Chapter Ten: The Magic of Time

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My name is Illya.
I am laying out a scheme.
8405:12:01

About thirty kilometers west of the bustling streets of Fuyuki City, there lies a national highway stretching from east to west. Flanking this road is a dense forest, and legend has it that in the deepest part of this woods, there stands a "City of Myth."

Those who have wandered into this place claim that the castle is built of pristine white stone, magnificent and splendid. It is uninhabited, like a ghost town, yet the facilities are complete and everything is in perfect order, leaving one with the inescapable illusion that someone must live there.

Now, it welcomes its masters, who have arrived to engage in a life-or-death struggle known as the Holy Grail War.

"Mommy! This place is so beautiful!"

A little girl with silver hair, dressed in a thick purple velvet dress, cheered happily as she ran through the castle corridors.

"Illya, you mustn't be a bother to everyone."

A beautiful woman, who bore a ninety-percent resemblance to the running girl, called out with a hint of distress. She wore the same velvet winter coat as her daughter and possessed the same silver hair and red eyes. Seeing the maids pause their cleaning to dodge the child, this woman—Irisviel von Einzbern—spoke with a gentle reproach.

"Let her run a little," someone nearby said in a calm, steady voice. As Irisviel turned to him with a look of disapproval, he added, "It is not just Illya; even you have never traveled far from home."

"Hmm, that is true." The silver-haired woman thought for a moment and nodded.

The man beside her, with his somewhat stern features, was Kiritsugu Emiya, Irisviel's husband. Previously, they had lived together at the main Einzbern estate.

For various reasons, Irisviel was unable to leave the estate freely. Although Kiritsugu would often bring her movies and photographs from the outside world, telling her stories of international cities like New York and Paris, and describing the countless lives people led, this was her first time truly leaving that castle in Germany to see the world with her own eyes.

As for the reason they arrived in Fuyuki a year before the start of the Holy Grail War...

"You can feel it, can't you, Ari?" Standing in the grand entrance hall, Kiritsugu observed the castle with sharp eyes.

"Yes, there are no signs of tampering," Irisviel concluded after scanning their surroundings.

As a secondary residence specifically established by the Einzbern family, this castle was shrouded in multiple layers of illusions and magical barriers. It would never manifest to the outside world except under highly unusual circumstances, and even if someone were to wander in, the pervasive suggestion spells would quickly cause them to leave of their own accord.

But now, someone had entered without triggering any alarms or defensive barriers—and not just once.

Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the elderly patriarch of the Einzbern family, believed this was the work of a magus intending to participate in the upcoming Holy Grail War, aiming to sabotage this prepared magical workshop or plant traps within it.

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Therefore, he ordered Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel to travel to Fuyuki in advance to repair and secure it. There is a world of difference between a magical workshop with a master in residence and one without.

Through Kiritsugu's persistent persuasion, he was granted permission to bring their daughter, Illyasviel von Einzbern, to experience the atmosphere of the "Holy Grail War," provided she was sent back three months before the war officially began or when a Heroic Spirit was summoned.

Though that was what he told the patriarch, in truth, he simply did not want to be separated from his daughter too early. Despite his outward appearance, Kiritsugu was actually a very gentle man, Irisviel thought to herself.

"Since the intruder can completely bypass alarms and defensive spells, and was only accidentally discovered during a single disturbance in the ley lines, it is likely that even using 'scene reconstruction' magic would fail to reveal their appearance," Kiritsugu mused as he began walking toward the castle stairs. "However, the intruder surely could not have guessed that I had installed 'that' here."

Irisviel knew what "that" was. It was a product of "technology," something entirely distinct from the "mysteries" of magic and alchemy.

Two years ago, when Kiritsugu had conducted a secret reconnaissance in Fuyuki, he had installed cameras and recording devices throughout the castle. They were triggered by a variety of methods—magical traps, infrared sensors, weight detection, and sound feedback. Unless the intruder had achieved complete invisibility, they would inevitably be discovered and recorded.

Although such behavior by Kiritsugu was often criticized for lacking the pride of a magus, the Einzbern family, focused on alchemy, viewed both mystery and scientific products merely as tools to be controlled. As long as one could utilize them to achieve their goal, it was acceptable. Thus, even while bearing the infamous title of "Magus Killer," the patriarch was still willing to accept him as an adopted son-in-law.

Yet, even though he treated magic as a mere tool, he had been furious at the treatment she—a "magical tool"—had received when they first met, and because of that... Irisviel held her slightly flushed face, unwilling to continue that train of thought.

Though Kiritsugu noticed his wife's odd behavior, he had more important matters to attend to and ignored the trifle.

They were now in a secret room within the Einzbern villa. Over a dozen monitors displayed the maids cleaning various areas, with Illya's lively figure passing through the frames from time to time. Kiritsugu began to systematically filter through and play back the recordings that had been triggered while the castle was "supposed" to be empty.

*Static...* The saved footage soon appeared on one of the monitors.

"Hmm, so she did notice something? She used some kind of spell to disrupt visual perception..."

Although the equipment Kiritsugu used was highly advanced and the displayed scene was quite clear, the figure was blurry. One could only discern that it was a young woman with dark clothing and light-colored long hair. Judging by the date in the corner of the screen, this had happened about a year ago.

The way she pushed open the grand gate as if no one were there startled Irisviel, who knew how many triggered spells were placed there, yet absolutely nothing happened.

Then, the woman began to tour the interior of the villa—as if she owned the place. After a rough walk-through, she pushed the door open and left, without triggering a single alarm or trap.

"I have to admit, her mastery of magic is extremely high. She is capable of using magic to protect herself even when not actively on guard," Kiritsugu analyzed calmly, while Irisviel felt a vague sense that the woman in the footage seemed dissatisfied with the facilities.

The recording would stop when the trigger conditions were no longer met, so the next moment showed her opening the door once again. Unlike the previous time, she was carrying bags and packages, looking quite burdened. Kiritsugu was just about to analyze what kind of magical supplies were in those bags when one of them obligingly tore open, spilling its contents all over the floor.

"Are those... sunflower seeds, peanuts, and potato chips?" Watching the girl go completely blank, followed by her dejectedly finding cleaning tools to sweep up the mess, Irisviel couldn't help but laugh.

"I suddenly feel that our coming to Fuyuki with such grave seriousness was a mistake," Kiritsugu said, pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "Though she is skilled, she is likely just a young lady from some magical family out for a stroll."

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"She's a good child, isn't she?" From the fast-forwarded footage, one could see the girl settling into one of the rooms in the castle. She seemed to be vacationing in the vicinity; cameras located in the forest occasionally captured her returning from different directions. When she stayed in the castle room, she would either read or practice magic, clean the room, or occasionally go out to purchase a large pile of supplies just like the first time.

"We must teach Illya that she is not allowed to occupy other people's empty houses when traveling," Kiritsugu said, no longer paying much attention to the screen; after all, even though there were no cameras in sensitive areas, it was, after all, the daily life of a young girl.

"If that child comes here again, you are not allowed to be mean to her," Irisviel said, looking at Kiritsugu.

"This kind of behavior, invading another magus's workshop, must—" Kiritsugu stopped mid-sentence, saw his wife's gaze, and raised his hands in surrender. "—can be forgiven, can be forgiven."

The final day's recording, dated three days ago, showed the area directly in front of the girl's room. It remained on that view for an unusually long time, which suggested the girl was using magic inside the room; since there was no monitoring inside, only the camera at the door remained active.

*Pitter-patter—* Little Illya quickly ran past the door on the screen, visible on another monitor displaying real-time footage next to the one showing the recording.

Illya, who had been passing by, seemed to have noticed something; she slowly walked back to the door and reached out to pull it open.

At the same time, the door in the footage from three days ago opened at the exact same speed.

"This..." Kiritsugu sat bolt upright, and Irisviel's eyes widened.

The room Illya opened was empty. When the girl from three days ago pushed the door open to step out, there was no one outside.

However,

The unknown girl turned around, raised her hand, and patted Illya on the head. Illya, in turn, squinted her eyes in contentment.

"Illya!" Irisviel could not watch any longer. She stood up and rushed out of the secret room, quickly finding her daughter, who was still peering curiously into that room.

"Mommy?" Illya blinked in confusion as she was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace by Irisviel, then said, "Mommy, I felt a big sister inside just now, but when I opened the door, she was gone."

Kiritsugu remained in the secret room, staring blankly at the monitors.

First, the girl from three days ago said something, walked past the position where Illya would be three days later, and headed toward the main gate, while Illya tilted her head in confusion, looking in the direction where the girl had left.

Then, in another piece of footage from three days ago, as the girl walked toward the gate, she suddenly dodged to the side as if avoiding something. In the real-time footage, that exact position was where Irisviel had just sprinted past.

"Is this time magic... or perhaps the Fifth Magic?"