Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 96

Between Bolni and Solar, a faint mist-like formation hung over the mountains. Ayra leaned in close, practically pressing her nose to the map screen as he tilted his head repeatedly in confusion. He glanced down at the pebble—still fast asleep on the back of his hand, displaying a drowsy little "zzz" in cute alphabet letters. Maybe he was just seeing things from tired eyes? Frowning, Ayra closed the map window.

At dawn, he once again set out to circle the city and wrap up the last bits of his quest grind. After completing the quests, he unlocked the Intelligence stat window—a strategic choice to help select more competent hires for the upcoming administrator expansion.

‘It’s called intelligence, but I guess it’s not the same thing as IQ.’

After roaming the city, he noticed a pattern: the older the person, the higher their Intelligence stat; likewise, administrators scored far higher than ordinary citizens. It seemed the stat was heavily influenced by education and knowledge. While regular territory folk averaged around 100, administrators hovered closer to 150. Jinas scored a solid 274, and Ayra himself?

A whopping 457.

‘Well, I do know quite a lot. I published several academic papers, after all...’

Pleased with himself, he returned to the castle—only to be met with a flood of headaches. A colorful range of pink-haired Graffni family members clung to him in tears, insisting he’d been framed. Just listening for a few minutes was enough to give him a migraine.

After calming them down by promising a fair investigation, Ayra posted the administrator recruitment notice and holed up in the library to catch up on paperwork. At some point, he opened the map window to check on Janus’s location—and froze.

What had looked like faint mist earlier that morning was now a dense, dark blue smear. Of course, the map window didn’t have a real physical surface, so it couldn’t actually stain. That “smear” was a massive cluster of ma-beasts, packed so tightly it looked like a splotch of ink.

And the location? Just one day’s ride from the city—far too close.

Ayra’s expression hardened. If those beasts started heading toward the city... Could they stop them? The outer walls weren’t even fully repaired yet. Even if they did manage to fend off the horde, the damage would be catastrophic.

‘No, think positive. At least I found out now. That’s something.’

If he hadn’t been checking Janus’s location so obsessively, he might not have noticed this for a while.

This was the kind of situation where speed was everything. There was no time for sending scouts—it needed to be dealt with directly. Throwing aside the papers he’d been working on, Ayra stormed out of the study and went to find Botello.

"Botello, I need to head into the mountains immediately. Can you pack warm clothing and enough food for three people? How long will it take?"

The steward, who’d been preparing Ayra’s late-night snack, looked startled but bowed without question.

"It can be ready quickly."

"Good. Then ready three horses and bring everything to the front gate."

While Botello hurried to make preparations, Ayra headed to the training yard. There, Bloom was overseeing the knights’ drills. As soon as Ayra appeared, Bloom approached and bowed.

"My Lord. What brings you here?"

"Sir Bloom, among the knights, who is the most experienced in handling ma-beasts?"

Seeing the seriousness in Ayra’s face, Bloom instantly realized the gravity of the situation.

"Among the knights... that would be me."

"Perfect. Then make ready at once. We’re heading to the mountains. It may be dangerous, so come fully prepared."

"Yes, My Lord! I’ll be ready immediately."

Ayra figured it would take at least ten minutes, but Bloom was back in under five. Even then, three of those minutes had been spent issuing instructions for what to do in his absence. Whether it was because he was a knight or just very organized, the speed was impressive.

At the front gate, Botello was already waiting with three horses and the packed supplies. Bloom rushed over, secured the bundles to the saddles, then knelt and personally helped Ayra into a thick overcoat and waterproof boots, all while Ayra’s knees were in rough shape.

"Please... come back safe, My Lord. Sir Bloom, I’m entrusting our Lord to your care."

Botello wore the same look he always did whenever Ayra left—anxious and deeply worried. After all, Ayra was the last heir of House Solar.

Feeling a tight pang in his chest, Ayra looked down at Botello’s trembling, wrinkled hands. Then he turned to Bloom, the steadfast knight by his side. His connection to the castle staff and the people of this land only grew deeper by the day... which made everything more complicated. That’s why, even on overwhelming days like this, he pushed himself.

Pulling his robe hood low, Ayra reassured Botello with a gentle voice. To him, Botello felt less like a servant and more like a warm, elderly uncle.

"Don’t worry, Botello. I’ll come back in one piece. I am a talented mage, remember? Take good care of the castle while I’m away."

"Indeed, Steward. Don’t worry. I’ll protect our Lord with my life."

With even Bloom stepping in, Botello seemed to relax a little. As the aging steward saw them off, Bloom glanced at the third horse, which was still riderless.

"My Lord, is someone else joining us?"

Ayra shivered, tugging her collar closed and buttoning up as she looked back at the castle.

"Yes. We’ve got one hell of a ma-beast hunter in this territory."

❄

"Hah! Not a cloud in the sky—perfect weather for hunting ma-beasts!"

Hera bellowed with laughter, her voice echoing down the path. Bloom, riding beside her, looked visibly annoyed and leaned toward Ayra to ask in a low voice:

"My Lord, is it really wise to bring someone so... crude? I am quite good at killing ma-beasts myself."

"Hey, I can hear you, knight-boy!"

Bloom flinched and snapped his mouth shut, making Ayra chuckle.

"We’re not here to fight the ma-beasts, Sir Bloom. Just to check the situation."

Ma-beasts had different threat levels. If the swarm in the mountains was made up of Lerers or Olrodnas, there’d be no issue. But if it turned out to be something stronger, they needed a small, elite group that could protect Ayra in a worst-case scenario.

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When Ayra contacted Hera—interrupting her date with Wolf—he’d honestly expected her to refuse. But she’d agreed without hesitation and even turned down any reward.

‘This land is where my family’s going to live now. And I’m a Solar citizen too. It’s my duty to protect it, no? If we end up killing ma-beasts, just toss me a few magic stones—I’ll use ’em when I buy a house.’

Ayra still thought recruiting Hera as a vassal through her marriage was probably one of his best decisions in recent memory...

By the time they reached the mountains after riding all day, they first stopped at the cabin Hera used as a base for ma-beast hunts. While gathering the gear she’d stored there, Hera asked:

"Explain it to me again. There’s a swarm of ma-beasts nearby?"

"Right. Around here. I’d estimate their numbers in the thousands."

Ayra pulled a map from his subspace and pointed out the location and size of the swarm. The expressions on both Hera and Bloom darkened. They were seasoned fighters—but this scale was alarming.

"A ma-beast horde this large..."

"I’ve hunted them all my life, but I’ve never heard of them clustering like this. Hopefully it’s just Lerers or Olrodnas..."

As they pored over the map, Hera tilted her head and looked at Ayra curiously.

"But how did you find out about this, My Lord? That there’s a swarm here?"

"I stumbled on it while using a detection spell."

Bloom, amazed, praised her for her skill—but Hera, who had more experience with mages, raised a skeptical eyebrow. She muttered something about detection spells not normally reaching this far. Ayra, well aware of the standard range, explained:

"It’s one of the spells I picked up in the maze. You just need a couple expensive tools."

At the word maze, Hera flinched—and subtly stepped back. That stung a little...

"Alright, let’s gear up before we head out."

She opened a cupboard and pulled out two jars—one filled with a dark green powder, and the other packed with vivid red flowers. Flowers Ayra immediately recognized from the Morunka Temple.

Bloom looked puzzled.

"What are these for? And isn’t that the ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Morunka Church’s sacred flower?"

"Huh? You I can understand, but aren’t you the knight commander? You don’t know this stuff?"

Bloom blushed slightly and turned his head aside with a cough.

"Ahem. I’ve only been in Solar a few years—I still don’t know everything."

Hera glanced at the blond tufts poking out from his helmet and nodded.

"Ahh, that explains it. You’re from the west, huh?"

At that, Bloom closed his mouth tightly and glanced at Ayra. Knowing how wary Solar was of outsiders, Ayra gave him a reassuring smile. As someone who’d lived through the maze and reincarnated from a different world entirely, he had no bias against foreigners.

"If you eat three of these red flowers, your body scent disappears for about an hour. And if you sprinkle this powder, you’ll smell like the forest. It keeps ma-beasts from noticing us. It’s standard practice among Solar’s ma-beast hunters. Though, I guess you’d have no reason to use it—being a castle defender and all."

Hera explained that even being near the flower made it harder for ma-beasts to pick up human scent. Ayra now understood why Morunka worshippers had adopted the flower as a sacred symbol—likely because someone long ago was saved from a ma-beast by sheltering near it. In that moment, the flower must’ve felt like a divine miracle.

Each of them chewed and swallowed three flowers, then mixed the powder with water and rubbed it deep into their clothes. With faint herbal scents clinging to them, they began ascending the mountain. As the knight commander and seasoned hunter occasionally glanced back with pity at the wheezing mage behind them, the group finally approached the ma-beast horde’s location.

"Ma-beasts are patrolling that side—let’s go this way..."

Ayra’s quiet directions were aided by his pebble’s detection magic. The three moved silently and slowly until they reached the edge of a sheer cliff.

What they saw below made all three of them freeze in shock.