We All Have a Bright Future

She murmured softly.

"It's just a little trick of mine, so don't overthink it. You don't need to be so reserved in front of me; just be yourself at home. Even though you're Magus, you're still a child. In my opinion, you should be enjoying your happiness and life right now. There are many worries, but you might as well leave them for the future."

"Also, Reines, stop calling me 'elder brother' all the time. You can call me Rovey or elder brother, I don't care about these family formalities. And after I go back, you can come to my family to find me anytime, and you can keep Sakura company."

As he spoke, a warm and gentle smile appeared on Rovey's face. He reached out and gently stroked Reines's head, using his warmth to ease the tension in the usually reserved girl's heart.

"As for the Hallcraft I mentioned earlier, I can still teach you if you want to learn it."

"Really? Brother... no, Rovey ..."

Reines was somewhat incredulous at what was happening, after all, no one had ever spoken to her like this before, nor had anyone ever been so gentle with her.

Everyone in her family, whether relatives or her parents, treated her like a tool. Even her Uncle Kenneth was only kind to her because he needed her to do something.

But why is it that this person, whom I've only just met, can show me such pure kindness? And it's selfless kindness, genuinely good to her.

Reines was puzzled.

"Of course, you can pinky swear if you don't believe me."

In Rovey's view, extending kindness is just like saving lives; no reason is needed. Anyway, the Hallcraft will be sold to Professor Kenneth anyway, so there's no problem with teaching El-Melloi in advance.

"Brother..."

Feeling the warmth from her palm and gazing into Rovey's pure eyes, Reines felt a surge of indescribable emotion. Her eyes involuntarily welled up with tears, and she lowered her head.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else that hurts?"

Seeing this, Rovey quickly continued to examine her body, but—

"Pfft, no way~ Your Magecraft is amazing, I'm perfectly fine. Anyway..."

Reines shook her head and began to ramble on.

"Thank you, elder brother. I look forward to guiding you for the rest of my life."

This time, her words were completely genuine, and her face was free of pretense. With tears in her eyes, she gave Rovey the most genuine smile she had ever shown in her life.

At this moment, she could no longer maintain the calm she had always known.

Reines looked at the young man in front of her with a gentle and happy expression, silently giving thanks for everything she had done in her life.

'Very good...'

'It's so wonderful to meet you at a time like this...'

I hope you will guide me for the rest of my life, elder brother, no—

'My husband...'

Chapter 104 We All Have a Bright Future

Britain, London.

El-Melloi Manor, a luxurious mansion.

At this moment, Kenneth was holding a thick stack of documents and was overwhelmed by all the mess that had happened before.

Hmm...

Leaving aside the mess of the Holy Grail War —those issues are too heavy to handle in a short time— the Spiral Manor and the Church have come to demand answers, not to mention the other two departments of the Mage's Association, the Atlas Institute and the Wandering Sea, are also interested. Resolving this matter will not be a quick task; he will have to work with the other Aristocratic Faction families to deal with it gradually.

However, his teacher, the leader of the Lord Yulifis faction of the Summoning Spiritual Evocation Department, became deeply interested in the Holy Grail War when he heard that Magus named Machiri Zolgen Makiri from hundreds of years ago had actually realized the outlandish idea of Heroic Spirit Summoning. He began to search for and study the notes left by Machiri Zolgen Makiri in the Clock Tower from hundreds of years ago.

While Barthomeloi was intrigued by the intriguing ritual, he didn't find anything particularly noteworthy about it. However, her confidence as the uncrowned king of the Clock Tower made the so-called Servant less appealing to her; after all, this was still the era of modern Magus.

The Animusphere faction, which had little to do with this matter, was the most interested in it. Just a day earlier, Marisbury Animusphere Animusphere, the "Lord the Department of Astromancy (Animusphere)," had personally visited to inquire about the specific details of the Holy Grail War and intended to study it in depth.

Kenneth didn't understand what these people were thinking, nor did he care to. After the harrowing experience in Fuyuki City that nearly cost him his life, he really didn't want to touch anything related to Heroic Spirit or the Holy Grail anytime soon.

In short, he now has only one thought in his mind: to return alive, marry his fiancée, get engaged to his student, and focus on developing El-Melloi's several five-year plans, striving to realize his grand vision of a triple Grand Rank as soon as possible. He wants to start from his generation and directly build a powerful and influential school, bringing unimaginable glory to the entire school.

Therefore, Kenneth's current idea is to let him and himself focus on their respective research after Rovey has completed his rank-raising exam.

In the time that follows, he will thoroughly refine all the concepts behind the Supreme Mystic Code, [Volumen Hydrargyrum], continuously expanding it until its limit, ultimately achieving the Grand Rank through his own talent. Meanwhile, Rovey will fully realize his [Hallcraft], aiming for Grand Rank in the future. Then, together they will grow stronger, paving the way for two Grand rank masters, giving the democrats, the neutral faction, and even their teacher, Barthomeloi, a small but impressive experience Grand Magus.

As for other things, let them do what they want. In short, no one can stop his determination to go into seclusion and strive for the Grand Rank. After experiencing so much, Kenneth realized that he was actually quite fulfilled. Perhaps there was no need to run around aimlessly, busy filling his resume with achievements. As long as he became Grand Rank, and his apprentice also became Grand Rank, that would be the best proof.

And...

How come he never noticed before that Weber Velvet, this frail and seemingly untalented kid, was actually so gifted in paperwork? Not only was he accurate, but he was also efficient; he was simply born to stay in the office.

Although his writing skills are still quite rudimentary compared to his actual abilities, that's okay! Because he can practice...

If you process a few more years' worth of documents, then there won't be any problems. Practice makes perfect.

And coincidentally, the days he spent in seclusion were perfect for him to train. Isn't that a coincidence?

Having gone through so much, confirming Weber's talent, and realizing he was a trustworthy student,

So Kenneth simply waved his hand, promoting Reines along with Weber Velvet, a student he had previously looked down upon. This transformed Weber from a student into a disciple of the El-Melloi Faction, a clerical worker, and his office assistant and secretary. He enjoyed the highest allowances and the right to freely enter his office and visit his family.

This led to Weber, who was originally preparing to retrace the path of Iskandar's conquest, being kept by Kenneth before he could even set off, and being trained as the Lord's secretary, truly achieving a leap in social class, much to the envy of many of his former bullies.

However, it's unclear whether they'll still feel envious when they see Weber sitting in Kenneth's study or office every day, not only writing papers but also constantly grading academic assignments and Lord documents, almost to the point of questioning his existence.

Furthermore, what Weber was unaware of was that Kenneth was already prepared to hand over all the documents he had prepared during his seclusion to him for processing.

One can imagine that when Weber saw the mountain of documents, brimming with Kenneth's high regard, he might have burst into tears of joy. After all, the work he was now doing was something only Lord was qualified to do. He had read through countless documents and secrets that were clearly not something a nobody like him should have seen, truly pushing him to his physical and mental limits. He was now even afraid that knowing so much he shouldn't have would suddenly lead him out and drown him in the Thames River to feed the fish.

However, Kenneth didn't care about Weber's situation. After all, wasn't this what the kid meant by gaining his approval?

Yes, you do have talent; I was wrong about you before.

He admitted to it.

Well, since you have talent, don't just sit idle; you should naturally put it to use. He's merely providing Weber with a stage to showcase it. At the same time, he also wants that arrogant brat to know what kind of paperwork he faces as Lord, and let him experience firsthand what it's really like!

There was absolutely no intention to retaliate against him for stealing the Sacred Relic, absolutely not!!

Kenneth wasn't such a petty teacher.

So, upon returning, Kenneth immediately arranged for Weber to write a report on the Holy Grail War, and then set about dealing with other matters.

The first thing he did upon returning, besides reporting his safety to his fiancée and teacher and finding a suitable fiancée for Rovey, was to immediately instruct someone to find a specially made parchment scroll containing enough ancient mystery in the warehouse as a carrier. Then, he personally wrote a Magecraft contract essay in Latin.

Although Rovey and Aozaki Touko had reached a preliminary agreement on the matter of the external consultant, and had even received a considerable amount of his funds, expensive materials, and Mana Furnace in advance, Kenneth still would never easily trust that woman who was as elusive as the wind.

So on the day he returned, he discussed the matter with his teacher, Yulifis Lord, and Barthomeloi. They were also surprised and wondered if there was some kind of trickery involved.

After all, the fact that Kenneth, the legitimate Lord, encountered Aozaki Touko, a Grand Rank wanted criminal, and instead of fighting, they shook hands and made peace, even winning her over to his faction, is itself somewhat magical.

Although reluctant to believe it, Lord Barthomeloi made the best decision after careful consideration.

First, regarding the issue of the Sealing Designation, that was originally carried out by her Department of Law. Removing it would be incredibly simple. While it needs to be done openly, the three Lord families are enough; as long as their Aristocratic Faction makes a proposal, it can be lifted without fail. The other factions, whether the lowly democrats or the opportunistic neutrals, have no way to interfere. Therefore, the only question now is whether Aozaki Touko's promise has been fulfilled?

They weren't fools; anyone who'd survived to this position was a shrewd Sealing Designation. Instead, they would wait until Aozaki Touko truly arrived and was willing to join the Aristocratic Faction side before lifting it. Only if she truly became an external advisor to the Crowley Family and the El-Melloi Faction, and a Grand Rank within the Aristocratic Faction camp, would it be effective.

Furthermore, the other two families weren't helping for nothing. In return, the price wouldn't be paid by Aozaki Touko, but by Crowley and El-Melloi. Besides the El-Melloi Faction and the Crowley Family, these two families could also pay to purchase firsthand research data from Grand Puppet Master. This essentially changed the situation from Kenneth's monopoly on Grand Rank data to a three-way split, leaving all other schools helpless.

Kenneth felt that these two, one an old fox and the other a young fox, were extremely cunning.

However, he didn't have a good solution to this, since even among those on the same side, the Magus never considered kinship or teacher-student relationships, but rather interests—simply the purest form of transactional interest.

Although his feelings for his traitorous disciple, Rovey, and his fiancée Sola-Ui, clearly went beyond that...

In short, after everything was agreed upon, Kenneth personally drew the "Compulsory Magic Contract" as agreed.

Once the other party actually signs with him, it means everything is settled. They will lift the Sealing Designation and give Aozaki Touko enough resources and autonomy. It doesn't matter where she wants to stay to conduct her research, even if she swaggers around in the Clock Tower. But Kenneth already has the answer in his heart: that woman will most likely be hanging out with his students again.

However, it's a pity that Aozaki Touko is not a legitimate successor to the Magus lineage, but rather... a discarded pawn.

The heir abandoned by the Aozaki Family did not inherit True Magic or the mark.

Because of a bunch of messy things, she didn't even have Magic Crest for branching, let alone the Origin Imprint.

The one she's using now is the alchemical imprint specially customized for her by Rovey, Puppet Magecraft- specialized model. It's practically a consumable for her, having no effect whatsoever. So Kenneth skipped the clause in the contract about 'imposing a binding curse on the imprint' and made a completely new adjustment, transforming the soul-infused ritual into a new Magic Contract, specifically Magic Contract Aozaki Touko.

"Okay, now we're all done..."

Admiring his newly revised Magic Contract, which he had spent a day and a night perfecting, Kenneth's face broke into a satisfied smile. At that moment, he couldn't help but stroke his hair, his mood reaching its peak, and he even felt an urge to sing a song in celebration of his talent.

I'm truly a genius; I mastered the adjustment technique for a mere Magic Contract in one night. Can any other Magus do something so difficult?

They can't do it; they don't have the ability.

"Well, now all that's left is for Rovey to take it to Miss Aozaki for me to sign, and then everything will be perfect, so..."

Just as Kenneth was considering adding more conditions to the essay contest to maximize his own interests and ensure his safety, suddenly—

--Bang!!

A sharp sound suddenly rang out at the door, causing the Magecraft pen in his hand to pause for a moment, the special ink almost ruining the essay he had just drafted.

Behind him, the door to his home, the Magic Workshop, was pushed open from the outside without any politeness, and without even a word of greeting.

"That brat!!"

There's no need to say who it is; those who can freely enter and leave his Magic Workshop without needing to report are few and far between, even in the entire Clock Tower.

But such a careless and impolite behavior could only be done by that scoundrel who comes here to plunder whenever he's short of materials.

"Snort!"

Kenneth gave an annoyed snort, then put down his pen, picked up the essay he had just finished writing, and left his study.

Not long after.

"Demand an explanation? What? What does this have to do with us? That was caused by Tokiomi Tohsaka, Matou Zouken, and Emiya Kiritsugu, the so-called 'Three Families'. As for me, Weber, and you, Kenneth- sensei, we are legitimate Clock Tower Magus of the El-Melloi Faction. We all have all the proper paperwork and certifications, yet we were tricked into participating in this wicked war by propaganda, and we almost lost our lives. We are the 'innocent' ones."

Kenneth: "??"

As he watched Rovey's vivid performance, his expression began to look increasingly strange.

"So personally, I think the Three Families that held this Magecraft ritual, the Church that failed to supervise it properly, and the Spiral Manor that didn't even investigate the inside story in its own territory should give us an explanation—just give the Church and the Spiral Manor a reply like this."

The so-called the Church and Spiral Manor refer to the churches in Western Europe and the mystical structures in East Asia, respectively.

The first one goes without saying; since it's a church, it must believe in God, and it's the headquarters for Executor like Kirei Kotomine. Furthermore, its influence extends from Western Europe to various parts of the world. Their primary purpose is to preach God's love and relieve the poor and sick, but within its walls, there exists a secret organization dedicated to carrying out special purposes.

However, the Church and the Russia English Church, which are founded on faith and the redemption of humanity. The Church is a large armed organization established for the purpose of "hunting down heretics." Its ideology is even somewhat extreme; they do not recognize any heresy other than evil, and absolutely do not endorse anything that contradicts their doctrine. Those who use mystical techniques to corrupt God, kill humanity, disrupt the world, and distort the laws governing the world— the Mari of God—are all heretics and should be eradicated by them.

In other words, the mad Executor of the Church during normal times discriminate against all Magus equally, and hate the Dead Apostle and non-human beings.

If Magus encounters Executor in public, as long as you haven't committed any major sins in the past and don't cause trouble in front of them, they might ignore you like you're trash. But if you are Dead Apostle or a demon, or an undead Phantasmal Species, these people will use Black Keys to make you into sashimi, even if it violates the principles of mystery and concealment.

The Spiral Manor is essentially a Clock Tower in East Asia, but he doesn't know much more about it. After all, this organization is very mysterious and doesn't have much contact with the outside world, so nobody knows exactly what's inside.

However, Rovey knew that even if they were both mysterious organizations, no matter how weak the other one was, it was definitely not inferior to the Clock Tower where he was. This was a heavyweight organization, whose greatest assets, besides the Jewel Magician and the mysterious dean he had never met, were the things beneath its feet—a veritable vampire, completely inferior to the other two institutions, the Wandering Sea and the Atlas Institute. If it weren't for the existence of the other two institutions, the Church, also located in Western Europe and brimming with martial virtue, would probably have already shattered the Clock Tower.

"Hiss... There's actually such a way? But what you said seems to be right! We participated in the Holy Grail War through legitimate channels and don't know the inside story. The ones causing trouble are probably the Einzbern, Tohsaka, and Matou, the Three Families. So they should be the ones to give an explanation."

"And those lunatics from the Church, how dare they criticize me? Their Executor participated, didn't they? If the Spiral Manor wants to hold someone accountable, they should go after the Three Families and the Church. My Clock Tower Lord left halfway through, and his whereabouts are even traceable in Mifune City. What does that have to do with me?"

After listening to Rovey's brilliant remarks, Kenneth suddenly realized something, feeling as if his mind had been enlightened and his thoughts had suddenly become clear.

Shortly after he sent Reines to pick up Rovey, the butler brought letters from the Church and the Spiral Manor, the news that had both upset him and was expected.

They also hope he will go to the Spiral Manor or the Church to give a statement and cooperate with the investigation.

Upon seeing the two letters, Kenneth exclaimed, "Investigate you my foot!!"

Leaving aside the Spiral Manor, which I haven't been to, what respectable Magus would go to the Church? They'd probably be surrounded by a bunch of lunatics and put on a heretical trial before they even got inside!

Kenneth had originally planned to discuss with Rovey what to do, whether they should go out and lay low until Barthomeloi and Yulifis were dealt with before returning.

Now, Rovey simply slapped his hand and declared that this was all the work of the Three Families, and had nothing to do with the Clock Tower. Kenneth withdrew midway through the tournament, and his records with Weber in Mifune City are verifiable; you can investigate all you want. And even Kirei Kotomine the Church participated, so don't pretend to be so innocent with me.

So whose problem is this?

The problems with the Three Families are Tokiomi's fault!!

"Yeah, I was already being lenient by not pressing him about the Church's Executor participating in the Holy Grail competition, and he still dared to ask me what happened?!"

Thinking about it this way, Kenneth's tightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxed.

On the luxurious leather sofa, Kenneth suddenly clapped his hands, feeling that his apprentice was absolutely right. He hadn't made any mistakes, so why should he explain himself to them? He planned to write a letter later, detailing the heroic deeds of Kirei Kotomine and Gilgamesh, and send it directly back to them.

Meanwhile, Rovey casually crossed his legs, a playful glint in his eyes. Although he didn't have Gilgamesh's morbid pleasure, seeing the church suffer a setback was still quite amusing.

"So, I've already solved all the remaining issues with a wish using the Holy Grail. Apart from a few heinous criminals who are completely dead, the rest of the buildings and people have been restored. Under these circumstances, dealing with things is really too easy. Just make up some phenomenon, like a series of explosions in natural gas pipelines or coal gas pipelines causing hallucinations. In short, there are as many solutions as you can think of."