Golden Artificer c11

Everyone was out of words. The group of adventurers simply stared at the carnage with disbelief.

A single blast from thar rectangular weapon simply erased the entire horde of monsters.

The girls from the Astraea family, Loki Familia, and members from smaller Familias couldn’t speak for several minutes straight.

That was until the dungeon started to tremble as something more was coming their way…

“...”

Everyone snapped out as they realised what was coming their way.

“Damn! Is the Juggernaut!” Finn exclaimed as he looked around and was getting ready to face it.

“It's fine, I will handle it.” Alfia took a step forward and looked at her Master, who was inspecting his broken weapon.

“Sure. But you are not permitted to die.”

Snort

“As if I die from something mundane as this!” The black-clad girl snorted as she gazed at Ais. The little girl even had a rosy cheeks. It was not good!

‘That little girl is getting annoying!’

The maid realised that the longer the little girl was around Marcus, the more she depended on him and wanted to be close to him.

None of these things are good.

As she was pondering on that an armoured monster with sharp claws manifested from the dungeon walls.

Alfia looked at her Master. He finally started to pay attention to her. It was good. It was time to show what she could do.

As her body is healed and her disease doesn’t weaken her, she is as strong as level 9. However, Juggernaut is quite a difficult enemy for her as it can reflect magic. But that's fine, as she can also deal physical damage.

“Give me your sword.” She motioned to one of the lower-level adventurers to give her his great sword.

“S-Sure.”

The guy threw it, and the silver-haired maid casually caught it as she proceeded to dash at the Juggernaut.

The monster dashed at her as well. But in the first exchange, the victor was already obvious.

The thing about Juggernaut is that his power depends on the floor they are in.

Since they were on floor 18, the monster the dungeon could produce was barely around level 5.

Something like that is child’s play for Alfia as she cuts his hands first before impaling the sword into the beast’s head.

The creature swiftly disintegrated, and the silver-haired girl threw the sword back at the adventurer before walking back to her Master.

Marcus nodded at her before returning to inspecting his weapon. As he expected, the insides of the weapon had deformed, and his weapon was out of use.

While he was doing that, the adventurers killed the strangler monsters. 

Once that was done, they approached Marcus.

“Many thanks for your assistance, Marcus Goldman. Because of you, there are no casualties in this dive. Many of us expected to lose one or two.” Finn said with a small smile. He decided to brush aside how crazy the guy’s weapon was.

Not everyone has his strong mentality, as the girls from the Astraea family are rethinking how they talk with him. 

Not only was he insanely strong in regular combat, but he is also an incredibly talented weapon smith! If he can create something like this, what else could he do?

But, the one who impacted the most was Ais…

Ever since joining Loki Familia, she has been looking for HIM, and it appears she has finally found her HERO.

It doesn’t help that Marcus' hair is black, just like her father’s. It doesn’t help that the enemies were black monsters, just like that black thing who killed her family, and most certainly, it doesn’t help that she just witnessed what true power looks like.

This power is so strong… strong enough to wipe out all these evil monsters.

Ais relentlessly thought about what Marcus had told her about what to do after the dragon was dead.

Now she knew. Everything has fallen into place in her mind.

She decided to be what her mother was to her father. She wants Marcus to be her Hero who can save her from that despair. Well, he doesn’t need to as her despair is gone; instead, what she felt was diligence.

The girl will train and become strong enough to be beside her Hero.

And the Black Dragon?

She already imagined it getting utterly crushed and disintegrated in the same way as these monsters got.

Marcus didn’t even realise how he had derailed the golden blonde girl.

All he noticed was that her gaze was slightly different. There was no more than frenzied desperation.

In his eyes, that was fine.

“Say, what will happen to the crystals?” Marcus asked Finn as the adventurers were swiftly cleaning up the mess.

“These are your kills so that you can take all of them.” 

“Oh…” The alchemist’s eyes perked up.

“In that case, I want to buy off the slums.” He said to the Captain of Loki Familia.

“...That can be arranged. I think this is more than enough to cover it.” The pair looked at the mountain of high-quality crystals.

“And whatever remains?” Finn asked as he knew all these crystals were more than enough to cover the cost of the slumps he was inhabiting.

“Bring the remaining crystals to my home. I will use them to improve my house and my tools.” 

Marcus explained to the Pallum.

~~~

After the explosive end of the monster horde, the group returned to the surface to continue fighting.

But it was not necessary, as the big and tall muscle guy had beaten Zald. After the defeat of Zald, Evilus’ troops shattered. Then, the God Ebirus was sent back to Heaven, which meant the end of Evilus.

Whatever troops of fanatics left swiftly retreated into hiding.

Before Marcus could return to his home, the adventurers wanted to have one more meeting.

“Now that Evilus is shattered, we would like to ask your maid who the other Gods who are part of this faction are,” the blue-haired girl from Ganesha Familia said.

It was quite something for her to control herself so well, even her sister being dead.

“...There still should be Thanatos and Enyo. I have seen Thanatos but only heard about Enyo.” Alfia explained to them.

“Can you show us the locations of the bases you know?”

“Very well. But this is the last time I help. My job now is to serve my Master,” the black-clad girl said in a deadly serious tone, which made people remember that she was a deadly fighter who could take all of them at once.

“...Of course.”

Marcus, who was looking at this, is quite amused. He got quite a catch. He never thought this girl was this feared.

The pair could finally leave after pointing at locations on the city map.

“Ah, man. Finally, the city can return to normal, and we can be at peace.”

The alchemist stretched his hands as he exclaimed with a happy tone.

“...Doubtful, Master,” Alfia said with a resigned tone.

“Now, the entire city knows you and your power. On top of that, you have no Falna. With how gods are now, you are the number one target for them to add you to their Familias.

These gods won’t stop until either one of them is successful.”

The silver-haired girl explained to him.

“...Can’t I just pack them up and send them on their way?”

“Yes, but how long will it be until you give in? These are gods who were around for thousands upon thousands of years. Their patience is far greater than any mortal.

Some of them would even scheme and try to bribe you.” 

She blushed while saying that as she imagined that some of the Goddesses would throw themselves at him or even give him small armies of women to serve him.

Nothing is off the table!

All of this is in Alfia’s head, not that she is wrong. But at the moment, such a thing would not work with Marcus’s young body.

“...Hah…so that is how it is.” 

“Yes.”

After returning to his house, Marcus went to eat and get a quick shower. This time, his maid joined him without him asking. She washed his back the same way he washed hers.

After that, they went to sleep. This time around, the Silver-Haired beauty hugged him closely and made sure he didn’t go away anywhere.

It's amusing how a little girl can impact her this much. Not that such a thing crossed Marcus' thoughts. He would never consider that Ais, of all people, make Alfia jealous.

Nope, Marcus thought that his maid had finally stopped resisting.

~~~

Marcus expected some semblance of peace now that Evilus was gone. He expected markets to be how they were before.

That was what he expected—but not being interrupted first thing in the morning.

It was Loki Familia. They had an entire carriage of Valis and magic stones.

As the carriage entered the barrier, Marcus went out to greet them.

“Sorry for disturbing you so early,” Finn said with a strained smile as he saw Marcus half asleep. 

After all, he was resting, recovering his lost mana. That means his body was in rest mode, and he was quite sluggish.

“It's fine~ what you got for me?” 

“Right. As you asked, the guild swiftly sold you the land you wanted. They didn’t question a thing since you helped with Evilus.

You are the current owner of this territory.” The Pallum gave him the owner's papers, and on top of that, there were chests with valis as well.

“On top of that, they sold it for half the price, so the remaining valis goes to you.” After showing the chest, he opened the other ones, which were full of Mana crystals.

“And these are the crystals from all those kills.” 

After showing the loot and money, Finn left with his family. Ais was there, too, as she waved her hand in a happy manner, which somewhat confused Marcus.

The girl looked… much better now. Did something happen with her revenge?

After pondering this, Marcus took all the stuff back before slipping back into his bed.

The moment he did it, the beauty in his bed pulled him back into a hug.

Yep, it was the best method to recover lost energy.

Past midday, Marcus finally woke up. The first thing he did was take a quick shower. By the time he was out of the shower, Alfia was already making some tea for him.

“We will go shopping, and then I will return to my work. Now that I have magic crystals, I can make a reactor.” 

He explained what he would do, and he took a sip of his tea.

“... ’Reactor’?” She looked at him with a curious look.

“Basically a heart which generates energy for the whole house.”

Marcus clarified as he realised that advanced technology terms in the medieval world were uncommon.

“I see. So it will be a big power source. I thought you already had one.” She said that while looking around, she wondered what powered the light, the kitchen’s tools, and the cool thing he called ‘fridge’. 

“No, up till now, we are at the mercy of mana in the air.”

“Hmm, it shouldn’t be an issue, considering we are above the dungeon.” She pointed out that they live above the biggest source of mana on the continent.

“Yes. But I simply can’t accept that I have to rely on something.” He exclaimed with an annoyed sigh.

“For more than 200 years, I was completely self-sufficient. That includes power, food, and resources. I didn’t need pity from the air or forbid something like people who raise food.” When Marcus said that, he had a borderline insane look.

Alfia snorted as she finally saw some of his true face. It appears he absolutely hates depending on something or someone.

“I see.”

“Yes. So let’s then we can hit the road.”

“Understood.”

The pair got some food, such as sandwiches and tea. About half an hour later, they were ready to go shopping.

“Do take your sword with you.” The black-clad girl reminded him.

“Oh? You think someone will attack me?”

“While you are powerful, you don’t have a god behind you. In this city, Familia is extremely important. On top of that people want to figure out your secrets. 

Someone like you appearing like this is an opportunity for many.” She said with a deadly serious tone.

“...I see… in that case.” 

Marcus walked over to a table and put his gauntlets on before taking Yamato.