Chapter 18: The Mad Goddess Sold The World (Complete)

The night Karen Redleaf and Iris Queen Ironlord first met.

“Hey, Karen Redleaf, the wizard of the warrior party? Do you have enough magic?”

‘Crazy btch..! Crazy btch!’

In the middle of the night sky with two moons, Iris spread her crystal wings and asked, making Karen curse twice inwardly and gasp for breath.

“Haa.. haa..”

“You look really tired?”

While she herself had cast many large magic spells and was exhausted in both physical and mental strength, the non-human Automatic Princess still had hundreds of crystal spears and swords floating in the air with the same power as high-circle magic, and was smiling leisurely with her arms folded.

‘No.. Maybe she’s not human, but that’s why she’s like that!’

No matter how many times she was hit with magic, she blocked the crystal spears and swords with her own blows, and even deployed a crystal curtain to block all of them so that the aftereffects wouldn’t fall on the city below.

‘I only have one more mana to use magic.. I have to unleash the strongest attack!’

“The wrath of the stars. The punishment of the heavens..! Meteor Strike-!”

Karen cast the strongest attack magic she could while spitting out an old-fashioned chant from the 10th circle.

Hwaaaa—!

At that moment, the air in the sky heated up and a red meteorite was created from the magic circle above Karen’s head, burning blazingly.

“Karen! Did you lose your mind? If you drop something like that-”

Chohwaaaa–!

“The citizens will get hurt?”

At Iris’s gesture, hundreds of crystal projectiles that had been waiting behind her rushed to the red meteorite above Karen’s head.

Pagagagag-!!

Kwaaaa-…!!

“Gyaaaaak-!!”

Karen fell in a pitiful state, getting hit by the exploding crystal shards and fireballs before she could even land a single proper attack.

Thud-!

If Iris hadn’t flown in and caught her, Karen would have crashed to the ground and become a tornado.

“Cough! Cough!”

Of course, she wouldn’t have died, but her clothes were burned and every corner of her body was cut by crystal shards or stabbed by sharp parts, so she was in no way healthy.

“I was originally going to wear it to commemorate the day Yooseong-nim said he would become my master, but..”

Swish.

Iris, who placed Karen on the ground, took out a black choker from the chest of her top, held it in her hand, and walked towards the prone Karen.

Click-

“Oh.. huh..? What is this?”

“Karen Redleaf. This is your leash, right? Even if you leave, you’ll need time to unpack, so… a week will be enough, right? Within a week, disappear from this country, the city, and in front of Meteor-sama and me with a ‘poof!'”

“No.”

The moment she was about to shout no, Karen nodded instinctively at the sight of blue eyes looking down at her with a cold, emotionless expression like a doll.

Even though Karen had witnessed the Demon King in the past as a member of the warrior party.

“Then… is it a promise?”

The pink-haired girl who was standing in front of her right now, nodding her head with sky-blue eyes drawn with stars, was much scarier and much more like the Demon King.

In the end, Karen had no choice but to nod her head while closing her eyes in front of Iris, even though she was shouting “I absolutely hate it” inside.

“Okay. Since you promised… I’ll be watching over you, so please keep your promise! Lady Karen Redleaf. Ah! I’ll take them off.”

Phew!

“Eww!?”

Finally, Iris waved her hand once to remove the crystal shard embedded in Karen’s body, and disappeared while flapping her crystal wings.

“No! I said no! I will never listen to anything you say!!”

Karen was left crying and screaming in annoyance as she belatedly looked at where Iris had disappeared.

“If I just rip this thing off!”

Karen immediately tried to rip off the choker hanging around her neck.

Ting-

“Wait… is this an artifact?”

As expected of a high-ranking magician, she realized that the choker was enchanted with surveillance magic, and stopped her hand.

Due to the nature of surveillance magic, you will be caught by the other party at the same time as you remove it.

“Ugh… I have to treat you first..!”

In the end, Karen got up from her seat and started walking, changing the subject even though no one was listening.

“Haa haa.”

Karen staggered as she walked through the streets at night.

Karen, who couldn’t sleep properly or eat properly (because it didn’t taste good) because she was thinking about Yooseong, thought that she might really die if she continued like this.

“Find what’s hidden… Find…”

Wheezing.

She gathered up her remaining mana down to the last bit and used exploration magic and invisibility magic to borrow herbs, food, and potions from the shops.

“These herbs are good for the body… If I apply them with a potion, they’ll help… right?”

“Yooseong knew about these herbs…!”

She looked at the iron door across from the herbal medicine store for a moment before taking a small breath and entering the herbal medicine store, her only safe haven.

She ground up the herbs she had stolen… and applied them to her wounds along with the potion.

“Uuuu…”

Karen’s condition worsened as the poison spread through her wounds due to her indiscriminate use of the herbs.

Karen, I forgive you.

-I know best that Karen isn’t that kind of person.

-Should we go to the library together? Us.

“Ahh… Meteor..”

My body was hot and I was not in my right mind, going back and forth between dreams and reality and imagining the situation I wanted.

If Karen had not been the one storing mana in her body, this would have been a dangerous situation where I would have died a long time ago.

Groan…

“I’m hungry.”

I was barely able to hold on without dying thanks to the mana that was gradually recovering and the natural healing power that came with it, and by unconsciously moving with instincts to gnaw on vegetables and bread that I had brought and fill my stomach.

“Hehe… Meteor… Meteor…”

But that didn’t last long either.

As the untreated wounds festered, blocking the flow of mana, and unable to eat or sleep properly, she spent time lying on the hard, cold floor, unable to recover properly…

“Meteorite.”

Bang-!

Karen eventually lost consciousness and collapsed.

Squeak-

“J”

Meteorite discovered her and washed Karen’s body and treated her, and that was what happened next.

“We’ll be together..! Meteorite..! Meteorite..!”

Of course, since she opened her eyes in that situation, even if he had treated her, Karen’s mental state was not very good.

Pachisik-!

“Hukkuuk?!”

While she was going berserk in real time, Iris, who was watching the situation through the artifact equipped on her choker, shocked her remotely and she fainted.

And when she regained consciousness and opened her eyes from fainting again…

“Didn’t I tell you not to show yourself in front of Meteorite again? Am I some kind of idiot who can’t understand what I say? Our Karen.”

Iris, flanked by knights in full plate armor on both sides, stood with a dumbfounded expression.

“Uuuup-!”

Karen instinctively tried to scream in alertness as soon as she saw Iris, but her voice wouldn’t come out properly.

“My body… my body won’t move…”

When she came to her senses and checked her appearance, she was forced into a chair with a metal mask over her mouth and metal restraints on her arms and legs.

“After thinking about it carefully, I think that even if I let you go, you’ll just cling to Meteorite-nim like a leech again… I think it’d be better if I just took you with me. What do you think, Karen?”

“Uuup-!! Uuup!”

With her mouth blocked by the steel mask, she couldn’t answer or curse.

“Sis Karen speaking so positively.. Good! Please stay here for the time being! This place is kind of like a VIP room. There will be maids next to you, so just ask if you need anything. It’ll be a comfortable stay.”

“Eeeep-!!”

“You don’t have to be so grateful-Hehe!”

And so Karen was locked up in a VIP reception room somewhere in the Iron Lord castle.

“It’s time for you to eat, Miss Karen.”

“I’ll slightly open the mouth of your mask and put some food in, so please swallow it well.”

In fact, even though this life of confinement might not have been good for Karen’s mind, it was quite helpful for her body.

Gulp-Gulp-

“Hukkiik…”

‘Delicious.. delicious.’

The food was terribly tasteless, but it was more nutritious than any other food.

“It’s time for you to sleep, Miss Karen.”

“I’ll wash you up. Karen.”

And on top of that, during bedtime, she would sleep on a soft bed every night, and instead of being able to use her hands and feet, automatic maids would be by her side 24 hours a day to feed her, clean her body, and take care of all her discomforts, so there was no better treatment than this.

“Ugh.”

In that way, Karen Redleaf’s condition quickly improved.

The dark circles under her eyes had completely disappeared, her pale cheeks had returned, her complexion had also returned, and her skin was shiny.

“You’re so cute, Karen.”

“I only have our clothes, but… they suit you well!”

There, the maids made her wear the maid outfits they wore and even tied her hair up, so she looked like a neat young lady.

‘That pink-haired girl… is getting in the way of me and Yooseong. If she weren’t there, Yooseong and I might have made up and been forgiven.. No, maybe she’s stuck to Yooseong and badmouthing me… And that succubus-like girl is seducing Yooseong.’

Due to her confinement, Karen’s mental state worsened, and she became more suspicious and delusional, and her ill feelings towards Iris only grew stronger.

‘That girl is getting in the way. She’s preventing Yooseong and I from getting close..! I can’t forgive her.’

Eventually, she reached the point where she considered Iris as the target of blame and an absolute ‘obstacle to getting close to Yooseong.’

If there had been no metal mask covering her mouth, it would not have been strange if she had recited the spell and started causing a ruckus right away.

“Karen Redleaf!”

Bam-!

Iris roughly opened the door and came into the room, squeezing.

“That girl!”

Karen glared at Iris’ face with surprise and hatred at the appearance of Iris, who had not shown her face since the day she was imprisoned.

Click-!

Crunch.

“Ugh… ah!?”

Iris herself removed Karen’s metal mask.

“Why did you take it off? Whatever!”

“Terrifying.”

Karen recited the spell on Iris without hesitation and tried to pour out magic.

“Meteor is dangerous!”

“Meteor is… dangerous?”

“A giant has appeared right now… Meteor!”

“Where is it?! Tell me right now!”

The next moment, when Iris shouted “Meteor is dangerous,” Karen forgot the spell she was trying to recite. She used magic to release the remaining restraints and ran out.

‘Meteor… wait, I’ll go!’

No matter how great her hatred for Iris was, the meteor was still her overwhelming priority.

Kkurung–!

“Is that… a giant? A meteor?!”

As soon as Karen saw Thor trapped in the crystal prison, she activated her search magic at full range and found it.

“Found it… meteor!”

Scream-!

As soon as she confirmed the location of the meteor, she used flight magic to fly towards it faster than the lightning that was rushing towards it.

“Yooseo-ee-ee-ee!”

It was a little different, wearing something like armor, but it was definitely a meteor.

Karen smiled brightly with joy at the sight of the meteor that she hadn’t seen in a long time. She landed on the ground and ran towards the meteor with a proud gait.

“Yooseo, you have to run away with me quickly!”

And when she told the meteor while thinking of Iris and the giant at the same time…

“Welcome! Karen Redleaf.”

“Huhhuh?!”

“Yooseo told me that I was welcome… Ah! Yooseong must have been worried about me too! You must have seen me being dragged away by the villainess’s trick..!”

Karen imagined herself being dragged away by Iris without permission and Yooseong trying to stop her. Her eyes were wet with emotion as she tried to tell Yooseong that it was okay.

“Can you make that thing float with gravity magic?!”

What Yooseong said was something she had never expected.

“Gravity magic?”

Karen turned her head towards the direction that Yooseong was pointing his finger at.

Pachaang-!!

Keuuuu!!

[Kuhaha! It’s broken! I’ll kill you all!]

She saw Thor coming out of the crystal prison, half-destroying it. Karen opened her mouth without realizing it at the sight of its enormous size and the terrifying sight of blue electricity emitting from it.

When it flew in, she was only thinking about Yooseong, so she didn’t see it properly. But the giant of electricity that she just witnessed was a monster that Karen couldn’t match even if she had seen all the monsters in her life combined.

“L… I’ve never seen anything that big!” she said to Yooseong with an embarrassed expression.

But…

“If we don’t lift that, both of us will die.”

Yooseong’s face as he put his hand on her shoulder and spoke… no, she looked at the front of his helmet.

“Yooseong… is dying?”

The fact that Yooseong, who was more precious than her, might die.

“T… that can’t be! I’ll do it… no, I’ll definitely do it!”

Karen shouted at Yooseong with eyes that even showed madness. Nodding slightly at that, Yooseong went to the launch point he had prepared in advance and stood there, unhooking the bazooka that had been strapped to his back and attaching it to his shoulder again.

“I’ll shoot the moment you launch it!”

Then, saying only the most necessary words, he focused his gaze on Thor.

“Yooseong trusts me… To save me…”

Karen, who was already overcome with a sense of satisfaction that Yooseong trusted and relied on only her…

“Uranus… Dennos… The ultimate being of the sky…”

She recited the best gravity magic spell she could use.

“Gravity Control!!”

Whoosh…

She cast magic towards Thor, who was coming out of the crystal prison!

Passaat-!

A huge magic circle spread out above Thor’s head…

Kookookook-!!

[Kuhuh?! What the heck?!]

Immediately after that, Thor’s entire bluish-green rock body vibrated. The gravity pulling him upwards caused Thor’s feet to lift off the ground and his body to slowly rise upwards.

[For this! What do you think you can do with this kind of power?!]

“Haguk…”

However, due to Thor, who resisted by moving his body while floating, and his unusual size, Karen’s face turned red as if it would burst and she let out a groan of pain.

Chijijik…!

As if reflecting Karen’s condition, the magic circle floating in the air had faded at that moment.

“Karen Redleaf! It’s not high enough yet! A little more! I have to raise it a little more!”

The voice of a meteor came to Karen’s ears.

“Meteor is trusting me..!”

“Aghughh!!!”

Kukugukung-!!

At the same time that Karen, who was in the best condition ever and had surpassed her limits, used all her mana…

[My body! My body is flying in the sky!]

Thor experienced flying for the first time in his life.

Thwoong-!

An invisible bomb fired by a human smaller than a grain of sand that flew in from far away.

Shatter!

Swooooowook-!!!

[Huh.. Huh?!]

Kwaang–

Due to the gravity bomb that seemed to suck up even space, he disappeared into a dot in an instant.

“Meteor.. I did it..!”

Karen, who saw Thor explode like fireworks and disappear, turned her head while staggering from the aftereffects of the magic, hoping for Yooseong’s delighted look and praise.

‘I wish this were the end.. but what if something like that comes again?

However, Yooseong didn’t even glance at Karen, keeping a serious expression on his face inside his helmet as he thought of Thor, who had disappeared holding a smoking bazooka, and the threatening power of the giant just a moment ago.

“Meteor.. I did as Yooseong told me..”

Thud-

Even though Karen collapsed next to him.

‘What on earth does it mean to say that I bought the world?

Yooseong was lost in thought about the goddess and the giant.

***

Three days had passed since the disaster that was Thor.

“Move the materials quickly! We have to repair everything around here today to finish our work for the day!”

“Oh my. Knights, please eat this and enjoy it!”

“We don’t get much strength even if we eat this food! It would be better if you eat it and use more strength!”

The Metallica capital, which had collapsed due to Thor’s rampage, was being rebuilt by all the automatics including the magic engineers and the royal family.

“This is it!”

“Ooh! Let’s go back! Go back!”

The scale and scope of the destruction was by no means small. However, since all the citizens were magic engineers who had a knack for handling mechanical devices and making things, and the automatics working were all true workers with stronger strength than humans, even if they weren’t necessarily knight-class automatics, the recovery work was progressing quickly.

“By the way, why isn’t Yooseong here today?” Bolder Berg shouted, scratching his head.

“That’s right! If there’s a headquarters, the building repairs would be soooooo much faster! I was going to ask the headquarters for some skills under the pretext of work!”

“Has anyone seen him?!”

Just a few days ago, the dwarves, who remembered Yooseong who was quickly repairing buildings like the Hand of Midas while spreading magic at the repair site, began to search for Yooseong’s name for their own reasons.

And the Yooseong they were looking for was currently…

“Then I’ll open it..?” Karen asked as she drew a magic circle on the floor and turned around.

“Please open it quickly!” Iris, who was sitting clinging to Yooseong, shouted in a voice that sounded like she was trying to get her hands on him.

“You.. I didn’t ask you!” Karen then got angry and shouted in anger.

It was a breach of pride for a great magician to be sitting on the floor in a maid outfit, but even more so, with the vixen-like Iris next to Yooseong, whom she liked, Karen’s insides were not only unpleasant, but sharp like a hedgehog.

“It’s urgent.”

“Ah.. yeah! I’m sorry, Yooseong!”

However, Karen’s expression softened in an instant as if it was a lie that she had been angry like a ferocious she-cat at Yooseong’s one word, and she activated the magic circle.

“Activate..”

Wooooong-

Finally, as she recited the starting word, a single image was projected like a hologram on the screen above the magic circle.

A young king sitting solemnly on a throne engraved with a griffon.

“Nice to meet you. I am the 13th King of the Griffin Kingdom. Huh? A meteor?”

“Oh. It’s me.”