Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 136

After leaving the room where Orsain was staying, Ayra headed straight for Arbalte. Since Nilma Argan had been getting annoyingly persistent every time they met lately, she didn’t forget to open the map and check Nilma Argan’s current location in advance.

When she arrived, Arbalte was in the middle of working out, shirtless.

“What is it?”

His body, honed by training and real combat, glistened with sweat—but instead of awe, it was Ayra’s eyes and nose that suffered. She summoned a breeze with magic to clear out the smell, then got straight to the point. Her approach to Nilma Arbalte needed to be very different from how she handled Orsain.

“I happened to hear that you and Sobletz are fighting over the Silk Spider Forest.”

“So?”

Arbalte glanced at her indifferently, the muscles on his face twitching in a threatening manner. Ayra gave a sweet smile and brought up the real reason she had come.

“How about we strike a deal? I’ll make Sobletz completely give up on the Silk Spider Forest.”

“Huh? Make Sobletz give up on the forest?”

Only then did Arbalte show some interest, stepping closer. The strong scent of middle-aged male sweat hit Ayra like a wave, and she held her breath for a second. She really couldn’t understand why he was shirtless working out in this freezing weather.

“And just how are you going to do that?”

“You don’t need to know. I’ll take care of it.”

Despite the vague answer, Arbalte didn’t seem particularly offended. Instead, he gave Ayra a sharp once-over with his intense eyes, clearly trying to gauge whether she really had the ability to pull it off. Soon enough, deciding he had nothing to lose, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} he accepted her offer.

“Fine. Those mangy dogs eyeing my land have been a headache anyway. What do you want?”

“Extend my debt repayment deadline by one year. Also, ten bolts of Skite silk and five hundred trees.”

Solar had plenty of stone, but was woefully lacking in wood. And the few forests they had were cherished as dragon resting grounds. Meanwhile, Bolni was rich in forest resources—they even made lumber one of their main industries. Despite that, they sold wood to Solar at steep prices like thugs.

Ayra added the Skite silk on top of that. Even though the price she demanded was steep, Arbalte didn’t argue. He simply stared at her for a while, then nodded.

“I’ll pay after I see the results of tomorrow’s summit.”

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“Sure. You can look forward to it.”

Unlike with Orsain, who required quite a bit of effort to negotiate with, the deal with Arbalte was straightforward. As soon as they finished speaking, Arbalte shut the door without another word. It was a clear dismissal, but Ayra didn’t mind. In fact, a smile crept onto her face.

When Ayra told Gretel she knew how to raise silk spiders, Gretel had been the one to suggest using that information to manipulate Orsain and Arbalte.

‘M-My Lord, I think... what Sobletz wants is the silk spiders, and what Bolni wants is the forest...’

‘Hmm, right. Sounds similar, but they’re definitely distinct if you break it down.’

‘So maybe you could offer the spider breeding method to Sobletz, and the forest to Bolni? That way, our territory could benefit from the summit too...’

Ayra looked at Gretel with surprised eyes. It was not only a solid idea—it also triggered a change in one of his stats. System messages popped up in succession.

[Ran Gretel’s skill ‘Mediation’ has evolved into ‘Diplomacy’.]

[Tip. 4★ Hero ‘Ran Gretel’ has honed his diplomatic skills since childhood by mediating family conflicts. Invest resources to grow him into a 5★ Hero!]

[Tip. All heroes have growth potential based on their aptitude and hidden traits.]

A diplomat, huh...? Looking fondly at him, Ayra praised it as a good idea, and Gretel’s face turned bright red.

Before proposing her deals, Ayra had thoroughly analyzed each lord’s personality and refined Gretel’s suggestion accordingly. Thanks to that, the negotiations had gone smoothly and were instantly successful. As expected, the resumed summit the following day was a success. Orsain, who had accepted the behind-the-scenes deal, was the one who backed down.

As soon as the summit ended, Lord Orsain of Jumenier left in a hurry, as if he had no more business in this cold, desolate land. Ayra had handed over the silk spider breeding method, so he was probably eager to return home and test it. Arbalte, perhaps not wanting to travel with Orsain, left late that morning. Just before departing, Nilma Argan gave Ayra a rather pitiful look—but Ayra deliberately ignored it.

“Feels great to see those insufferable lords finally gone.”

A smile played across Ayra’s lips. She’d managed to make a tidy profit from this summit. As she strolled through the now-peaceful Lord’s Castle, she opened the quest window from before.

<Quest Complete!>

[Who is the True Owner of the Silk Spiders?]

Successfully mediate the conflict between Sobletz and Bolni!

Reward: ???

Note: If mediation fails, your territory’s Commerce Level will decrease!

Strangely, although the quest was marked complete, the reward was still listed as ‘???’. Ayra pestered Pebble, asking if it was a bug or error, but only received a few measly hearts in return. It seemed the reward wouldn’t trigger until both lords returned to their territories.

She opened the map and saw that some members of the lords’ entourages were still wandering around the territory. After tagging them with markers, she checked on Janus. As if he had sensed the lords were gone, he was already making his way alone back to the Lord’s Castle.

“...Where’d you sell off the convict? Why are you alone?”

Looking through the map, Ayra didn’t see any sign of the prisoner. So he did kill him, huh? Pebble perked up its ears, then placed a black dot on the map. It was the convict’s last known location, marked just before death.

“Sigh... I’ll have to go clean that up later.”

Even if the guy was a despicable criminal who deserved to die, the way it was handled left a bitter taste. Back in the labyrinth, Ayra had always done her best to make sure no slave under her died unnecessarily.

‘I should at least recover the body and bury it somewhere warm and sunny.’

Just as she thought that, the map indicated Janus had arrived at the castle. Despite not having access to the map interface, Janus had a way of always knowing where to go—he threw the door open without a second’s hesitation.

Seated on the study sofa, Ayra watched as Janus grinned with his sharp fangs visible. Today, his handsome face looked especially radiant.

“Hey, Ayra.”

“Hey, Janus.”

Even after toying with and killing a human like a plaything, the dragon showed not a trace of guilt. He plopped down onto the sofa across from her—it had basically become his assigned seat by now. Leaning back lazily with his arms stretched along the cushions, Janus stared at her and triggered a choice window.

Say “I missed you.” (Bad Ending)

Say “Glad you were gone.” (Bad Ending)

Time Limit: 5 seconds

Ayra barely reacted this time. Calmly skimming the choices, she replied:

“Since it’s been a while, how about lunch together?”

The reaction was instantaneous.

Say “Let’s eat together.” (Favorability ↑)

[Janus Rehzedet’s Favorability has increased by 3!]

Current Favorability: 50

Back when she struggled so hard, even one point wouldn’t rise—now just asking to eat together got her three points. With Favorability already at 50, she didn’t feel happy—just vaguely uneasy. She stared at him skeptically, but when their eyes met, she quickly forced a smile.

“Well, sure. I am hungry.”

Janus answered smoothly and stood up. Ayra took him to the banquet hall and served him a greasy, decadent meal on par with what she’d been feeding the visiting lords. This dragon rarely complained about food, but when the meal was truly delicious, it definitely showed.

After feeding him well and putting him in a good mood, Ayra asked with a pointed tone:

“So, where’d you dump the prisoner I assigned you? That guy was a seriously vicious criminal. You didn’t just let him go somewhere, did you?”

Feigning ignorance even though she already knew, Ayra pressed him. Janus crunched bones between his teeth and replied disinterestedly.

“It’s fine. He won’t be committing any more crimes.”

“Riiight...”

It was such a typical psychopathic response that it barely fazed her anymore. At least it was winter, so the body wouldn’t rot too quickly.

After the meal, Ayra got ready to head out to complete her next level-up quest and to gauge public opinion on the recent summit. As she got dressed, Janus watched from the bedroom, baffled.

“You’re all bundled up like a snowball.”

“I have no choice. Better than freezing to death.”

With winter now in full swing, Solar was bitterly cold, far worse than before. Snow fell daily, and each morning the sound of servants shoveling echoed across the castle. Some parts of the castle were so cold you could see your breath—even indoors.

Ayra layered up: two thin inner garments, then a padded inner coat, a long vest that reached the knees, a wide belt, a thick robe lined with rabbit fur, and an outer robe to block the snow. She put on tall fur-lined boots, wrapped a scarf Botello had knitted around her neck, pulled her hood low, and finally put on leather gloves.

“Can you even walk like that?”

Amused, Janus circled her like a hawk. Honestly, even in winter, no one else in the castle was dressed like this—she drew stares everywhere she went. But even with all the layers, Ayra still shrank against the cold every time the wind blew.

“Everyone’s insane. Who throws a festival in this kind of weather...”

“It’s refreshing. What’s the problem?”

The dragon, who wore the same thing year-round, said nonchalantly. Then he casually cupped her icy cheek with his hand—warm as always. Ayra was envious. Even with gloves on, her fingers stung from the cold. She stared longingly at Janus’s hand like it was a hot pack, then briskly walked off.