Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"...Is this the real reason you picked me to go with you?" Nessa judgementally looked at Zach out of the corner of her eye as he sat on top of her Millipede.

"I told you, I'm sorting the samples," Zach said while doing anything but sorting the flowers, grasses, herbs, roots, and plants that had been contaminated by the underworld energy leaking out of the ground and flowing through the air and streams.

Zach raised his sunglasses, opened his eyes, and craned his neck to look at Nessa.

"Y'know, there's place for you up here, too."

"That's my familiar!" Nessa burst out. She couldn't believe Zach was treating her Snakelong Millipede like it was his.

Zach shrugged.

"I'm fine. I prefer walking."

Nessa sighed and shook her head. Since the Snakelong Millipede didn't object or raise a fuss about Zach riding it, she couldn't just toss him off. Of course, if Nessa knew that the Millepede was only willing to carry Zach out of fear of Yanael and Alzara, she might have thought differently.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the keen senses that monsters and familiars had. All she got when looking at Alzara was that she was frighteningly attractive and tall. She wondered how Zach even managed to stay calm when he had two such beauties around him all the time.

Or maybe that was exactly why he was always calm.

Nessa flipped her thick brown hair over to the other side of her neck and looked at Zach again.

"Anyway, are we about done here? It's getting pretty late." She glanced toward the sun, which had started approaching the horizon.

Zach followed her gaze.

"Sure. With this much, we should be able to find something out. Let's head back." Zach patted the Millepede under him, urging it to turn around."

To Nessa's surprise, it listened.

"How did you do that?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Do what?" Zach glanced at Nessa with a raised eyebrow.

"How did you get my familiar to listen to you just by patting it?" Nessa pointed at herself to emphasize that the Snakelong Millipede was hers.

Zach shrugged.

Nessa sighed.

"He usually never listens to me that easily, so I just wanted to know what you did. But if you don't know, I can't exactly blame you. It's not like you know why he lets you ride him when he barely allows anything but cargo, including me." Nessa put her hand on the Millipede's side as they walked.

Zach was silent for a moment.

"...I didn't say anything because I needed to figure out how to tell you this, Nessa."

"Yes…?" Stay connected with m-v l|e'm,p| y- r

"Your 'he' might be a 'she.'"

"What?! How do you know?" Much like the rest of their classmates, Nessa had no idea what gender her familiar was, so she had thought of it as an 'it' for the longest time. But it was clear that her familiar wasn't an object. And since it looked manly from the front, she guessed that it was male and went for that.

Zach shrugged again.

"Just feels like it. Also, my familiars are stronger and outnumber your Millipede. I'm pretty sure that's why it's letting me ride it and why it followed my order when I told it to turn around."

"...Are you serious?" Nessa wasn't sure what to think of Zach's double revelation, so she just looked at Zach, who had made more than one or two jokes, to see if he was joking again. Unfortunately, it seemed like he was completely serious.

"You're telling me he–she listens to you just because you're strong?" Like most summoners, she included Yanael and Alzara in Zach's strength.

"Then, what's going to happen if I run into a strong monster or underworld?" She asked worriedly.

"...I would like to think that it would be different from hanging out with me. But maybe work on your Millipede's loyalty?"

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"I dunno. I have seen Anerias play fetch with his Hound, Violina feed her Spirit ice cubes, and Julius spoil his Mannequin with wood oil."

"..." Nessa looked at her Snakelong Millipede's wide, chitin-covered head and the menacing mandibles occasionally clacking together as it wormed over the ground smoother than butter.

"Thanks for the advice." Nessa didn't know how to raise her familiar's loyalty so that it wouldn't just roll over and submit in front of the next strong being. But thanks to Zach, she at least knew what she needed to work on. Curious, she glanced at Zach's two familiars.

She had been curious ever since he returned to the school with another maid familiar, but she wasn't close enough to just ask Zach what was on his mind.

Now, however, she felt like she had gotten closer.

"Are your familiars loyal? And what's it like having two?"

Zach glanced at Yanael and Alzara before answering, fully aware that they understood every single word of his.

"The blonde one is worryingly loyal, but the white-haired one and I are still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage. As for having two…I would say it completely depends on the two familiars. These two have different personalities and, to be honest, could get along better. But if your next familiar and your Millipede like each other, I'm sure you will have a blast, Nessa.

If I had to say something, getting your second familiar and dealing with the interactions between the first and second and making it harmonious is what puts a summoner's skill to the test."

"I see…" Nessa took a moment to process Zach's enthusiastic answer. It was more than she thought he would say since he usually responded with half-hearted jokes when people asked him about things.

"Speaking of skills, did you get another contract skill?" Nessa asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Yup." Zach nodded smugly.

"That's crazy! Not everyone in our class has gotten very good at their skills, but from what I can tell, all contract skills are amazing or have the potential to be. I can only imagine how strong a summoner with, like three, four, or more familiars is!" Zach wasn't the only one passionate about summoning, and Nessa excitedly shared her mind at the positive answer to her question.

Zach nodded in agreement before freezing mid-nod.

"Hey, Nessa. Do you know what the highest number of familiars one can have is?"

"...!"