"Hey, Yotosai looks pissed."
"Wouldn't you be?"
"Heh. If there weren't people around, I'd have killed that brat myself."
"Same, dude, same."
It was as if the temperature around them had instantly dropped to freezing.
The boy felt a suffocating chill, as though he had fallen into an ice cave.
He swallowed hard, not understanding what was happening.
For a greenhorn like him, calling him an outsider would not even be unfair—he did not even understand what "presence" meant.
Rayleigh had also only participated in war for the first time recently.
Everything he had personally experienced and witnessed had sunk into his flesh and soul. Though that war had ended only a little over three months ago, it was still vivid in his mind.
A fool like this was not even worthy of speaking of it.
"Though a weed like you—the sort of thing even fish in the river would not bother eating—isn't worth my time, I'll give you one chance," Rayleigh spoke in a deliberately provocative tone.
"The thing in your hand—that is a Zanpakutō. Now try to tame it, if you can."
The boy's expression became extremely ugly.
Fish? Weed? Was he being insulted?
The surrounding adventurers all sighed in shared understanding.
Youtousai's venomous tongue really was terrifying!
"Most of the time he's perfectly polite, but every now and then he suddenly gets really vicious."
"Yeah. Before this, quite a few girls who came asking him to forge them swords got scolded into tears."
"Seriously?"
"Of course. I saw it with my own eyes. Those tears were really… heheh… slurp noice!"
"Kekeke, so you're one of my people."
"A pleasure my guy."
Listening to the adventurers whispering beside him—well, honestly, they were not being all that quiet—Rayleigh figured quite a few people had probably heard them.
No matter the world, there was never any shortage of freaks.
"'Tame it'? The way you say that makes it sound like this sword has a will of its own."
Rayleigh shook his head. "What, you came to me without even knowing that?"
Then he looked at the blade. "Fenjū, this guy says he wants to use you. What do you think?"
Boom!
The moment Rayleigh spoke, an enormous pressure descended over the area.
The faces of the surrounding adventurers all changed. Their expressions turned ugly, as if they were struggling against some invisible weight.
As for the boy holding the hilt, he looked utterly terrified.
He felt as though what he was holding was not a sword at all—but some monstrous beast!
"Aaaaaaahhh!" the boy screamed.
But it was not over.
He tried to let go of the hilt, only to find he could not, as though his hand had been glued to it.
The next second, the blade began to glow red and dragged him straight up more than ten meters into the air.
The aura coming off the sword seemed to be saying: Trash like you thinks it's worthy of being my master?
"Move, move!" a sweet girl's voice rang out from beyond the crowd.
The moment Rayleigh heard it, the corner of his mouth curved upward, and he looked over.
A girl in a blue uniform was desperately trying to squeeze her way through. But everyone around her was taller and bigger than she was, making it hard for her to get close.
When she noticed Rayleigh looking at her, she puffed up in irritation, and he quickly looked away.
At that moment, the boy's hand suddenly slipped off the hilt.
The sword hovering in midair released a terrifying wave of force.
A visible shockwave blasted the boy away, sending him crashing toward the ground.
"Not good!" Seeing this from outside the crowd, Ardee immediately grabbed the Zanpakutō at her waist.
"Surge, Water and Heaven! Nejibana!"
Whoosh!
A wave surged forward, parting the crowd. Holding her trident, the girl rode the wave like a spirit of the sea.
The wave spiraled upward through the air. Ardee stood atop it like a highly skilled surfer.
She rushed into the center, planted the trident into the ground with both hands, and the waves instantly gathered together, sweeping the boy up before he could hit the ground.
Then the boy was spat back out like a wad of toilet paper flushed through a drain.
"Bwah! Ugh! Cough, cough!"
In his terror, the boy had left his mouth hanging open and gulped down plenty of water.
Combined with the spinning, it left him dizzy!
Seeing that he was all right, Ardee let out a breath of relief, then turned to Rayleigh and protested, half-annoyed, half-spoiled.
"How many times has this been now?!"
"Huh? How many times?"
"The tenth!"
"Ah? That many?"
"Of course! Spare a thought for me and all my hard work, would you?!"
"Well, doing this lets me see you, doesn't it? I see, ten times," Rayleigh teased her with a smiling face.
As expected—the girl's face instantly turned red.
The surrounding adventurers all clicked their tongues in unison, then scattered.
Some of them even muttered under their breath: "Damn it riajuu, showing off your love life in broad daylight. Leave the rest of us a way to live, would you?"
Hearing those voices, the girl became even more awkward and self-conscious. Her embarrassed demeanor was extremely cute!
"Water?" The boy looked at the wet ground, puzzled as to why there was suddenly so much water here.
Then he saw Ardee holding the trident. "Hey, you girl, was that you?"
"What? This guy has zero manners!" Ardee instantly got angry at the way the boy addressed her, then called the military police over to drag him away for a "lesson."
Seeing the military police staring at the drenched boy with excited expressions, Rayleigh suddenly found himself praying for him.
Hopefully, the kid would not end up suffering some spiritually shattering experience.
"Want to come in for some tea?" Rayleigh invited the girl.
But she showed an apologetic expression.
"Sorry, I can't. My patrol shift hasn't reached changeover yet," she said regretfully.
Watching her run off happily, waving as she went, Rayleigh felt his mood improve a little.
After reclaiming Fenjū, Rayleigh went back inside.
He had only just set the sword down when he suddenly sensed someone entering through the doorway.
Assuming it was another person here to beg for a blade, he said, "I only forge swords for people I choose myself. If that's why you're here, then please leave—... hm?"
Turning his head, Rayleigh's words abruptly cut off.
Looking at the cloaked woman before him, for some reason, his heart suddenly trembled.
His eyes widened without him realizing it.
Then the woman's cool voice rang out.
"A sword? I didn't come for that. I came to find my doctor."
The woman raised her hand and removed her cloak, revealing a face of breathtaking beauty.
"Alfia!" Rayleigh blurted out her name.
He was genuinely shocked.
Ever since the last time, when she had pretended to be defeated and jumped down into the depths of the Dungeon, he had not seen her again.
Even with spiritual sensing, he had been unable to find her.
He had concluded that she had left Orario, and had worried about her.
Although Alfia's skill had been sealed into the Zanpakutō and would no longer continue damaging her body, the terminal illness she had been born with had not actually been cured.
It was a terrifying disease that even the healers of the Zeus and Hera Familias had been unable to solve.
If she did not receive treatment, all that had changed was that her remaining lifespan had been extended slightly.
The fundamental problem had not been resolved.
He had not expected her to suddenly appear before him like this!
"You haven't changed your mind about doing everything you can to cure me, have you, boy?"
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