It was a usual night where nothing changed whatsoever.
A quiet――――
A father and daughter are talking together in a room at their house at night.
They are charming figures.
It is a pleasant sight.
However, Misaya is faintly aware that
this which is being performed in a room of the Reiroukan Manor is decisively different from what can be seen in a very ordinary household of 1991. It should not exist in the households of her classmates. The magic tome spread out on the desk, the catalyst for use in magecraft and the magic circle faintly glowing on the floor. Not an indoor dog for a pet, but one of the hunting dogs that keeps obediently waiting for the arrival for the time while refraining from its own transformation.
It was a quiet night.
As mages who continue to inherit their family lineage which has continued for generations, the father and daughter were――――
A quiet night moment, getting closer to mysteries and familiarising themselves with magecraft.
Her father is very busy as one of the leading figures in society, and at the same time, a prominent magus in the Far East, but he still teaches her at least once every two nights.
He is different from the teachers in her elementary school.
A true teacher.
That was the non-father side of her father to her.
Now that she mentions it, she was surprised by her school pals who didn’t have one lesson. She just didn’t tell them. There is only one lesson. Others――――like piano, flower arrangement and the stuff she was usually studying, she didn’t feel like counting them as lessons. As such things were just for relaxation.
It doesn’t matter if she won a prize at a competition.
It’s just a little play.
The magus girl called Misaya Reiroukan will continue to get familiar with magecraft and get closer to mysteries tonight.
Like the people of the Reiroukan family have done so far.
Until now.
And from now on――――
Misaya: “―――――”
Establishment of magic circles, placement of catalysts and some chanting.
Misaya feels the mystery beside her tonight as she swiftly transforms and transmutes one of the hounds that she had petted on the head and touched with her fingertips a little in the morning hour into a
demon hound.
If she loses her concentration even a little, the magical power which rewrites reality and affects the hunting dog’s body will run wild, ripping its flesh, breaking its bones and splashing blood right before her eyes, and the hunting dog which keeps staring at them from the centre of the magic circle will die.
Neither is possible.
She will definitely guide the mana and accomplish the mystery.
She will lead the impossible into reality.
She will turn the obedient hound into a tough, ferocious and similarly obedient demon hound.
She will give it a body that can withstand bullets, give it sharp claws that can tear steel, give it agility that surpasses beasts and conceal the greatest mana that is unacceptable for a wild animal within its body.
As a response, yes, it is not much different from magecraft that is the basic of the basics.
At least for the talent called Misaya.
Master Reiroukan: “You are a genius Misaya.”
She could hear her father’s voice.
It wasn’t until she had completely finished using her magecraft that she shook her head and responded,
“No, I’m not.”
She should have been able to hasten it by two seconds even at her current rank. Misaya thinks slightly annoyed that it took her two seconds extra because she had braced herself and tried to be careful with it.
And, she tells it to her father in her own honest words.
Then her father said this.
Master Reiroukan: “Nonetheless, you are a genius. More than myself. Maybe more than my father.”
Misaya: “No, father. I am too inexperienced. That is why, even now I….”
Master Reiroukan: “I though the same thing as you, I was able to say it when I was fifteen.”
It was a voice ringing with pride.
Aah, Father is trying to encourage me.
Yes, she actually feels.
Because she knew the magus called her father rarely praised his relatives. For he is a man endowed with a calm perspective, that is able to accurately evaluate others that do not come from his own lineage, and at the same time, he is a man who shows an unusual strictness towards the Reiroukan family line.
Such a father says this.
Misaya accepted her inexperience rather than her sense of discomfort to the unusual matter.
But.
Right after that――――she felt a slight sense of discomfort.
Master Reiroukan: “I’m glad. You are in this world full of talent. Yes, I couldn’t be more grateful to you, my miracle daughter and for my wife who bearing you.”
Misaya: “Father……”
At the other end of Misaya’s gaze, her father started talking.
Talent. Aptitude.
How important is it to a magus――――?
It is said magecraft is….
A mystery.
A miracle.
The general term for the knowledge and skill to artificially achieve them.
Only the unusual ones, only mages can perform it.
It is said that magi are…...
Those who perform mysteries.
A supernatural person who uses mana to make the impossible into reality.
Ones who possess magic circuits within their bodies.
One who devotes their life to study and research because of their great ambition.
It is said that magic circuits are…...
Something that lets one transform natural mana into magical power.
Something that lets one transform their own od into magical power.
A key that access one’s thaumatological foundation.
It is an indispensable
organ for exercising magecraft with, and it is nothing more than an innate
quality.
It is said that thaumaturgical foundations are……
A magical theory carved into the world.
Sometimes as an academic discipline, sometimes as a religion, and sometimes as a family oral tradition.
Magecraft is only possible by pouring mana into these magical formulae.
It is said that their great ambition is……...
Something that all magi seek for.
It is the
“Root,” the origin of all creation according to literature.
She must not forget.
A magus is not a magus because they use magic.
A magus is a magus because they seek the ultimate wisdom, because they aim for the
“Root” with magic.
All of it, everything.
Like reinforcement magic, it was too basic.
Although she can assert that such a scenario is unlikely to happen, if she tries to make it easier for her innocent classmates to understand, then yes, to the same extent as the phrases her elementary teacher speaks as they take note to properly say their greetings in the morning, it is the basic of the basics of education.
So why did her father say those things?
Was he so vivid by her magecraft exercise of changing something from an animal into a demon beast?
Or did he discuss something with her mother and reviewed his instruction policy?
The latter is more likely.
The former is not particularly felt by Misaya herself.
Misaya: “I――――”
Master Reiroukan: “Listen Misaya.”
Quietly and calmly.
But surely her words were cut off.
Master Reiroukan: “In this Tokyo, the greatest
magical ritual in history will begin in the Far East.”
Quietly and calmly.
However, her father talks about it with great
zeal somewhere.
A large-scale magic ritual held in Tokyo.
The first-ever, unprecedented magic ritual, performed using a
“Holy Grail” exceptionally lent by the Holy Church――――
A magical ritual performed with the backing of the Clock Tower, that Mages Association. An unprecedent ritual held for the purposes of reaching the
“Root,” the great ambition and the thousand-year dearest wish for all magi. A fierce struggle between seven Masters and seven Servants.
A large-scale magical conflict in Tokyo.
The re-enactment of a myth.
The realization of their ambitions, the path to it.
Master Reiroukan: “By fortune’s favour, the path to fulfilling our ambition has opened up before me.”
Her father, Master Reiroukan was chosen to be a participant in the ritual.
Already, the Grail――――the effectiveness of the Saint Graph
[1] hidden somewhere in Tokyo has been validated by confirming the enormous magical power generated by Symbol
[2]. Truly, the Holy Grail will lead a magus to their aspirations.
Of course. The danger is great.
Master Reiroukan: “Originally, a magical conflict that even uses Heroic Spirits that are beings out of the reach of human hands is a giving and taking of lives by itself. …...Which is why I intended to move all of our household members to our villa in Izu, but if it is you who possesses such outstanding talent, then……”
Pausing his words slightly, he closes his eyelids once.
And then, he slowly opens them. Her father reiterated once again.
Master Reiroukan: “No, exactly because you’re a prodigy, there is much to be gained from experiencing it first-hand.”
Misaya: “Your ritual from up close……?”
Master Reiroukan: “That’s right.”
Misaya: “Me…….”
Master Reiroukan: “That’s right.”
For the first time, her father’s voice……
Misaya finally accepted that it was filled with shining pride for her.
Many of the words spoken were abrupt and incredibly large, but they were none the less true as long as her father was the one saying it. Because he is the master of a long-standing magus lineage, and, because they are a special lineage with a lot of social influence, her father has the eyes to see through traps and falsehoods.
Because of those eyes along with his grounding as a magus, he was given the position of family head ――――
Yes, Misaya remembers what her grandfather secretly told her when he was still alive.
Which is why.
She greatly admired him.
The ritual that will certainly begin in Tokyo. As well as.
Her young and inexperienced self, can witness this unprecedented scale of a magic ritual!
She obtained more joy than when she opened her birthday present. While she was receiving her magic instruction, she decided that she wouldn’t look like a child.
It’s not as if she is downplaying the possibility of danger.
It’s not as if she had forgotten how undeveloped her skills were.
However, she was happy to
realize that her father was truly proud of her.
Master Reiroukan: “It is said to be a joint project that is extraordinary even for this world by the Mages Association and the Holy Church. The church is essentially a repellent to magecraft, although it is exceptionally considered a miracle in this ritual.”
Her father’s words still continue.
Quietly and calmly.
However, while keeping to the path towards the long-standing ambition of the Reiroukans.
Master Reiroukan: “The name of the ritual is the
Holy Grail War. We Reiroukans shall obtain our great ambition with this battle.”
[1] Saint Graph: Greater Grail
[2] Symbol: Lesser Grail