London, England.
To ordinary people, the Clock Tower might have been a landmark in London, or perhaps a famous tourist attraction. In some respects, that was indeed true.
But in the eyes of magi, it was far more than that.
The Mage's Association consisted of three divisions: the Clock Tower, the Wandering Sea, and Asgard Academy. Of them, the Clock Tower was the most famous.
Beneath the dean stood a vast organization composed of thirteen departments, including the Department of Law and Politics, the Department of Mineralogy, and the Department of Creation, each controlled by one of twelve Lords.
All departments were alike. The Lord of the Department of Mineralogy bore a unique title: Lord El-Melloi. But by this generation, things had changed. The previous Lord El-Melloi, Kenneth—better known as Kayneth, the lushest patch of grass in the entire war—
had been cut down by the Cowlick King, plunging the Department of Mineralogy directly into chaos. The new successor refused to accept the title of Lord El-Melloi, claiming that he was only temporarily occupying El-Melloi's position and was unworthy of the name. Thus, he called himself El-Melloi II.
That was right: he was Zhuge Kongming, whom players adored in the game. But his real name was not Kongming. After all, Kongming ought to have held a feather fan and worn a silk headpiece, not a suit while smoking a cigar.
His real name was Waver Velvet. Like the historical Kongming, he also possessed the trait of working himself to death.
It had to be said that although Mr. Velvet's aptitude as a magus was utter garbage, he possessed unmatched talent in teaching and administration. Under his leadership, the Department of Mineralogy quickly emerged from its predicament and shed its label as the thirteenth-ranked department.
That was absolutely right. Despite being called a genius, under Kayneth's leadership, the Department of Mineralogy had been at the bottom of the twelve departments, second only to Professor Lev's Department of Archaeology.
Seeing the Department of Mineralogy flourish, some fence-sitting families that had fled when Kayneth went down began to panic. Several born idiots among them came up with a stupid idea:
This Lord was not skilled at magecraft, so why not send someone to assassinate El-Melloi II? And when it came to assassination, one had to mention a true master among assassins. This master had once said something that remained widely circulated to this day—
"Don't assassinate. Go all out. What's the point of concealing your presence if you'll still be discovered? If you really hate someone, just chop him down! Killing every witness is the best assassination!"
That gentleman was Hassan of the Cursed Arm, the Grand Berserk—ah, no, I meant Assassin—the Old Man of the Mountain, known as King Hassan.
The killers sent by those idiotic families did not even meet Old Man Five Hassan's standards. Forget going all out; they could not even manage a token attempt at Presence Concealment. They were discovered the moment they appeared.
Gray had been born a rural gravekeeper. It was said that she possessed the bloodline of the Cowlick King. Though no one knew whether that was true, Gray did indeed have the Cowlick King's face.
Gray's intuition rivaled the Cowlick King's instincts, and she wielded the famed weapon of Northern Hemisphere White-Lance Cowlick—the poking spear, Rhongomyniad. Most importantly, Gray also possessed the Cowlick King's red Mana Burst...
Eat shit!
If those cannon-fodder magi could defeat this bargain-bin Cowlick King, Velvet's corpse would already have been hanging from the Clock Tower's hour hand!
"So our mission is to make those traitorous bastards swallow blades!" Shirou asked after roughly reading through the information Natalia had provided.
"You could put it that way. So, what do you think, little brat?" Natalia asked.
Shirou let out a heavy sigh, then walked to the window... This was the fucking first floor. What the hell was he supposed to see? Although he was deeply dissatisfied with Natalia's way of addressing him, the fact was that even adding both of his lifetimes together, he was still younger than her. On top of that, he was technically her grandson's generation, so he could only let the matter go.
"I have three possible ways to carry out Lady Reines's commission." Shirou turned and leaned against the window. "First, learn the prey's habits, find the moment he shows himself, and put a bullet through his soul from eight hundred meters away. Second, infiltrate the prey's home, sneak all the way in, then cut him down.
"But since those first two methods would put everyone on guard after the first time, I personally recommend the third option: grab a big blade, kick the door open, and cut down every witness you see. Better not blink even once. Then smash open the prey's magecraft workshop, walk straight in, tell him his time has come, and order him to hand over his head.
"Afterward, toss in a couple of Molotov cocktails and High Explosive Grenades, send the prey's magecraft workshop into the sky, and walk away without looking back against a backdrop of explosions!"
"Hey, that last one has already gone beyond assassination, hasn't it? And what do you mean, don't blink? Wouldn't your eyes dry out if you kept them open that long?"
"Don't worry about those details. And that last one absolutely counts as assassination. It was the method of the oldest, greatest, and strongest assassin of all, known as Assassin's Creed." Shirou explained, but it apparently did not help at all. Discussing King Hassan's techniques with people from this world was no different from talking about Arabian Nights.
"I've never heard of it." Natalia's reaction was exactly what Shirou had expected. "Here, take this. It's information on the first target. Don't go easy on him. Magi are rarely good people. It's not uncommon for them to cry and beg for mercy while looking for a chance to ambush you." Natalia handed Shirou a manila envelope. "Kiritsugu did quite well in that regard. As his adopted son, you shouldn't be any worse, right?"
"Don't worry. I won't," Shirou said calmly.
"That's not certain. There aren't many people who can separate the workings of their mind and body. I suffered for that when I was just starting out. People tend to go soft-hearted," Natalia said nostalgically.
"No, I didn't mean that I wouldn't go easy on him." Shirou's tone remained calm, but his words made it impossible to remain calm. "What I meant was, I won't give the prey a chance to beg for mercy. The moment he sees me, he will already be dead."
Even Natalia, a veteran of countless killing fields, froze for a moment at those words. But she was Natalia—the woman who had made even Kiritsugu say, "As expected of Natalia"—and she quickly recovered.
"Then I'm really looking forward to your performance." She smiled. "You're ready, right? If you are, let's move. Our target won't wash his neck clean and wait for us to kill him."
"I'm fine either way. This is my first hunt—what would it look like if I were late?" Shirou stretched, then left Natalia's temporary hideout without looking back. Just as he had said, the hunt had begun.
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