Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 160

“Think about it.”

“About what...?”

“If I had handed you my magic stone. What would you have done with it? Would you have eaten it right away?”

“Of... of course I would have....”

“No, you definitely would’ve stuffed it into your subspace and begged to study it for just a few days, dodging me this way and that. And those ‘few days’ would’ve turned into a month.”

“No, I—”

“And if I told you after I fed it to you, you’d probably have tried to force it back out just to study it.”

Ayra opened her mouth wide, then placed a hand on her stomach, then opened her mouth again, this time sounding slightly offended.

“I’m not, like... that kind of... I’m not that kind of person, okay? Seriously?”

To bring it up by vomiting—if that were the case, she could’ve just extracted it easily with a simple physical spell... Ayra was thinking that when she suddenly came to her senses after locking eyes with Janus’s intense gaze. He gave a faint chuckle.

“Well, don’t deny it so hard. That’s part of your charm.”

“...!”

Ayra opened her mouth again to refute him, then slowly closed it. Then her lips moved again as if she wanted to say something more, but she firmly shut them. As if he’d expected that, Janus casually lay back down on the bed. What annoyed her most was that she couldn't even refute it.

“Besides, now was exactly the right time to feed it to you.”

“What do you mean, ‘the right time’? What even is that supposed to mean? Couldn’t you have done it a bit earlier, or later? Because of that, something happened while I was unconscious....”

She grumbled, forcing the complaint out, but Janus didn’t even pretend to listen. Ayra checked over her body again. She even pulled out a mirror from her subspace to inspect her appearance, but all she could really confirm was that, despite not having eaten for a week, she didn’t look too gaunt. Lost in deep thought—enough to forget about the meal the attendant brought—she eventually asked Janus:

“Then if it works like this... can’t you just feed the magic stone to anyone and make them your mate?”

Janus, who’d been repeatedly checking for any changes to the body that had become his mate, dragged Ayra to sit down and placed a spoon in her hand.

“Well, there was one idiot who tried feeding a magic stone to just any human.”

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“Really? So, what happened?”

“Nothing. Nothing happens. All it amounts to is feeding a pretty little stone to a human.”

Janus shrugged, explaining in a completely unconcerned tone.

“You’re just wasting a fragment of the stone. And there’s only one of those you can ever make.”

Ayra’s hand paused, spoon midway to her mouth, filled with thin, easily digestible soup.

“And once it’s wasted like that, you can’t feed it to your actual mate. So you’re fine for now, but one day, that mate—just a normal human—will die of old age.”

Lying back on one arm, Janus watched Ayra eat, a sharp smile slowly curving on his lips.

“Once our mate dies, life becomes incredibly dull. We don’t live long after that—at best, just a few more years. So you could say we’re quite desperate to find our mate.”

The idea that boredom was the one thing that could kill this walking disaster... Ayra couldn’t believe it.

She stared silently at Janus for a moment. Now that she thought about it, he did seem more emotionally expressive than when they first met. Even just before she collapsed, Janus had looked almost human as he enjoyed the festival.

‘Janus said that losing his mate makes life unbearably dull, but...’

Only now did Ayra begin to understand why he’d called it a “mate” rather than a partner, and what that meant for a dragon. According to Janus, a mate was the one and only channel through which a dragon could feel joy or pleasure. All the emotions that make humans human—happiness, anger, sorrow, pleasure, desire—dragons could only experience them through their mate.

Why were dragons and their mates born this way? It was a truly bizarre symbiotic relationship. To Ayra, a researcher of magical beasts, a mate seemed like a kind of mutant, born solely to survive a dragon. And she rather liked that idea.

“I’m truly glad you turned out to be my mate.”

Janus’s eyes and lips curved into a crescent-moon smile. But it quickly twisted into a crooked grin.

“Though I haven’t fully accepted you as my mate yet.”

“What do you mean, not fully accepted?”

“Well, the process takes some time. Feeding you the magic stone was just the start. The whole thing usually takes a few months...”

Janus rubbed his sharp jawline, trying to recall. Ayra inspected her body again, still feeling no different. The thought that she’d been down with a high fever for a week was disconcerting. If it happened again, she’d be in serious trouble.

“Then... there aren’t any other symptoms, right?”

“Oh, there are. You might lose your appetite, feel nauseous... start sleeping a lot. Get irritable or sensitive.”

The list sounded like symptoms of pregnancy. Considering she was already exhausted from managing the territory, Ayra’s face turned pale at the thought of going through that too. Janus, who quickly picked up on her expression, found it very amusing.

“No, not you. Me.”

“Oh... really? You?”

Honestly, that was a relief. The workload was already growing as the territory expanded with every new project. Reassured, Ayra remembered that her soup was cooling down and resumed eating. Then, slowly, a realization dawned on her.

‘So... I really am Janus’s mate.’

Even the faint suspicion that she might not be completely sure was now wiped clean. A smile crept onto her lips—not one of pure joy, but of very grounded, worldly delight.

‘Our territory’s going to thrive now!’

Any estate that possessed a dragon would grow at an insane speed. From the moment a dragon settled down and declared itself, neighboring lands were absorbed like a sponge soaking up water. Moreover, a land ruled by a dragon was completely safe from magical beasts, making it a haven that drew in people from all directions. In this world, people were power—and power meant wealth.

Still, Ayra intended to wait before announcing anything about Janus. She figured Janus’s suggestion to keep their relationship secret might be related to the time needed for the bonding process to complete.

‘A magic stone is essentially like a core to a magical beast. Losing a piece of it is bound to weaken them.’

They said dragons fought to the death when they met. Ayra was now half-convinced that a second dragon might try to kill Janus, sensing his weakened state. The idea of witnessing such a rare dragon-vs-dragon battle didn’t excite her one bit.

Anyway, she’d confirmed what mattered most for now. What was left was to get back to managing the estate. Ayra downed the rest of the soup like she was drinking it and sprang to her feet.

It was time to go save Bloom.

❄

What happened took place about two days after Ayra collapsed without warning. As the young lord lay unconscious, the retainers grew increasingly anxious—when a messenger from Sobletz arrived.

Given the conflict already brewing with Sobletz over the Skit silk incident, the retainers had tried to keep Ayra’s collapse a secret. But the messenger insisted the matter be delivered directly to the lord, leaving them with no choice but to say she was currently unavailable.

Even so, the messenger quickly realized that something had happened to the young lord of Solar. ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) And so, on the very day the festival ended, with all the citizens watching, he stood arrogantly before the lord’s estate and declared:

“Twelve years ago in Aksion, a slave massacred innocent soldiers and territory residents before fleeing to Solar. The name of that heinous criminal is Bloom! On behalf of Lord Jumenier Orseng of Sobletz, I demand that you surrender that slave immediately!”

The moment the proclamation was made, all eyes turned to Bloom. His pale face looked almost lifeless, and the hand gripping his sword lost all strength. But the messenger didn’t stop there.

“If you refuse to surrender him, it will be taken as harboring a criminal. Lord Orseng’s army will come and take him by force!”

He said “take by force,” but it was nothing short of a declaration of war. It was clear that Lord Orseng, already enraged by the Skit silk affair, was now baring his true intent.

After the messenger left, chaos erupted in the lord’s manor. Botello, already distressed by Ayra’s condition, collapsed with worry, and the residents of the territory trembled with fear at the sudden threat of war.

Though Ayra’s closest aides—like Jinas—were all competent, they had no clear path forward. After the tragic carriage accident that claimed the rest of the Solar family, Ayra was the only one who held legitimate authority. And now she was down with a high fever, completely unconscious.

To make matters worse, Bloom locked himself in his room and refused to speak, no matter how much they asked what was going on.

The retainers stayed up all night debating what to do. Ayra’s awakening was uncertain, and the dragon—when approached—responded only with a look that said, “Shall I kill these annoying bugs or not?” He had always been hard to deal with, but after Ayra’s collapse, he had become downright untouchable—like a beast guarding its wounded cub.

Just as the retainers were leaning toward handing Bloom over to avoid war, someone unexpected objected: Gretel, the usually timid and soft-spoken administrator.

“That’s not an option. Sobletz isn’t doing this because they truly want justice. If we give up Sir Bloom, it’ll only serve as another excuse for war.”

Jinas and Hera both agreed with Gretel. Moreover, if war broke out, the absence of the Knight Commander would be devastating. Just like the lord had no substitute, neither did the knights. Bloom was well respected among the soldiers—his removal would crush morale.