"Servant candidates?"
Hearing Sirzechs say that, Leo completely blanked.
What?
The Maou was helping him pick a harem—no, wait, servants?
And not just anyone, either. Every single one had serious backing—either a pureblood devil or someone closely connected to a major figure—being sent to become his servant?
This… what was the point?
"Don't rush. Let me explain," Sirzechs said with a smile when he saw Leo's stunned expression. "Everyone knows that your Servant Conversion trait allows you to strengthen yourself by recruiting servants. You gain an immediate boost, and the higher a servant's potential and ability, the greater the increase you receive."
"Given that, the fastest way for you to grow is obviously to help you recruit outstanding servants."
"So after some discussion, we selected these people as your servant candidates. You can choose whoever you like from the list, and we'll act as intermediaries to help make it happen."
After Leo's identity as the host of Zenith Tempest was exposed—and after it became known that among his Eligos servants there were two Longinus users—the upper echelons of the devil world began to take a keen interest in him.
Some of them harbored ill intentions, but others were far more straightforward. They wanted to win Leo over through cooperation and secure a stake in this astonishing rising star.
Leo's Servant Conversion trait was no secret among the higher-ups. With him having recently been targeted by malicious forces and urgently needing to grow stronger, they came up with what they believed was the best approach.
Give him servants.
Send their own people under Leo's command and use that to establish friendly ties between both sides.
The idea had been proposed shortly after news of Zenith Tempest spread through the devil world. It just took until recently for discussions to conclude and for this list of servant candidates to be finalized.
"This list was carefully screened by us," Sirzechs said, pointing out the key details. "Every single one is a highly promising member of the younger generation. Many come from major families. If you choose them, you'll gain excellent servants, receive a significant power boost, and earn the backing of the people behind them. Three benefits at once, with no downside."
"If our generation had more members than just me and Rias, I'd have recommended someone from the Gremory House too."
In an era where pureblood devils were becoming increasingly rare, very few families were willing to send their descendants to become someone else's servant. The Gremory House was one of them—even if they wanted to, they simply lacked the numbers.
Other families, however, weren't short on fresh blood at all. This time, without exception, they each put forward one descendant to become Leo's servant. That alone showed just how highly regarded Leo had become in the devil world.
There were only thirteen Longinus in the entire world—legendary Sacred Gears said to be capable of killing gods and Maou. Yet among Leo's Eligos servants, there were already three. The remaining two wielded rare Sacred Gears only slightly inferior to Longinus.
With so many incredible prospects gathered in one place, it would've been strange not to be tempted.
So even if it meant becoming someone else's servant, the devil world's upper crust couldn't resist. In the end, they spared no expense, each recommending a descendant and finalizing this list.
Of course, families that lacked suitable descendants didn't give up either. Some recommended devils closely connected to them—disciples or students. Others went even further, proposing political marriages and suggesting their daughters be betrothed to Leo.
Because of that, the high-ranking devils originally prepared not only a servant candidate list, but also a list of potential fiancées.
That second list, however, was jointly shut down by Sirzechs, Serafall, the Gremory House, and the Sitri House.
Especially the current head of the Sitri House—Serafall and Sona's father—whose reaction was downright explosive. He nearly stormed over to the families that suggested marrying their daughters to Leo and started throwing punches.
By his logic, Leo had already been reserved as his future son-in-law.
Those bastards weren't allowed anywhere near him.
Serafall puffed out her cheeks so much they could've held oil bottles, but under her father's insistence, she still begrudgingly took a public stance to support him.
As for Sirzechs and the Gremory House, that involved another calculation—one not fit to be spoken aloud.
In the end, the fiancée list was shelved for the time being. Whether it would ever reach Leo remained unknown. But the servant candidate list was delivered directly into his hands by Sirzechs himself.
"Don't feel pressured," Sirzechs added. "We chose the candidates, but the final decision is yours. If you really don't want to choose anyone, we won't force you."
With a single sentence, he removed Leo's last lingering concern.
Leo had worried whether the families were trying to plant spies at his side. From the looks of it, that didn't seem to be the case—or if it ever was, the Maou had already filtered those out.
Besides, once they become my servants, whether they still work for their families is a completely different matter, Leo thought.
His Evil Pieces weren't like anyone else's. They were already linked to his Servant Conversion trait. The instant the reincarnation ritual was complete, the servant's soul would become his, branded with his mark.
Over time, those servants would only grow closer to him. After all, once even their soul had submitted, how could they possibly feel repulsed by him?
If someone really did try to slip a mole in…
All Leo could say was—
Thanks, bro, for the free servant.
"Take the list," Sirzechs said. "You can look it over at your leisure. There's no need to give me an answer right away."
As if he'd truly thought through all of Leo's concerns, Sirzechs continued,
"Also, aside from this servant candidate list, we've prepared another form of help for you."
Another kind of help?
Leo's attention immediately shifted from the list in his hands as he looked at Sirzechs with curiosity.
"You seem to have accepted a request from Tiamat, the Chaos Karma Dragon, to help her find a certain artifact," Sirzechs said with a smile.
Leo's eyes lit up.
Sirzechs knowing about this didn't surprise him in the slightest. He had already asked Sona to help investigate the artifact's location, and she would naturally rely on her family's resources.
That meant the Sitri House definitely knew.
And if the Sitri House knew, how hard would it be for others to find out?
For someone like Sirzechs, learning about it would be trivial.
So now that he'd brought it up, Leo knew exactly what that implied.
"Have you already found the Tablet of Destiny?" Leo asked, unable to hide his anticipation.
He'd originally planned to trigger Zenith Tempest's inherited memories to locate it. After all, the Tablet of Destiny had once been in the hands of a previous Zenith Tempest host before vanishing without a trace.
But the memories he received only covered how past hosts used the Sacred Gear—including memories of reaching Balance Breaker. There was nothing about the artifact itself.
Not a single hint.
It had been a massive disappointment.
By this point, Leo had nearly given up hope of finding the Tablet of Destiny at all.
Who would've thought that just when one path failed, another would unexpectedly open?
"You shouldn't celebrate just yet," Sirzechs said, tempering his excitement. "We've confirmed where the Tablet of Destiny is, but obtaining it will be up to you."
"Consider this a trial. We can't just hand every benefit to you outright. Some things you need to earn yourself. To avoid stunting your growth, we'll support you from behind and provide assistance—but that's all."
"That's more than enough," Leo said seriously, without a trace of disappointment. "As long as there's a lead."
Free gains were great, but relying on them forever wasn't.
Some things looked easy to obtain, but fate had already marked their price. One day, when you couldn't pay it back, everything would be taken from you in one brutal sweep.
The goodwill the devil world's upper echelon had shown him was already considerable. But devils were still devils—believers in equivalent exchange. If he kept taking without giving, the ending wouldn't be pretty.
Leo would rather take a winding path than let someone shove food straight into his mouth—who knew if it was poisoned?
"So where is the Tablet of Destiny now?" Leo asked eagerly.
"You're quite lucky—perhaps it was fated," Sirzechs said, no longer keeping him in suspense. "It's in Tokyo, currently held by a very large family."
"A large family?" Leo paused, then frowned. "The Five Great Clans?"
When it came to influential families in the human world—especially ones based in Tokyo—that was the first thing that came to mind.
Unfortunately, he guessed wrong.
The family Sirzechs referred to wasn't one of the Five Great Clans, nor was it some hidden lineage.
"You're familiar with the Shinomiya Family, right?"
The moment that name left Sirzechs's mouth, Leo froze.
"The Shinomiya Family?" Leo said in disbelief. "The one I'm thinking of?"
"That's right," Sirzechs nodded. "And more specifically, it's in the hands of the Shinomiya Family's eldest daughter—Kaguya Shinomiya."
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You can read up to chapter 180 on patreon.com/NiaXD.