Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 143

“Isn’t this just... too much, even for a game?”

Ayra muttered to herself. If this were a game, it wouldn’t just be trash—it’d be a hardcore, completely unplayable disaster. One dragon was already too much. Two?

No matter how much she wanted to believe Janus hadn’t deliberately triggered the earthquake to massacre countless humans, wasn’t this speculation going too far? Still, unable to resist the surge of curiosity, Ayra ended up asking anyway.

“Hey Janus, I’ve got a question.”

“What is it?”

Janus was sticking his tongue out, catching snowflakes like a child, and answered with a pleased tone, clearly glad Ayra was speaking to him during this boring stretch of travel.

“What happens when dragons meet other dragons?”

“They fight.”

That one-word answer was all he gave, so Ayra waited, then asked again.

“And then?”

“What do you mean, ‘and then’? They just fight. In most cases, they keep going until only one is left. Or they both die.”

It was an alarmingly brutal reply. Ayra had always been curious—being highly intelligent lifeforms, surely dragons had some form of small-scale society, right? Janus’s answer utterly destroyed that hypothesis.

She tried again, carefully.

“Don’t you ever... form friendships? Or romantic relationships? No social bonds at all?”

At that, Janus let out a laugh, as if it were the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.

“To dragons, others of our kind aren’t like how humans think of kin. They’re generally disgusting. The only good thing about them is that they’re fun to fight or kill. If I had to compare it... maybe like a pest you need to eliminate immediately?”

In her previous life, dragons in fantasy novels were often portrayed as noble aristocrats, helping each other out. But from Janus’s mouth, dragons were practically pathological misanthropes—toward each ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ other.

Ayra discreetly scribbled a new line in her observation log inside her robe: Dragons... exhibit extreme intraspecies hostility. Likely reason for low population...

She then recalled waking up this morning to find Janus lying in her bed with ragged clothes and cautiously asked,

“Is there... another dragon nearby?”

“No. None.”

The answer came too quickly and too firmly. Suspicious, Ayra pressed further.

“How can you be sure? Can dragons sense each other? Like, through pheromones or scent or something?”

“Sometimes we know, sometimes we don’t, even if we’re right next to each other. But there probably aren’t any nearby.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Even as she said it, Ayra didn’t fully believe him. She opened the map window. The map, displaying Solar, Sobletz, and about half of Bolni, was filtered for “dragons.”

Only one red dot appeared—Janus.

It was a relief. But at the same time... a bit disappointing.

Would it be better if Janus were the dragon responsible for the massacre? Or if there was actually another dragon out there?

Since Pebble’s alerts were based on intention or emotional energy, she couldn’t ask directly about the earthquake. The more she thought about it, the more it made her head hurt, so she tried to change the subject.

“Anyway, the spiders probably fled to another forest because of the quake.”

In a way, that was lucky. With Bolni’s power weakened, Sobletz would surely try to retrieve the silk spiders quickly. But Ayra, who could see each spider’s exact location, had the advantage.

She glanced at Janus again, then pulled her collar tight against the wind.

Thankfully, once they entered the cave path, they were shielded from the wind, and the cold eased up somewhat. Ayra passed several worn-down, exhausted people along the cave trail. She stopped one, already suspecting the reason.

“Judging by your clothing, you’re from Bolni. Did something happen?”

The reply was exactly what she expected: a sudden earthquake had struck all of Bolni the previous night. Many had died, crushed or injured. It was winter, so fires lit with mana stones had spread in homes, causing further casualties from burns and suffocation. To make matters worse, the ruling family had been absent, so there had been no proper leadership.

Like anyone who loses everything overnight, the refugees had hollow eyes. Those who survived had scattered to find shelter, and many were heading toward Solar, where Morunka was said to have once laid his body.

Judging by the number of refugees pouring in, the influx into Solar was substantial. As a lord, Ayra should’ve been pleased—the territory’s population was increasing—but he didn’t feel happy about it.

Fortunately, the earthquake had only hit Bolni’s central region. The Postal Agency remained intact.

It seemed word had spread quickly. The message racks were emptier than they’d been during Ayra’s last visit. He handed an exhausted-looking handler a generous amount of mana stones, more than usual, and wrote a letter to Jinas instructing him to prepare for the influx of Bolni’s refugees.

Then he turned back to Janus.

“Hey, Janus. I’ve got another question.”

“What now?”

Janus licked his lips as he stared at the messenger birds. The birds ruffled their feathers and clicked their beaks aggressively. No wonder—they’d probably flown all morning. Ayra took a steaming hot bun from subspace and handed it to him as he asked,

“Dragons... they can cause earthquakes, right?”

Janus devoured the bun in three bites, then gave an amused smile. He didn’t deny it—in fact, he turned the question around.

“Why, do you think I destroyed Bolni? So now I can’t touch not just the people of Solar, but Bolni’s residents too? You’re really fussy.”

He didn’t understand, but this wasn’t fussiness. Humans instinctively empathized and felt horror when they witnessed indiscriminate slaughter. Janus shrugged.

“Well, I’m one of the causes.”

Ayra had hoped—at the very least—for a denial. But even that ambiguous phrasing was enough to chill her to the bone.

She looked at Pebble, demanding the truth. A system window appeared.

[Janus Rehzedet’s statement is TRUE.]

True? So Janus really was behind what happened to Bolni?

“One of the causes”... Then what were the other causes? What the hell happened last night while I was asleep?

She demanded an answer.

[Level insufficient! Please unlock the ‘Current Thoughts’ stat! :( ]

As always, Pebble was stingy when it came to Janus. But she couldn’t fault it. After all, the spirit was a protective barrier Ayra had created to shield her own mind. As its master, Ayra had no choice but to trust its judgment.

“Are you mad? That’d be a problem. I didn’t even kill any humans myself, you know?”

Janus sidled up with a sociopathic line, half teasing, half coaxing. Whether he was joking or genuinely comforting her, Ayra had no idea—and that made it all the more frustrating.

[Level insufficient! Please unlock the ‘Current Thoughts’ stat! :( ]

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

Yeah, yeah! I get it already!

Even though she understood why Pebble was acting this way, Ayra couldn’t help but feel irritated. She squeezed the little guy tightly. Pebble deflated with a sad heart icon.

She coldly pushed Janus away and shoved two more buns in his mouth.

If I really am his mate... how the hell am I supposed to manage this dragon for the rest of my life?

Ayra sighed unconsciously.

Then, realizing she was now naturally imagining a future where she manages Janus, she sighed even deeper.

❄

Ayra headed straight for the Silk Spider Forest. Pretending to be conducting a magical survey, she lingered near the edge and drafted a plan.

“First, let’s leave the few spiders still in the forest untouched.”

Checking the map, she saw Sobletz’s people had already set out for Bolni. Pebble kindly displayed their projected route—they were clearly headed straight for the forest.

If all the spiders disappeared, they’d start scouring nearby woods. Better to leave a few behind as bait.

That would buy time. Meanwhile, she could capture the spider colonies that had fled to other forests—and clear some level-up quests while she was at it.

<Quest!>

[Let’s Level Up the Lovely Pebble]

Mark enemies for 72 hours using the map (45/72)

Track specific movement paths via the map (86/150)

Reach a 45% approval rating (41/45)

Reward: Unlock one stat of user’s choice

Once she hit each milestone and returned to the territory to finish raising the approval rating, she’d be set.

There were five spider colonies in total that had fled due to the quake. Estimated recovery time: three days.

Having mapped out an efficient route, Ayra finally stood up.

“I checked with magic. Looks like the spiders fled this forest after the quake and moved over to that one. I’m detecting five life signatures over there.”

“Hm... You’re right. Doesn’t really smell like spiders here anymore.”