Three days after Haschwalth and the others returned to the Wandenreich.
"Good afternoon, Lord Pernida. Have you gotten used to the environment here?"
Haschwalth arrived at Pernida's quarters for his daily check-in.
He knew Pernida's nature was special—its logic and thinking were beyond human norms—so it required close attention.
Since returning from the World of the Living, he made it a point to visit daily.
"The Reishi environment is favorable. Suitable for Quincy. Very comfortable."
Pernida's strange voice had grown slightly smoother.
Pernida was the Left Arm of the Soul King. Eight hundred years ago, he was sealed inside Yhwach by Ichibē Hyōsube of the Royal Guard, serving as the medium to seal Yhwach's Almighty.
The seal was so powerful that even after Yhwach separated Pernida from his body, the eye remained sealed.
Pernida had been left behind in the World of the Living—until Haschwalth came and reawakened him.
"I'm glad Lord Pernida is satisfied. If you have any requests, just inform the guards."
Haschwalth nodded respectfully.
After a short conversation, he left Pernida's quarters.
As the Grandmaster of the Sternritter and Yhwach's right-hand man, Haschwalth still had many responsibilities to attend to. Just as he was heading back to handle administrative matters, he suddenly heard a voice from within Silbern's royal sanctum.
"His Majesty... is calling me."
He turned and walked down the corridor toward the inner palace.
Before long, Haschwalth arrived at the royal bedchamber.
He would never enter this place unless summoned.
The room hadn't changed—the polished floor was spotless despite no one cleaning it.
Haschwalth passed between towering stone pillars and knelt before Yhwach.
Yhwach's eyes remained shut, but the steady pulse in his chest told Haschwalth he was in a "semi-awakened" state.
Compared to before, Yhwach's heartbeat sounded stronger.
The waves of Reiatsu emanating from him were suffocatingly heavy.
"Your Majesty."
Haschwalth bowed with reverence.
"Haschwalth..."
"Not enough..."
Yhwach's lips did not move, yet the words echoed directly in Haschwalth's mind.
The words made his pupils narrow.
"Your Majesty... The Quincy I sent to the World of the Living twenty years ago... nearly all perished."
The burden on his shoulders felt heavier than ever.
"Still not enough..."
"We need more strength..."
Yhwach's voice continued.
Haschwalth closed his eyes, lost in thought for a long moment.
"I understand..."
"The Sternritter haven't recruited new blood in a long time. I'll select suitable knights from among the soldiers."
When he opened his eyes again, all emotion had disappeared—only a chilling cold remained.
Twenty years ago, he had sent half the soldiers to the World of the Living.
Now, he would recruit new knights from the rest.
The Quincy King still lacked the power to fully awaken, and expanding the Sternritter would help hasten that.
This round of recruitment... would likely be brutal.
"Go... Haschwalth..."
"May His Majesty awaken soon."
Haschwalth bowed once more and left the royal palace.
After infiltrating the Wandenreich, Nanatsuki controlled his Reishi Shell puppet to slip into the central fortress—Silbern.
"Good thing I can use shadow powers. Otherwise, I'd be exposed in these open outer areas."
Near the Reishi barrier, only patrolling soldiers were active. Nanatsuki sank into the shadows, avoiding their line of sight as he moved into the complex.
The outer city was a residential zone. In the Wandenreich, every citizen was a soldier—residential areas were essentially barracks.
The buildings here matched the central city's style: white stone architecture.
As he passed through, Nanatsuki overheard a conversation that caught his interest and paused to gather intel.
Two Quincy in white uniforms sat chatting on the stone steps.
"Ryuzaki, didn't they already assign you a post? Why aren't you on duty?" the blond Quincy asked.
"I took the day off!" replied the dark-haired one. "Everyone has to take part in this recruitment. I want to seize this chance. If I join the Sternritter, I'll finally be able to enter the inner city!"
"Fair enough… You fought in the war. With your power, you've got a shot." The blond Quincy sighed. "I don't get why someone as weak as me has to go though."
"Maybe they just want a bigger crowd to liven things up," the other offered.
"Yeah... it's been ages since they recruited. Wouldn't look good if the place was empty."
"The Sternritter are recruiting?"
Nanatsuki's thoughts stirred.
He had infiltrated the Wandenreich to confirm Yhwach's current state.
But he wanted to avoid alerting Yhwach or the other Quincy.
Given enough time, Nanatsuki believed he could crack the Wandenreich's shadow network. Then he'd be able to bring other Shinigami in via deep-layer shadow infiltration.
That would be his ace-in-the-hole—for launching a future surprise attack.
Which meant this infiltration must remain secret.
The best way to verify Yhwach's condition might be by joining the Sternritter.
"I need an identity..."
He noted that one Quincy mentioned a comrade returning from the World of the Living.
"Only Sternritter have Sun Gate Keys."
From his research, Nanatsuki confirmed that the Sun Gate Key recovered from Sternritter instructor Quilge wasn't just a Wandenreich pass—it was also the activation key for the Sun Gate, a teleportation portal.
Quincy used the gate to travel to the World of the Living, Hueco Mundo, and even Soul Society.
And the teleportation method was identical to the shadow gateway Nanatsuki had seen before.
But only Sternritter possessed the Sun Gate Key.
Meaning ordinary Quincy in the World of the Living couldn't travel to the Wandenreich alone.
The two Quincy kept chatting.
"Never thought the Shinigami would suddenly start a war… Damn them, they killed so many Quincy! Just wait—when the King awakens, we'll conquer Soul Society!"
"It was brutal... Our leader was defeated quickly, and we had to retreat. The Shinigami almost caught us... If not for Lord Ishida, we'd be dead."
"Lord Ishida is the only one who truly cares about Quincy from the World of the Living."
"Shh... It's not like the other knights wanted to abandon us. They just didn't want to escalate the war... especially while the King still sleeps."
"I didn't say anything!"
They went quiet for a while, mostly reminiscing about the recent war.
"But there was one weird thing," said the dark-haired Quincy. "One of the Shinigami chasing us looked like he hated us. He said his son was killed by Quincy. His whole outpost got wiped out."
"What? You guys wiped out a Shinigami outpost?"
"No… I think Hollows did it and pinned it on us."
Nanatsuki didn't hear any more useful intel, so he moved on.
"Even though it was a Quincy extermination war… some still escaped."
"But those Quincy shouldn't have had the means to reach the Wandenreich."
Which meant—someone had helped them.
If Nanatsuki could find that person...
He might be able to pose as a Quincy returnee.
After a short walk, he found a tent camp near the other end of the district.
It was messy—clearly hastily built.
Medics moved hurriedly among the tents.
It wasn't just the wounded—many uninjured Quincy also waited here.
"These must be the ones evacuated from the war… Quite a number."
Nanatsuki figured this was the perfect place to blend in.
He moved unseen into a blind spot and stepped out into the open.
His puppet wore standard Quincy uniform—perfect camouflage. No one noticed the newcomer.
"The third and fourth returnee groups are all here, right? Time to take a headcount. Sternritter recruitment is underway. Lord Haschwalth has decreed everyone has a chance!"
A squad leader barked orders to the medics.
"Understood!"
The medics began gathering soldiers to record their status.
Nanatsuki blended in with the group.
The injuries were mostly minor—he saw plenty who were just like him: completely unharmed.
A medic walked up to begin asking questions.
"Name?"
Without hesitation, Nanatsuki replied, "Kurosaki Haren."
A name suitable for his puppet.
"Kurosaki… used to be a noble name," the medic muttered.
"And where did you retreat from?"
"Naruki District."
"Hmm."
The medic jotted it down and moved on.
Later—
"Thirty-six total," the medic reported, then sighed. "Lord Ishida's incredible… Saving so many alone."
Nanatsuki breathed a sigh of relief. These Quincy weren't all from the same district—no one noticed anything off.
"These Quincy… they were Wandenreich citizens before?"
He kept hearing words like 'returnee' and 'came back', which made him believe the recent surge of Quincy in the World of the Living came from the Wandenreich.
"You'll stay here to recover for now. Tomorrow, report to the outer city administration to be assigned quarters."
The officer dismissed the group.
Nanatsuki found a crowded tent and sat down.
The atmosphere was heavy. These Quincy were fresh from battle.
All conversations revolved around the war.
Nanatsuki listened in silence, gathering intel bit by bit.
He became more and more certain—many Quincy had left the Wandenreich long ago.
Though some seemed to have been born in the World of the Living.
He guessed they had been away from the Wandenreich for years.
"If they really came from here… there must be a registry."
Nanatsuki frowned.
That would be a problem.
The tally just now had been sloppy. But proper identity verification might come tomorrow during reporting.
"I'm just a local Quincy caught up in the war…"
He adjusted his fake identity.
A few hours later, noise erupted outside.
"Lord Ishida is back!"
"He brought back more survivors!"
The cheers swept through the camp, washing away the gloom.
Everyone in Nanatsuki's tent ran out.
He followed from a distance.
There stood "Lord Ishida"—a silver-haired young man.
He looked exhausted.
Behind him were over a dozen Quincy—survivors he had brought back.
Seeing the crowd, he forced a tired smile.
"How's everyone recovering?"
"Thanks to you, Lord Ishida, we're doing great!"
"You look so tired! Please rest!"
"Yes! You haven't rested for days!"
"No need to worry about me," he replied with a nod. "The Shinigami have stopped pursuing. These are the last ones."
Nanatsuki moved closer to get a look at his interface:
[Ishida Sōgen]
[Talent: S]
[Reishi Control: Lv90]
[Reputation Level: Stranger]
Ishida Sōgen!
This was Uryū Ishida's grandfather!
Nanatsuki's eyes lit up—Sōgen might be the ideal contact.
In the original timeline, Sōgen had been expelled from the Wandenreich for ideological reasons.
The Sun Gate Key he took with him later became the key tool used by Kurosaki Isshin and Ryūken Ishida to infiltrate the Wandenreich.