The Mage's Association is a mutual aid society for those who study magecraft as an academic discipline.
They fear the leakage of mystery to the outside world, because a mystery that becomes common knowledge, widely understood, is no longer a mystery and retains no "power."
In the world known as Type-Moon, there are three major branches of the Mage's Association.
The Atlas Institute, located in the Atlas Mountains of Egypt, focuses on alchemy and the transformation of phenomena, also known as the "Phantasmagoria."
The Wandering Sea, a massive mountain range that is itself adrift in the North Atlantic, known as the "Moving Sarcophagus," concentrates on the study of human modification and magecraft from the Age of Gods.
And then there is the most peculiar of them all, the Clock Tower.
All magi of the Clock Tower share the common goal of "reaching the Root." Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝙣𝙚𝙩
However, this means reaching it for themselves, alone.
Therefore, the Association's interior has devolved into a vortex of opposition, scheming, suspicion, and hostility among its members.
To put it simply, it's a bizarre organization whose members would be terrifyingly powerful if they worked together, but whose sense of unity is zero. It's useless at everything, but number one when it comes to infighting.
PS: The individual research levels of the Mage's Association's magi are not weak; it's the Clock Tower as an organization that is a mess.
Aozaki Touko disliked this place very much.
"Someone who enters the Association for revenge instead of focusing on research is not suited for a pure color."
For this ridiculous reason, the Clock Tower granted her the rank of Red, the opposite of her family name's "Blue," and a flawed Red at that, incapable of ever becoming a primary color.
Afterward, she was also slapped with a Sealing Designation for possessing the technology to create puppets completely identical to herself.
If it weren't for a certain someone using Jewel-翁 Zelretch's name and a large quantity of high-grade Mystic Codes to make a deal, her Sealing Designation might have remained indefinitely.
However, even with her Sealing Designation lifted, she still detested the Clock Tower.
Her reason for coming here today was also related to that bastard—the one who began preparing for the Holy Grail War half a year in advance, only to disappear just as it was about to start.
That guy, once suspected of having been "finally done in by Jewel-翁's shenanigans," had suddenly crawled back from the dead and placed an order with her for two high-grade puppets.
A miko with red donkey or rabbit ears.
A JK girl with fox ears and four tails.
"Tsk, what the hell is that guy up to?"
Aozaki Touko, whose perverted shota-complex was in no way inferior to her sister Aoko's, was in a foul mood.
Those bizarre, even somewhat kinky puppets seemed, by all accounts, intended for lewd amusement.
That guy would rather get off with custom-made puppets than drink a de-aging potion and marry me?
If she could, she would have preferred not to accept such a bizarre order.
Aozaki Touko was very good at making money, but she was even better at spending it.
For some reason, no one had placed any orders with her recently. She herself had a penchant for buying luxury goods, collecting all sorts of magic-related items, and she ate a ton.
Her attraction to Li Zihan was also related to this.
Li Zihan was someone who could freely enter the depths of the Spirit Tomb of Albion, possessing a frightening amount of precious Mystic Codes. He also seemed to have "Future Sight," giving him an absolute advantage in financial investments.
He was cute, filthy rich, and had a nearly endless supply of spellcasting materials.
Such a type held immense appeal for the vast majority of female magi, and for Aozaki Touko, the attraction was off the charts.
She had once planned to use the "I can only repay your great kindness with my body" excuse to latch onto him when he was helping her get her Sealing Designation lifted.
Unfortunately, Li Zihan's workshop was guarded by Beo, a top-tier Phantasmal Species equivalent to a Dragon Kind, who could ignore virtually all modern magecraft.
Even the most combat-proficient Lords would be helpless against it. Such an exceptional being was far beyond her ability to handle.
In comparison, her sister Aoko's thinking was much simpler.
A shota who is super my type. I'm claiming him.
Regrettably, that certain someone did not fulfill the wishes of the two perverted women who brought shame upon the Aozaki family name. He did not remain under the age of ten but grew up normally.
This matter had left both Aozaki Touko and Aozaki Aoko melancholic for a long time.
They had both, independently of each other, spent a fortune on special potions, trying to mix them into his food and get him to drink them.
But the guy was incredibly vigilant and didn't fall for it once.
Thinking about it now, that guy should have reached his expiration date. If he kept growing, he couldn't be considered a shota at all.
For most girls, a shota growing into a handsome young man was a welcome development.
However, Aozaki Touko's tastes were different from those of normal girls, and even from the vast majority of female magi.
In Aozaki Touko's eyes, a cherished shota turning into a handsome young man was no different from a die-hard idol otaku watching their idol binge-eat and grow fat.
If that handsome young man grew into a so-called beautiful man, to her, it would be the equivalent of her idol turning into a fatty.
At this thought, Aozaki Touko felt an impulse to turn back and return directly to her temporary residence.
The reason was the same old saying: a single penny can crush a hero.
In recent months, Aozaki Touko's puppet business had been poor.
The guy who had suddenly crawled back from the dead was the only one to place an order with her at this time. If she didn't take this job, the quality of her future life would become absolutely pathetic.
At least he's just using puppets as playthings, instead of being snatched up by Aoko or getting so horny he turns Beo into a girl and starts... fucking a dog.
Aozaki Touko thought to herself.
Besides, that guy had a typical playboy personality. Even though Alice, a witch herself, liked him a lot, it was impossible for them to develop anything further.
As long as she could KO Aoko, the rest would be simple.
Drug him, force a marriage through pregnancy, then find a time to add a secret medicine to his food, and she would harvest a shota husband.
Then she would buy the land in front of her old house and spend her days showing off her child or parading her husband in front of Aoko.
Aozaki Touko clung to this final shred of optimism, indulging in her fantasy.
This optimism was completely shattered ten minutes later.
Beside the youth who had placed the order stood a beautiful girl dressed in a very Japanese-style maid outfit.
She was a girl who looked incredibly soft and gentle. Her facial features were exquisitely delicate, her skin was snow-white with the luster of fine jade, and her figure was so well-developed it made one doubt her age.
Such a girl just had to appear right next to the person she had been thinking about day and night, making Aozaki Touko's brain begin to tremble.
"Hey, who is this?" Aozaki Touko asked, her eyes looking as if the life had been drained from them.