three," my master said. "The Celtic whirl is threefold, after all. Since each of the twins had one of them, I predicted there was likely a third somewhere. Actually, the reason I realized the Princess of Gold at the party was a result of plastic surgery was because of that."

The idea that there were three of them.

The realization that the Princess of Gold was a forgery made by plastic surgery was only a single step from there.

Since the Princess of Gold and Silver were twins - maybe there was one more.

Luvia's eyes closed slightly.

"Twins...seems like a story close to my own, then."

"I heard the Edelfelt family had two heirs each generation, called Scales," my master said, pulling out more stationery.

Normally, a Magic Crest could only be passed down to a single heir. Not that it was impossible to do, but that splitting the crest was pointless. As such, the number of heirs of a typical family was limited to one, so even among rather powerful families it was normal not to teach magecraft to any other children in the family.

But there is no rule without exceptions.

The Edelfelts were one of those, it appeared.

The presence of two heirs in one family, which in any other case would have been abhorred, came instead to be known as Scales.

"Though I can't say I've heard of anyone except you who will take up the position for the next generation."

"My little sister is rather quiet, so she stays at home," she said with a faint smile.

Judging from that smile alone, it appeared the relationship between the two sisters was good.

Raising her fingers, she wrapped them around each other. With her two index fingers touching as if kissing, her hands looked like mirrored images.

"Magecraft developed around the concept of twins is like, for example, uniting with your own reflection. In exchange for being perfect in power while working in concert, they must never forget that they each have a dagger at the other's throat. Once you lose sight of that, the mirror breaks."

Luvia spoke quietly.

Was she speaking of the Princesses of Gold and Silver?

Or was she talking about herself and her sister?

After a pause,

"There's one question I still have, then," Luvia said. "Who on Earth was willing to give Iselma such a sum of money that they could even repel Atram Galiasta in that black-market auction?"

Right.

That was something I had never figured out.

"Though the Clock Tower pursued that first in their cross examination, it appears Lord Byron has no memory of the events surrounding the auction."

"No...memory...!" Luvia's eyes went wide.

On top of that, a significant number of magi acquired their funds by illicit means, and kept the true extent of their wealth hidden in various forms. Even if one were to pin down how he had paid for the auction, it would still be difficult even for one well-versed in the world of business to accurately predict his total wealth.

"And I also have one remaining question," my master added. "Was it really a coincidence that the Princess of Gold's spell was completed with the addition of a third person?"

In the case of the Castle of Separation, the Faculty of Law had been behind the scenes, pulling the strings. Though it had been my master who, having seen through the secret of the Castle, worked together with Luvia to defeat it, that all lined up perfectly with the schemes of the Faculty of Law - with the goals of that Hishiri Adashino. I still remember the bitter, resentful expression my master showed when he discovered he had been dancing to her tune all along.

But, this time?

Was it just a coincidence that Lord Byron acquired the services of a Grand to make up for the loss of the Princess of Gold?

And was it a coincidence that Caleena reached an even higher level than the Princess of Gold after the procedure?

Both of them fell silent.

From somewhere far, far away, I thought I heard the faint sound of laughter.


*******************


At that moment, the door to my master's private room burst open.

"Professor! Is it true that Luvia came here?!"

Of course, the blonde-haired blue-eyed boy poking his head into the room was none other than Flat.

"You-!" With the way Luvia immediately rose to her feet, it appeared as if this wasn't the first time they had met.

As the Mohican butler nonchalantly caught the precariously jostled dish, the boy clapped his hands together.

"But I heard you were coming for a viewing of the Clock Tower, so of course I have to come say hello! And you've decided to apply for the El-Melloi classroom, right? In that case I'm your upperclassman, and strong greetings are the basis of humanity!"

"First of all, I have no intention of allowing you to refer to me so flippantly!"

Despite Luvia's scathing tone, Flat's smile remained unflinching, causing her to flush red.

Perhaps Flat was good at seeing through his partners in conversation...though for me, who was so thoroughly inept in these kind of social settings, I had no way of really telling. Ah, even Flat's intervention into the Gandr shot she just fired was probably just a link in the chain called communication.

"Flat! What is wrong with you?! Why can't you greet our new junior properly?!" This time, the one yelling was Svin.

Perfectly groomed, Svin's face showed no signs of the injuries he had sustained. While he had been hurt to the same degree I had been in the incident prior, perhaps thanks to his Bestial Magecraft, it took him only three days of the week that had passed since then to reach a full recovery.

My master's brow furrowed.

"...you guys..."

"No, seriously I was just here thinking about our new classmate- ah, Gray! Ahhhh, a pink aroma today! With just a little bit of that melancholic, square blue flavour..."

As Svin descended into a sniffing, ecstatic trance, I instinctively stepped behind my master.

The strong scent of cigar smoke coming off of his shoulders made me feel a moment of dizziness.

"I told you to stay away from Gray, didn't I?"

"...r-right..."

At my master's reprimand, Svin's head sank. The way his curly hair moved back and forth made it look like the ears of a dog.

"Call!"

"

Play Ball

Begin Interference!

Ahaha Luvia, there's no need to get so excited!"

As Flat mixed incantations into his speech, the conflict between him and Luvia continued to escalate.

Being the private room of a Lord, it had a reasonably solid mystical security, and Flat was already specialized in receiving enemy magecraft without harm, so nothing had been destroyed yet, but...if someone with the same nature as Luvia became her opponent, I wouldn't be surprised to see a classroom or a lecture hall or two destroyed.

In the middle of that escalating conflict,

"...my my, how noisy things are today."

Stepping calmly through the room's door, Reines entered with an amused turn to her lips.

My master, on the other hand, returned her look with much less pleasure.

"Then I would be grateful if you said something to them as well."

"If I did that, then everyone would lose respect for you. As your humble sister, I am of course obliged to take pains to protect your dignity in the workplace."

"All you care about is seeing me suffer, don't you?"

"Hey, revealing such a truth so quickly isn't very tasteful now is it?" Reines smiled, completely unperturbed by admitting to the accusation.

Watching the battling Luvia and Flat - and Svin, who had somehow got himself tangled into the mess as well - out of the corner of her eye, Reines cut across the room with Trimmau to stand at her brother's side.

"...you were hoping for a better solution, weren't you?"

"...an odd thing to bring up now," he replied, turning away.

The Twin Towers incident.

The obvious case of Maio aside, the fact of the matter was the Princess of Silver and her maid had also tried to embroil us in their mess. Even if it was to escape the control of Lord Byron, there was no arguing that they had tried to abuse the El-Melloi name and Reines herself to do so.

But, beyond that.

There was no way my master would be satisfied with this situation, where everyone loses.

The acceptance of the logic of a

monster

magus

did not necessarily mean discarding the logic of a human. Because my master hoped to cling to both of them, his suffering was more than double that of other magi.

Reines, who understood that better than anyone, had said that.

I'll just choose to ignore that saying so had made her smile.

"I said don't call me Le Chien!"

"If you are supposed to be my upperclassmen, could you two at least act like it?!"

"Ahaha, no way! You won't find any upperclassmen as good as Le Chien and I! So if you have any questions about the Clock Tower, please feel free to ask- oh, I forgot! I needed to tell Atram how to improve his Weather Manipulation!"

No matter how big my master's private room was, it had begun to shake with all the commotion going on.

It was like the melancholy air left by the aftermath of the incident had never existed - like we were in the midst of a warm dream.

"Ihihihihi! What, you're not crying, are you?!"

"...shut up."

Snapping my right hand in a way no one else would hear it, I stepped forward.

After an impressed hum from Reines, my master tilted his head to the side slightly.

"Gray?"

"As your apprentice, I'll scold them a little."

So saying, while still just acting on a whim, I stepped into the middle of the three of them.


**********


-Let us clear up one last thing that was left to be discussed.



In truth, the way things developed after that incident were thus.

When we had returned to consciousness, the Tower of the Moon was halfway destroyed.

Rather than appearing as if the monster in the "box" had devoured it, it looked more like the tower had just decided to sit down. The fact that we had survived the process seemed a little hard to believe.

"...Lord Valueleta took Lord Byron, the Princess, and the others out already."

As I looked up at the night sky through the collapsed walls of the tower, Reines' words didn't quite reach me.

No doubt, Lord Valueleta had collected up the members of her faction in order to deal with the results of this incident, she explained. Doing at least that much was the bare minimum to survive in the factional warfare of the Clock Tower.

"Rejina and the Princess of Silver wanted to thank you. For saving Maio, apparently."

"I...see."

Of course, the fact I was able to save someone made me happy.

But even so, there still remained a vaguely empty feeling. Seeing that level of _____ disappear, the efforts of untold generations all erased, created a sense of loss in my chest that came close to physical pain. Though I only witnessed it for a moment, I nevertheless felt like they should have had a brighter future, that they should have achieved a more brilliant glory.

"...dammit. This is nothing but a complete loss." From a bit farther away, Atram was grinding his teeth in open frustration.

At the same time, my master called out in a calm voice.

"I'm glad to see you're safe."

"Of course I'm safe! Though thanks to the backlash from that defense, many of my elites have been knocked out."

Even so, the fact that he himself was completely unharmed spoke volumes of his power as a magus.

"...heh. Serves you right," Reines whispered.

The fact she couldn't quite hide the smile twisting her face was ample proof that she was enjoying this from the bottom of her heart. Though we had been pushed to the utmost limits of our physical bodies as well, it seemed our composure was suffering more than our bodies were.

"-well, whatever. This trifling contest is now over. The true battle is yet to come," Atram said, turning aronud.

Giving my master a heavy look, he continued.

"As you said, the Linden leaf I sought is no more. As your conjecture was correct, it's my loss. But it's not like I'm completely incapable of finding another relic. I have another plan already lined up. The previous Lord El-Melloi may have treated this Holy Grail War as no more than a game, but I-"

"Allow me to give you one warning, sir," my master said, cutting him off.

Looking directly at Atram, he spoke shortly.


"Don't take the Holy Grail War lightly."


How heavy were those words with feeling? Atram, who had been looking down at my master since the beginning, for a single moment went stiff.

As if forcing his stopped heart to start moving again, he took a deep breath.

"Well well, it seems I've struck a nerve. Hahaha, perhaps rather than your predecessor, it was you who was blessed throughout that Holy Grail War? Well, I won't deny the cleverness you showed in dealing with that box, but there is no way you can join the Fifth Holy Grail War. The Association decided their spots long ago."

Atram's voice held a mockery that was hard to miss.

"You...!"

"It's okay, Gray."

As I stepped forward, my master reached out to stop me.

"It's as he said. As a representative of the Clock Tower, there is no chance for me to join."

"Ha. It seems you know your position well."

"However, that only means 'as a representative of the Clock Tower.' There is no reason for you to worry. There is nothing more for you to gain here. I suggest you return home and begin your preparations as soon as possible."

"I don't need to hear that from you. I'll show you, and I'll show all the other magi. A battle is decided long before it starts."

With an exaggerated flourish, Atram straightened his suit before turning his back on them.

"...ah, that's fine," he muttered as he took his leave. "...if I can't get the dragon slayer, I'll just take the dragon user. Though I'm not thrilled with the class choice..."


**********************


Now, that dark-skinned magus must have been preparing for his next battle.

Rejina and the Princess of Silver were also likely locked in a battle of sorts.

As time marches onwards, so to do our lives. No matter what incident, it never truly ended. Whether explicitly or not, the repercussions of those events created an ever expanding chain reaction. After throwing a stone into a pool of water, even once the ripples became invisible, that energy was nevertheless spreading throughout the water.

That was more than obvious.

I didn't know how this incident would affect the various people involved in it. Maybe people like Luvia and my master could see a little further ahead, but even they could hardly view the whole picture.

What a complex tapestry time weaves.

While still entranced by that thought, I finished a number of classes and returned to my master's private room.

On my way, I suddenly remembered I had forgotten my tools for shoe polishing. Though there were some left both here in the Clock Tower and at our place on Slur street, they occasionally needed replacing.

Luckily, like our place on Slur Street, the room here was divided into a study and a greeting room, and because I had a duplicate key for the latter, I could come and go as I pleased.

(...did I go too far?)

After chastising the three of them earlier, I was still feeling angry at myself.

Maybe they weren't that big of a problem. Maybe I had just made them hate me for no reason.

Such a storm of regrets raged in my head.

At least as far as Flat and Svin were concerned, I knew in my head that they wouldn't hold it against me, but that understanding hadn't reached my heart yet.

And so before I fell into dark thoughts, I needed to continue with my task.

"Umm...."

Opening the shoebox in the room, I found what I was looking for.

While there was still plenty of cream and remover, the brush I was using was one that Mr. Krishna from the dorms was just about to throw away, so I would need to get a new one soon. I also wanted to get a new cloth. Though the quality of the tools didn't impact the end result all that much when it came to polishing shoes, it certainly affected how I felt about it.

"...maybe I should get a part time job."

I remembered the dormitory's request for workers.

Though my master of course provided me with enough for my usual expenses, I felt like using a bit of my own money to get those new supplies wasn't uncalled for. Not that I knew how much he actually cared about me polishing his shoes.

Just as I put them back in the paper bag, I heard a sound from inside the room.

(...Master?)

Normally, he should have moved on to the Faculty of Modern Magecraft's own town at this time of day, but it seemed like today he was still here.

I opened the door to his room just a fraction.

If I were to make excuses, it wasn't that I was trying to peak.

Before I could call out to him, I saw him utter a short incantation as he turned the key on a cupboard in the back of the room. It seemed it was a cupboard with both a physical and magical lock on it.

From inside the cupboard, he took out an oaken case, opening it and taking out the contents.

Though I couldn't see clearly from this distance, it appeared to be a kind of antique red cloth.

(Is that...?)

A certain word jumped to the front of my mind.

Relic. The thing my master had gambled with Atram.

Holding that scrap of red cloth carefully in his hands, my master looked down on it with a terribly complicated expression.

He didn't squeeze it. It was as if he was hesitating to do anything that might wrinkle it even slightly. Though all I saw were the faint trembling in his brow and lips, it was like viewing a kaleidoscope of emotion.

Anger.

Grief.

Pain.

Happiness.

Sadness.

Affection.

"...I feel like you'd just laugh and call me a novice again, wouldn't you?"

How long did he stare at that cloth before those words leaked out?

Instinctively, I spun around, leaning up against the wall. Pushing my hands onto my mouth, I desperately tried to suppress my voice. This time, right now, I definitely couldn't interrupt. That's how I felt. Slowly I slid down the wall, falling to sit down on the floor, still holding my hands over my mouth.

Just, my heartbeat was too loud.

I felt like I had just seen something very important. As if I had just carelessly snuck a look at someone else's treasure. No, not just a treasure - more like I saw his heart, the core of his being.

If that was the relic he used during the Fourth Holy Grail War...

If that was the reason he wanted to participate in the Fifth Holy Grail War...

I let out a quiet sigh.

(-I hope they can meet again...)

That one thought pushed painfully through.

Since I had come to London, that was probably the first "wish" I had ever had.

Afterword and Commentary coming up in just a few minutes.

[Skull]

No matter how many times I see it, "Slur Street" is still a hilariously silly name. XD

[TwilightsCall]

Commentary

Commentary

Ryogo Narita




"Hey Ryogo, Fake is in a completely parallel world, so just do whatever you like. Oh, Makoto's El-Melloi II's Case Files is in exactly the same world as Stay Night though."

-So saying, Mr. Kinoko Nasu clearly divided Mr. Makoto Sanda's work and my own.

I thought "Dammit, I played too much with the setting, so he shunted me off into a parallel world!" For Mr. Sanda, it was more like, "hey wait a second, doesn't that look like an awful lot of work?"

...well, we were supposed to be so clearly divided, but both of us wore rather dark expressions. Why is that, I wonder?

After that, as we came to learn about the general setting of Fate/GO, I began to rejoice. "So it's okay to go that crazy! Then it's fine I'm in a parallel world! Praise the parallels! I can go as crazy as Fate/GO does!"

Mr. Sanda, on the other hand, had things become even more difficult. "Wait, how much of the FGO setting can I even use?" There, now we were clearly divided!

With that preamble out of the way, for those who are curious why I was chosen to write the commentary for as awe-inspiring a work as these "Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files," I was granted the honour of becoming the author of a parallel work in the Fate series, Fate/Strange Fake. Though I was asked to write the commentary for this volume, the Case Files series itself serves as a supplemental commentary to my own Fake series.

No, not just that. Makoto Sanda's works are like a lecture, explaining the viewpoint of the truth of a single person in real time, shedding light on the overarching Fate world as a whole.

If we liken the presence of the Clock Tower in Fate to Schrodinger's box, then the story of Case Files is a spell to throw that box wide open and bring the dead cat inside back to an energetic life.

The world of Fate, created by Mr. Kinoko Nasu, Mr. Takeuchi, and the others of the original Type Moon, is now being expanded by the hands of many. Or maybe it's better to say, certain parts of it are having depth added to them. In that chaotic world, Mr. Sanda has used the life of a magus known as El-Melloi II to set up clear guideposts for the rest of us.

At first, I thought the character "Flat Escardos" that I wrote would only be suitable for the world of Strange Fake. But then Mr. Sanda came, describing Flat's combat with magecraft before it had even been described in Fake (and up against one of the setting's greatest magi, no less!). Thanks to him, Flat was lead into the El-Melloi Classroom across the entire Fate world.

And while I am deeply grateful for that, I am somewhat fearful of the tremendous latent potential within the character of El-Melloi II that Mr. Sanda has beautifully crafted.

El-Melloi II is a character who has spread his roots and branches deep into every corner of the world of Fate, someone who could really be called a World Tree. But without realizing any of that, I had an attitude like he was just another tree, one that could be burned down like any other. All the while in my mind I just hoped he would reach that sea at the end of the world, a sea that doesn't even begin to reach the edges of that great World Tree.

As I said at the beginning, though it seemed like a terribly unpleasant task, because Mr. Sanda was able to approach the Clock Tower seriously from every angle, maybe he could tell that story from the position of El-Melloi II.

While the Fate series is enormous in and of itself, it is also a many-faced beast. If you think of it like a phantasmal beast that is hard to touch, it is also like the cat sitting on the fence that is easily within reach. Of course, if you carelessly try to touch it, you'll get bitten. In the same way, if you just do whatever you want with it, everyone around you will just shout "That's not how that is supposed to work!"

If my "Strange Fake" is the kind of animal that says "Today is Halloween! Let's go all out YEAH!" and wears all sorts of outlandish costumes, then "Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files" is like a ceremonial dress, perfectly tailored by a master seamstress to match the wearer's growth.

Yes...because in some parts of the unconventional world laid out by Mr. Kinoko Nasu there exist people like Mr. Sanda, the Rhongomyniads that pierce through everything and tie it all down, people like me can go crazy.

When Mr. Kinoko Nasu said "Caster's Master from the Fifth Holy Grail War is this new character now to fit in with the anime, thanks in advance!" Mr. Sanda's response had been "Wasn't Caster's Master supposed to be a middle aged man...?" with a groan. To which Mr. Nasu strongly replied, "Hahaha! The world marches ever onward!" Seeing that discussion, I couldn't help but see a different pair of faces overlap their own.

The wild, overpowering king, and the young Master being dragged along for the ride.

Where will this work, this collaboration between Mr. Kinoko Nasu and Mr. Makoto Sanda head? I hope we can all see this lecture through to the end as fellow readers.



All the while believing that someday, that professor's eyes will take in

Okeanos

the Sea at the End of the World.

Afterword

Afterword

Makoto Sanda




Thus, the curtains close on the story of the Twin Towers.

The dream of reaching that _____ was as a mirage.

Even as it slipped through their fingers, they never stopped walking forward.


Thank you for waiting. This is the end of the third volume of "Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files."

The main character, Lord El-Melloi II, is a rare character. Though I am only borrowing him for a short time, I feel like I've become quite accustomed to writing about him. As if if by including just a single line, I could return to the state of writing "Case Files." His gloomy, distorted, inferiority complex driven character, that nevertheless occasionally shows that shining, rear-facing assertiveness.

That is all no doubt in the palm of my hand.

And probably, in the hearts of most of us.

That's why this old, mouldy story about magecraft and Mystery can resonate with anyone. That's what I thought.


************


I'm writing this in the middle of working on the novel, but even in real life history there is a strong connection between beauty and magic.

Maybe I should say between beauty, mathematics, and magic. Especially in the West, beauty itself was converted into numbers and ratios, and thus by using the correct numbers and ratios, an influence as strong as magic could be made.

First on the list are of course the golden ratio and the magic square, and even the majority of the many kinds of magic circles that exist are founded on a utilization of precise, delicate mathematics. This math and magic were then mixed together with the complicated states of the stars as found by astronomy, and this had a tremendous impact on our culture.

So, if the essence of all that was combined and condensed into the form of a person, then?

In short, Iselma's magecraft is something like that. The Princess of Gold and of Silver. The Tower of the Sun and the Moon. They believed that over a long, long period of time, the supremacy of those celestial bodies would come to be reflected little by little in the form of a person. Live like a star, eat like a star, sleep like a star, they did all this to try and acquire that beauty.

And so, following that logic, they achieved a kind of result in the present age...the conclusion of which being the one described in this story. Were there screams just simple delusion, or an inevitable impulse? What do you think?


***************


Though not directly connected to this story, allow me to speak about a few silly stories.

When it was decided to turn this into a series, I was prepared for a number of things. One of those was that I couldn't escape from the Clock Tower. Even if the stage itself didn't necessarily have to be the Clock Tower, if that was what made the story more interesting, then I couldn't hesitate to take a scalpel to one of the most enchanting black boxes in the world of Type Moon.

Fate/Stay Night, released in 2003, is no longer in the same form it was back then either. It became a form of mixed media with its anime adaptation, and now boasts a large number of derivative works. With each of these, Mr. Kinoko Nasu is bit by bit updating that world by his own hand. Since "Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files" takes place at almost the same time chronologically as the original "Fate/Stay Night," I aimed to compensate for those updates.

The reason I introduced Touko Aozaki's teacher Inorai, and the magus introduced through UBW Atram into this story was for that reason. If I've helped to connect the past and present of this ever expanding world together, then I'll be satisfied.

Finally, I'd like to give thanks to Mineji Sakamoto, for bringing each and every character into brilliant life with his designs; Kiyomune Miwa for helping with research into the history of beauty and magecraft and horoscopes; Ryogo Narita for providing precise direction as to Flat's incantations and combat style; and of course all of the people at Type-Moon that Kinoko Nasu helped to start.

I hope to see you again this summer.

November 2015,
While playing "Fate/Grand Order."

So ends Volume 3 of Case Files, and with it the story of the Twin Towers of Iselma. As a project that probably should have been finished two or three years ago, I'm happy to finally be able to bring a close to it. I hope you enjoyed this rather unnecessarily extended adventure anyways.

I will be taking a break for a little while to work on some other projects before starting on Volume 4. I can't say exactly when I'll start again, but I wouldn't expect anything before December. (And if I haven't done anything by January, you can probably start yelling at me :P)

[Bugs]

Is Slur Street supposed to be the new Rocks Road?

Thank you very much TC!

[Leftovers]

Is Slur Street supposed to be the new Rocks Road?

In addition to the main school that was the Clock Tower, the remaining eleven Faculties had their own independent college towns scattered throughout the London suburbs, though that was as much due to the geopolitical situation of the Magic Association.

Slur Street is the 12th Department's town, and Rocks Road is the 11th's.

[Reign]

As always, thank you so much!

[asterism42]

How'd that dragon user work out for you, Atram?

[Rafflesiac]

Perhaps Flat was good at seeing through his partners in conversation...though for me, who was so thoroughly inept in these kind of social settings, I had no way of really telling. Ah, even Flat's intervention into the Gandr shot she just fired was probably just a link in the chain called communication.

heh

[Leftovers]

Thank you once more for your efforts, TwilightsCall. Translations, especially of novels, are by far the most important service to the community, so double kudos for sticking with it for so long.

and remember, even though sanda wasted two volumes of mystery buildup just to get every single character together in the final scene and have the main character explain to everyone's amazement everything that happened based on information impossible to glean from the text with leaps of logic which on occasion make zero sense like the third rate fanfic writer that he is, that has no bearing whatsoever on the gratitude for being able to read it in the first place!!!

[Rafflesiac]

okay but the chad eru-melloi nisei saved his little sister and dropped an f-bomb like a boss

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

I'm pretty sure I caught references to Rin's eventual time at the Clocktower, the 3rd War Edelfelt sisters, and KnK (though that last one is plainly stated). Also, was Heartless responsible for Byron not remembering anything from the auction? Also, Atram likely would have survived a little longer if he had Siegfried.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, I thought the logic chain eventually made sense, but really, what does my opinion matter?

[Bugs]

Hm. I definitely liked the Castle of Separation more than the Twin Towers, maybe because it felt more concise, and there was nothing related to HGWs by that point. While the anime of Rail Zeppelin was definitely "comfy" I wouldn't call it very good, objectively. I'll still look forward to reading it, though.

Is liking Luvia unpopular? I think I like Luvia.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

I also liked Adra more, but that's more because we learned more about Crests, Eastern magi, and Luvia was there and kicked ass. Oh, and don't forget about Gray vs the Crest Beast. In any case, this was fun too, and unlike some, I don't mind the HGW connection. This is Waver's story, and no matter what he or anyone else may say on the matter, the Grail War is an event that will never diminish in importance to him, not really.

[asterism42]

I think most people like Luvia