5. A journey to Japan and a troubling encounter

It was seven days before the war was set to start officially when Waver boarded the plane to Fuyuki Airport, a week ahead of schedule. For some reason, the remaining flights for the week had been fully booked by some wealthy family.

Getting "The History of Fuyuki's Three Great Clans," a book entirely filled with self-praise and boasting about the Matou, Tohsaka, and Einzbern families, through airport security had been difficult, requiring the use of some simple magecraft. And if the subject matter wasn't already too much, the book itself was massive—two and a half thousand pages filled with text, with the occasional picture of a ritual or something similar.

With a pained groan he once again mentally repeated the summoning incantation, hoping to summon a Saber servant, of course.

"For the elements of silver and steel.

Let stone and the Archduke of Contracts be the foundation.

Fill, Fill, Fill, Fill, Fill. Repeat five times, and with each fill, destroy the previous.

Close the four gates and come forth from the realm that seems to entrap you.

Seven warriors of legend, hear my call and obey me.

Heed my words: my will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny.

If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason, then answer me.

I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world, that I shall make your wish come true and let you return from the dead.

Seventh Heaven, clad in the Great Words of Power.

From the Binding Circle, rise, Guardian of the Scales."

If you were to ask him, Waver would say that the ritual in itself seems a bit too easy for summoning legendary and mythical heroes as servants, but perhaps that's the reason why it's not possible without the Grail's infinite mana as a battery.

"Nervous?" The young magus jumped in his seat, startled, as he was quite certain that the old man sitting to his right wouldn't wake up until the end of the flight, courtesy of the little magecraft the young mage used. 

However the man just laughed with a bright smile on his face, his short, well-trimmed, white beard just emphasizing it further, "Hohoho. No need to worry young man. Though your use of magecraft was impressive, it doesn't work on another mage proficient enough in the arts."

Waver, however, remained guard, knowing the potential consequences of offending an old magus, he wanted to play it safe. "Oh, I'm truly sorry that I have not recognized you as a magus earlier." There was a short pause before the next question left the lips of the young mage "What would a magus be doing in a backwater country like Japan? And why travel on a public plane?" He bit his tongue just in time, to avoid sounding too interrogative, and slowly stood up, creating a bit of a distance between them. 

"It's not my usual choice of transport, I assure you. But a little blonde birdie with red eyes told me that something interesting might happen in Japan over the next few days." The old man was calm, unnervingly so for someone within a Gandr shooting range. 

And as a self-respecting Londoner Waver also had a knife in his back pocket, for the sake of self-defense of course. 

Noticing that the young magus was not a bit less on guard, the old man just smiled. "Don't worry. I know who you are, and you've probably heard of me. If I had any ill intent toward you, you wouldn't be standing here right now.", The worst part about this sentence, in Wavers opinion, was that the young magus knew the man was fully serious, and that he would be dead by now. 

With a careful step back, Waver decided to fly the rest of the flight on the opposite side of the plane, however when he was leaving the vehicle, there was no trace of the bearded man. 

That however did not stop the young genius from walking on his tiptoes and being extremely nervous through the entirety of his stay in Tokyo, his left hand always absentmindedly wandering onto his right to hide the red tattoo that had appeared the day before. 

At first Waver was terrified when he woke up. It is not usual to wake up from a good night sleep with an foreign mark on your body but the emotion subsided as quickly as he fully woke up, the young magus's brain finally registering what the tattoo represents. 

He was chosen as a participant of the war. 

A command seal was clearly visible on his right hand, a proof of participation and his will. The grail has chosen him as a participant before he could even perform the summoning, something that was mentioned in the book, but what he never would think would happen to him. 

The only detail that bothered Waver was that a seal would and should suit the personality of at whom it appeared on, and he was a magus, not a priest, so why was his a medieval-esque cross? 

Still cautious of his surroundings the young magus took a taxi to a nearest bus station, using half of his remaining money and watched the urban landscape pass with a bored expression. 

"Amazing, right?" the driver asked him, in japanese. Waver only shook his head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the words, as he was completely lost. 

He jumped in on the idea of the war without even thinking about the logistics of it all, like the language barrier. At the airport there was only one person, not counting the other tourists, that understood him and helped him with getting this ride. 

'Idiot, idiot idiot. .' he scolded himself. 'I will need to use magecraft more openly then. At least there is almost no magi in Japan, so it shouldn't be a problem.' Yes, this part of the homework was done thoroughly by him, as it was the second most important, after the war itself. 

The young genius' tired mind briefly wandered to the man on the plane, but he snapped himself from his stupor when they finally reached the bus station. 

Twenty thousand yen later, Waver found himself seated comfortably on the bus, waiting for departure.

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Hi there! Author here.

Fifth chapter is here, spanning 1045 words.

I apologize for disappearing without notice, but the last few months have been quite hectic. I was accepted into university and am now a proud first-year student, which means I have both more and less free time for writing.

As for the chapters... The next one is ready and will be released next Saturday for those who are curious.

However, the seventh chapter... yeah, I'm not sure what to write next, which is one of the reasons I've been so quiet these past few months. I'd love to hear your ideas about where to go from here!

Sooo... If you have any question or ideas, feel free to comment!

And that's all for today. I hope you have a great day/morning/afternoon/night, and see you around!

Author