—"A Certain Magical Index."
This was a world set in modern times.
By chronology, it was around the twenty-first century.
For someone like Sylvia, who lived in Battle City and was accustomed to all kinds of technology brought about by Falling Star Engineering, there might not have been anything surprising about this world.
But in truth, this world was far from ordinary. It possessed mysteries as well.
In this world, there were three major factions.
First: the magical faction, which had influenced the world in all sorts of ways since ancient times and possessed mysteries and miracles.
Second: the scientific faction, whose presence had rapidly increased since modern times. Though they generally knew nothing of magic, individuals capable of using Esper abilities had appeared among them.
Third: ordinary civilians, who were heavily influenced by both the scientific and magical factions yet never particularly noticed anything abnormal about either side.
The three factions each had their own positions.
Other than the ordinary civilians, who were basically only influenced by both sides, the open and covert struggle between the scientific faction and the magical faction could be considered the theme of this world.
The magical faction, which was gradually being replaced by science.
The scientific faction, which encroached upon the realm of mysteries.
The two sides could be said to be utterly irreconcilable. Each held half the world's power and carried out terrifying conflicts in places unknown to ordinary civilians.
Of course, those conflicts all took place beneath the surface.
As for ordinary civilians, they knew nothing at all about the existence of magic. Esper abilities, on the other hand, had some degree of presence and were known to the public.
However, Espers with supernatural abilities were not found everywhere.
Almost all of those Espers were concentrated in one place.
—"Academy City."