"I’ve told you several tis—the Holy Flower must not be used for personal purposes."
Aterra te Act spoke in a cold, detached tone that could make anyone lose all affection at once. Ayra, who had been forcing a smile while suppressing her irritation, twitched at the corner of her mouth.
"I’m not using it for personal reasons. I told you—I’m using it for the sake of my people."
"Well, if that’s the case, then the temple would naturally be willing to cooperate. However, aren’t the majority of your territory’s residents already under safe protection? What exactly is it you intend to use it for?"
To protect them when my boyfriend decides to smash the territory to bits, obviously!
Ayra wanted to prepare in advance for the possibility that she might fail the main quest or fail to persuade Janus within the month. Now that she’d confird the red flower was effective against him, her plan was to stockpile as much as possible.
But red flowers weren’t easy to co by. She had asked Hera to try to acquire as many as possible, but it wasn’t nearly enough. According to Jinas, most of the red flowers harvested nearby were bought up and stockpiled by the temple. Naturally, the one managing those stores was High Priest Aterra te Act—whose favorability toward Ayra was a whopping minus 50.
Just in case, she’d sent a proposal to buy so, but it was flatly rejected. She’d gone herself to persuade him, but the high priest, still harboring resentnt from last ti, stonewalled her on every front. No matter how hard she argued, in the end, she was forced to retreat.
Of course, Ayra hadn’t expected him to give them up anyway. Her real goal had been to stall Aterra with pointless debate long enough for the pebble to locate the temple’s storage for the red flowers. If it ca to it, she could always resort to physical thods to raid the stash.
Once she’d finished her business at the temple, Ayra headed back toward the castle.
It had already been three days since she offered to find Janus his fated partner. She’d tried everything to make the pebble find one, but no matter how hard she squeezed it, the cute artificial spirit just fluttered out tiny little hearts in misery and failed to produce a single result.
Of course it doesn’t know—if Janus himself doesn’t know, the pebble has no way of knowing either.
What was the criteria for choosing a fated partner, anyway? Ayra recalled all the recorded cases of dragon mates in her mind.
One thing was clear—gender and age didn’t matter. The youngest recorded partner was over fifteen, and the oldest just under forty. Race didn’t seem to matter either, nor personality. In fact, there were docunted cases where the “fated partner” hated the dragon—outright despised them. One legend even said a partner killed their dragon. Who knows if it was true.
So in short, the dragon’s choice is completely one-sided, regardless of what the partner thinks.
Ayra frowned, recalling sothing Janus had once said about partners.
"Fated partner? Oh, right. That’s what humans called it."
"There’s no real standard. It’s sothing that’s decided the mont we’re born. Even if you get mad, you can’t avoid or change it. Yeah—it’s not romantic at all, really..."
The more she thought about it, the more baffling it beca. It almost sounded like he was talking about destiny, yet even Janus himself didn’t seem particularly thrilled about it.
At any rate, Ayra was clearly not his partner. Otherwise, the favorability she’d painstakingly built up wouldn’t have plumted like that. She was furious just thinking about it. It took ages to raise his favorability—and yet it dropped in an instant?! She’d worked so hard just to get it up to two digits...
Still, a small part of her cald when she rembered he’d gone to the trouble of preparing all those ma-beasts just for her. But no—he didn’t do that just for her. Rage flared again. She chewed at her lips and opened the quest window.
[Let’s raise Brave Pebble’s Level]
Use the map function to display religious follower distributions (43/99%)
Count the number of couples ford in Solar during the three months since the user beca lord (23/99%)
Achieve 40% Approval Rating (38/40)
Reward: Open one stat of user’s choice
A quest that tracks how many couples are dating in Solar, while my own love life is falling apart? Ayra glared sharply, and the pebble began sweating transparent drops.
Anyway, this isn’t the priority right now.
Maybe she’d gotten too caught up in fulfilling quest conditions because of the ga-like pop-ups from the pebble. Ayra realized she was treating this too much like a ga. But reality wasn’t a ga—main quests could fail or be derailed by unexpected real-world factors.
She dismissed the quest window and walked on, lost in deep thought. As often happened when distracted, she bumped into things or missed her footing, but the dull ache didn’t register. She barely noticed others greeting her as she entered the castle, or the pebble buzzing around her trying to get her attention. She just waved it off.
"Pebble, your master is thinking. If it’s not urgent, later..."
Unless it was an ergency alert, she could check it later. So she marched on to her study—and froze as soon as she flung the door open.
Janus was in her study. More specifically, he was browsing through her precious collection. She briefly stopped breathing but managed to avoid a full-blown panic.
"Janus... What are you doing here? How’d you get in?"
Her voice ca out higher-pitched than usual from the shock. That must’ve been what the pebble had been trying to warn her about—Janus’s unexpected visit.
"Hey, Ayra."
Janus, who had been peering curiously into a glass jar filled with eyeballs bunched like grapes, turned and smiled. Ayra tried her best to act like she wasn’t even remotely worried about her collection.
"You seed to be avoiding , so I ca to see you. This room slls the most like you."
He tilted his chin toward the terrace window. She’d only secured the door, assuming no human could enter through the window—but of course, the dragon had slithered right in. Ayra brushed the snow from her robe’s hood and spoke casually.
"Avoiding? I’ve just been busy. You know—I’m the lord, after all."
"I could make sure you’re not busy, if you want."
She pretended not to catch the implication—I could just flatten the whole territory—but the cold sweat on her back was harder to ignore. She really was busy. She’d have to squeeze out ti she didn’t have just to deal with Janus.
"Since you’re here, why not have so tea? I had sothing to ask you anyway."
Her heart pounded every ti his eyes or fingers ca close to her polished glass jars, but she offered him a seat. Janus obediently left her precious collection alone and sat on the sofa. Recalling the “Retainer Death” choice that had popped up last ti, Ayra hesitated to call anyone else. Fortunately, the tray of untouched snacks Botello had brought yesterday was still on her desk.
She heated the tea with magic, added a bit of alcohol, and poured it into cups. She slid the tray of food over to Janus as well. He took a few bites, then set everything down—apparently not to his taste.
"So, what did you want to ask ?"
Before answering, Ayra looked at him silently for a mont. In his red eyes, she saw only lust and that artificial affection he always wore. Facing that unnatural crimson gaze, she couldn’t help but wonder:
Has this dragon ever once in his life felt sorry for anything?
She rembered the night he told her he’d co to kill the Lord of Solar. Even after being found out, he hadn’t said a single word of apology. If anything, his attitude was more like: I could destroy this place or kill you anyti—but since you’re my lover, I’ll let it slide for now.
He didn’t even fake guilt. It made her wonder if all dragons were psychopaths. Which, ironically, helped her suppress her anger—because what was the point of getting mad at soone who didn’t respond?
Ayra had dealt with countless psychopaths in the labyrinth, but this one in front of her might be the worst yet. She finally replied to his question with one of «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» her own.
"What’s your type?"
She hated asking, it pissed her off—but she still managed a pretty smile. Pride and all that had to be thrown aside—this was an extre crisis situation.
"My type? Didn’t I tell you already? A beautiful looker, pale skin..."
"No, none of that scripted flattery."
Ayra raised her hand to cut him off. Janus lifted his right eyebrow in confusion.
"I an your real type. I said I’d find your fated partner within a month, right? Then you should at least cooperate. How am I supposed to find them with no clues at all? Right?"
With the sa smooth smile she used when dealing with veteran labyrinth criminals, Ayra coaxed him. But Janus clearly had no intention of being helpful, answering in a halfhearted tone:
"Soone who gets along with and I like being around?"
"Be more specific."
She pulled out her notebook from subspace and began scribbling his words. Janus’s crooked gaze flicked over it before turning away. Even though he clearly disliked this whole “find my fated lover” situation, Ayra still went out of her way to be kind—and yet his mouth curled into a mocking smirk.
"Pretty is fine, handso is good, sexy’s even better. Man or woman, doesn’t matter..."
Ayra nearly snapped the feather pen in her hand. So basically, he had no standard. Janus even tried to flip the argunt back on her.
"Do we really have to do this? Wouldn’t it be easier to find them if I just wiped out Solar?"
"And you seriously think destroying Solar just to find one person makes any sense?"
Her voice rose in anger, and Janus’s eyes glinted dangerously. Ayra forced a smile and quickly reined herself in.
"I’m saying I’ll find them for you myself, without anyone getting hurt. And what if your precious partner dies in the process, huh?"
"Don’t worry. I’ll be careful when I wipe the place out. That won’t happen."
This dragon didn’t lose a single verbal exchange—and he even seed to find their argunt amusing. Ayra sighed and put the pen down, trying again to persuade him.
"You said you like the cold, right? There aren’t many cities colder than Solar."
"True. But even without humans, it’ll still be cold here."
She couldn’t deny that. If anything, it would get colder once all the people were gone. Still, Ayra refused to give up.
"What about the stead bun shop? You really like that place."
"That’s true."
He finally showed a hint of consideration—only to then grin wickedly and say:
"Then how about I only evacuate you and the shop owner?"
Ayra reflexively made a serious face. Janus chuckled at her expression.
"Ayra, I have a reason to destroy this territory—but no reason not to."
His voice was strangely gentle, as if pitying her for trying so hard. As if saying: Don’t bother. It’s already over.
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