Lord El-Melloi II Case Files – 04

Roll up! It’s yet another case involving deaths, though whether these deaths are murders or not remain unanswered. Having said that, we can be certain that there’s strange magic involved. To paraphrase Sir Ian Fleming: “Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action and more must be the work of some nefarious magical entity or some shit”.

While Waver investigates the case based on what he feels like an obligation owed to the surviving brother of the deceased Sola-Ui (not to mention the possibility of obtaining a spot in the upcoming Holy Grail War), the Mage’s Association sent its own independent investigator to ascertain, perhaps even unfairly manipulate the outcome of the situation in a way that they desire. What we know so far is that the land is situated upon a faulty leyline, and the instability of the magical energy is such that even Reines experiences intense agony and glowing in her magic detecting eyes. To that, I would ask, might this simply be a naturally magical phenomenon resulting from supernatural entities, as opposed to a human magus murderer? I’d say definitely not. There has to be a human component, a motivation somewhere in the mix that is resulting in such a disastrous outcome. Why? Mainly because I think a novel writer of this calibre certainly wouldn’t want to chalk it down to some kind of coincidence.

It certainly seems fishy that every trace of Trevor’s soul has been obliterated into oblivion. However I wouldn’t feel so quick to suspect his son Wills or the investigator Adashino. They might have some suspicious personalities and mannerisms, which seems common for most of the mages who have appeared in the series so far. But what the series has been good at doing so far has been throwing us for a loop, and hitting us with unexpected surprises. At least from my perspective. Nevertheless, I’d feel reluctant to put it down to a mere accident with the supernatural. There’s got to be something more to it than that. Only I can’t put my finger on any particular individual. Maybe it might be like the previous two episodes, where they don’t show up until the very end.

To wrap off the episode, it seems that Waver figured something new about the magic at large before going to sleep, and that Wills former fiance and cousin (who hated him for spurning her) has now become the latest victim in this sequence of bizarre deaths. There are really so many questions I want to ask, but it feels like I have almost nothing to go off of because the series has kept many cards tightly hidden under the wraps. Anyhow, I’m extremely excited to see where this case goes and I think the fairy that appeared will be the lynchpin in figuring this one out. As always, thanks for reading my post and see you next week for what should be another excellent payoff to a well constructed mystery premise!