Fate/Zero:Act 1 Part 1

Act 1

--285:42:56

Nobody has ever understood Waver Velvet's talent.

As a magus, he was neither born of a famous family nor lucky enough to meet a good master. This youth was mostly self-taught, and was finally fortunate enough to have the Magus Association, which controls magi across the world, accept him into its headquarters, the teaching institution in London commonly known as the "Clock Tower". Waver always believed this cause to be incomparably honorable, he deeply believed this without doubt, and was also very proud of his own talent. Only I am the most capable student of the Clock Tower since its founding, anyone would have to respect me, at least Waver himself thought this way.

In truth the magus lineage of the Velvets has only existed for three generations. Compared to the offspring of well-established magi family, Waver's crest concentration and magic circuit quantity pales by comparison, but as time goes on, the number of magic circuits and concentration of crests are also constantly increasing and expanding. Many students that received scholarships in the Clock Tower were offsprings of families having more than six generations of pure magi blood.

The wonders of magecraft cannot be completed within one generation, the results of a whole life of research by parents are passed on to their children, only through this can magecraft be expected to become more and more refined. The maryoku of those with longer magus lineage being stronger is precisely because of this reason.

Furthermore, although magi's magic circuit quantity are already determined at birth, there are some ancestral magi families that deliberately contrive to increase the amount of magic circuits in an offspring, therefore distancing themselves from new magi families in this regard. In other words, advantages within the world of magecraft are predetermined even before birth... This is a commonly accepted point of view.

But Waver does not see it that way.

Differences in ancestry can be made up for by increasing experience. Even without exceptional magic circuits, through deep understanding of magecraft, and skilled utilization of magecraft the difference between quality caused by birth can be bridged, Waver has always deeply believed that. He believed himself to be an excellent example of that, and thus always strived to show off his abilities.

But, the reality is too cruel. Those students who boast about their ancestral bloodline, and those who endlessly pursue and flatter them; only those people are the mainstream of the Clock Tower, and the workings of the Clock Tower are determined by these guys. Even the lecturers are no exception. Only expectant of students from famous lineages, and to a "pauper" researcher like Waver, they are even reluctant to let him into the library to browse books, let alone teach him magecraft.

Why are expectations of a magus's future dependent on his lineage?

Why is the credibility of a theory dependent on the experience of one's lineage?

Nobody cared about Waver's questions. The lecturers use flowery language to trick Waver when presented with his research thesis, then act as if Waver's been convinced otherwise, laughing at it, ignoring it.

It truly is unbelievable. His anxiety drove Waver to take action.

To expose the Magus Association's corrupt system, Waver wrote an exposition. It was titled "Inquiry of Magecraft's Path In the New Century", the result of three years of conceptualization and one year of writing. Viciously attacking the traditional views, the exposition written with painstaking effort shows clear and intense thoughts, without a single flaw. If seen by the Inquisitors, it would definitely cause a high magnitude of unrest.

But -- The Department of Euryphis's lecturer tossed it out after casually reading through it just once.

His name is Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. He is the heir of the Archibald family with nine generations of magus lineage, a very popular man everyone calls Lord El-Melloi. Engaged to the daughter of the principal; a lecturer at such a young age, he is the best of the best. He is also the representative of authority that Waver despises.

"A man who gives in to delusions such as you is not suited to research, Waver" -- lecturer Kayneth said in a condescending manner, without a shred of pity in his voice. Kayneth's ice cold gaze, is something Waver will never forget.

In the nineteen years of Waver's life, he has never been humiliated worse.

If he has the talent to be a lecturer, it was impossible for him to be unable to comprehend why Waver's exposition was exceptional. No, that man is probably jealous precisely because he understands. Afraid of Waver's hidden talent, thus becoming jealous of him, treating Waver as a threat to his own position. That is probably why he treated Waver's exposition in such a violent manner. To purposely rip an exposition of gathered wisdom, is this the attitude a scholar should assume?

Unforgivable. His talent which can cause the world to tremble, is actually arbitrarily written off by an authority, there really is no justice. But not one person sympathized with Waver's frustration. The Magus Association is actually -- using Waver's point of view -- already corrupt to the core.

But... while living these infinitely frustrating days, Waver heard a rumor.

The rumor is that the reputed Lord El-Melloi, for the sake of adding an entry to his resume which grants him vanity, has decided to join the nearby magecraft competition in the far east region.

Waver began researching about the details of that "War of the Holy Grail" overnight, and was deeply mesmerized by the horrific details.

With the "Holy Grail" that has hidden a huge amount of maryoku as the stake, summoning heroic spirits in the present world, and through commanding heroic spirits, initiate a death match.

Title, authority, everything loses its value, it relies purely on real skill.

It truly is a bit barbaric, but it's a simple yet fair method of judging superiority. For an unrecognized genius this is an excellent opportunity, an idealistic stage to exhibit himself.

Lady luck has finally smiled at the excited Waver.

It began with the financial department's negligence. Lecturer Kayneth's requested holy relic... was delivered to the student Waver to give to his teacher along with normal parcels, whereas it should have been a parcel opened only when Kayneth himself was present.

Waver immediately realized that was a catalyst used to summon Servants in the Holy Grail War. And so, he received a once in a lifetime opportunity.

He no longer has a shred of love left for the corrupt Clock Tower. The glory of graduating as a valedictorian is trash compared to the honor brought by Fuyuki's Holy Grail. The moment Waver Velvet is victorious in the war, is the moment when those insignificant members of the Magus Association will grovel at his feet.

From that day on Waver left England, heading for the island country in the far east. The Clock Tower immediately realized who stole Kayneth's parcel, but did not chase after him. Nobody knew Waver was interested in the Holy Grail War.