Chapter 13: Magecraft

Rin covered her face and sneezed, earning a pitiful look from the white-haired man standing with a broom in his hand.

He crossed his arms on his chest. “Master, should I brew some coffee?”

“Clean this mess first! And I like tea more than coffee.”

Rin glared at Archer as though trying to intimidate him. Archer just shrugged and continued sweeping the debris. Her body tingled with a numb feeling after using every drop of magical energy in her reserve. She chose 2 AM as it was the moment when her magical energy peaked. Paired with the vast amounts of magical energy amassed in the jewel pendant—the Tohsaka family’s heirloom—she successfully summoned her first servant. Her timing turned out to be wrong, all thanks to the messed-up clocks in her home.

Her dreams of summoning the strongest class, Saber, vanished like the magical energy in her jewel. To top everything off, she even messed up the summoning ritual, giving Archer amnesia. In a burst of rage, he destroyed her living room.

He refused to acknowledge her as a Master until she forced obedience with one command spell. Not the best use of the monstrous magical energy, but at least it brought the two on the same page.

“Master, what is your wish?”

Rin crossed her legs and folded her arms on her waist. Her father hadn’t stated his wish in his will, and she couldn’t give two hoots about the greater good. If she had a wish, she'd make it true with her own hands. The whole reason she participated was to elevate the Tohsaka’s family status.

“So you have none,” Archer concluded with an exasperated shrug of his shoulder. “A tasteless young lady.”

Rin barely held her foot from smashing his smug face. Even tens of her couldn’t scratch his skin, much less teaching him a lesson.

‘Argh, father. I thought servants were familiars like birds and animals. But this guy is a monster in a human vessel.’

“What is your wish, Archer?”

Much like Masters, Heroic spirits also fought for their ambitions. Some wanted to avenge someone, some wanted to kill, some wanted to redo their past regrets. Even a cynical asshole like Archer should have a wish. Rin was a tad curious about this Servant of hers.

“Master, why are you forgetting about your botch? I only have a vague remembrance of my origins. I cannot remember my wish as well.”

Rin sighed.

“Don’t worry. The strongest Master and Servant won’t lose to anyone,” Archer said.

“Yeah.”

***

Medea chewed her thumb on the couch in the living room. The new servant was bad news. The Throne of Heroes had given her basic info of servants. Semiramis had been abandoned by her parents; she might still bear grudge against them, especially her goddess mother. She was a bad match with Haruki, who cherished his mother a bit too much. Medea could smell a stench of her own kind from Semiramis—the black-haired queen was the kind to toy with others. The only difference being their motives—Medea wanted to redo her past mistakes while Semiramis relished others' misery.

‘I can’t let it happen. As long as I can predict her actions, Master can shut her down with command spells.’

He had been so optimistic and loving toward his mother. Just the thought of his dreams crushed for Semiramis’s amusement numbed her mind. The pressure of Haruki’s wish weighed down on her thin shoulders.

“What’s with the long face?”

Medea snapped out of her thoughts. Haruki appeared, looking a lot brighter than earlier. His mother’s private pictures had done something to him. She couldn’t help but chuckle at his pure yet dirty love for mother. Even the Great Hero Oedipus hadn’t loved his mother to Haruki’s level.

“Sit down, please. We’ll start with the basics of magecraft.”

Haruki dragged the opposite couch closer to hers and sat, his eyes filled with a subtle curiosity.

“So, Master. How much do you know about modern magecraft?”

It was better to gauge his limits to improve efficiency.

“Uhm, let’s see. Modern magecraft is inferior compared to the Age of Gods. Current magecraft is limited by human intellect, magical energy… there was something more… I’m forgetting it… Mystery!”

“Yes. The mystery is the unknown that originates from the root. A representation of endless probabilities. The age of humans brought a substantial decline in mysteries as science expanded to encompass knowledge on anything and everything. The more science developed, the fewer the mysteries became, which in turn brought down the power of magecraft.”

Haruki clapped with sparkling eyes. “Understood, sensei.”

Medea suppressed the heat creeping on her sharp ears and coughed. It was her first time teaching someone. It reminded her of her time with Hecate in her temple. The goddess of magic descended to teach Medea, nominating her for a priestess seat in her temple. She adored Medea to no end, but Jason’s arrival had put an end to everything. Hecate stopped coming down, even going as far as to ignore Medea’s messages.

“Sensei?”

Medea pulled her consciousness back to reality. Haruki gazed at her with a hint of worry in his eyes. The same gaze had captured her attention during their earlier conversation about Haruki knowing the future.

‘T-Those eyes again. As if he is looking at me like a little girl. It feels so weird…’

She had been shunned so many times that the simple thought of being worried over confused Medea to no end.

‘What am I thinking? I was supposed to teach Master magecraft.’

She revealed a tiny smile to show she was doing fine and patiently explained the most important element of every magecraft—magic circuits, or simply called the engine responsible for converting the life energy ‘Mana’ into magical energy ‘Od’ found in humans.

“Can you control the flow of your magical energy without a switch?”

“I think I can.”

Haruki closed his eyes and traced the unknown flowing through his veins. He had felt traces of it during the summoning ritual. A cool sensation flooded his veins before a burst of heat exploded in his body. He started having illusions of horns growing out of his head and wings sprouting from his back. Then, a dragon breathing golden flames.

His magical energy burst forth as a scarlet glow around his body.

Medea was sweating under her hood. His magical energy heated the air itself! His Od seemed to be of transparent color as though it was untainted by any element. She had never seen someone’s magical energy oozing this kind of pressure in her whole life. This magical energy was beyond anything this half-assed Fuyuki Spirit Summoning System could bring.

‘Master isn’t a human.’

His magical energy confirmed her doubts.

“Fire,” Haruki muttered and a tiny orb of fire bloomed on his fingers. “So fucking easy.”

“This…”

Haruki didn’t even use a single chant to cast the spell, as if the fire element followed or rather obeyed his will and came to life. She thought she had learned enough as a disciple of Hecate. Now, here she was, gaping at someone born in the Age of Humans manipulating elements to their whim like a Nature Spirit.

‘Does he even need my lessons?’

Medea sighed.