Zeeleschilt

Zeeleschilt
Japanese	ゼーレシルト
Romaji	Zēreshiruto
Alias	Cruel Count Penguin Suit (by Kazuma)
Characteristics
Race	Demon
Gender	Genderless (Male in personality)
Professional Status
Affiliation	Hell Wiz's Shop
Previous Affiliation	Kingdom of Belzerg
Occupation	Poster Boy
Previous Occupation	Count
Personal Status
Status	Alive
Abilities and Equipment
Equipment	Penguin Armour
Debuts
Light Novel	KonoSuba Volume 12

Zeeleschilt (ゼーレシルト) is a High-Ranked Demon who had been a Count in the Kingdom of Belzerg, and later the poster boy of Wiz's Shop.

Appearance

Zeeleschilt wears a cute penguin suit at all times, presumably to hide his true body, which possesses black-viscous tentacles and claws, something even Darkness describes as "really stomach-turning".

Personality

Although he usually is haughty and provoking, Zeeleschilt is a reasonable and upright person, who used to make great financial contributions to the kingdom and those administration made his fief very prosperous. He also isn't either greedy, being satisfied with his current possessions, nor resentful, not holding a grudge against Kazuma and Darkness.

Also, as a demon who feed on humiliation and anguish excreted by confident warriors when defeated, Zeeleschilt has a sadistic side, although, since he sees humans as a food source, Zeeleschilt never physically harmed any person. He is also cunning, although Zeeleschilt sometimes jumps to the wrong conclusion by overestimating his opponents.

However, while he is a high-ranked demon, Zeeleschilt is rather coward, feeling intimidated by powerful figures who can exorcise him, like Aqua, as well as people of high social status, like Iris. However, Zeeleschilt is so prideful that he keeps acting arrogantly even in a pitiful state of fear. Zeeleschilt is also genuinely grateful to those who protects him from any threat, like Kazuma.

History

Despite being a High-Ranked Demon who manifested his true form into the living world, Zeeleschilt managed to live in Belzerg as a Count nicknamed "Cruel Count", and took residence in a castle where he kept a menagerie of monsters, which he forced to fight one another for the entertainment of other nobles. Yet Zeeleschilt was one day visited by Darkness and Kazuma, who asked for his fingernail to use as an ingredient for making a potion. Not impressed by the money they offered in return for his pain of relinquishing a fingernail, the Count instead demanded the negative emotions he prefers, and forced Darkness to fight some monsters he kept in order to feed on her shame and angst. He was accordingly surprised when Darkness joyously let herself be overpowered by some Goblins, then further so upon the male Orcs he sent against the Crusader fearfully backing off. Unable to detect any hint of fear or angst from Darkness during the whole process, Zeeleschilt personally took to the arena and released his true form in hopes of scaring her, only for the Crusader to feel nothing but bliss from his tentacles, so he eventually decided to chase the pair away.

That same night, however, Zeeleschilt found his castle infiltrated by Kazuma and Darkness in addition to Chris as they attempted to take his fingernail by force. Despite him already expecting their return, the Count was completely caught off guard when a fervent Chris attacked him with an enchanted dagger. Deciding to fight in his true form, Zeeleschilt failed to unzip his penguin suit after Darkness grabbed onto him and Kazuma Binded them both, so he used the hole opened when Chris stabbed him for releasing his corrosive tentacles. But as Kazuma hacked away at the tentacles, one of Zeeleschilt's arms containing his fingernails got chopped off by Chris while Darkness plugged the severed spot on the penguin suit with her own arms to stop his true form from emerging. The Count was next horrified when Kazuma poured Aqua's holy juices into the penguin suit to sear him until Darkness lost consciousness from the corrosive pain his tentacles caused her, following which Eris herself manifested to relentlessly beat multiple lives out of him.

After the event, Zeeleschilt got brutalised by Eris every day to the point he began running out of the lives, so without any other choice, he decided to flee his castle at night without money to seek protection from Vanir in Axel. Unfortunately, he was immediately purified by Aqua at whim the moment he arrived at Wiz's Shop. Subsequently revived by Vanir, the Count explained his situation to the shop staff and Kazuma's party, before Sylphina who accompanied Darkness took a fancy in his cute appearance. Deciding to start a new career, Zeeleschilt proceeded to act as a shop staff during the interim Wiz and Vanir rushed to harvest from the Treasure Island.

He continued to work in Wiz's Shop as its mascot, though this exposed him to a painful cycle where he constantly got purified by Aqua before Vanir had to revive him. Zeeleschilt anyhow rushed to Kazuma's mansion for help when Wiz and Vanir had a heated argument following her days of absence. He also expressed excitement when Yunyun invited him on a quest against Giant Toads alongside Megumin, only to be ordered by Wiz and Vanir to register duty because the two of them wanted to go instead.

Frightened out of his wits when Aqua sought to trash the shop for real, Zeeleschilt later bid farewell to Kazuma, Megumin, and Darkness as they prepared to bring the runaway goddess home, stating his gratitude to Kazuma for protecting him from the evil goddesses before welcoming him to visit his domain in Hell if he dies on the journey. During the subsequent assault on Axel by the Devil King's Army, the Demon served as a guard penguin who successfully defended the shop from the attacking monsters.

Abilities

Zeeleschilt, according to Vanir, is just barely a High-Ranked Demon, so although he is powerful enough to be trouble to Kazuma, Darkness, and Chris, he is still weak enough to be easily exorcised by Eris and Aqua countless times throughout the series.

Tentacles: Zeeleschilt real form possesses many black-viscous tentacles dripping corrosive fluids that he can use for attack and defence, allowing him fight many foes at once. If his penguin suit gets damaged, then more tentacles will grow from the wound.

Equipment

Penguin Magic Armour: A penguin costume shaped magic armour from a faraway land and openable by a zipper at the back, it is durable, flexible, waterproof, and retains heat well in winter. One of its wings that got chopped off by Chris was later sewn back in place.

Trivia

• The penguin suit may have been designed based off the Piplup and Snorlax from the Pokémon series.
• The concept of Zeeleschilt as a Hellish entity using a stuffed penguin costume to interact with the world may have been inspired by the Prinnies from the Disgaea series, which are damned souls trapped inside stuffed penguin bodies.
• Aqua started to using Zeeleschilt to gain levels, since she levelled-up by just killing him. It's a double win, since Vanir loses one extra live by resurrecting Zeeleschilt.