Chapter 21: Save The World With The Demon King? (Complete)

“Demon King… You can’t possibly..”

“What?

Are you trying to say that I’m the goddess Clara and I’ve been pretending to be the Demon King this whole time just to tease you guys?”

“No, that’s not true!

My name is… Claire.

I’m a clone created by the goddess Clara using her power to take care of annoying tasks.

To be exact, I’m a maid created for Clara to use!”

The Demon King shouted with a red face in excitement, cutting off SeYeon’s words.. No, Claire!

“Why would a maid be the Demon King..?”

Karen muttered with a face that showed that she didn’t quite understand..

“I’m like the Demon King too… A position where I get completely cursed at..

I didn’t want to become one!

But that woman…

Because my master told me to!” couldn’t help it..!”

“I wanted to wear a pretty one-piece dress instead of looking like this…

Claire added, slumping her shoulders and giving off a gloomy aura.

She was a former Demon King and had the face of the goddess Clara, so there were very few parts of her that were trustworthy, but the way she cried out about the sorrow she had endured so far conveyed a strange emotional line, and for some reason, we ended up believing her.

Despite being in a position like the leader of an evil force that looked down on the continent called the Demon King.

Claire now looked like a worker full of sorrow who had been exploited without receiving proper wages under an evil boss.

In fact, if everything Claire had said so far was true, it was easy to guess what the goddess Clara’s usual behavior and personality were like.

Claire’s daily life as a self-willed goddess and servant by her master was by no means comfortable, and it was easy to read from Claire’s resentful face.

Perhaps no one else would have suffered as much as Yoosung, who was hated for no reason.

Claire…

‘Well, if the goddess really wanted to mess around… she wouldn’t have taken off her helmet here!

It was just a mental guess, but Yoosung thought that most of what Claire had said was probably true.

However.

“Anyway, I’m going to stay out of what we’ve talked about so far.”

“What?!”

Claire shouted at Yoosung’s sudden declaration, with a questioning ‘Why?’ on her face.

Despite the intense gazes of everyone, including Claire, Yoosung moved his mouth again with the same mask-like face as before.

“I’m going to stay out of the work of ‘together’ preventing the disaster of the invading giants.”

He confirmed once again that he would not attend.

In fact, Yoosung’s participation in this event was merely a part of ‘confirming information.

He went in to figure out what was going on and to see faces that he didn’t want to see in case there was something that could help him.

From the beginning, it didn’t matter whether Claire’s words were true or false, so he couldn’t show any emotional state.

“Han Yoosung, why?!

This world is dangerous?”

When the huge power called Yoosung said that he would withdraw on his own, Claire asked with a dumbfounded expression that she couldn’t understand.

Yoosung quietly looked at Claire.

“I never thought of solving this problem with you guys from the beginning.

And what’s more, the current situation…. isn’t it very similar to 5 years ago?”

“Similar… what do you mean, Han Yoosung?”

“This world is in crisis and needs the strength of a hero!

That’s why I’m asking you to stop the coming disaster and save this world!

And the one asking for it has the same face?”

“I’m not a goddess…!”

“Yeah.

I might not be a goddess.

There’s no real basis for my refusal to participate.

Rather, I might be making a fuss because of my past personal feelings.

I already defeated the Demon King and saved the world as the goddess requested.

And all I asked for was to go home.

But it was all a lie…!

I was just playing around on the table that the goddess herself had set up for her own satisfaction.

But I don’t want to be a fool who gets fooled twice, so I’m just trying not to approach the cause of this in the first place.

I.”

Crunch..

Yoosung, who had finished what he wanted to say, got up from his seat.

With that action that clearly indicated his intention to leave.

“Hey..

Say something, warrior!

Without Han Yoosung, there’ll be a huge problem, both in terms of military power and plans..”

Claire shouted while looking at SeYeon, who was the only one who could talk to Yoosung.

“Leave her alone, she doesn’t like it, right?

And if I were Yoosung, I wouldn’t want to do it either.

Claire, even if you’re not a goddess, you’re still asking me to save the world ‘again’ with the same face.”

“That’s…!”

At Claire’s appearance, who was about to say something again.

“And we have no idea what kind of pain and emotions Yoosung felt?”

SeYeon spoke as she looked at Claire with sunken eyes.

“.”

The room became quiet for a moment.

Only SeYeon remained calm, while Karen and Sylvia’s faces were as pale as snow and stared at the table.

Claire, as an incarnation of the goddess, had a history of examining Yoosung’s appearance with image magic in order to understand the situation, so she couldn’t bring herself to say anything else.

“Are you okay without me?”

“Don’t worry.

The first time, I couldn’t even pay for the warrior’s meal, but this time, I have to do something.

Rest.

This hyung will take care of it right away and let’s have a drink together!”

Yoosung nodded once at SeYeon’s appearance, smiling and shouting even though she clearly didn’t mind, and opened the door and went out of the conference room.

Clap-clap

A few applause echoed from above the round table where Yoosung’s seat was empty.

“Let’s go!

Even if one person is missing, we should have a meeting to save the world, right?

I’m very interested in saving the world.”

SeYeon said with a smiling face as she looked around at everyone.

If Yooseong’s goal was to return home, then SeYeon’s goal was to protect what was precious to her as a king.

***

‘We need to come up with a countermeasure..

Yooseong thought as he walked down the hallway.

Although he shouted inside the conference room that he didn’t care whether the world would be destroyed or not.

Yooseong clearly had relationships that he had to protect.

Even though he would return home someday, the fact that his precious people were trampled to death by the giants was not something he would forget even after returning home.

‘I can’t let SeYeon suffer alone.

He also had no intention of abandoning SeYeon, who was his friend from the same world and had tried to help him in the warrior party.

Since SeYeon could never give up this world and were friends, Yooseong also knew well what SeYeon valued.

Her country.

That’s why he hadn’t even brought up the topic of the dimensional transfer gate yet.

Even though it was a burden on the responsibility that his friend SeYeon had shouldered, he declared in the conference room that he would not cooperate with the former members of the warrior party and the Demon King Claire.

It was an action that came from the thought of seeing and hearing with his own eyes and ears, judging, and responding appropriately, rather than moving on the board laid out by the goddess and others like in the past.

Squeak!

Yooseong returned to his room and started packing his things using the rope and cloth he had prepared in advance.

He had come with Karen, who was with him, and moved easily using teleportation magic.

However, he had no intention of returning together, thinking that Karen Redleaf would stick to him.

‘Let’s go back quickly before those annoying guys get attached.

Squeak!

Yooseong deliberately left the door of his room open and went outside through the window in order to announce his departure as late as possible.

Then, he used his experience as a supporter during the warrior party to the fullest extent, shaking off all the knights who were on guard in the castle, and finally, he hung a rope on the castle wall and escaped the Griffin Castle by the shortest route.

And three hours after Yooseong escaped the castle.

Knock Knock.

Someone is knocking on the door where Yooseong is staying.

After the first knock, there is silence for a few seconds.

Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock.

Knock.

The sound of knocking gets faster and faster as it goes on.

Just when you start to think that they are not knocking on the door, but rather pounding it hard, slam.

The lock on the door is broken and opened.

A locked door can be opened with a key, but no key will break the lock on the inside.

In other words, the lock has been broken by some means.

Squeak.

The door opens and red shoes appear through the gap.

“Yooseong-?”

A red-haired girl carefully sticks her head out through the gap in the door.

Her golden eyes move left and right, quickly scanning the room.

And soon, she finds a neatly made bed and an open window.

Knock!

“Yooseong!”

Karen Redleaf hurriedly enters the room.

That’s right.

The one who knocked on the door was Karen Redleaf!

As soon as the meeting was over, she spent hours standing around the room wondering whether or not to go see Yooseong, and then she came running to the maids passing by, feeling something strange about Yooseong going into his room and never coming out.

“Yooseong…

Yooseong.”

Karen muttered Yooseong’s name, lifting the bed and searching every nook and cranny of the closet, which was different from the maid outfit she had worn when she first arrived at the palace.

Karen’s intentions were obvious, as she came looking in the clothes she was most confident in, such as white lace and a red dress, out of the magic clothes she had received as a gift after the warrior party returned.

“It’s not there…

Yooseong is not there!”

However, Yooseong, who was going to show her the clothes, had already disappeared without a trace.

“Yooseong…

disappeared again..?”

Karen recalled all the hardships she had gone through in the past while searching for Yooseong, trembled and began to chew her fingernails anxiously.

“This is not the time…

It won’t be long before you find me…

If you find me!”

She immediately uses search magic to trace the meteor’s mana that she remembered.

Bam-!

Karen jumps out of the window as the mana leads to the window.

Woof-

She then uses levitation magic to fly at full speed, chasing the traces of the mana.

Meteor…

Where are you!

Where did you go!?

Using magic was prohibited inside the castle, except in the magic lab.

‘Meteor, meteor, meteor, meteor-‘

Karen, whose mind was already paralyzed with all thoughts except for finding the meteor, flew over the castle at the top of her speed.

“Huh..! It’s…

so faint..!”

The meteor’s magic power itself wasn’t much, and it seemed like he had intentionally erased his traces as he moved, as the remaining mana was incredibly faint.

Even a high-circle magician wouldn’t be able to trace it at all.

‘How did you find the meteor…

How did you meet it…!’

“I won’t let you go-!!

I’m going to find you!!”

Karen’s near-mad obsession and her honed skills as a warrior party’s magician combined.

“.”

She discovers a very faint thread of mana.

Wedge-!

Karen rushes so fast that she hits the ground.

Slap-!

She lands on the path the mana thread is moving.

The meteor passed over the royal castle wall and passed through, so she went up the wall and the mana thread was curved beyond it.

“Haa..

haa..”

Karen, who had calmed down a little after finding a clue to track the meteor’s traces, quickly walked toward the wall.

“What are you…?”

She found Sylvia Sylvester standing with her arms linked on the wall.

The question “Why are you standing here?” flashed across Karen’s eyes and an awkward atmosphere flowed between the two.

Even though they had headed to the Demon King’s Castle together, they were not close to each other from the beginning as warriors and magicians.

Their personalities didn’t match either, so Karen and Sylvia’s intimacy was limited to a business relationship.

And then there’s “…”

Even though they hadn’t shared any personal stories before going on their adventure, they both knew they liked ‘Han Yooseong.’

Instinctively, they considered each other as ‘the same kind’, so they were awkward with each other like lionesses facing the same prey.

Thud.

Thud.

Karen ignored Sylvia and tried to jump over the wall.

Slurp..

“What are you doing?”

However, Karen couldn’t get to the wall because Sylvia pulled out her sword and blocked her way.

“I’m sorry for pulling out my sword.

But…

Aren’t you going to Meteor?

Magician Karen.”

Sylvia asked, looking straight at Karen with her purple eyes.

There was a clear reproach in her eyes…

Why are you reproaching me?

Karen’s mood suddenly got worse at that thought.

“Yeah!

I’m going to Meteor!

So get out of the way, we don’t have time!

Even as we do this, Meteor is getting further and further away from me.”

Jiing-

Karen shouted at Sylvia, raising her magic circle as if she was going to attack.

Because of the thought that Meteor was getting further away from her, Karen couldn’t see anything right now.

“The closer you get to Meteor, the farther away you are from Meteor…

Why don’t you know, Magician?”

Sylvia said in a deep voice, looking at Karen with pitiful eyes.

What Sylvia was looking at right now was not Karen, but herself.

Sylvia happened to find traces of her own tracking evasion method around the wall and the habits that Meteor had shown her when she was teaching him, and tried to follow Meteor right away, just like Karen.

However, she stopped in front of the wall and couldn’t get over it.

“Meteor probably couldn’t forget the terrible things that happened to me and the Magician.

So just seeing us… would be painful.”

Karen shook her head and closed her eyes as she watched Sylvia speaking with a lonely face.

“Then what do you want me to do!

I can’t think of any other way…”

She cried and shouted at Sylvia.

In fact, Karen also knew that Meteor hated her terribly.

However, she couldn’t give up on Meteor, so she continued to cling to him, begging for his obsession, and hypnotizing herself into thinking that Meteor would forgive her.

“If we wait until Yooseong forgives us on his own…

someday…”

Sylvia tried to comfort Karen, who was shedding tears, by telling her what she believed.

“If we wait, that vixen girl will steal Yooseong!

Another woman taking over Yooseong, whom I love?

I can’t stand to see that!”

“?”

Sylvia’s eyes widened at Karen’s shouting and her bewildered expression turned into a bewilderment.

“Another girl next to Yooseong?

Wizard?

What do you mean…?”

“When I went to Yooseong, there was a girl who was attached to him…

She’s the queen of that country, Iron Road…

I hate to admit it, but!

She’s pretty, the ruler of a country, and stronger than me!

And…

And…

She’s close to Yooseong…

She’ll put those lips on Yooseong’s face…!”

At first, Karen shouted in a wet voice as if she was confessing, but towards the end, her face became filled with rage and she spoke angrily as if she was thinking of “Iris.”

“…”

And Sylvia was the same.

Just a moment ago, the pitiful woman who had been waiting for a meteor had changed into a fierce expression on her face as she slashed down her enemies.

Crunch..!

The metal gauntlet held by Sylvia’s fist caved in from the force.

Karen didn’t know who the girl was talking about, but Sylvia was already thinking about the meteor and the mysterious girl being entangled and happy.

This scene was even more vivid because Sylvia had been studying books like crazy on how to please men as a woman in order to please him.

“Wizard.”

“Huh?”

“I will accompany you.”

She could wait for a meteor as much as she wanted.

However, Sylvia could never tolerate another woman taking up Yooseong’s side.