"......Hm?"
Janus reflexively touched his face, but of course, he couldn’t remove the pebble. Tilting his head in confusion, he rubbed at his face again. Whether or not his fingers passed through his body, the pebble wriggled its way up, now climbing boldly toward his sharp nose bridge.
"What is this? A ma-beast? What a bizarre little thing...."
Hera showed a spark of curiosity, but her attention was soon snatched away by the steaming basket that had just been opened. Ayra glanced at the pebble with a slight twitch in her gaze and asked silently:
'Just now, was Janus... huh? Was he maybe about to prod it to see if it really was a tough human or not?'
Ding! A notification window popped up in front of her eyes.
[Tip. Proverb of the Day! A dragon's curiosity kills the human.]
There’s no such proverb! In any case, a perfectly innocent citizen had nearly gotten stabbed. Luckily, just in ti, Ulf pulled out steaming hot buns from the basket. After handing one to Hera, he gave a pile of them to both Ayra and Janus as well.
...But didn’t we get here first?
"Ayra, what the hell is this thing doing?"
While they were distracted by the buns, the pebble had now covered Janus’s eyes entirely. Ayra, pretending not to know, peeled it off and replied,
"Our pebble must really like you."
The pebble, who had thrown her entire body in a sacrificial leap, looked at her master in betrayal—but Ayra just ignored her. When Janus reached out, trying to pet her, the pebble quickly dodged and disappeared into Ayra’s body. Janus gave a little laugh and, in her place, gently stroked the back of Ayra’s hand.
It was early morning, so there weren't many custors in the bun shop. As Ayra sipped the warm soup and thawed her frozen limbs, Ulf eventually sat in the corner with Hera, chatting and laughing. It was unmistakably the scene of two people who liked each other—sweet and unmistakably romantic. Ayra looked at them once, then looked at Janus.
'Just how many of my territory’s people can I save from this dragon?'
As she sat there staring at them, imrsed in her worry, Janus misunderstood sothing and handed her one of his buns. It was a bit spicy, but the flavor was decent......
After the al, Ayra parted ways with Janus. Her brief break was over. It was ti to return to the castle and deal with the mountain of backlog. One day off hadn’t even co close to curing her exhaustion, but she gritted her teeth and forced her heavy steps forward. As she walked quickly, she tilted her head.
"Is shaving your head completely bald the latest trend?"
Maybe if they were older... but she’d seen several young n walking around with bald heads. Not only bald but their eyebrows were completely gone too. And all of them wore expressions full of rage. Shaving your head on a snowy day... aren’t they cold? Shivering, Ayra tightened her hood {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} firmly around her.
When she returned to the castle, she received an earful from Jinas, drank a hot cup of tea from Botello, and dropped by to see Bloom. As one of the three currently grinding themselves to the bone to support Solar, Bloom’s face looked just as haggard as Jinas’s. As soon as he saw Ayra, he dropped to one knee with a loud thump and shouted, eyes bloodshot:
"Lord Ayra! I’ll decapitate the scum locked in prison and hang their heads on the castle walls as a warning! That’ll reduce the number of criminals going forward!"
"No. Absolutely not. Don’t do that..."
This was the sa knight commander who had once made a fuss about beheading the envoy from Bolni. Now he was loudly proclaiming he’d execute the corrupt officials and soldiers in prison. To top it off, he even suggested installing a public execution platform outside the castle. Needless to say, if she allowed that, public approval would plumt instantly. Bloom was relatively capable, but he had a tendency to go to extres.
After sternly warning him to never execute anyone without her explicit permission, Ayra returned to her study and sat down—then began attacking the workload like a madwoman. When her eyes felt dry, she’d glance at her lovely display cabinet—then work. When her neck started to ache, she’d admire her beautiful ornants—then work again...
She worked all through the night until she passed out, slumping face-first onto her desk. When she finally managed to open her eyes the next morning, she checked the estate’s stat window. Thankfully, no major disasters had occurred overnight, and public approval hadn’t changed.
But that was exactly the problem.
Ayra opened her newly acquired quest window.
[Let’s Raise the Lively Pebble’s Level]
Check the Stat Window of an NPC 50m away (74/150)View five Stat Windows simultaneously (8/30)Reach 25% Public Approval (17/25)
Reward: Unlock one stat of the user’s choice"Haaah... approval rating..."
Ayra sighed so deeply it felt like she’d fall into the earth. She had one body, but twice as much work to handle. No matter how talented she was as a mage, there were limits. Stroking the pebble, who rubbed herself against her hand like a kitten, Ayra sat blankly in her chair for a mont.
But sighing wouldn't get anything done, so she forced herself to her feet. Dragging things out would only lead to a vicious cycle. Ayra made a firm decision.
‘Forget the 10,000 Cell debt for now.’
Right now, the priority wasn’t repaying the debt—it was saving as many people as possible from the dragon disaster. For that, she needed her artificial spirit to reach its final level. And to do that, she needed to clear the quest requirent: raising public approval.
There were several reasons why security in the territory was unstable, but the biggest one was a shortage of guards. She’d already unlocked the Physical Attack stat with plans to recruit more forces anyway. Now, with things as they were, she decided to revise the plan and go all-in on assembling a proper force.
With a clear goal, Ayra moved swiftly. After assigning work to Jinas, she left the castle and started checking Stat Windows of targets as far away as possible. On average, adult n had a physical attack stat of around 200 to 250, but occasionally, there were those with over 500.
Most of those individuals were gathered at the rcenary Office. Naturally, her gaze turned in that direction.
‘Not rcenaries. Most are outsiders, and the locals might resent them. Plus, it’s hard to expect loyalty.’
She was about to turn away, but Ayra suddenly hesitated. Co to think of it, she did have one reason to visit the rcenary Office.
"Welco!"
As usual, Nadal was manning the rcenary Office, grinning brightly. Then, when he realized the visitor was Ayra, his eyes widened.
"Oh? Long ti no see! Janus isn’t here today. He hasn’t been coming by much lately."
Even before she asked, he brought up Janus, prompting Ayra to cough awkwardly. Since it was still morning, the office was quiet and nearly empty. A perfect ti to ask sothing discreet. As she sat down at a table, Nadal blinked in surprise.
[Nadal’s Favorability has increased by 5.]
Current Favorability: 53
What did I even do to earn five points? Every ti soone else’s favorability rose this easily, Ayra couldn’t help comparing them to Janus. Even Jinas had jumped up by twelve recently, but that pervy dragon only ever crept up by one asly point at a ti. The contrast was maddening.
‘If he ever went up by more than two at once, I’d throw a party.’
Shaking off the thought, Ayra got straight to the point. It worked in her favor that Nadal’s favorability was already high.
"Do you have a mont? There’s sothing I wanted to ask."
"Of course! Ask anything."
[Nadal’s Favorability has increased by 8.]
Current Favorability: 61
Okay, seriously. I an, sure, maybe I’m nice to look at—but does it really warrant this kind of reaction? Nadal’s cheeks were even faintly blushing. Ayra pretended not to notice his anticipation and got to the point.
"Would it be okay to ask... about Janus’s ex-lovers?"
"Uhh... Janus’s exes?"
That clearly wasn’t the conversation he was hoping for—Nadal’s face visibly fell. Yet for so reason, his favorability rose by 2 more points. Ayra was starting to feel a bit overwheld. In less than a minute, his favorability had gone up by 15.
"If you an exes... he had quite a few. Forma, Kanal, Dict, dicina, Lillichie... What did you want to know?"
She expected as much, but hearing all those nas still left a bitter taste. Nadal had already listed five. Who knew how many more there were? Dragons had long lifespans, so it was probably a lot...
"Were they all from Solar?"
"Yeah, all locals. So only dated him for a week, others for maybe three months."
"Are any of them living near the rcenary Office, or around here...?"
Ayra trailed off. She felt a little embarrassed—it probably seed like she’d co running over in a jealous rage, digging through his past. As expected, Nadal gave an awkward laugh and fell into thought. He tilted his head repeatedly, murmuring to himself in a puzzled voice.
"Huh... now that you ntion it, that’s strange. Wait a minute... huh?"
He furrowed his brow, repeating the nas of Janus’s past lovers to himself, then his face changed to one of alarm.
"Those exes—you know, I haven’t seen any of them around Solar since they broke up with Janus."
"What?"
Seeing Ayra’s expression turn grim, Nadal must’ve realized how suspicious that sounded.
"Oh, no no—not that they disappeared! They just left Solar not long after breaking up. So of them still keep in touch with . But now that I think about it, it’s a little strange. Why’d they all leave the territory?"
Knowing Janus’s true identity, Ayra had a sour thought. Did they really leave to another territory... or did they go to a place called the “afterlife” territory...?
Since they were rcenaries anyway, Ayra handed Nadal a magic stone as paynt and asked him to investigate the whereabouts of the ex-lovers. Nadal, fired up, made rounds through the rcenary Office asking around. The results: most had settled down in far-off regions and were doing well. Two of them had died, but it was due to endemic disease and unfortunate accidents.
"Co back again soon! I’ll treat you to sothing tasty!"
Ayra left the rcenary Office with all the information she needed, trailed by Nadal’s wistful farewell. Her brows were furrowed tight with unease.
‘No, seriously, this is weird. If they were all born and raised in Solar, why did every single one leave?’
She had only co to check on their well-being—but left feeling even more unsettled. Ayra shelved the matter for now. There would be ti to look into it properly later. For now, it was ti to get back to work.
Reviews
All reviews (0)