Grayfia, who was downstairs, felt the power of time-space and thought, "He did it again..."
Although a Devil would respond to a contract request with humans, she sensed that what he was doing was far more advanced.
However, everyone has secrets, and since he always returned without any issues, she only needed to report what happened to Zaydas' parents while continuing to perform her duties.
"Stay safe, Zaydas-sama," she wished.
***
***
The current timeline of MHA wasn't appealing to Zaydas. If before it might have been due to the time difference, the dimension of Isekai Nonbiri Nouka had become a better place to train.
Although he didn't mind killing a few villains—after all, he had killed before while training with his father, particularly many Stray Devils—that world was complicated for someone without a hero license.
If he kept killing villains, sooner or later, it could become problematic for him. That was something he didn't want, as he intended to participate more in that world once the main plot began.
And so, that was precisely why Zaydas returned to INN.
As soon as he appeared, he noticed he was a few meters away from Hiraku.
Up in a tree, Zaydas heard the sound of a hammer striking wood.
Looking toward the sound, he saw an enormous dark blue spider that looked more like a large cushion because of its shape.
"Oh? Its power must be equivalent to a Middle-Class Devil, almost reaching High-Class," he thought.
This was a big surprise. Although the anime emphasized how strong this spider was, seeing it in person was believing. Only now did he understand how powerful it really was.
"Zabuton, calm down, he's my friend!"
Hiraku's voice echoed as soon as he saw who had arrived.
Zabuton, the giant spider that was on the defensive, relaxed upon hearing Hiraku's words.
Descending from the sky, Zaydas smiled as he approached. "I see you've gotten yourself a new pet."
"Pet... No, it's more like a new member of the village," Hiraku disagreed with the phrasing.
Narrowing his eyes, Zaydas laughed. "I see, that's how you view things."
"Zaydas-san," Hiraku said, "welcome back. How long do you plan to stay this time?"
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"You already know I'll leave after a few days?" Zaydas replied. "About 20 days."
Hiraku, dressed in his work clothes, walked toward the orchard, saying, "As you may have noticed, some things have changed while you were away. Now we have a giant spider I call Zabuton, and in addition to Kuro, Yuki, and the pups, each of the grown pups brought new partners, and..."
For the next 20 minutes, Zaydas listened to Hiraku's introductions.
After he finished, he seemed like he wanted to say something but didn't know how to express it.
Zaydas said, "Actually, I brought some souvenirs from my trip."
He then pulled out a 5-kilogram bag of salt, a wide variety of spices, oil, and a mattress and pillow.
"Wow!" Hiraku looked very surprised. "When you said you brought some souvenirs, I thought it would be something simple... But this is..."
Touching the pillow, he seemed to long for something like it.
"You can keep it; it's yours. The mattress too. I brought one for myself as well," Zaydas smiled.
Something like this was simple to obtain in his world, after all.
"Really? Thank you!" Hiraku smiled.
"Now you won't have to eat bland food anymore," Zaydas joked.
"Don't even mention it..."
***
***
While Hiraku went to store what he had received, Zaydas went to his house to switch out his mattress and pillow.
"It hasn't been that long, but Hiraku has managed to expand the village quite a bit," Zaydas thought. "These abilities he possesses are truly something I desire."
He wasn't sure what kind of effect the Healthy Body would have on him, but if it had even made Hiraku capable of impregnating a Vampire—which should have been impossible—it might even solve the low fertility issue of Devils.
"But, being Rank B+, would it have any effect on me?"
Maybe yes, maybe no. In the worst-case scenario, it would only offer superficial improvements. Even so, he still wanted it.
He accessed the item creation/replication tab.
[All-Purpose Farming Tool (Rank A-)] – Replication cost: 10,000 AP with a 74% success rate.
[Healthy Body (Rank B+)] – Replication cost: 3,500 AP with an 80% success rate.
"The success rate increased a bit," Zaydas thought. "Is that because of the things I gave Hiraku-san?"
If that were the case, he slightly regretted not bringing more items...
Looking at the cost to replicate the Healthy Body, Zaydas took a deep breath and clicked on replicate.
[- 3,500 AP]
When Zaydas initiated the replication process, a progress bar began to fill slowly, like an EXP bar being filled with golden liquid.
[98%...]
When it stopped at 98%, Zaydas thought it would fail and began to regret not increasing the success chance earlier, holding his breath.
[99%...]
When it moved to 99%, he started breathing again.
Zaydas' smile deepened when he saw it reach 100%.
[100%!]
[Notice! Congratulations! You have successfully replicated the skill [Healthy Body (Rank B+)]. Would you like to fuse it with yourself now?]
Zaydas commanded: "Yes!"
[Affirmative!]
Immediately, a refreshing sensation, like taking a cold bath on a very hot day, washed over him.
Letting out a soft sigh, he thought, "Not only does my body feel better, but I also sense that my vitality has increased significantly, even though it's supposed to be just a B+ skill."
Zaydas murmured in his mind: "Status."
───────────
|Name: [Zaydas Grimmory]
|Race: [Hybrid: Devil/Meta-human]
|Rank: [High-Level Devil]
|Title: [Count], [King]
|Powers: [Power of Destruction (Rank A -> A+)], [Demonic Power (Rank A -> A+)], [Dimensional Rift (Rank S)], [Magic Mastery (2)], [Healthy Body (Rank B+)]
|Achievement Points (AP): [100,001]
|Equipment: [Evil Pieces]
───────────
"Huh?" Zaydas, who had felt stronger, was surprised to see the effect was greater than he expected.
Closing his eyes, he realized that his Demonic Power had indeed expanded—from a small pond to a reservoir almost twice the size.
"Is this thanks to the Healthy Body?" Zaydas felt it wasn't that simple and asked mentally, "What do you think, Great Sage?"
[Answering. While it is correct to say that the Healthy Body contributed, that is not all. It is also due to your consistent training during these days, which served as a constant stimulus to your Demonic Power and Power of Destruction. The Healthy Body was merely the final piece of the puzzle that allowed these powers to increase.]
"In other words, sooner or later, I would have increased my powers' rank, and the Healthy Body just sped up the process, correct?"
[Affirmative!]
Zaydas felt greedy as he thought about Hiraku's other power. In the end, he chose to replicate that as well, even with the lower probability of success.
[- 10,000 AP]
[1%...]
[92%...]
Seeing it pause, he didn't panic but still held his breath.
[93%...]
[95%...]
It paused again...
[97%...]
[100%!]
[Notice! Congratulations! You have successfully replicated the skill [All-Purpose Farming Tool (Rank A-)]. Would you like to fuse it with yourself?]
"Yes," he replied.
***
[Notice: I will change the way CP was used to AP (Achievement Points). The reason for this change is that I was unaware that CP had a negative abbreviation meaning that I'd rather not mention here. After all, this won't affect the story in any way, but I wanted to make this clear since I will now use AP as the abbreviation for Achievement Points.]
*****
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