Chapter 3 Part 2, The Aylesbury Valesti ritual

"Come in," said the Lord after hearing a light knock on his classroom door. At that moment, Waver was putting away his utensils before letting his students out and finishing his lecture.

The door opened and the person he least wanted to see again entered the room. At that moment, his mind began to work at triple its speed.

Quickly, he analyzed the things he needed to keep in mind: the rumors were true, or in other words, the magus killer had returned to work.

Then, he asked one of the most important questions when solving any case.

Why…? Why had he come…?

Relaxing as much as he could, Lord El-Melloi II began to consider the options:

Initially, Waver thought that he had come to end his life, however, this option did not make much sense since, if the killer wanted to finish him off, he would have done it a long time ago.

The second option that occurred to him was that he came to eliminate some of his students. This was likely, as the Edelfelt heiress was in his class, however, he did not believe that the magus killer was seeking to kill the girl inside the Clock Tower.

A few minutes ago…

Lord El-Melloi II's lecture had ended, and everyone was preparing to leave the auditorium.

"¡Shero!"

"Yes?" the young man asked when the heiress Edelfelt approached his place.

"What will you do during the vacation period?"

"I'm not sure. It all depends on my old man's plans, he's supposed to call me on my cell phone, and then I'm going to meet him on the outskirts of town."

"Shero's father?" for some reason, she seemed like she was dreaming about what he would be like.

Although the boy hadn't realized it, the Edelfelt heiress had grown quite fond of him, and the reason for this was quite simple, despite being part of the world of the magecraft, the boy was different. In addition to being someone diligent and hardworking who did not mind giving a hand to whoever asked him or whenever he saw that someone needed help, the redhead was also a simple person who, except if you insulted his swords, did not have the pride and arrogance of other magi, for Luvia who constantly lived in a world as dangerous as the world of the magecraft and who was also the heir to a family of mercenaries, the boy was something like a glass of cold water in the middle of a desert.

Maybe that's why what would happen next would affect her so much.

"Well, considering your qualifications, the best thing you can do is stay studying inside the Clock Tower just like me, don't you think Shirou-kun?" Tohsaka said arriving at his site as well.

"Won't you go back to Japan, Rin?"

She fervently denied it. "I am not going back to Japan until I am of legal age. As long as I am a minor, that pair of false fathers will want to manage a large part of my life, and I will not allow them."

"Wait, Rin, did you run away from home!?" asked the amazed redhead.

She smirked. "Not exactly. I have my mother's permission, but both, the fake father who acts as my guardian and his helper, did not see my decision to come to the Clock Tower favorably."

"You are surprising, in many ways..." Shirou turned to Luvia and broke her reverie. "And what are you going to do, Luvia?"

"Oh, me…?" smiling, she replied, "I will return to Finland to take care of certain things, as a good heiress should do. Don't you think it would be the right thing to do, Tohsaka?"

Rin clicked her tongue, but she did not fall under provocation.

"I will take a few days to get out, so, if your father lets you stay, how about you come with me to Finland, Shero?"

"What!?" Rin exclaimed.

"I will hire you as my butler, and when you finish working for me, I assure you that you will forget all your problems regarding your tuition," she said as she winked at him.

"I-I'll consider it," replied the boy nervous because he could feel Rin's gaze glued to his back.

Rin knew that she was becoming very attached to the redhead, and neither was very difficult to know why: they were in all the jobs together, and also she helped him as his tutor so that he could face the final exams. Although she already had several people offering to be part of her study groups, she preferred to form a group with the boy whenever she could. Maybe this was because he was the first person she had teamed up with, or maybe it was because she secretly admired the determination and stubbornness her partners showed when something got into his head, even if she didn't admit it.

Either way, she wasn't going to let the hyena stay with Shirou for almost three months.

Feeling in danger, he decided to ask someone else. "And what will you do, G-Gray?

The girl was somewhat surprised at the question, but after thinking about it, she answered, "well, I will accompany Lady Reines to a social gathering with the Iselma family."

Gray's relationship with the boy had also changed. To begin with, there was this strange bond that caused this feeling of security between the two that neither could explain and then there was the one that, after the battle with Matou, they were both sure that something was linking them, although they couldn't explain what exactly it was.

This brought various feelings to the girl. On the one hand, she was glad that it was not a simple illusion or something like that, but, on the other hand, there was something that bothered her. Gray knew that her teacher was investigating to determine what that something was and, knowing him well, he would be able to discover what it was; however, this raised several questions:

What would happen when he found out? What if, what if it disappeared...? Or worse, what if her relationship with the boy changed for the worse?

It was at that moment that she understood a little what Luvia had said a few months ago to her teacher, who, by deciphering the magecraft, was doing nothing but destroying it.

"As in the case of the Castle of Adra?"

Gray nodded. "Yes, though let's hope nothing happens that turns it into a case like it did that time."

"I understand; make sure you take care of yourself and tell me how they went when we meet again. The Adra Castle case was interesting," he replied with a smile.

She nodded smiling.

"And you, Caules? You told me that you would not go back to Germany but that you would go to Romania..."

The brown-haired boy with glasses nodded. "My family will be reunited with the rest of the families that comprise the Yggdmillennia group."

"The Yggdmillennia is that group of families that came together under the same surname, aren't they?" Rin asked.

Caules nodded. "The leader of the group is a former Clock Tower professor, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia."

"I had heard of him. Darnic left the Clock Tower just under 70 years ago, having participated in that ritual in Japan," Luvia spoke.

"A ritual in Japan?" Shirou asked.

"Yes, it is called the Holy Grail War. It is a ritual where the magi compete, risking their lives for a prize. Members of my family participated in that event as well, as did Darnic," Luvia said.

Caules nodded. "It seems he's obsessed with that ritual..."

"Is famous…?" Shirou asked.

"No is it, in fact, now that I think about it, for a ritual like that, not much is said about it…" Luvia said thoughtfully.

"So…" Shirou started to speak, but Rin interrupted him.

"Shirou-kun, in our world, there are rituals that it is better not to know about, the Holy Grail War is one of them. It is better that you do not investigate much about that."

Shirou had known Rin for almost a year and had seen various sides of her, but this was the first time he had seen such a level of seriousness in her words. No, it wasn't just that, there was something else, but he didn't know how to identify it. Finally, he nodded and would have tried to continue the conversation to another topic, but...

"Come in"

At that very moment, when the man entered the classroom, it seemed that the entire environment of the auditorium had changed.

What? Why are you here?

The surprised redhead wondered when he saw his father enter the room.

Has something happened that changed the plans?

Several of the students looked at the magus killer with various emotions. However, two gazes stood out above all others: Rin's gaze and Luvia's.

"¿Lord El-Melloi?"

The teacher nodded alertly. "Emiya Kiritsugu... What brings you to my class?" Waver tried to stay as calm as possible, but the tension in his words betrayed his intentions.

"I understood that his class had already finished, so I took the opportunity to come to pick up a student."

I see. So, my theories weren't wrong.

Waver thought as he cursed his luck. "As you can see, my class has already finished, so... Flat? What the hell are you doing!?"

The young magus had jumped out of his seat and was now right in front of the magus killer. After that, Flat held up a notebook and pen as he looked at him with excitement in his eyes.

"And, well...?" asked the freelancer something curious.

"A-An autograph, please," the boy whispered.

"Excuse me?" Kiritsugu asked somewhat surprised, although he didn't show it.

"Could I have an autograph, please!?" Flat said excitedly. To Flat, Kiritsugu was to magi what Jack the ripper was to Londoners: a legendary assassin.

Although stunned by the strange situation, the freelancer, after analyzing the notebook and the pen, took them and decided to sign. After that strange event, the magus killer headed back to the Lord. "So, I can…?"

Waver nodded with a hand covering his face as if that would ease the migraine his student was causing him.

"In that case," after getting confirmation from the teacher, Kiritsugu turned towards the students, specifically, towards the redhead, "Shirou."

"Old man…?" Shirou asked confused.

"Come on. Our plans have changed slightly, so we will leave today."

Shirou nodded as he got up from his seat. He could feel the gaze of the rest of his companions, but he preferred to ignore them; if they wanted explanations, it would be for another time. After arriving in front of his professor, he bowed in respect and said, "I hope you can continue teaching me next year, professor."

Waver didn't answer immediately, but after a few moments, he gave a slight nod. And shortly after the boy left the room, followed by Kiritsugu.

Before leaving the room, the magus killer commented, "Waver Velvet, I'm glad…"

"Why?" he asked, still confused and on the alert.

"For having made the decision not to eliminate you seven years ago when you lived in the home of those old people," replied the freelancer before leaving the room.

Needless to say, the young Lord's face lost much of its color after hearing that statement.

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AN: This chapter comes from the second review! Thank you so much!