The Holy Grail—there was more than one thing bearing that name.
The most widely known was probably the concept of the golden cup used by Jesus, the saint renowned throughout the world due to the widespread reach of the Christian Church, during the Last Supper.
There were countless rumors concerning the Holy Grail. For instance, that it had once held the saint's blood, or that only the most devout believers could lift it...
However, there was another little-known legend about the Holy Grail...
That was...
"It can grant its holder any wish..."
2055, Britain, the Clock Tower Library.
A young lecturer with bright blond hair held an exquisite old book in one hand.
Warm orange candlelight flickered through the dim wooden hallways. In an age where electrical technology had become so advanced, such antique decorations offered an exceptionally fresh experience.
Amid the soft fragrance of burning resin, the young lecturer slid the book in his hand back onto the shelf with a faint click.
"Heh... What utter nonsense."
A satisfied smile touched his lips. Acquiring knowledge always brought him pleasure, no matter when it was. Yet his words also carried a trace of mockery, as if he were ridiculing the sentence he had just read and memorized: "Grant any wish."
The man's scoffing clearly conveyed his attitude toward such records.
He had soft, sandy-gold short hair, simply combed but not particularly neat, with a casual messiness at the edges. His Caucasian heritage gave him especially fair skin, tinged with healthy color. His sea-blue eyes drooped slightly, carrying a hint of melancholy and depth. His nose was characteristically high and European, while his lips were thin, always curved in a smile.
Combined, his well-proportioned features formed a handsome face that naturally inspired goodwill. Along with the aristocratic refinement and gentle temperament he unconsciously revealed, he would likely draw countless admiring gazes no matter where he went.
This man was Abner Fergus Winifred, a Magus affiliated with Britain's Clock Tower.
When one spoke of Magi, it was not the profession traditionally understood as making playing cards disappear or using visual tricks to perform small-scale crowd-pleasing acts.
Since uncountable ancient ages, they had pursued the true meaning of magecraft, stepped into the realm of mysticism, continuously advancing and exploring, entering an entirely different world along a path that ran contrary to science.
That was the world of Magi.
To ordinary people, the name "wizard" was more fitting for this secretive and unusual group.
Yet among Magi themselves, magic was a sacred term that could never be used carelessly. Things that could be accomplished by driving magical energy—such as releasing flames or freezing water into ice—belonged to the realm of "magecraft." Only great deeds that humanity could not accomplish even after exhausting an entire lifetime belonged to the category of "magic."
Abner was one member of this unusual group—a seeker of magecraft.
Not only that, at merely twenty-four years old, he was already the eleventh head of the Winifred Family and one of the Clock Tower's foremost experts in magecraft. Wielding water-aligned magical energy, his accomplishments in magecraft far surpassed those of other Magi.
Yet this outstanding young Magus was merely a minor lecturer teaching a course on magecraft engineering optimization. One could not help but question the Clock Tower's standards for selecting personnel.
In truth, Abner had studied under Lord El-Melloi II, the renowned lecturer of the Archibald Family. It was this lineage that had affected his standing.
When Lord El-Melloi II was mentioned, no one in the Clock Tower was unfamiliar with him.
First, he had participated in a Holy Grail War. Though he had not been the victor, he had been a survivor. Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, the Clock Tower's first-rate genius Magus who had fought in the same war, had died, as had Tokiomi Tohsaka, head of the Tohsaka family that governed Fuyuki. Compared to their fates, his survival had made him famous for a time.
Second, he was exceptionally skilled at uncovering those talented in magecraft. Though his own magecraft was shallow—let alone being a second-rate Magus, in the increasingly talent-rich Clock Tower, even calling him a third-rate Magus might have been excessive praise.
Yet his knowledge of magecraft was so vast it was terrifying. He was practically a walking encyclopedia, with countless disciples and extensive connections throughout the Clock Tower. Someone had once said of that rigid old man, "If he wished it, he could overturn the Clock Tower's entire structure."
Third... that same man had personally gone to Fuyuki, the battlefield of the Holy Grail War, forty years ago—ten years after the Fifth Holy Grail War—and dismantled the Greater Grail, the core artifact of the Holy Grail War.
To Magi, the Holy Grail War could be called a grand gathering of high-ranking Magi, as well as the Mage World's supreme event. The Greater Grail accumulated magical energy and was held once every sixty years on average. It selected seven Magi from across the world, granting them a portion of the Holy Grail's immense magical energy so they could summon Servants.
The Magi commanding seven Servants of different classes would slaughter one another, competing to determine the final victor
, who would raise the Holy Grail and have their wish fulfilled. It was a miracle of the Mage World!
Yet Lord El-Melloi II had personally and completely destroyed the possibility of that miracle.
How could someone like that possibly remain unknown?
As a result, Lord El-Melloi II had developed tensions with the Clock Tower. Outwardly, everyone still exchanged information and acted as though they lived in peace, but on the other hand, the careers of all Magi associated with Lord El-Melloi II had later been obstructed to varying degrees.
If not for the Winifred Family's considerable reputation, and if Abner had not been a young head hailed as a genius, he likely would not even have been qualified to touch this minor lecturer's post.
That was also why Abner had scoffed at the Holy Grail War earlier.
As the name implied, the Holy Grail War was a battle of slaughter centered around the Holy Grail. If even the Holy Grail had been dismantled... what was there left to fight over?
But...
Abner's left hand gently covered his right.
Though he was currently wearing white gloves, beneath their smooth silk touch, Abner could clearly sense the immense magical energy flowing there.
It was something possessing several times the magical energy of a human being at their limit.
Three red marks, forming a vortex-like pattern, appeared on the back of his right hand.
They were known as Command Spells.
In a Holy Grail War, they were three consumable uses that could issue summoned Servants commands of "absolute obedience."
In other words, they were the "admission ticket" to the Holy Grail War.
Those selected by the Holy Grail to become Masters would manifest Command Spells. If they then summoned Heroic Spirits to descend as Servants, they would officially become participants in the Holy Grail War.
Heroic Spirits were, in essence, a kind of familiar. However, they were fundamentally different from ordinary familiars.
They might be great heroes or notorious villains known across the world.
They might be ferocious beasts or sacred beasts from myths and legends.
Or they might be some spiritual faith worshipped by humanity.
Heroic Spirits were beings like that. Although they belonged to the same classification as familiars in the conventional sense, the difference in their "quality" made comparison impossible.
Pencils and diamonds were both made of carbon, yet the latter was thousands of times harder than the former. The difference between familiars and Heroic Spirits was probably much the same.
The magical energy required to command Heroic Spirits was something humans would find difficult to accumulate even over an entire lifetime. After all, Heroic Spirits were legendary great heroes. It was obvious that they could not be compared to birds, mice, and the like, which served as familiars in the usual sense.
In other words... Heroic Spirits should have been beings humanity could not command. Even after being downgraded into Servants, they remained difficult for humans to control.
This was one of the Holy Grail's miracles.
Participants in the Holy Grail War received the support of the Holy Grail's immense magical energy, allowing them to summon Heroic Spirits beyond normal limits and have them serve at their side as Servants. Masters only supplied the magical energy needed for Heroic Spirits to remain manifested, while Command Spells were "reins" that could demand absolute obedience from Heroic Spirits three times.
Summoning Servants was itself a "miracle" of magecraft. No one would doubt the power possessed by the Greater Grail, the very source of that miracle.
However, as mentioned before, from the moment Abner had been born, the Holy Grail War had already been a "past perfect."
Not paying excessive attention to impossible things was part of Abner's nature.
Yet now, he had suddenly encountered the harshest problem brought about by that very nature.
That was... a lack of information.
Regarding the Holy Grail War, Abner only knew that it was a high-level "war" among Magi. That was all.
He knew nothing of the other details.
Abner had never experienced such a feeling of uncertainty.
"There is a need... to understand it in greater detail. The Holy Grail War."
As he gently stroked the back of his hand, a rare determined light appeared in Abner's melancholy eyes.
As a member of the Clock Tower, as a member of the Magi, he had an obligation to investigate everything concerning this Holy Grail War.
Yet at the same time, something within his heart was calling to him.
If...
Even if there were only a one-in-ten-thousand chance...
That it was a real Holy Grail War...
If he could win... perhaps, through the power of the Holy Grail... he could reach the Root, the existence every Magus yearned for beyond all else...
If that were so...
Abner strengthened his resolve.
No matter what, he had to investigate it.
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