In any case, her work lined up as-
"First, the reconstruction of foundational runes that had fallen into decline," I said,
dropping one of my fingers. "Rune magecraft itself is quite famous, and a certain
portion of magi today have been using and researching it for a tremendous amount of
time. However, most of them have been lost to time. Despite that, she was able to
recover and reconstruct a large portion of those lost Runes. If the rumors are to be
believed, even beyond recovering the 24 Runes of the Futhark alphabet that undergirds
the magecraft as a whole, she also managed to parse out a number of Primeval Runes
that were supposedly lost back in the Age of Gods. The rights to the former were sold
throughout the Clock Tower, while the latter were apparently sealed away for safe
keeping in case of her Sealing Designation being fulfilled."
The Clock Tower really pulled no punches.
Comparatively useful or low level formulas were regulated by way of patents, but the
high level spells - the kind that could serve as the backbone for an entire faction, were
sealed away in a treasure trove somewhere under the pretext of keeping forbidden
magecrafts in check. Would that regulated knowledge ever find its way out to be used
by someone? As far as Runes were concerned, the originals supposedly existed with the
Thule Society, but it seemed to me like they were happy to hoard them away until the
magical foundation of Runes declined to nothing anyways. Magi truly had an
astonishing penchant for holding onto their secrets.
"The other is for her abilities as a peerless puppet maker," I lowered my second finger.
Gray responded by tilting her head. "...I thought...the Concept of Human Imitation
was...?"
Of course, that was the same thing I had thought when the Automata first attacked us.
"Right. The circumstances are a little different than they were with Rune Magecraft, but
the Concept of Human Imitation is certainly in decline. Which means, she has somehow
managed to resurrect two strains of magecraft that were thought to be defunct."
Though Gray remained silent, I nodded strongly.
That's right. It was ridiculous. To bring two lost forms of magecraft back from the dead,
even if imperfectly, felt more like a comedy. It was akin to bringing someone back from
the dead, reaching into the realm of blasphemy. Who did she think she was, trying to
play God like that?
But, that was of course why she was a Grand.

The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II, Volume 2, Chapter 4