Three days later, London, British Museum.
"Is this the legendary Mage Association?!"
The enormous, majestic building reflected in Li Mo's eyes, prompting him to sigh in awe.
As expected of an organization founded over a thousand years ago. It had planted its headquarters right in the heart of London.
"No, Mō-san. Strictly speaking, the Mage Association is the collective term for the three major organizations: the Clock Tower, the Atlas Institute, and the Wandering Sea. This place is only the Clock Tower," Brishisan explained.
Tch. Li Mo clicked his tongue. I wonder whether my country exists in this world, and whether it has an organization like this?
"Teacher Brishisan, now that we're back at the Clock Tower, when are you going to teach me how to sense elements?"
Over the past three days, under Brishisan's forceful insistence, Li Mo had finally changed the way he addressed him to Teacher.
After all, if he really called him Dad and the branch families of Brishisan's lineage at the Clock Tower heard it, wouldn't they explode?
The current Lord had no children, so they were counting on the next generation of branch families to produce a Lord.
"What are you in such a hurry for? Talk to me once you can stand," Brishisan said with a faint smile, walking ahead toward the magnificent building.
"Ugh..." Li Mo pulled a miserable face, but there was nothing he could do, because...
He was currently sitting in a wheelchair, and even moving around required a puppet behind him to push him.
"Forget it. Let's go too, Intres."
Intres was a humanoid puppet with a female appearance created by Brishisan to care for his daily needs. Naturally, he had decisively handed her over to Li Mo to look after this wounded patient.
It was rare to find someone so gentle in the Clock Tower!
After entering the Clock Tower, everyone they encountered along the way stepped back and saluted Brishisan, making Li Mo sigh once again at the naked class hierarchy among magi.
Tch. The majesty of a Lord.
Brishisan had always seemed far too harmless in front of him, though Li Mo also knew that no one who could become a Lord in the Clock Tower could possibly be that approachable.
Or was Brishisan an exception?
"Where are we going now?" Li Mo stopped his train of thought, turned to Intres, and asked softly.
"Master needs to report the details of this mission to the Headmaster. After that, he will likely take you to the Department of Law and Politics to handle your enrollment."
The Headmaster?
Li Yuan's body trembled. He knew about this too!
The Headmaster of the Clock Tower was a monstrous, final-boss-level figure in the settings of the Mushroom's books from his previous world!
Why?
Because from the Clock Tower's founding until now, more than two thousand years had passed. Lords and others had come and gone generation after generation, yet the Headmaster had always remained the Headmaster. There had only ever been one!
A person who had survived from the Age of Gods. How terrifying was that?
More than two thousand years... if a pig did not die, it could become immortal by then, right?
"Fuck." Li Yuan shook his head wildly. I can't keep thinking about this!
The Type-Moon world was not without magecraft capable of reading minds. Who knew whether an old monster who had lived for over two thousand years might have such magecraft active at all times?
Though he probably would not specifically pay attention to what a little nobody like him was thinking.
As they walked, the two of them had reached the end of the corridor.
Oh, Li Mo did not need to walk now.
"Wait here. Don't move around," Brishisan said, stopping and turning to Li Yuan.
Are you going to buy me some oranges too?
"Yes, Teacher." Though Li Mo grumbled inwardly, he did not dare act up in a place like this and answered obediently.
Besides, he was still in a wheelchair. Without Brishisan's orders, Intres would not take him wandering around.
"I'll teach you how to sense elements tonight." Brishisan nodded in satisfaction, gently pushed open a door at the end of the corridor, and walked inside.
Oh-ho, hadn't he said to wait until my injuries healed? Why had he agreed so readily this time?
But Brishisan had already shut the door. With no target left for his snark, Li Mo could only begin idly inspecting his surroundings.
Though there was not much to inspect.
A large Western building was nothing more than tall and grand, with a few aristocratic decorations thrown in.
The world before his transmigration had already reached 2019. Even if he had never seen this sort of building in person, were there not countless pictures online?
Sir, the times had changed!
Not to mention that in the world he had transmigrated from, a certain foreign game company had a series jokingly called a "sightseeing tourism simulator"...
That was right. Li Mo could proudly tell everyone that he had played it!
Once his injuries healed, if he wanted to go out, all he needed was to identify a landmark. He could act as a guide for every tourist from out of town and talk them dizzy!
It would be just like returning home. Even natives born and raised there probably would not know the place as well as he did...
"Can you tell me about the current Twelve Lords?" Li Mo tilted his head toward Intres, a flicker of curiosity suddenly flashing through his black eyes.
In the works he had read in his previous life, only a handful of people from the Clock Tower had appeared. The most famous among them...
Wasn't it the tragic Director Ken? His fiancée had fallen in love with the Servant he summoned, and not long after the Holy Grail War began, he had been merrily beaten into a GG.
But come to think of it, it was only 1987. The Fourth Holy Grail War had not begun yet, so Director Ken should still be here at the Clock Tower, serving as a Lord and teaching students.
He just did not know whether he could meet that tearful, workaholic little Kongming now...
Sure enough,
"The current Twelve Lords of the Clock Tower are:
Department of Law and Politics—Lord Bartholomello;
Department of General Fundamentals—Lord Tramberio;
Department of Individual Fundamentals—Lord Solonia;
Spirit Evocation Department—Lord Eulyphis;
Department of Mineralogy—Lord El-Melloi;
Animal Department—Lord Gaius Ling;
Department of Botany—Lord Achelott;
Celestial Department—Lord Animesphere;
Department of Creation—Lord Baru-yeleta;
Curse Department—Lord Jigumare;
Department of Archaeology—Lord Meiastacia, and finally, the Department of Lore where Master belongs."
Intres's voice carried a mechanical quality, but Li Mo did not find it grating.
Li Mo tilted his head, put on the air of a sage, and narrowed his eyes as he gazed into the distance.
"Is Lord El-Melloi named Kayneth?"
"Yes. Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald," Intres replied affirmatively, completely unaware of anything strange in Li Mo's question.
After all, not everyone was a Grand Puppeteer like Touko Aozaki. An ordinary puppet naturally would not understand why Li Mo, an ordinary person, knew the name of a Lord in the world of magecraft.
In that case, the current Lord of the Clock Tower's Celestial Department should be Chaldea's first Director in the future, right?
Then, if he searched the Clock Tower for information on the Holy Grail War, he could probably determine which Type-Moon timeline he was currently in.
But for now, he still had to study magecraft properly here. Even on the FGO timeline, if he wanted guidance in magecraft from Solomon, the Grand Caster, he would have to wait until 2004...
But was there any way to help him return home? There really were not many magecraft systems involving time and space in the Type-Moon world.
Narrowing his eyes, Li Mo could not help tugging hard at his hair.
The Type-Moon world was simply too dangerous. Who knew whether the Incineration of Humanity in 2014 on the FGO timeline would affect other timelines as well?
It still came down to strength. With strength, everything was easier to handle!
Before you continue