#sanda moone

[pepperstreak]

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[hatsumishinogu]

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.11

[pan-gya]

[raccoonskoodilypoopdungeon]

Seto Kaiba for the character bingo

i love rich bastard rival characters with a traumatic backstory and a heart full of love

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

Timeline of the divergences between Fate spinoff works by Makoto Sanda in the newly released Type-Moon Ace volume 15.

It was always iffy to me, but I'm pleased Fate/Labyrinth is hard confirmed to take place in the Apocrypha timeline.

[rosemaryblossomworld]

First Blood (ch.1)

𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝚅𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎!𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚊𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚜 𝚅𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗 𝚡 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛.

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: 𝚈/𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚕𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚢𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚢𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢....𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚕𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚕𝚕?

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝟷𝟾 , 𝙰𝚞!𝚅𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝙷𝚘𝚝𝙳, 𝚁𝚑𝚊𝚎𝚗𝚢𝚛𝚊 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚛 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎. 𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝙰𝚞, 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍!

𝙰/𝚗: 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎! 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍...

Red Castle was the most dangerous place in the Kingslands. Why? For centuries, the land had been ruled by the most ancient and noble race of vampires! Nothing can break them. Strong...fast...immortal. And they have dragons to serve them.

Men feared and revered them. The Targaryen bloodline gave rise to many rumours and gossip. People whispered about them, their purity of blood and sacrifice.

Every three months, balls were organised for the Targaryen children to find partners.

But every time these partners "disappeared", everyone knew exactly how it happened, but were afraid to say it out loud. Servants, people from the upper classes, ordinary travellers disappeared.

Today was the 6th moon of the winter festival (Christmas). The weather was hot, uncharacteristic of the Kingslands. And on the 15th day of the sixth moon, the lords of the various houses began to receive an invitation from the Queen for a feast. Many considered this letter a "black mark".

This time the black mark fell on the house of Y/l/n, the lord's wife wept bitterly and clutched to her bosom, the youngest Lady of the house, who was beating hysterically. Lord Y/l/n looked gloomily at the letter and reread it over and over again.

"Daddy! Don't give me away, they'll kill me! Please!" young Sanda couldn't imagine that her comfortable days were coming to an end.

"Be quiet Sanda! You've been chosen, but that doesn't mean you can fall to the eyes of Jacaerys," the man muttered.

"Our Sanda is the most beautiful girl in the Kingdom Lands! She could match the Maiden herself! Everyone knows it, and the Queen and her children have found out. Of course she'll want the most beautiful girl in Westeros standing next to her son!" said Lady t/f hysterically.

"Don't get in the way Darlene! I'm thinking!" the man glanced sullenly at the letter again.

He threw a glance at his youngest daughter, now he saw before him a pathetic woman who thought everything would be decided at the wave of a hand. If it didn't involve the Targaryen family, then yes, Lord Y/l/n needed to wave his hand and all of his daughter's problems disappeared.

At that moment the eldest daughter of the family, Y/n, entered the room quietly, she was carrying a small cart with tea and cakes, a quiet and calm girl. She was a bastard. So in the house she was on the level of a servant. The girl was a little taken aback when she heard the pitiful howls of her sister and stepmother. But continued to arrange the cups on the table, pouring flavoured tea from the south.

The girl squinted at the letter in her father's hand and then looked at him, he was already looking at her.

"Interesting?" the gears in the lord's head began to move gradually.

"I dare not," Y/n answered hastily.

"Sanda has been chosen as a candidate to be the 'princess' of Jacaerys," the man sighed and threw a letter on the table.

Y/n looked at her younger sister, who was almost choking on her tears. The girl no longer saw the upstart she had been a few minutes ago when she bullied her. A nasty and caustic thought crept into Y/n's mind that made her want to chuckle. The lord felt it.

"Don't gloat! Lousy girl! Instead of Sanda, you're going to the ball. If Prince Jacaerys doesn't look at you, you're lucky, if he does, I'll give it to him," the lord smirked and looked at the shocked Y/n carefully. The cries of the stepmother and sister fell silent.

"What?" whispered the girl quietly, in that instant she was overcome with anger and sadness.

"Honey, you're a genius! How did we not guess it right away!?" immediately cheered the stepmother.

"Daddy! You're the best!" squealed Sanda and ran into her father's arms.

"The queen might get angry... "Y/n hurried to say.

"She won't be too angry if I tell her that the youngest daughter is seriously ill," the man sniggered.

"She can ask Sanda to attend the next ball, and the next, and the next, and so on ad infinitum!" raised her voice to the older mistress. The lord frowned.

"How dare you cross me!? You ignorant wench! You should be grateful that I took you in. It's time to repay our kindness. The ball will be in two days, so you will be moved to another room. Go!" shrieked the man, he knew perfectly well that his eldest daughter was right. But he didn't want to think about it in front of his wife and youngest daughter, lest he make a fool of himself.

The lord followed the girl's eyes as she looked at him with anger, once again those eyes were reminiscent of the eyes of the witch he had spent the night with. That woman had been beautiful. He had promised to make her his wife and take her out of this poverty. But he had not kept his promise, leaving that one in poverty. As he was packing up and leaving her decrepit home, the dark-haired woman whispered just one phrase: "My daughter will be the ruin of your family." The man laughed. He still laughs now because he looks at Y/n, at this unassuming and defenceless girl, and thinks: "And what can she do?"

Two days passed in preparation. For the first time, Y/n was treated like a queen, washed, fed, and dressed in her finest clothes. The stepmother and younger sister had gone to another estate to maintain the legend of the ailing younger mistress.

On the day of the festival a beautiful dress was sent to Y/n's room, it was red like blood, a black veil and gold jewellery completed the look. The maids carefully put the dress on her, did her hair and then left, leaving Y/n alone. The girl looked at herself and wanted to cry. To cry with happiness that she was wearing such expensive and nice clothes, and with grief that it was an unnecessary spectacle.

The girl wasn't allowed to be sad for long, she was called downstairs to go to the festival.

Y/n and her father stood opposite the queen, who towered majestically over them. Beside her stood her husband, Daemon Targaryen, a vicious prince and the most scandalous person in the kingdom. His two daughters stood beside him, Rhaena had only recently 'lost' her lover, while Baela still had a partner, but the betting was already underway as to when she would start looking for a groom.

Of course, there were rumours that Baela and Jacaerys were to be betrothed, but to this day, they remained free. Jacaerys stood proudly beside his mother, he didn't look at them, his head held high. Lucerys and Joffrey were nowhere to be seen. Everyone knew that Joffrey had not yet reached the age when the power of the ancient family was awakened. And Lucerys just didn't like the event, and the queen thought he was young in his choice of mate.

" I asked you, Lord Y/l/n, where is your youngest daughter?" the queen asked sternly, but every time she shifted her gaze to the young Y/n, her look softened.

"My youngest daughter is seriously ill! She came down with a fever a couple of days ago, the symptoms are terrible, and she's only getting worse," the man lied.

"But who is there with you?" she asked more calmly.

"Oh, it's my eldest daughter. She didn't want you to be angry, so she decided to personally volunteer to soothe your anger," the girl's father nudged her slightly.

"Your majesty," Y/n bowed.

Jacaerys, who had been standing bored when he heard the soft voice that roused his "dead" body, turned his attention to the sound. At the bottom of the steps stood the most beautiful girl he had ever seen at a ball. Soft facial features, a beautiful stance and a slight smile, he felt a hum in his ears, and before his gaze was only her. Was this what his mum had been talking about? "The eternal bond?" That's her, isn't it?

Sensing her son's change, Rhaenyra looked at her boy and then shifted her gaze to the girl. The woman smiled and hummed.

"Good, I see your point, that's very noble of you, enjoy the festival," the queen waved her hand and Lord Y/l/n hurriedly disappeared from the woman's gaze, fetching his eldest daughter.

"You can do whatever you want now. Dance, eat, drink, if any of the heirs come up to you to talk then speak, don't embarrass me," the lord walked away, leaving Y/n completely alone in an unknown environment.

After thinking for a while, Y/n skirted down the corridor and then onto one of the castle's balconies. The view was magnificent: the harbour, the ships, the sun setting on the horizon. This view was not comparable to what the girl saw at her place, in fact she had no windows in her room. It was always dark and cold.

She covered her eyes but immediately opened them as soon as she felt a strange smell, it was sweet and juicy, as if there was a sweet fruit in front of her eyes that she wanted to bite. She turned round and her heart stopped beating. Jackairis Velarion stood before her.

"May I join your silence, my lady?" he asked, slowly approaching.

" yes, of course," the girl said quietly.

She looked straight into the guy's eyes, they were brown, but...she could also see red reflections in them that appeared and disappeared.

"Why did you leave?" he enquired to get rid of the awkward silence.

"I'm not used to being at events like this. I'm nervous, to be honest," the girl grinned and leaned her hands relaxedly on the stone railing of the balcony.

"I understand, my lady, I get tired of them too. That's why my little brother rarely attends them. But my sisters just love the fun and the noise. They're dancing in the hall right now," he smiled, and Y/n was embarrassed.

"You...I... " Y/n tried to think of a topic of conversation, but nothing came to mind.

The prince chuckled. He couldn't look at the girl in red, in his head they had lived for several thousand years, they had five...no! seven...no! ten children.

"I didn't ask your name," the guy mentioned.

"My name is Y/n Y/l/n, Lord Y/l/n's eldest daughter," the girl bowed.

"Your little sister...she's not sick, is she?" he asked immediately and he could hear the girl's heart beating fast.

"She...no...she's just," the lady tried to come to her senses and think of something.

"Look at me," the prince reached out to Y/n and lifted her chin.

Y/n looked at the prince and froze, her ears popped, her breathing became quiet and steady, her eyes were covered by a bright veil from behind which she saw the prince's red eyes.

"Tell me the truth. Where is your sister?" he ran his hand gently down the girl's cheek.

"She has gone with her stepmother to the second estate. She is not ill, but shocked by the letter the queen sent. I am her replacement. I didn't want to come here, I was forced," the girl said in a cold tone, Y/n wanted to scream but couldn't, she didn't want to say it! What's going on!!!?

"Don't be afraid Y/n, I won't hurt you. You are under my spell, it's what our kind can do. We can make a person tell the truth or, we can command them to do an order, for example: my love, take my hand and press it to your chest," the prince uttered the last phrase, he didn't really mean to say 'to your chest', if his blood flowed like a normal person, his lady could see his red face.

Y/n felt the heat come up to her cheeks. This was exciting! She took the prince's other hand and pressed it against her chest, where her heart beat.

"Like this. Your heart is beating fast. Are you scared?" Jace lifted his hand higher.

"I'm excited... "the girl whispered softly.

"Are you afraid I'll bite you? I won't do that unless you ask me to," the prince moved closer.

"I don't want you to kill me," for a moment all feeling came back to the girl and she tried to break free, but the Prince's grip tightened and he soaked her again.

"What if I told you I don't want to kill you. I want you to be my partner, my princess and future queen," he whispered the words into the girl's lips.

"I don't believe you," just as monotonously.

"Then, I'll do my best to make you believe. Let me kiss you, just one kiss as proof," the pair's lips almost touched, but Y/n didn't respond.

He grinned and nestled his lips against the girl's soft lips. Immediately the buzzing in her ears disappeared, her vision and breathing normalised again, but Y/n didn't pull away, only pressed herself closer to the prince. Again that smell that was driving the girl crazy.

He touched the girl's lips gently and weightlessly, sucking on her upper and lower lips. Then, opening his mouth slightly, he ran his tongue along the girl's lower lip. Y/n immediately opened her mouth, letting the young man's hurried tongue in. The kiss constantly changed its pace, then slow, then fast, then careless. The girl knew the feeling for the first time, something warm in her lower belly and flowing down into her underwear.

He growled into the kiss, feeling the girl's wonderful ambrosia, that sweet smell starting to swirl around them. The Prince is afraid that his kin can smell it too, and they will try to steal his Maiden, out of his own hands. Jace clasped the girl tighter. He continued to entwine his tongue with his lady's, growling and whimpering slightly, the scent growing brighter and brighter. Now Jace's heat was centred down his stomach as well.

Y/n began to feel her head spinning, these emotions and this scent...where did it come from? So pleasant, sweet and spicy, wanting to inhale and inhale. The girl moaned at the prince's touch. Is it his charms? Or is it her true feelings? So shameful, but...she wants more, she wants what the maids whisper about in the manor, she wants what they teach in the Silk Streets. She pressed herself against the prince and...darkness fell.

The girl opened her eyes sharply and realised that she was in the room where she had been living for the last two days in her family estate. She jumped up from the bed and looked around. The sun was shining brightly and illuminating the room.

"Mistress, you woke up just in time," a maid named Martina, walked over to the elder mistress' bed and placed a few things on the chair next to it.

"What happened? Where is father?" her voice was slightly hoarse and the girl hurriedly drank a glass of water that was on a table nearby.

"Ser Jakor brought you in yesterday. You fainted at the ball. And your father is in his study now and wants to see you after breakfast," the maid said calmly.

Y/n was dressed in a light white dress with open shoulders. Breakfast was light, the way a girl likes it.

After breakfast, Ser Jakor escorted the girl to the lord's study. He knocked and announced the arrival of his daughter. There was a muffled sound, "let her in." And the knight opened the door.

"Why did you want to see me?" went straight to the subject Y/n.

"Did you communicate with the eldest prince yesterday?" asked the Lord, still staring at the papers in front of him.

Y/n felt her face begin to burn. Has he seen us? Does he know about this? What to do!!!

"Yes," the girl said quickly.

"Jakor, hand it over," the man pushed a black envelope towards the knight.

Once the envelope was handed over, Y/n looked at it closely. It was an unusual black envelope with drawings of flowers, the letter had been opened, most likely the lord had decided to see who it was from, because the envelope bore the name of the eldest lady of House Y/l/n, though it was barely visible. But the girl looked at the Targaryen family crest on the gold seal, the girl's heart sank, she pulled out the envelope and read a few lines. Queen Rhaenyra wrote and demanded a meeting with Y/n Y/l/n, at the end there was only one phrase: You are the perfect candidate.

"I don't know how long the queen will keep you, but I have ordered the maids to gather some of your wardrobe. You will be sent to Red Castle, we can't keep the Queen waiting!" the man finally looked at his daughter.

"Father..." the girl began.

"I don't care what happens to you. Your fate is essentially sealed. That's the way it should be, Y/n, you were a mistake and fate presented me with a chance to get rid of her," the man spoke coldly.

"What if they let me go?" the girl asked, looking angrily at her father again.

"This will be a great disappointment. But I'll take you back, you'll live here as before. Now get on your way. The queen wanted to share a meal with you," waved the lord and burrowed into the papers again.

Y/n sighed and left the room. She was filled with a thousand emotions. It was scary and exciting at the same time, she would meet the prince again, but...she already knew what she would be to him.

With heavy thoughts, the girl walked down to the ground floor. She watched her things being loaded. Y/n took one last look at Y/n's estate, smiled sadly, and got into the carriage. Her fate was now in someone else's hands.

Ps: I'm not good at writing intimate scenes...well...I think the second chapter will take a long time to come out because I want to write it right. In a way that's breathtaking.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Could you elaborate on why you said Ibuki's writing got a lot of mileage out of the latest El-Melloi?

Volume 7 of Adventures, the most recent El-Melloi book as of this question, has a scene demonstrating how a god sees the world. Gods can know anything by seeing past, future, and alternate timelines as their eyes perceive the world full of what I can best describe as spiritual Wikipedia links. With temporary access to a god's eyes, Ergo tries to learn more about Shirou and "clicks" links that show him practically every route of Fate/stay night.

I'd argue the most prominently featured god in Type-Moon is Fate/strange Fake's Ishtar. Ishtar demonstrated aspects of this since volume 3, with her searching through other timelines to find which would be less harmed by her removing Gugalanna, until she finds a Babylonia Singularity (world not connected to anything) and pulls from there. But she uses her divine eyes openly in volume 8, the one written more concurrently with Sanda's divine eyes plotline. There Ishtar notices multiple times that Rin has a link to herself thanks to FGO but chooses not to "click" that link while she's busy with other things. Then in her last moments, she uses the link in the arrow that killed her to be able to see her shooter.

This ability to see people's pasts at will is something Ibuki is passively shown to do a lot throughout the DLC, with her being able to find and summon the ghosts of Ming and Shimabara to fight in Zheng's and Chiemon's routes respectively, and the part I commented about: main story Ibuki choosing to join Iori's party based on what she saw happening in the DLC timeline.

There's another, more spoilery reveal of Adventures 7 that connects directly with Samurai Remnant, so I'll keep this one under the cut.

One of the long-term questions of Adventures was "Why Ruo doesn't have memory saturation too?". And then volume 7 reveals that his trick is that he doesn't have a trick. He was a god from the get-go. Any human who tries to use the power of a god will have memory saturation without exception. Which brings us to Saber, who:

A) Has Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi as a Noble Phantasm which makes them a temporary kami.

B) Is full of holes in the pack of basic knowledge they were supposed to have a Servant.

Iori's Valentine's scene has this to say about it:

"It's a real bother, let me tell you. It was no different back in the times of the Waxing Moon Ritual. I never have sufficient knowledge inserted in my head. Even I can tell something is up with that, so I questioned the Child of Ibuki about it, and she answered that the more a wielder draws the… "perks" (whatever this word means) of the Divine Sword, the more is subtracted from them."

The drawback of the sword that makes a temporary god overlaps quite neatly with the natural and inevitable consequence of wielding the power of a god in a human body, wouldn't you say?

[toskarin]

Do we have any idea what will happen to Type-Moon once Nasu retires(Or more realistically: Dies. Because i don't think he will ever retire) ?

I'm pretty sure Takeuchi will assume as CEO, but who will be the new head writer?

I'm not exactly on the payroll, so I couldn't tell you. it's a bit of a morbid question, but as for who'd take on the position of "lead writer" in Nasu's absence, I'm not sure it'd continue to exist. it's largely a legacy position that exists now because Nasu like... came up with everything, and people tend to go back to ask him questions about it as the Truest Source

the two writers who are most suited (and seemingly most trusted) to pick up the "important stuff" are Sanda and Narita

[shuttershocky]

What’s your thoughts on Shirou being in The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II? I am happy to get post Holy Grail War content, especially with Shirou still being a redhead.

I've not read much of Case Files or anything in Adventures at all, but it's nice to see that Sanda's really been allowed the entire toybox.

I remember when the second Adventures novel came out, Sanda wrote that he was surprised to be allowed to use Mikiya, as he was a sacred cow inside Type-Moon, implying nobody was able to (or wanted to) touch the KnK cast except for Nasu.

So if I'm remembering correctly, all the old Type-Moon characters (that didn't come from Case Files) returning for Adventures would be Rin, Mikiya, Mana, Luvia, Sion, and even a previously background vampire like Van-Fem, and now, Shirou.

Given that the timeline for Adventures lines up to when she's already active as a vampire hunter I'm hoping that means a future volume will feature Ciel, if Nasu will allow it.

[hail-libertas]

Any book recommendations for fans of Red Rising?

Yes! Though not exactly like or in the same vein red rising, but after reading that series it’s been hard to find really good books. But here’s three that’s lived up to red rising for me and share that spot as my all time favorites. Also all sci fi because pierce has ruined every other genre for me.

The Last Watch - J.S Dewes. This is a military sci-fi (kinda similar to mass effect) following disgraced war hero and an exiled prince as they attempt to save themselves from the dangers of the universe with no help or resources. Kinda vague, but the premise and the danger is cool and terrifying.

Velocity Weapon - Megan O Keefe. First off if you like mass effect, you will love this. You follow Sanda as she wakes up in a space ship 200 years after a war to find everything she’s known and loved is gone. The plot twists and betrayals In this book are incredible and unlike anything I’ve read. It felt like I was getting whiplash from them. At one point I had to put the book down and think about what I just read. HIGHLY recommend.

Expanse series - James S. a Corey. I’ve only read the first and I’ve been watching the show, but it’s SO good and the show is so well done as well. Idk how to explain it so I’ll put what I saw someone on Reddit say, “it’s and extremely well done sci-fi story that focuses heavily on worldbuilding, realistic technology and humanity’s place in the universe. It’s a story that takes place after humanity has colonized the sol system: mars, the belt, the Jovian moons and beyond and the politics that arises because of that. Then they discover something hidden in the solar system that changes everything and alters the course of humanity forever.”

So yeah, HIGHLY recommend these if you want something as we wait for Lightbringer. Also, these might make you cry like pierce does, sorry bout that.

[akkreti]

My piece for @fatedtime Type Moon Body Horror Zine

There are so much amazing works in here, so go and check it out (warning: 18+ with some gore and obviously body horror)

Thanks for having me here!

[pepperstreak]

Action Sketches

[hatsumishinogu]

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.10

[storms-path]

FFXIV 2023 Day 14 - Clear

The morning air of Radz-at-Han was already sweltering, and the Washi sisters were deeply regretting their choice of attire. Arashi in her thick Ala Mhigan coat at least had the luxury of (mostly) bare sleeves. Sanda, however, suffered. Not for the first time she looked at her sister’s recently shorn short hair and wondered if she might benefit from the same. But then Arashi would get that look in her eye and find some way to call Sanda a base imitator and she would not allow that. She had her pride still.

The pair were on a mission from the satrap himself: locate and bring in Zero for the next expedition into the Void. It should have been easy enough, but the city itself was already bustling even at the early hour, and somehow the voidsent visitor had made herself almost entirely scarce. Still, it meant a chance to catch up with her sister. Arashi having been bundled up and sent to a distant island without a linkpearl (minus one for emergencies) had left little time for conversation. It was for her own good, though. Honestly.

“So,” Arashi said as the pair walked through the blessedly shaded interior. “How’s our new friend been treating you?” There was something strange in her voice, a hint of something under her conversational tone. “Hasn’t tried to eat anyone, I trust?”

That earned her a sharp shoulder to the ribs. “She’s been perfectly courteous,” Sanda responded curtly. It seemed a moon on idyllic island luxury had only given Arashi a poor sense of humour. Zero had been… intense, perhaps, but she had done nothing to cause alarm while in the city or its surrounding area. And she was insatiably curious about the world and its people too. It had taken the joint efforts of Sanda, Stalwart and Fareena (well, mostly Sanda) to answer her myraid questions. Not that Sanda minded, really...

Arashi was looking at Sanda with an odd expression. It took Sanda a moment to place it. Was she… smirking? “What is it?” Sanda couldn’t quite hide the irritation in her voice.

“I knew it,” was Arashi’s only response, her smile growing wider. Then she was off again, tail swishing playfully in her wake. Sanda was forced to jog to catch up with her, trying not to let Arashi’s obvious teasing get to her. She failed miserably.

“Explain, sister! What do you know?” Sanda grabbed hold of Arashi’s arm, twisting her around and staring her in the eye. The mirth in Arashi’s eyes only made the annoyance worse. Did she have to be so unbearably smug?

“Fine, if you must know so badly. You’ve caught feelings for her, haven’t you?” Sanda resisted the sudden, intense urge to disown her sister. It wouldn’t be right. No matter how tempted it was when Arashi had the audacity to laugh triumphantly. “I knew it! You’re as red as a rolanberry!”

“It’s the heat, damn you!” Sanda knew how terrible a lie it was as soon as she said it, which only made the embarrassment worse. Several people were looking at the pair now, eyebrows raised. While they were well-known as the satrap’s honoured guests (among other accolades), there was a time and a place to be making a ruckus, and the city streets in the early morning was not one of them. Sanda grabbed Arashi’s arm and dragged her into a nearby alley.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” said Arashi as she allowed herself to be tugged along. “Truly, I think it’s lovely that my wayward sister has found herself someone to settle down with. But you do have… interesting taste, dear Sanda.”

She’s the Warrior of Light and your sister besides. It wouldn’t do to leave her here with a dagger in the side for company. Sanda, with difficulty, bit back thoughts of sororicide and settled for glaring daggers at her insufferable sister instead. Not for the first time she wished she had just a few extra inches of height so she didn’t have to look up to do so. Arashi was unflappable in her unjust amusement. Bastard.

“One more word, sister dearest. One more swiving word.” Sanda’s tone was granite through gritted teeth. Arashi, still smiling smug as smug could be, leaned down and whispered against Sanda’s horn.

“Lovebird.”

In the end, Zero found them, along with several confused Radiants, a very amused Y’shtola and a rather bemused Varshahn. Arashi, after a brief struggle, had managed to overpower her younger sister and was sitting on top of her. Sanda, for her part, had stopped swearing in every language she had learned in her short life and was instead settling for some very colourful (and descriptive) threats if Arashi didn’t move.

It was not the best start to the morning, to say the least.

[lordelmelloi2]

Ppl did used to be a lot meaner to Waver because they didn't want to read anything about Case Files/would claim it has no relevancy (biggest mistake since Sanda is a Type Moon lorehound like any of us) but I Remember the days when people would joke that Waver was an unwashed gamer with greasy hair whose student had to take care of him & when they would claim he was a manchild. All because none of these people even Read Case Files or wanted to and just kept saying shit because idk people love hating or whatever. Also despite that bit of him being "number 1 teacher students want to be with" being a Very old type moon factoid, he was not... given that sort of grace anywhere but fanart for a Very long time. I adore Shizuki Morii's art style but he didn't really give Waver that due either (and still doesn't) but it did give him a lot of charm that his previous illustrations weren't given. It wasn't really until the Toh Azuma manga came out that we started getting Real Prime Wavers that gave him that Bishounen beauty that Makoto Sanda and Nasu were trying to get at w/his character design. He's literally based off of James Bancoran from Patalliro and that's not a joke lol

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

How to read the Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Light Novels

I was recently reminded that there is a lot of people who simply don’t know that they can read the Case Files light novels, and that there are people who do know but have no idea where to find them. This is especially a problem when these people have only watched the anime and want to know where they can find more of the story. Since it kind of requires you to go through some hoops (not a whole lot but still), I decided to take a page out of @humbertozero​‘s excellent Fate/strange Fake resource post and make one for my other favorite Type-Moon Fate spinoff, the dossiers of El-Melon.

Read the First Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.1 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Second Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.2 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Third Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.3 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Fourth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.4 (PDF) (EPUB1) (EPUB2)

Read the Fifth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.5 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Sixth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.6 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Seventh Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.7 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Eighth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.8 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Ninth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.9 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Tenth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.10 (PDF) (EPUB)

Important note!

It should be noted first that I am just the compiler here. I am neither the translator nor am I the files’ creator. So all credits go to...

Credits

Credits and thanks to TwilightsCall on the Beast Lair forums (from which the majority of the other creditors originally posted their contributions) for translating the first 4 volumes and some of volume 5, thus getting the ball rolling. Further thanks to azwhoisverybored for translating the rest of the series from volume 6 onwards, and thanks to Kneenaw for starting the translation for the rest of volume 5. Thanks to Dotelias for making EPUBs for volumes 1-3, thanks to  cereal_ for making EPUBs of volume 4, thanks to u/confusedkuratowski on Reddit for making EPUB of volume 6, and thanks to ProtoformX for making PDFs and EPUBs for volumes 5 to 10 as well as for Adventures volume 1!

And big thanks to Makoto Sanda for writing Case Files in the first place!

Further explanations

Anime

The anime adaptation of Case Files, with the mouthful of a title that is Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note, is particular to use as an entry-point in the series, because it only partially adapts the series. See, the author, Makoto Sanda, said in interview that the two first arcs/cases in the series didn’t quite work as scripts for anime episodes, so the anime only adapted the third case/arc, Rail Zeppelin, which is more action oriented than the more mystery focused first arcs. But because they still needed to explain stuff like Gray, Reines, El-Melloi’s students, etc., many of whom are relevant characters to the arc, the first half/six episodes of the anime is about introducing them.

So to the question “where do I start reading after the anime?”, the answer is unironically to restart at volume 1. And then you may skip volumes 4-5 since they are the Rail Zeppelin arc and there are not much differences besides some characters not being present during that arc. This is why I think you can watch the anime first if that’s more your speed (I have my problems and criticisms of the anime but that’s irrelevant to this post).

And you can’t start with the anime and start reading with volume 6, the first 3 volumes have characters and plot points that come back for the final arc, so you’re gonna be incredibly lost if you think to consume the series this way.

Weirdly enough, despite being original episodes, the anime originals are most likely canon in some ways. Episode 0, the original OVA, is an expansion of an anecdote Gray mentions in the first volume’s prologue, and Episode 1 takes place during Waver’s travels before the story starts and is an actual story, one of the 3 incidents Sanda has in mind for Waver’s journey before he returned to London. Episodes 2 to 6 take place during the one month period between volume 3 and volume 4, and finally the special OVA take place on Christmas also in between arcs.

Manga

The manga has gorgeous art, but, at the time of writing, it is unfortunately only translated up to the second case right now. Still, go check it out.

The Adventures of El-Melloi II

The sequel series currently ongoing, started a year after the first Case Files ended in 2019. You might know it as “the (other) series where Rin shows up grown up and also a pirate”. @reignsan has been compiling pretty thorough chapter-by-chapter summaries of the volumes by @kaibutsushidousha if you don’t mind being spoiled. Or you can be patient and wait for azwhoisverybored to finish translating them on Beast Lair in this thread.

At the time of writing (27/07/23), the first volume of Adventures has been completed and compiled into PDF and EPUB forms.

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files material

This is absolutely not required reading in any shape or form, those lore books are usually of interest only to dumb nerds like me lol. A timeline of the Clock Tower? An explanation of its politics? Yes please. But it also has insights into the characters by the author that aren’t in the books proper, as well as behind-the-scenes explanations for some decisions (for example, why it’s Gray with the American spelling instead of Grey with the British spelling). Only the glossary/encyclopedia is translated, but give it a look...after you read the series, because it assumes you did and has some big spoilers.

Drama CD

What’s that? You heard something about a Buzzfeed quizz about the most handsome Clock Tower teachers and how it’s somehow a plot point? Look no further than one of my only posts that did numbers. Read the summary, it’s hilarious.