>13< Gratitude

Chapter 13: Gratitude

With the journey of slaying gods on Sardinia coming to an end, Zaimokuza sat on the plane, heading back to Japan.

Upon returning home, he glanced at a flyer on the table used for summoning devils and smiled. He concentrated and infused some magical power to summon Koneko. After a moment, a red teleportation magic circle reappeared.

Koneko stared at Zaimokuza in shock. "Who are you? Zaimokuza-kun?" It was no wonder she didn't recognize him; the transformation he underwent was so drastic that it felt almost unbelievable. If it weren't for her sensitive nose identifying Zaimokuza's familiar scent, she might have been too hesitant to acknowledge him.

Zaimokuza smiled and replied, "It's me, Koneko. I really need to thank you for lending me the ring on this trip, but unfortunately, it has shattered. I'm sorry about that."

Koneko came back to her senses at his words. "It's okay! As long as you're safe, that's all that matters," she said, exhaling as if finally releasing a burden.

Zaimokuza couldn't help but smile warmly and gently rubbed her head. "Thank you for your concern, Koneko-chan."

Koneko looked up at Zaimokuza's handsome face and felt the warmth of his large hand on her head, along with that endearing nickname. A slight blush crept onto her usually indifferent expression.

After a moment of staring, she pushed his hand away, pouting in dissatisfaction. "That's too forward, Zaimokuza-kun."

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't realize it and acted on impulse..." Zaimokuza scratched his head awkwardly.

"Anyway, what exactly did you experience to change so much?" Koneko asked curiously.

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk about. Koneko, please take me to meet your club leader, Rias-senpai. I want to thank her face to face."

Upon hearing this, Koneko nodded seriously. She reported the situation to Rias before leading Zaimokuza into the teleportation magic circle after receiving permission.

...

Occult Research Club

Rias was still busy handling some paperwork as Akeno poured her a cup of red tea.

With the appearance of the magic circle, the figures of Zaimokuza and Koneko emerged before Rias.

"So, this is Zaimokuza-kun?" Rias remarked, observing him with interest. "Ah, your appearance seems to have changed quite a lot!" Although it was her first time meeting Zaimokuza, she had heard from Koneko that he was a typical otaku with a rather hefty physique, making his current handsome appearance seem unbelievable.

"Yes, I am Yoshiteru Zaimokuza. Nice to meet you, Rias-senpai. I look forward to your guidance. Also, Himejima Akeno-senpai, it's a pleasure to see you again," Zaimokuza said politely.

"Aha! I can hardly recognize you; the Zaimokuza-kun I met just a few days ago has transformed completely!" Akeno said in surprise, covering her mouth.

"Yes, I've been through a lot. I'm here to thank you for your help, Senpai. I'm truly sorry that the ring broke while protecting me," Zaimokuza added, bowing slightly.

"There's no need to worry too much. It's valuable that Zaimokuza-kun could help you," Rias replied, feeling a bit of fondness for the polite young man.

"Your ring saved my life," Zaimokuza said earnestly.

Rias became curious and asked, "I'm quite puzzled. What kind of attack could destroy something capable of withstanding a full strike from a High-Class Devil?"

Zaimokuza then recounted his experiences in slaying gods. Initially, the three listened with amusement to his tale, but when he mentioned the Heretic Gods, Rias was taken aback.

Koneko, hearing about the Heretic Gods, asked in confusion, "Zaimokuza-kun, what are the Heretic Gods? Are they gods?"

Before Zaimokuza could respond, Rias jumped in. "Heretic Gods are deities that go against the myths woven by humanity, breaking free and bringing disaster to the human world."

With wide, beautiful eyes, Rias looked at Zaimokuza and asked, "Zaimokuza-kun, you haven't become a Godslayer, have you?"

In response, Zaimokuza smiled and nodded.

"A Godslayer?" Koneko tilted her little head in confusion.

Zaimokuza placed his hand on her head again and ruffled her hair. "Simply put, a Godslayer is someone who kills a Heretic God and seizes their powers."

Koneko felt the warmth of his hand; while she was a bit displeased, she didn't pull away.

"No, it can't be that easy! The two Heretic Gods you mentioned are equivalent to the gods in our myths; they are like devil kings/maou in our devil realm. Moreover, you killed them as a human, which ancient heroes could never accomplish. It's truly... unbelievable."

Hearing this, Koneko looked at Zaimokuza with admiration. Although she didn't fully understand how powerful the Heretic Gods were, she knew the strength of the devil kings/maou. The fact that these Heretic Gods could rival devil kings, and that Zaimokuza had defeated two of them as an ordinary person was impressive beyond words.

"No, it's not as exaggerated as it sounds," Zaimokuza replied awkwardly. After all, he had relied on foreknowledge from the story and Prometheus' tablet to achieve his feats of slaying gods.

He continued to recount his experiences in slaying the gods.

As Zaimokuza met the increasingly curious gazes from the three of them, he took a deep breath and said, "In any case, if it weren't for Senpai and Koneko's help, I might have been struck down by Melqart's lightning. I owe you both a favor; any requests within my capacity, I will do my best to fulfill."

Both Rias and Koneko felt a growing fondness for Zaimokuza upon seeing his earnest expression.

"Mm, I know. If I run into trouble, the first person I'll go to is you, the Godslayer. Don't worry, Zaimokuza-kun," Rias promised.

"Ara, Rias and Koneko both have their ways to repay him. I want to be included in that too, kouhai!" Akeno teased playfully, her tone flirtatious.

"Yes, that's fine, Himejima-senpai. If you have a request, I can agree to it, since you've also prayed for me, haven't you?" Zaimokuza replied.

Akeno joked, not expecting to receive an unexpected reward with his response.

"Then thank you, kouhai!" she said, beaming with a sweet smile.

After Zaimokuza made plans with Koneko to play games together when they had time, he stepped into the teleportation circle and returned home.

"Don't you think Zaimokuza-kun could become your new fiancé, Rias? He's far stronger than that young master of the Phenex family," Akeno teased.

Rias looked at Akeno with exasperation, realizing they were comparing a High-Class Devil to someone of the Devil King/Maou tier—a comparison that seemed quite obvious.

"Ugh, marriage and alliances are just too complicated," Rias sighed.

"Rias, you could ask Zaimokuza-kun to help deal with the Phenex family. With his strength, he should surely have some influence among the major families of the Underworld," Akeno suggested.

"Yes, that's a method I might resort to in the end. Before that, I plan to deal with them myself," Rias declared, pounding her pink fists onto the table in frustration.

.....

Upon returning home, Zaimokuza immediately ordered takeout. With his Godslayer physique, he had an enormous appetite. He wasn't sure how other Godslayers fared in this regard, but he certainly considered himself a foodie, as evidenced by his former size.

As the delivery person looked on in astonishment, Zaimokuza brought in twenty pizzas he had ordered and began to feast heartily.

While munching on his food, he connected with Kirino online to play games.

"Where have you been these past few days?" Kirino's confused voice came through his mic.

"Oh, I went on a little trip abroad a few days ago," Zaimokuza said, taking a big swig of cola.

"Wow, really? Where did you go?"

"I went to Sardinia."

"What! That island where those incredible phenomena occurred?"

"Incredible? What's so incredible about it?" Zaimokuza replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you watch the news? A few days ago, Sardinia was hit by storms, and the next day, pictures showed a ravaged landscape. Then, the very next day, that desolate land transformed into a lush forest! It's unbelievable!"

Zaimokuza couldn't help but twitch at the corners of his mouth. Wasn't that the result of his experiment with the Harvest ability? Why hadn't the Copper Black Cross properly contained such a wild story?

Actually, he couldn't entirely blame the Copper Black Cross. In their view, once a Godslayer had slain a deity, the handling of aftermath usually fell to them. However, no one expected that the new king would directly revive the lifeless land during his experimentation, catching everyone off guard and leading to a scoop for reporters. As a result, Sardinia's tourist industry welcomed a stream of visitors. The miraculous forest that appeared was dubbed the "Wonder Forest" by enthusiastic netizens.

"Let's stop talking about that and continue ranked matches," Zaimokuza suggested.

"Alright, but let's change the topic. Zaimokuza, do you have any tips for making friends?" Kirino asked.

"Don't you have two good friends already? And call me Zaimokuza-senpai, Tosaka-san."

"Got it, you're so annoying! I meant friends from the real world. You know, friends to play games with and go to conventions with."

"Why not count me as one?" Zaimokuza countered with a laugh.

"Go die!" Kirino shouted in exasperation.

"Okay, okay! You can join some chat rooms to find people with similar interests. If you're worried about being scammed by guys, set some restrictions for your search and join groups specifically for girls who are into the same stuff."

"Oh! I could do that! Alright, I'll go search for some right now. Bye!" Kirino exclaimed before hastily logging off to search for chat rooms.

Seeing this, Zaimokuza couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed; she really was quite impatient.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed, indicating he had received a text message. Picking it up, he read the brief but clear message:

"Gather at the school entrance at 10 AM tomorrow for the Service Club activity." The message was from Yukino.

Before the start of the holidays, the three of them—Yukino, Yui, and him—had exchanged phone numbers, which is how she was able to send him this message.

"Ok, got it!" Zaimokuza quickly replied.

He then lay back down, ready to sleep and awaiting the arrival of tomorrow.