Danmachi : Shinigami Chapter 136 136 : Fels

'The Crozzo magic swords, huh. Mm.'

If it was a magic sword smith from the Crozzo family, then for the Hephaestus Familia, that really did have great value.

You had to know—even as just a Level 2, Welf could use a Crozzo magic sword to unleash destructive power not inferior to a grand spell cast with an extrely long chant by a Level 6 Mage.

And a magic sword did not even require preparation ti; one only had to swing it to release an attack.

Among the younger generation, aside from Bell's extrely long charge-up attack, only a certain golden-haired Elf's annihilation Magic could compare to it—it really was absurdly overpowered.

It was just that Hephaestus did not know this—after Welf joined the Hephaestus Familia and received the Familia's protection, he did not dedicate his talent to the Familia.

Even though he was the one being protected, he accepted all of it as a matter of course, and still thought he was upholding his own convictions.

A guy like that was hated and excluded by the overwhelming majority of the Familia, as the target personally wanted by Ares, it could be said that Welf's enemy was the entire Rakia Kingdom.

He was only a re smith, yet after joining a Familia in Orario, he brought trouble with him, and still did not contribute his own ability to the Familia—no matter how one looked at it, that was a kind of "betrayal."

The craftsn of the Hephaestus Familia were all people with the soul of a smith, the kind who, in his previous world, would have been the sort of hardcore enthusiasts famous for obsessing over their craft.

To possess an unparalleled, heaven-given talent and then deliberately refuse to use it—to a smith, what kind of willful conduct was that?

Probably the very definition of not knowing how blessed you were.

No smith could tolerate watching talent like that rot away, decay, and stink, even the Cyclops, the Captain of the Hephaestus Familia, Tsubaki Collbrande, who was known as Orario's greatest smith, had deep down once envied him.

A magic sword casually forged by Welf was already a distant dream that ordinary people could never reach in their entire lives, it was precisely because of that that, Welf, a newbie who had only been smithing for a few years, had been treated as a rival by Tsubaki, who had been smithing for twenty or thirty years.

Later on, Welf "awakened" to his resolve, accepted his own bloodline—but he also left the Hephaestus Familia and joined the Hestia Familia.

Back when Rayleigh was still looking at all this as an observer, he had not felt much about it, but now—now that he had already integrated into the Hephaestus Familia as one big family, he could only feel that Welf was a complete ingrate.

Rayleigh did not dislike Welf, if anything, judging by personality alone, he felt Welf was absolutely a loyal and upright man, but once it beca tied to his own interests, his way of thinking could no longer remain that simple.

If this commission were only about receiving Welf into Orario, he would most likely refuse it, but—Hephaestus had also said that the Goddess Phobos was her friend from Heaven, and that they had a very good relationship.

If it was for Hephaestus' sake, Rayleigh did not mind going deep into enemy territory.

"So this commission is a rescue mission?" Rayleigh asked to confirm it.

Ouranos answered, "That's right. The ans are unrestricted, the people who must be rescued are the Goddess Phobos and Welf Crozzo. Those two."

"So it seems you're willing to accept this commission?"

Rayleigh glanced at his own Goddess, his gaze sharpened slightly.

That expression—was that worry? Though it was not worry for him alone, there was also... Phobos?

Deep in her eyes, there was hesitation.

Was she hesitating over whether to stop him?

But also hesitating over the consequences if she did stop him.

Stopping him would an standing by and doing nothing while a friend from Heaven was left to die, not stopping him would an worrying for his safety.

'Heh.' Rayleigh gave two light laughs.

He did not know whether it was because they had spent so much ti together already, but as long as he looked at Hephaestus' face, he seed able to read quite a few of her thoughts.

"I accept this commission," Rayleigh said it in an easy tone.

The strongest person in the Rakia Kingdom was only around Level 3, the troubleso part was the number of them.

In other words, this was an infiltration mission.

Because the Rakia Kingdom was enemy territory, there was very little intelligence on the inside of its royal capital, all people and Gods from Orario would fail inspection upon entering the royal city, so simply finding the Goddess Phobos would already be a problem.

As for Welf—although his family had fallen into decline, the Crozzo family had once been one of the great noble houses; the location of their estate probably would not be difficult to find.

Welf would be there.

"Rayleigh..." Hephaestus' expression showed struggle, she very much wanted to speak and stop the boy in front of her.

Rayleigh looked at her, the corners of his mouth lifting in confidence.

"Don't worry, Hephaestus. If it turns into a situation where I'm outnumbered, I'll use this guy."

As he said that, his right hand touched the hilt of the sword at his waist: the Zanpakutō—Sakanade.

Before that blade, the number of enemies had no aning to him.

If conditions allowed it—he might very well wipe out the entire Rakia Kingdom himself, or rather, the entire Ares Familia.

Of course, that was only talk, even if the two sides were forces that periodically ca into conflict—if he really carried out slaughter on the scale of one hundred thousand people, then that would no longer be sothing that could be explained away.

He would definitely be judged for it, and he would be labeled as a supervillain far worse in nature than Evilus, he might even gain a title like "Demon King" or sothing!

"I believe in your strength, but you still have to make a promise." Hephaestus gave him a serious warning.

"You must return safely and without harm!"

Rayleigh nodded heavily. "Mm. It's a promise."

Seeing that Rayleigh had accepted the commission, Ouranos said, "Because this is a commission received by the Guild, we will provide powerful support for you."

"Support?"

Ouranos gave a quiet hum, then called out, "Fels."

"Here."

From the shadow behind the old God's seat, a figure completely wrapped in a black robe stepped out; its appearance made Rayleigh react subtly.

'This person was... Fels?'

The mont Rayleigh saw that figure, all the descriptions related to the other party instantly surfaced in his mind.

Fels was an alias, a self-mocking na taken in despair, it ant "fool."

And its true identity was the Sage himself—the very sa Sage who had created the Philosopher's Stone hundreds of years ago!

The reason it now hid its appearance was because it no longer possessed a human body, instead, it had beco a skeleton, one that could neither receive Falna updates nor eat or drink.

Anyone who did not know better would probably think it was so kind of undead monster.

"Yotosai, co with . We've already selected an excellent intelligence operative for you."

'An intelligence... operative?'

Hearing that, Rayleigh suddenly thought of one of the few Familias in Orario capable of operating outside the city: a Familia centered on intelligence gathering and gray-zone commissions—the Hers Familia.

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