Wandenreich, the third day after Haschwalth and the others had returned.
"Good afternoon, Lord Pernida. Are you finding the environment here to your liking?"
Haschwalth came to Pernida's residence for his daily routine greeting.
He knew that Pernida's identity was special and his logic was difficult to fathom, so he had to pay close attention.
Since returning from the human world, he had come to chat with Pernida every day.
"The reishi environment is good, very suitable for a Quincy. It's very comfortable."
Pernida's strange voice had become a little smoother.
Pernida was the left arm of the Soul King. Eight hundred years ago, he had been sealed inside Yhwach's body by Ichibē Hyōsube of the Royal Guard, serving as a medium to seal Yhwach's "Almighty" eyes.
This seal was extremely powerful. Even when Yhwach later separated Pernida from his body, he could not unseal his eyes.
After the separation, Pernida was left in the human world.
Only when Haschwalth came looking for him did he awaken again.
"I am glad you are satisfied, Lord Pernida. If you have any needs, please do not hesitate to command the guards..."
Haschwalth nodded slightly.
After a brief chat, he left Pernida's residence.
As the Grandmaster of the Sternritter and the King's regent, Haschwalth had many duties to attend to each day. Just as he was about to go back to handle them, he suddenly heard a voice from the royal chambers in Silbern.
"His Majesty... is calling for me."
Haschwalth turned and walked towards the corridor of the royal chambers.
In a short while, he entered the palace.
He would not have come here without His Majesty's summons.
Nothing in the chambers had changed. Even without anyone cleaning, the polished floor remained spotless.
Haschwalth walked through the passage between the giant stone pillars and came before Yhwach.
Yhwach still did not open his eyes, but the sound of his heartbeat from his chest confirmed to Haschwalth that he was in an "awake" state.
Compared to before, Haschwalth felt that His Majesty's heartbeat had become much stronger.
The spiritual pressure fluctuations that occasionally emanated were also suffocatingly heavy.
"Your Majesty."
Haschwalth bowed respectfully.
"Haschwalth..."
"It is not enough..."
Yhwach's lips did not move, but his voice resounded in Haschwalth's mind.
But His Majesty's words made the bowing Haschwalth's eyes narrow.
"Your Majesty... the Quincy sent to the human world twenty years ago have basically all died for their country."
Haschwalth felt the weight on his shoulders grow heavier.
"It is not enough..."
"A little more help is needed..."
Yhwach's voice continued.
Haschwalth closed his eyes and thought for a long time.
"I understand..."
"The Sternritter have not had new blood for a long time. I will select suitable knights from among the soldiers."
When Haschwalth opened his eyes again, they were devoid of all emotion, only coldness remained.
Twenty years ago, he had selected nearly half of the soldiers to be sent to the human world.
Now, he had to recruit knights from the remaining soldiers.
The Quincy King was still some way from fully awakening. The expansion of the Sternritter would be a help to him.
This recruitment would probably be exceptionally cruel.
"Go... Haschwalth..."
"May Your Majesty recover soon."
Haschwalth took his leave of Yhwach and left the chambers.
...
After Sora's Reigai puppet entered the Wandenreich, he planned to sneak directly into the main castle, Silbern.
"It's a good thing I can use my shadow ability. Otherwise, it would be easy to be discovered in the open areas outside the city."
Near the reishi shield, only patrol soldiers were active. Sora slipped into the shadows, avoided their line of sight, and entered the building complex area.
The outer city was a residential area. In the Wandenreich, the entire populace was a military force, so the residential area was also the soldiers' quarters.
The architectural style was similar to the main castle, with buildings made of white bricks and stones.
As Sora passed through, he overheard a conversation that caught his interest and couldn't help but stop to gather intelligence.
Two Quincy in white uniforms were sitting on some stone steps, chatting.
"Ryuzaki, haven't you already been assigned a job? Why aren't you on duty?" the blond Quincy asked.
"I took a leave of absence!" the other, a black-haired Quincy, said. "Everyone has to participate in this recruitment. I have to seize this opportunity. If I join the Sternritter, I can go to the main city!"
"That's true... you came back from the human world and participated in the war. With your strength, you do have a chance," the blond Quincy sighed. "Sigh... I just don't get it. Why does someone with my strength have to participate too?"
"Maybe it's to liven things up with more people..." the black-haired Quincy said uncertainly.
"That makes sense. The Sternritter haven't recruited new members for a long time. It would be bad if it was a dull affair," the blond Quincy nodded.
"The Sternritter are recruiting new members?"
A thought struck Sora.
His purpose in infiltrating the Wandenreich was to confirm Yhwach's condition.
But he wanted to avoid alerting Yhwach and the other Quincy as much as possible.
Given time, Sora was confident he could crack the Wandenreich's shadow technology. Then he could bring other Shinigami into the deep shadow space.
This would be a trump card that could be used to launch a surprise attack.
Therefore, he did not want to expose himself during this infiltration.
He could confirm Yhwach's condition by making contact with the Sternritter.
"I need an identity..."
Sora noticed that one of the Quincy had said his companion was a Quincy who had returned from the human world.
"Except for the Sternritter, other Quincy don't have a 'Sun Gate Key'."
According to Sora's research these past few days, the 'Sun Gate Key' he had confiscated from Quilge was not just for passing through the Wandenreich's barrier.
It was the activation key for the 'Sun Gate' portal.
The Quincy could use the 'Sun Gate' to teleport to the human world, Hueco Mundo, and even the Soul Society.
And the method of teleportation was the same as the shadow passage he had seen before.
However, in the Wandenreich, only the Sternritter held these keys.
Therefore, the Quincy in the human world could not travel to the Wandenreich on their own.
The two Quincy continued to talk.
"I didn't expect the Shinigami to suddenly start a war. Damn them, they killed so many Quincy! Just wait! When the King awakens, he will lead us to conquer the Soul Society!"
"This war was brutal... our leader was quickly defeated by the Shinigami... after that, we could only run. We were almost caught, but luckily Lord Ishida saved us and brought us back."
"Lord Ishida is so kind. He's probably the only one among the knights who cares about the lives of the Quincy in the human world."
"Shh... it's not that the other knights deliberately left them to die, they just didn't want to expand the war, right? After all... our King hasn't awakened yet!"
"I didn't say that!"
After listening for a while longer, the two were basically discussing the recent war.
"But there's one strange thing. I had a brief exchange with the Shinigami who was chasing us, because he seemed to hate us a lot... he actually said his son had died at the hands of the Quincy... that the entire Shinigami station had been wiped out."
"Ah... you guys wiped out a Shinigami station before?"
"No... I think it was probably the work of Hollows, and they pinned it on us."
After listening for a bit longer and hearing no other valuable information, Sora went elsewhere to gather intel.
"Although it was called a Quincy extermination, some of them saw the situation was bad and fled the battlefield... but they don't have the ability to escape to the Wandenreich... someone is helping them. If I can find that person, I might be able to disguise myself as a Quincy who has fled from the human world."
Sora thought to himself.
After the war, he had also had the Shinigami confiscate the Quincy's spiritual tools, but none of the others had a 'Sun Gate Key'.
For the Quincy from the human world to get here, a Sternritter member must have helped.
A moment later, Sora found an area in the residential district with many tents.
The tent area was a bit chaotic and looked like it had been set up temporarily.
Many medics were busy in the tent camp.
The camp was not just for the wounded and doctors; some healthy Quincy were also staying in the temporary tents.
"These should all be the Quincy who retreated from the war in the human world... there are quite a few of them."
Sora felt he had come to the right place. Perhaps he could pretend to be a Quincy who had escaped from the human world here.
He walked a little further and saw a team of soldiers talking with a doctor.
"Count the number of soldiers in the camp, and their physical condition as well. The Sternritter are recruiting new members. Lord Haschwalth will treat the returning soldiers equally. Everyone has a chance to become a member of the Sternritter!"
The team leader instructed the doctor.
"Yes, sir!"
After the three soldiers finished speaking, the doctor began to gather the returning soldiers to count their numbers.
Seeing this, Sora directly revealed himself in a place where no one was looking and blended in.
The Reigai puppet he was controlling was wearing the traditional Quincy uniform. He could blend in perfectly here, and no one would notice an outsider.
"The third and fourth batches of returnees are all here, right? I need to count the numbers. You've all run into a great opportunity. The Sternritter are recruiting new members!"
Seeing that everyone had gathered, the doctor began to count.
Sora observed that very few of those who had retreated from the battlefield were seriously injured. Most had light to moderate injuries. There were also some who were uninjured, like himself.
The doctor came forward, asking questions and counting.
A moment later, it was Sora's turn. He calmly observed the doctor's every move.
"Name?"
The doctor didn't look up and turned a page in his record book.
"Kurosaki Usaki."
Sora came up with a name that fit his Reigai puppet.
"Kurosaki... that was a major family in the past."
The doctor looked up and gave him a few extra glances. "Which region did you retreat from?"
"The Naruki region."
"Hmm..."
The doctor noted down the information and went to the next Quincy.
A moment later.
"Thirty-six people..." the doctor finished counting and sighed. "Lord Ishida really had a hard time... saving so many Quincy by himself."
Sora breathed a sigh of relief. These people were not all from the same region, so no one had noticed anything unusual about him.
"These Quincy... were they originally from the Wandenreich?"
Sora had heard the words 'return' and 'come back' many times and was now even more certain that the sudden increase in the Quincy population in the human world was from here.
"You'll stay here for now to treat your injuries. Tomorrow, you'll report to the outer city administration department to be assigned living quarters,"
The team leader came over and said to the assembled Quincy.
After the count was over, Sora found a crowded tent to wait in.
The atmosphere in the tent was heavy. These were all people who had just retreated from the battlefield.
The content of their conversations was all related to the war.
Sora silently gathered information from their bits and pieces of conversation.
He became even more certain that many of these Quincy had come from the Wandenreich.
However, there were also some young Quincy who seemed to have been born in the human world.
Sora estimated that these Quincy had left the Wandenreich many years ago.
"If these Quincy came from the Wandenreich... then the administration department should have a list of them..."
Sora frowned, discovering a loophole in his plan.
The count just now was very simple, probably just to record a list. The real identity verification process should be at tomorrow's registration.
"I am an unfortunate native of the human world who was caught up in the war..."
Sora rewove his Quincy identity.
After a few hours, he heard the outside become lively.
"Lord Ishida is back!"
"Lord Ishida has saved another group!"
Enthusiastic cheers came from outside, sweeping away the heavy atmosphere in the camp.
The Quincy in Sora's tent also all went out.
He followed behind, observing from a distance.
The "Lord Ishida" who was the center of attention was a young man with short, silver hair.
He did not look well; his face was full of fatigue.
Behind him were a dozen or so Quincy, who should all be the ones he had brought back from the human world.
Seeing so many people gather around, he forced a smile and said:
"How is everyone recovering?"
"Thanks to Lord Ishida's rescue, we are recovering well!"
"Lord Ishida! You look very tired. You should rest!"
"Yes... you haven't rested at all these past few days. You should get some rest!"
"Don't worry about me," the silver-haired man nodded. "The Shinigami's pursuit has stopped. This is the last batch."
Sora took the opportunity to get a little closer and looked at the silver-haired man's panel:
[Sōken Ishida]
Talent: S
Reishi Manipulation: Lv 90
Affinity Level: Stranger
Sōken Ishida!
This Quincy was Uryū Ishida's grandfather!
A thought struck Sora. Sōken Ishida seemed to be a very suitable target to approach.
According to the original timeline, Sōken would also be expelled from the Wandenreich due to a difference in ideology.
The 'Sun Gate Key' he took with him would also become a key item for Isshin Kurosaki and Ryūken Ishida to infiltrate the Wandenreich in the future.
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The Bleach story will come to an end in December. I want to thank everyone who has been reading this project; your support has been crucial in getting to this point.
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