Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Thanks to the pointed looks coming from the Empress Dowager, Princess Rienne, Yanael, Alzara, Soara, and Nora, Zach realized he was staring and hurriedly bowed.

"Zacharia Evandiel greets Her Majesty the Empress Dowager." Since he was flustered, his greeting wasn't as perfect as the one he gave the princess, but the Empress Dowager hadn't displayed perfect etiquette and demeanor befitting her stature so they were even.

"Evandiel, huh. Is this what you've been up to lately, Brienne? Hanging out with no-good…" The Empress Dowager swept her gaze over the maids behind Zach as she turned to her granddaughter after looking at Zach. Even without hearing anything about Zach, she could still tell that he was a rascal.

Why else would he surround himself with beautiful maids like that?

But the Empress Dowager trailed off as she actually looked at Zach's retinue. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she separated Nora from the other three. There was only one maid, who, according to Evandiel standard, was well-trained in areas other maids usually weren't.

The other three weren't maids. They might be dressed like ones, but it was like calling wolves in sheep's clothing sheep.

"I was going to advice against spending any more time with such a frivolous young man, but it seems that was a hasty judgment on my part." The Empress Dowager turned back to Zach.

"Zacharia was it?"

"Feel free to call me Zach."

"Zacharia. Your familiars…" She started. Zach understood what she wanted.

He pointed at Yanael.

"Yanael. S-rank." Yanael curtsied slightly. Zach respected the Empress Dowager. It was only natural she showed his respect with her actions. As an angel, she also had an understanding of the significance of rank and status.

He pointed at Alzara.

"Alzara. SS-rank." Alzara nodded in greeting. Since Zach introduced her, she would greet who he introduced her to out of respect for her Master. If he had asked her to curtsy or bow, she would have done that. But he hadn't. She was a Desert Witch. Empress Dowager or extranormal dummy were the same in her eyes.

He pointed at Soara.

"Soara. SS-rank." Soara met the Empress Dowager's gaze without flinching, curtsying, or bowing. The Empress Dowager was without a doubt strong—far stronger than even Monolith. But Soara didn't lower her head to Monolith, and she wouldn't lower her head just because the Empress Dowager was strong. In her prime, it would have been the Empress Dowager on the floor with palms and forehead pressed against the ground.

The Empress Dowager smirked as she noticed the boundless arrogance in Soara's eyes.

"Those names aren't something you gave them arbitrarily, right?"

"No, Ma'am. They had them when I summoned them."

The Empress Dowager's eyes narrowed as she glanced at Zach before looking at Soara again. Yanael and Alzara were impressive. Definitely. As far as she knew, less than a handful of people had summoned S-ranks as their first and SS-ranks as their second familiars. It made Zach just as impressive as them.

But what was more impressive than that was Soara.

There was something special about her. There had been a clash between the Empress Dowager's perception of Soara and the status Zach reported.

"Zacharia, do you know what rank comes after SS-rank?" She asked after a moment of silence where she studied Soara and Soara studied her, though without much success.

"SSS-rank or something strange like ?-rank."

"That's right. Do you know what the prerequisite to summon a familiar of any strength is?" The Empress Dowager's eyes flitted around as she sensed whether she was approaching any restrictions. Fortunately, it seemed she wasn't. She would be able to share a little something with this young and promising summoner.

"Talent? Luck?" Zach suggested, not quite sure what she was getting at.

"No. Those are only useful if a more important condition is already met."

"Then, I have no idea." Zach shrugged. He could tell the Empress Dowager was wary about the restriction, and if he could guess the answer, it would make it easier on her. Unfortunately, he didn't even know where to begin. But he was a little surprised that Rienne wasn't in the way of the Empress Dowager's talk.

It meant she had more authority than him.

'Ah!'

Right as he might have figured it out, the Empress Dowager said,

"Has the principal said anything about authority?" She asked, confirming Zach's guess.

"No, but they have. Simplified, it's my strength-based right to information."

"That's a decent way of putting it. But when you say they have…?" She glanced at the three familiars.

"Oh, yeah, they can talk." Zach was so used to everyone knowing and acting like it was no big deal that he forgot it wasn't the norm that familiars could talk.

The Empress Dowager's eyes widened. Then, her pupils narrowed.

"As in…?" The way Zach had said it made it seem like they could talk like ordinary people. Maybe he was just referring to how most familiars, especially intelligent ones, learned how to communicate with their masters one way or the other.

"Like this," Yanael said, helpfully providing an example.

The Empress Dowager's eyes widened again, and she nearly lost her composure.

"...I see," she finally said after getting her expression under control.

"Is the principal…?"

"He knows. He's the one who said it would be fine to tell everyone they can talk."

"That sounds like something he would do. Whatever. Getting back on topic…

"The authority we're talking about in this case is one part of the most important condition necessary to summon a strong familiar. It's related but not the same. No, it would be more accurate to call it part of the other half."

The Empress Dowager took a short break from her explanation as she crossed her arms and thought about how to phrase this. She was approaching the restriction fast with this little lecture.

"Every being is made of—" The Empress Dowager glared. The constriction snapping into effect almost made her bite her tongue. Continue reading on empire

"Okay, that's a bit too soon, apparently." She sighed.

"What's most important about summoning a strong familiar is being able to handle it." The Empress Dowager poked Zach in the center of his chest, somehow making him acutely aware of his entire body down to the last strand of hair on his ankles.