"Ardi and Alise bring your name up everytime, my ears have grown calluses from hearing your name!"
Asfi crossed her arms, letting out a sigh of helpless resignation.
Who could blame her? She had been subjected to a relentless stream of information about a man she had never met.
Her knowledge of his habits and traits rivaled that of a romantic partner.
Those girls were never like this in the past.
Now, they could not open their mouths without saying "Rayleigh this" or "Rayleigh that," causing the blue-haired Item Maker no small amount of distress.
If Rayleigh ever ascended to the status of a major historical figure, she possessed enough second-hand trivia to pen his official biography!
She had spotted him from afar during the grand war meetings, but this marked their first face-to-face interaction.
Setting Ardi and Alise aside, even her own Captain showered the young blacksmith with praise.
It was jarring.
For Lidith to offer genuine compliments? The mischievous, wicked-minded girl rarely handed out praise.
It served as concrete proof of the boy's skill.
"Hello, Perseus," Rayleigh greeted.
"Uh..." Asfi froze, struck by a strange wave of familiarity.
He did not know her, yet her one-sided awareness of his life made his formal use of her alias feel jarringly distant.
"Just call me Asfi."
Every word and action from the blue-haired beauty exuded a subtle nobility.
Despite her best efforts to suppress her origins, the refined temperament of a royal princess remained ingrained in her bones.
Rayleigh offered a faint smile.
Asfi's casual mention of Lidith confirmed the girl was still alive.
Did this real world simply possess more shifting variables, or was this the butterfly effect produced by the flapping of his own wings?
Either way, the wicked-minded beauty had avoided her grim fate.
The same applied to Ardi.
Sparing those originally destined to die was a good outcome.
Beyond those two, countless civilians and Adventurers had likely avoided their designated death routes.
Rayleigh was no saint.
At most, he harbored a fleeting spark of compassion for a beggar sifting through trash or a starving stray dog. If forced to choose between personal gain and the greater good, he would prioritize himself without hesitation.
Yet, if a simple act of interference could pull someone from a desperate abyss, he was willing to show mercy.
By Erebus's twisted standards, Rayleigh fit the definition of a hypocrite.
He remained highly self-aware of this flaw and found no issue with it. Flexible morals allowed a man to navigate a cruel world with ease.
As for the philosophical rest? He did not care.
Even if a ruthless baron amassed wealth by bleeding laborers dry, funneling those gold into an orphanage remained a net positive.
In the end, the world only cared about results.
"Alright, Asfi," he agreed.
"Mm." With the pleasantries out of the way, Asfi voiced the burning question she had held back.
"Alise and the others claim you are the creator of the Zanpakuto. To forge something of that magnitude... my entire understanding of blacksmithing is being rewritten by that."
Asfi's familia, the Hermes Familia, specialized in information gathering.
Their members operated as spies and undercover couriers, boasting a formidable grasp on the city's intelligence network.
Throughout this bloody war, they played a vital role. Even the mighty Loki Familia relied heavily on their covert scouting.
"Zanpakuto?" Tsubaki asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Huh?"
"Tsubaki, don't you know about the Zanpakuto?" Asfi blinked, her tone laced with genuine shock.
Two days prior, Tsubaki's ignorance might have made sense.
No, it still would have been absurd!
She and Rayleigh shared the same Familia.
Tsubaki served as his Captain—how could she remain blind to the Zanpakuto's existence?
Furthermore, the magical weapons dominated the city's gossip.
Even the dark cultists of Evilus had received the reports of it!
A Zanpakuto—a weapon bound to the wielder's very soul.
It possessed a living consciousness. Furthermore, every blade housed a unique ability, and its destructive output scaled with the owner's base strength.
It was a weapon capable of evolution.
Even a mediocre Adventurer could join the ranks of the elite by obtaining one.
Every known owner of a Zanpakuto fought like a monster, wielding power that far exceeded their Levels.
Rumors stated the weapons harbored two distinct stages of release: Shikai and Bankai.
The first stage unleashed the blade's special ability.
The second stage multiplied the wielder's combat strength by five to ten times!
"This is the first I'm hearing of it... What on earth is a Zanpakuto?"
Rayleigh and Hephaestus exchanged a glance, both of them taking a cautious step backward.
Looking bewildered by their reaction, Asfi explained everything she knew about the soul-bound weapons.
Tsubaki's single visible eye widened as she absorbed the unbelievable details.
'No way! Is Rayleigh's forging skill that exaggerated?'
To forge something of that magnitude..... he had only ever crafted ordinary Far Eastern blades in her presence.
Katanas and tachis were uncommon but not rare in Orario, so she had paid his projects no mind.
In terms of pure hammering technique, Rayleigh possessed great skill, but he did not stand out as an unparalleled Blacksmith within the city.
But now they were claiming those curved blades were Zanpakuto, housing ridiculous, world-breaking power!
The truth dawned on the half-dwarf.
The reason she remained in the dark was due to Hephaestus.
The Goddess had helped Rayleigh keep his masterpiece a secret from her own Captain!
"That is so mean! Your excluding me from the fun!" Tsubaki dropped her heavy hammer.
She rushed forward, pulling Rayleigh into a fierce, crushing embrace.
The air left Rayleigh's lungs in a rush. "I want to see it! Show it to me! What is a Zanpakuto! I demand to see it right now!"
"We understand," Hephaestus sighed, massaging her temples. "Just let him go first. Otherwise, you will not be seeing anything."
"Huh? Don't die on us, Rayleigh!"
"Cough, cough."
His nose filled with the scent of smoke and sweat lingering on Tsubaki's skin.
Rayleigh caught his breath and nodded in agreement. "Alright. I'll show you."
He drew the blade from his waist, holding the steel horizontally for the three women to inspect.
Presented with the rare chance to observe a Zanpakuto up close, Asfi leaned in with intense curiosity.
"In this sealed state, it takes the general form of a Zanpakuto. It acts as an ordinary Asauchi," Rayleigh explained.
"And then, there is the Shikai." He shifted his grip.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura."
Following the release command, the solid steel disintegrated.
The metal dissolved, transforming into a swirling cloud of pink cherry blossom petals like a stage magician's trick.
"Whoa!"
"So this is Senbonzakura," Asfi murmured.
She adjusted her glasses, unaware the subtle gesture carried a charming grace.
Tsubaki reached an eager hand forward, wanting to feel the soft petals but Asfi caught her wrist.
"Do not touch them!"
"Hmm? Why not?"
Asfi offered no verbal explanation.
Instead, she pointed toward the drifting cloud of Senbonzakura.
A heavy, abandoned anvil sat in the corner of the courtyard. After countless sessions of tempering and pounding, the iron block boasted a high density and extreme hardness.
However, when the cherry-colored petals brushed against the metal, the hardened anvil gave way like soft tofu.
The thick iron block was sliced apart, crumbling into jagged, ruined pieces across the stone floor!
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