Shane never did figure out why Erza got mad the mont she saw him holding out that half-forged blade.
In any case, the food she brought back was great, and his hamr work was turning out pretty damn well.
Life after that felt like soone had hit fast-forward—so regular it was almost dull.
From the day he first pulled the bellows, he fell in love with the little forge. His "morning library" plan was quietly shelved.
He poured nearly all his ti into the furnace by the creek.
The ring of hamr on iron, the wheeze of the bellows, the murmur of running water—those sounds intertwined every day. Lucky for him there were no neighbors; otherwise he'd have no idea how to explain it.
He felt a little smug about his eye for property—not just a good house, but a perfect location.
As for that "soone died there" business the realtor had ntioned, he hadn't felt the slightest chill.
With the strange sensitivity Saber had gifted him for tal, he improved at a startling pace.
It was like he could see the microstructure of the ore shifting in the fire, could hear the feedback from within the tal when the hamr struck.
When to stoke, when to quench—he just knew.
The result?
Even with simple tools and no formal teacher, the blades he turned out in the yard were, in raw material and performance, on par with what he could make by reshaping steel through [Arrow Construction].
On the other side, Erza's growth was even more outrageous.
Requip—this tricky blend of space and armant magic—was supposed to take her a month. She had it under control in under three weeks. Even Makarov had praised her talent.
Most of Shane's blades ended up as training pieces and backup stock for her growing arsenal.
What she regretted was that he still hadn't managed a true magic weapon.
Whenever the subject ca up, Shane would swear up and down, "Almost there."
He wasn't just talking big.
After nearly a month of non-stop forging by the creek—and aside from sliding into D– in Agility as a matter of course—he could feel sothing building in his mind, saturating.
A feeling of sothing about to break through grew stronger every day.
He was sure: the next dream was close.
And with it, Saber's True Na—and, naturally, all of that spirit's craft.
One morning, for the first ti in weeks, Shane didn't light the forge.
He carefully cleaned out the firebox, put every tool back in its place, and polished the hamr and tongs until they glead.
Only then did he head inside and stop Erza as she was about to leave like always.
"Erza, co out with today."
"What?" She raised an eyebrow, startled.
He'd practically taken up residence by the furnace. Even when Cana and Levy dropped by, he never had ti to chat.
Macao had grumbled more than once that he vanished like a ghost; if Erza hadn't vouched for him, people might've thought he'd left town.
"Did the sun rise in the west?" she asked, eyeing him.
"Gray ca by yesterday," Shane said. "Said the post office has a letter for ."
"A letter?" She looked even more surprised. Normally he'd shalessly ask her to fetch it.
Shane grinned and pulled an already-sealed envelope from his pocket like a magic trick. "If I don't go, how am I supposed to mail this?"
He waved it. "We've been settled in Magnolia for a while now. Ti to let Grandpa Rob know we're alive. And he'd definitely want to hear what Fairy Tail's like."
"Oh!" Erza's eyes lit up. "Then I'll send one too!"
Shane spread his hands. "Of course you will. Why else would I drag you along? Chop-chop."
Erza moved fast. In no ti she was bent over the table, pen flying over her letter to Grandpa Rob.
Between greetings and reassurances, she wrote with obvious excitent about mastering Requip and painted the bustle of Fairy Tail in lively strokes.
At the end she even slipped in a line complaining that Shane's social skills were terrible and she had no idea how he'd survive without her.
They went to the post office together.
Shane handed over both letters, along with a finely made shortsword he'd forged as a gift for Noel, the smith's apprentice.
His own letter was textbook: polite greetings, a quick summary of their journey, impressions of Magnolia, and the story of joining Fairy Tail.
After sending them off, they picked up the letter addressed to him.
The handwriting on the envelope was unfamiliar. Shane turned it over, puzzled. "Who'd write to ? I barely know anyone here… Don't tell Grandpa beat to it?"
Curiosity stirring, they hurried ho.
The mont they broke the seal, a faint light flared—and an unexpected figure appeared.
A blue-haired boy with a tattoo on his face.
"Jellal?" Shane blinked, surprised. He hadn't expected mail from the Tower.
Then a flicker of worry—was he in trouble?
In the image, Jellal sat in a dim room, dark coat draped over his shoulders, his expression steady beyond his years.
"Long ti no see, Shane," the projection said. "Word reached even that Fairy Tail got a scary new recruit who wiped out a dark guild on his first outing. If that rumor hadn't spread, I might not have known you'd gone to Magnolia."
"Tsk. Next ti we et, am I supposed to call you Boss Jellal?" Shane quipped at the stern, formally dressed figure—who looked to be doing just fine.
"He can't hear you," Erza muttered.
The image continued, voice turning grave. "About the Tower of Heaven. As planned, I kept the truth from that purple-haired woman—she calls herself Ultear—and made her believe I was fully under her 'influence.'
Things unfolded just as we expected. There is soone behind her."
"Not long after she 'took control' of , a man nad Brain ca to the tower. He claid he would teach how to properly use magic and… gave considerable autonomy—let keep running construction. Thanks to that sliver of freedom, I found a way to get this ssage out."
He frowned slightly, adding sothing more.
"From what I've observed, the relationship between Brain and Ultear isn't good. There's a rift. I don't know if they're just partners or…"
"In any case, above them… there's an even deeper mastermind."
"That's all I know. I thought you should hear it. I'll find other ways to contact you."
Shane thought the ssage would end there.
But the light flickered, and Jellal added, almost wryly, "Ultear seems to have taken quite a grudge. She keeps swearing she'll co after you. Watch your back."
Then the image vanished.
"This guy… he's learned to joke," Shane said, shaking his head. He folded the letter and slid it away, not taking Ultear's threat too seriously.
But when he t Erza's eyes, he saw the sa gravity in hers that he felt.
Jellal had successfully infiltrated the enemy—that was the good news.
But Brain's appearance, and his fraught dynamic with Ultear, made it clear: the water around the Tower of Heaven was even deeper than they'd thought.
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