Chapter 22

"Well then..."

"Old man, what's the price?"

Haruto tried to see the expression hidden in the old man's eyes through his aged, sagging skin.

"...You're very capable."

The old man offered a compliment out of nowhere.

"I'm old."

Haruto listened quietly as the old man continued.

"There are currently no direct descendants in the Ise Clan's main family."

"?"

The explosive news about a high-ranking noble clan nearly caused Haruto's brain to shut down, but he quickly grasped the hidden meaning behind those words:

"You mean..."

"That's right. Nanao is the last direct descendant of the Ise Clan."

Leaving aside how the Ise Clan, a high-ranking noble clan, had ended up in its current state, that fact alone was enough to set off a great deal of bloodshed.

"You've really given me a difficult problem."

Haruto glanced at the Kidō manual on the table. It had never felt so hot to the touch.

He might have looked down on Munechika, who came from a middle-ranking noble clan, but when it came to a high-ranking noble clan, the stakes were on an entirely different level.

"As a deal, anyone who accepts this would be a fool."

Haruto first gave a wry laugh.

"But as Nanao's friend... I guess I'd be a fool not to take it?"

Then he picked up the manual from the table without hesitation.

If anything really happened to Nanao, Haruto would have no reason to stand by and do nothing.

"Don't worry."

The old man across the tea table reassured him.

"I never intended to drag you into the Ise Clan's troubles. As long as Nanao can enter the Gotei 13 without any problems..."

"That will be enough."

Seeing Haruto accept the Kidō manual, the old man unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

"The Eighth Division?"

"Oh? You know quite a lot."

"More or less..."

Haruto did indeed know quite a lot.

As for Nanao's identity... the most important "purpose" of a direct Ise Clan descendant was probably the authority to wield the "Divine Sword, Eight-Mirror Sword." It certainly lived up to the name "Divine Sword," but coveting it was another matter... Search all of Seireitei, and there were only a handful of people capable of taking something from Shunsui Kyōraku.

As Haruto responded to the old man, he opened the rather heavy Kidō manual in his hands.

"Hadō number seventy-eight..."

"'Zanka no Tachi.'"

A Kidō spell Shunsui Kyōraku was skilled at using.

It allowed the user to swing a blade of energized reiatsu from their Zanpakuto and was a Kidō spell used in close- to mid-range combat.

The Shiba Clan's hereditary "Getsuga Tenshō" was very likely a modified secret version of this technique.

There were many ways for a Soul Reaper—or rather, a human soul—to absorb reishi. Whether through breathing, eating, or even interacting with the outside world through the skin, they could absorb reishi, convert it into reiatsu, and store it.

But.

Unlike Hollows, Soul Reapers had only two "outlets" for their reiatsu, at their wrists. That was why most Soul Reapers needed to use their hands in combat, whether casting Kidō or using a Zanpakuto.

As a manifestation of a Soul Reaper's spiritual power and an extension of their arm, a Zanpakuto could also serve as a medium for Kidō. The "Ōkasen" and "Tenran" Haruto had used in his fight against Byakuya had employed techniques of this kind.

Unfortunately.

Haruto was not particularly adept at using his Zanpakuto. He had no trouble using intermediate Hadō, but Zanka no Tachi, numbered as high as seventy-eight, was still somewhat difficult for him to get started on.

On the other hand, if Haruto, who had always been fond of drawing strikes, could learn Zanka no Tachi, his close-combat ability would undoubtedly rise sharply to another level. And no matter what attribute his Zanpakuto turned out to have, he would also be able to wield greater power after releasing it in the future.

As with the style Haruto favored, techniques were about quality, not quantity. Hadn't Ichigo fought from beginning to end with just Getsuga Tenshō?

"I'll take good care of it."

Haruto picked up the ancient-looking Zanka no Tachi manual from the table.

"I'll never pass on its contents without permission."

But just as Haruto was about to put the manual away...

"Smack."

The old man's somewhat rough palm came down firmly on the back of Haruto's hand.

"?"

"I don't mind whether you pass it on or not."

"None of the Ise Clan's direct-line priests have Zanpakuto of their own. This Zanka no Tachi is nothing more than a few of my personal insights."

"If it can be carried forward and made to flourish, this old man would be delighted."

The old man shook his head as he spoke.

"But this manual... you have to finish reading it here."

"Tonight?"

Haruto had not expected the old man's plan at all.

"No, before my wife and Nanao come back."

"!!"

Haruto glanced at the thick manual on the table.

Though bamboo books were inherently bulky and held far less text than paper books of the same size, the manual before him contained more than ten thousand characters, no matter how he looked at it... However slowly Nanao took, she should be back here in ten minutes or so.

"Don't worry."

The old man lifted his palm from the back of Haruto's hand.

"If you really can master everything in the Book of Kidō, learning Zanka no Tachi will be a simple matter."

"And."

"The mastery I mentioned just now doesn't include advanced Kidō... If you can thoroughly understand and integrate the first sixty numbered Hadō, I guarantee you'll be able to use Zanka no Tachi immediately after reading it once."

"I..."

"I know you're not good at Zanjutsu."

The old man cut off Haruto's explanation and silently glanced at the candle on the tea table: talking counted against his time too.

"I'm not good at it either. No one in the Ise Clan is."

"But no one ever said you had to hold a sword to use this Hadō number seventy-eight, did they?"

The old man's words set Haruto thinking.

"Otherwise, how would Soul Reapers whose Zanpakuto no longer have the shape of a sword after release manage to wield this Hadō?"

"You should know that broad applicability is a very important criterion for advanced Kidō to be assigned a number."

"You mean..."

"It seems you've figured it out."

The old man did not answer Haruto directly, but he knew Haruto had understood the principle he wanted to convey:

A Zanpakuto was part of a Soul Reaper's soul.

Whether cutting someone with a sword or using it to cast Kidō, the principle was the same. Though everyone knew this basic fact, there were truly very few Soul Reapers who could put it to use in actual combat.

"I understand."

The old man's guidance made everything click for Haruto.

He did not necessarily need to use his Zanpakuto to cast Zanka no Tachi, and to release his Zanpakuto, he did not necessarily need to focus his efforts on the Zanpakuto itself.

A person...

The soul itself was the most important key.

Volume one: 014, the wild road

"See you when school starts!"

"Yeah, take care on the way!"

Early the next morning.

Haruto bid the Ise Clan farewell and set off for his "home" far away in Rukongai.

To be honest.

Haruto had not been back there in a long time.

It was not that his feelings for the place had grown stronger or weaker. The journey was simply too long for him to make the round trip in time. This year, it was purely because his strength had improved considerably again, and thanks to the Heavenly Bedding Pill, his physical condition had undergone a fundamental change.

Only then did Haruto think of going back for a look.

To avoid unnecessary trouble on the road, Haruto rolled his Shin'ō Academy uniform together with the provisions he had prepared and carried the bundle on his back.

Wearing a drab gray hemp garment that was neither new nor old—though his shoes had been freshly woven by the Ise Clan's old lady and given to Haru as a gift—he set off for East District 66. Though it was not as bad as the districts of Rukongai numbered seventy and above, District 66's barren natural environment meant public order there was hardly any better.

Competition over food and water was fierce.

"In the first twenty districts, you basically don't have to worry about food and drink."

"They're close to Seireitei, and the Gotei 13 are fairly active there. As long as you have money, you can solve most problems."

Haruto had not chosen to take the main road.

Although he only had fourteen days for the round trip, he did not intend to waste the travel time. Instead, he would keep practicing the two advanced Kidō spells he had just settled on... now three. Absorbing reishi from the atmosphere alone certainly could not make up for the reiatsu he expended, so Haruto also had to think about food and drink. Public order in the first twenty districts might be good, but it was far from the point where people would leave lost valuables untouched.

Especially after nightfall, even if he did not run into thieves, there might still be Soul Reapers taking the opportunity to come out and shake people down.

According to what Haruto knew, the Tenth Division, which was responsible for patrolling Rukongai, was not particularly clean.

To reduce trouble, Haruto planned to travel by day and spend a little extra at night to return to the streets and find a place to stay.

Once he left the first twenty districts... an "outsider" could basically forget about buying anything. Leaving aside the wisdom of not flaunting one's wealth, to obtain supplies normally, one first had to get on good terms with the local "gangs."

Of course.

For Haruto, that was actually a good thing.

After all, getting enough supplies just by making friends was a very good deal, however he looked at it. These Rukongai gangs were more than capable of bullying the local "Pluses (souls living in Rukongai)," but when faced with an official Soul Reaper, they were generally as humble as could be.

It was not that they could not beat an ordinary Soul Reaper, but that there was no need to sacrifice their real interests for the sake of pride... Unless necessary, Soul Reapers of the Gotei 13 rarely came to these areas. Paying them to leave was naturally a good deal for the local gangs, and it spared them the attention of Seireitei.

Haruto knew these gangs quite well.

Though he had been "born" in District 66, before entering Shin'ō Academy, he had made "challenges" in the districts closer in as well.

With his current Seventh-Class Reii, these gangs could not possibly be a match for Haruto, even if they resorted to underhanded tricks.

So...

Naturally, Haruto would be as friendly as could be when he saw them.

"Boom!!"