For magi, however, it means something else altogether.
many magi together, and at the same time, is the finest educational
It could well be said to be the Vatican of magic. For as long as
mage, each of whom has gone on to elevate the art of magic to a new
man in his early thirties, remonstrating the youngster facing him. His
He wore a red coat with golden ornamentations on its shoulders,
But that youngster desperately repliedâ
âwith a response that was just a bit off.
âBut I really, really want to participate, professor! Iâve got to go to
âFor fuckâs sake! Donât bloody go around yelling about that in the
of it? Itâs not a top-secret matter, but it certainly isnât something a rotten
clingy youngster a piece of his mind, having checked to make sure that
He was an instructor at the Association, the finest educational institution
II. Apparently, that wasnât his real name, but everyone who knew him
Though he was still young, he was said to be the finest lecturer in
had gone on to become a first-rate mage. His students became famous
As such, he earned the respect of many magi, who bestowed upon
âGreat Big Ben 9 London Starâ.
a bit irritated that his students were stealing the spotlight.
man standing before him, who was also one of his students.
the youngster nonchalantly replied, âYesterday, some professors and
in one of the basement lecture halls, right? You know that famous puppetmaster,
indistinct, perhaps with infuriation. He applied a claw hold to his
âThat was a top-secret meeting, you twit! They mustâve set up
He averted his eyes. âEr, well, see, I know I shouldnât have, but I
âSo I figured, why not try hacking into the roomâs own Bounded
his: its use was in fact rather prevalent among younger magi. His actual
he meant that he had bypassed the Bounded Field unnoticed, snuck
Though he entered El-Melloiâs tutelage as a young man, he subsequently
To describe him in a single word, only El-Melloiâs terms of abuse
Using a few more words, however, it would be fair to describe him
however, critically lacks the ability to put that talent to any good use.
the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was hoped that Flatt would be a
with the talent necessary to control them, butâ
disposition that is necessary for all magi.
of other professors. Eventually, though, all of them started bellyaching
there was nobody else available.
all the other students. Other professors were unable to achieve
to graduate from the Clock Tower.
weak points, unwilling to send an underprepared mage out into the
enlightenment. That said, he looked as sullen as usual. He whacked
harassing me about this.â
of item to summon a hero, right?! I donât know how Iâm supposed to
Napoleon?! An emperor would be the coolest thing!â
firing squad than make a contract with you!â
against it. Instead, perhaps because something about the Holy Grail
know, youâre.... why do you want the Holy Grail? I canât imagine that
you, I have to askâyou arenât planning on wishing to graduate, or
or anything that stupid, right?â
âBecause I want to see it!â
âI mean, itâd be so super-cool! Itâs the Holy Grail! Hitler and Gobbles
and Godzilla all looked for it too! If it really exists, Iâve just gotta see
âHis name was Goebbels, not Gobbles. Godzilla never looked for
culturally speaking, that just doesnât seem right.â El-Melloi corrected
Flatt waited a while for his professor to respond, expecting to be
kindly said, âDo you understand what a war of mage against mage
end up being killed gruesomely, not having accomplished anything.â
want to see it even more!â
end up saying the same thing.
that just might work! Hell, maybe you could even have a chessboxing
â...This is a tricky problem, huh. I really, really want to see the other
made friends with six Heroes, Iâd be an awesome mage! We could even
El-Melloi remained silent. He had figured that Flatt had completely
He wasnât planning to admonish Flatt, nor was he particularly surprised
He put his hand to his chin, and seemed to be thinking about something
And eventually, he snapped back to reality, and said, â...thatâs not
âYeah, yeah, well, Iâm counting on you, professor! Or, should I say,
âDonât call me that to my face! And honestly, why did you have
making fun of me, you clod!â
perfect! Like, um, how about âMagical Miniskirt Professorâ1!?â\nwith so coldly by El-Melloi. He wandered around the academic wing
manner unbefitting a man nearly 20 years of age.
âAh, good to see you there.â A woman called out to him from down
She was one of the administrative personnel of the Clock Tower.
âThese packages are for your professor. Could you pass them onto
1ç”¶ćŻŸé ćăăžă·ăŁăłć
ç
would have to hand these over to Master V, butâ
Flatt thought negative thoughts as he headed back up the hallway,
He used clairvoyance magic to examine its contents.
designed for ceremonial use.
inscribed on the blade. An electric sensation shot through his body.
Professor...! You got it for me!?
werenât written in any script he could read. Presumably, they were
He could figure out how to interpret those instructions at some
wing, as quickly as possible.
âSon of a fuck... heâs back again?â Lord El-Melloi II was clearly not
towards him. Strangely, though, when Flatt caught up to him, with a
nothing to do with the Holy Grail War.
gasped Flatt, as he showed the parcel to his professor. Having run a
When he saw the address and logo printed on the exterior, he realized
Flatt nodded his head furiously, like he was some kind of headbanger.
Hearing his professorâs response, Flatt glowed with happinessâthe
âThank you so much! I mean, really, thank you so very much! Iâm
âDamn. When I was his age, I was everything he isnât. I bet he
so much?â El-Melloi muttered under his breath, exasperated.
El-Melloi II had returned to his room. As he thought about his
It was a double lock, with both a physical component and a magical
room, it was evident that it was no mere raggedy scrap of fabric.
huh....â Thinking back on Flattâs ramblings, he frowned and scowled.
but Iâm glad it didnât come to that.â
the case. He thought about the parcel he had let Flatt have.
that system of having students courier other peopleâs mail. Not that it
âWell, anyway, if thatâll get him to forget about the Holy Grail War,
of his room. Every time he finished playing a game, he filled out
down his impressions of the game. It was just the proper thing to do.
airmailed back to Japan, but he did so nonetheless. Thanks to that, he
filled with all sorts of game merchandise.
To the contrary, he had little interest in most of the products he
If there was any merchandise El-Melloi really did want, he would
Japanese companyâon the package Flatt had brought to him, he figured
didnât even bother to open it before letting Flatt have it.
from some sort of game about robots or something of that ilk, butâ
the British Empireâ.\n Â
The sun shone brightly, hanging high in the midday sky.
was thoroughly unprepared for the journey.
clueless about the specifics.
than the Holy Grail Warâ
âThese are... so... awesome! If I use these... Command Spellthingums...
He rubbed his hand over and over again. Every so often, he would
though he was heartbroken.
Command Spells, no matter what!â
disappear after being used. If anybody else with knowledge of the Holy
apprehended Flatt then and there and taken him in for interrogation.
mostly children with their parents.
he opened the cloth parcel he had been holding.
It was a dastardly-looking knife, tinged in red and black, and was,
Even though it was still sheathed, its blade was nonetheless bizarrely
âMan oh man, thank goodness for Master V. I mean, sure, he was
the knife with his own eyes did not dissuade him. Rather, it left him
onwards, bringing him all the way to the States.
in the war, and had endowed him with Command Spells for that
He stared alternately at his Command Spells and his knifeâand
Perhaps thirty minutes had passed, whenâ
known about it, they surely would have fainted from the shock of it.
been there to witness it, he would likely have praised Flatt. Of course,
Flatt in the unmentionables a few times first.
something achieved by Flattâs own latent talents? Either way, in a certain
ăI ask of thee: art thou the Master who hath summoned me?ă
Upon hearing that frighteningly crisp voice, Flatt leapt out of his
As before, though, all he could see were families and couples walking
ăâAye,â say ye? I shall take that as an affirmative. Our contract is
find anybody who seemed like the one who had just been speaking.
and without an altar at that! Quite some pluck you have there, O
you neither speak the summoning incantation!?ă
and I was kind of fiddling with it... and I guess we linked up. Man, Iâm
ăI see... Well, that is quite alrightâin fact, it speaks volumes about
Apparently, the voice of that Servant-ish being was being transmitted
He soon realized that magical energy was flowing through his
talking to the voice in his head. âEr, erm... I guess this isnât really the,
ăNot at all, lad. I am a special case. Donât let it bother you.ăThe
refined and polite, to boot. Oddly enough, he was unable to get any
ăIn any case, I do not really have a definite âidentityâ, so to speak.
then again, perhaps you could not. It is that sort of thing.ă
speaker is a man or a woman; or if the speaker is old or young; or
voice is bound to give away those details. But this voice, which was
It was like he was speaking to a headless monster.
surely be just what he expected.
Spirit (?)â with the voice inside his head.
(?)â did not precisely accord with the class of beings called âHeroesâ.
popular, there couldnât be many who hadnât heard of that Servant.
Holmes or ArsĂšne Lupin, butâunlike those two, he had really existed,
For some reason, the Servant remained silent. Flatt nervously
Suddenly, a man of large build, dressed in shades of black, entered
âBoy oh boy! You finally manifested!â
black looked at Flatt suspiciously.
Of course the man would be wearing black.
peered down at Flattâa man sitting on a bench in front of a fountain
âWhat in blazes are you doinâ yammerinâ to yourself, son? And
âN-no! I mean! This isnât!â
âDid that surprise you?â
handed his truncheon to Flatt.
lack of a police officer. In the officerâs stead, he saw a woman dressed
And then, the woman spoke to him. âI thought I might demonstrate
though certainly feminine, had the same feel to it as the voice that
âHuh? Huh? What!?â Flatt grew more and more surprised.
ăI apologize for startling you, Master. I thought this way might be
The voice was in his head again.
was off. Some rubbed at their eyes while others cocked their heads, and
into a woman and then vanished. Of course, their questions were met
Given what they had seen, and given that the imprint left in the
what they had just seen was no hallucination.
suspicionâonly within Flattâs mind would it be revealed.
Flatt waited for him to continue, with bated breath.
in which he appeared, the Servantâs true name was far more important.
in an altogether different way.
that there was nobody in front of him, and that he looked rather silly,
Paying no attention to the young manâs antics, the Servant continued
âNone ought to know my true name, save perhaps for myselfâthe
The knife Flatt held was not a true relic, but rather, an imitation.
It could draw forth a much more powerful spirit, precisely because
That Servant had no name, though there was proof that he once
And yet, none knew what he truly looked like.
Heâthough his gender was not knownâwas a symbol of fear; one
and he was the topic of myriad tales and theories.
It was not even certain whether he was a single person or not. The
himâand then they were unified into a single legend.
Indeed, for Flatt, who had spent many years at the Clock Tower,
Everyone knew what proof there was that he existed.
There were found the macabre corpses of five prostitutes. There\nidentified myself in my letters.ă
He had mail-ordered the game from Japan, thinking that it would
Alas, the Japanese do not distinguish between the homophones
latter. The gameâs protagonist was based on a real person, who wandered
personality within him. At times, he would also end up fighting
Even though it wasnât what he was expecting, El-Melloi played the
about the game. First on that list was his opinion that âthe gameâs title
When he turned the survey card over, he noticed that there was
If you send in this card, you could be one of 100 lucky winners
signature on it! (sheath included)
He snorted at the thought. He lost interest in the prize itself, and
And all the while, he was utterly unaware of what that survey card\nFlatt sat in front of the fountain in the park, having a mental conversation
In just a short while, he seemed to have gotten the hang of the situation,
âSo, youâre saying that because you were nobody at all, you gained
ăRighto. You got lucky, though. If I had manifested as a Servant
maddened rampage to... well, in any case, let us just say that I would
âUh....â Flatt found it difficult to interpret that as a joke. He
Were Jack to go on a rampage, most magi would worry that ordinary
found himself relieved for a different reason, one rather atypical
âU-um... by the way, what class are you? Are you Assassin?â
Flatt wasnât a complete ignoramusâhe had done some basic research
He knew that Servants of the Berserker class would gain power in
Perhaps Jack understood why Flatt was confused. He began to
âYou see, I was enshrined in legend as a symbol of madness. The
âAh... like how a negative times a negative makes a positive!â
to wonder if that explanation would fly. Flatt, of course, took it in
This, in turn, surprised Jack, who mumbled something before
this probably would not have happened. Since I was just an emblem of
Then again, perhaps there is something unique about this Holy Grail
âWow. Servants really are awesome!â As usual, a simple response
Recalling a matter which had made âhimâ uneasy, the Servant
before you in the form of a police officerâwhy did you not attempt to
that is the most basic sort of magic?ă
what was going on, first.â
Flatt, sensing that there was a tinge of embarrassment in the voice
Grail, whatâll you wish for?â
but I beg you, please do not laugh at me.ă
his voice echo in Flattâs head.
in other words, my own identity. That is all.ă
ăI am a mere fable, with no real presence. And yet, when I think of
natureâit frightens me. I do not expect that you will understand me,
It was an unusual idea, but at the same time, it was likely all that
Flatt thought for a while. Then, straightforwardly, he asked the
do? Like, if someone summons you somewhere besides a Holy Grail
ăThat may well happen. Though my current form differs from the
legends about me are all based on that premise. If I am a person of
my reality as possible.ăThe way he spoke somehow conveyed the impression
âDoesnât that just mean thereâs no real you?â stated Flatt, straightforwardly
Flatt was just such an outrageously frank person. The Servant was
ă...Do people ever tell you that you lack decorum?ă
ăI was not commending you... but, well, that is fine. We need not
fit to summon me. You could expect neither the might of a Hero nor
It was an eminently reasonable thought.
would be hesitant even to be around him, and to summon him as
Flatt, frank as frank could be, replied.
identities and all that!â
âCome on, thatâs so cool! Besides, youâre an awesome guy! Isnât
He may have had a mageâs intuition, but his temperament was...
If there was one way in which his temperament was fitting of a
It was that his intuitions differed ever so slightly from those of most
To phrase it in the most generous way possible, he was gifted with
Though it was unclear how the Servant interpreted Flattâs replyâ
and savagery, readied himself for battle. With the slightest bit of optimism
ăVery well, my Master. Where shall we begin? Using my abilities,
where they stand! I await your orders. What might they be?ăThe
His Master, on the other hand, just sat there with a calm smile on
âThe weatherâs nice today. Letâs just enjoy the sun for a while. Itâs
tragedy, and the Villainous Spirit who created nothing but tragedy.
ideals of the Holy Grail War than they.
That one thing, and nothing else. Â \n