"You have one message, recorded on 31st January, 3:21 PM."

"It's me. I'm sure you know, but tomorrow is the deadline, Rin. It's a problem for me if you take it easy. There are only two remaining seats. I must ensure all the Masters are arranged quickly. If you wish to abandon your right to become a Master, contact me today. It takes some time to dispatch a substitute magus. You already show signs of the Command Spell. Quickly, summon your servant and open the Command Spell. Unless, of course, you're not planning to be a part of this Holy Grail War. If you value your life, you should run to the church quickly."

The message ends.

"Hmpf. You don't have to tell me that."

Well, it can't be helped. Today is as late as the deadline can be extended. Fortunately I was able to decode Father's will last night. My preparations are ready.

All that remains is... Yes, obtaining the qualification to enter this fight...

* * *

Late at night. The clock is about to strike two. This is the best timeframe for my magical energy.

Only a very simple summoning ritual is required to summon a servant. The grail does most of the job. I just prepare the circle and begin chanting the incantations.

I continue with the greatest concentration. I've got one shot at this. I will not mess it up and summon the greatest card!

"...Emerge from the ring of control, guardian of balance!"

It's too bright, so I can't see anything, but I feel a great surge of power.

"Perfect! I've drawn the strongest card for sure!"

Then my vision returns.

There is no one before me.

"Huh?"

I spent that much energy and no servant has formed. On top of that I hear an explosion from the living room.

"WHY!!?" I shout in protest.

I run. I run up the stairs to the living room. The door is broken and won't open. So I break it and charge inside.

"-"

The living room is in a big mess. It's full of rubble that must have fallen from the ceiling, and there's one man standing in the middle of it. Surely that man is the cause of this mess. Then I realize the wall clock is still working.

That reminds me. Yes, every clock in my house was an hour early today for some reason. That means, it's one o'clock right now, not two.

"I did it again. Well, what's done is done."

I am mad at my own stupidity. Still irritated, I glare at the man standing there in the middle of the rubble.

The man has light skin, short, well-kept dark hair and a pair of dark blue eyes. He is wearing something like a priest robe from the middle ages that matches his eyes in colour. But it is less baggy than usual and it only reaches his wrists and ankles. He has a pair of gauntlets on his hands and a pair of sabatons on his feet.

Having found someone, something, to point my irritation at, I ask:

“So, what are you?”

The man has a surprised look on his face. He looks at me intensely for a few seconds, then closes his eyes. After a second, he reopens them, and looks at me again. This time there is a relaxed expression on his face.

“I am a servant. You?”

He is too human. Since they are close to familiars, I had expected them to be formless. I don’t feel much magical energy from him too. Is he really a servant? Is he really my servant?

“I ask the questions here. Are you my servant?”

He raises his eyebrows. I guess he didn’t like me disregarding his question. But he doesn’t press the issue, and answers with the same relaxed look.

“The magical energy flowing from you and into me shows that, I indeed am your servant.”

“Magical Energy?”

It is a master’s duty to keep their servant in this world. I know that this is done by constantly supplying them with magical energy, but before he spoke about it, I hadn’t realized our link. When I concentrate on it, I can definitely feel my magical energy flowing out. The reason I hadn’t realized it before must be because the summoning was just finished.

But I don’t relax just yet. He still hasn’t said anything like ‘I’ll serve you from now on.’ I must confirm that he won’t be a problem.

“So, you’ll be serving me from now on, right?” I ask just to hear him confirm.

“Of course,” he answers with the same relaxed face. “My duty as a servant is to serve my master during the grail war, after all.”

He shows me a small smile. I’m glad this is going so well, but somehow, this feels too anticlimactic.

“Alright, so… What class are you?”

“Before that, master, do you mind if I ask you a question of my own?”

“Eh? Ah, sure.”

“The energy I feel from you is undoubtedly high class, so I assume you are quite a skilled magician. Even so, I must ask.” He looks around the room in ruins. I feel my face getting hot. “This… doesn’t happen often, right?”

“Wha-Of course not! You mind your own business.” I lower my voice, and continue, more to myself than to him. “This was a one-time mess-up.”

“All right. Now, to answer your question.”

I hope my mistake didn’t make me miss my chance to summon Saber.

“I am the Servant Changer.”

“Huh?”

Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Servant Changer? What is that? I heard about the war from both father and Kirei. There are seven classes. The strongest one, Saber, other than that, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Berserker and Assassin. There are no Changers.

“And, what is your real class? Caster? Do you shapeshift or something?”

The servant smiles, and shakes his head.

“No, I am Changer. It is a different class than Caster; a special class. I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it.”

“A special class? What do you mean?”

He opens his mouth, then closes it unused. He takes a look at the wall clock behind him.

“I suspect explaining would take a while, master, but It is late, and you look very tired. Since I’m not going anywhere, why don’t we leave it to the morning? Get some rest first.”

Now that he said it, I realize I’m feeling exhausted. The summoning must have tired me more than I thought.

“No way. I can’t sleep after hearing I summoned a special class servant. I must hear more. Tell me now.”

He grins, and looks somehow more alive while doing so.

“The anticipation will make hearing it all the sweeter, master. Now go sleep. I’ll check on the defences, and guard the base.”

He turns around and vanishes into thin air. I heard servants can enter spirit form while they are not fighting. This must be it.

“Hey!” I call out, refusing to be sent to bed like a little child, but there is no answer.

“HEY!” I yell at the top of my lungs.

Silence.

“Damn you, servant! I’ll have you tell me everything in the morning,” I yell, but I’m seriously tired. I guess I’ll go to sleep like he said.

“At least clean up the living room.” I call out before going upstairs to sleep.