Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 131

The Territory Destruction D-Day countdown was still ongoing—it hadn't stopped and continued ticking down in real time. It didn’t look like Janus would destroy the territory immediately, but that only meant she needed to push herself and finish the shelter construction while she still had time.

After Jinas left to carry out her orders, Ayra remained alone in the study and opened the map window. She meant to check the lords' movements, but naturally, the first thing her eyes landed on was Janus's location.

Follow curr𝒆nt nov𝒆ls on fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com.

“What the hell is he doing with a death row inmate?”

Janus and the convict were inside a small building. Aside from a slight decrease in HP, the criminal was still in good condition. Even if the man deserved to die, Ayra couldn’t say she felt good about handing someone over to a dragon for arbitrary use. She stared for a long while at the two glowing dots on the map before finally shifting her gaze.

The two lords were each currently staying in the East Tower and West Tower, respectively. Ayra stroked Pebble, which sat atop the back of her hand like a freshly steamed rice cake, and said:

“Mark Bolni in green, and Sobletz in purple.”

Immediately, some of the red dots on the map turned green and purple. They were supposed to be confined to the lord’s castle, yet those colored dots were flickering all across Solar. As she watched in silence, some dots even slipped stealthily into the lord’s castle—probably spies—and there were dozens of soldiers and knights scattered and hiding in the plains beyond the city.

It wasn’t all that surprising.

Ayra instructed Pebble to monitor the lords and their retainers. Real-time surveillance consumed a lot of mana, but it was worth the cost.

‘It's incredibly useful, but the mana drain really ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) is a problem.’

She felt it every time she completed a quest: Pebble’s functions drained not only mana but stamina too. It made dieting unnecessary. These days, she ate to survive, and dizzy spells came more frequently compared to when she’d been in the dungeon. In short, she was constantly overworked.

‘Well, this isn’t really all that different from the dungeon.’

She was used to the strain and shrugged it off, standing up from her seat. She wanted to re-inspect the castle one last time before the meeting tomorrow.

But as she came downstairs from the study, she spotted Nilma Argan loitering awkwardly on the first floor.

“...Do you need something, Lord Argan?”

Startled, Nilma Argan dropped the box he was holding. After a cough, he hurried to pick it up, then fussed unnecessarily with his collar before lifting his head high.

Ayra stared, wondering what the hell he was doing. Then he took a few steps toward her.

“Ahem. I took a look around the estate on my way in. Though it’s only palm-sized, the scenery’s rather pleasing.”

...His tone was a little more polite than last time, but was he picking a fight again?

“Of course, Bolni is far broader and more beautiful than Solar. But for a territory hidden in the mountains, this one’s not half bad either.”

Ayra stared at Nilma Argan’s blathering face with a puzzled look. He definitely sounded like he was picking a fight, and yet... his Favorability was rising. She’d only met him twice, and she’d insulted him last time—yet his Favorability was already at 31.

‘If only Janus’s Favorability would go up half as fast as this guy’s...’

While she was having that thought, Nilma Argan suddenly held out the box he’d been carrying. It was fairly luxurious-looking.

“I brought this because I figured you’d never see something this fine around here.”

His attitude practically screamed, You people don’t have nice things like this, huh? Ayra took the box without complaint, and his lips twitched oddly as he let out a congested-sounding cough.

Inside was a robe made from Skite silk—crafted from silk spider threads—radiating a soft pearlescent shine. It was pure white.

Ayra thought this one, at least, could be sold if needed. Unlike the heirloom robe of Solar, this wasn’t bound by tradition. She looked up, and Nilma Argan coughed again. Figuring there was no real reason to refuse, she gave a polite thank-you.

“It’s a fine garment. I’ll accept it.”

“You truly have a discerning eye, Lord Ayra!”

Raising his voice for no reason, Nilma Argan started babbling about how beautifully the snow was falling today, then flushed bright red and scurried off. With the box under one arm, Ayra clicked her tongue as she watched his retreating back.

What the hell was going through his head, trying to flirt with the lord of a “palm-sized” territory? Did Nilma Arvalt know what his son was up to?

She called over a passing servant and told them to deliver the box to Jinas. Nilma Argan had wasted her time, and she still had a hundred things left to do. As she hurried toward the meeting room to prepare for tomorrow’s talks, she ran into the children of Jumenier Orseng. They were gathered in a circle bullying a hapless attendant.

“What do you mean there’s no redfruit? Are you refusing to follow my order?!”

“Oh n-no, young lord! It’s just that redfruit doesn’t grow in this region...”

“Liar! There’s nowhere that redfruit doesn’t grow! If you don’t bring it, I’ll beat you!”

Demanding a fruit that didn’t exist in Solar, the children threw a tantrum while the poor servant fumbled and panicked. Though they were children, they were noble guests, and their rank was high—there wasn’t much anyone could do. Ayra sighed and stepped in to save the miserable servant.

“Aren’t you supposed to be cleaning the hall right now? What are you doing standing around here?”

“Y-yes, Lord Ayra!”

The servant, looking as though he’d been saved from death, bolted. The Orseng children stared at Ayra with wide eyes as she pulled a pouch of colorful jellies from her subspace. She’d made the sweets by hand in the dungeon whenever she missed the snacks from her previous life.

“We don’t have redfruit, but would you like these instead?”

The children took the jellies with the same wide-eyed wonder, popping them into their mouths. Their eyes sparkled.

After giving them each another, Ayra cast a light illusion spell and made golden flower petals fall like rain. The children squealed with delight, hopping around in excitement. Even noble children were still children, Ayra thought—they were simple and cute.

That’s when Orseng’s youngest daughter, the one he supposedly doted on, pointed at Ayra and exclaimed:

“You! Quit being the lord of this tiny territory and become my lover!”

...Hahah. What kind of noble education had Orseng been giving these kids? For a bean-sized child to use a word like lover...

Still, she wasn’t Ayra’s kid, and Ayra had neither the strength nor the desire to teach her manners. So she just gave a vague reply.

“Mmm, I’ll think about it. Want to see something fun?”

Quickly changing the subject, Ayra used illusion magic to conjure a golden deer and a rabbit, no larger than her palm, on the snow-covered ground. As the children became engrossed in the beautiful illusions, Ayra slipped away.

After encountering both lords’ children, she felt a wave of exhaustion. She kicked herself into gear and rushed to finish her tasks, determined to get some rest soon.

Once she finished checking the entire castle for any remaining issues, she returned to the study. The pile of paperwork was immense—between the lords’ visit and the missing administrator—but she powered through it, and by the time she was done, dawn was breaking.

Dragging her weary body back to her bedroom in search of even two hours of peace, she opened the door mid-yawn—and froze.

Outside the window... a bizarre snowman was clinging to the wall.

It wasn’t until she saw its crimson eyes glint that she realized it wasn’t a snowman at all—it was Janus, who had been out in the snow so long that snow had blanketed him.

Swallowing down the curses rising to her throat, Ayra opened the window. Whether it was Janus’s presence or the cold night air, her drowsiness instantly evaporated.

“Good timing. It was just starting to get chilly.”

His lips seemed numb from the cold, and his words were slightly slurred as he climbed in through the window. Ayra turned to Pebble, wondering why it hadn’t warned her about this visit—only to find the spirit slumped over her shoulder, clearly exhausted from overwork, just like its master.

She quietly tucked the poor thing into her robe.

“Ah—cold!”

Startled by a sudden burst of snow, Ayra looked up. Janus was shaking himself off like a dog, snow flying everywhere. She recoiled in disgust.

“Why were you outside?!”

“The door and window were locked.”

Of course they were. In preparation for the lords’ visit, she had sealed off all restricted areas with security magic.

“If you’d just come in the front door, Botello would have escorted you to me.”

“If people see me acting all friendly with you, it’ll cause problems for you, right?”

Janus answered flatly, and Ayra narrowed her eyes. It sounded like he’d deliberately entered through the window for her sake... but she couldn’t quite believe it. First, this vicious, emotionless psychopath of a dragon wasn’t the type to consider anyone’s feelings. Second, it seemed far more likely that his reason for staying out of sight was the same as when he’d asked for a criminal and vanished from the castle.

But before she could think further, a yawn slipped out. Her HP was down to 450. She found herself wishing she could borrow just 0.01% of Janus’s infinite stamina on a lump-sum loan.

She turned toward the bed.

Thinking was too damn exhausting.