Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 112

"I haven't even started threatening properly yet."

Licking between Ayra's fingers, Janus spoke, then deliberately began to lap noisily at her palm. The moist, fleshy paths he traced ran from between her fingers to her wrist.

"I'll pretend to sort of listen to the threats. So, will you give me some time to think?"

Ayra, in an attempt to protect Bloom and Hera from the crazed dragon, utilized the eloquence she had honed in the labyrinth. She knew Janus was just being spiteful and not truly angry about this matter, which made such wordplay possible.

Indeed, as Ayra thought, Janus was treating the lives of the two as nothing more than a lover's jest or a simple game. He easily fell for Ayra's playful words.

"Alright. Then let's see how long you can withstand my threat."

Gripping Ayra's chin, Janus bit her lip painfully like a vile villain. Indeed, he was a villain since he was gambling with the lives of Ayra's retainers. Soon after leaving a bite mark on her lower lip, which quickly swelled up red, he lightly sucked on the area. Then he slowly pulled Ayra into his embrace and kissed her. His arms, tightening like a snake, were strong and firm.

Lips, cheeks, eyelids, nape, earlobes, chest... Initially moving slowly as if savoring each moment, he soon began to kiss her like a downpour, greedily biting and licking wherever he touched. From these movements, Ayra could tell it was going to be a tough day.

It's just a threat, he might kill me or at least beat me up. But in the end, it's just sex.

Thinking she just had to endure one night, Ayra quietly surrendered her body to Janus, then suddenly thought.

‘...Is this really something to ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) endure as a threat?’

Though it was always hard and overwhelming, Janus's sex was not painful or torturous. It was just excessively vigorous. Since he apparently needed an excuse to vent his poor mood, why couldn't she do the same?

"Huh..."

As Janus stripped her and licked up her chest, taking her nipple into his mouth, a sweet moan escaped from Ayra's lips. A tingling heat surged from her lower abdomen. He recalled having to swallow his pride and find a mate for his lover. The rising irritation mingled with the sensation of pleasure.

Standing still, receiving only the stimulation Janus provided, Ayra then pounced on him. She wildly tousled his red hair, wrapping her arm around his neck, and kissed him fiercely, infusing her action with intent.

Watching what he would do, when Janus pushed his tongue into her mouth, she bit it sharply. His eyebrows contorted, and his red eyes flickered with a gleaming light. Rarely did a moan escape from Janus's mouth, but it did now, due to Ayra ruthlessly biting his nape. A faint trace of blood marked the bite as she clenched her teeth into his skin.

"...Janus."

Her tongue came out between their lips, licking her lips tinged with shimmering blood. It was the first time Ayra had acted this way, making the dragon's eyes seem to burn fiercely.

"If you're going to threaten me with the lives of my people, you better do it right."

"Fuck... Alright, Ayra. Let's see you try today."

Excited or perhaps angry, Janus twisted his lips and chuckled throatily. Although a system window popped up in the corner of her vision indicating a rise in favorability, Ayra, already quite heated, didn't look at it. Resigned to whatever would happen, she willingly threw herself into the dragon's maw.

❄

"My lord... My looord...?"

Lying dead-like over her desk, Ayra twitched her finger. But her body, as if still asleep from just waking up, didn't move as she wanted.

"Lord, you... you're still alive, right?"

The young administrator, timid like his father, trembled as he called out several times, eventually letting out a squeak as he made some dreadful assumption. He immediately ran out of the study to call for help, but Ayra managed to flick her finger and slam the door shut. Startled, the administrator fell backwards, scattering documents everywhere.

"I'm not dead..."

Though to anyone listening, her voice sounded like it was fading away. Ayra had purposely drawn the dragon's aggression, sacrificing her body to save her retainers. The opponent was more aroused than usual, and she had been thoroughly 'devoured' all night, leaving her drained. Her body was full of bite marks and handprints. It was the first time her muscles ached from sex. She had only managed to escape Janus's grasp by dawn and returned to the lord's castle.

Still, there were some positives. She had managed to relieve some of the recent stress, and importantly, her favorability had returned to 14. Seeing the increase in favorability confirmed that Janus indeed preferred it rough. Lying flat on her desk, moving only her quill pen to handle documents, Ayra opened the estate window to check the D-day.

"121 days..."

Time had truly flown by since arriving in Solar. Only 121 days were left, but she was relieved that the month-long wager on the estate's fate hadn't yet been reflected on D-day.

'There's still time.'

Leaning her cheek against the desk, Ayra deepened into thought, staring intently at the estate window. With both the map window and retainer stat window open at once, to Gretel it seemed as if she was staring blankly into space.

"Um, my lord... Are you worried about something?"

"Hmm? There's a lot to worry about."

The debt of 10,000 Cells, the conflict with Aterra te Act, the yet-to-start tourism business, among many concerns, the most serious was preventing the destruction of the estate. Naturally, she couldn't tell Gretel. Unlike Jinas, Bloom, and Hera, she didn't quite trust Gretel yet.

His character wasn't the issue. Rather, unlike Hera, who could leave at any moment, this young administrator was capable but timid, very scared, and deeply loved his large family.

"I don't know what it is, but if you tell me, I'll do my best to help you with even the smallest issue."

The pink-haired young man spoke resolutely, and despite her difficulties, Ayra felt touched. Thinking about it, she had always unilaterally instructed the three retainers to prepare for the dragon's attacks, without ever really discussing anything with them.

"Suppose, Gretel, you were a shepherd raising sheep."

"Yes! I would raise them well!"

He shouted, determined to do his best even for hypothetical sheep, which seemed a bit adorable given he was the youngest among the retainers...

"But what if a starving ma-beast is lurking around your sheep? What if it's so strong that even hunters can't handle it?"

"Um..."

Gretel fell into deep thought, likely taking it as a frequent occurrence of ma-beast attacks in the estate.

"Should I feed the sheep some gromwell?"

"There aren't enough sheep to feed all. And ma-beasts have eyes, you know."

"What about giving a sick sheep to satiate the ma-beast?"

"The beast will want to devour the entire flock to be satisfied."

"How about letting the sheep run away far?"

"Would the sheep obediently listen? It might end up causing more harm."

Stumped by the reality-reflected responses, Gretel squirmed and then sighed deeply.

"It's tough. If you run away leaving the sheep, at least you can save the shepherd's life, but for a typical shepherd, the sheep are practically everything."

Hoping against hope in Gretel's high intelligence stat, but as expected, there seemed no solution other than having the power to fend off the ma-beast or, as Gretel said, running away. However, Gretel soon clenched his fist and replied.

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"Still, I'll do my best to protect the sheep."

Hearing Gretel's words, Ayra responded inwardly. Yes, I'll also do my best to protect my sheep. Though the chances were low, like for a shepherd to whom the sheep were everything, to a lord, the people of the estate were just as important.

Ayra, with Gretel's help, handled the piled-up documents and then went to Hera. After sharing the current situation and instructing her to steal the gromwell from the temple in case of an emergency, Hera looked at her worriedly.

"My lord, aren't you pushing yourself too hard? Your face looks terrible."

"I have to push myself, what choice do I have?"

Accepting the reality, Hera sighed and then patted Ayra's shoulder. After leaving Hera's house, Ayra rode out to patrol the estate and thoroughly inspected the roads leading to and from the city and villages.

The next day, after a busy day, she introduced a slime disguised as a second mate candidate to Janus.

"He's Arun, who went to study theology in Sobletz and has just returned to Solar."

This time, she overlaid a lively and handsome young man's illusion over the real gender. Arun greeted Janus energetically. Janus glanced at Ayra and, just like last time, accompanied Arun with a very affectionate demeanor.

Then he took him to a secluded mountain and twisted his neck, killing him.

Fortunately, slimes don't die unless their core is damaged. As Ayra went to retrieve the squirming slime sprawled out on the mountain, she harbored a deep doubt.

‘Does he really not know it’s a slime?’

If it had been an ordinary human, it would have been as if two people had already died. However, she couldn't afford to waste a month, so Ayra persisted in introducing meaningless mate candidates.