London, the capital of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is the largest city and the largest economic and financial center in Europe.
In 50 AD, the Romans established the city's predecessor, Londinium. Over the next thousand years, the city rose and fell in the tide of the times, was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and finally became what it is today, London.
The core of the city has maintained the boundaries that have been divided since the Middle Ages. There are countless historical sites and monuments, such as the Tower of London, Torwell Castle, St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, etc. Some buildings are even more than a thousand years old. However, compared with the building to be mentioned next, all the historical sites and monuments in London are just "younger generations". It is the core and headquarters of the Magic Association - the Clock Tower.
There are two major forces in the mysterious world. One is the "Cathedral Church", a large armed organization established as a secret organization of Christianity for the purpose of managing mysteries and hunting heretics, and the other is the "Magic Association", a self-defense group formed by people who study magic regardless of nationality or school.
The Magic Association's duties are to manage (in name only), conceal magic, and develop it. It has armed forces to protect itself from threats (the church, magic groups other than itself, and strange beings that punish people who break taboos), has research institutions to further develop magic (some say to prevent its decline), and has enacted laws to suppress magic crimes.
The Magic Association consists of three major departments: the Clock Tower in London, the Wandering Sea (Mobile Coffin) in the North Atlantic, and the Atlas Court (Giant Cellar) in Egypt.
The Clock Tower, which serves as the headquarters, is the youngest. Its founders included many heretical magicians who were driven away by Atlas and the Wandering Sea. There are two theories about the time of its establishment: one is BC and the other is the 2nd century AD. Either way, it is older than the name "London". Today, the Clock Tower has become the highest institution of learning in the magic world, gathering a large number of magicians.
When it was established, the headquarters was located in the basement of the British Museum, which is considered the oldest building in London. Later, due to the development of the organization and the city, it moved to a small town on the outskirts of London. The town consists of more than 40 student dormitories and more than 100 teaching buildings. In the center of the town stands the original school building of the clock tower, which is also the symbol of the clock tower, a literal clock tower.
Now Shinji was standing in front of the tower with his suitcase, as the heir of a small magician family in a remote area, coming to pay homage to the holy place. At present, this "clock tower" in a narrow sense is no longer used as a school building, and is only open to the public for a few days each year. Unfortunately, today is neither a memorial day nor a major event, so Shinji could only stop in front of the gate with regret. He took out his camera and took a few photos of the exterior, and used magic to control the camera to take a few selfies of himself. Shinji thought that this was not a wasted trip.
This scene was seen by the guards of the tower and passers-by as a symbol of inexperience, and their eyes were filled with contempt.
Little did they know that Shinji also despised them:
"A bunch of people who have never experienced the ups and downs of life and think they are academics - As expected, I can't get along with the mainstream of the magic world. I'd better go to Weber as soon as possible. At least there is no such unpleasant atmosphere there."
Although the Clock Tower functions as the power center of the Magic Association, it is essentially a huge magic school. The dean has been the same person since the establishment of the Clock Tower, but he has long since retired, so we will not talk about him for now.
Since the formation of the feudal system in the 12th century, the Clock Tower has been composed of thirteen departments, namely General Foundation (I), Individual Foundation (II), Spirit Advent (III), Minerals (IV), Animals (V), Heritage (VI), Plants (VII), Celestial Bodies (VIII), Creation (IX), Curse (X), Archaeology (XI), Modern Magic Theory (XII) and the thirteenth department of law and politics for the management of magicians.
There are various classrooms under the faculties, and the El-Melloi classroom inherited by Weber is one of them. The Mineral Department, which was originally under the charge of Kenneth, was taught by Kenneth himself and was the signature of the department. However, after Kenneth "disappeared", the Mineral Department was leaderless and fell into turmoil of power struggle, and the long-standing El-Melloi classroom was in turmoil and gradually declined. It was abandoned by the Mineral Department two years after Kenneth "disappeared".
At this time, Weber, who had returned to the Clock Tower, had just earned enough credits to become a third-level lecturer and inherited the classroom. The reason why a third-rate magician could inherit the classroom was because many families that were at odds with the El-Melloi faction thought this was the biggest irony for Kenneth.
The classroom that you once valued most has fallen into decline and is in the hands of "mediocre" students. I wonder how you, a "genius", feel about it.
However, no one expected that this "mediocre" would actually make the classroom look good in such a short time. Although he had not even decided on a formal department at the beginning, he just barely continued to teach with few students, but his extremely simple and easy-to-understand practical teaching quickly became a hot topic among the New Age who were not tolerated by the Clock Tower. He even persuaded several lecturers who failed in the power struggle to take the podium, realizing an unprecedented multi-faceted education system.
Although the current El-Melloi classroom is not very prosperous, it has gained considerable fame and is unique in the modern magic department.
Shinji randomly found a female magician, took advantage of his young age to call her sister, acted cute, and asked for directions to El-Melloi's classroom.
The modern magic district "Sila" is a road that looks like it has been patched up. Although the streetscape on the west side looks a bit historic, you can occasionally see modern buildings on the east side near London. Rather than having a sense of unity, the scenery looks more like a wound hidden with a bandage after a major operation.
There is a great relationship between the environment and magic, which can be seen from the fact that the entire town where the clock tower is located is in a classical style. However, the Modern Magic Department is the least valued department among the thirteen departments of the clock tower, and its finances are not as abundant as other departments.
Although it cannot be said that all of them are determined by the budget in this world, the same is true in the world of magic. In the final analysis, the concept of money, which converts the value of the world into numerical values, is also mysterious, so it is helpless. The assets on the earth that are constantly inflating are illusions created by the collective unconsciousness of this concept itself.
"As I said before, money is not everything, but without money, nothing can be done."
Shinji, who had done his homework before coming, sighed as he staggered around the brick wall covered with ivy, crossed the ramp, and walked towards the intersection.
Soon, the destination appeared before our eyes—the smallest teaching building in the headquarters of the 13th Department of the Clock Tower.
The public description here is that it is an affiliated facility of a certain university. By the way, some large departments, such as the teaching buildings of all basic subjects, are directly disguised as universities, which shows the gap between departments.
The entrance hall of the teaching building is perfectly decorated, with the steadiness and taste that British aristocrats value, and is also decorated with modern elements, giving people a comfortable feeling with appropriate shades.
However, less than a minute later, this comfort was broken by a sudden scream.
PS: The location of the clock tower was made up by Jian Shao himself. Mushroom gave two theories directly. One is that it is in the basement of the British Museum, which is the fourth chapter of "Fate grand order", and the other is that it is in the suburbs in "Clock Tower in 2015" and "The Second Generation Case Files".