I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival

It was now time to catch the spirit.

However, there was no news from the members of the business ‘Getchu’ who I had sent to Camoli Island in advance.

I thought they would have contacted me by the time the funeral and memorial service were over.

“Hmm…….”

‘It smells dangerous. But let’s just recklessly do it!’

I looked at the map and dwelled in my thoughts. Perhaps it was because Claudia had just finished taking her shower, but when she suddenly poked her head in, a fresh floral fragrance exuded from her.

She rested her chin on my shoulder and stared intently at the map with me.

“Will you be able to come up with a solution if you look at that?”

In fact, although the geographical location of the island was correct on the map, it was highly likely that due to the restoration of the natural landscape, it would look completely different.

“Not at all.”

“Then stop looking at it and go pack your luggage.”

Claudia, who was cold and hot-tempered today, said that worrying was a luxury and put the map away.

I turned my head with a sigh as I couldn’t help but agree with her. Anyway, there were dozens of bags behind her back.

‘You’re so excited…….’

Now that it was like this, I thought that it would be a good idea to go on the trip that Claudia had constantly chatted about a few days ago.

No one could stop us from traveling since we even bought the island through the business.

In any case, even if Claudia were absent for a while, it would be fine since she could use the excuse of the sadness of suddenly losing a relative. Not to mention it was Felix who died.

However, Hugo had to maintain his position as the head of the Chamberlain, and Olivia was unfit to travel all the way to the southern continent.

The family trip ended up being just the three of us: me, Claudia, and Felix.

* * *

I tried to gather as much information as possible about the independent spirits through Martina, but there was nothing useful.

Independent spirits were like imaginary creatures, such as dragons, and were rarely known. Just finding out that such a thing existed was already impressive.

I had no choice but to prepare as much as I could in an urgent manner.

In fact, until I found out Felix couldn’t use magic, my plan was like this:

After teleporting to the island, we would immediately magically overpower the spirit, sign the contract, and then pop back into the mansion! Spirit captured!

If someone asked me if my plan was too insincere, I would have nothing to say.

‘In retrospect, my plan only intended to use Felix as a magic shuttle.’

I reflected on myself. However, it meant that it was possible to solve anything quickly as long as there was magic.

Of course, there were no sorcerers who could surpass Felix’s abilities.

‘But it’s better than nothing.’

First of all, we hired some sorcerers under Martina’s indirect introduction. The sorcerers belonging to the Ministry of Magic could only serve the imperial family, so only those with relatively low skills could be hired.

To make it difficult for information to leak out, we reduced the number of people as much as possible by focusing on the sorcerers with the best skills. We hired intermediate spiritualists, swordsmen, archers, and doctors as well.

When the mission was over, all these people would have their memories erased with magic. I put in a request to include all of that.

And just in case, I wanted to prepare artifacts and potions for self-defense and so that we could change our appearances and travel around without revealing our identity.

“The potions……”

I heard that making potions didn’t really require magical talent other than the ability to inject mana in the final stage.

Of course, ordinary people like me, who didn’t even know how to inject mana, usually wouldn’t even try.

Some people said it was similar to cooking.

Skills were important, but capital power mattered the most. The more expensive and higher-quality the materials used, the better the effectiveness.

‘Felix must have placed the potion recipes somewhere.’

I suddenly became curious and headed to the library.

* * *

The Chamberlain family had secretly found a safe haven for Felix to hide comfortably.

It was a cottage in the forest not too far from the mansion. The place was once used as a lodging facility and was unoccupied after a hundred years had passed.

Although the old cottage was several hundred years old, it was no issue for people to live in it as it was steadily maintained for generations.

On the contrary, it was more spacious and luxurious than necessary, so I thought Felix would get lonely if he were by himself. Thus I often visited him whenever I had time.

Actually, I wanted to stay in the mansion with Felix.

But he said he didn’t want to risk it and cause trouble. He apologized for not being able to meet our expectations and claimed that he wouldn’t be any help until he found a way to use magic.

“It would be more suitable for us to live apart while I researched magic. Rather, I tend to concentrate better in these quiet and secluded places.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to have at least one person to assist you? For example, me…….”

“Haha.”

Felix took my words as a joke and laughed lightly. He showed his gratitude for enlivening his boring and repetitive daily life with even a silly joke.

But I wasn’t joking.

“Anyway, I came here to give you something.”

I recalled the purpose of visiting him today and handed him several potions that were in my arms.

“What is this?”

“Felix’s face is too noticeable.”

I could tell how famous Felix was from the spectacular scene at the funeral.

Even if people didn’t recognize him, he was an overwhelming beauty that caught people’s eyes from even a few meters ahead. It would be hard for anyone to forget his face.

“I think it’ll be better to disguise yourself.”

It was too harsh to wear a hood that covered his face in this scorching heat. There were even deaths from heatstroke.

Felix silently peered at the potion, then looked back at the glass bottle containing the liquid, carefully examined the color, opened the lid, and sniffed it slightly.

He showed off a rare, critical look like a potion craftsman who has been making potions for thirty years. It felt like I was submitting an assignment to the professor.

However, most professors knew about their students’ abilities from their examination results.

Felix’s eyes shone coolly with strictness, erasing the usual soft and relaxed mood.

I was so nervous that I gulped.

“Who made it?”

A while later, Felix had a cruel smile on his face that seemed to say, ‘Who created this kind of garbage?’ He looked like he intended to find out who sold me such a potion and beat them up.

I lowered my head in dismay and raised my trembling hand.

“M-me.”

“…….”

Frankly, I didn’t have any expectations. It would be difficult for someone with amateur skills to hear a good word from the top sorcerer in the world of magic. I already prepared myself, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed in myself.

I dejectedly asked while fidgeting, “Is it really bad?”

“…….it’s worth using. It’s great for the first time.”

“That’s the result after failing ten times.”

“You did pretty well even after failing ten times.”

He changed his words like he was flipping his palm and sweetly praised the potion that he had previously inspected like it was poison.

T_T¹, forget it. I’d rather you be honest with me.

“However, drinking this will cause severe side effects, so Irene, you must never put it in your mouth.”

Honesty sure hurts.

Felix carried the potions that were supposed to be trash and put them in a transparent cabinet.

‘I wouldn’t mind if you just threw it away, but instead, you took care of it because I made it myself. You’re such a sweet person.’

I made a complicated expression as that thought crossed my mind.

After he was done, Felix turned around and asked, “How did you suddenly come up with the idea of making potions? Have you learned anything else?”

There was no way. I shook my head.

First of all, I wasn’t a sorcerer, so I didn’t know how to use mana in my body, let alone inject it into the potion.

In order to make the potions myself, I had no choice but to use artifacts that could be recharged with mana.

If someone saw me like this they would say, ‘No, if you’re going to do that, it’ll be cheaper to buy potions. You shouldn’t waste time and money on such useless things.’ But I wanted to try to make it myself.

Most of all, while Felix was suffering and being tormented like this, I felt helpless as I couldn’t do anything in particular.

For some reason, I was obsessed with the urge to do something myself, so I read some books, searched for the ingredients, and then tried to make it by myself.

Even if I didn’t have the minimal talent in magic or spirits, rather than think that it’d be impossible, I wanted to see if there was a possibility to do it.

But in fact, it was meaningless time spent. I never learned it properly, so I couldn’t do it well.

At a time like this, it was more efficient to just buy the potions.

After all, most potion makers have studied for decades.

“I just made it yesterday since I suddenly wanted to try it.”

This time, Felix looked genuinely surprised.

* * *

^{1. The author put: 흑흑 which is a word to imitate the sound of weeping/sobbing while breathing heavily in deep sorrow and grief. The sfx is “heug-heug.” I thought the T_T would be most appropriate so I used that (since it’s a crying face emoticon!). But if you prefer words I guess “Sobs, forget it” works too(ish)!↩}

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