Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"Huh. Decent sword." The old man flicked aside Yanael's sword. She couldn't resist it and her sword tumbled through the air before landing in the sand and sinking down to its hilt.

"Your parents are really spoiling you with these maids, Nymur. But I didn't think they would let you wander around on your own. Don't tell me! Did you run away from home, you cheeky kid?" The old man excitedly asked.

Zach held up a hand and took a step back.

"How do you know my father?" He asked with a serious tone. The old man in front of him was not an ordinary old man. Zach had suspected as much from the beginning. But he knew the Duke of Evandiel's name and talked to him like he was his senior. He had flicked away Yanael's sword without looking and with ease.

If it had been just an old man that had said his father's name, Zach could have ignored it. Nymur wasn't a common name, but there could be one or two in the Empire. Someone might even have named their son after the Duke.

But a person as strong as the old man could only be talking about the Duke of Evandiel.

"...Your father?" The old man also took a step back with a slightly surprised expression. He stroked his beard and looked Zach and up down.

"I'll be damned. Certainly. I wasn't asleep for that long. He should have grown up by now. To think even a kid like that has kids of his own now…That means…" The old man's gaze grew distant as he turned his head away to look somewhere far away.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

After a few moments, he turned back to Zach.

"What's your name kid?"

"Zacharia Evandiel, sir." Zach answered politely. Whoever the old man was, Zach figured it was best to show him some respect.

The old man sniffed the air as he looked at the three maids with narrowed eyes.

"A summoner?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good for you." The old man patted Zach on the shoulder again with his unbelievably sturdy hands. He smiled sneakily and winked.

"By the way…" The old man took a glance around. "How did you find me, kid?"

Zach subconsciously glanced at Soara.

"We, uh, walked in the direction of the thickest aura of death, and then we found your hut." Zach pointed at the hut, but the old man wasn't looking at him. He was looking at Soara with a scrutinizing gaze. He looked at her with such intensity that Zach was getting worried.

Fortunately, nothing happened, and the old man looked at him again after a while.

"You have an impressive familiar, kid. Your dad's a lucky man to have a son like you or something. Anyway, you said you were lost. Where are you heading?"

"The Academy, eventually. But if possible, I would like to see if my friends are nearby. We just came back from the Labyrinth and got split up afterward," Zach briefly explained his situation.

The old man frowned.

"You make it sound like they didn't wait for you after the Labyrinth. Those snot-nosed brats should be in charge of that. What happened?" The old man's tone hinted at some kind of irritation or disappointment. It was faint and not directed at Zach, so he couldn't quite decide what it was.

"I'm assuming they didn't wait for me because I chose to enter the twelfth Trial…" Zach's voice trailed off as the old man's gaze on him intensified. After looking at Zach for what felt like a minute, the old man blinked and chuckled slightly, his previous intensity gone.

"Haha. I must really be getting old. I thought you said you entered the twelfth Trial of the Labyrinth."

"...I did."

"...Are you joking with me right now?" The old man raised a skeptical eyebrow as he questioned Zach.

"No…"

"Why aren't you dead? I mean, why are you here? I mean, how did—? Excuse me, what?" The old man was at a loss for words. There was no sign of Zach lying. And he smelled a little like the yellow stone from the Labyrinth. The only reason he was nervous was because the old man was staring at him like he was a pink giraffe.

"So, what was the twelfth Trial? How did you complete it? What did you get?!" The old man grabbed Zach by the shoulders in excitement and a desperate need to know like he had been waiting for an answer to those questions for decades.

"C-ca-can you s-s-sto-stop sh-shake-shaking me?" Zach struggled to get the old man to stop treating him like a wrapped present.

Fortunately, the old man understood the speech of a man turned to a leaf caught in a storm.

"Right. So?" The old man didn't let up on his grip, though. He wanted those answers.

"It was an empty throne room. The message told me to prove myself. I didn't know how to do that, so I put the figure of one of the deities depicted in the earlier Trials on the throne. I got to talk to the deity. We made a deal. I get to finish the twelfth Trial when I'm ready in the future. I'm not privy to the details, but I would—" Zach's jaw slammed shut.

His eyes widened in surprise and he looked down his nose to try and see what happened. The old man hadn't done anything. Soara hadn't done anything. Alzara hadn't done anything. Yanael hadn't done anything.

His mouth closed on its own.

He had been hit by a restriction. He couldn't tell the old man about it.

"...Looks like I can't tell you more than that. Sorry."

The old man was lost in thought, but he snapped out of it when Zach apologized.

"No, there's no need for that. I'm amazed you could say that much. This is the first piece of information about the twelfth Trial since the birth of the Empire. And the fact that you can continue as soon as you're ready…I feel like I should tell someone important about it." The old man glanced far away again.

"Nah." He shrugged. "There's no need for that." He looked at Zach again.

"How much stronger do you need to get before you're ready?" He asked.

Zach shrugged. He wanted to say that it wasn't a matter of strength. It was a matter of mental fortitude and endurance more than anything, at least by the sounds of it. But he couldn't because of the restriction.

The old man pursed his lips. He took it as Zach didn't know because he didn't know much about the Trial.

He turned his gaze to the ocean with a thoughtful expression.

"Please tell me when you are going to or have complete the Trial."

"Sure. What's your name, and how do I contact you?" Since he got the opportunity, he was not going to let the chance to get acquainted with such a powerhouse slip away.