After their transformation into Devils, they continued to act the same way... No, in fact, they became even more devoted to him.
Although subtle, they became more loyal.
Even though they are now Onis, they still have limited lifespans. In comparison, Devils can live much longer.
Of course, that wasn't all. Their strength also increased, especially Benimaru's.
And, as he explained, unlike magicules, demonic power is, in a certain sense, more versatile. One of its versatilities is the ability to create skills.
In a single day, Souei copied the wolves' skill and can now move through shadows.
Zaydas, on the other hand, kept overlaying Ranged Barrier and...
[Announcement. Extra Skill: [Auto-Regeneration (Rank B)] has evolved into Extra Skill: [Multilayer Barrier (Rank A)]]
'Yes!'
Almost exhausting all his magicules, Zaydas finally succeeded.
He even spent 50% of his Demonic Power. That shows how many times he had to activate and deactivate the Ranged Barrier.
Eating a golden fruit, he thought of something and made ten golden fruits float out of his personal subspace, murmuring in his mind: 'Fenrir.'
When the head of a wolf appeared from his shadow, Zaydas let the ten golden fruits drop.
[The consumption of the Golden Fruits has been confirmed and analyzed. All properties of the Golden Fruit have been converted into Magicules.]
In other words, there was no improvement in his physique; instead, even the property that enhances the body was converted into Magicules. And it seems that the main focus is the recovery of magicules, while Demonic Power, for now, doesn't seem to recharge in this way.
Another thing—through analysis, he could create magicule restoration potions.
Thinking for a moment, he used a thousand golden fruits and turned them into potions.
His actions had to stop for now because... all seven elves had just entered his room. And they looked 'hungry.'
───────────
The next morning, Zaydas received a report from Rimuru about his situation.
It seems that after naming several Lizardmen, he had fallen asleep until now and just woke up.
And after recovering his magicules, he intended to stay and continue naming the Orcs.
Regarding that, Zaydas didn't have much to say.
After breakfast, he went to the back of the mansion and arrived at the orchard.
Upon entering, he saw that the trees were growing at a faster rate than when he planted them in the INN universe.
And the ones that grew the most were the Dragon-Apple trees.
After that, he went to train with Hakurou.
...
Time passed very quickly, and soon a total of 10 days had passed since he returned to TSSDK, and he needed to return to his dimension.
This time, he intended to bring not only Asia with him.
Snorting with a "Fufun" through her nose, Shion was one of those who would come with him.
Another was Shuna, followed by Rurushi, Tia, and Ria.
He didn't intend to bring the other elves just yet.
And besides them, Zaydas was also bringing Jade, who was gifted by Zaydas with the skill [Gigantification], which he replicated from Shadow. The wolves, except for Luna, who was in Asia's shadow, hid in his shadow.
Bringing all of them wasn't a problem, and he also had something in mind for wanting to bring them along.
"Is everyone ready?" Zaydas asked.
"""Yes~"""
Receiving their confirmation, Zaydas used [Dimensional Jump].
───────────
It was morning and almost past the time Zaydas usually appeared. Grayfia was starting to feel worried.
'He must be fine, he just got caught up in something complicated...'
She dismissed any possibility of him being in serious trouble.
And while she still couldn't shake the unease in her heart... she felt a subtle fluctuation in time-space, and soon several presences became detectable to her.
'He's back!' Without realizing it, a beautiful smile formed on her face.
...
When they appeared, the first thing they did was look around the place they were in.
"This is your room?" Rurushi looked at him.
Nodding, Zaydas confirmed, "Yes, and Asia, let's hurry. This time, we're a bit late."
"Yes!" Asia rushed out of the room but almost tripped over her own foot.
Meanwhile, looking restless, Shion asked, "Zaydas-sama, is it okay if we go through your things?"
"Yes, make yourselves at home," Zaydas replied.
Without wasting time, she went to the shelf where she saw the mangas and picked up one that caught her attention—it had a very bold-looking woman with a chiseled stomach and tanned skin holding an Odachi resting on her shoulder.
A bit more reserved, Shuna also approached the shelf, but her target was a photo album.
When she opened it, her beautiful eyes sparkled.
"Shuna-sama, let me see too!" Shion, who caught a glimpse of what Shuna was holding, lost interest in the manga from before as her eyes became fixated on the photo album in Shuna's hands.
Smiling and shaking his head as he saw Ria, Tia, and Rurushi approaching Shuna and starting to look at the pictures with the same intensity.
However, he froze when one of them said, "Little Boss?"
"Tia... Where did you see that?" Zaydas turned to her robotically.
"Err... In a photo of you as a child. By the way, you were really cute!" She continued, "Ehem. So, on the back of this photo, it says: 'We love you, Little Boss.'"
"..."
'Why don't I remember this?' Zaydas picked up the photo of himself, no older than five years old, wearing a black suit, and memories of kindergarten flooded his mind...
Memories that he cherished dearly and, at the same time, felt embarrassed about when recalling the things he had done... Turning the photo over, he saw that there was indeed something written. Although it was obvious that a child had written it, the handwriting was quite neat.
'Was it her?' In his mind, the image of a little girl appeared.
'It's been years since I last saw her...'
Returning the photo, he said, "It's nothing much, just a game I used to play, and because of that, I was called Little Boss."
It wasn't a lie, but it was far from the whole truth...
...
"Nice to meet you, my name is Rurushi Ru."
"Nice to meet you too, I'm Ravel Phenex."
After Zaydas finished getting ready and went downstairs with them, he arrived in the living room, where he met with Ravel, Grayfia, and Shizue.
Once introductions were over, Zaydas said, "As you might have guessed, they are the newest members of my Peerage. I hope you all get along well with each other."
"Zaydas-sama, hurry, or you'll be late," Grayfia reminded him.
Looking at the clock, Zaydas agreed, "Yes, I'm not hungry, so I'll skip breakfast."
"Would you like me to take you?" Grayfia asked.
"I appreciate it, but there's no need," Zaydas said with a smile. "I'd prefer if you stayed and showed them around the house. And, if possible, answered any of their questions."
"As you wish," she replied.
Grabbing the keys to the BMW, Zaydas said, "We're heading out, see you later."
"Yes, come back soon, Zaydas-sama!" Shion said energetically.
"Have a safe trip, Zaydas-sama," Shuna said with a beautiful smile.
Rurushi and the rest were simpler, just saying, "See you later."
In the garage, Zaydas got into the car, and Ravel sat in the front passenger seat beside him.
After Asia and Shizue got in, he started the engine.
Just as they were about to exit the mansion's gate, Ravel sighed, "Zaydas-sama, with this, you already have seven members in your Peerage, and all of them are women, right?"
Looking at her, he asked, "Jealous?"
"...Maybe?" Her face blushed as she turned her gaze toward the car window.
Smiling, Zaydas remained silent.
...
It wasn't too uncommon for third-year students to drive, though Zaydas's arrival still drew several looks.
Getting out of the car in the parking lot, Ravel said, "I'll go ahead."
However, before leaving, she pecked Zaydas on the lips and then ran off.
That scene reminded him of when Asia had done something similar...
Now, walking alongside Shizue and Asia, he looked specifically at Shizue: "Do you have something to say to me?"
"Those two girls with horns... They're from the same universe as me, right?"
"Bingo," Zaydas said. "Yes, and the others are from Ria's dimension."
"I see." She fell silent again.
...
When they arrived at the classroom, the bell rang.
"Saved by the bell~" Akeno said cheerfully.
"Mm." Zaydas agreed.
───────────
Read up to chapter 106 on Patreon. At least two chapters will be updated daily, with one free chapter every day.
P-atreon.com/Zaydas
Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.