1987's Clock Tower

Four days after the physical body of the old Mage of the Aozaki family had split apart, Touko Aozaki, who was preparing to fly to London at the airport, saw news from Misaki City in the newspaper.

"The renowned Fumizuka family in the area was attacked by an unknown assailant, and no one survived. The cause of death is still under investigation. Eiri Fumizuka, the eldest son of the Fumizuka family and an employee at the local Goda Church, is missing. The Misaki City police suspect he may have a motive and have deployed a large number of officers to search for him."

Upon reading this, Touko managed to fold the newspaper and set it aside, feeling a headache coming on. She gently pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

She felt completely out of place in this bizarre Misaki City. The sooner she could get to London, the sooner she could relax...

Touko opened her shoulder bag, intending to find a painkiller, but unexpectedly discovered a letter. She frowned and opened the envelope, finding only a few short sentences inside. One read, "You'd best get rid of Cornelius Alba as soon as possible," and the other, "You'd best kill Souren Araya too." The letter was signed, "Your good little sister."

As soon as she finished reading, the letter spontaneously combusted. Azure flames instantly turned the paper to ash, leaving nothing behind.

Upon arriving at the Clock Tower in London, Touko Aozaki immediately immersed herself in a rigorous and fulfilling life of study and research. Naturally gifted with extraordinary talent, Touko quickly became a star at the Clock Tower. Through her efforts, the monarch of the Creation Department, Inorai Valualeta Atroholm, became Touko Aozaki's mentor.

After studying for a period, Touko realized that while this elegant and noble old woman appeared gentle on the surface, she was, in reality, a cold and ruthless Magus at heart.

Seeing through this, Touko couldn't help but sigh inwardly at her past self. Compared to her mentor, or even her sister whom she had subconsciously looked down upon, the past Touko Aozaki was undoubtedly naive.

No, Aoko and Bartholomew were different, Touko thought. Aoko was freer than Bartholomew; she did whatever she wanted.

Thinking back, how could Aoko, with her inhuman number of Magic Circuits and mana circulation efficiency, who had also developed many strange Magecrafts on her own, possibly be an ordinary Magus?

And now I am different, Touko Aozaki thought firmly. I will never be weak again.

Despite saying this, several months had passed since arriving in London, and Touko was still not accustomed to the "cuisine" of Britain. This made her deeply miss the meals Aoko personally prepared for her. She had unconsciously grown accustomed to that care, and now, having lost it, she regretted it deeply.

Although she planned to have a fight with Aoko in the future to settle their differences, Touko no longer harbored the pathological desire to "kill Aoko and seize Magic" from her original timeline. It was more of a stubborn insistence on proving to her grandfather that she was no worse than her sister.

Speaking of which, was her grandfather truly a Mage? Even after losing his physical body, he seemed unchanged and was still "alive" and well...

Aside from the various trivial matters during her research at the Clock Tower, Touko was very concerned about the letter Aoko had left for her.

Why did Aoko want her to pay attention to Cornelius Alba and Souren Araya? Touko had secretly investigated Alba during this time. His research fields were similar to Touko's, namely Rune scripts and doll making. However, Touko considered him merely mediocre, with nothing noteworthy about him.

Yet, during their interactions, this man's intentional or unintentional overtures towards Touko made her feel quite disgusted. He was an old man nearing fifty, yet he used Magecraft to maintain his appearance at twenty.

It wasn't that Touko herself opposed using Magecraft to slow down aging, but Alba's methods were too crude... Although his appearance was that of a twenty-year-old youth, his physical functions and Magic Circuits efficiency had undoubtedly aged to that of a fifty-year-old. In other words, he was the type who couldn't achieve much but always used cheap tricks to maintain a superficial facade of respectability.

Thanks to Aoko's reminder, Touko undoubtedly exercised caution in her daily interactions with Alba, not showing any contempt. She also vaguely sensed that the majority of Alba's feelings towards her were the ugly component of "jealousy."

Touko knew that future sight existed. She speculated that her sister might be a holder of this ability, which was why she had learned of Alba's malice towards her in advance.

Alba was a clown, but why would Souren Araya also pose a danger to her? Touko couldn't figure it out. According to her secret investigations, Souren Araya, also a Magus who came to the Clock Tower from Japan, was basically an ascetic. (He was truly like a monk.) His talent for Magecraft was mediocre, and he usually focused on researching his only specialty, Barrier Magecraft, paying no attention to others.

Touko even felt a bit of admiration for Souren Araya, because compared to Alba, Souren Araya was undoubtedly a pure person. He came to the Clock Tower merely to seek answers and knowledge, discarding fame and fortune, which Alba cherished, as if they were worthless.

However, due to Aoko's letter, Touko Aozaki still kept her guard up. She did not attempt to approach or contact Souren Araya, and she maintained her attitude towards Alba at a level of politeness. In secret, she began to prepare countermeasures against their respective Magecraft systems, in case they suddenly went mad and attacked her. After all, the formidable reputation of future sight could not be underestimated.

At this stage, Touko had no plans to eliminate these two, even though Aoko's letter had urged her to do so. The most important reason for this decision was that her foundation at the Clock Tower was not yet stable. Eliminating Souren Araya might be manageable, but if she eliminated Cornelius Alba, it could very well provoke retaliation from the organization Schonberg Abbey.

Touko was very confident in her future. Once her research results reached the appropriate level, she would be able to soar freely, and neither the foolish monk from Japan nor that old man pretending to be young would be any threat.

Aoko's letter to Touko, warning her to eliminate those two in advance, was merely a precautionary measure, in case her sister, appreciating their talent, went to make friends with them and ended up exposing too much information and getting killed.

But she didn't think Touko was the type to be very obedient, so she didn't expect Touko to find an opportunity to kill them as soon as she arrived in London.

The Fumizuka family was all eliminated silently by Aoko using mechanical devices combined with Arcane Arts. Eiri Fumizuka inexplicably went mad and destroyed his grandfather's physical body. This incident completely crossed her bottom line, so her revenge was merciless.

Her grandfather's situation was no different from the past. It's just that since inheriting Magic, her grandfather no longer taught her, but instead arranged other channels for her to learn Magecraft.

Aoko and her grandfather made an agreement: once she could partially activate the Fifth Magic, the old Mage would grant her access to that cave.

After graduating from Shiroukami Girls' Academy, Aoko chose to attend a high school very close to her home, which was the most famous private high school in Misaki Town, Misaki Private High School. In this regard, Aoko's choice was consistent with her original timeline.

Upon entering high school, her exceptionally beautiful figure and stunning appearance attracted the pursuit of countless boys and girls, which genuinely troubled Aoko for a while.

Towards the girls, Aoko adopted a strategy of friendly treatment, but refused to socialize. As for the boys, Aoko dealt with them forcefully. At an opportune moment, she publicly beat the son of a local business owner severely, sending him to the hospital. Then, she used the Aozaki family's influence in Misaki to suppress the heat of the incident, which deterred many with impure intentions. From then on, the boys kept their distance from Aoko Aozaki.

Originally, the school wanted to use this incident to curb Aoko's arrogance. However, her perfect scores in all subjects left the principal with no reason to do so, so he grudgingly allowed Aoko to do as she pleased.

In terms of her daily life, Aoko, using her understanding of "world trends," used the excuse of being the "heir to Magic" to provide her father, the nominal head of the Aozaki family, with some information in advance, allowing him to make preparations for investments.

Several months passed, and the Aozaki family's secular companies did indeed earn a considerable amount of money, and even Aoko's regular family dividends increased. However, it was just that, after all, her father was only an ordinary person and could not perform those "Dragon King" operations of acting decisively after obtaining information.

Aoko currently resides most of the time at the Kuonji Residence on the mountain, which is Alice Kuonji's home.

As the overseer of the local spiritual veins, the Aozaki family has always maintained a good relationship with Alice Kuonji, the descendant of the First Magic. Touko Aozaki and Alice Kuonji are also long-time friends. Aoko's grandfather wrote a letter to the fairy tale Witch, Alice Kuonji, entrusting her to continue guiding Aoko as a Magecraft mentor. Therefore, Aoko has been living at Alice's home since she started high school.

Alice Kuonji herself is a very powerful person on the level of a Magus. The mystery of her fairy tale Magecraft system far surpasses that of most Magus. This means that even at the Clock Tower, it would be impossible to defeat her solely through Magecraft.

The "Fragment of the First Magic" might be a contributing factor, but no one can deny Alice Kuonji's talent and Magecraft strength.

Compared to the mystical aspects, Alice is much worse in daily life.

Due to her research in Magecraft, Alice's expenses are quite high. Coupled with her fondness for drinking expensive black tea, her disposable income is often stretched thin, and sometimes even meal money needs to be carefully planned.

Her father is the eldest son of the renowned Japanese conglomerate "Kuonji Group" of this generation. However, after meeting Alice's mother in England, he gave up his inheritance right to marry Alice's mother. But because Alice's mother was the "Witch among Witches," she passed away after Alice's birth due to the inheritance of power.

After her mother's death, Alice's father brought Alice back to Japan, but due to her mother, Alice's relationship with her father became very strained.

Later, Alice's father also passed away, so she has been living alone in this huge Western-style mansion on the mountain. She didn't manage to rush to the hospital to see him one last time before he died, which has always been a knot in Alice Kuonji's heart.

Incidentally, the lineage of Witches to which Alice belongs is the only lineage of Witches that maintains a beautiful human form among all Witch lineages. This fact leads outsiders to suspect that the Yumina lineage of Witches and other Witch lineages are not the same thing at all. That infamous werewolf Berial is actually a descendant of a Witch clan whose origin is a fairy. His mother was once a one-hundred-percent ugly and evil fairy, but she later became human and gave birth to Berial.