Chapter 256: Tohsaka Rin Just Charged Right In
Born into a lineage of magi and told from a young age that she must inherit and advance the family heritage, Tohsaka Rin had been exceptionally hardworking since then. All of this was to live up to the expectations of her father, Tohsaka Tokiomi—and perhaps even reach a level higher than those expectations.
After all, what child doesn't truly want to fulfill the expectations of their parents and elders, to make them proud and look at them with new respect?
It is only when those expectations become too distorted and heavy that the person being expected of feels overwhelmed, leading to immense mental pressure, resistance, or even specific psychological issues.
Fortunately, although Tohsaka Tokiomi's expectations for Rin were high, as a magus, he never lacked a shred of paternal love. Aside from the erroneous choice he made regarding the matter of Sakura and Rin, in other respects, he was an impeccable father.
Furthermore, because he only taught Rin the ideals and foundations of a magus for a few years during her childhood before losing his life in the Fourth [Holy Grail War], Rin did not fully develop the overly cold and selfish personality typical of magi; instead, she was no different from a normal girl.
The development of events wasn't much different from what Emiya had imagined moments ago—after finishing her middle school studies and witnessing "Emiya Shirou's" high jump miracle, the Tohsaka Rin of this world left for the Clock Tower in London, England, to begin her studies in the mysteries of magecraft immediately after graduating middle school.
In any case, studying magecraft in a professional place like the "Clock Tower," the headquarters of the Mage's Association, would naturally yield much more brilliant results than studying at home without any reliable elders.
Relying on her excellent... no, one should say peerless magical aptitude, Tohsaka Rin completed the foundational courses that usually take others six years in just about two years with absolutely superior grades. Subsequently, she successfully participated in the internship examination for the [Second Magician] Zelretch's recruitment of disciples.
Originally, when Zelretch parted ways with his disciple Tohsaka Nagato, he left behind an unfinished Mystic Code, the "Jeweled Sword," and promised that if his descendants could successfully complete this Jeweled Sword, he would enroll them as his disciple as an exception.
This was a story that would happen in every "Parallel World." However, for some reason, the Tohsaka Rin of this world gave up on fulfilling the contract by completing the "Jeweled Sword" and instead established a connection with Zelretch through other means.
Connection or not, because she accidentally ran into Luviagelita Edelfelt during the internship process, Rin was ultimately unable to complete the discipleship internship in a normal manner.
Due to certain reasons left over by their ancestors, Rin, who also possesses Edelfelt blood, is actually not well-liked by the Edelfelt family. Her own personality also completely clashed with Luvia, the head of the Edelfelts, leading them to come to blows almost every time they met.
Finally, during this discipleship internship, the two of them, who got into a massive fight right on the street, caused a disaster, even destroying quite a few buildings.
As the organizer of this internship, the magnanimous Zelretch did not punish the two for the widespread destruction. Instead, he sent them both to Japan to collect Class Cards that had somehow scattered there, promising that the one who finished the collection first would be taken as his disciple.
Not only that, to make their collection of Class Cards more efficient, Zelretch equipped each of them with a special Mystic Code he had created. By leveraging the power of these Mystic Codes, the two could significantly enhance their combat capabilities and even release the power within the Class Cards to strengthen themselves.
Even if Zelretch himself was seeing things like Class Cards for the first time, so what?
The title "Marshal of Magic" wasn't just empty praise from others; it was based on a solid understanding of magecraft—the foundation he possessed was not just thousands of years of age, but also himself from all parallel worlds.
From such a perspective, Emiya's inexplicable ability to obtain memories and power from various "Emiya Shirous" was actually quite similar to a version of Zelretch weakened countless times over.
The reason for saying this, of course, was not just because there was a vast difference in this special ability, but more importantly, if that [Second Magician] wanted to target Emiya, Emiya wouldn't even have room to run.
Don't talk about how the world is vast with nowhere to go; even every parallel world was within the other's observation. In such a situation, what was there to escape to?
In other words, Zelretch actually had the ability to solve most problems that others deemed impossible, but the old man was clearly quite fond of cultivating disciples. Although compared to the disciples he successfully trained into talents, those who achieved nothing were far more numerous... once again proving that the ability to teach students has almost no correlation with one's own strength.
When Tohsaka Rin and Luvia arrived in Fuyuki City with the Mystic Codes made by Zelretch and hearts full of passion, ready to do great work and recover all the Class Cards, reality once again dealt them a painful blow.
Because the Mystic Codes created by Zelretch even had their own emotions and thoughts, the two women—who simply treated them as tools and also had the "defect" of being too old—were quickly abandoned by the Mystic Codes. The devices even found themselves new, more suitable masters: two "age-appropriate girls" still in primary school.
Even as the nominal users of these Mystic Codes, their true master was ultimately the Magician Zelretch; Rin had no room to truly command them.
If she sought help from Zelretch back at the Clock Tower, the problem could easily be solved. But this was inherently a test from the Magician for the two of them; wouldn't seeking outside help like that be equivalent to failing the test immediately?
So, in order to become the Magician's disciple, Rin could only bite the bullet and strike up a cooperation with the elementary schooler recognized by the Mystic Code to have her help with the Class Card recovery.
As for the reward... come to think of it, she seemed to have never considered the issue of a reward?
But it was fine; she, Tohsaka Rin, was definitely not some shameless person who would freeload off a young girl. Once she became Zelretch's disciple, or even successfully inherited the position of Magician, she would naturally come back to repay the person who helped her!
But even though the Mystic Code problem was temporarily solved, her competitor was still there—Rin had even naively thought at the beginning that she, holding the home-field advantage of Fuyuki City, could easily deal with the other, but reality always dealt her cruel blows.
Since the [Jewel Magecraft] inherited by the Tohsaka family was itself a project that burned money, and Rin's own talent made the quality and speed of jewel consumption several times higher than that of the original Tohsaka Tokiomi, Rin had effectively become a person of actual poverty.
The income brought by the family estate wasn't even enough to fill the consumption of her research into [Jewel Magecraft]. As a magus, how could she bear to spend money on other things?
This led to the fact that after returning to Fuyuki, Rin didn't even have spare time or money to tidy up this residence that had been vacant for several years. Even surviving normally had become a somewhat difficult issue.
To solve this difficulty, she had already decided to take on some part-time jobs and use that income to maintain her life—fortunately, she had recently seen an announcement recruiting a maid, and the salary offered was even more than half again the average level.
Others might be afraid of encountering some overbearing employer in such a situation, but Rin was a magus after all; how could she not have the ability to solve such a problem?
But just as she was joyfully preparing to apply for that maid job, Zelretch, far away at the Clock Tower, suddenly issued a temporary new mission for her—to find a traveler from another world in Fuyuki City.
As for what happened later... anyway, the Great Master didn't say what to do later, so Rin believed that as long as she caught the otherworldly traveler before that "big-chested woman," she, having successfully completed the Great Master's mission, would surely become his disciple. Then she would inherit the status of Magician and walk to the top step by step by step!
Only, Rin herself never imagined that in the hint the Great Master gave her, the location of that otherworldly traveler would actually be her own doorstep?
Well, this should be considered a good thing; at least it meant she could finally seize the initiative before that big-chested woman this time!
"Hey, you over there! Stop right there!!!"
Arriving on the scene at her fastest speed ever, Rin shouted while quickly closing in on Emiya. Before he could react, she unhesitatingly threw several crimson jewels from her hand, precisely embedding them around him.
"[Jewel Magecraft: Cluster]!"
Zzzzt—!
Under the influence of the prana stored within the jewels and the formulas engraved upon them, the red jewels, originally only the size of a thumb, grew into the shape of several-meter-high crystal clusters the moment Rin activated the magecraft, easily binding Emiya within the massive crystals.
This was the main reason why [Jewel Magecraft] was so financially draining—its primary medium for performing magecraft was various types of jewels.
Depending on the type of jewel, the magical attribute used and the resulting effect would differ. And the total amount of prana a jewel could store was related to the quality of the jewel itself... which meant that if Rin wanted to perform sufficiently powerful magecraft, she had to purchase sufficiently expensive jewels.
That move just now looked stylish, but the jewels thrown away casually were equivalent to several months' salary for an average worker. How could a normal person afford this style of magecraft?
As for whether such an act of direct attack would cause unnecessary trouble? Anyway, the Great Master didn't say anything about that, only telling her to find the guy from the other world. This meant the possibility of the other being an enemy was not small at all.
Moreover, hadn't she refrained from a direct attack and used [Jewel Magecraft] to restrain him first?
"Listen well! The reason I'm telling you to stand here and not move is because!
Um, because... right! Because this spiritual land of Fuyuki City is under the jurisdiction of our Tohsaka family, and you, as a foreign magus, actually dared to break into the boundaries of Fuyuki without giving any notice.
As the head of the Tohsaka family, I have every right to view this as a provocation, and even the Mage's Association would fully support this legal maintenance of rights... merely imprisoning you with magecraft for now is already a quite merciful act."
Because the cluster-like red crystals obstructed her vision, Rin hadn't yet been able to see clearly what the person she had trapped looked like. But this didn't stop her from being excited about seizing the initiative.
Undoubtedly, she had now completely bested that Luvia woman and successfully completed the Great Master's mission!
Originally, to prevent accidents, she had even tried to call upon the child recognized by the Mystic Code to bolster her side's combat power. But now it seemed that such redundant things weren't needed at all.
In the world of magi, pure kindness only invites the unbridled predation of wolves. To survive in this cruel and real world, you must first learn to show your fangs.
So, after completing her initial territorial declaration, Rin switched her tone in the next breath and stated: "However, you don't need to be too worried. I'm only pursuing this responsibility to ask you some questions clearly."
"So, you really..."
As Rin spoke, she gripped a jewel hidden in her hand and approached the large crystal cluster, wanting to confirm the person's appearance and whether he was truly trapped in her magecraft.
But as she gradually saw the face hidden behind the jewels clearly, her entire being suddenly froze in place.
Memories from the past were constantly attacking her mind, making her involuntarily recall that summer long ago, when a boy who clearly couldn't reach that height was persistently trying to reach the limit of the high jump.
Rin thought that persistence was cool, but agreeing with his values would cause her to waver on her own path... So, to avoid that boy, she chose not to continue her schooling after graduating middle school and instead went to the Clock Tower to practice magecraft.
But even today, Rin had never forgotten that face...
"Shirou...?"
Crack—crack—boom!
At the moment Rin dazed out, cracks rapidly spread across the entire surface of the crystal, and a moment later it shattered completely, revealing Emiya's completely unharmed form.
"No, no, no, how can this be? That fellow Shirou wouldn't be this powerful, and the hardness of these jewels is more than three times tougher than steel... Could it be an illusion? Dammit, when did—"
Feeling something was wrong, Rin immediately chose to put a safe distance between herself and Emiya. She was certain that when she left, the "Emiya Shirou" she knew was still entirely an ordinary person.
One must know that even a genius of her level only reached this stage by studying magecraft since childhood. For a layman to grow from an ordinary person to someone who could break her [Jewel Magecraft] within two years was simply impossible.
This meant the possibility was high that the appearance the other party showed was something manifested after probing her heart through magecraft.
How hateful! To launch a magical attack on her unknowingly—there are actually magi who fight with such a lack of martial virtue? As expected of a despicable otherworldly person!
"No, I think... things might not actually be as you imagine..."
Suddenly seeing someone he thought would be hard to meet again appear before him, Emiya's heart was naturally light and joyful. But who could have imagined that the other would attack him without a word and even think his current appearance was a magical simulation?
Before Emiya could even finish his explanation, Rin had already thrown out several more jewels flashing with a blinding red light—
"I won't fall for your tricks again, you despicable foreign magus!"
"Shoot!!!"
After leaving Rin's palm, these jewels immediately turned into streaks of scarlet light flying toward Emiya, giving him no chance to respond.
"Honestly, do you have to make things this difficult... Trace on!"
Tohsaka Rin's talent as a magus was indeed exaggerated, and that talent had already been converted into corresponding strength to a certain extent... but for the current Emiya, this level of magecraft and magus was simply not enough to look at.
Boom—!
In an instant, the jewels were sliced through the center by Emiya simultaneously and exploded. Emiya himself dashed out of the flames of the explosion in the next second, arriving before Rin at extremely high speed.
Realizing she had been closed in on, Rin—who had also learned quite a bit of martial arts from Kotomine Kirei—immediately wanted to let the other know that even though she was a magus, she was absolutely no pushover in close combat.
Unfortunately, that confidence only lasted for a single moment before she was easily pinned by the shoulders against the wall by Emiya. Even her two restless legs were inevitably pinned firmly by Emiya's shins.
Currently, the situation was clearly one of the strong over the weak; what could Rin do? Naturally, she tried her best to turn her head away, wearing a look as if she were suffering an unbearable insult.
Seeing this expression, Emiya really didn't know what to say, yet he didn't dare to let go easily. He could only try asking: "So, are you willing to listen to me speak properly now?"
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