I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival

Chapter 77

Translator: Kay

Claudia later learned from Irene that all the people she met here four thousand years ago were fakes created by Ilypia.

Built from the spirit’s memory, they were all like an elaborately embodied doll.

‘Did I really just meet a doll?’

But it really seemed like the Lord of this place.

Claudia recalled her memories of the Lord. Arista seemed genuinely worried about her spirit that was left alone.

Claudia rubbed the nape of her neck, lost in thought. Then she opened the lid of the tightly closed box for the first time.

She saw the heart of a person thumping and beating as if it was alive for the first time in her life.

A spirit’s life depended on Claudia.

If she threatened him here, Ilypia, who was secretly hiding, would appear. The chatter of the devil with Felix’s face came to mind.

‘Huu, brother…….’

Claudia closed the box, put it on the table, and buried her face in her hands as if she were about to cry.

Although she didn’t express it in front of Irene, it seemed like she was falling into an endless depression again.

–You’re going to sign a contract with the spirit that made your brother like that? You’re absolutely insane! Do you know what that means? At the thought of signing a contract with a spirit, you completely turned around and ruined your one and only brother.

–You said you’d protect him, but you made him like that!

The auditory hallucinations that tore Claudia’s self-esteem to the bottom resurfaced once again.

She clenched her teeth.

The hallucinations, fueled by her misfortune, endlessly reminded her of how wrong she was. It was as if it was endlessly hoping for her unhappiness.

Except for her family and Irene, there were only these types of people in Claudia’s world.

Whenever she tried to climb the stairs, they would grab onto her legs as if they didn’t want her to go up herself.

If she were standing at the edge of a cliff and desperately begged them to get away from her, it would only be a hopeless request.

However, if she slipped and lost her footing, they would just happily watch and laugh as she fell.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

It was the first time Claudia had responded to the hallucinations.

No one had ever told her who it was, and the hallucination never revealed itself either.

But Claudia had a hunch that it was the voice of the ‘crazy spirit’ that Irene spoke of a long time ago.

She just never intentionally responded to hallucinations due to the fear that she would get sucked into the bottomless swamp of depression.

Whenever she tried to face her fears, it felt like she was being stabbed with an awl. It was so painful. She didn’t want to get any worse than this. That was why she endured it to the limit.

However, at one point, she realized that trying to endure it didn’t change anything. So, she unknowingly crawled up.

“There’s no such thing as a perfect human being since everyone makes mistakes. At least I’m improving.”

Claudia didn’t scream or cry. She just spoke her thoughts in a quiet voice.

“Nothing will change even if you try to bring me down. There may be days when I fall helplessly, but in the end, one day, I will crawl all the way to the top that you didn’t even dare to imagine.”

‘So, don’t you dare look at me like that.’

Claudia twisted her lips with a cold expression.

“I’ve been watching you for as long as you’ve been watching me. You’re only thinking of parasitizing me, aren’t you? Then you won’t ever be able to take a single step further. That is your limit.”

Claudia didn’t know if the spirit was even listening to this. But after she said that, she felt her head clear up.

The complicated feelings began to untangle.

There was an endless road ahead, so she must not stop here. Rather than brainwash herself about her never-ending misfortune, she should now find out for herself what the true path to happiness was.

‘I’ll choose the spirit that I’d sign a contract with myself.’

Claudia could roughly guess where Ilypia was. Without hesitation, she headed to the tomb of Arista, where she had once been.

The maze that she had passed through once was the same as four thousand years ago. Considering that the outside was still in ruins, it seemed that only this place had been re-created.

For Ilypia, this flower garden was a place that he eternally couldn’t escape and where his soul was bound.

It seemed that way, considering how he had been hovering around this place for four thousand years.

Claudia fixed her eyes on the back of Ilypia’s head. He was in front of the tomb, like a dog that lost its owner.

As if he was searching for something, he was digging intently into the garden. Claudia thought that even his actions resembled a dog, not a spirit.

“What are you doing here?”

As she approached and spoke to him, the spirit bared his teeth at once. Ilypia glanced at Claudia from top to bottom and recalled a face that he had seen somewhere.

He growled and said, “You. You look like the devil’s bastard that I saw earlier.”

“Watch your language. My brother almost lost his soul to the devil because of you.”

“Are you here for revenge?”

“How did you know?”

Claudia smirked and pulled out the box she had been hiding behind her back. It was the same box that contained the heart of the spirit that was still beating strongly.

“Are you looking for this?”

“……You!”

If the body of an ordinary spirit remained in the spirit world, then the body of an independent spirit was its heart.

The big difference was that a heart couldn’t move, so even if a child stabbed it as a prank, he would defenselessly die without being able to resist.

Claudia suddenly thought she was a bit of a villain as she smiled triumphantly with the heart in her hand.

However, compared to the spirit’s attack against Felix, her actions weren’t even that bad.

“Give it to me.”

Ilypia struggled to hide his nervousness and tried to speak menacingly.

However, no matter how much he acted like a beast, he was already a powerless predator with its vital points exposed.

Claudia didn’t even snort because the dog with its teeth pulled out was so ridiculous.

“Don’t you wonder how I knew this box was buried there? It’s strange. Only you and the Holy Lord of this place should know.”

“Don’t carelessly talk about the Lord.”

“I cannot do that. The Lord personally asked me to pick you and tame you, since you have lost your master.”

“……What?”

Ilypia’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper. He looked like he wanted to ask what nonsense she was speaking of but then gaped at her with his eyes wide open.

It was because he finally noticed the necklace hanging around Claudia’s neck.

“You, how did you…….”

It had previously fallen in the clutches of thieves. After dragging the thieves back to the island and punishing them harshly, her last keepsake was returned.

But at some point, the keepsake that had returned to him vanished. He had hidden it in a secret place where only Arista and Ilypia knew so that the thieves would never dare to look for it again.

That woman knew where his heart was buried, and she even stole the necklace? That was absolutely impossible.

“The Lord gave it to me. Do you want it back?”

Claudia raised the corner of her lips at Ilypia, who kept muttering that it was impossible.

“Come and officially say hello. I am your new master.”

* * *

We still hadn’t left the island yet.

Of course, we could leave whenever we wanted, but I postponed our departure date to after Claudia signed the contract with the spirit – after the case was completely closed.

I constantly wished that Felix, who had fainted, would wake up safely. So, while tightly holding his hand while he was sleeping, I prayed to God that Felix, not the devil’s bastard, would open his eyes today.

I was confused about which God to pray to but eventually settled with the writer God.

And, at that moment, his eyelashes trembled and then slowly lifted up!

Haah. As I watched his vacant eyes thoroughly glance around, my expectations rose to their limit.

Did the writer God, who had the lowest credit rating, unexpectedly hear my prayer?

“Felix!”

“It’s not him.”

“……Ah, what?”

A credit delinquent.

The smile that was in full bloom instantly dried up and became twisted.

Losing all my energy and will, I buried my face in the duvet of the bed and squirmed like a helpless leaf withered by the winter north wind.

“Do you know what Janus¹ is? It has two faces like you. You’re more of a devil than me.”

Leraze grumbled about the topic of the devil as if it was something he couldn’t comprehend.

‘Hey, it’s a shame that I look like a devil to you.’

‘If you hadn’t borrowed Felix’s body, you would have been left to look at the three useless brothers.’

‘Ah, that’s enough. Give us back our angel, Felix!’

* * *

T/N: Yayy, so I guess, now, with these two chapters uploaded, we should be back on track with the original chapter release schedule!~ (See you all again this Saturday/Sunday for the normal updates!)

^{1. In Roman mythology, Janus is the god of doors, gates, and transitions and is represented by a double-faced head.↩}