There was no response.
Wayland was on his own.
'Self-protection mode.'
He had seen that phrase before. Back when he'd first arrived in London and had been forced to kill that mercenary magus in the street, he'd been intercepted by Hishiri Adashino and detained for the night at the Department of Policies.
According to Elena, Adashino had performed some kind of 'checkup' on him while he was unconscious.
But Wayland suspected it went deeper than that.
His eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint flickering in their depths. No matter how easygoing a person was, no one enjoyed the idea of their mind being tampered with while they were vulnerable.
That 'sleep' had been anything but natural.
A Grand-rank magus had been present.
In the Clock Tower, outside of the elusive Director, there was only one person publicly acknowledged to hold the rank of 'Grand': Lorelei Barthomeloi, the Lord of the Department of Policies.
Which meant she was the most likely culprit.
Given Adashino's subsequent, uncharacteristic 'care' for him, it was highly probable she was acting on her Lord's orders.
But why?
Everything about his arrival in this world felt like it was being orchestrated. From the system falling from the sky to his spontaneous admission into the Clock Tower, to the attention of the Queen of the Association,it was far too convenient to be mere coincidence.
But his train of thought was abruptly derailed.
Only seconds after Wayland spotted the mysterious woman in the room, a series of crystalline, translucent entities began to manifest on the crumbling brick walls.
They looked like crystalline mayflies, their long, segmented bodies draped lazily over the stone. Their delicate, gossamer wings pulsed with a soft light, rhythmically fanning the air like the wings of a butterfly. Overall, they resembled a cross between an insect and a luminescent, angular jellyfish.
Aozaki Touko's familiars.
Automaton familiars: the [Crystal Mayflies].
Each unit was no larger than a table-tennis ball, yet they were masterpieces of high-level engineering. To create such sentient constructs using only gears, silk thread, and shards of crystal was a feat that only a Grand-rank Puppet Master could achieve.
"We've been spotted," Wayland sighed.
He wasn't surprised. In fact, it would have been more surprising if they hadn't been detected by someone of her caliber.
One of the Mayflies extended a thin, arm-like tentacle and pointed toward the house.
"Fine. We're coming."
Wayland didn't bother to resist. He stepped out from the shadows of the wall, signaling for Pascal and Bazett to follow him into the yard.
Orange hair tied back in a high ponytail, thin-rimmed glasses, a dress that accentuated her elegant, lithe figure, and a delicate lace scarf embroidered with white flowers.
She turned to face them, her gaze settling on the trio with a flicker of genuine surprise. "Bazett. It's been a long time."
Behind her, the young man Wayland had seen at the station lay on the bed, apparently unconscious.
Bazett's expression was uncharacteristically complex as she looked at Aozaki Touko,a woman whose appearance seemed to have been frozen in time.
Bazett had joined the Clock Tower at fifteen and become an Enforcer for the Sealing Designation Division at sixteen. Now, at twenty-three, she was a seasoned veteran.
Years ago, she had been part of the team sent to execute the Sealing Designation on Aozaki Touko.
It had been one of the most disastrous failures in the Division's long history.
Shortly thereafter, a major 'end-of-the-century' incident had occurred within the Bureau of Secret Remains, sending shockwaves through the Clock Tower. In the aftermath, several Magi,including Touko,had their Sealing Designations rescinded.
In other words, Touko was no longer an enemy of the Association. On the contrary, as a former student of the Department of Creation, she was technically an alumna.
Touko's gaze shifted to Pascal, then finally settled on Wayland.
"What brings the three of you to a place like this?" she asked.
"Could we start by asking Miss Aozaki to deactivate the ritual array?" Wayland said, stepping forward with as much confidence as he could muster.
Touko nodded. She had followed the Prana flow here herself and was well aware that the ritual was fueled by the life force of the city's inhabitants.
She raised her hand and traced a single Rune in the air.
Modern Rune: [Fehu]. Primary sequence 1-1. Meaning: Creation. It represented the dual nature of the primordial world,both birth and destruction.
Compared to Wayland's flashy, high-impact spells, Touko's execution was deceptively simple. Her Prana reserves weren't particularly gargantuan, but her control was flawless,a 'Golden Ratio' of efficiency that achieved the maximum possible effect with the minimum necessary output.
The descending elemental energy lost its momentum instantly, the white channel in the sky beginning to flow backward toward its source.
"We came here because we detected the activation of the ritual," Wayland explained.
"Is that so?"
Touko smiled, her fingers dancing in the air as a second Rune began to take shape. "That's not a very convincing reason for a group that includes a specialized Enforcer."
"Wait!" Wayland stepped between Touko and Bazett, who had already dropped into a combat stance. "Please, let's not do this. We have no conflict of interest here. Bazett is only here for Eliza."
"Eliza?" Touko's elegant brow furrowed. "Who is that?"
"You didn't see her?" Wayland blinked. "When you arrived, was there no one else in the room besides the man?"
"I found no one else."
"Wait... then, did you find an Age of Gods Mystic Code?"
Touko retracted the Rune and opened her hand. A white, fist-sized stone rested in her palm, pulsing with a soft, ethereal light.
As Wayland looked at it, he felt a sudden, profound sense of calm. The exhaustion of the day's battles seemed to evaporate, replaced by a clarity of mind that felt like standing upon a high mountain peak, overlooking the world.
"The Lia Fáil,the Stone of Destiny," Touko said. "One of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, belonging to the sun god Lugh Lamhfada."
Wayland felt a jolt of recognition.
Lugh. Father of Cú Chulainn, god of light and the sun, and a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
"Are you here for it as well?" Wayland asked, his head beginning to throb. If Aozaki Touko wanted the Stone of Destiny, their chances of retrieving it were practically zero.
"It makes sense," Touko continued, her mind clearly already working through the implications. "After two thousand years, it's entirely possible for the Lia Fáil to manifest a human form. That would certainly justify a Sealing Designation."
She looked at the stone, then back at the man on the bed. "If I recall correctly, the Stone of Destiny was one of the seven artifacts held by the Seven Holy Paladins. Does that mean the man on the bed is our 'traitor'? He's remarkably skilled for a 'Pride' rank magus to have managed to defect with such a prize."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]