It was noon. In the still-messy student dorm room at the Clock Tower, the dust motes in the air sparkled like fireflies. After waiting for a moment, Lu Kang finally received the 'letter' he had just sent out with magecraft...
The El-Melloi Manor awaits your presence.
The paper slowly unfolded in his hand. The elegant script outlined clear, ancient English sentences. Lu Kang thought to himself that this Lord El-Melloi was truly a typical nobleman, constantly displaying his identity as a descendant of an ancient noble lineage—just like his grandfather, the previous Lord El-Melloi.
An image of a tall, straight figure, full of aristocratic grace, subconsciously appeared in his mind. It was the Lord of the Clock Tower he had met in his later years, during his time as 'Lu Kang Luvest'. A classical magus at the pinnacle of the Clock Tower.
At that time, Lord El-Melloi, as a monarch who abided by the classical rules of mystery, had set foot on the soil of the Far East in the spring of 1963. He had met Lu Kang on the streets of Fuyuki, originally intending to defend the name of mystery and eliminate him, this heretic.
But—he had been 'persuaded' by Lu Kang. At first with force, and later, with 'mystery' and 'knowledge'. That generation's Lord El-Melloi was the head of the Department of Spiritual Evocation, unlike the current Lord, Kayneth. And Lu Kang, by simply displaying the miracle of summoning a 'god' before him, had made the head of the Department of Spiritual Evocation admit defeat. At that time, Lu Kang had used this to attract him, to have him sign a contract...
[The El-Melloi Contract]
[In exchange for the knowledge of 'Magecraft of the Mind', if a descendant of Luvest appears in the world and presents the contract as proof, the El-Melloi family shall grant him protection.]
This contract had an extremely strong binding power. With the pride of the El-Melloi family, they would never deny it. And as everyone knew, Lu Kang Luvest, as the materialization of Lu Kang's own soul's projection, had no descendants. He and the princess had lived a life as close as glue, but perhaps because he was essentially just a soul projection, they had not had any children.
This preparation... was something Lu Kang had left for himself.
"The ancients used to say that the predecessors plant the trees, and the descendants enjoy the shade; the virtue of the ancestors blesses three generations." As memories flowed, the seventy-six years of his past life flashed through his mind. Lu Kang looked at the paper before him and thought, not without a little humor, "Does this count as me being my own ancestor, me blessing myself?"
This was precisely a back-up plan he had prepared for his real self during the simulation. Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows. And the cunning of a magus far exceeds that of a rabbit.
As for why he chose the El-Melloi... of course, it was because the future Lemon-Head lecturer was the magus lord he had the easiest access to in reality! And Lemon-Head was also a genuine genius. A genius magus who, if he didn't die, could have achieved the rank of Grand, the highest level at the Clock Tower. He had the power to protect him in reality—in an era where mystery was becoming increasingly scarce.
You see, in the simulation, limited by the specifications of the era's mystery, Lu Kang had only reached a level comparable to a Grand Caster in the end. Although he was an 'all-rounder' among Grand Casters, proficient in everything, and had reached the limit of the Grand rank, enough to be compared with a Magic User who controls a mystery higher than Great Magecraft... Yes, a 'Magic User'—the wielder of True Magic that Lu Kang had mentioned to the 'Nun' of the Burial Agency, and also a major foundational ability of the Far East's Holy Grail War. That level, the level of 'Authority', Lu Kang had already reached after completing the creation of a god.
But that was still a Grand!
And compared to the other magi at the Clock Tower, although Kayneth was a bit sharp-tongued when dealing with commoner magi, he was actually the most humane, the most trustworthy... Of course, Lu Kang wouldn't put all his eggs in one basket.
He folded the paper and leisurely stood up, walking out of the messy room. He didn't tidy up the dorm room. Because after today, he might have a better place to go.
Twelve o'clock, London time. Lu Kang left the dormitory building and hailed a taxi on the street. The Clock Tower, the highest institution of learning in the world of magi, from the outside, was just an ordinary university located in the suburbs of London, marked by a clock tower building similar to London's Big Ben. Mystery was unknown to the public. The magi here, unless necessary, also behaved like ordinary people.
At one o'clock, London time, he took a taxi through the bustling city to another corner of London. With a soft thud, he got out of the taxi and closed the door. He stepped onto the smooth road. Looking up, he saw lush trees surrounding a deep road. The midday sun pierced through the shade of the trees, casting mottled spots of light on the ground. As the grass and trees swayed in the wind, Lu Kang slowly walked towards the end of the road.
There, an ancient courtyard in the classical Western style stood majestically. The supporting dome was like a sword hanging from the sky. Though clean and tidy, one could feel a deep sense of history at a glance. And that was the El-Melloi family manor. It was the residence of successive magus lords. Lu Kang could feel the rich leyline energy flowing beneath the ground here. A natural spring of mana was gushing under this courtyard!
"What a good place." He praised it from the bottom of his heart, from the perspective of a magus. Then he went up and rang the bell hanging on the outer courtyard wall.
Ding-a-ling.
After three crisp rings, a figure pushed open the door.
...
"April 1963, it was a season when the cherry blossoms of the Far East were in full bloom..." In the great hall of the El-Melloi manor, Kayneth sat on the sofa. Under the flickering serene blue candlelight, he was still reciting. Although the letter had surprised him, having been psychologically prepared by the dream's premonition, he did not intend to change his actions. He would never stop his plans just because of an outsider's disturbance.
So he had still found his grandfather's old diary. He had opened it to the page where his grandfather had recorded his meeting with Luvest. But just as he picked up the book, the doorbell had rung.
"He's here? Then please show him in." Kayneth said to the maid standing behind him. The maid bowed and left. He himself did not put down the book. His gaze remained focused on the diary. The slightly yellowed pages, with their inscribed words, passed before his eyes. He read on. He read about his grandfather's meeting with Luvest on the street. He read about his grandfather's crushing defeat in their clash of magecraft. And he read even more about his grandfather's admiration and respect for Luvest's magecraft... he read about how his grandfather, who had come with hostility towards Luvest, had ended up with a deep respect for him...
Just then, Kayneth heard the sound of footsteps from outside the hall door. And with these footsteps, a mystic rhythm also emerged. The young Lord El-Melloi's heart suddenly stirred. He looked up. This feeling. This aura. This was...
In the long corridor connected to the great hall, a tall and slender young man walked in. He stepped into the radiance of the single candle flame in the dim hall.
Strangely, Kayneth suddenly thought of the content of the diary in his hand.
"April 1963, it was a season when the cherry blossoms of the Far East were in full bloom..."
"On the streets under the night curtain, I met that most ferocious and evil man, that heretic of mystery. He still looked young, but walking in the world, he was like an ordinary man."
"But just looking at him, I suddenly thought of the records of that Russian thinker, Berdyaev."
"He said—that he was both a saint and a common man."
Both a saint, and a common man. A person who, through the extreme accumulation of ordinary things, had reached a height unattainable by ordinary people.
And now, Kayneth also saw that feeling in the youth who had appeared before him.
'He walked out from the dark night curtain.'
'Just like a single star.'
The light that had pierced the former Lord El-Melloi in the past, now, also pierced into the eyes of Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald...
"Mr. Lu Kang Luvest. I never thought it would really be you." He put down the book beside him and slowly stood up. With the most proper posture, he welcomed the new and holy successor of mystery!
....
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