In the northeastern corner of Fuyuki City, there lay a gently sloping mountainous area.
A decade ago, this land belonged to the Holy Church, where a cathedral stood. But, as expected, that cathedral was burned to the ground during the great cataclysm ten years ago.
However, this was indeed prime land—one of Fuyuki City's four spiritual ley lines. Shortly after the cathedral's destruction, magi from various families dispatched by the Mage's Association seized the area and established a branch here.
Of course, it was a forcible occupation, without paying a single cent for purchase or lease.
The magi's justification was: "Since the Tohsaka family caused the great cataclysm, surrendering one ley line as punishment is already lenient."
In truth, the Mage's Association's punishment of the Tohsaka family went far beyond this. Those magi simply didn't want to waste money on buying spiritual land—something they deemed utterly meaningless.
Why pay when you can just take it for free?
At the time, Tokiomi Tohsaka had just died, and Rin Tohsaka was still young. No matter how talented she was, she couldn't oppose the envoys of the numerous families that made up the Mage's Association. She had no choice but to swallow this bitter pill.
BAM!
The door of the Association branch was violently flung open.
A beautiful twin-tailed girl, her face icy with fury, stormed into the hall with an intimidating aura that made others shrink back.
The dim yellow lighting was clearly insufficient, barely illuminating the spacious hall. The vast Association lobby had lighting more suited to a basement, and the empty hall was nearly devoid of decoration, with only the winter wind howling fiercely by the windows.
At the center of the hall stood several magi.
Around them, perched on the hall's beams and stands, were various birds—sparrows, bats, crows—all motionless except for the occasional twitch of an eye.
The scene was utterly eerie.
"Finally here, little girl of the Tohsaka family."
One of the crows spoke in a human voice the moment Rin Tohsaka pushed through the door.
"Time and again, your reactions are always slower than ours. Why not just retire and hand over the position of Fuyuki's mayor to us?"
"The dying should live more cheerfully. Being too greedy might just give you a heart attack one day."
Rin covered her lips with her hand, her eyes curved into crescents as she spat out venomous words that could infuriate anyone.
"If you loosened your control over magi even a little, my reactions would definitely be faster than yours. Care to try?"
The angrier Rin was, the brighter her smile became.
Her gaze swept past the birds and landed on the magi at the center of the hall.
Those magi were the members of the escort team who had accompanied the miners out of the city earlier that morning.
The moment they returned to Fuyuki, they had rushed to the Association branch to report, completely ignoring her.
The only reason she had arrived so quickly was thanks to someone notifying her via a familiar.
If these magi had listened to her even a little, she wouldn't have fallen behind these old fossils.
Her eyes flickered briefly, settling on a white-haired, red-eyed young man among them.
Roy was also part of that group of magi.
This was only natural—after all, he was also a member of the escort team and, in fact, the first to discover the situation.
"I agree with Mayor Tohsaka's proposal."
Roy raised his hand, smiling cheerfully.
The other magi lowered their heads, pretending not to hear.
"Silence! Who gave you the right to speak here?"
The crow berated him harshly.
"You're only standing here because of her influence. Know your place and stop spouting such presumptuous nonsense!"
"Understood~"
Roy adjusted his glasses, putting on an obedient expression.
"The moment the topic turns to relinquishing authority, you all start playing dumb. The nobles of the Clock Tower really are regressing with age."
Rin's smile was all teeth, her words dripping with sarcasm.
"Enough. Now is not the time for this."
One of the bats spoke up, trying to mediate.
"Arguing is terribly inefficient. The key issue now is identifying the enemy outside the city walls. Does anyone have leads that could expedite the process?"
The magi below exchanged glances before shaking their heads in unison.
They had fled faster than anyone—how would they have any leads?
"Didn't any of you send familiars to investigate?"
"Of course we did! But familiars take time to track—"
The hall descended into chaos.
Roy yawned.
Disgusted by the old fossils' idle chatter, he turned and walked toward the door without looking back.
"Hmph."
Noticing his departure, one of the crows let out a cold snort.
Roy ignored the magi and beckoned to Rin with a finger.
"Excuse me."
Rin smiled politely at the magi before turning to leave as well.
She didn't spare a single glance at the birds.
How courteous.
Roy felt a little embarrassed.
Unlike him, who hadn't even said goodbye.
Once outside the Association's doors—
Rin quickened her pace, catching up to Roy until they walked shoulder to shoulder.
"Calling me out like this—do you have something to say, Mr. Roy?"
"I have a lead."
"Oh?"
Rin gave him a surprised look.
"Then why not say it back there?"
"You know how it is—I can't stand those old men either."
Roy smiled innocently.
"Compared to them, Mayor Tohsaka's way of doing things suits me much better."
"Well, thank you for the compliment."
Rin smiled faintly, her expression brimming with genuine delight.
Compared to her earlier polite smile, this one made up for everything that had been missing.
"So? What did you find?"
"The ones who attacked us were corrupted Servants."
Roy cut straight to the point, not bothering with suspense.
"Seriously? Which one was it?"
Rin's expression instantly turned grave.
"You should be asking, 'Which one wasn't there?'"
"...Wait, you mean there was more than one corrupted Servant?"
Rin's face darkened.
"From what I sensed, there were five."
Roy stroked his chin, deep in thought.
"There are only six corrupted Servants in total, right? The remnants of the last Holy Grail War—the one ten years ago."
"Yes. In the previous Holy Grail War, all six Servants besides Archer were corrupted. The exact reason remains unknown to this day. No one knows how it escalated to that point."
A trace of sorrow flickered across Rin's face—her father had died during that time.
But she quickly shook it off, focusing on the cold, hard facts.
"If five of the six corrupted Servants have gathered outside Fuyuki City—assuming your senses are accurate—then we can probably guess the reason."
"With the Fifth Holy Grail War about to begin, their target is undoubtedly the Grail."
***
Hey readers!
Want to read ahead? 📖 Join my Patreon for early access to 30+ advance chapters! Your support helps me write more and bring the story to you faster.
🔹patreon.com/aarvan🔹