Show Me Your Stats!

"Are you crazy?"

Ayra muttered in shock, still dazed, before she regained her senses and sent a bird to observe the river. She hastily left the castle, mounted a horse, and followed the river toward the estuary. Fortunately, Neveks was stuck on the riverbank just outside the estuary. When Ayra arrived, the bird perched on Neveks’s head flew down to rest on his shoulder and spat out a magic stone, after which his movements became still.

"What should I do?"

After stowing her magic tools in the subspace, Ayra trembled as she pulled Neveks from the water. It was surprisingly heavy, likely because it had soaked up so much water.

"How much is this worth? I hope it’s not broken."

To her surprise, what Ayra had pulled from the river wasn't a drowned body but a human-shaped slime, swollen with water. She couldn't risk offering a life to a dragon, so this had been her desperate solution after thinking it over all night. Thankfully, the slime itself seemed to function as waterproof, and although it made odd squelching noises and looked like pudding, none of the internal mechanisms had been damaged.

For convenience, it was called a slime, but its official name was "Mimic Beast Mage Doll." Inside the slime was a hallucination magic amplifier that could overlay realistic images. It was an expensive and important magic tool often favored by mages skilled in illusion magic.

Ayra squeezed out the water from the slime using physical magic until it was dry. Watching the slime squirm, the pebble’s eyes grew round, and it clung tightly to Ayra’s neck, unable to bear the sight.

Once the water was fully drained, the slime returned to its original shape, losing its human form and rolling into a round shape, making strange pigeon-like sounds as it clung to Ayra’s calf, eventually climbing all the way to her thigh. This slime was sensitive to magic, making it useful, but it had the downside of devouring surrounding creatures when hungry, suffocating and eating them.

"Alright, here."

Ayra sprinkled finely crushed magic stone powder from the subspace onto the slime’s body. It eagerly devoured the powder, shaking its body in delight before shrinking into a small, fist-sized ball. Ayra then used physical magic to shrink the slime further, placing it into the subspace, her face serious.

‘Did it realize it’s not human?’

If the slime had realized it wasn’t human, it might have been pushed into the river, or perhaps Ayra had known it was human and pushed it in anyway. Either way, it was a troubling situation.

That night, Ayra, troubled, headed to Janus's house. As usual, Janus was lazily lying on the bed, showing no sign of having pushed a human into the river.

"Hey, Janus. How was Neveks? Is he okay?"

Ayra nonchalantly asked about the events of the day, pretending she knew nothing. Janus, wearing only pants, rolled over and propped his head up with his hand. The soft light from the lantern cast impressive shadows over his muscles.

"Yeah, he’s fine. I sent him back to Bolni safely."

Wow, not even a hint of hesitation in his lie. But then, the pebble displayed a system window.

[‘Janus Rehzedet’ is not lying.]

What? But Ayra was certain he had pushed Neveks into the river... But then she froze. The river in Solar curved around mountains, ultimately flowing into Bolni. In that sense, Janus wasn’t entirely wrong.

‘Does that mean Janus knew Neveks was a slime?’

The pebble displayed "No" on its body. Janus hadn’t pushed him in because he realized Neveks was a slime. Janus was just an unfeeling psychopath...

‘How many people has he killed this way, just casually tossing them away?’

Ayra’s heart sank. If Janus were human, his actions would be punishable by human laws and morality, but he was a dragon. While dragons were often similar to or more intelligent than humans, they were not human.

‘Can we blame a tiger for killing a human?’

Even if a tiger killed a human, it would be chased down and killed in revenge, but could anyone hold a tiger accountable with human morals? A dragon was far beyond even a tiger in comparison. Just like humans can’t fight back against hurricanes or earthquakes...

Ayra felt conflicted, thinking that humans had somehow managed to survive dragons because they had human companions. Still, she pushed aside her gloomy thoughts and glanced around the room. Her gaze quickly settled on one spot.

‘My precious big-eyed treasure...’

The valuable collection Janus had stolen from her was now sitting on the table. Ayra nervously kept her eyes locked on the large eye-shaped gem. The house had no security, and the only barrier was an old, worn wooden door that anyone could break into. She worried that a thief might mistake it for a jewel and take it.

"Are you here to just stare at that?"

As Janus hugged her from behind, Ayra finally tore her eyes away from the glass jar. Warm hands, like a hand warmer, slid up her clothes. The hands that had just killed a human- well, not a human- and pushed them into the river now gently caressed her skin.

Janus slowly peeled off Ayra’s thick robe and nipped at her neck. The wet sounds of his lips and tongue made Ayra’s exhausted body melt into pleasure. There had been talk of destroying the estate and finding a mate for Janus, but it seemed like they were still able to enjoy what lovers do.

"Ayra."

"...Mm?"

Ayra responded absentmindedly, but then her attention was drawn back to the glass jar containing the monster’s eyeball. The pebble inside was flailing about like a small rock, restless. Why was it acting this way? She felt a strange unease as Janus bit down on her neck and asked with a teasing tone.

"I’ve been thinking... it was you who took care of the monsters I prepared, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

Ayra tried to act casual, but she swallowed nervously. Janus noticed her tension and chuckled, running his fingers over her throat.

"It was way too weird. I could tell from the remnants that someone with a sword had caused the chaos, but there was no smell left. Then I found this."

Janus placed something on Ayra’s hand—a small metal shard, no bigger than a finger. It had an unknown pattern etched beneath a bulging border. Ayra couldn’t tell what it was, but she knew it was an unfavorable piece of evidence.

"What is this?"

"I don’t know. But I asked around at the blacksmith, and they said it’s part of armor worn by Solar’s knights."

Damn it... Come to think of it, Bloom’s armor had been damaged during their rough fight that day. Ayra, realizing there was no point in denying it, stood firm.

"Yeah. There was a monster pack near the estate, and I couldn’t just leave them, so I had to deal with them."

"You dealt with all those monsters just like that? Just had to, huh?"

Ayra subtly turned her head, avoiding Janus’s gaze. Janus knew too much about her...

Janus tilted his head, clearly enjoying the situation.

"Anyway, since it was a gift from me, don’t you think you should have received it a little earlier? It was fun, and I’m thankful."

"Glad to hear you enjoyed it."

Ayra thought she might get away with it, but Janus lightly ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) ran his fingers down Ayra’s chin and spoke in a soft, almost dangerous tone. She could tell something was off—perhaps it was because of how easily Ayra had taken care of the monster pack or something else.

"By the way... that gift was for you, not anyone else."

"What do you mean?"

"The people you were with... Based on the traces of the sword, it looks like there were at least two people. One of them must have been a knight from Solar, and the other, judging by how they knew how to use that flower, might have been a mercenary or hunter."

The tone of Janus’s voice, filled with amusement as he pieced it together, sent a chill down Ayra’s spine. Janus bit her earlobe, then asked again.

"The ones who worked so hard, digging and collecting monsters, and then enjoyed seeing you happy instead of me? My lover is precious to me, so if I have to, I’ll crush them under a rock instead."

Ayra felt cold sweat bead on her back. Bloom and Hera were strong, but compared to a dragon, they were no more than tough soldier ants. Janus’s voice dripped with malice, and Ayra knew he would likely kill them slowly, not gently.

"If you don’t tell me their names..."

"Wait."

Before Janus could continue his threat, Ayra raised her hand to cover his mouth. Janus paused, looking at her curiously, before playfully licking the fingers she had placed over his lips. The sensual movement of his tongue between her fingers made Ayra shudder, and she quickly said,

"Wait. No matter what threats you make, these are my people. If my lover’s the one making the threats, I won’t just spill everything."

Ayra knew very well that whatever threats Janus made could very well become reality. Her best option was to divert the conversation away from the topic.

With a smirk, Janus leaned in, his gaze narrowing like a cat playing with its prey. His eyes sparkled with dark, twisted desire as his fingers glistened with moisture.

Though he was pretending to be calm on the outside, Ayra’s insides were churning with unease.