Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 152
‘My family includes a few people who work in trade. We’ll mobilize everyone we can. My father also has a wide network, so we’ll be able to spread the word quickly.’
‘But that means your family will be targeted by Sobletz. Are you sure about this? It’ll be hard for them to return to Solar for a while.’
When asked that, Gretel glanced at Janus. Blushing from a mix of fear and embarrassment, she responded softly.
‘My father committed a serious crime, and only our family escaped to safety... I believe we should accept at least this much risk. I want to repay the Lord for her mercy.’
Ayra didn’t particularly dislike Gretel, but seeing how desperate she was to earn forgiveness, Ayra readily nodded. She even promised that once this matter was successfully resolved, she would fully pardon Gretel’s father’s crime.
She assigned several knights and Hera to accompany Gretel’s family. Hera had just returned from escorting them to a secure house, using the opportunity to deliver Ayra’s message of full pardon to Ran Graffni.
“That aside, my Lord... are you truly okay with this? If Orseng has even a shred of sense, he’ll realize this whole affair was orchestrated by you.”
“Well, I’ve got my own plans too.”
There were several reasons Ayra had chosen to strike first against Sobletz.
Though the newly built tunnel road had improved access, Solar was still not a particularly convenient location to reach. If Sobletz tried sending an army, she could simply block the tunnel physically and magically. And even if they took a different route, it was winter.
Sending troops in winter was madness, and even if summer came, the path wouldn’t be an easy one. Still, what if Sobletz’s army did manage to reach Solar?
At that point, Ayra would be ready to sacrifice herself.
Compared to Sobletz, Solar was undeniably inferior in military power. But Ayra had what could only be called cheat-level abilities. As long as she had those, Sobletz wouldn’t be able to surprise her with an ambush or trap. Moreover, in preparation for a dragon-related emergency, she had stocked the shelters with enough food and supplies to feed her people for over a year.
The alliance forged with Bolni after saving Nilma Argan’s life was another factor.
And if the situation turned truly dire, Ayra could gather all her people in the underground shelter... and play her final trump card. That, of course, referred to the dragon who had recently been fervently courting her.
Most of all, the core reason was simple: Sobletz wanted to rule over Solar. Now that it had been revealed that Sobletz was responsible for the massacre of her family, the conflict was inevitable. Ayra had merely chosen to strike first—and her preemptive attack had caught a complacent Sobletz completely off guard.
“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll trust you. Still, it’s quite entertaining. I bet that Orseng bastard never imagined he’d get stabbed in the back like this. He probably let his guard down, thinking he could treat a small domain like a joke.”
At Hera’s remark, Ayra offered a faint smile. The truth was, this whole affair had been very profitable. On top of that, there had been major updates to her Territory Window:
Territory Name: Solar
Lord: Solar Sing Ayra
Area: Approx. 2,300 Jenta
Population: 157,657
Debt: 0
(☆★ Congratulations! All debts have been cleared! ★☆)
Administration: Level 3
(All operations within the territory are stable.)
Heroes: Jinas (☆☆☆☆☆), Gretel (☆☆☆☆)
Military: Level 4
(Soldiers are satisfied thanks to raised wages and new supplies.)
Heroes: Bloom (☆☆☆), Hera (☆☆☆☆)
Knights: 85
Soldiers: 1,475
Security: Level 3
(The city is now safe from thugs and ruffians.)
Hero Hera is leading the Skinhead Vigilante Squad.
Commerce: Level 5
Trade: Skitte silk is proving to be a top earner. Job creation boost!
Tourism: Worshippers from other territories have begun visiting in earnest. Develop it into a sacred site for even higher profits!
Quarrying: Struck a deal with a merchant giant, increasing output.
Approval Rating: 48%
(Most regions show strong support.)
Religion: Level 5
The High Priest and some followers are hostile toward the Lord.
Offerings: A major offering of skitte silk for the festival has temporarily boosted support. (7 days, 15 hours remaining)
Divine Teacher: Additional approval boost active.
Special Note:
Days until Ruin: 76
Summary:
Money is finally flowing into the territory!
Additional Feature Upgrade: Territory Expansion Required
Through the trade with Orseng, Ayra had finally erased all of Solar’s debt.
On top of that, she seized the opportunity when the Morunka ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) Temple faced a shortage of skitte silk for their upcoming festival. Just as prices hit the ceiling, she participated in a public prayer meeting and—right in front of all the worshippers—offered a massive donation of skitte silk. This bold move earned her a surge in approval from believers, unlocking her Job Stat.
With her Job Stat unlocked, Ayra immediately sought out refugees who had arrived in Solar and had experience handling skitte silk, such as merchants and craftsmen. She negotiated their permanent settlement in Solar and had them teach silk weaving to the local populace.
The spiders, fed with Ayra’s high-quality feed in the castle’s underground chambers, were churning out silk nonstop. The more the citizens produced, the more they were paid—so production exploded. Ayra sold the resulting skitte silk to the Morunka Temple in bulk. Since the temple already resented Sobletz, they gladly accepted her offer.
Soon after, she had Gretel’s family discreetly spread the skitte silk dyeing method among merchants—at a bargain price.
Traders from Sobletz, well connected to the south and west, along with merchants from Bolni who needed to recover from the earthquake, all swarmed to the opportunity. At first, they sold everything to Orseng. But once prices began to fall, they all started focusing on dyeing the silk instead.
“The Morunka Festival will be a gold rush!”
In this way, Ayra not only disrupted the skitte silk monopoly but also undercut the value of blue skitte silk. It was a devastating blow to Sobletz’s finances—and a tremendous boon to Solar’s.
In fact, the profits far exceeded her expectations.
Ayra’s brow furrowed slightly. The scale of damage dealt to Sobletz had only been possible due to the sheer, unbelievable volume of skitte silk being produced. Unconsciously, she muttered her doubts out loud.
“It’s all great, but something’s off. There’s no way I miscalculated my formula... What’s causing this?”
Jinas, who had been happily reviewing the financial reports for once, glanced up with a trace of concern. It was as if even he couldn’t quite believe so much happiness had arrived in their land all at once.
He carefully scratched out some equations on paper, then asked Ayra with a worried look.
“My Lord, is something wrong?”
“It is and it isn’t...”
The equations were flawless. After hesitating, Ayra decided to come clean to Jinas and Hera.
“Truth is, the silk spiders shouldn’t be producing this much. According to my calculations, they shouldn’t even be making a tenth of what they’re putting out now.”
The method Ayra had used to boost spider silk production was magical. She had installed a magical equation in the spider room. It worked by absorbing ambient mana and activating the cells around the spiders’ spinnerets accordingly (details omitted). She’d also pumped a massive number of mana stones into the chamber to amplify output.
Then, an hour later, when she went down to check on production—she’d found the silk spiders frenziedly spinning thread to the rhythm of an auto-playing harp, which had been set to enhance productivity.
So yes, it was great that she had dealt Sobletz such a crushing blow... but it all felt suspiciously off. It was like watching a magical device working flawlessly even though it was missing a key component. It just didn’t sit right.
At that moment, Janus, who had been lazily sprawled on the couch admiring the “bouquet” he’d given her, suddenly sat up. Since Ayra had recently been paying more attention to him, she asked:
“What is it? Hungry? There’s still some of the meat you caught earlier, should I give it to you?”
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“No, not really.”
He was just staring at the bouquet more intently, seemingly wanting to inspect his gift more closely. Losing interest in him, Ayra turned to Hera and Jinas.
“Has anyone seen anything suspicious lately?”
“I haven’t seen a thing.”
“Same here. With Commander Bloom guarding the entrance like a hawk, no one’s been going in or out.”
Even Ayra had to admit: the only people accessing the underground spider chamber were herself and her vassals. Still... there was one thing that did seem a little suspicious.
