Ultear seemed to see right through his faintly dismissive attitude. The corner of her mouth twitched down, almost imperceptibly.
Then, as if she'd remembered someone specific, her lips curved into a very slight smile—one with a hint of malicious amusement.
"I don't know all of them yet," she said, "but there's one person whose magic you'll probably find very interesting."
"Who? What magic?" Shane followed her lead.
"There's a guy named Zancrow," Ultear said. In her mind she pictured a brash, spiky blond kid with a defiant look.
With a personality that loud, if he ever ran into this lazy-looking, secretly-arrogant, thoroughly irritating boy in front of her… it would definitely be entertaining.
"The master taught him—Fire God Slayer Magic."
She paused on purpose, watching Shane's reaction, then continued. "They say it's a magic that can wield black flames—an endless fire that stands above all other flames. More importantly, he can ignore fire immunity, and he can eat flames to strengthen himself."
Ultear's tone carried a faint probe.
"Doesn't that sound like it completely counters your Flame?"
"When he fully masters that Lost Magic, Shane… you'll have a headache if you ever run into him."
She finished and looked at him calmly, waiting to see fear or wariness.
But the seriousness she expected never appeared. Shane only froze for a moment, his expression turning… complicated.
"…Sigh. If we were still enemies, I probably wouldn't bother correcting you about this kind of misunderstanding."
Shane exhaled, his tone becoming a little more formal.
"But since we're cooperating now, I don't want you making weird assumptions that could lead you into bad decisions later."
As he spoke, he raised his right hand, palm up.
Pfft.
A small, warm, living strand of Flame rose quietly from his palm, a red ember burning steadily.
Then the flame began to change.
It stretched, condensed, and gradually solidified—
In Ultear's slightly surprised gaze, a pitch-black sword slowly "forged" itself out of the flame's core, hovering silently above his palm.
"See," Shane said, holding that black sword born from fire, looking at her calmly. "Most people remember my magic as 'violent, blazing Flame.'
That isn't wrong… but the root of my power has never been 'fire' itself."
His eyes stayed on the hovering black blade. "Senji Muramasa's root is the sword.
Creation. Refinement. And in the end—one singular blade."
He let the idea settle. "Flame is just the furnace fire and the manifestation of power that happens along the way while forging that 'one sword.'"
He closed his fingers slightly. The flame and the black sword vanished without a sound, as if they'd never existed.
"So if someone thinks they can 'counter my fire' and casually manhandle me…" Shane looked back at Ultear with a quiet warning, "they're deeply mistaken."
Then he added, almost like a teacher scolding a student, "Remember this. Labeling people based only on surface impressions will get you killed someday."
"And for the record," he finished smoothly, "I've never treated you like some grand 'Lost Magic' mage either. I've been viewing you as an Ice-Make mage."
"…!"
If anyone else had lectured her in that tone, she could've tolerated it.
But hearing it from Shane made Ultear's irritation spike.
She went silent for a few seconds. She couldn't even be bothered to correct him about bringing up Ice-Make again.
Instead, she stiffly returned to her original purpose.
"Anyway. I delivered this month's information."
She turned as if to leave. "If there's nothing else, I'm going."
"Wait."
Shane called out quickly. If Ultear was this well-informed, he couldn't waste the chance.
"What now?" Ultear turned back, puzzled.
Shane asked directly, "Do you know the name 'Heartfilia'? Or that family?"
"Hm?" Ultear looked confused for a moment. "Of course I do. Why are you asking?"
…That easy?
Shane blinked, surprise and delight surging through him at once. He'd expected a lot more trouble. Instead the lead practically fell into his lap.
He immediately pressed, "Tell me everything you know about Heartfilia!"
Ultear gave him a very strange look.
The Heartfilia family—railway magnates, absurdly rich—was practically common knowledge in Fiore. Was this guy some primitive hermit who'd crawled out of an isolated mountain cave?
But Shane's urgency didn't look fake. She clicked her tongue and explained anyway.
"Heartfilia is Fiore's most famous family consortium. Their core industry is railways, and they own an unbelievable amount of land and assets across the continent."
"I see…" Shane nodded slowly.
If this was a "major event" worthy of a long-chain trial, then involving someone with that kind of influence made sense.
"If I wanted to make contact with the Heartfilia family, how would I do it?" he asked.
Ultear still didn't know what this weird boy was plotting, but since it was "part of the trade," she laid out what she knew.
"Recently, the Heartfilia family has been collecting all the Zodiac keys—at any cost."
"The Zodiac keys?" Another term Shane had never heard. His strength was decent now, but in magic knowledge he was still a complete beginner.
Ultear sighed, resigned to playing temporary encyclopedia.
"Keys are the medium used by Celestial Spirit mages.
Celestial Spirit Magic is a type of spatial summoning. The mage forms contracts with beings from the Spirit World, and uses specific keys to summon and command them.
The most valuable—and strongest—are the twelve gold keys that summon the Zodiac spirits."
She paused, then summarized: "If you want to approach them, that's probably your best angle. But I don't know why they're collecting the keys."
With that, she didn't give Shane room to ask more—clearly afraid he'd ask something like "What's the Spirit World?"—and turned sharply, walking away fast.
Shane didn't stop her. He already had what he needed.
He stood there, mind spinning, stitching together the new information with the Book's hint:
"Witness the cyclical gate that has spanned four hundred years of time."
Heartfilia family… collecting the twelve Zodiac gold keys…
A clean chain of logic formed in his head:
The keys were likely the "key" to opening that gate.
If so, Ultear's suggestion was spot-on—if he wanted to insert himself into this long-chain trial, going through the Zodiac keys was the most direct path.