I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival

Claudia occasionally suffered from auditory hallucinations, but after Felix became the devil in the original, she was forcibly subjected to the endless, harsh words from Nihilis.

So I had no choice but to keep examining her complexion after Felix’s came back.

Of course, Claudia was in a completely different situation than back then, so it wouldn’t be easy to coerce her to sign the contract.

In short, the bottom line was that I was worried about her being alone. But, I believed that she could overcome this!

“What’s wrong?”

At that moment, Felix approached me, who was standing alone in a daze and feeling anxious. I sighed for the thousandth time and then slowly raised my head.

“You changed your clothes…….”

And I hardened like a statue.

Perhaps Narcissus, who was so handsome that he was cursed to fall in love with his reflection and died, looked like that.

Or maybe Apollo, the God of the Sun.

I had no choice but to bring up all the handsome men from Greek mythologies.

It was because the clothes that the children gave us earlier resembled traditional Greek garments. It was a single cloth that you wrapped around several times.

The mysterious heavenly figure was full of grace.

And his sharp, cool eyes resembled a god who could, as a matter of fact, see through the inner self of human beings.

Although it was an inevitable choice as our clothes were wet with seawater, I didn’t know that he could pull off that outfit. In fact, it was a perfect match.

“This garment is rather comfortable.”

And that was Felix’s one-sentence review.

Regardless of how he looked, it didn’t matter as long as it was comfortable.

Then what was the point of that long, serious discussion I had with Claudia while picking out my dress?

Even if I showed him the mirror, he wouldn’t fall in love like Narcissus, but instead, I could expect him to say something like, ‘What’s wrong with this?’

I had never seen or heard the devil inside Felix, but I somehow had a feeling that it was struggling quite a bit right now…….

I shook my head and looked down at the garment that was definitely more comfortable than an imperial dress.

Just like how the clothes didn’t restrain the body at all, the island of four thousand years ago had quite a free atmosphere in all aspects.

‘It’s not as crazy as what I’ve heard from Anthony…….’

It was a peaceful scene of men and women of all ages gathered together, laughing, chatting, eating, and drinking.

If I ate the food here, I might want to melt into the scenery and live peacefully here for eternity.

I guess I would never know the truth unless I ate it.

It would be great if we could find Claudia at this point, but the island was very extensive.

There were many villages, and they were all quite large. The villages were also a distance away from the city center. Since everything was so scattered, I started to worry that it would be difficult to find each other.

I decided it would be better to view it as just one territory.

“I think we need to meet the Lord.”

He was the one associated with the spirit. It was also highly likely that he was the culprit behind this situation.

Maybe he had already signed a contract with Ilypia, the Spirit of Life.

However, it didn’t really matter. Humans had no choice but to sign a contract with only one spirit, but spirits could sign a second contract.

We had no choice but to try to ask the Lord without offending him.

In any case, no matter who the Lord was and what he did, we had to go to the castle to meet him.

Unlike us, who woke up in the temple, Antony said that he woke up in the castle. That meant that the castle was open to outsiders, so it was probably easier to approach the Lord. But…….

‘I think it’ll be rather dangerous.’

We were fortunate that the first islanders we met by chance were naive children. Thus it was possible to fool them with sweet talk.

But I couldn’t fathom what would happen if the people in the castle caught us not eating or drinking anything.

Anthony said everyone in the castle was crazy, out of their minds, and weird.

‘Hmm…….!’

However, we had no choice but to go.

I took Felix’s hand and quietly led him into a deserted place.

Then I rummaged through the bag I was carrying since the beginning and pulled out the food and artifacts. I packed all of these before coming here.

I held out the food to Felix.

“Eat this.”

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy the food.”

People were meant to eat. The more complex the situation, the better you should eat.

I chewed the hard bread and beef jerky in a combative way. I wrapped it in a cloth to prevent it from getting wet in the sea, but it tasted damp and salty.

After eating roughly and drinking water, I wore a ring-shaped artifact on each finger.

Since they were magical rings, it didn’t matter where I put them, as they would shrink and stretch to adjust to the thickness of my fingers.

But it was like a parvenuf¹ spirit. I felt like my combat power had increased significantly. At this level, it would hurt my opponent if I just punched them with my fist before releasing the magic.

“Would you like one as well, Felix?”

“Well…….”

Felix looked down at my parvenu spirit upgrade and pondered.

Oh, he was carefully inspecting what kind of magic the artifacts contained.

For some reason, I remembered the time when he was carefully examining the potion I made, and I swallowed nervously without realizing it. I wondered what kind of magic he would choose.

However, Felix pulled off the artifact from my left ring finger and smiled innocently as he placed it on the same finger.

“Then I’ll take this.”

“…… ”

The magic that it contained must have been the most effective. Even if I tried to think like that, I kept wondering whether or not it had a significant meaning.

Now that you could live once again, were you simply trying to mess around like before? Or was it just instinct? Did you seduce people with your instincts? You shouldn’t do that, you sinful man…….

I wanted to sue Felix for the heart attack.

I lowered my head, mulling over how I managed to get so helplessly tamed by him.

After freely deliberating about it, my ears became so hot that I couldn’t lift my face for a while.

The castle was built on a plain. And when I first saw it, I thought it was ‘open’ – especially since there were no walls in the first place.

Anyone could effortlessly enter if they wanted to. On the whole, there was no desire for domination at all.

Alternatively, the first thing that came to mind was ‘harmony regardless of status’.

Instead of a castle, it was more like a public facility such as a library or theater.

‘Of course, the Lord’s residence is separated.’

Still, it was revolutionary because I was used to the imperial palace where intrusion by outsiders was considered a crime.

I heard that the Spirit of Life loved festivals, so that was why people could come and go as much as they wanted.

The Lord seemed to really cherish the spirit.

‘But since it’s open as if they want us to enter, I’m strangely feeling more hesitant.’

A person who appeared to be a servant greeted us with, “Oh, I’ve never seen you before! Welcome to the Lord’s Castle!”

I reluctantly accepted the glass of wine that they gave to me. Then while pretending to drink it, I looked around with hawk eyes.

On one side, a bard poet was singing while playing the harp, and on the other, there were people reciting literature or poetry and those discussing philosophy.

Undeniably, when compared to the people walking around outside, the atmosphere in the castle was bizarre.

While everyone was laughing and chatting peacefully, it seemed like they were pretending. For some reason, I felt a chill down my spine.

How should I say this? It felt like everyone was merely standing there.

I felt like if I did something that stood out, everyone would simultaneously turn to look at me with an eerie expression.

If you didn’t fit into this atmosphere, you wouldn’t be tolerated – that was the feeling I got.

Suddenly I remembered the moment when Felix said he could hear screams from the sea.

Oh heavens. I forced on a smile and grabbed Felix’s hand tightly.

I had to endure the hardship and adventure somehow, but the fear was too much.

“Do-don’t let go of this hand.”

The tips of my fingers trembled.

Felix gave me a troubled look and sighed, neither holding my hand tightly nor letting go of it and pulled my shoulder. He embraced me in his arms.

My eyes widened to the size of a lantern, and my lips repeatedly opened and closed like a carp.

“I think it will be easier to control my strength like this.”

To continue to hug me like this, we would have to stay close. But Felix said he was afraid of breaking my fingers if we held hands.

I couldn’t understand it, but it seemed to make sense to Felix. My fluttering heart couldn’t comprehend what was going on.

It was then.

Felix grabbed the attention of a passerby and asked with great confidence.

“What should I do to meet the Lord?”

My mouth fell wide open.

No, I was scared of people here, and I couldn’t even properly talk to them, so why were you doing something that stood out right away?

^{1. “Parvenu” is an (often derogatory) term for a person of humble origin who has risen economically or socially but lacks the social skills appropriate for the new position.↩}