Shane never did figure out why Erza got mad the moment she saw him holding out that half-forged blade.
In any case, the food she brought back was great, and his hammer work was turning out pretty damn well.
Life after that felt like someone 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 time into the furnace by the creek.
The ring of hammer 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 "someone died there" business the realtor had mentioned, he hadn't felt the slightest chill.
With the strange sensitivity Saber had gifted him for metal, 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 metal when the hammer 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 armament 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 came 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 something building in his mind, saturating.
A feeling of something about to break through grew stronger every day.
He was sure: the next dream was close.
And with it, Saber's True Name—and, naturally, all of that spirit's craft.
One morning, for the first time in weeks, Shane didn't light the forge.
He carefully cleaned out the firebox, put every tool back in its place, and polished the hammer and tongs until they gleamed.
Only then did he head inside and stop Erza as she was about to leave like always.
"Erza, come out with me 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 time 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 came by yesterday," Shane said. "Said the post office has a letter for me."
"A letter?" She looked even more surprised. Normally he'd shamelessly 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. Time 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 time she was bent over the table, pen flying over her letter to Grandpa Rob.
Between greetings and reassurances, she wrote with obvious excitement 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 me? I barely know anyone here… Don't tell me Grandpa beat me to it?"
Curiosity stirring, they hurried home.
The moment 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 time no see, Shane," the projection said. "Word reached even me 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 time we meet, 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 someone behind her."
"Not long after she 'took control' of me, a man named Brain came to the tower. He claimed he would teach me how to properly use magic and… gave me considerable autonomy—let me keep running construction. Thanks to that sliver of freedom, I found a way to get this message out."
He frowned slightly, adding something 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 message 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 come 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 met Erza's eyes, he saw the same 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.