Surviving in a world of Magic and Superheroes, Snippet Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Surviving in a world of Magecraft and Superheroes.

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Read this Author Note please.

First off, this is not me starting a new story. This is just a snippet I've been working over the past few months when I felt like it. I am not starting another story with any meaningful schedule until A Nascent Kaleidoscope is wrapping up. Basically, I'll be having a thread over on Questionable Questing where I post random snippets of either future stories, possible ideas, or whatever strange thing I think of. Of course, as my Subs, I'll make sure you all can read them here.

Basic Story Synopsis: MC filles out a CYOA (Create your own Adventure, think DnD character sheet specific to certain fandoms), next thing he knows, he's inside his character in the world. The World is a fusion of Worm and Fate with my own twists on everything this entails. 

Things will slowly be explained over the first few chapters, but the first chapter mostly covers his entry and subsequent world.

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Chapter 1

One might expect some kind of cosmic phenomenon. Some manner of spectacular display of supernatural might. A miracle born from hopes and dreams. Or frankly, anything to indicate that something happened.

One moment, I was staring up at my ceiling, the next, a new ceiling was above my head.

I don’t even think I blinked.

It just sorta….happened.

Zero out of Ten, wouldn’t isekai again.

However, fairly quickly, a sort of mask overcame my normal emotional response. Not really supernatural by any means, but something practiced and engrained into me for years.

Every Magus wore a ‘mask’ in public, and I was no different.

How did I jump to this immediate conclusion? Well, thankfully, I kept my wallet in my pocket and my ID answered the questions I had. Simply knowing my name allowed me to connect the dots rather quickly.

Frederick Allard Verde.

Why was this name such an eyeopener? Well, most probably because it was the name I filled in for a CYOA I filled out minutes before attempting to fall asleep.

Thus, here I am.

I was a Magus from a rather predominant family, it had history dating back into the Age of Gods. Frankly, there was only a spot for like one or two paragraphs of background information, and I kept it rather vague, but apparently, I knew our entire family history now that dated back thousands of years.

The memories of my character – myself. I couldn’t even recall my old name, I couldn’t recall the faces of my parents, nor anyone rather important to me.

They were all….blank, and I felt emotionless at this.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that my head was screwed with. Yes, I still was not reacting how I logically should be. My Magus Mask was pulled on tight, and I compartmentalized everything in a very unhealthy way.

I felt very overwhelmed and out of my depth, but it’s not like I could push my head into the sand and pretend this wasn’t happening.

Worry later, deal with the immediate issues.

And the most pressing concern was the pair of pale green eyes staring at me merely a few feet away.

“Apologies, I was having an inner crisis and forgot myself.” I quickly reorientated myself, falling back onto years of lessons I never actually experienced for myself, but were still burned into my mannerisms.

The ‘person’ across from me tilted her head, seemingly not quite understanding, but it was fine. She had patiently just stared at me up until this point, like I was some interesting toy she had found.

“Servant Lancer, Artoria Pendragon.” She introduced herself. “You have summoned for me.”

Right, I did fill out my CYOA to add a Servant. Specifically, I spent all the ‘points’ available for one servant in particular.

“……should I call you Goddess Rhongomyniad?”

Her expression didn’t change but I felt it became….sharper, in a sense, as she continued to stare at me. “I was not aware there were living humans aware of my identity outside of Chaldea.”

“Wouldn’t it be strange if I attempted to summon you without knowing your identity?” I replied.

She seemingly mulled that over. “Your logic is reasonable. However, it does not explain how you would know my identity.”

“One time clairvoyance that allowed me to view Parallel worlds for a period. I’m aware of Chaldea and the Grand Order, among other things.” I vaguely answered.

“I see.” She accepted that explanation apparently, or she simply did not care to push further. “You have summoned me regardless.”

“Yes.”

“It should not have been possible.”

“Because you’re a Divine Spirit?”

“Among other anomalies.” She furrowed her brow. “However, I am currently a Lancer Servant. Upon my summoning, I noticed the peculiarities, and I sealed away my Divinity and sublimed it into a Noble Phantasm to prevent your death upon my arrival.”

…..well, Bullet dodged I suppose?

In hindsight, summoning a Goddess would kill a normal Magus instantly. I obviously didn’t take that into account when I was filling out my stuff.

“Thank you for that.”

“You are welcome.” She answered, and like her previous responses, she didn’t express nearly any emotion and all her words were exceedingly blunt.

“You have your Spear.” I pointed out the rather obvious.

“Yes.”

“And realistically, you shouldn’t have it.”

“Correct.”

“A happenstance of becoming a Lancer Servant?” I asked.

“A reasonable assertion.”

“…..Do you wish to ask me any questions?” Because I was having a very hard time of reading her.

“Yes.” She answered in an affirmative. “I wish to know how you were able to summon myself. It was peculiar enough that I allowed the summoning to occur.”

“Pardon, are you saying that you could have rejected the summoning?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“….you can still cancel our Contract at any time you desire.” I said it more rhetorically. “Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, even as ‘merely’ a Servant, you would be one of the absolute strongest. With your nature as a genuine Divine Spirit, this kind of contract wouldn’t restrain you unless you allowed it.”

“Correct.”

“Apologies, my mind wandered, and I didn’t answer your question. This is as confusing a situation to me as it probably is for you.”

“I accept your apology.” She replied. “However, I would like my question answered.”

“Right, to answer your question…” I put a hand on my chest, recalling what I filled out on the CYOA, on how, I was able to perform a Servant summoning. “I have pieces of a Grail inside of me acting as a Pseudo Magical Core.”

I spent the vast majority of my ‘points’ when filling out the CYOA on summoning her as my Servant, that I couldn’t get anything big like a Dragon’s Core, or a literal Holy Grail, so I fudged some things, wrote in my own stuff, and figured that with the points I had remaining, the broken pieces of a Grail acting as a conduit – a Pseudo Magical Core, would be a viable option without breaking the spirit of the CYOA.

Apparently, whatever sent me here agreed with my logic and allowed it.

“I see.” Was the entirety of her answer.

“May I ask a question?”

She tilted her head again. “You may.”

“Do you have Excalibur?”

“….you know about that as well.” She muttered. “Yes, I possess my blade. Does this answer satisfy you?”

“Yes, thank you.” I nodded.

“What would be your response if I did not have the Holy Sword in my possession?” She seemed…curios.

“Fear? I don’t know in all honesty. There is fairly little I could do despite hoping that you would not walk down the same path as you did during the singularity.”

Goddess Rhongomyniad was a version of Artoria that should have never occurred. A version where Excalibur was never returned to the Lake, thus her Death couldn’t come. She wandered the world with her Divine Spear, and after centuries, it began to change her because it wasn’t something a human should wield for long periods. She eventually became a Divine Spirit and saw the incineration of Humanity by Goetia and decided that she would preserve Humanity in her own way, thus sought to pick out the ‘best’ she could find and preserve them inside her spear forever.

As for the ones she deemed unworthy?

They were useless, thus didn’t deserve to continue living.

It was only when Excalibur was returned to her that her humanity returned.

There was barely the hints of a frown appearing on her face. “You are aware of my actions. Then I wish to ask you a question from your perspective as a human. Do you believe I was wrong for what I did?”

“I will give you an honest answer, but I don’t know if you’ll like it.”

“I asked you willingly, I will not be upset for an answer I not desire to hear.”

I let out a sigh because this was a very awkward situation for me and I knew if I lied, she would be able to see through any deceptions. Even as a ‘normal’ Servant she had absurd enough intuition to see through falsehoods and deception. “Every action you took was wrong. While your logic wasn’t incorrect, and on the basis of perceiving things far beyond human means, you were wrong. And every step you took on furthering your goal along the way was also wrong.”

I answered truthfully despite how it sounded.

“I understand, thank you for your truthful response. I have come to believe that since my view widened as a Divine Spirit, that I knew what I should do and ignore any dissention. However, it seems that along the way, I lost my Humanity, and thus my perspective.” I don’t think she was particularly speaking to me but more to herself and confirming her own thoughts.

“I’m sure that the Master of Chaldea would have answered your question if you asked them.”

There was a twitch of something from her. “To ask such a question from the ones who defeated me, it is too embarrassing.” She spoke bluntly still, and nearly expressionless, but very vaguely, I felt like I noticed the tiniest bit of bashfulness flash across her face.

….it’s kind of cute.

“Is there anything else you want to know?” It was important to find common ground with your Servants. Atleast, I think so, it’s not like I ever expected to be in this situation and I was making it up as I went along.

“Why did you choose to reach out to me?”

“You’re strong, and I’m scared.” Knowing where I am right at this moment, this was probably the most correct answer. “I want to live a long and fulfilling life, and to do that, I needed a big enough deterrent. Not many entities on your level are as…. amicable as you are.”

She looked at me for a moment. “I feel as though you are not fully honest with your answer. I desire truth if I am to accept this contract.”

I frowned. “I admittedly admired you.”

She tilted her head again, perhaps in confusion? “The words you spoke suggested otherwise.”

I shook my head. “Before you picked up the spear for over a thousand years…. But even after, I think, even when you lost your human perspective, you still tried to do what you thought was right in your mind.”

“Even if it was wrong?”

“To err is to be human.” I remembered this quote from somewhere. “You could have done nothing, and while I don’t agree with your actions, you still tried.”

She looked at me silently for a few more moments. “I continue to feel as though you are still withholding something.”

It required my carefully cultivated mask to not blush because there was one small reason in addition to the others. “You’re also a very beautiful woman, so I believed that to be a bonus.”

She then showed the most emotion she had this entire conversation, just blinking in surprise at my response.

Ever so slightly, her lips curled up in amusement. “Very well, I accept this contract, Master.”

“Are you sure? There is no wish to be had here. I have nothing that you could perceivably gain by becoming my Servant.” I was…confused. Though, I was happy it steered away from philosophical questions and my preferences towards the opposite sex.

Frankly, I was way out of my depth when she was asking me about her past.

“Mayhaps.” She acknowledged what I said. “But what I desire is not something material.”

“What do you want? I’ll do my best to fulfill your desires.” That’s the least I could do if she was going to keep my scrawny ass alive in this ridiculous world.

I think she was pleased with what I said, but it was still hard to tell. “I desire to experience what it is to be human again.”

….I had no idea how to help here there.

“I’ll do my best to help you, but that’s something you’ll probably have to figure out mostly on your end.”

“I am aware, but thank you.” She replied. “We have settled the matter of our contract. However, I am confused about a great many things. Would you please explain to me why this world feels incorrect? I may have sealed away my Divine Nature, but I am able to perceive such things as blatant as they are.”

“That….is a difficult question to answer properly. What do you know about superheroes?”

Time to explain that this world is a mix between Worm and Fate. Because for some reason, I thought that would make an interesting combination when writing my CYOA.

@***@

It took far longer than I would have expected to help her understand the concept of superheroes.

It was a rather important topic to understand when living in Brockton Bay of all places.

The idea that people dress up in costumes and masks to fight crime seemed odd to her when they could just join the proper authorities.

I did my best, but I think she won’t truly understand until she experiences it for herself.

But this world would most certainly allow her to do that.

And I haven’t even gotten into the meat of how fucked this world is.

While she was silently digesting that tidbit of information, we adjourned to my families’ library.

Well, I call it a Library, and so does my Family.

My Servant on the other hand…

“This is an impressive armory.” She stated admiring the thousands of years of work my family put into gathering this knowledge.

I felt a sense of pride at her compliments. It was odd considering that I just recently became a Magus, yet the years of upbringing shoved into my head were enough to invoke this emotional response.

“My family does not follow the traditional Magus route.” I looked around just as well. Seeing it in person and knowing it in my memories were two entirely different things.

“I am aware that Magus families seek the Root.” My Servant stated. “Is this not true for your family?”

“We do, but we don’t pick one Craft to focus on. In fact, we go the exact opposite direction. My Ancestors thought it futile to try and force every descendant to be competent in the same Craft and instead gathered all the knowledge and resources they could so Descendants could choose their own paths. The only requirement is that we leave the family with more knowledge and resources that it had when we were born.”

That isn’t to say that my family were ‘Spellcasters’ as a certain red-haired idiot would say. We were proper Magi with everything that came with it.

Inside this library, we had plenty of paths we could choose to take, many of them had been blazed further than Families with only a few hundred years of history. Others only had a generation or two that took the Crafts up but left all their notes and research for future generations.

That’s the reason why my families’ Library is the largest private Library in the world of Magecraft.

Sure, the Mage’s Association has a larger combined Library, as do the other large institutions, but this is entirely mine.

Hell, even when compared to non-private, it still ranks Fifth.

And it was not just Books that filled this place.

Artoria was not wrong when she called it an Armory.

All manner of Phantasmal Ingredients stored away. Weapons and Mystic Codes of varying quality and quantity. Basic wealth in the form of Gold, precious Metals, and jewels. And even other miscellaneous things.

“One of the reasons I need protection. I believe many would do anything they could to get their hands on my families’ resources.” I stated.

“I see.” She nodded in understanding. “But I am confused about something. Do you not have the protection of your parents?”

“My parents…” I frowned because I had been so caught up in the initial arrival that I glossed over them. But it hit me fairly quickly, the depression and the sadness. “They Died Three years ago. I’m legally Emancipated and the head of the Verde Family.”

“I apologize for my bluntness; I should have considered.” She didn’t express much still, but there was a hint of sincerity in her words. I could imagine she wasn’t quite used to dancing around delicate matters like this and only realized in hindsight after asking.

“It’s alright.” I waived it off.

However, I was thrown for a loop for how I was emancipated.

I should have only been 14 when it happened, which no court in the United States would have signed off on.

I wracked my brain and recalled the memories of my ‘Uncle’. Not In a blood-relation sense, but he worked heavily with my father and was in the ‘know’ so to speak even if he was not related to Magecraft or the hidden world whatsoever.

He was a Lawyer of some renown.

Hmm, bribing and illegal activities, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

I almost wanted to laugh when I realized how Rich my family actually was. I could practically claim to own the City I resided within.

Sure, a pittance of it was actually in my own name, but through roundabout ways, and hidden companies, over 70% of the city belong to me one way or another.

Perks of being one of the founding families of this region during the American Exploration period.

Jesus, I remember my dad telling me a story of how our family allied with George Washington to keep the English Magi at bay during the Revolution and this area was basically given to us as a reward.

Obviously, the Government would not respect our claim to ownership, so we had to advance with the times, and retained our ‘holdings’ through more dubious means.

But, why did it have to be Brockton Bay.

I knew why, obviously, because I filled it into my CYOA sheet.

Granted, I didn’t fill in the part about owning the majority of the City, but I suppose that came with my ‘background’ being properly filled in with the vague statements I made.

“There is also…..one particular reason that other Magi may come for me.” I pursed my lips and found it a tiny bit embarrassing. Granted, the Magus part of me wanted to just puff up proudly as I said it. “My Sorcery Trait is very…. sought after by other Magi and can supplement their families.”

“I see, so you can aid them in their crafts?” She nodded in understanding once more. “I understand, I know that a great many that practice Magecraft will use any unscrupulous means to advance their own.”

“In a manner of speaking, that’s true.” I let out a sigh. “My families’ Sorcery Trait is 100% inheritable and has been passed down to every Head of my family since its inception. It’s called Rejection of Regression. I’ll spare you the details, but essentially, Children I have will retain, at a minimum, the same level of ‘talent’ as their mother.”

My Servant tilted her head, one of the few displays of response that I’ve seen of her, and I was quickly starting to enjoy it, even despite the situation. “Magic Circuits?”

I nodded. “That’s one part of it. If the child’s mother will have 20 Magic Circuits of High Quality, our child will, at a minimum, have that same amount and quality as well.”

“I see. That is a very powerful trait to have in the world you exist in.”

“There’s another facet. It’s not just Magic Circuits, but other beneficial Bloodline traits that will be passed down. The Barthomeloi Family is renowned for their ‘Blue Blood’ Magic Circuits, my child would have them as well as a guarantee. Mystic Eyes, they would retain. Non-Human Ancestry? The blood would not thin in the generation that I help create.”

She seemed to realize the scope of my Families’ ability now.

“Forgive me for asking, but why are you not…”

“Chained up in a basement somewhere?” I offered.

“I would have used more delicate wording.”

“My family wasn’t foolish. My Crest has defenses against forced use. And my Sorcery Trait will only trigger in tandem with my Magic Crest. There are also considerations, such that if it is not willing on my part, it will also not ‘activate’.” Yeah, my family had to install Anti-Rape precautions in our Magic Crest over the years.

There were several more ‘defenses’, but I didn’t feel the need to get into those.

“The only detriment is that only one person in my family can possess the two at the same time.”

Artoria nodded and didn’t ask any more questions, which I was thankful for. It was slightly embarrassing for me to talk about.

Honestly, the main reason I haven’t been harassed by other Magi families so far is that most don’t know where I actually live.

Oh, they know my Family took up residence in the United States at the founding, but this is a very large area and we’re decently good at hiding.

Not to say that I’m unknown, and it’s not like we go super far out of our way to hide ourselves, but to the middle-tier families and below, we’re off the radar.

The reason that my family didn’t have a ton of descendants running around is because we became disillusioned with building familial ties to other families after many, many attempts at subverting our family line.

Dad actually married a pretty average Magus – my Mother. She came from a lesser Family that basically had no history and nothing of value to add to ours.

And it was out of love, which is why I was raised lovingly in a pretty standard Magus family.

The flip side to the maternal parent passing down their legacy unabated is that the one who receives the Magic Crest and Sorcery Trait basically flips a coin everywhere else. In order for one of my children to inherit my Sorcery Trait and Crest, I have to perform a ritual beforehand, which basically turns off the inheritance aspect from their mother’s side, so it becomes a ‘normal’ birth in a sense. And I’m above average, but I’m a far cry from the likes of the highest level of Magi in the Clock Tower.

I can father an uncountable number of Genius Children, but the one who receives my own families’ legacy will most likely be average or less than average in comparison.

Nothing we could really do, there is a benefit and drawback for all things in the world.

Well, I say those are the reasons I’ll be in the most trouble, but that may not be entirely truthful.

One of the options to get enough points when filling out my CYOA sheet for Artoria, I had to take some detriments.

‘May you live in interesting times’ was one of them. It sounded rather whimsical on the surface, but it was considered a ‘curse’ by every stretch of the imagination.

I was going to be a trouble magnet.

I needed to gather my own faction; people loyal to me to survive this shitty world.

I couldn’t trust the Mages Association and the Heroes running around with parasites in their heads were absolutely not an option.

Could I even summon another Servant? I was pretty sure that would be an unwise decision. The memories of mine told me that there had never been a Holy Grail created in this world, thus I had the advantage of anonymity there in regards to Artoria. No one is going to assume she is a Servant at first glance. And no one will even grasp at straws with the idea that I had pieces of a Grail, so I was relatively safe in this sense as well.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be surprised if I became an interest in a lot of people’s eyes with my pieces of a Grail and what it could accomplish.

But that’s probably the least of my worries.

When filling out the CYOA, I merged both Worm and Fate into one universe. This was going to be a huge headache to parse out.

I rubbed my temples to shift through my memories on what that entailed.

Magic, was a known phenomenon, it was acknowledged as something that existed by Governments and such, but it was still tightly kept out of the public’s eye.

I remember the lessons that my Parents taught me and the happenings of the advent of ‘Superheroes’.

When Scion first appeared in the world, the Mages Association thought him a Divine Spirit that accidentally stumbled over from the Reverse Side of the World.

Things quickly took a turn for the worse when that was proven incorrect.

About ten years ago, Magic was accidentally revealed. I couldn’t quite recall the event in detail as apparently it was hushed up very thoroughly, but it became ‘public knowledge’.

That is to say, people are aware that there are individuals who can wield a power known as ‘magic’.

The Mages Association cracked down hard.

They were vehemently against the further reveal of Mysteries. Anyone caught intentionally leaking secrets to the masses would suffer the consequences.

The immediate fervor of the mundane masses died down over the next few years, but it’s still something that everyone is keeping an eye out for.

There are definitely those stroking the flames in the background too. Going on the internet, there are plenty of people who post things like ‘How dare they hoard all the Magic for themselves’. Lots of people agree that Magecraft should be something shared with everyone. Among other things, there are plenty of people who are pointing to ‘magic users’ as the cause for any unresolved events.

Magi basically became the scapegoat for everyone to point to even when very little is known about them.

The Magus part of me scowled at the thought of ‘sharing’ my families’ legacy.

I could only summarize that the lid has been kept on tight because the mundane Governments of the world couldn’t realistically force the Mages’s Association to capitulate.

What were they supposed to do when a group of Magi could probably Curse any world leader from half-way across the planet?

So, it entered this weird state where Magic was known, but it was still completely hidden.

And it just drove all Magi that lived outside of the hotspots to keep things even closer to their chest.

The last thing any Magi wanted was for their identities to get known and get mobbed by random people after their ‘fair share’ of magic.

The biggest thing should be the alteration to Mystery due to the perception of humanity as a whole altering, but I vaguely recall my Father talking about how nothing happened and it’s caused a lot of confusion within the Mages Association.

Shit, people didn’t even know what we were called. Wizards and Warlocks were things thrown around everywhere, among every term under the sun. Maybe it’s because of this, the fact that they can’t even properly label us that we’re still shrouded in ‘mystery’ to the masses and thus sustain the status quo.

Even my own family bunkered down, stopped appearing in public, and never flaunted our wealth. To most of the city, we were completely unknown and that’s the way we wanted to keep it.

Hell, even our mansion is hidden from view. Lots of Bounded Fields obscured its true appearance to that of a moderately sized two-story house. Sure, we have ‘lots of land’ to most people’s perception, but it’s easily explained as having a long history in Brockton Bay and no one takes a second look.

Just, so many issues and things I need to consider before I feel comfortable.

“I wanted your opinion. It would be foolish of me to ignore my own strength just because I have you by my side.”

“A wise consideration.” She spoke with a tinge of approval in her tone. “Are you trained in combat?”

“I’ve had lessons since I was about Seven. I wouldn’t call myself a Martial Arts master by any stretch of the imagination, but I believe I can hold my own to atleast be able to run away from powerful opponents.” There was no need to inflate my own abilities for my own sense of pride.

Obviously, that did not mean for opponents on the level of a Servant.

Most Parahumans, I felt fine enough to get away from danger. Other Magi that were physical powerhouses, the same could be said there.

Funny enough, I recognized the person who trained me as she flashed through my memories after thinking about my training.

Bazett Fraga Mcremitz.

She had been my teacher since my Parents hired her when I was a child. She still checks up on me every few months and still teaches me.

She’s actually a very nice woman even if she’s a bit cold on the exterior.

My Parents were of the firm opinion that every member of the family should be able to defend themselves. My parents themselves were apparently very strong if the stories they told me were anything to go by. Even Bazett only had good things to say about them from the times we’ve spoken and she’s a monster herself.

“It would be productive of our time to ensure that you are able to defend yourself in a situation that requires my full attention elsewhere.” She admitted frankly. “As unlikely as it is, to plan for the worse would be proper.”

“I agree.” And I’m the type of person who wants several contingencies when it comes to my own life. “As I said, I wanted your opinion on how to proceed. There is…..a lot I can choose from, I wanted your practical perspective.”

“I understand, I shall look through what your family has available and help you decide.” She nodded.

It was nice to have someone reliable like this to help. Honestly, this whole situation might have caused me a lot more stress had she not been here. It was the start of a partnership that I hoped to last for a very long time.

I began rummaging through the bookshelves. And truthfully, I had only the barest idea of what secrets were held here. The previous me didn’t really take the time to go through everything.

I would need to correct this oversight.

This was all mine, and I would make sure it’s properly taken care of.

One of the benefits of my families’ style of gathering is that we often traded for other families’ Magecraft. Obviously, that didn’t include the ‘Royalty’ that you see walking around the Clocktower, but some Families were more than willing to trade research and notes that were a hundred years out of date for certain things.

As cliché as it was, my Father always emphasized that knowledge was power, and that it was much more valuable than material wealth.

For instance, there were several notebooks and research papers on Jewelcraft, courtesy of the Edelfelt family that were dated in 1783 of the latest. Over 200 years out of date, which might seem particularly lackluster to most, but that already puts someone far ahead if they decide to walk down a similar path.

Even so, many families wouldn’t divulge these kinds of secrets or assets without good reason. Often, it took not only a guarantee of a heir, but also a Geass that didn’t allow the divulgence or the practice of their families’ Magecraft for a certain amount of years.

All in all, there was no standard protocol for acquiring things like this. It all depends on what the family in question was desperate for at the time.

However, many of which were more than willing just for basic money and such.

Speaking of, I was ecstatic as I grabbed a book I did not expect to see.

It was a personal Notebook penned by Hirose Emiya, which…..based on the dates, should be the grandfather of Noritaka Emiya, Kiritsugu Emiya’s father.

Time Alter.

It was a Magecraft that made use of a personalized and self-contained Bounded Field wrapped around the user that accelerated time. Essentially, it made the person under it move fast, if you wanted to be pedantic.

I was surprised because it should only be plausible with the Emiya Crest. Yet, just the first page of notes talked about the spell casting sequence and the requirements without ever mentioning the Crest.

Maybe only the later utilizations required the Crest? Perhaps the most basic utility was able to operate by itself, but it took another few hundred years before they progressed enough?

Because it only mentioned a Double Accel, whereas Kiritsugu Emiya was able to get up to a Quad Accel from what I recall.

However, even a Double Accel was fantastic.

I was genuinely curious what my family did to obtain such a prized Magecraft. This is something even the Magi in the Clock Tower would fight over. I recall how fervent they were about acquiring the Emiya Crest after everything happened.

“What is this?”

I jerked my head to the side towards Lancer’s voice. She was staring into a glass case which housed – “Oh, I forgot that was there. You…recognize it?”

“Yes.” She answered in a blunt affirmative. “Why do you posses it?” It wasn’t quite….in an accusatory tone, but more inquisitive. It was hard to differentiate, but I was starting to get the hang of it.

“It belonged to my ancestor.” I adopted a gentle smile, walking over to her side.

“Truly?” She looked surprised, another small, but obvious expression of emotion.

I opened up the case, picking up the rusted and somewhat broken sword. It looked like a traditional English sword that you would see a Knight waiving around. However, the last…two tenths of it were missing, as if they were snapped off, leaving a jagged ‘point’ that somehow still managed to retain its lethality.

Despite the rust, and the ‘broken’ blade, it was still a very powerful Mystic Code.

“My father told me the story awhile ago.” I handed it over to her, and she hesitantly took it into her hands, feeling it out. “My many times Great Grandfather had a brother born without talent in Magecraft, and even the barest of Magical Circuits. He was ashamed and decided to leave the family in search of his own path when he came of age. His brother, my Ancestor, loved him still, and gave him enough to support him as he made his own way. Eventually, he found himself on a small Island Nation that was in the middle of strife between many different factions. The story goes that he happened upon someone worth swearing his fealty to and became a proper Knight under their banner.”

“Ser Bartolomé, of the broken blade.” Lancer said softly.

“You do remember him.” I blinked in surprise.

“I recall all of my knights.” She had a nostalgic tone in her voice. “The blade, it was broken even then, hence his moniker. Merlin was the one who gave him this sword, but neither of them spoke of the origins. Are you truly related to him?” She looked at me.

“I cannot say for certain, only the stories my father told me. If you want the origins…” I scratched my head. “My father told me that he gained the sword as a thanks from Merlin due to helping Merlin out of a particular….situation.”

Lancer looked at me silently, as if telling me to clarify.

“Apparently….Merlin ran afoul a village due to…..engaging with the married women who lived there. He presumedly saved Merlin from a rather just fate it would seem. In return for his silence, my father said that Merlin crafted him a Magic Sword. My father also told me that Merlin was quite inebriated when doing so….” Hence…the fact that the sword was partially broken even at its inception.

“I no longer doubt the validity of your story.” She said very dryly. “That is precisely what I believe Merlin would do.”

“…the sleeping with the entirety of a Villages’ Married Women, or drunkenly crafting a Magic Sword?”

“Yes.”

Right, that’s in line with what I know too.

Despite the strange story, I think I could see a smidgen of fondness as She looked upon the sword in recollection.

“It was actually because of him that we eventually moved into the British Isles some centuries ago. He managed to build up his own family and home and did very well for himself. We originally came from modern day Spain and there were some issues propping up at the time and we…fled, for lack of a better term, over there. Without him, we would have never been able to gain a proper foothold in the country.”

Hence, why I have a Spanish last name meaning Green, and an English given name.

My family isn’t actually named after the color, the color is named after my family. The tiniest smidgen of Fae Blood way back near the inception of my families’ history, and we’ve since always possessed vivid Green eyes thereafter. Verde became synonymous with the color Green by extension.

“He lived a good life?” She asked.

“He died of old age, surrounded by family and friends.” I nodded.

If there was one thing my family was good at, it was keeping internal records.

“That is pleasant to hear.” She gently put the sword back into the case.

I think she was in a good mood now, so that’s something atleast.

The pleasant atmosphere was interrupted by my phone buzzing in my pocket. I was confused as to why my alarm was going off, but realization dawned on me instantly.

Maybe it was irrational.

My previous self was already an adult and mostly through my twenties.

Here, I was Seventeen years old, and right at this moment, I was annoyed.

Forget Scion and his Endbringers.

Screw Magi and all the bullshit that came with them.

Right at this moment, I was dreading something else that I hadn’t had to think about for many years.

“I have to go to school….” The dread within my soul was immediate.