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Creak—!
The massive wooden door swung open slowly, and under the glow of the setting sun, Haru leisurely stepped into the ancient Clock Tower.
The moment he entered, a woman in a maid outfit appeared in his line of sight.
The maid bowed to Haru, then made an inviting gesture. "This way, if you please!"
"Mm," Haru nodded slightly, following behind the maid towards the Clock Tower's upper-level archives.
After Haru's figure vanished, Kellar, his leading duties concluded, lifted his bowed head, a cold glint in his eyes. He turned and headed towards another passage leading to the upper floors.
Haru sized up the maid leading him up the stone steps, his expression unreadable. "How's the data organization coming along?"
"The first batch of magical data is undergoing final processing. Estimated completion time: 17 minutes and 31 seconds," the maid replied in a stiff, robotic voice.
Haru wasn't surprised by the mechanical response.
From the moment he'd laid eyes on her, he'd recognized that the maid before him was a magical construct—a puppet, much like Touko Aozaki's body.
Haru's ability to instantly identify the maid and Touko Aozaki stemmed from his research into souls. The maid before him had no soul, merely an empty vessel operating on programs instilled by a magus.
Touko, while having infused her soul into a puppet body identical to her own, had done so recently. That subtle incompatibility between soul and body was the primary reason Haru had seen through Touko's disguise.
"Since there's still some time, take me to where the Magic Crests are stored. Let's start with the rare ones," Haru said to the maid, his tone flat.
"Yes, sir!" the maid responded, changing direction. After about ten minutes, and passing through numerous bounded fields, the maid led Haru to an ancient, dilapidated wooden door.
Moss clung to the door, which emanated an aura of ancient mystery. An invisible ripple spread outwards, and upon scanning the maid at the entrance, as if confirming her identity, the door creaked open with a sharp groan.
"This is where the 'Special Magic Crests' are stored," the maid explained, turning to Haru before continuing forward.
The two entered the doorway, one after the other.
The room within was pitch black. Haru sensed it was only about a hundred square meters, yet it pulsed with spatial fluctuations.
Bubbles, faintly glowing with white light, floated in mid-air, numbering around one hundred and fifty. Their faint luminescence kept the room from being plunged into complete darkness. The spatial fluctuations emanated from these bubbles.
"This is?" Haru raised an eyebrow, examining the bubbles. Inside each was a monotonous white room, where various figures lay sleeping.
"These are the prisons for those under 'Sealing Designation'—in other words, those with Special Magic Crests," the maid replied, her voice devoid of emotion.
Haru's eyes flickered.
After a moment's thought, a look of understanding dawned on his face.
The so-called Sealing Designation was a form of 'protection' placed upon individuals who had achieved exceptional magical prowess and developed unique forms of magecraft.
Because these special magecrafts often had immense utility but were typically limited to the individual or could only be awakened by a small chance within their bloodline, the Mage's Association had standardized these individuals as valuable specimens to prevent their unique magic from being lost.
They were preserved for the world and also made available to the Association's higher-ups for targeted research.
Calling them 'Special Magic Crests' wasn't entirely inaccurate.
"Still, why is every woman under 'Sealing Designation' pregnant?" Haru squinted, his dead-fish eyes scanning the various pregnant female mages. Even an old woman in her seventies or eighties had a swollen belly.
What kind of… taste was this?
"These are experiments conducted by the Lord families to acquire the bloodlines of those under Sealing Designation, through… sexual intercourse…" the maid's emotionless voice droned on.
"Alright, that's enough. I understand," Haru hastily interrupted, his expression uneasy as he looked at the surrounding bubbles, his lip twitching.
"Just extract some cells and magical energy from these Sealing Designations for my experiments, that'll be sufficient," Haru said, his tone odd.
Thankfully, his abilities only required that much to deduce the special magecraft of a Sealing Designation. Otherwise, if he had to experiment on them one by one, or even conduct bloodline experiments like the Lord families… well, that would be a rather distasteful scene.
Although many of the female Sealing Designations were quite attractive, Haru had no interest in playing pass-the-parcel.
"Yes, sir!" The maid bowed slightly, then beckoned with her hand. A nearby bubble floated into her grasp, and she activated a magic formula to begin the extraction process.
Just then, Haru's perception, which had spread throughout the entire floor since he entered, detected a commotion on the level above.
"According to the data obtained from the magical workshop, this puppet technology cannot be replicated. It's predicted that a unique trait specific to Touko Aozaki is required for its activation."
"Meaning, this magecraft, comparable to the Fourth Magic—we can't learn it?"
"Correct. This technology is deemed unlearnable."
"Then, issue it. The new generation's Sealing Designation edict!"
Haru blinked, a strange expression on his face. "Comparable to the Fourth Magic? Touko Aozaki? Sealing Designation? Seems I've accidentally stumbled into something big."
8 PM.
In a small alley in West London.
Touko Aozaki, wearing an orange trench coat and hood, ran through the alley, her face dark.
Inopportune words still echoed in her ears.
"Listen up, Touko, your puppet technique has been designated for sealing. I don't care how you achieved it, but if you don't want to be locked up and used as a breeding tool, you better get the hell out of England."
"Sorry, I can't directly help you this time. There are quite a few in Valualeta who aren't happy about you being the successor. If I help you now, I'll only hold you back. It's a shame, but whether you escape this time is entirely up to you."
"…It must have been that kid I met this evening who screwed me over!!" Recalling Haru's earlier comment about 'puppets,' Touko's lip twitched, and she cursed under her breath.
Suddenly, Touko stopped, her face grim as she looked at the alley entrance.
"Tsk, I've been found."
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