London.
To preserve the mystery of magecraft, it blends into the surface city of London, but in truth, through various forms of Magecraft, this city centered around the Clock Tower is hidden within London—that's roughly the nature of the place.
Here, the majority of Magi from the Western magical world gather. Nine out of ten people aiming to study the path of Magecraft come here to pursue their education.
The Clock Tower is divided into twelve faculties. Eleven of them have existed since the Clock Tower was established and have developed over thousands of years. The twelfth faculty was only recognized about a hundred years ago and, even now, remains the Department of Modern Magecraft Theory without formal leadership.
Add to that various related departments like the Sealing Designation Investigation Bureau, the Secret Ritual Assessment Bureau, and the Secret Autopsy Bureau—the Clock Tower is broadly structured in this way.
And now, in the academic city of the Department of Mineralogy, one of the twelve faculties—
"Hah… hah… hah…"
A young girl in red clothing was sprinting down the street. Each of her hands carried a fully packed shoulder bag and a rather large suitcase. She looked like she was rushing to get somewhere.
And indeed, that was the case.
"Damn it, I asked Professor Velvet too many questions after class, so I spent too much time and missed the bus—now I definitely won't make it to the new apartment on time! They said I had to arrive before six-thirty!"
Velvet—in the academic city of the Department of Mineralogy, nearly every Magus had heard his name at some point.
His full name was Waver Velvet. Ten years ago, he was just an ordinary daydreamer, but after participating in the Holy Grail War a decade ago and surviving, he returned alongside Lord El-Melloi and quickly displayed remarkable talent under his guidance. Though his level as a Magus was quite low, he miraculously had a knack for teaching others.
Over the years as an instructor in the El-Melloi Classroom, several students previously considered problem children consecutively achieved higher Magus ranks. Not to mention Festival Rank, there were quite a few Grand Ranks, and some even had the potential to reach Color Rank.
Moreover, Waver's teachings weren't limited to the Department of Modern Magecraft Theory. He also explained material from other faculties to a certain extent. Though only at a basic level, he offered some unique perspectives.
Thanks to this, the El-Melloi Classroom's courses have, in recent years, become the most attended in the Clock Tower. Waver, as a teacher, has been the most praised instructor at the Clock Tower for several consecutive years.
The young girl was one of the many students drawn by his fame to attend his lectures. She had graduated from the Department of General Fundamentals just last year. Though, due to her family background, her knowledge already far surpassed the level of the Department of General Fundamentals, she diligently completed the five years of General Fundamentals to solidify her foundation. She had only transferred to the Department of Mineralogy about half a year ago.
However, due to some family matters in far-off Japan, despite having transferred to the Department of Mineralogy, she returned to Japan shortly after, only coming back two days ago. Waver's lecture was the first one she attended in the Department of Mineralogy.
And now, she was rushing to her new apartment—the Clock Tower provides apartments during the Department of General Fundamentals, and it also offers housing after transferring to other faculties. However, the cost of living there was too high. The girl's family wasn't particularly wealthy, so to save money, she specifically sought out an affordable apartment in the academic city.
Today was moving day. But because Waver's lecture was too compelling, she couldn't resist asking a few lingering questions after class, causing her to miss public transport to the apartment. She could only run on foot.
However… perhaps because of its low price, compared to the student apartments located within the academic city, just a few minutes from class, the apartment she rented was practically on the outskirts of the academic city, nearly outside it entirely. It was an extremely remote location. Without public transport and relying only on running, it would take at least several dozen minutes.
Running continuously for dozens of minutes was an overwhelming amount of exertion for a young girl. Even now, she already felt like she could barely keep going.
"Hah… hah… I'm totally done for now… They won't raise my rent for this, will they?"
Leaning against a streetlamp, panting heavily, the girl glanced at her watch. Two or three minutes more, and she'd miss the promised time. At this rate, she had no chance of catching up.
Would she even have a place to sleep tonight?
"Um… excuse me, is there anything I can help with?"
At that moment, a gentle voice reached her ears. The girl turned and saw a blonde girl slightly bending down to look at her, holding a bag of bread and groceries, seemingly just out from a supermarket. Beside her stood another girl who looked almost identical but with cherry blossom-colored hair.
Were they twins? Twins with different hair colors were quite rare. Both looked about fifteen or sixteen years old.
Shaking her head, the girl gave a bitter smile: "It's like this… I didn't manage my time well, so now I'm running late to get to my new apartment. I promised the landlord I'd arrive around this time."
"New apartment?"
"Around this time?"
The two girls, who looked like twins, exchanged glances as if recalling something. Then the cherry blossom-haired girl asked: "Could you be Miss Tohsaka, the one Miss Merry mentioned, moving in today?"
"Huh? Y-yes, my surname is Tohsaka. I'm Tohsaka Rin… Do you two know me?"
The blonde girl shook her head: "No, we just heard from Merry that you'd be moving in. A bit of guessing, and it was easy to figure out. Since we've met here, come with us. We live there too."
"There are other tenants there?"
"Rather than tenants, it's more accurate to say it's our home. Oh, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Artoria, Artoria Pendragon, British. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Okita Souji… Hm, it's fine if you think of me as the Okita Souji from the history you know. Though my face is the same as hers, we're not twins. Like you, I'm Japanese. Nice to meet you."
"Ah… Mm… N-nice, nice to meet you."