Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"Anyway. Why tell us now?" Nessa could tell that Zach was getting increasingly uncomfortable and irritable, so she quickly decided to move on from the discussion on how others might see Zach when he paraded around his maids.

Zach was thankful for it.

"Things aren't going as well as I want them to. It feels like we won't be able to handle the Underworld this year, at least not without casualties."

The others' expressions darkened at Zach's words. The playful, joking atmosphere from a minute ago was gone. This was serious.

Zach didn't know it all, and certainly couldn't predict the future. But he wasn't in his current position with his current strength because he was just lucky. If he was worried that not everyone in their class or even their club would make it to the annual break, they should also be worried.

They didn't have anything to go on other than Zach's words, and his words were based on a gut feeling. It was a weak reason to work harder and make their classmates work even harder than they were already doing.

It would have been a weak reason if Zach hadn't been the one who said it. And if the others hadn't agreed with him.

"What do you have in mind?" Violina asked. Zach's words and worries had made her reckless. She wanted to do things and continue preparing instead of sitting around and chatting like they had all the time in the world.

"I will have my maids actively help out."

"Aren't they already doing that?"

"Yanael will train everyone who wants it in combat and survival." Zach gestured at Yanael as he spoke, officially introducing her.

Zach's friends didn't think much about Yanael having a name, even if their familiars didn't have one. It just seemed natural since she could talk.

"And Alzara will lead the alchemists in my guild. Hopefully, we will have an antidote to the toxin soon. Even after that, she will continue developing medicines and potions we will use against the Underworld." Of course, Alzara would also be working to increase the alchemists' skills and the number of recipes in the guild so that they would make even more money.

But the others didn't need to know about that.

Nessa and the others looked at Yanael, who nodded in light greeting, and Alzara, who wasn't very interested in any of them and only looked straight ahead. She respected Zach and her position enough to at least look presentable and have the proper posture.

"What about…?" Nessa looked at the black-haired maid as she spoke.

Zach glanced at Soara. Her name was the one he was most worried about revealing. He looked each of his friends in their eyes.

"Her name stays between us. Her identity stays between us." Zach wasn't making a request. He was stating the reality. This wasn't an option.
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"Her name is Soara."

Anerias and Dukiel just frowned slightly. Had it been necessary to make such a big deal out of a simple name? Zach had almost threatened them to make sure they kept it secret. They looked toward Nessa and Violina for support.

But the two girls were staring at Soara in dawning realization.

If Zach had just said her name was Soara without making a fuss, it would have taken them longer to realize. But he had put a lot of importance on keeping it secret. He had also 'summoned' her after they cleared the Labyrinth of Syst.

Nessa and Violina didn't want to believe it.

But at the same time, they couldn't not believe it. There was something about Soara's presence that wouldn't let them question her existence.

She was who she was. She was who they thought she was.

She was the deity of Death and Transcendence that they had seen in the Labyrinth of Syst.

"I-is she…?" Nessa eventually managed to stutter out half a question.

"Yes," Zach confirmed Nessa's question. He then turned to Dukiel and Anerias to fill them in on the situation.

"She is a deity of Death and Transcension whose past we saw in the Labyrinth of Syst. She agreed to become my familiar after some things happened. She will not be doing something like Yanael or Alzara, though she might help Yanael sometimes. Mostly, she will be staying by my side."

"Wait, wait, wait. A deity? Like the kind people pray to?" Dukiel questioned.

"Did people pray to you?" Zach asked Soara.

"Yes," she answered simply.

"There you have it."

Anerias looked at Soara with an intense look before turning to Zach. He had something much more important than her identity as a deity to confirm.

"And her rank?" He had to know. Was Zach getting further away or was he stuck at SS-rank?

"Currently SS-rank."

"Yes!" Anerias fist pumped. That meant he only needed to summon an SS-rank next time to close the gap.

"Currently?"

However, Nessa's request for clarification cracked Anerias' excitement. He stiffly looked at Zach, hoping the insinuation behind Nessa's question wasn't true.

Zach nodded. Anerias felt despair wash over.

"I know how to help her rank up. It will take a while, and I have no idea how to do it. But I know what will help her reach the SSS-rank." Soara needed the part of her power that she lost to those monsters they had seen in the statues depicted the past in the Labyrinth of Syst. If she got that, she would return to her original level of strength, which was the equivalent of an SSS-rank familiar.

However, Zach did not know how to find those monsters, nor where to even begin looking. Not to mention, he would also need to defeat those monsters. They had defeated Soara in her prime along with all the other deities, after all.

Zach was far, far, far away from that level of strength. He knew the method but didn't have the means.

Anerias didn't hear that part, though. His mind was blank. Zach had basically told them that his familiar was one step away from reaching the next rank and that he knew how to take that step.

It was only a matter of time before Zach's third familiar was an SSS-rank familiar.

That meant Anerias was even further away from catching up. He lost to Zach. Again.