CH 17

When Ayra, who had returned to the castle and had dinner, lost his temper suddenly, the attendants around him focused their attention on him.

That wasn’t his first kiss; it wasn’t his first time having a fling with someone. It was true that he had a lot of interest in the other. Janus definitely could have mistakenly thought that he was solely interested in seducing him. In such a situation, it was understandable for the other to kiss him just because the young lord was fiddling with his hair.

This objectively wasn’t something to be angry about, but Ayra still chewed on his lips. Sometimes, it was possible to glean more knowledge about a person from their non-verbal cues such as their facial expressions, aura, and behavior. The so-called ‘sixth sense.’ Ayra felt something was weird with Janus.

“…Was I that obvious?”

After a while, the young lord’s shoulders drooped. When he recalled Janus’s relaxed face, he was annoyed for no reason–pride damaged.

Only noticing the anxious gazes of the other attendants after slicing his steak into many fragments, Ayra calmly made up his mind. He then tried to divert his thought processes to something else.

‘Before I forget names, let’s try to slowly organize things.’

Sir Hess Ru Ginas. As the governor, he’s the most important person to the estate. He’s deeply wary of Ayra for no apparent reason.

Sir Bloom. Vice Commander of the knights–judging as to how he only had a given name, he must be of commoner birth. At a surface glance, he seems to be quite loyal. The knight commander is… What was his name? There were too many people back at that banquet hall back then…

Attera te Acht. As the young high priest of Mollunka, Ayra needs to be cautious around him.

And Janus Rehzedt.

Janus…

The young lord’s magic surged according to the highs and lows of his emotions; the glass he had yet to touch spun by itself from the residual power and toppled it over with a splash. The attendants who had been paying attention gasped; their hands trembled. Paying no attention to them, Ayra was still deep in contemplation–by this time, his steak had been mushed into something akin to soup. After a while, he summoned the quest window.

<Quest!>

[Let’s raise this pitiful Pebble’s level.]

*Checks 300 people’s stats (286/300)

Reward: Open 1 stat category specified by the User.

While he had been walking around with Janus, he had checked the stats of people he had met in his spare time. Like that, he had almost reached 300. Ayra clenched his fist.

Fine–Let’s open the affection stat next.

He wanted to open the affection stat in order to reveal what was behind that lax expression. Rather, he wanted to figure out exactly how much affection Janus had for him. Even if that were a wash, affection was a useful stat to know in various ways.

After Ayra enthusiastically finished his meal, he wandered around the castle and checked the stats of everyone he met until he ran out of mana. After a good night’s sleep, he gathered his mana once again and walked around diligently–paying no heed as to whether or not breakfast was happening.

The quest progress bar gradually increased in proportion to the number of steps Ayra walked.  Three servants came in to clean the bedroom–287, 289, 290. The knights that have been training hard since morning–…295, 296, 297.

Botello, the always loyal attendant… 298.

Governor Ginas, who was working through his nosebleed, 299.

And finally 300.

Even today, Sir Bloom came to guard the bedroom. After finally reaching 300, Pebble set off a fanfare effect.

<Quest Complete!>

[Let’s raise the pitiful Pebble’s level.]

*Check the stats of 300 people (300/300)

Reward: Open 1 stat category specified by the user.

After leveling up, Pebble glowed white and then returned to its original state. There was no significant change this time, but somehow the translucent light emanating from its body seemed brighter than before. Waving its hands enthusiastically, Pebble opened the quest reward window.

[Please select a stat to reveal as a quest reward.]

“Mm? Detailed Stat view?”

With just five stat categories, the amount of research material was…He had thought that 6 categories, including one’s title, provided limitless uses, but it would be fascinating to see a detailed view. However, now it was time to reveal ‘affection.’ Ayra chose number 5 without hesitation. With a chiming sound, a notification window popped up.

[The stat value, ‘affection,’ has been opened!]

<Quest!>

[Let’s open another stat category.]

*Accumulated Stat Window Use time (0/10 hours)

*Checking two stat windows simultaneously (0/100)

Reward: Randomly open one stat category.

Another quest window manifested. The difficulty of the quests was increasing, but that was fine. An amount of mana was consumed every time a stat window was checked, but the consumption had clearly decreased significantly. His proficiency was clearly increasing.

Anyway, it was time to test things out–finally, something other than the target’s name was revealed.

First, Ayra checked the attendant Botello, someone who has been faithful to the Solar family for generations. The stat window appeared next to the head of the attendant,who had been placing wood into the fireplace for his cold-sensitive master.

<Botello Dello>

HP: ???

MP: ???

Physical Attack: ???

Magical Attack: ???

Affection: 85 <3

If a perfect score for affection was 100, then 85 was really high on the scale. Perhaps the man’s affection for Ayra’s family had spilled over onto Ayra. Actually, the young lord could appreciate Botello’s sincere service–unwavering since he was a child–without having to check his affection.

After Botello, Sir Bloom and Sir Ginas were the young lord’s new test subjects.

<Bloom>

HP: ???

MP: ???

Physical Attack: ???

Magic Attack: ???

Affection: 65 <3

<Hess Ru Ginas>

HP: ???

MP: ???

Physical Attack: ???

Magic Attack: ???

Affection: 3 <3

Those values didn’t deviate significantly from what Ayra expected. In addition, after checking the affection stat for several others in the castle, Ayra didn’t realize anything new.

‘It seems like the people of this castle generally don’t like me all that much.’

Botello and Bloom were exceptions; affection for Ayra in this castle averaged at around 18.3. However, this reality didn’t really wound the young lord. He was only curious as to whether such low affection was caused by his status as a mage or whether such low values were common in the first place.

He quickly rose to his feet. As soon as he exited the castle, Ayra headed straight to the square, slightly excited. However, today, Janus was not in his usual spot.

“Why isn’t he here today?”

No. Come to think of it, wasn’t it rather strange for someone to sit in the same place all day long–he wasn’t homeless, right? Moreover, there were probably no more places for the other to introduce to the young lord within this estate. Ayra stood still, staring at the place where Janus once sat.

‘Still, it’d be courtesy for him to tell me that he’s finished as my guide.’

Feeling a little disappointed with Janus’s heartlessness, Ayra turned around. Since he’s already here, the young lord may as well collect various test samples related to the affection value from denizens. He checked the stat for a farmer passing by.

“Hm?”

Ayra, after checking the person’s stat window, tilted his head. He had thought that the affection would be at 0 since they weren’t acquainted, but it was, instead, unexpectedly at 24. After contemplating for a brief while, Ayra checked the stat for a very young child; the affection value was at 0.

‘This… I guess this is affection for the second son of the Solar Family–the one slated to be the next Lord of the land.’

It would also be beneficial for Ayra to be able to confirm the support of the denizens for his rule with the affection stat.

He walked a little longer and still had some mana left. He had been thinking about climbing the mountain to test his ability with a few animals, but, at that moment, the mercenary’s office had caught his eye. Ayra was about to pass, but, just in case, entered.

As soon as he opened the door, the mercenaries inside looked his way. Strangely enough, after checking the status windows one by one; the average affection value was higher than residents of the castle.

Nadal was the first person to acknowledge him. Even though Ayra had only met him once that last time, his favorability for Ayra was high: 45. “Ah, please come in. Janus’s client! Are you here to make a request?”

“No, I didn’t come here to make a request. Is Janus here by any chance?”

As soon as Ayra mentioned Janus, the mercenaries’ curious gazes swarmed to their conversation. Nadal answered with a broad smile, “Nope, he’s not here. Why are you searching for him?”

“It seems that the work I’ve commissioned him for has been completed, but he’s suddenly disappeared without a word. I just wanted to confirm that with him.”

At Ayra’s words, Nadal nodded his head with a very understanding look. The mercenary spoke cautiously, “Ahhh, Janus is…like that.”

“He’s totally unpredictable and capricious.”

“That bastard has good skills and sells them for cheap, but he has *that* kind of personality. He doesn’t get requests often, since he often does as he pleases.”

Nadal had only spoken a little, but voices from all over the office chimed in to help. Listening to them all, Ayra awkwardly protested–after all, he had received help from the other mercenary. “Still, he’s a good person…”

As the young lord tried to take Janus’s side, giggles and chuckles poured out from every corner. It seemed like the other mercenaries were laughing, considering his words funny nonsense; Ayra raised his eyebrows.

“Hehe, Janus? A good guy?”

“That’s right. He’s a good enough person. He’s good but…yeah.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to call him a good guy even if he raised me from death.”

After saying that, the meaningful gazes glanced over at Ayra and grinned. Anyways, it seemed like Janus was definitely not here; Ayra left the mercenary’s office with a slightly uncomfortable heart.

TL: Sorry for the late chapter >.<

I’ll upload more later~ I’m a bit busy today!

However, PROGRESS! Affection stat was opened! I never want this power tbh–I don’t wanna know how much people do or do not like me >.<