Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 191

Without even waiting to hear Ayra’s reply, he hurried out of the study. His steps were so frantic it was as if he feared being bitten by a dragon’s jaws at any moment. Janus, completely indifferent to whether a human left or not, casually flicked the dirt from his hair. A small cloud of dust scattered. Unable to bear the sight, Ayra blew a gust of wind into Janus’s hair with magic.

"How long do you have to keep digging?"

"A few more spots. Maybe more if needed."

In other words, even he didn’t know exactly. Ayra, deep in thought, only half-registered her lover’s lewd suggestion that they bathe together. Bathing with him was fine, but there was something more urgent right now. Checking her remaining mana reserves, Ayra turned to Janus.

"Let’s bathe together later. I need to cast a spell right now... it’s going to take a while."

As she spoke, she looked toward Pebble, and a system window immediately popped up in front of her.

[Estimated Time: 3 Hours 14 Minutes]

"...About three hours. I can’t be interrupted during that time. Can you keep watch?"

Being interrupted wouldn’t be fatal to her body, but in times like these, wasting mana was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. And more importantly, they needed to catch the infiltrator before it realized it had been exposed and escaped.

"That’s nothing."

Janus nodded easily. Still, there was just enough time for a quick wash, so Ayra pulled the bell rope to summon an attendant and ordered Janus’s bathwater to be prepared. Like someone completely unfamiliar with the concept of cold, the dragon bathed in freezing water and emerged. Ayra immediately returned to the bedchamber, having warned the retainers not to disturb her for the next few hours. As she drew the curtains over the window, she gave Janus a warning, just in case.

"If someone approaches, don’t kill them. I mean people like my retainers or attendants. Basically, don’t harm anyone from my territory."

Janus twitched his brows in dissatisfaction but nodded quietly. As he watched with interest, Ayra began pulling out magical tools from her subspace and setting them up. When she lit a blue-scented incense, the room quickly filled with a peculiar-colored mist. Ayra piled pillows and cushions like a mountain, then lay down comfortably, magical tool in her arms. The seemingly lazy posture while preparing a difficult spell was common among labyrinth mages.

"Hoo..."

Letting out a long breath, Ayra activated the amplification artifact with a soft click. The internal components whirred softly, and she closed her eyes. Pebble fluttered down and perched on Ayra’s chest. Its translucent body sank halfway into hers, and the system window it summoned appeared clearer than usual.

[User-defined filter settings in progress...]

[Search Area: Solar]

[Search Target: “Non-human thought patterns”]

[Filter: “Humanoid beings perceived as human by the citizens”]

[Loading...]

Using Pebble’s search ability always consumed a significant amount of mana, but this time, it was particularly extreme. To {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} make the most efficient use of her limited resources, Ayra carefully adjusted the flow of mana. A map of the entire Solar territory soon spread before her. She divided Solar into a hundred sections, starting the scan from the sparsely populated outskirts.

Ayra’s target was simple: a humanoid being recognized by the territory’s people, but lacking human cognitive patterns.

Currently residing within Solar were 158,722 intelligent beings. Even if she could read only surface-level thoughts, it was still a colossal task to analyze every individual within the awareness of all these people one by one using Pebble.

A cold sweat broke out on her forehead, soon joined by a faint headache. Pebble was now drawing not only from Ayra’s mana but also her cognitive faculties. Heat gradually rose in her overloaded mind. Determined to succeed in one go, Ayra carefully maintained mana flow, preferring slow scanning over risking interruption.

The map on Pebble’s display began to turn red section by section, indicating completed scans. After the outskirts, it moved on to the villages. The higher the population density, the longer the search time. Faint traces of the people’s thoughts passed fleetingly through Ayra’s consciousness, only to dissolve like dust for her mental protection.

As a drop of sweat finally slid down her temple, Ayra’s eyes flew open. In the dim bedchamber, her gray irises glowed with a bluish light.

"...Found it."

A blue dot blinked on the map. Closer than she expected. Ayra leapt to her feet, startling Janus, who had been dozing off with his head resting on her thigh. The blue dot was blinking inside the Lord’s Castle. Ayra, staggering slightly but unwilling to lose the target, immediately bolted out of the room.

Her footsteps clattered down the stairs before she regained her usual composure and slowed her pace. Her sharp gaze was locked on her destination: the central hall, where the attendants were busy cleaning. Ayra muffled the sound of her steps and approached one of them.

Her target was a servant with silvery hair—common among Solar’s residents—diligently scrubbing the floor. Nothing about him stood out. He looked like any other average person in the territory. Mana shimmered faintly around Ayra’s fingertips like a heat haze. One of the nearby attendants straightened up, eyes wide at the sight of her, but she raised a finger to her lips in a “shh” gesture.

While the startled servant froze, unsure what to do, Ayra reached out and grabbed the target’s head. Her palm clamped tightly over his ear, and mana spiraled like a drill into the eardrum. The target froze, as if malfunctioning—then let out a terrible scream.

"Uaaaah... AAAAARGH! GRAAAAH!"

The other attendants, startled by Ayra’s sudden action, stopped what they were doing. The one who had been working with the target collapsed to the floor in shock. Ayra ignored them and poured more mana into the target. No one dared move. It was the first time any of them had seen their lord use offensive magic. And this magic—so sharp and violent—was nothing like the beautiful illusions Ayra usually displayed.

"Guugh... gghhh..."

Soon, the captive's movements turned bizarre. His limbs bent in unnatural angles, then went limp. Ayra, a satisfied smirk on her lips, let go and grabbed his hair. Letting the hem of her white robe spill messily to the floor, she leaned close and whispered into the quivering target’s ear.

"If you don’t come to me right now... I’ll roast your brain until it melts."

"Ghhhkk..."

"Did you understand me?"

Only after saying that did Ayra finally release his hair. The watching attendants let out gasps, unable to comprehend what they’d just seen. The man collapsed—his neck twisting 180 degrees.

Even with his head backward, the man tried to speak. His lips trembled... and then, like ice melting, his entire form collapsed. The clothes, the human features, the limbs—all turned to mush, revealing a slime.

The slime, now free from its master’s control, instinctively slithered toward the fallen attendant to devour it. Ayra pulled it to herself with a spell before that could happen. Sensing Ayra as prey, the slime opened wide—only to recoil as if scalded. Still, it forgot quickly and tried to swallow her again.

Janus, having followed quietly, stepped in and smashed the slime with a heavy punch.

"This thing... I’ve seen it before."

It was a slime-type mimic beast—one of the magical imitation monsters Janus had fought before.

❄

"My lady... what... is that?"

Having rushed over after hearing that a monster had appeared in the castle, Bloom was utterly flustered by the scene before him. Ayra, warming herself by the fireplace, was tossing a mana stone at the slime crawling on the floor, leaving a sticky trail behind.

"This? It’s the spy who’s been sneaking around my territory and stirring up trouble."

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Pebble, perched on Ayra’s shoulder, glared fiercely at the slime basking in its master’s affection. It flew over and pounded the slime with its tiny fists—but of course, it had no effect. The slime, low in self-awareness and intelligence, swallowed Pebble whole—only for the intangible artificial spirit to slip right back out, completely unharmed.

Bloom, now certain it was a magical beast, gripped his sword hilt.

"If you permit it, I will eliminate it immediately."

"No! Do you know how hard it is to get one of these...?"

Ayra quickly shifted, shielding the slime behind her sleeve. After Janus killed her last slime, she’d been devastated. These creatures were extremely rare and expensive—yet by sheer luck, this one had fallen into her hands. From now on, she would care for it as its rightful master.

After eating its fill of mana stones, the slime finally completed its imprinting with Ayra. As she infused it with mana, the creature sucked on her hand, then shrank into a translucent orb. Ayra picked it up—now baseball-sized—and turned to Bloom.

"Soon, someone will come looking for me at the Lord’s Castle. Their condition won’t be good... When they arrive, guide them to me immediately."

"Understood, my lady."

"It’s no big deal, so you can return to your post."

Even as Bloom worried aloud about the danger of leaving two monsters in the same room, Ayra shooed him away. After he left, Ayra let out a deep sigh.

If she hadn’t been careful, she might have completely missed that something dangerous was roaming her territory. She knew Pebble’s abilities weren’t perfect—but she’d gotten complacent.

Her mouth tasted bitter.