Golden Artificer c17

Marcus grabbed Freya’s neck as his eyes gazed directly at hers. The Goddess tried to understand what he was planning to do. In her eyes, the only thing he could possibly do was damage her looks.

However, she never imagined what would happen next.

She started to shake her head as she sensed that he was in her head somehow!

This terrified her the most as he could do something to her mind!

“G-Get out! Get out of my head!”

The Goddess tried to resist but had no idea where even to start!

Eventually, cold shivers washed her over as she felt something had changed for her!

Then he released her.

Freya coughed as she could finally move. The beautiful Goddess touched her neck as she felt that there was something written on her neck.

“W-What did you do!?”

“I removed something from your psyche.” He shrugged at her without care.

“W-What did you remove!?” She asked with some dread.

“Something you value the most~~~” Marcus smirked. He didn’t clarify. Instead, he walked over to Astraea girls and removed the Charm.

“W-What?”

“Where are we?”

“...Marcus?”

“What is going on?”

As the girls snapped out, they all looked confused. Eventually, they recalled something!

“Goddess Freya! How could you!?” The blonde Elf exclaimed with fury. 

“Charming us like this!?”

The red-haired Alise exclaimed with anger, too.

“I expected more from such a Goddess.” The sword-wielding, black-haired girl from the Far East snorted in disgust, too.

“Don’t worry, I punished her enough. She will find out soon enough; for now, leave her to brood.” 

Marcus motioned for them to move on.

“B-But we need to report…”

“You could. But what kind of proof do you have?” He asked them with a raised eyebrow.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

The four left the building with brooding looks as well.

~~~

‘What did he do!? What did he do!?’

Freya was holding her head in frustration as she swiftly returned to her home at the top of the Tower of Babel.

After thinking for a while, she went to see herself in the mirror.

The moment she did, her anger rushed to the surface as she threw things into the mirror.

What she saw were glowing letters on her neck which said: ‘I am a slut, please choke me!’

“Damn, you bastard! I will kill you! No more games!!!”

Freya swiftly cloaked herself as she was ready to move again.

She swiftly left her home and was ready to cause chaos by charming everyone. But the moment she approached the first person which she wanted to charm, she forgot how to do it…

But then she stopped in her tracks… wait…

“What was I thinking of doing?”

She forgot an array of things at that moment.

The beauty placed her hands on her face as she realised that…

If she tries to use her charm, she will lose an array of memories!

“D-Damn him!”

But this was not all…

After all of the torture she experienced, she wanted to relieve some stress…

But that night, she found out that she couldn’t get a sexual release. It's like her brain doesn’t acknowledge pleasure anymore.

Whatever Marcus Goldman did has terrified the Goddess to the point that she doesn’t want to leave her room anymore.

~~~

“I see. So that’s what happened.” Astraea looked pale as she heard how four of her prized children nearly lost themselves to Freya.

‘So the rumour of her losing all of her elites was true.’

“We will go and visit Marcus Goldman. We need to thank him properly.” The brown-haired goddess said to her Familia members.

“Yes, Goddess.” Alise nodded, and her fellow Familia members nodded as well. They all feel very grateful for that rescue. One could say that he has rescued their lives. They were planning to leave Astraea and join Freya full-time.

It was a betrayal of the highest calibre.

“Shouldn’t we do something to Goddess Freya? She has brainwashed us!” The blonde elf asked with growing annoyance. Not getting justice served is rubbing her in the wrong way.

“Ryuu, all we can do is complain to the guild. They could fine them.” Astraea said with a sigh. That’s the thing about Familia’s in this place. Someone like Freya has a lot of supporters. All of the male and even female Gods like her thanks to her charm.

All she can do is file a complaint.

But then she got an idea, and a small smile appeared on Goddess Astraea’s lips.

“...Or we could make it into a war game.” She suggested.

“...Would she even agree?” Alise asked with a frown.

“This is the perfect time to strike back at her. Considering she recently lost her top adventurers.” The Goddess clarified.

“But even so, she still has at least two to three level 5’s…” Kaguya said with a small frown. All they have is level 4s at this moment.

Regardless it was a great suggestion to cripple the overreaching Goddess and get some justice done.

~~~

The next day, Marcus once again had guests.

It was not Loki’s Familia which confused him! 

How the fuck everyone knows where he lives! He wanted to be hidden!

If this continues, he shall alter his barrier, damn it!

Seconds later, someone knocked at the doors, and sleepy Marcus walked over and opened them.

“Yes?” he asked in a half-asleep tone. He spent most of the night tinkering away to build his ritual site for soul and body synchronisation.

“Marcus, I would like to thank you for your assistance yesterday.” Astraea thanked him with a bow; behind her, four girls were doing the same.

“Okay… no problem…anything else?” He asked while scratching his stomach.

“...Is it possible to place an order?” Astraea asked as she stopped bowing.

“...Order? For what?”

“We would like to switch to you for supplies like armour or weapons; of course, we would pay a premium,” the Goddess suggested to him.

“Hmm…And I will have creative freedom in this?” Marcus’ sleepy looks disappeared as he looked fully awake.

Astraea looked at her girls, more specifically Alise, who was the captain of her Familia.

Seeing that she agrees, the Goddess replies to Marcus' suggestion.

“Yes. We agree. However, I do request some minimum input?” The Goddess said with twitchy lips

“Of course.” Marcus smiled.

This request arrived at a convenient time as he will give these girls some of the prototype systems he plans to incorporate later into his gear.

Not to mention, he will get Valis out of this.

“Come in~ we can discuss the details~” Marcus got friendlier and more energetic as he motioned for them to come in.

“The five girls walked in as they started to look at his home. They quickly realised that there was a silver-haired girl in the house and that there was only a single bedroom!

Alise and Ryuu slightly blushed as they realised that this kid had scored one of the deadliest and most pretty girls to be with him!

“Y-You two are living together?” Alise asked with red cheeks.

“Yep, after making her my maid, I have been using her as a hug pillow, or more like we both are using each other as hug pillows,” Marcus replied after having a thoughtful gaze.

“I-I see.”

‘To think that he would use one of strongest known Adventurer in such fashion…’

Alise looked at the floor as she pondered what this meant.

As this was going on, other girls looked at this working area. Kaguya, the girl from the far East, looked at the Katana on display next to the armour she saw him wear at the battle against Evilus.

“May I touch it?” She asked Marcus with a polite tone.

“Of course.”

The girl took the sword slowly and pulled it out from the sheath. There was some wonderment in her eyes as she saw the letters on the blade.

She recalled this blade cutting down a bunch of Evilus members, but now she couldn’t feel any of that power.

Instead, all she saw was a meticulously crafted weapon.

“That abilities you performed…They didn’t come out from the blade.” Kaguya pointed as she realised that herself.

“Indeed. What you are holding is a conduit and a simple sword.” Marcus clarified to her as he proceeded to pull out a piece of paper and a pen to write. He is about to take orders from the girls.

“So all power was you doing?” Kaguya exclaimed as she looked at him as if he was a freak. Up till now, she thought all of his actions were done by his weapons!

“It was my mana, as I haven’t created weapons which could generate energy by itself yet.” He said that as he sat down in his chair.

“Impressive. You are quite powerful. I assume that young body is only detrimental to you.” Astraea realised that this human was more special than she originally thought.

“Not quite. Young bodies are growing bodies, which means that I can impact their potential.” Marcus shook his head in denial. His situation is better than it was with his original body. He predicted that this time around, he would be even more powerful.

“...I see…so you are not just a weaponsmith.”

“I was Grand Sorcerer of my world.” He clarified to her.

“Alchemy, Rituals, Biology, Destructive, Creative spells. I studied quite a bit. But my specialty is Technomancy.” He expanded to her as he decided it was time to take orders.

“Now red. Tell me, what is your weapon.”

He pointed the pen at Alise.

“...Me?”

“Yes. Tell me what you want, and then I will take your sizes.”

“...W-W-What!? M-My sizes!?” The girl blushed and stuttered.

“Well, yeah? Are you expecting me to make armour for you which won’t fit after you spend a premium amount of Valis on it?” Marcus replied with a raised eyebrow.

“...Ugh…” Alise looked like she just swallowed a lemon.

“He is right, Alise,” Astraea said with a thin smile. 

“Come now. It’s not like he will undress you~” The pink-haired fourth girl teased the redhead.

“I could. For specific measures.” Marcus chipped in, making the red-haired captain nearly pass out from embarrassment.

“Oh. I like you.” The pink-haired Pallum smiled slyly as she realised that Marcus doesn’t mind teasing!

“Good for you.” 

“Ugh! A cute girl is praising you! Show a bigger reaction!” 

“Lyra. let him do his work.” Ryuu said with a sigh as she finally stopped checking out his workshop and stood behind her Goddess.

“...Fine.”

The short girl groaned as she looked away.

“Regardless, back to your weapon…”

Alise started to explain to him that she was like a magical swordswoman who employed her magic with her sword.

After her, it was Kaguya who requested Katana from him. Then, it was the blonde elf who asked for a blunt sword.

“Blunt? Hmm, maybe I suggest a Magic conduit.” Marcus pondered on her request as he drew a circle around her request.

“By conduit, you mean like how mages use a staff?”

“Precisely. As you are an actual fighter, having a weapon that can do two things, so it is a better choice.” Marcus explained what he meant.

“Can I have one as well?” Kaguya chipped in as she recalled what he did with a Katana against Evilus.

“That depends if you have money. I could make a golem army for you. That is as long as you pay me back.” Marcus chuckled. He can take a mountain of requests. It's only beneficial to him as he would test the limits of mana.

“...Don’t worry! We recently levelled up! We can dive deeper to get more mana stones!” Lyra fist bumped as she was itching to see what he would cook for them!

“Good, in that case, Magic conduit it is.” The alchemist typed that down and proceeded to ask what else Ryuu wanted.

“That reminds me, Marcus.” Astraea chipped in as she recalled something.

“Could you make something which could increase resistance against Charms? I don’t want to lose my girls.” The Goddess asked him.

“Hmm. I know the general idea. I could add it to some sort of jewellery. Like ring, or earring or necklace.” 

He replied after pondering for a bit.