'Doll Magic Cabal? What kind of strange club is this?'
Wayland looked over at the booth. It was exceptionally quiet, with no crowd to speak of. Unlike the previous two cabals, this one seemed to have only a single member in attendance.
The booth was over a meter tall, obstructing his view of the person behind it, save for a single, pert white cowlick standing upright.
Wayland walked closer.
Displayed on the counter were several exquisite cloth dolls, about twenty centimeters tall and two fingers wide, dressed in tiny, intricate pink dresses.
It was no wonder no one was buying them.
The style was far too cutesy--aimed more at young girls--whereas the students of the Clock Tower were generally more interested in the raw pursuit of magecraft.
"Five hundred pounds each. No haggling."
The girl behind the counter didn't look up. Her hands were gripped tightly around a handheld console, her eyes glued to the screen in intense concentration.
"What?"
Wayland wondered if he'd misheard.
Five hundred pounds? Was she trying to rob him?
"Left! Left! Down! Down! You stupid tomato monster!"
After a series of frustrated exclamations, the screen flashed with a 'Game Over' message. The girl pouted and mashed the d-pad a few more times in stubborn refusal before finally looking up. She tilted her head back, revealing a slender neck, her tone sharp with annoyance. "If you're not buying anything, don't interrupt my game of Mario & Luigi."
'Mario?'
Wayland stared at the twin-tailed girl, hearing a name that was surprisingly familiar.
"Yeah. It's a new game that came out this year, played on the new GBA SP."
The girl held up the console. "Now, junior, are you buying a doll or not?"
'Junior?'
Wayland shook his head. "No matter how you look at it, I'm clearly older than you."
"This is the Clock Tower. Age doesn't mean anything here. When you walked up, you were looking around with wide-eyed curiosity--classic freshman behavior. This is my third year attending recruitment week, so calling you 'junior' is perfectly appropriate, isn't it?"
"But you were playing a game. How did you even notice me?"
The girl huffed at the question, lifting her chin with a self-assured 'senior' smile. "Let me teach you a vital tip for surviving in the Clock Tower: never pry into other people's secrets."
Wayland took a breath, feeling a bit sheepish. "My apologies."
The girl blinked, seemingly caught off guard by his polite response. She quickly waved a hand. "Well... your attitude is at least decent. You're a good junior!"
Wayland laughed softly. "So, could my senior please explain why these dolls are so expensive?"
"They're magical items I made when I had some free time. Each one has a Level 2 spell embedded in it. Because of the materials used, they're priced at five hundred pounds."
Wayland shifted his gaze back to the dolls.
Magecraft Perception.
His dark eyes flickered with a subtle, pulsating energy.
The world around him shifted into a kaleidoscope of colors.
Thin trails of prana drifted through the air, the four fundamental elements manifesting in their respective hues--swirling like clouds, darting like fish through a boundless canvas of light.
The most intense radiance, however, came from the dolls.
They glowed like miniature, crimson suns, their searing heat driving away the other nearby elements.
'They really are at the level of a Level 2 spell.'
Wayland deactivated his perception and nodded. "Five hundred pounds is actually quite reasonable."
Still, the thought of throwing pink dolls at his enemies during a life-or-death battle was a mental image he couldn't quite stomach.
"Do you have any other items for sale?"
"No," the girl said, sitting back down on her stool and smoothing out her pink skirt. "I'm going back to my game."
It seemed she really was done with him.
Wayland looked around for a few more seconds before saying, "Then I'll be on my way."
He walked a few more steps past the Doll Cabal and soon came upon another unusual booth.
Unlike the others, this one featured a five-tiered wooden stand, each level packed with seven or eight potted plants.
'A flower shop?'
Wayland walked over, his curiosity piqued.
"Junior, these are the masterpieces of our Botany Department. They may look like ordinary flowers, but they're actually familiars."
A young man stood up from his chair and offered a welcoming smile.
Wayland noticed a girl in a snow-white coat with twin tails sitting with her back to him at the far end of the booth. He shifted his attention to the plants on the shelves as the young man spoke.
Familiars--entities or constructs controlled by a magus. Rin Tohsaka's jewel-birds, Touko Aozaki's golden werewolf, Semiramis's pigeons... and of course, Heroic Spirits were the highest form of familiar.
"What do they do?"
"Take a look at this 'Poppy' (Yu Mei-ren) cultivated by our senior. Its function is simple: focus. When kept in a room, the fragrance it emits helps condense mental energy, slightly increasing the speed of your meditation."
Wayland's eyes lit up. 'That's actually incredibly useful, even if the effect is subtle.'
"These roses over here can use their thorns to attack enemies with the strength of a Level 1 spell. These lilies repel most insects. And these gardenias... they help you fall asleep faster."
Wayland listened intently to the young man's explanation. Without a doubt, the Poppy--named appropriately after the tragic Consort Yu--was the most practical. But since this was just a club demonstration, the Botany Department surely had even more miraculous specimens hidden away.
"Do you have any Poppies with a more powerful effect than these?" he asked.
"Of course," the young man said smoothly. "But for those outside the Botany Department, they come with a significant price tag."
Wayland's smile faltered. "How... how much?"
"Let me recall... the highest-grade Poppy we have is priced at around three million pounds."
'I'll see myself out. Goodbye!'
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]