Chapter 317

Chapter 317: Chapter 317

Rayleigh left the workshop earlier than usual and stopped only long enough to buy food and collect Alfia’s medicine before heading home.

He followed the same precautions he had used for years, checking the surrounding streets and confirming through spiritual perception that nobody had followed him before unlocking the door.

The moment he stepped inside, the familiar Reiraku between himself and Alfia became clearer.

She was upstairs.

The soul connection also made it obvious that she had already noticed something unusual in his mood.

Rayleigh found her in the reading room near the window, wearing simple house clothes while a book rested open across her lap.

A cup of tea sat beside her, and although three years of treatment had put considerably more strength back into her body, there were still days when the illness left subtle traces of fatigue around her eyes.

Alfia looked up as he entered and immediately noticed the time.

"You’re home much earlier than usual. Judging by what I’m sensing from you, I assume you didn’t simply decide to take the afternoon off."

Rayleigh placed the medicine and groceries on the table before sitting across from her.

There was no reason to circle around the subject.

"Bell Cranel came to my workshop today."

Alfia’s fingers stopped against the page.

The change in her face was small, but the soul thread between them tightened so sharply that Rayleigh felt the shock before she said anything.

For several seconds she simply looked at him.

"Bell is in Orario?"

"He arrived recently and joined Hestia Familia. He’s already registered with the Guild and started exploring the Dungeon."

Alfia closed the book carefully and set it aside.

Her expression remained controlled, but the questions came quickly once she began speaking.

"How long has he been here, and why did Zeus allow him to come alone? Is Bell healthy? Has he been injured?"

"He looks healthy. He’s fourteen now, exactly where he should be for his age, and nothing I saw suggests Zeus neglected him. I don’t know what happened to Zeus because I haven’t had a chance to ask, but Bell has apparently been in Orario for around a week."

Rayleigh hesitated only briefly before giving her the part he knew she would dislike.

"He was injured yesterday, although he’s fine now. A Minotaur somehow reached the Fifth Floor while Bell was exploring, and Ais killed it before the monster could finish him."

Alfia’s spiritual pressure flared hard enough to make the tea tremble inside its cup.

She brought it under control almost immediately, but the cold anger in her eyes remained.

"He has been an adventurer for one week, and he has already been put in front of a Minotaur?"

"Nobody deliberately put it in front of him. Something happened in the Dungeon, and Bell was unlucky enough to be in its path. The important part is that Ais reached him in time and he came home with bruises rather than anything serious."

Alfia pressed her lips together.

Rayleigh could feel the conflict moving through their connection even while her face barely changed. Relief that Bell was alive mixed with anger over the danger, worry over Zeus’s absence, and something deeper that had remained buried for years simply because Bell had always been somewhere far away.

Now he was inside the same city.

Alfia finally looked toward the window. "You said he came to your workshop. Why?"

"Hestia wanted a weapon that wouldn’t become useless if Bell grows quickly. He apparently developed an unusual growth Skill after yesterday’s encounter, so Hephaestus sent them to me. I tested his compatibility with an Asauchi and accepted the commission. If everything goes normally, I’ll forge his Zanpakutō tomorrow."

That brought Alfia’s attention back immediately.

"You agreed to forge for him after one meeting."

"He has good compatibility, he needs a proper weapon, and Soul Blade rewards me for the achievements of people using my Zanpakutō. Even if I knew nothing else about Bell, someone with that much potential would be exactly the sort of person I’d want carrying one of my blades."

Alfia studied him quietly.

She knew him far too well to mistake practical reasoning for the entire truth, but she also knew when pressing him would accomplish nothing.

Instead, she asked, "Did Bell mention Zeus at all?"

"No. Our conversation stayed focused on the weapon. I didn’t want to start questioning him about his grandfather when we’d barely met, especially with Hestia and Hephaestus standing there."

Alfia accepted that with a slight nod.

For a while neither of them spoke.

Rayleigh did not interrupt the silence because he could already feel what was happening through their connection.

Bell had been an abstract concern for years, someone Alfia loved deeply but could only imagine living safely somewhere beyond Orario.

Now every concern she had pushed aside was suddenly within walking distance.

When she finally spoke again, her voice was quieter.

"I want to see him."

Rayleigh had expected that.

"We can do it without exposing you. Bell will probably return to the workshop tomorrow for the forging, so after that I’ll find somewhere you can observe him without being noticed."

Alfia’s eyes hardened with immediate caution. "Seeing him is enough for now. I will not approach him until I understand his situation, and Bell cannot learn that I’m alive simply because emotion made me careless. If anyone connects me to him, the consequences won’t stop with me."

"I agree. We do this your way."

That direct answer eased some of the tension in her shoulders.

She reached for her book again but did not open it. Instead, she held it in both hands while staring at the cover for several seconds.

Then she looked at Rayleigh.

"Tomorrow, after you finish forging his Zanpakutō, take me somewhere I can see Bell."

Rayleigh nodded.

"Tomorrow then."

Alfia finally opened the book again, although Rayleigh noticed that several minutes passed before she remembered to turn the page.

....

Alfia was ready before Rayleigh finished breakfast.

She wore a dark cloak over simple clothes, with her white hair tied back and hidden beneath the hood.

Considering how little she normally cared about disguising herself inside the house, the effort told Rayleigh exactly how seriously she was taking this.

He finished his tea, checked the street outside through the window, and stood.

"Bell should arrive at the workshop sometime this morning. There’s a roof across the street with a clear view of the entrance, and nobody uses the upper floor beneath it."

Alfia pulled the hood farther forward. "That will be sufficient. I only want to see him."

Rayleigh nodded and opened the door once he confirmed the street was clear.

They moved through the quieter back roads rather than taking the main avenues, and when they reached the Hephaestus Familia district, Rayleigh raised two fingers toward her.

"Bakudō #26: Kyokkō!"

The light around Alfia bent and distorted until her figure disappeared completely.

Rayleigh could still sense her through their soul connection, but anyone relying on ordinary sight would see nothing unless they came close enough to disrupt the spell.

Alfia’s voice came quietly from beside him. "Useful."

"I’ve had three years to think of ways to keep you from getting arrested."

"You make it sound as though I am the troublesome one."

Rayleigh decided that answering would only create unnecessary danger and used Shunpo to carry them to the rooftop he had chosen.

From there, Alfia could see the workshop entrance clearly while remaining well away from anyone below. Rayleigh checked Kyokkō once more before leaving her there.

"I’ll bring Bell outside when we’re finished."

"You do not need to arrange anything special. Just work normally."

Rayleigh understood what she meant. She did not want Bell displayed in front of her like an exhibit.

She wanted to see how he actually was.

He left her on the rooftop and entered the workshop.

...

Bell arrived with Hestia less than half an hour later.

For once, he had followed instructions perfectly.

He had eaten breakfast, rested properly, and apparently been forbidden from entering the Dungeon before the forging because Hestia stayed close enough to him that Bell looked as though attempting to escape would be physically impossible.

Rayleigh had already lit the forge and prepared the Asauchi on the central workbench.

Bell’s eyes went straight to it.

"You’re early."

"Goddess-sama woke me up."

"I made sure he wasn’t late," Hestia corrected, folding her arms. "There is a difference."

Bell wisely said nothing.

Hephaestus had also come to observe.

She had seen Rayleigh forge Zanpakutō before, but the process still interested her enough that she rarely passed up the opportunity when her schedule allowed it.

Rayleigh picked up the Asauchi and gestured for Bell to stand in the open area beside the forge.

"Yesterday I told you the blade would become part of your soul. This is the step where that actually begins. I’m going to turn the Asauchi into spiritual matter and merge it with you before the final forging. It may feel strange, but it won’t physically injure you, so don’t panic when the sword passes through your body."

Bell looked at the blade.

Then at Rayleigh.

"You’re going to stab me with it?"

Hestia immediately looked concerned.

Rayleigh sighed. "That was probably the worst possible way to summarize what I just said."

Bell laughed nervously, but he remained where he was.

Rayleigh closed his eyes and fed Reiatsu into the Asauchi.

Blue-white light spread from his hand across the weapon until the steel lost its ordinary solidity and became almost translucent.

The pressure filling the workshop deepened, making Bell’s expression tighten, although he did not retreat.

"Relax. Fighting it only makes the process harder."

Bell took a slow breath.

Rayleigh stepped forward and guided the glowing blade through his chest.

Hestia flinched even though Hephaestus had warned her what would happen.

Bell’s eyes widened as the weapon passed through him without blood or pain.

The Asauchi dissolved completely inside his body, and for several seconds nothing happened beyond a faint shimmer of spiritual light beneath his skin.

Then Bell grabbed the front of his shirt.

"Something’s moving."

"That’s your soul reacting to the blade."

Rayleigh watched closely as the spiritual pressure gathered around Bell’s right hand.

The Asauchi slowly reappeared there, reforming from blue light into solid steel.

Bell stared at it with open amazement.

"It feels different."

"It should. Put it in the forge."

Bell obeyed immediately.

The moment the blade entered the furnace, Rayleigh felt the connection properly settle.

He had already decided what Zanpakutō he wanted to shape around Bell.

The boy relied on speed, preferred close-range weapons, and did not have the size or strength to build his fighting style around heavy swordsmanship.

More importantly, Bell’s instinct was always to move forward once he committed, even when fear was telling him to retreat.

A large blade would only interfere with that.

Tachikaze suited him far better.

Rayleigh waited until the steel reached the proper temperature before pulling it from the forge and setting it across the anvil.

His hammer came down.

CLANG!

The first strike sent spiritual pressure through the workshop.

Bell felt it immediately. His eyes widened as though the hammer had struck somewhere inside his own chest rather than against steel.

Rayleigh continued without slowing.

Each impact refined the connection between Bell’s soul and the weapon, while his own Soul Blade Skill guided the process far more easily than it had years ago.

At Level Six, forging a single Zanpakutō no longer left him barely able to stand, he could control the transfer precisely without wasting enormous amounts of Reiatsu.

The blade gradually shortened under his work.

Hestia noticed first.

"It isn’t going to stay the size of a sword?"

"No. Bell’s soul is already pushing it toward something shorter."

That answer made Bell lean forward with obvious interest, although Hephaestus caught the back of his shirt before he could wander too close to the forge.

"Watch from there."

"Sorry!"

Rayleigh hid a smile and continued hammering.

The shape became cleaner with every strike until the original katana-like Asauchi had become a much shorter weapon, closer to a compact short sword than anything Bell had handled before.

The balance shifted toward rapid movement rather than heavy cutting force, and the hilt formed naturally for a one-handed grip.

Rayleigh quenched the blade, finished the edge, and finally placed the weapon across the anvil.

The spiritual pressure inside it was ready.

"Bell."

The boy stepped forward.

"Take it."

Bell hesitated only because the blade still carried the heat of the forge.

Rayleigh gestured toward the hilt. "Trust the connection."

Bell reached out.

His fingers closed around the weapon.

Wind exploded through the workshop.

Hestia grabbed her dress before the sudden gust could lift it, while Hephaestus’s red hair whipped behind her and loose papers scattered across the room.

Bell stood at the center of it all with his eyes closed, both hands wrapped around the newly forged blade as spiritual pressure rushed around him.

Rayleigh felt the Zanpakutō fully awaken.

Bell did too.

His expression changed.

The noise of the workshop seemed to disappear from his awareness as something spoke from much deeper than ordinary hearing.

A name entered his mind as Bell’s eyes opened.

"Tachikaze."

The wind vanished almost immediately.

He stared down at the weapon in his hands.

Its sealed form was now a short, practical blade with a dark hilt and simple guard, considerably shorter than the Asauchi it had been forged from.

Nothing about it looked decorative. It seemed built for quick movement, close combat, and someone who preferred speed over reach.

Bell slowly tested the balance.

His wrist moved naturally.

A smile spread across his face.

"It feels like I’ve been using it for years."

"That means the forging worked."

Bell looked at Rayleigh with obvious excitement. "Can I use its ability now?"

"No."

The answer came quickly enough to stop Bell before he attempted anything.

Rayleigh wiped his hands and walked over. "Hearing the name is the beginning. Shikai requires more than knowing what your Zanpakutō is called. You need to communicate with Tachikaze properly and learn what it expects from you. Trying to force a release before you understand the blade is a good way to accomplish nothing."

Bell looked slightly disappointed, though the feeling lasted only a moment before he looked back at Tachikaze.

"So I need to learn how to talk to it."

"Exactly. Spend time with it. Fight with it. Meditate with it when you can, and learn to recognize which thoughts are yours and which ones are coming from the sword. Eventually you’ll understand the difference."

Bell nodded with the seriousness of someone receiving Dungeon survival instructions from Eina.

Rayleigh approved.

Hestia came closer and examined the weapon from every angle before looking toward Rayleigh.

"And this will really continue growing with him?"

"As long as Bell grows, Tachikaze grows. The important part is whether he develops the relationship properly."

That answer finally seemed to satisfy her.

Bell carefully sheathed the weapon and secured it at his waist. The old knife he had purchased after his first few Dungeon trips now looked almost comically ordinary beside it, although he did not discard it.

Rayleigh noticed.

Good.

Getting a better weapon had not immediately made Bell stop valuing the first one he bought with his own earnings.

Hephaestus noticed the same thing and smiled faintly.