By the Bonfire: Applied Learning

He'd caught her lingering around the door of the workshop for a good couple of minutes, it had initially been him seeing her from the back, but it had quickly given way to him slowing his movements and staring right towards her. He knew how it must have looked from the outside, but all the same it was something that had caught his eye. Specifically because of the nature of it.

Altera, still one of the recently summoned Servants by only a few days, was just standing outside of Da Vinci's workshop, making no attempt to knock on the door or even so much as gain entry. Simply stood there in complete and total silence, her eyes fixed on the door with an unblinking stare. He was unsure for how long she had been there before he arrived, all he saw was her standing there.

Heck, he'd probably been staring at her for close to a minute at this point in time.

Well, he'd never learn anything just by being stood there, however the moment he went to take a step forwards, he felt a stare on the back of his neck. Turning around and finding himself face to hat with Beatrice, the Caster having appeared behind him for one reason or another, awkwardly shuffling on the spot as she poked the top of her hat up to allow her eyes to look between the two of them.

"Hey, Betty." He nodded to her once, then brought his focus back towards Altera, staring at her from a short distance away. "How are you doing?"

"M-me? I'm doing fine, just fine." The woman answered rather nervously, not as bad as in the past but still a little quiet. But progress was progress and he was proud of her for getting so open. "A little bit nervous, actually…these past couple days have been a little bit…uhm…A-am I still useful?"

He blinked once, then turned around to face her with furrowed brows. "Yeah."

What a weird thing to ask.

"I-I don't know if you're saying that to be nice but there's all these Gods around and all these knights an-and I'm a lady who lived in the woods so I was just…" Fidgeting on the spot, the woman turned sideways to him and rubbed her hands together, he watched her with a troubled frown. He could probably see where she was coming from, actually he could definitely see where she was coming from. "It just feels like I'm not really all that useful compared to them…there's another witch here who's supposed to be much better than me but we haven't seen one another and I'm a little nervous in case I do meet here and it's just-"

"I was literally just the guy brought in to fill an empty seat, how do you think I feel half the time?" He offered her a wry chuckle, then turned back around to stare at Altera, keeping his brows furrowed as he spoke again. "Trust me, you're still valuable, Betty."

"O-okay…okay." She sounded as though she'd gotten a little bit better, which was definitely nice. "...What are we doing?"

"I'm just watching her." He remarked, nodding his head towards the tanned woman while keeping his voice low, bringing up his right hand and showing off the plate that he had in his hands. Upon it sat a single cake with teal coloured icing. "I was actually on my way to visit Da Vinci and then I saw Altera just standing there and stopped and waited to see what she was doing…"

There was a short silence from Betty, then she spoke in a slow and bemused tone of voice. "You were…visiting Da Vinci with a cake?"

"Yeah…We still have some leftover cakes from Christmas in the fridge that needed using up, Siegward suggested we make a little announcement in case anyone wanted one and then Da Vinci said she was interested but couldn't get away from her workshop, so it needed delivering and I offered to help."

"Oooh." A hum soon followed from the woman, silence falling between them once more. "How long are we going to be standing here, b-by the way?"

He opened his mouth to speak, then stopped himself and closed it once more, blowing air out from between his lips and raising his brows as high as they could go. That was probably a rather good question from the Caster. He wasn't sure how long they were going to be standing there, it would probably be best if they just approached her and got it over with. She could just be rather nervous about everything.

Maybe that was it.

"Come on then, let's go say hello." He started to walk, Beatrice made a brief noise of surprise behind him before he heard her feet patter along the floor, following him as he advanced towards Altera. The Saber didn't so much as register his approach, still keeping her gaze firmly planted upon the door.

Once he was close enough, he brought his other hand up and waved to her while speaking, wearing a smile on his face. "Hey, Altera. How is it going?"

She turned towards him, briefly making eye contact with him and then glancing towards Beatrice on his right, it was only a passing glance before she brought her focus back onto the door without even a single pause in the movement. When she did reply, it was quiet and toneless. "Is something supposed to be going?"

He stopped next to her, thinning his lips and feeling a sense of deja vu. "Just a turn of phrase, I'm just wondering if you're alright."

"I see." The response came after a single second. "I am…fine."

Nodding his head slowly, he turned until he was facing the door along with her, a move that was copied by Beatrice out of the corner of his eye, the three of them staring at the door at this point, likely making for a rather strange thing for someone to stumble upon. Might as well ask her, he supposed. "So…Did you need Da Vinci for something as well?"

"Who?"

His brows scrunched together, he turned his head on her. "Leonardo Da Vinci. The Caster…"

Silence from Altera, further proof that she had no idea what he was saying or if she did.

"...The person whose door you're staring at."

Altera made a small noise of understanding, all without even moving her face. Keeping her attention solely fixed on the door, speaking once more before he got the chance to ask what she was even talking about. "I noticed this particular door had a stronger magical presence compared to the others I encountered. It has been reinforced to a greater intensity…Why?"

"Wait, you could notice that?" He was a little surprised and rather impressed.

"I am capable of sensing the presence of magical energy laden upon objects and people." She explained further, then paused for a moment before she continued on. "However I cannot determine the specific nature of the magical energy or its purpose. I speculated that it was designed to enhance the structural integrity of the door…It was the only purpose I could conclude."

That was fair enough. "Yeah, Da Vinci put some spells on it to make it tougher…basically one of the Servants around here didn't know this door opened upwards and he just ripped it open like it was normal…which sort of broke it." That felt like ages ago now that had happened, it couldn't have been more than a few months at any rate…time really did fly, didn't it?

"The door opens upwards?" Altera turned to him for the second time, this time her gaze lingered for much longer, but there was a note of puzzlement in her voice. "Why does it open upwards? Aren't doors supposed to open to the side, it is not a gate."

He didn't have an answer for that. "It's just the way this door works so…just keep that in mind in case you need to speak with Da Vinci for anything…" he blinked as a thought occurred to him, taking a single step back and bringing up his free hand. "Oh, by the way. I don't think you two have met yet, Altera this is Beatrice and Beatrice, this is Altera."

"H-hello." Beatrice awkwardly raised her hand, waving it in a small gesture before bringing it up and touching the rim of her hat, pulling it down to cover her face as she did so, more so than usual.

"...Greetings." Altera blandly responded, her gaze narrowed just a little as what he presumed was a thoughtful expression came upon her. Red eyes swept over the woman as though she was examining every single inch of her, this was probably one of those situations where it was better that Beatrice couldn't see what was going on, otherwise he was certain that she would have been rather mortified with the intensity of Altera's stare.

Silence fell between them, which Altera promptly broke. "You do not have the physical capabilities of a warrior…are you a Caster Servant?"

"Y-yes?"

"I see." Altera acknowledged. "There is no record of a 'Beatrice' provided to me by the Grail. You are a Servant of the other world." she deduced that rather quickly, and there was something in her eyes which wasn't quite expected. He didn't want to call it curiosity, but it seemed as though she might have been marginally interested now.

A slow nod of the head from Beatrice, still shuffling on the spot. Perhaps she could start to sense that Altera was actually looking at her at this point, or it was just the silence from her that was surprising. In fairness to her, he wouldn't have put the Saber Servant down as one of the most approachable people in Chaldea, and that was from their short interactions with one another.

She was now looking at him, her eyes lingered on his own before they gradually shifted downwards towards the plate in his hand, staring at the cake for a few seconds in silence, then tilted it slightly to the side, looking back towards him. "Did Ash create that?"

"Uh, no. No, that would be Siegward…Why do you ask?"

"He said he was trying to make food." Was the simple explanation she gave, her eyes returned to the cake for a second, then she turned away from it without a second thought. He thinned his lips, shrugging his shoulders up and down before he stared at the door, taking a single step forwards and rapping his knuckles along the back of it rather politely, then stepping backwards.

A short wait later, the door hissed and rose up from the ground and into the ceiling, Da Vinci strode forwards and then promptly blinked at the three of them, not that he could really blame her. They must have looked like the weirdest trio possible, well probably not the weirdest, but certainly not the most expected.

"I…wasn't expecting this, protagonista." The brunette replied after a short moment, her eyes sweeping over the other two for a short moment before they landed back onto him, raising a single brow rather bemusedly, leaning on the side of the doorframe and folding her arms over her chest. "I know Siegward said he would send it down for me but if I had known it was going to be you, I would have just gone and gotten it myself."

"You were busy and I offered, it was no trouble." He explained simply, handing the cake towards the woman and allowing her to take the plate. Then glanced towards the side of the door, raising a single brow and giving it a small thought. "I would have assumed you'd put in a doorbell or something…or a little bell you had to pull or something."

"Hmph. Hadn't actually thought of that yet…but now that you've brought it up, that's what I'm going to do." Da Vinci beamed rather widely, stepping away from the doorframe and right up, then looking towards the other two Servants for a couple of seconds before nodding her head to the pair of them.

"Well, I'll be off then." He jerked his head to the side and took a single step back, catching the slightly odd look on the face of the Caster. She was probably assuming he was trying to run away from her or something. "The Director wants me for another little magic lesson breakdown and all that, I need to catch up with them to try and at least memorise all the basics…Not entirely sure what we're doing today but it'll probably be interesting."

Da Vinci made a face of understanding, nodding her head up and down. "Alright then, I wish you the best of luck with that…and remember, the basics are only interesting because you can make them interesting. Whether that be magecraft or anything else. That is Da Vinci's advice for the day! Ciao!" and with a wave of the hand and an enthusiastic voice, she stepped back into her workshop and closed the door.

With a small smile, he turned and immediately found himself face to face with Altera, the Saber staring right into his eyes with a rather intense look in them. "You are going to learn magecraft?"

He winced. "Well, not me specifically…mostly learning the terms and what everything means so that I'm not so out of the loop…" he chuckled lowly and awkwardly, bringing his hand up and rubbing the side of his neck while averting his eyes. "I was just the guy they brought in, I'm not really a mage like everyone else and the Director decided that I should at least know what people are talking about rather than being stood around - in her own words - like a shop window mannequin."

Altera just continued to stare blankly at him, then made a small noise. "Ah. I see. Let us go then."

Yeah, he should probably-

…Us?

"It is a reliance on the mana of the world, as opposed to the Od within a person, something which is more commonly utilised by those with magical circuits of lower quality and quantity." The Director explained as she continued to write down on the board, the faint scribbling of pen was more or less the only sound to be heard. "Though it is often required a catalyst for this art, the uses are relatively slim but it is favoured depending on the quality of the materials that one has at their disposal."

The Director paused for only a moment, then turned towards him with a slightly suspicious look on her face as she kept her eyes upon him. "You are familiar with the differences between Mana and Od, are you not?"

A slow nod of the head, but he could tell what she was going to ask so he cleared his throat. "Mana comes from the atmosphere and Od comes from people. Od comes from living things whereas mana is just all around us - like the living force - and then it can be taken into a person and converted into magical energy with magic circuits, right?"

He really hoped that was the right answer, it sounded like the right answer.

She stared at him in silence for a few brief moments, then gave a slow nod of the head and with a tiny approving smile on her face. "Yes, a textbook answer. With that in mind, you can likely determine the value of Formalcraft as well as its application, for those who do not have the necessary magical energy generation within their own circuits, they contract with an outside force to complete the ritual."

He raised his hand "Is this the sort of thing that I could do, then?"

He really tried to keep the giddiness out of his voice, but he wasn't quite able to manage it. Basically, from what the Director was saying, is that this was the type of magecraft that was tailor made for someone like him who wasn't actually good for all that much in the first place. It wasn't like he was expecting much, but this sort of thing had to be useful for at least something in the first place, just so he felt like he could do more than rely on his mystic codes.

The Director paused for a moment, a thoughtful look flashed across her face before she leaned forwards, resting the flat of her hands on the table and gave him a rather intense gaze. He could feel the pressure behind her amber orbs, enough that he fidgeted in the seat, glancing to the side just to feel a little less on the spot. From the way she was staring at him, it made him feel as though he might have said something wrong-

"Theoretically, yes."

He perked up at her answer.

"But realistically, no."

His features dropped, for her own part, the Director cringed at the face he made before shaking her head from side to side. "At least wait for an explanation before you start flying between reactions like that. Formalcraft might well be something used by those without the…natural talent for more complicated mysteries, but it is an art wholly dependent on the knowledge of one in the first place. Much like with Alchemy, it is a thaumaturgy that is reliant on the user having an in-depth understanding of what they are trying to achieve in the first place."

She pushed off the table, placing one hand on her hip and bringing the other up with a single finger raised. "Furthermore, one requires an item of mystery itself in order for the ritual to be plausible. For instance, I do not believe that you have it within you to kill a chicken and then paint a sigil on the floor with its blood. Alternatively, there are some who would employ the art of consistent prayer within a circle for many hours before they might see even a hint of magical energy from the world."

…Well. It was a nice thought while it lasted.

"Furthermore, given the state of mana within the world at the moment, the process is both time consuming and ultimately pointless if the same result can be achieved through the use of Od." The Director finished with a shake of the head, lowering her hand back down and placing it on her other hip. "For example, while you might be capable of scrounging up enough magical energy for a single Gandr spell if you had the knowledge, it could take you upwards of an hour for enough magical energy to be gathered from the mana in the air…"

Trailing off, she shot him a rather pointed look as she gestured to herself. "Whereas I can create such a spell within the span of a single second with enough thought. Formalcraft would have had a greater relevance when the mana of the world far exceeded that found within a typical human, but such a thing simply is not possible anymore."

Stopping, she then glanced across the table towards someone else, then raised a single brow at them before she rolled her eyes and nodded her head towards them.

"Hi, sorry…" Beatrice awkwardly started. "Is the problem being that there simply isn't enough mana for the spell to become charged within a fast enough span of time when compared to how one would normally achieve such a thing? Which ultimately makes the art rather pointless for those with the prestige to call upon it, but somewhat useful for anyone else…and does that mean that it has applications outside of combat?"

Turning his head towards the woman, Ritsuka blinked a couple of times at her before he turned back to the Director. Clearly she was just as stumped by the sudden intensity of the questions as he was.

The look of surprise vanished as she replied. "Once again, the art would have it's uses for outside of combat, true, but in the same token it would still be useless for one like Fujimaru, especially given the proximity he has around highly skilled Casters who could manifest Greater mysteries in a fraction of the time and with infinitely more skill."

Talk about suffering from success.

"So basically, it could be possible for me to learn it…but it's actually pretty pointless because anything it can do can be done better by anyone else who actually knows what they're doing?" He surmised as best he could, staring at the Director for a few moments. A second later, she slowly nodded her head up and down. Cementing it within his mind.

Well, he wasn't the sort to murder chickens and paint circles with their blood or pray all night either, so it was probably for the best.

"This magic sounds useless."

The blunt comment came from the other guest for the lecture, Altera having accompanied him merely because she had claimed some mild interest in magic, having never given it much thought before.

He actually agreed with her on that front, this sort of thing did sound rather useless. He understood the principle of it, but by the sounds of it, more often than not someone would have to use another method and if they did use this, it probably wouldn't be all that good in the first place. Unless they were actually a fan of killing chickens.

The Director exhaled, moving her hand up to rub the bridge of her nose and slowly nodded her head up and down. "...It is not wholly useless, merely useless for this particular case."

It was a slight correction, pulling her hand down and placing it upon her cheek. "Formalcraft has its uses for those who lack natural talent or average magic circuits. In effect, it would be the sort of magecraft that one of Fujimaru's abilities would practise, the issue arises with capability and requirement. It is a very academic school of thaumaturgy where knowledge is prized first and foremost…knowledge and patience."

"Hmmm…This sort of sounds like the manner of spells that the pyromancers would call upon." Beatrice remarked with a thoughtful tone of voice, though spoken low enough that he could barely hear her. A quick glance showed that she was cupping her chin and staring at the table. "They called upon their connection with the natural world via the flame being a concept meaning life, but then they would make the connection through their bodies…which means they applied it in the same way as these magic circuits but focused it through their flame rather than through this other system…but it was mana drawn from the air…"

"...As I was saying." He was dragged back to the Director, giving a small look at the Caster before she continued. "Formalcraft was only mentioned because it is still a practised school of thaumaturgy. Just so that you were aware in the event of ever encountering a magical circle carved into something…and no, Servants are not applied by the same limits as you or I when it comes to this manner of school. They are walking legends upon the earth, their existence is upon the verge of a true miracle and capable of releasing mysteries in such a way purely because they are repetitions of history."

"So…because they could do this in life, they can do this now?"

"Yes."

"Ah, okay."

Well, that cleared that up.

He was still a little disheartened about not being able to do anything though. He still had the Mystic Codes, he supposed, so that was still him using magic in some capacity.

"So…just keep an eye out for magic circles, dead animals and blood trails?"

A flat expression and a slow blink from the Director, she leaned back and folded her arms over her chest as she stared at him. "...Yes…Though there are other aspects of Formalcraft which are not so readily apparent. For example, one further use would be element conversion. Which is somewhat self-explanatory, but I shall give you a moderate oversight so that you can at least understand the principle of what I am trying to explain."

She held up her hand, showing all five digits. "There are five elements within the Thaumaturgy school, those that everyone should have an affinity towards baring some exceptions. Fire, Earth, Water, Wind and Void the latter of which can also be placed under the title of Ether. Which I have already explained to you in the past."

He nodded his head, resuming his focus.

"Excellent, now then, examination of the elements allows for what one might refer to as an element conversion…They are applied towards the concepts of the world itself, if one can imagine a certain element falling under the category of these five elements, then it allows for the conversion into it via the use of Formalcraft, one of the more common uses of the art…"

He walked out of the room, stretching his arms back until he heard something click in his back, then rolled them forwards a couple of times and smiled, turning to his right and then clapping his hands together in front of himself. "Well, that was interesting, wasn't it?"

Unsurprisingly, Beatrice gave a rather enthusiastic nod of the head, a rather wide smile on her face as she raised her hat high enough that he could actually see her. Between the four of them, he was certain that Beatrice had spoken more than anyone else in the room and that included the Director herself, while he was sure she didn't appreciate the muttering, she never said anything to stop her.

"I'd never had the chance to be inside a lecture towards something like this before." She continued on, nodding her head towards the room they had just stepped out of. "I don't know if it was like what the dragon schools were like, but I imagine it was much the same thing…still…having the chance to hear about this different manner of sorcery which sounds really similar to pyromancy was very interesting…it makes me a little curious to see if I could try it out."

That wasn't quite what he had been expecting her to say, his surprise must have shown because she was now looking at him rather oddly as well. "Is…is that strange? Did I say something strange?"

"W-well no but…" He trailed off, bringing up a single finger and then furrowing his brows. "You did hear the Director, right? She said that it was basically useless and you're actually way better at doing magic than that sort of thing in the first place, right?"

The Caster made a small noise, folding her arms and giving him a rather chiding look. "It isn't about whether I am better at it or not. It's about learning something new and then giving it a try just to say that you got to experience it." the smile returned, her hands came up and balled into fists. "This is an entirely new world of sorcery to me and this is a method of trying it out that I can do! I'm a witch of the woods, this is the sort of thing I should excel at! I know all about connecting with the world…well…not as much as one of the pyromancers of the swamp or the druids of the forest…b-but all the same!"

That seemed fair enough to him, a little bit dark actually…

"Okay…but we don't have a chicken-"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Beatrice rapidly shook her head from side to side, bringing up her hands as she did so. "I'm not suggesting we go around murdering small animals…although I have done that sort of thing in the past because as cute as the little bunny was…I was hungrier…but aside from that-"

He wasn't sure he wanted to ever see Beatrice in that light, but now he couldn't help but see her menacingly looming over some dumbfounded little rabbit. Quite the disturbing image now.

"I figured out what the method is." She explained further, gesturing with her hands. "Basically the problem is the mana in the air, right? But if we can increase the local magical energy, then it should speed up the process of Formalcraft, which is why people use little living things freshly killed, because their blood would still have the Od in them, right?"

A slow nod of the head. "Yeah, they probably would…so you're suggesting we just get something else that is just as magical as blood from somewhere in Chaldea?" that sounded rather difficult for him to even consider, placing his hands on his hips and raising a single brow. "But where would we get something like-"

"Ashen Estus." She answered before he could get a word out.

His expression flattened, then his eyes started to widen. The liquified concentration of magical energy, that thing that Sulyvahn had made. His hands came up, fingers snapping together as he stared at her with comprehension. It was that weird drink that Ash talked about in the past that would restore magical energy rapidly, a quick fix for a short time. To recharge someone like Ash it would have to be positively brewing with magical energy.

"Good idea." He settled on, nodding his head up and down, by right it should technically work and Sulyvahn should be able to restore it rather easily.

A faint twitch, his eyes turned towards the watch on his wrist. "Okay then, it's approaching time of day for another summoning, you can head off with…" he trailed off, then turned to the side and found that Altera was still there, staring at the two of them in complete silence. "...Are you still interested?"

"You have discussed a method of negating the supposed weakness of the magical method." The Saber replied after a moment of silence. "I wish to see this through to its completion. If that is possible."

A nod of the head. "Great. Can you go with Beatrice to Sulyvahn?" Altera acknowledged him silently. "Thank you. Beatrice, explain to Sulyvahn what you need and that I asked for it, that should get him to at least do what you ask…he may or may not want to come along as well, if he does? Fine. If he doesn't? No big deal, don't try and force him."

He backed away from them, throwing his thumbs over his shoulder. "Alright, I'm going to head towards the summoning chamber, see if anyone shows up today. Call me when you get the chance and then I'll head there as quickly as I can…or call me if there are any problems either."

Beatrice looked like she might have wanted to say something, but Altera beat her to it.

"You will be informed."

"Thanks guys! Looking forward to it!" He waved to them, then turned and started to jog down the hallway.

It might have been a little childish of him to do, but at the same time it was magic. Even if the end result wasn't all that impressive, it was still magic.

Who didn't want to try at least one magic spell once in their life?

He didn't want it to appear as though he was in as big a rush, but he couldn't quite help but fidget on the spot as he stood in the summoning chambers, naturally it would only be a matter of time before-

"Are you alright, Senpai?"

Someone caught on.

A smile came on his face, nodding his head up and down. "Fine, I'm actually feeling really pepper right now." the puzzled face on Mash remained, but it was softer and more pleased. "The Director was running me through one of the lectures again, this one on Formalcraft and then Beatrice got interested so she's currently heading to get some supplies for it and then we're gonna head on to a Simulator and give it a try."

Mash's brows furrowed, though the pleased look remained on her face. "Formalcraft? But…I'm not sure I understand, Senpai."

"Just because it's magic and I can actually help out." He replied with a shrug of his shoulders, ultimately that was all it really added up to. It might well have been rather useless in the here and now, especially for the future, but it was just so he could say he did magic. Not quite in comparison to the last time he did it which was…with the help of Seath, looking back on it now still made him feel a bit conflicted.

On the one hand, it had been his first real time doing magic and on the other hand…Seath.

"Get the chance to try new things." The elaboration earned a look of understanding and a nod of the head from the girl, a smile flickered across her face. "You can come as well if you'd like, it was mostly because Beatrice was really excited to just try it out - same as me - and then Altera was just interested in general."

"Altera-san was?"

"Yeah. Turns out she was just mildly curious about magecraft and just wanted to see how it all worked." It had been a bit of a surprise but he was rather happy with it, meaning that it was something that they could connect over. A shared interest in new things and he was rather curious as to how Altera's first reaction to him with a cake was to ask if Ash had made it and then dismiss it entirely when she found out he didn't. Rather peculiar, but for all the right reasons.

"I take it the Director already explained the basics of Formalcraft to you, Fujimaru-kun." He turned his head to the voice, Romani looking at him through the window with a slightly odd expression. "We don't really have any living animals we could kill…well…unless you count Fou but that should go without saying that we're-"

"Fou!" The small squirrel thing let out a rather loud and somewhat aggressive chirp, leaping up onto Mash's shoulder, their ears flickered back and their tail stood on end, a low growl soon followed.

"I was just saying we wouldn't even consider that an option!" Romani hastily finished with a panicked look on his face, eagerly placating the little creature. "At least wait for me to finish speaking before you decide to try and curse at me or something."

Fou looked far from immediately convinced, though he did stand down from his more aggressive look. Sitting comfortably on Mash while keeping his gaze firmly fixed upon the doctor. Mash quickly brought her hand up, rubbing a finger along the back of the neck of the animal and drawing a rather pleased noise from them.

"Phew…anyway, back to the topic of the whole animal blood thing-"

Bringing up his hand, he offered the man a smile. "See, that's the thing. Beatrice figured out that it was the Od in the blood that acted as the layout for the magic circle as well as the mana in the air. But if the blood was already really magical then the process would be much quicker, right?" A nod of the head from Romani, now looking less puzzled and more intrigued. "So basically, what Beatrice came up with was using some of the Ashen Estus as the foundation for the circle, because it's basically super magical liquid, isn't it?"

Romani opened his mouth, then closed it again, his brows furrowed as he leaned forwards and made a small noise. "I…That might work in theory, a lot of circles utilise blood or other elements which are good conductors for magical energy, the better the conductor the more powerful the ritual…I would say that pure magical energy liquified would definitely be one of the best conductors out there…though it is just as much about the act of sacrificing a chicken as much as it is about the blood, or with the prayer but…"

The man leaned back into his chair, humming and rubbing his chin as he did so. "I know only a little bit so I wouldn't be the guy to ask about this. Either the Director herself would be your best bet or one of the other mages would be a good bet…Vincent Parhope."

He…was really ashamed that he didn't recognise the name.

"Parhope-san?" Mash tilted her head, clearly being better at him at remembering this sort of thing, then slowly nodding her head up and down. "Yes, he would be a good person to ask, Senpai. Their family is known for the study of elementals and Phantasmals. They make contact with the mana of the world, so he should know about Formalcraft and I think he would be open…I think?"

Her wince didn't inspire much confidence, but he was sure it couldn't hurt to ask.

And it would give him a chance to talk to the man who had apparently skipped out on the meeting. He really didn't like not knowing the ordinary people around here.

"But on the topic of Magecraft in general, I can't really say that I'm all that onboard with this idea in the first place." Romani then continued on, making him blink twice as he stared at the doctor. Opening his mouth to say something but being interrupted before he had the chance. "Not just on safety grounds because any magecraft can end badly, but because…Getting involved in this sort of thing isn't really a one and done deal."

A frown creased his lips, they made that sound like a bad thing but he let the doctor speak, on account of hearing the genuine worry in their voice.

"Magecraft on the whole is a lifelong commitment, people like the Director give their entire lives for this and then leave it for their descendents to carry on with. Basically, it's not something you can really just show up and have a go at…"

The doctor frowned through the glass, then brought up a hand to rub at the side of their head.

"The point is that when all of this is said and done, then I want you to go back and have a normal life…even excluding the length of time it would take to learn even the simplest of spells that would be useful, your own magic circuits are…not great."

"...I see."

"I'm not trying to stomp down on you or anything." Romani hastily continued on with a shake of the head. "But if you were looking for a way that you can help then I can say that this…this probably isn't the sort of way that is really built for you specifically."

Well.

Talk about a let down, but if Beatrice wanted to go for it then he would still help her.

"Ah, looks like the circle is turning active, Fujimaru-kun."

He turned around at the suggestion, watching as the summoning circle sprung into life, a pillar rose up and straight towards the ceiling with the intensity he had been expecting from this point onwards.

Stepping forwards and taking a deep breath, he could already feel the connection being made with the slight flicker in his hand and nothing else. The light already fading away to reveal a rather tall and somewhat lanky figure stood in the circle. What surprised him was how modern they looked, long straight black hair, a red coloured overcoat above a black suit and with a yellow scarf slung around their shoulders.

The face of the man was rather piercing as well, a look that somewhat reminded him of his old maths teacher, in a good way rather than anything hostile. The man took a single glance around the room, a sweeping observation and then his eyes returned to him, stepping down from the summoning pad and humming rather quietly. "Servant Caster, my name is Zhuge Liang, though you might be familiar with the name of Kongming as well. Either works."

Ritsuka raised a brow ever so slightly. That sounded like it was a chinese name but even looking at this guy, they looked western to him.

"Zhuge Liang of the three kingdoms?" Mash's voice provided some context, enough that he could place the 'three kingdoms' as something related to China. Though his knowledge of Chinese history was definitely rather lacking in pretty much everything that wasn't a really well known name.

"Yes…" His eyes remained on Mash for a moment, then returned to him with flicker of something through them. "You look as though you wish to say something?"

Ritsuka thinned his lips, then shook his head from side to side. "No, probably nothing. Just happy to meet with you and look forward to working with you."

"Really? I assumed you were going to ask why I am very clearly not Chinese." The voice of the man was rather dry, his hands moving towards his pockets as he gave him that same look as before. Ritsuka winced a bit at the tone but slowly nodded his head up and down, the man hummed and then nodded once.

"You would indeed be correct, I am not truly Kongming, though I have his skills and Noble Phantasm as though you had summoned him…rather, I am the vessel that he chose to carry out his actions. This place is…Chaldea, yes? Hmmm. Vague rumours from the Department of Astronomy spoke of this place but I was unaware it was completed. Though that is little surprise, Lord Animusphere would hardly have announced it…no, the difference in the years would account for it."

Ritsuka blinked twice at the man, then tilted his head to the side. They spoke of being a vessel, something that he knew a little about but he really hoped it wasn't what he was thinking of. "W-when you say vessel…are you still-"

"I still have all my faculties, if that should be a concern to you. My judgement remains unimpeded." He cut him off rather quickly and with a single look towards him, a moment passed before he continued on. "But your concern for my well being is noted…I would be more accurate to say that Kongming dumped all of his personal skills onto me because he could not manifest as a Servant under his own power, thus he needed a body and decided that I alone would be a better fit for the task at hand. We came to an understanding soon after."

"But is he-"

"He is not present at the moment, no. It is just I." The man paused for a moment, then narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "Unusual, you're still looking at me as though you have no idea who I am in the first place…no, you're young but you would not be so young as to remain ignorant to my appearance. Especially since the man behind the glass has been gaping like a fish ever since I was summoned."

Ritsuka turned, sure enough Romani was rather bug eyed as he stared through the window at the man, opening and closing his mouth and even stepping out of his chair, pointing towards the direction of the figure. At this point, he was starting to feel a little guilty but he figured he could give the man some context. "Yeah I'm…it's a bit of a long story but I'm not really a mage per-say…and by that I mean, I'm not really a mage at all. Or if I count as one it would not be very good. Like really, really awful. I didn't actually know magic was a thing until I came here, type of bad."

The frown that crossed the face of Not-Kongming was rather sudden and somewhat intense, his eyes darting between Romani and himself several times before he spoke. "That is…what?"

He was now being stared at as though he was something out of an exhibit, the man moved off the summoning pad completely and crossed the distance between the two of them in a few short steps, leaning forwards and squinting hard, right to the point where the gaze was rather intense. Then, as quickly as it happened, the man leaned back and frowned even deeper. "...Where is Lord Animusphere?"

"There's-" Ritsuka coughed under his breath and then spoke again. "There's Director Animusphere, well, Director Olga Marie Animusphere-"

"Olga Marie?" The man repeated with a note of surprise in his voice, a slight widening of the eyes before they returned once more. Sending a slow glance towards the direction where Romani was still miming for whatever reason, an odd look passed through his gaze as he made a disapproving sound "And she is not present for the summoning of a Servant because?"

Ritsuka winced. "That is part of the really long story-"

"Then perhaps it would be best if you started speaking." The man supplied as he reached into his pocket, then pulled out a cigar and a lighter. Ritsuka stared at him rather blankly as he held it up towards himself. "We can speak as we walk, I would prefer that you take me to Director Animusphere as quickly as possible…Ah, yes. I believe I should also introduce myself for you as well."

He straightened out. "I am Lord El-Melloi the second…Remember to add the 'second' onto the end of it."

Ah.

Well.

…Yeah, that definitely seemed something for the Director to hear about.

"S-sure." Ritsuka rapidly nodded his head up and down, bringing his hand up and gesturing over his shoulder. "You mean like right now-"

"Yes."

"Okay."

The man remained rather silent for the majority of it all, at least until he actually got to one of the details that seemingly threw him off.

"Lev Lainur?" He repeated the name, furrowing his brows ever so slightly. "You're absolutely certain of that?"

Ritsuka nodded his head. "Yeah? Why?"

"...Hmmm. Suddenly the existence of Chaldea makes far more sense to me." He muttered lowly under his breath, then brought his head up and nodded once. "It would seem as though I have crossed between timelines…The physical description you gave of him matches Lev Uvall, though that is rather puzzling to consider they could exist…namely because it seems as though he committed suicide some time before I arrived here."

Ritsuka stopped walking at that, something that Mash similarly did as the two of them looked at one another while wearing matching expressions of shock. Then they both turned to Romani who had taken to following after them, the man looked similarly baffled as the three of them turned their collective confusion onto El-Melloi.

The man clearly sensed their looks, turning and sparing them a glance over his shoulder as he stopped his own pace. "There is much I also consider to be different, namely that Lord Animusphere is still alive within the Clocktower as head of the Department of Astronomy…though he has admittedly become something of a recluse in recent months, his apprentice has been chairing the department ever since…It is still Kirschtaria Wodime here, yes?"

Romani stepped forwards and nodded his head. "Yeah, he studied underneath the former Director…but like with the rest of Team A-"

"Indeed." The man took a puff of his cigar, removing it from his lips and moving his free hand to rub at his temples. "The more you speak, the greater my concern becomes…A headache to be sure, now I'm all but convinced that Kongming fled because he didn't want to deal with this mess…" lowering the hand, they turned their head on him and narrowed their eyes thoughtfully. "Still, from what I know you have made some rather impressive progress…luck can only take you so far, which leads me to wonder…"

Shaking their head, they turned away and nodded forwards. "Continue on."

"Alright." Ritsuka shrugged, he accepted the timeline story pretty easily, perhaps the man noticed as he sent him a rather odd glance. He waved his hand. "When you've already got an entirely different world bleeding figures into your own, you saying you're from a slightly different timeline isn't the biggest surprise in the world."

It took him a second to realise he had walked right past El-Melloi.

He turned around, the man was staring at him bug eyed. "...What did you just say?"

By the time they actually reached the doors of the Director's office, Ritsuka couldn't help but notice that the man looked rather haggard. It certainly made him feel a little bad for the man, especially because they looked as though they had been progressively ageing the longer the explanation went on.

Staring at him now only cemented just how much this was weighing on his mind. His head was low hanging and his shoulders were slumped, intermittently taking puffs of his cigar - to which Ritsuka was still uncertain if this was a no-smoking location or not - as some manner of relief.

He stepped forwards and knocked on the door, calling out a moment later. "Director? It's Ritsuka. Listen, we've got one of the Servants here who really needs to talk with you about something important."

There was a second of silence, then the muffled voice of the Director came from the other side. "What? What on earth could one of the Servants possibly have t-if this is another report about someone tearing open a washing machine of trying to use fireballs to make cakes, I am going to be exceedingly disappointed in your capacity to actually control them." he heard her growl get louder and louder as she approached the door, "And if it's that damnable Goddess trying to start problems again, tell her that I would sooner break my hand on her cheek again than listen to a-eurgkh!?"

The second the door opened, the Director made a rather interesting noise as her expression flashed from exasperation to pure shock and horror, visibly taking a step backwards as he eyes landed on the tall man, who was now sporting a rather perturbed look at the young woman, staring at her up and down for a single second, then making a small noise in the back of his throat and nothing else.

"Wh-wh-wh-what is-how is-what-hu-eh-he-Lord-" Ritsuka kept himself silent as he watched her stumble through several dozen sentence starters, all while pointing a shaking hand right at the face of the man.

El-Melloi raised only a single brow as he stared at the finger.

The Director froze up, staring at her outstretched arm and then snapping it back down to her side and going silent for a moment. "Lord El-Melloi the second?" she squeaked in a rather low voice of disbelief, it was rather weird to see her like this, but at the same time he was sure that it was probably an earned moment.

From his own lessons, Lords of the Clocktower were basically like the main leaders in the magic world and stuff, so it was basically like being stood in front of your boss or something.

"Yes." The man replied without even showing a hint of reaction to her. "Director Olga Marie Animusphere…Hmm, certainly taller than I remember you being, though perhaps that is because you have your posture taut. In any event, I shall answer your doubtless burning question of why and how I am here. I am a pseudo-servant summoned under the true name Zhuge Liang, or Kongming, and my presence here is no different than any other Servant…Though I believed it wise to speak with you as swiftly as possible."

The Director made a small noise, even as the man continued on. "And your subordinates have been explaining the situation to me as best as they can, the picture they have painted thus far has been grim to say the least…but you seem to have kept the organisation afloat and solved upwards of several singularities and survived against rather impressive ordeals."

He wasn't quite sure what face the Director was making, but it looked somewhere between surprise and being happy, but she quickly stifled it.

"Now then, though I might be a Lord of the Clocktower, that is of a different timeline to this one and I am first and foremost a Servant just as any other, as such I shall not be excising any authority beyond my station, nor shall I be demanding preferential treatment beyond which I am expected to receive." He finished, lowering his hand and staring down at the Director "Is that acceptable to you?"

"Ye-but you're-I...I will do my best, though it is a…"

"Confusing situation, yes." A dry note in the tone of the man showed his exasperation. "For the meantime, I would like to be informed of the complete state of Chaldea's operational capacity as well as past successes in detail. Nothing that would compromise your family secrets, just enough that I can do my job and know what I am dealing with…especially if the manner of your enemy is King Solomon himself and the…notes and characters of this other world I have been told of."

"R-right, yes, of course." The Director rapidly nodded her head up and down, then looked past and sent a rather piercing look at Romani. The doctor made a face of understanding and scrambled away as quickly as possible down the hallway. "Everything that can be used to assist you further…"

"...I've been told that you are tutoring my Master on magecraft basics." El-Melloi continued onwards, Ritsuka saw what he almost thought was a ghost of a smile on the face of the man, but it vanished before he could even register it fully. "He has assured me he is content with remaining under your care."

The Director stiffly nodded her head. "Of course, you are a Professor of the-wha-?"

Her eyes were boring into his own before he even realised what was happening, her hand lashed out and clamped against his collar and dragged him forwards until he was nearly nose to nose with her, she turned on the Lord, then offered a shaky smile. "Might I be excused for a moment?"

She didn't even wait for a response before she was bundling him into her office and closing the door behind them. He stumbled for a couple of steps, then turned around and winced as he caught sight of the rather volcanic expression on the face of the man. "A Lord of the Clocktower offers you the chance to study under them…and you said no?"

Ritsuka opened his mouth, then closed it again, bringing up a single finger as he took a half step backwards. "I get the feeling that you're upset."

Her eye twitched.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Stepping back again as she moved closer, he brought up his hands and waved her down with a shaky smile, rather uneasy with the expression she was giving him at the moment. Especially because she really did look like she might hurt him if she got close enough. "He just asked how much I knew and I said that you were teaching me the terms and everything else, he just asked if I would use him for that sort of thing and I said that it was fine because I had you. R-really, it wasn't much of an offer of him teaching me in the first place, right?"

He collided with something, turning and looking around to find himself having retreated into the desk, turning back around and blanching as he realised she was barely more than a step away from him. Her hands reaching towards him almost as though she was going to strangle him, then her fingers stopped short, her lips rolled inwards and she took a couple of steps away from him.

"I mean, I enjoyed the classes that you did and you made it easier to understand…" He felt a little lame in adding that on at the end, glancing to the side and bringing his hands around, drumming his fingers on his legs and shrugging his shoulders. He didn't want to add it was also because he liked spending time with her and she actually looked rather happy when she was teaching him. Or if not happy, then she looked more at ease with everything. "A-and I'm not very good at Magecraft anyway so it would be sort of a waste of time for Lord El-Melloi, right?"

"The second." Olga corrected him with a sigh, bringing her hands up to her face and rubbing at it. A low groan followed as she turned around, keeping her back to him. A single breath, she raised her head back up, moving her hands towards her hips. "...I am going to apologise for that outburst, it was merely that you said something so unashamedly stupid that I could not help but react accordingly. You understand that he would be superior to me in every single way that mattered? His entire class is dedicated towards applying magecraft into the modern world."

He didn't know about the latter part, but he could probably guess the former was true. "...I guess? But I'm not really going to be much of a mage after this, am I?"

"...Not likely, no."

"Besides, I mean…I wouldn't say no to an on the dot explanation but…" He trailed off, he wasn't sure how best he could say this but it would probably be better if he just flat out said it. "...It wouldn't be you, I guess is the problem? I've gotten used to you being the one to do all this stuff to support me that I'm not sure how I would cope with someone else…"

Silence.

A faint sound reached his ears that almost sounded like a sniffle, his brows furrowed as he stared at the back of the Director's head, then watched as her shoulders shuddered ever so slightly.

"Director…are you cr-"

"Do not finish that sentence." The warning hung in the air, but he heard the quiver in her voice. "...Fine…I can excuse your stupidity so long as you agree to actually take heart to what the Caster says when he says it…He is still a Lord of the Clocktower and whatever opinion and thoughts he offers, you shall consider with the utmost seriousness. Understood?"

"Yeah."

"Excellent…" An exhale. "Good…you can…you can go now." she cleared her throat, waving a hand towards the door.

He raised a brow at her, then shrugged his shoulders and smiled, pushing away from the desk and walking past her without looking. A shuffle of feet behind him as he opened the door once more and was staring at the faces of Lord El-Melloi II and Mash, the former looking rather ambivalent to everything whereas Mash very clearly looked him over before she exhaled.

The moment the door closed, the Caster spoke.

"There are many who might well have struck you for rejecting my minor offer as being an insult." He began, still staring at him with a blank look. "Some other Lords might well have done worse for saying that, accusing you of being disrespectful to them…it was certainly a foolish thing you did, but I would not call it stupid. We all have our preferences…and a student is just as important as the teacher, at times."

He turned away and started to walk. "Now then, while the doctor has been sent off to find my materials, perhaps a further tour of this facility is in order."

"Right. Yes." Ritsuka coughed, nodding his head up and down. "Let's go then."

He was sure he might have been forgetting something, though.

He stopped, it felt as though there was a rumbling going on, turning and looking around he found he wasn't the only one to notice it. Then he glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow as he watched Beatrice go stumbling around the corner and then rush towards him, though his confusion as to why she was in a rush lasted only until he watched Havel stomp around the corner and lock onto him rather suddenly.

Beatrice all but flung herself around him, darting behind his body and taking cover.

Havel marched closer, a low growl. "You. Doing. Magic?"

Ah.

Now he remembered.

"Just little circles with the…uhm…Ashen estus stuff…" He slowly replied to the Berserker as they came to a halt. "That was actually the safe option, because the original thing talked about chicken blood but I didn't want to be killing chickens so this was the alternative…it is basically just to do it because it's new."

Havel kept silent, then folded his arms over his chest. "I. Watch. I. Judge."

Fair enough.

He turned to El-Melloi once more, the man watching the encounter with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah, welcome to Chaldea, by the way."

Chaldea had a habit of bringing in all sorts of interesting characters the longer she stayed here, it was quickly turning into one of the most interesting places she had ever visited. Perhaps being the most interesting, but that was for a variety of different reasons.

The advancements and technology alone were enough for her to consider this place to be one - if not the - greatest location she had ever been to. She had already made impressive strides in the development of her own inventions that she was sure was going to become well worth it.

If there was one complaint, it was that she had to die to get here in the first place.

That was rather a downside, as it were.

Moving her hand up, she rubbed at her temples for a moment before lowering it back down, turning her focus between the computer monitor and the creation to her left. It was always important to get something of value from even the worst situations, which was why she had gone through the destroyed parts of Chaldea and examined them to see if there was anything of value that she could salvage from it.

Sure enough, there had been something useful enough that she could take.

…And perhaps she was a little inspired by that clockwork owl which Da Vinci kept around, but what she was aiming for was going to be much more impressive than the owl. That much would be apparent to anyone who looked between the two of them. Besides, she had some experience when it came to developing constructs which reacted a certain way.

Sliding the chair away from the desk, she rolled it towards the frame and pulled herself towards it, frowning in thought as she looked over the metallic skeleton. There was only so much one could accomplish with the wiring pulled from the old lights or otherwise refined elements of metal. Copper would have been the best bet for carrying the current, but she was making do with what she had on hand.

Leaning forwards, she prized open the side of the right leg and hummed quietly to herself. Spinning her chair around and raising a brow. "Now where did I put that soldering iron…" she muttered to herself, clicking a button on the chair and propelling herself forwards at a steady pace.

That had been one of the first modifications she had made.

Now she didn't have to get out of her seat.

And there was plenty of room for her to make further modifications.

An electronic ping echoed across her workshop, her head turned up and she frowned, twisting the chair towards the direction of the noise and staring at the computer. With a frown, she moved herself towards it and sniffed lightly. She was certain it wasn't supposed to do that.

Leaning forwards the moment she got close enough, her lips pulled downwards as she skimmed across the icon which had flashed up. Tilting her head to the side and reaching forwards to press the small envelope image which had flashed up in the centre of the screen, instantly she was confronted with a series of images, all of which related to pictures of castles in the middle of an ocean.

Her confusion only increased as she clicked through the images and found herself staring at some sort of symbol painted across the front of the image, her lips parted a little as she mouthed her own befuddlement and continued onwards. Her curiosity piqued slightly more.

The next click brought not an image, but instead a message addressed to her.

"H's holiday resorts: Where bliss is inevitable." She muttered to herself, reading out the byline of the tag before skimming through the message, moving her hand and balling it into a fist, pressing it against the underside of her chin and leaning on the arm of the chair with her elbow, eyes skimmed through the message.

Well.

That certainly sounded interesting to her.

A twitch of the lips, and she was smiling before she realised it.

Bringing her hands forward, she cracked her knuckles and went about typing out her reply to his anonymous sender. This certainly sounded like something that was right up her alley, so to speak.

And really, how could she ignore such a chance as this?

Even if it wasn't even summer.