To become a king and a magician

Webber was also somewhat dumbfounded. These days, even unorthodox magicians from the countryside know the importance of concealment and mystery. So far, few of the magicians who have broken the ironclad rule of concealment and mystery at the Clock Tower did so intentionally. Most of them went too far or failed to recognize the impact of changing times on magic.

The magician who summoned that strange black dog fairy is probably one of these two possibilities.

After expending considerable effort to remove all the magical runes, Waver glanced at the notes in his hand and said to Kenneth, "Teacher, there's nothing strange about the ritual and the spell itself. If I had to say, the spell is a rather ancient type, but it shouldn't be able to cause a fairy to grow to gigantic size."

"An ancient technique...that means the caster is a magician from an ancient family. What about the others?"

"The others are the same; there's nothing special about them."

"That's strange."

Kenneth frowned slightly.

The spell itself has no effect on the summoned fairies; the only difference lies in the efficiency of summoning them. Based on his on-site investigation, Kenneth can confirm that the summoning spell performed at this crossroads is no different from his simulation experiment. Kenneth had initially wondered if the Dynamaxing was caused by the presence of a supporting spell, but the investigation results have already shown that it wasn't.

This seemed like a reasonable situation, but the same process led to different results, which puzzled and baffled Kenneth.

"Teacher, I have an idea."

"explain."

“I don’t mean to question you, but I’m wondering if there are any differences between the simulation experiment you conducted and this séance? For example, is there a missing catalyst or something?” Weber said cautiously. “Or, did the other party use some catalyst that you didn’t use when performing the séance?”

Kenneth gave him a cold look: "That's why I'm here. You really asked a stupid question, Webber Velvet—the problem is we don't know what that influencing factor is. What's the difference between my experiment and the actual technique?"

"Could it be... a person?"

After pondering for a while, Weber offered a conjecture without much certainty.

"Teacher, you must have conducted the simulation experiment without any external interference, right?"

"Of course, any external influence could affect the final result."

“Then this spell… the caster of this spell might have completely opposite ideas to yours, teacher,” Weber said. “This is just my guess. The caster probably anticipated that someone would take a certain action before using the summoning spell to summon the black dog fairy. And that person’s action affected the operation of the summoning spell, ultimately leading to the appearance of the gigantic black dog fairy.”

Is magic used under the premise that the technique itself will fail?

Such an unconventional method—

“That makes sense.” Kenneth nodded. As a top-performing magician, he would subconsciously pursue the optimal solution when using magic. Kenneth had never even considered using magic with the premise of interference.

"But who exactly is the person who caused the change in the magic's outcome? And what did they do to cause that change?"

"About this..."

Before Weber could finish speaking, a voice reached their ears.

"They might have some solutions to this."

Holding a crossbody bag, Mary appeared quietly in front of the two of them.

39. Merry: I know a little about illusion magic.

Upon seeing the sudden appearance of Meryl, Webber was taken aback, while Kenneth frowned: "You are... I remember you are the manager of Webber Velvet's apartment, right?"

"Yes."

Mary gave Kenneth a very standard bow.

“I am Lilline May, and it is an honor to meet you here, Lord El-Melloi.”

“Hmm. No need for formalities.” Kenneth waved his hand. “You overheard my conversation with Velvet?”

“Yes, I’m sorry, I just happened to be passing by. Velvet is one of the people in my apartment, and out of curiosity I…” Meryl deliberately made it sound like an accident. “Are you two looking for someone? If so, I might have some ideas.”

Kenneth raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "What method?"

"Please look up."

Following the direction Meryl pointed, Kenneth and Webber saw a surveillance camera watching the intersection.

"You two should understand that modern society is an information society, and these surveillance cameras are what collect information and provide intelligence. If you want to obtain intelligence about this intersection, surveillance is the most direct method."

“Um… Weber Velvet, explain this to me.”

Kenneth wasn't a rigid magician, but he was a very normal one. And like other normal magicians, he knew almost nothing about modern electronics or technology—after all, he came from a clock tower where they didn't even have telephone lines and relied entirely on magic for communication.

Fortunately, Waver wasn't like Kenneth: "Teacher, you can think of a surveillance camera as a magical artifact that saves images, like a recording stone. If we just need to retrieve the images it saves, we might be able to find out who is influencing the séance and what actions they have taken."

"I see......"

"But surveillance cameras aren't so easy to access. I remember this area is under Scotland Yard's control, right? They probably wouldn't allow us to do this, would they?"

In response to Waver's question, Meryl feigned modesty and said, "It might be a bit arrogant to say this in front of a monarch, but I actually know a little about illusion magic, and I am even considered a priest in the Clock Tower."

A priestly magician who has studied illusion magic?

Kenneth perked up at the mention of this: "The illusionist who holds the position of priest... you must be quite young to have attained the position at such a young age... I've never heard of a prodigy like you in the Clock Tower."

"Compared to you, no one is a prodigy. Besides, I'm not someone who likes to stand out. Being an apartment manager and watching the fledglings grow up is enough for me."

“A very commendable spirit of dedication. I express my respect to you, madam.”

“You flatter me—to get back to the point, I can indeed use illusion magic to allow us to infiltrate Scotland Yard and investigate the surveillance footage. I can guarantee that we won’t be discovered by anyone, and even if Scotland Yard has its own surveillance system, my illusion magic can interfere with it.”

"Really? But shouldn't illusion magic be a type of magic that targets the eyes?"

“You can do the same thing as illusion by using the surrounding light. After all, if illusion were so easy to see through, it wouldn’t be considered an illusion,” Meryl laughed.

Kenneth began to think about Meryl's suggestion.

Infiltrating Scotland Yard to investigate the CCTV footage was indeed a good suggestion, but Scotland Yard was not an easy place to infiltrate—there was a magician there.

To be precise, it's the staff in the legal and political affairs department.

The Department of Law and Politics is a rather unique one among the twelve disciplines. Unlike the other disciplines, it does not delve into magic but is instead used to operate and manage the Clock Tower.

Those who study law and political science will eventually become the elite who manage the Clock Tower, the execution force that intervenes in the struggles between magicians, or, through the introduction of the Clock Tower, take up important positions in various countries that have close ties with the Clock Tower.

For example, Scotland Yard.

Magicians usually set up barriers or workshops in their localities. Given the nature of Scotland Yard, magicians working there might only set up barriers, but even that would be quite troublesome, since it's impossible to enter a barrier without making any noise.

After squinting and thinking for a moment, Kenneth said, "I appreciate your kindness, but I will handle the Scotland Yard CCTV footage myself."

If Lord El-Melloi were to go in person, even the magicians of the Law Department would have to give him some face.

"Is that so?"

Upon hearing this, Meryl smiled and said, "It seems I've been meddling in your business. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"No, that's not true. Well, I have class this afternoon, so I'll take my leave now. Weber Velvet, please organize your notes before you come to class tomorrow; I'll need them for my paper."

"I see."

Watching Kenneth get into the car and drive away quickly, the respect and seriousness on Weber's face vanished instantly. He gave Kenneth the middle finger in the direction he left, then let out a long sigh: "Sigh... more work. I have to prepare lessons and organize these notes when I get back. Professor Kenneth really knows how to give me things to do."

"Keep it up, Weber."

"Ms. Lillian, I'm not really motivated by what you're saying. By the way, Ms. Lillian, what brings you here?"

"I'm out buying groceries. Also, winter is almost here, so I'm buying some winter clothes," Mei said. "I'm going to another mall next, so I'll head out now—oh, and don't forget to buy Xia Chuan's medicine."

"I know..."

Weary, Weber replied softly, put away his notebook, and walked towards the station.

After watching Waver leave, Meryl went to the telephone pole where the magical runes had been removed and touched it. "Hmm... this magical reaction... it's Morgan. The Blackmore incident just ended, and he's already thinking of causing trouble again?"

"However, the composition of this spell... is indeed to summon a black dog overall, but it's strange that there are some extra parts. There is an extra key influencing factor reserved. Without that factor, the spell cannot even be activated."

After carefully simulating and analyzing Morgan's necromancy in her mind, Meryl's slightly furrowed brows relaxed.

"Oh, I see. Hmm... that's quite an interesting magic trick."

In British legend, an army of the dead appears on earth with fierce winds and torrential rains—the Wild Hunt, led by King Arthur. The Wild Hunt responds to Arthur's call, roaming the land and bringing disaster.

And coincidentally, Natsukawa Tora can be said to be half of King Arthur.

"Morgan set up the formation, but it was Natsukawa who actually summoned the black dog. This spell was designed to activate when Natsukawa Tiger entered at a specific time—no, if it were King Arthur who summoned it, then the one summoned wouldn't be the black dog."

Yes, what appeared in the storm last night was not the Black Dog, but the Wild Hunt, which was extremely similar to the Black Dog but of a much higher status.

"Was King Arthur summoning the Wild Hunt... to test his power?"

Meryl couldn't help but laugh, then stroked the telephone pole, recreating the magic runes that Webber and Kenneth had eliminated, and reconstructing the spell exactly as it was.

"Hmm, although it's not nice to see him suffer, I feel like something interesting will happen if this continues. Wild Hunt... should be able to make him really take it seriously."

40. Special Halloween gifts

Just as Meryl was preparing to give Natsukawa Tiger some more challenging activities, far away in Blackmore Cemetery in Wales...

Slumped onto a bench in the square, Morgan sighed several times in exasperation. Although he had long known that plans couldn't always succeed and that unexpected things would always happen, even Morgan was at a loss for words when the process went perfectly but the outcome went wrong.

She arrived in the village three hours earlier, and after bypassing Belsack's surveillance and the village's barrier, Morgan went straight to the underground shrine where LogosReact was located.

According to Morgan's original plan, the spirit of King Arthur simulated through LogosReact should have been extracted by the Mystic Code: Infiltrated Gold, which she had given to the villagers before her death, and merged with Natsukawa Torato. What exists now underground is only the physical LogosReact.

But what she actually saw was the Queen of Bones, who was sleeping like a stone statue.

The spirit of King Arthur was not stripped away.

This really frustrated Morgan.

"Sigh... If that's the case, then what's the point of this village's existence?"

Morgan entrusted this village with the mission of resurrecting King Arthur, but now the best opportunity to resurrect King Arthur has not been seized by this group of people. Most importantly, Logooseact has even crashed and it is unknown when it will be able to resume operation.

In that case, when will Artoria be able to be resurrected?

Looking at the villagers who were still somewhat distraught, Morgan gradually felt a growing sense of dissatisfaction.

Just as Morgan was considering whether to abandon the village—

"May I bother you for a moment, beautiful lady?"

At the other end of the bench, Tsbia, wearing a black overcoat, sat down by himself.

Morgan glanced at him: "Long-distance projection?"

"I am currently a Dead Apostle and cannot move freely in the sunlight, but I want to see you no matter what, so please understand."

"Annoying bats?" Morgan glared at him dismissively. "What do you want?"