Before Shirou's Hunting Expedition

London, Clock Tower.

To ordinary people, the Clock Tower might be one of London's iconic landmarks, or a famous tourist attraction. From certain angles, that's true enough.

But to a magus, it's far more than that.

The Mage's Association is composed of three branches: the Clock Tower, the Wandering Sea, and Asgard Academy. The most renowned of them is the Clock Tower.

Beneath the Director, it's a vast organization made up of thirteen departments, including the Department of Law and Politics, the Department of Mineralogy, and the Department of Creation, each controlled by one of the twelve Lords.

Every department is the same—the title of the Lord of Mineralogy is unique: Lord El-Melloi. But by the time it passed to this generation, things had changed. The previous Lord El-Melloi, Kayneth—better known as the greenest man in the entire war, the one whose grass was the most verdant of all—

Because he was cut down by the King of Knights, the Department of Mineralogy was thrown into chaos. The new successor refused to accept the title of Lord El-Melloi, claiming he was only temporarily filling the position and didn't deserve the name. So he called himself El-Melloi II.

That's right—he's the Zhuge Kongming we all love in the game. But his real name isn't Kongming, because Kongming should be dressed in a feather fan and silk headband, not a suit and cigar.

His true name is Waver Velvet. Like the historical Kongming, he shares the trait of dying from overwork.

It has to be said that while Mr. Velvet's talent as a magus is absolute garbage, he has an unparalleled and unique gift for teaching and governance. Under his management, the Department of Mineralogy soon climbed out of its predicament, and he also shed the label of "the thirteenth."

Not wrong at all. Though crowned with the name of genius, under Kayneth's leadership, the Department of Mineralogy was dead last among the twelve departments, second only to Professor Lev's Department of Archaeology.

Seeing the Department of Mineralogy thriving, those fair-weather families who had bailed during Kayneth's decline started to panic. A few natural idiots among them came up with a stupid idea:

Since this Lord isn't skilled in magecraft, just send someone to assassinate El-Melloi II. Speaking of assassination, you can't help but mention a certain master of the craft. This master once said something that's still widely circulated—

Don't assassinate—go for a one-man army. What's the point of hiding your presence? You'll get found out anyway. If you really hate him, just go cut him down. Killing all the witnesses is the best assassination!

That man is Hassan of the Cursed Arm, the Grand Berserker—ah, I mean Assassin—known as the Old Man of the Mountain, King Hassan.

The killers sent by those families' idiots didn't even meet Old Man Five's standards. Forget a one-man army—they couldn't even manage a half-decent Presence Concealment. They were spotted the moment they showed up.

Gray, a gravekeeper from the countryside, is said to have the blood of the King of Knights. Whether that's true or not, Gray does currently have a face like the King of Knights.

Gray's instincts rival the King of Knights' intuition, and she wields the famous Noble Phantasm of the White Lance King of the Northern Hemisphere—the Spear of the End (Rhongomyniad). Most importantly, Gray also has the King of Knights' red Mana Burst...

Eat shit and die!

If those cannon-fodder magi could beat this budget version of the King of Knights, then Velvet's corpse would already be hanging from the Clock Tower's hands!

"So our mission is to make those Rebels swallow their blades!" After roughly skimming the materials Natalia had given him, Shirou asked.

"You could say that. What do you think, Kid?" Natalia asked.

Shirou let out a heavy sigh, then walked to the window... This was the first floor—what the hell could he see? Though he was deeply dissatisfied with Natalia's nickname for him, the fact was that his seniority, even across two lifetimes, didn't match hers, plus he was of the grandson generation, so he just let it go.

"Regarding Lady Reines' commission, I have three execution plans," Shirou said, turning to lean against the window. "One: study the target's habits, find when he shows his face, and take him out from eight hundred meters away with one shot. Two: sneak into the target's home, infiltrate all the way, and slit his throat.

But since both methods will be guarded against after the first time, I personally recommend the third plan: grab a big blade, kick the door open, cut down every witness along the way without even blinking. Finally, smash into the target's workshop, walk right in, tell him Fate has arrived, and demand he hand over his head.

Afterward, toss in a couple of Molotov cocktails and High Explosive Grenades, blow the workshop sky-high, and walk away with an explosion as your backdrop without looking back!"

"Hey, that last one has already left the scope of assassination, hasn't it? And what do you mean by 'without blinking'? Won't your eyes dry out if you don't blink that long?"

"Don't sweat the details. And that last one is definitely assassination—it's the technique of the oldest, greatest, and strongest Assassin, known as the Assassin's Creed," Shirou explained, but it didn't seem to help. Talking about King Hassan's methods to someone from this world was like telling a fairy tale.

"Never heard of it." Natalia's reaction was exactly what Shirou had expected. "Here, take this—it's the first target's info. Don't go soft, okay? Magi are rarely saints. Them crying and begging for mercy while waiting to ambush you isn't uncommon." She handed Shirou a brown paper bag. "That kid Kiritsugu did well on that front. As his adopted son, you shouldn't be any different."

"Don't worry, I won't," Shirou said calmly.

"That's not certain. Not many people can separate their mind and body. I learned that lesson the hard way when I first started. People can get soft-hearted," Natalia said, a hint of nostalgia in her voice.

"No, I don't mean I won't go soft," Shirou replied, his tone still calm, but his words were anything but. "What I meant was, I won't give the target a chance to beg for mercy, because by the time he sees me, he'll already be dead."

At that, even Natalia, a veteran of the killing field, was momentarily stunned. But she was Natalia—the one who made even Kiritsugu say, "As expected of Natalia"—so she quickly snapped back.

"Then I'm looking forward to seeing how you perform," she said with a smile. "Ready? If you are, then let's go. Our targets aren't going to wash their necks and wait for us to kill them."

"I don't really care about that. This is my first hunt—showing up late would look terrible." Stretching his arms, Shirou walked out of Natalia's temporary hideout without looking back. As he'd said, the hunt had begun.