Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 63

“There must’ve been more money at stake than just what he could get from simple robbery.”

He must’ve marked her as his target right around the time she entered the gambling den. From that moment on, he had tenaciously waited for the moment Ayra and Janus would separate. It was clear now. Maybe, after hearing they were returning to Solar together, he’d thought there would be no more chances and took the gamble.

But for now, it was all just speculation. Ayra quietly clenched her fists.

Janus, who had been watching his old friend sob miserably, tilted his head back slightly. His eyes rolled from right to left, and then he sighed.

“...Haah, fine.”

Lowering the sword he’d been poking into Mishio’s knee, Janus patted his shoulder. Mishio looked up with a start.

“If you didn’t have money, then it can’t be helped. You’ve got a family to support.”

“Y-You believe me? It’s true. I really didn’t have a choice.”

Mishio’s face lit up as he nodded eagerly. Ayra, who had been silently watching the exchange, suddenly sensed something off. Janus’s fingers, still gripping the sword, tensed ever so slightly.

“Janus, wait—!”

She lunged forward, but the sword moved faster. Janus yanked her behind him as she reached to stop him. And then, with a clean sweep that left no afterimage, he sliced through something.

The movement had been so fast, so simple, Ayra didn’t register what he’d cut. She stared blankly at the air—until Mishio’s body slowly tipped forward, thudding as his forehead hit the ground. A moment later, blood began to pool slowly beneath him. It was a clean and swift death—so quick there was no room for pain or fear.

“Clicking his tongue, Janus muttered, “He was a decent guy. Should’ve stayed away from gambling. Nothing good ever comes from it.”

His voice sounded genuinely regretful, in stark contrast to the merciless way he’d just killed the man without the slightest hesitation.

“He really killed him...”

Ayra murmured, frowning. A chill crept up her spine at the sudden, jarring sense of wrongness. That cold feeling she sometimes got from Janus pooled in her chest. It wasn’t like the half-joking thoughts she used to have—calling him a bit of a psychopath. This was entirely different.

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Perhaps misreading Ayra’s reaction as fear, Janus gently slid the still-bloodless sword back into its sheath and lightly patted her shoulder.

“He was trying to hurt you. My lover can’t be so soft-hearted.”

It wasn’t that Ayra had been trying to protect Mishio out of some naive kindness. She wasn’t the type to spare someone who’d tried to kill her. But... her gaze flicked to the back of her hand. The spirit pebble was flattened a bit, looking sulky. The loading sign above it vanished, and a notification popped up.

[Tip! Dead men tell no tales. :( ]

‘I didn’t think he’d actually kill him this fast.’

Janus had ended Mishio’s life far too swiftly and efficiently. So much so, there wasn’t ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) even time to extract any clues—about who’d sent him, whether it was Sobletz or Bolni, or what their true motive was in trying to bring down Solar.

Suppressing the chilling feeling still lodged in her chest, Ayra asked Janus quietly.

“You said he was your friend. How could you kill him like that? What if there was another reason behind what he did?”

She needed to find out what that other reason might have been.

One of the reasons she had deliberately shown her face around Sobletz and Bolni was to draw out assassins like him—those who would try to kill her, from whom she could pull information. All that effort had just gone up in smoke.

For a moment, a suspicion flitted across Ayra’s mind—that Janus had done this on purpose, cutting Mishio down before she could learn anything. Her lips tightened. Still misunderstanding her silence, Janus continued to rub her back gently, trying to comfort her.

“Yeah, a friend. One who stabbed me in the back and tried to mess with my lover... well, if you can call that a friend.”

Despite the warm and gentle touch, Ayra instinctively flinched. But—what if this rash and swift killing hadn’t been some scheme to block her investigation?

What if Mishio’s betrayal was all that mattered to Janus, and things like motive or excuse meant absolutely nothing to him?

Ayra had seen more deaths in the dungeon than she could count. She hadn’t just watched—she’d killed with her own hands too. The mazes weren’t only filled with ma-beasts; there were frequent human sacrifices too, all under the guise of “experiments.”

And even Ayra, desensitized as she might be, would be shaken if forced to kill a close friend. Years in the dungeon had worn down and warped her sense of morality, but she still understood kindness and good. She knew what they were.

Yet Janus... after giving Mishio only a single chance to explain, had cut him down without hesitation. And the chill Ayra had felt in that moment...

She’d observed countless murderers among the dungeon slaves. Janus’s brutality felt similar to theirs—but not quite the same. There was something different about him. Something she couldn’t yet name, and that made it all the more suffocating.

The warmth of their shared moments—at the gambling den, in the alleyway—was gone. All that remained was the cold weight of a fading body.

Ayra stood in silence, lips sealed, instinct screaming like a clanging bell in her chest. Janus, perhaps interpreting her stillness as fear, pulled her gently into his arms. His warm palm rubbed her frozen ear.

“Were you scared? If all he did was betray me, maybe I could’ve overlooked it. But he touched my lover. If I hadn’t rushed out because something felt off, who knows what would’ve happened.”

“Touched... your lover.”

Ayra echoed blankly, frowning. Then she fell into deeper silence. She’d realized Janus had said “my lover” instead of her name.

Any thoughts she’d had of inviting him to stay longer in Solar vanished.

Instead, what she really wanted to ask was—how were his other exes doing these days?

Without realizing it, she touched her neck. That guy, who’d known Janus for five years, probably had a higher favorability score than she did. And yet Janus had given him only a brief moment to explain before slaying him in one stroke.

Ayra remembered the three rules Janus claimed to keep when it came to lovers: no cheating, no hitting, no killing. She kept repeating the last one in her head.

Don’t kill...

Still acting affectionate, Janus pulled up the hood of her robe to shield her from the cold. As Ayra followed him, leaving Mishio’s corpse behind, she let out a quiet sigh. She wanted to dismiss her thoughts as overthinking—that Janus was simply ruthless as a mercenary—but the uneasy feeling refused to leave.

Lost in thought, she nearly tripped, only then snapping back to herself.

“Where are we going now?”

“A friend’s place. Somewhere I stay from time to time. Figured an inn would be too cold for you.”

Janus began to hum a tune—off-key, off-tempo—and Ayra’s complexion paled even more.

Don’t hum...

It wasn’t the tone-deafness. It was the fact that he was humming after killing a dear friend and walking arm-in-arm with his lover. There were even a few droplets of blood on his clothes. He looked exactly like a murderer out of a thriller movie.

Ayra made up her mind—she would start putting distance between herself and Janus as soon as they returned to Solar. There was always a reason for gut instinct, and considering Janus’s mental abilities were specialized in manipulation, she couldn’t afford to ignore this creeping dread.

Feeling a sudden sting of awareness, she glanced up. Janus had been staring at her all along, and now he smiled. His eyes narrowed, and his crimson irises curved like crescent moons. Beautiful, she thought, caught for a moment—then quickly looked away with an awkward smile.

With no street lamps in this world, they relied on moonlight as they walked the dark road. She could’ve used magic to light their way, but she didn’t want to draw attention. They continued in silence, each facing forward. The road widened, and the scenery changed—the storefronts looked sleek, their signs shiny even at night. This was clearly a wealthy neighborhood, one fit for nobles.

He says a friend lives around here?

Remembering how Janus had almost been sleeping rough before staying at the mercenary guild’s temporary lodging in Solar, Ayra tilted her head. Then Janus called her name.

“Hey, Ayra.”

His tone turned light, as if suggesting something trivial.

“Ever thought about leaving Solar and living somewhere else?”

“Huh?”

Ayra didn’t answer right away. Her mind filled with too many thoughts. First was a completely humiliating flicker of joy.

He’s saying... even though he gave up on finding a lover for 10 years, maybe he wants to go somewhere new with me?

Then came the more rational suspicion: Wait... is he trying to scout me as a partner?

Of course, as Solar’s lord, she couldn’t just leave. Ayra didn’t flat-out say no, but instead questioned him.

“Why so suddenly? Are you planning to leave Solar soon?”

She’d been thinking of putting distance between them, but the thought of Janus leaving made her chest tighten. The idea of never seeing this cruel, capricious, reckless man again—it didn’t sit well with her.

“Well, yeah, but more like...”

Janus frowned slightly, choosing his words—something he rarely did.

And then he said it, just like that.

“Because that territory’s about to collapse.”