Gray sympathizes who wouldn’t want someone you were devoted to carry memories of you? But just as El-Melloi goes into a spiril of self-loathing and Gray is about to cheer him up with the gift she got at Luvia’s store, there’s a loud, distressed scream.Įl-Melloi and Gray rush to its source, and they find a shocked Olga-Marie kneeling before the bloody, headless body of Trisha. Not to mention he’s bound to meeting with Iskandar once again, even if the Heroic Spirit has no memories of the last war and their time together. Of course, El-Melloi is more than prepared for such a destiny, as he’s already bound himself with the title of Lord El-Melloi-albeit while trying to limit expectations with a tacked on “II”-and all the duties and responsibilities therein.
Trisha, believing he seeks Mystic Eyes as a weapon for the next Grail War, warns him that having Eyes means accepting the destiny of being bound to them. El-Melloi, like Gray, may consider that role to have been flawed and inadequate, but the mere fact he survived is a testament to the contrary. Trisha joins El-Melloi at the bar, revealing that she and her lady have investigated the role of one third-gen mage of limited renown Waver Velvet in the Holy Grail War seeing the younger Waver reflected in his glass is a nice stylistic touch. Karabo assures her she’s already someone the Lord “finds necessary.”
He had suspected she wasn’t a mage like most everyone there, which leads to her belittling herself and underplaying her value to Lord El-Melloi. When the two touch, Karabo’s Mystic Eyes that can see the past glimpse King Artoria Pendragon in a field (clearly enjoying not being on a speeding train). While off on her own recovering, Gray gets some friendly advice from Karabo Frampton. More to the point, she knows they’ll win them, because Trisha has seen that outcome with her Mystic Eyes of Premonition the effects of which only add to Gray’s discomfort when combined to her symptoms of motion sickness (poor kid lacks her train-legs, perhaps in part because King Artoria is from a time long before such tech). Specifically, Olga-Marie wants the biggest prize of the auction-the highest-ranked Rainbow Mystic Eyes-the “ultimate operation of celestial bodies within the human body.” If El-Melloi helps her win them through strategic bidding and folding, he will be rewarded. Lady Aminusphere and Trisha once again meet with El-Melloi, to discuss his cooperation in the coming auction. Either Yvette can’t quite get Gray to admit they’re rivals for the Lord’s heart, or Gray simply doesn’t consider Yvette a rival at all. Before he awakes for breakfast, Gray meets with Yvette in the dining car, who comes from a family who craft mystic eyes from gems, like the one her eyepatch conceals. Having foregone sleep for much of the last two nights, El-Melloi spends the first night and much of the following day catching up on sleep. Such a task is frought with danger, so she hires Shishigou Kairi and pairs him up with Luviagelita Edelfelt (with whom she nicely bonded last week along with Gray)-an inspired duo if ever there was one. While Reines did not accompany Lord El-Melloi, she’s running her own investigation the theft of her brother’s catalyst for summoning a servant of the Holy Grail War: the Mantle of Iskandar. The train is stuck on a fixed rail, hurtling at high speed a powder-keg that could explode at any moment for a whole host of reasons. That lends the episode a tense and uneasy atmosphere. It’s apparent there are a number of uneasy truces in operation between factions normally warring (either metaphorically or literally, or both). Rail Zeppelin itself is a character in this arc-and an immediately likable one at that. I love trains and the whole idea of enjoying all the comforts of home while travelling somewhere far off.
And then there’s Rail Zeppelin itself: a spacious, sumptuously-appointed luxury train that seems far bigger on the inside than the outside, and travels on rails above leylines. Leandra introduces herself to the passengers as Rail Zeppelin’s auctioneer. While not in El-Melloi’s party, his student and self-appointed “future mistress” Yvette Lehrman has her own invite. There’s Karabo Frampton of the Holy Church, an intense rival of the Clock Tower. There’s Adashino Hishiri of Policies, clearly there to observe and await what may befall Lord El-Melloi. There’s Olga-Marie Arsimilat Animusphere, daughter of the Lord of Astromancy, accompanied by her maid Trisha. Rail Zeppelin passengers are a veritable cross section of the magical world. He is accompanied by Gray (natch), and by one of his students, the berserker Caules Yggdmillenia. At what appears to be Kings Cross Station, Lord El-Melloi II awaits the arrival of that most infamous supernatural mystic eyes collection and auction train, Rail Zeppelin.