"Senpai, was that person just now famous? Why did you treat him so specially? And isn't it strange that he was carrying four swords?"
One of the newer members of Ganesha Familia asked in confusion.
The guard he called senpai looked at him.
"Haha, you idiot. Those weren't swords." The guard's expression suddenly turned serious as he emphasized.
"They were Zanpakutō!"
"Zanpakutō? Uh... so you really do know that person, right?"
"It would be stranger not to know him. That was 'Yōtōsai' Rayleigh. Though now that I think about it, the first time I heard Rayleigh's name was from our captain."
"Captain Shakti?"
"That's right. Oh, and Miss Ardee too." The guard's tone became nostalgic as he recalled the past.
"Not long after that, his name started spreading like wildfire. The war started by Evilus became the stage where that man and his Zanpakutō made their name."
"You mean the weapon Miss Ardee uses? That person just now is the smith who forged Zanpakutō?"
"You only realized that now?" The guard's mouth twitched before he smiled and half-joked, "If you can get a Zanpakutō from that man, I might have to start calling you sir, miss, or even lord one day! Hahahaha."
Yet mixed into the guard's expression were seriousness and clarity.
His joke was also a kind of hopeless self-mockery.
Orario, the Labyrinth City, the center of the world.
The Dungeon, adventuring...
One could say there was no one here who willingly accepted mediocrity.
But reality forced people to recognize their own ordinary nature.
Before he knew it, he had grown used to his work as a guard. He even felt proud and respectable doing it.
Adventurers were judged purely by strength.
It was not so savage that the strong simply devoured the weak, but a person's position, identity, and the attitude others showed them were all determined by strength.
Without strength, others looked down on you.
Without strength, you could only pray that the other person was willing to be reasonable.
In the past, changing that had been utterly impossible no matter what one did...
But now, all it took was one sword.
One sword could change the fate forced upon the weak.
That man's power was something ninety-nine percent of the people in this city desperately longed for.
"And even so, he can still remain untouched. Just thinking about that is terrifying."
"No one dares provoke Hephaestus Familia. Not even Freya Familia or Loki Familia! Of course, aside from his Familia, that man himself has all kinds of terrifying legends around him too."
Gulp.
Hearing that, the new member of Ganesha Familia finally understood.
Of course, he had not understood all those legends he was hearing for the first time.
What he had fully understood was that the person just now was an important figure!
...
After entering the city, Rayleigh went straight to the Guild.
The moment he appeared, the originally noisy Guild quickly fell silent.
Every gaze turned toward him.
Rayleigh looked around, trying to find a receptionist, but his arrival had already alerted the staff.
One of them quickly came forward.
"R-Rayleigh-sama, please come with me."
Rayleigh nodded and followed the staff member to a consultation room.
After exchanging information, he learned about the current situation of the others.
First, Lulune had already returned to Hermes Familia.
Second, Lady Phobos was currently being accommodated by the Guild and was helping Orario understand some information about Rakia.
At the moment, she was staying in Babel.
Welf was the same, and according to the agreement, he would later undergo Conversion and join Hephaestus Familia.
Finally, there was Rakia Kingdom's princess, Eleonora.
"About her..."
"What? She joined the Guild?"
Rayleigh was surprised at first.
But after thinking about it, he understood.
Because of what Eleonora had gone through in the past, she had likely become suspicious of so-called Familias and factions, and did not want to expose her skill.
Joining the Guild, huh?
Fine.
As long as it was a choice she had made herself, there was nothing for him to interfere with.
The handover was complete and the commission had ended.
Rayleigh immediately returned to his Familia.
When Hephaestus saw him, the emotion in her heart showed completely on her face, without the slightest attempt to hide it.
"I'm back."
The goddess was moved for a moment before she showed a relieved smile.
Then she stepped forward, wrapped both hands around Rayleigh's head, and pressed him into her chest.
"Welcome back."
"..."
"Cough."
Only when Rayleigh started to feel a little smothered did Hephaestus finally let him go.
"It was a pretty good journey. A lot of interesting things happened, so I'll tell you about them," Rayleigh said to Hephaestus in a gentle voice.
The goddess smiled and nodded.
After that, Rayleigh told her everything that had happened outside the city.
Though, whether intentionally or not, he left out quite a few details.
For example, his encounter with Eleonora and his meeting with Artemis were both edited somewhat.
It was not as if anything had happened, but if he said it all together, it somehow felt a little unhealthy.
His instincts told him he needed to use some careful wording.
"A few days ago, you were the only one who didn't come back. I really was worried for a long time! But I knew that if it was you, you would definitely be fine. Even if you ran into trouble, you would surely overcome it."
Hephaestus took his hands and spoke from the heart.
Rayleigh felt deeply moved.
Then he held the goddess's hands in return and said, "Please update my status goddess."
After everything that had happened, Rayleigh's mindset had changed somewhat, and he once again asked Hephaestus to update his ability values.
...
Starting today...
He, Rayleigh of Hephaestus Familia, was a Level 4 adventurer!
Looking at the Falna translated into the common language and copied onto paper in his hand, he saw that before leveling up, his Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity had all officially broken past the normal limit.
At Level 3, his final ability values were:
Strength: SS 1001
Endurance: SS 1002
Dexterity: SS 1002
Agility: SS 1095
Magic: SSS 1440
Turning all of that into the foundation of his strength, Rayleigh chose to level up.
Name: Rayleigh
Level: Lv. 4
Ability Values:
Strength: 10
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 10
Magic: 10
Development Abilities:
Blacksmith H
Spirit Healing H
Swordsman H
Mage I
Magic:
Hadō
Bakudō
Kaidō
Skills:
Blade of the Soul
Gif Blessing: Minor
For the new Development Ability, there were still more than ten options to choose from.
After careful consideration, Rayleigh chose Mage, which could increase the power of magic.
For a Shinigami, Kidō was an extremely common combat method.
Among all his ability values, Magic was also the highest.
It was a Development Ability that suited him very well.