Show Me Your Stats!

“As you know, my lord, Solar is a sacred land where the gods rest their bodies.”

No, I didn’t know that... Ah, so that’s why there are so many fanatical—no, devout followers.

“The previous lord of Solar... it seems he did not believe in Morunka, which was rather unfortunate, but this time, my lord, you are so devout. Morunka and we at the temple are surely overjoyed.”

So, Solar’s devout faith actually helps sometimes? With a deeply touched expression, Dalrok Logia grabbed my hand. Ayra forced a benevolent smile, then subtly tested Dalrok Logia with a worried look.

“Isn’t it strange that I’m a mage and also a follower of Morunka?”

“Hm? What does it matter that you’re a mage? On the contrary, Morunka would welcome talented followers even more.”

Ayra nodded with a relieved smile. Even though Solar was a remote territory, the extreme rejection of mages always felt a bit odd to her.

After the conversation, Ayra assisted the old man. From the conversation, she inferred that Morunka was a popular religion that had been spreading widely in the northern regions, including Sobletz, Bolni, and Solar, for a long time, and that the temple was located in Sobletz.

Finally, when they arrived at the stone-carved temple, the main temple of Morunka, Dalrok Logia’s favorability had reached an astonishing 88. The temple was in an uproar when the missing person appeared. Only after he was safely assured at the temple did he reveal his true identity.

“I am Dalrok Logia, the brother of the head priest and the senior elder of the main temple. Please, let me repay the favor to my benefactor.”

Ayra humbly declined a few times, then finally, with a feigned reluctance, opened her mouth to request a reward.

“If you insist, may I ask for a small favor?”

“Please, speak.”

“What I desire is...”

In a soft voice, Ayra requested what she had thought of. Dalrok Logia, with his favorability rising again, agreed eagerly. Even so, perhaps feeling regretful, he suggested staying longer at the main temple, but Ayra politely declined, saying she had matters to attend to and would visit again next time.

As the temple’s followers saw them off, the quest completion notification popped up in front of Ayra.

<Hidden Quest Completed!>

[The Old Man in the Shadows]

Condition: Listen to the conversation of mysterious men for 3 minutes (Completed)

The old man caught up in the conspiracy is waiting for help.

Help the poor old man. (Rescue Completed)

Reward: Favorability with the old man (Received)

‘The senior elder of Morunka Temple, quite a solid connection made.’

Ayra thought as she pulled her hood low again. Although she had hoped for a rare reward from this hidden quest, it turned out to be even better than expected. While Ayra rarely made friends, she had always carefully managed her connections. Connections would certainly be useful someday.

Hopefully, before Solar collapses, there will be a time to use it...

Anyway, this was the greatest harvest Ayra had gained by coming to Sobletz. With a smile on her face, she lovingly petted the stone, turning it into a heart-shaped shape.

And behind this unclear, intangible gain, a clear and tangible loss followed in quick succession.

❄

Having spent magic to burn down the farmhouse and extinguish the flames, Ayra was tired and decided to stay the night at a nearby inn. After a good rest, she spent the next two days running around, handling various tasks. After all that running, Ayra found herself facing a serious issue.

‘I’m out of money! Not only that, but they won’t even sell to me!’

Solar, surrounded by mountains, had quite a few stone workers. But even with all the stone workers gathered, it was difficult to complete the construction of the castle wall before winter. Therefore, Ayra went to Sobletz to hire additional stone workers, but the hiring cost exceeded the estimated budget by far. At least there was no cost for the stone itself, as Solar was full of rocks.

Merchants were reluctant to trade with Solar as well. The reason was simple: Solar was located in a typical mountain basin.

The territory was surrounded by mountain ranges, and the only easy access was through rugged paths like Dalum Gorge. In other words, it was an ideal natural fortress, but also an isolated place.

Over the past few hundred years, Sobletz and Bolni had nibbled at Solar’s territory but never succeeded in conquering it due to the terrain. During the snowy winter, seven out of ten people who tried to enter would die or be injured, and about three-quarters of the year in Solar was winter.

‘This year, the opportunity for Bolni’s army to push in is probably gone, but the next time it could happen soon as winter starts.’

In other words, if they couldn’t pay off the principal, once winter passed, the greedy Bolni army would rush in to conquer Solar.

Ayra had been wondering why Solar had a population of 150,000 despite being a barren land. Now, after hearing Dalrok’s explanation, she understood the reason: Solar was considered a holy land for Morunka’s followers, so the devout believers helped maintain the population.

‘This could be useful if handled properly.’

That thought crossed her mind but was quickly erased. What she needed right now were food and cloth to feed and clothe Solar’s people through the winter.

“This is troublesome. Seems like the rumor about the merchant nearly dying in an avalanche has spread.”

Ayra had visited every merchant in Sobletz, but all of them had rejected her. Returning to the inn, Ayra sat down, troubled. Finding food was her priority, but there was one more problem that troubled her.

‘The rumors about the dragon—if even one of them is true, I might need to prepare to evacuate right away.’

Somewhere in the east, a talented knight who was born once every few hundred years had supposedly killed a dragon single-handedly, but in most cases, no matter how many humans tried, they could never kill a dragon and would be massacred instead. The places the dragons passed through left nothing but destruction.

Ayra tugged at her silvery hair in frustration, then checked the deadline. There were now 201 days left. In 201 days, would Solar be conquered by Sobletz and Bolni, or would a dragon sweep it all away? Ayra hoped it would be the former. Fighting and winning against an army had more hope than a dragon.

After a long period of brooding, Ayra made a decision.

“Alright. I’ll have to go to Bolni.”

With determination lighting up her steel-blue eyes, the stone Ayra had been squeezing made a small heart shape with a faint beep sound.

❄

“You’re sending it to Solar? Then it’ll be 1 Cell for the delivery fee.”

One Cell for the delivery of a letter! My blood, no, my mana... Ayra trembled slightly as she paid the letter fee with mana stones. It felt like learning the hardships of a poor lord she had never known before. This was what it felt like to be a poor lord. With the stress and fatigue building up each day, Ayra tried to console herself.

“I’m acting responsibly despite all this, so I should be proud...”

The beastmaster, who had judged the value of the mana stone, approached the messenger pigeon sitting on the perch. The pigeon, with its sharp red eyes, tilted its head curiously. After the beastmaster attached the letter with a small stone to its leg, the pigeon pecked at the stone a few times before flying out the window.

‘That creature is a bit more like a monster than an animal.’

Ayra observed the pigeon with interest, but soon realized this wasn’t the time to be so relaxed. She sighed and started walking. She had just sent a letter to Janus, telling him she had arrived in Bolni.

As the sound of the pigeons and their cries echoed around the building, Ayra pulled her hood low over her face. Perhaps because she held a grudge against Nilma Argan, the successor of Bolni, everything about Bolni felt unpleasant. Even so, she had to gather food here in this cursed land. The people of her territory, 150,000 of them, would be living off their thumbs through the winter if she didn’t act.

‘Even if the quality isn’t great, I need cheap, bulk goods that merchants are willing to take the risk to trade with Solar.’

Filled with futile hope, Ayra wandered around Bolni until her feet ached. Bolni wasn’t as flashy as Sobletz, but it was bigger in size, and all the buildings had ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) an imposing air, making it even more unpleasant.

Unfortunately, just like Sobletz, Bolni rejected every trade request. They refused even with a bribe. The closer Bolni was to Solar, the more frequent earthquakes were the reason they gave for their refusal.

“Eh? Solar, you say? Winter’s almost here, right? Don’t talk nonsense. Maybe next spring.”

“It’s difficult now. It’s about to snow... and I heard there was an earthquake recently?”

“There’s a rumor that a trade caravan was buried by an avalanche and killed. Ugh, we can’t even make much money there. Who would risk their life to go? Come back in spring.”

“Come back next spring. You can go then.”

After being rejected several times by the merchants, Ayra collapsed in frustration.

“If we don’t make it through this winter, my people will starve, eating stones and tree bark!”

Since it was all mountain land, there were no herbs to forage or tree bark to peel. As a result, there were even fewer animals to hunt than in other mountains.

Sighing heavily, Ayra checked the rumors about dragons she had collected in Bolni. The rumors here weren’t much different from those in Sobletz. The only difference was that in Sobletz, there were clear sightings, but in Solar, the people were still unsure whether there really was a dragon in their territory.

There was nothing more of value in the rumors, leaving Ayra with little progress.