Disappointed, Ayra dismissed the system notification. She had taken in enough of the scenery by now, and as if reading her thoughts, Janus pointed toward the lord’s castle with a flick of his finger.
At the sa ti, he casually rested his other hand on her waist. It made her slightly uncomfortable, but considering she was standing at a dangerous height, she decided to let it slide. Still, the heat from his palm was too warm—so warm that she couldn’t tell if the tingling in her chest was from that or the altitude.
"That’s the lord’s castle," he said. "Recently, the lord and his entire family died."
"One of his children survived," Ayra corrected instinctively, snapping back a little too quickly.
Janus, completely unbothered, replied flatly, "And what difference does it make if just one survived? The estate’s dood to collapse anyway."
Wow. Rude.
Ayra shot him a glare but quickly looked away when their eyes t. She wasn’t about to drop any hints about her identity. Of course, the fact that he already knew she was a mage was unsettling enough...
But Janus, utterly indifferent to her reactions, continued explaining.
"See the plaza? That’s the market. The tall black building over there is Morunka’s temple. Near the river’s where most people live, and across the river is the slums. Then, past the walls... beyond the plains, you can faintly see Sobletz. And beyond the mountains—that’s Bolnie."
Sobletz and Bolnie were both at least twice the size of Solar Estate—wealthier, more powerful, and far more stable. Like most neighboring territories throughout history, they had their share of conflicts, and Ayra knew that Solar had spent years caught between them, gradually shrinking to its current state.
"So, where do you want to take you?" Janus asked.
"Would it be too much to see everything?"
She felt a bit guilty accepting a guide for free, especially from soone who seed... suspiciously generous. As she dug into her pockets to check how many mana stones she had brought, Janus spoke up casually.
"Not a problem. The city’s not that big. Even if we take our ti, we could cover it all in three or four days."
"Three or four days...?"
Ayra murmured, almost to herself. She was still adjusting to the scale of things here. The Labyrinth, where she had spent most of her life, was as vast as any major tropolis. Compared to that, the estate felt small.
Janus smirked at her reaction. "If you don’t mind taking longer, I can tell you everything I know."
"That would actually be great."
For Ayra, there was no downside. In any kind of study, mastering the fundantals was the most important step. And governing an estate was no different—understanding the land and its people was crucial.
It was a stroke of luck that she had this extra ti before formally taking on the role of lord.
But sothing still felt off.
"Why are you being so helpful?" she asked.
She had good reason to be wary. Different regions had different levels of security, but nowhere in this world was as safe as her previous life had been. This place was riddled with criminals—so were just petty thugs, but others were truly depraved monsters.
At her question, Janus tilted his head, letting out a thoughtful hum. His red eyes narrowed slightly, a glimr of amusent hidden beneath the tousled strands of his wind-blown hair.
"If I’m so suspicious, why did you follow all the way up here? You don’t even know what I’m capable of."
"I can defend myself."
She was a mage, after all. She had co this far because she was confident in her own abilities. An ordinary person wouldn’t have risked it.
Janus chuckled—an infuriatingly amused, condescending chuckle, like he was indulging a child.
"Ohhh, I see. A mage, huh? How impressive. So terrifying."
Was he mocking her?
Ayra frowned. Just as she was about to snap back, Janus spoke again, his tone shifting to sothing overbearingly sweet—like an adult gently scolding a reckless child.
"Still, you shouldn’t follow strange n into deserted places. That’s very dangerous, you know."
As if to prove his point, he tightened the grip on her waist ever so slightly and lazily licked the corner of his mouth with the tip of his tongue.
"In a place like this, terrible things could happen to you."
Ayra instinctively tensed, stepping back—but there was barely any room on the narrow ledge. She had nowhere to retreat.
This man...
He’s definitely a nace.
It was clear now—he wasn’t doing this out of the kindness of his heart. He was teasing her, maybe even testing her.
"Being a mage doesn’t an you should let your guard down," he went on smoothly. "Mages aren’t the only ones in this world with power, you know."
Ayra knew that.
A properly trained mage, one who had spent twenty years honing their skills in the Labyrinth, could block a rain of arrows, lift an entire house with magic, or take down dozens of unard civilians in an instant.
But there were people in this world who were even faster and deadlier than that.
A mage specialized in combat magic might be able to handle them, but her magic wasn’t the type ant for direct confrontation.
"I considered that possibility before I followed you."
"Oh? So you do think you can take on?" Janus asked, grinning.
"No," Ayra answered flatly. "If soone truly intended to kill , it wouldn’t matter what I did. The result would be the sa."
It was simple logic.
Powerful enemies were dangerous no matter where you were. Whether she was in a busy city or an isolated mountaintop, she’d be in just as much danger.
In fact, an empty place like this was better for a fight. Fewer obstacles, no civilians to get caught in the crossfire.
After all, the people of this estate...
They were her responsibility now.
"Aha... Yeah, that does make sense."
Janus shrugged, seeming to lose interest in teasing her. He glanced down at her with an unreadable expression before casually patting her on the shoulder—his touch light but strangely familiar.
"Alright, caught your breath? Let’s start heading down."
At those words, Ayra turned to look down the cliffside and imdiately let out a deep sigh.
Anyone who had ever climbed a mountain knew: going down was harder than going up.
And considering how Janus had thrown her earlier, she wasn’t about to give him the chance to do it again. Taking the initiative, she stepped into the air, descending on her own with careful precision.
Janus, seeing this, let out an amused chuckle before simply leaping down in one effortless motion.
Descending was just as exhausting as climbing. If Janus hadn’t caught her at just the right monts, she would have fallen at least a dozen more tis.
By the ti they were nearly at the base, Ayra’s legs felt like jelly, barely holding her up.
That was when she noticed sothing.
A beast.
A dead one, freshly so.
It looked like it had lost a territory fight. Ayra gasped and rushed toward it without thinking.
"Holy... This is..."
A Stradia.
A transdinsional gelatinous lifeform.
And not just any Stradia—an entirely new subspecies!
The beast was the size of a large hound, its semi-transparent, jelly-like body still intact except for a slight indentation on its head. It was perfectly fresh. Ayra was both ecstatic and deeply frustrated—overjoyed at the discovery, yet mourning the fact that she had no proper tools to preserve it.
Her hands road over the Stradia’s body, feeling its soft, warm, pinkish surface.
"It’s pink... Soft, squishy, still warm... And this radial symtry, these laminar follicle sacs—unbelievable..."
Her fingers, imbued with a faint trace of magic, gently combed through the thick, plush tendrils covering the creature’s belly, likely an adaptation to the harsh cold.
She might have stayed there all day, utterly entranced—
—if not for the piercing stare drilling into the back of her head.
Ayra coughed and reluctantly pulled her hands away, feigning casual surprise, as if she had rely been startled by an unusual specin.
"I was just... surprised to see a Stradia this vividly colored. That’s all."
At her words, Janus’ gaze flicked between her and the pathetically dead Stradia. He took a step back, as if putting physical distance between himself and whatever he had just witnessed.
"...Right. Because when normal people get surprised, they rush forward to hug and caress sothing that looks like a half-chewed intestine."
His expression was one of unmistakable pity—like he was looking at a poor, ntally unwell creature who had just lost its last grip on reality.
Half-chewed intestine?!
It’s way prettier than that, okay?!
Ayra clenched her fists.
I am NOT crazy.
I am a researcher. This is SCIENCE.
...Still. Perhaps in the future, she should at least pretend to be shocked when she saw a corpse. A valuable lesson learned.
Dragging her exhausted legs forward, she resud walking, and after a mont of heavy silence, both she and Janus found themselves subtly glancing at each other.
‘A brute who throws people off cliffs for fun.’
‘A pretty lunatic who gets excited over dead monsters.’
Neither voiced their thoughts.
They simply trudged down the mountain in silence.
❄
"Lady Ayra. Lady Ayra."
A cautious hand gently shook her shoulder. Dazed, Ayra blinked awake, groaning softly.
"Is it morning...?" she mumbled.
The sunlight filtering through the curtains felt a little too dim to be morning. Botello gave her a concerned look.
"Perhaps you should at least have so lunch before sleeping again."
"Lunch...?"
"We have already passed noon, my lady."
Ayra turned her head toward the window. The sun had already passed its peak.
Oh. That late, huh?
If Botello hadn’t woken her, she might have slept straight into the evening.
As she slowly forced herself upright, Botello brought over a basin of warm water. A tiny, artificial spirit stretched its stubby limbs, dunking itself into the water with a blissful expression.
Ayra absentmindedly dipped her fingers into the basin, letting the warmth seep into her skin.
Gods, I’m so tired...
Why was she this exhausted?
Well.
A severe lack of exercise, for one.
And for two—
Her so-called "guide" was an absolute monster of stamina.
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