Show Me Your Stats! - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

“As my lord knows, Solar is a sacred land where our deity resides.”

“Ah, I didn’t know though… Ah, so that’s why there’s so many fanatics–I mean devout followers there.’

The old man continued, “Solar’s former lord… Regrettably, he did not seem to believe in Mollunka, but it seems the current lord is faithful. Our denomination as well as Mollunka-nim will be overjoyed to learn of this.”

‘So, Solar’s unwavering faith can be helpful at times, huh?’ 

Dalloc Logia warmly grasped Ayra’s hands, deeply moved. Ayra smiled with tender benevolence, but then glanced at Dalloc Logia with a slightly worried expression, “Isn’t it strange for a Mage like me to be a follower of Mollunka?”

“Mmm? Why does it matter if you are a mage? Rather, Mollunka would be even more pleased that one of her believers is so talented.”

Ayra smiled and nodded with a relieved expression. Indeed, although Solar was quite remote, the excessive rejection of mages felt somewhat peculiar.

After concluding their conversation, Ayra supported the old man to his destination. Through the conversation, the young lord was able to infer that Mollunkaism was a popular religion that has been prevalent in Sobleche, Bolney, Solar, and other northern territories since long ago. However, the main school was located in Sobleche.

When they finally arrived at the main seat of the Mollunka sect, a temple cut from stone, Dalloc Logia’s affection level had reached an amazing 88. As he had been missing for a while, Dalloc Logia’s appearance caused a commotion at the Mollunka temple. Only after arriving at the main school and his safety was guaranteed, Dalloc finally revealed his identity, “I am Dalloc Logia, our sect leader’s brother and one of the chief elders of the main branch. Please let me repay my benefactor’s kindness.”

Ayra humbly declined a few times before finally opening his mouth reluctantly to ask for a reward, “Then, if that’s the case, may I ask for a favor?”

“Please, feel free to let me know whatever your wish may be.”

“What I want is…” In a hesitant and quiet voice, Ayra made his request. Once again, Dalloc Logia’s affection rating increased, and the old man readily agreed to the request. He even suggested that Ayra stay at the sect longer, but the young lord politely refused because he was busy and promised to stop by next time.

As soon as he left, with the church members seeing him off, a quest completion window appeared in front of him.

‘The chief elder of Mollunkaism–I sure made a good connection,’ Ayra thought as he pulled down on his hood once more. As a hidden quest, he had expected the reward to be something rare, but this was better than expected. Although Ayra had few friends in the Labyrinth, he maintained his connections. After all, connections will have some use someday.

‘Though, it would be great if the connection can become useful before Solar is ruined…’

In any case, this was certainly a bountiful harvest to show for his Sobleche visit. Ayra doted on Pebble so much that it plastered heart shapes all over the back of the young lord’s hand. 

However, behind that almost intangible and vague reward, was a series of clear losses.

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After igniting and extinguishing the farmhouse fire and thus consuming his mana, Ayra decided to stay overnight at a nearby inn, exhausted. After a good night’s sleep, he busied himself, wandering about to take care of business. After two busy days of trading, Ayra faced a serious problem.

‘I have no money! I have no money, and furthermore, no one will sell anything to me.’

Solar was a mountainous region, so there were many masons around. However, even if all the masons in the territory were mobilized, it was difficult to build walls before winter passed. Therefore, Ayra arrived at Sobleche to hire additional masons; as expected, the employment price easily exceeded the budget. Fortunately, Solar was overflowing with stones, so the young lord didn’t need to incur extra material costs.

Traders also expressed reluctance to do business with Solar. The reason was simple: as is typical with mountainous regions, the basin topography made trade difficult.

The territory was surrounded by mountains on all sides; even the comparably accessible routes, like through the Dallum Gorge, was treacherous. To put it nicely, it could be considered a natural fortress; to put it badly, the territory was perfect for isolation.

Though Sobleche and Bolney had nibbled away at Solar’s territory over the past few hundred years, this terrain was the reason why they had yet to fully conquer Solar. During the snowy winters, anyone attempting to enter would either die or suffer greatly. And, Solar was essentially wintry three seasons out of four.

‘This was actually the last chance for Bolney’s army to try and push in this year. Winter is about to begin.’

In other words, if they could not repay back the principal, Bolney’s ambitious army would flock to occupy Solar as soon as this winter passed.

Ayra had always been curious about why this seemingly insignificant land purported a population as high as 150,000. However, with the explanation from Dalloc, the High Elder of the Mollunka sect, the young mage finally understood the reason. Solar was akin to the holy grounds for the Mollunka sect, and the devout followers in Solar maintained the territory’s population. 

‘I think I can use this information well.’

Though Ayra thought that, he put it aside for now. What the young lord truly needed at the moment was food and cloth to feed and clothe Solar’s denizens throughout the winter.

“How troublesome. It seems the rumor of the trader who almost died in an avalanche has already spread.”

He tried everything to persuade Sobleche’s traders, but they all rejected him. Returning to his accommodations, Ayra buried his face in his hands. Obtaining food was his top priority, but there was another problem that worried him.

‘If these rumors about the dragon are true, I may have to prepare for an immediate evacuation.’

In the eastern lands, there were tales of a knight with amazing talent born once every few hundred years that was able to single handedly slay a dragon, but, in reality, hundreds and thousands of humans were slaughtered despite their best efforts to repel a dragon. Wherever a dragon might sweep by, only destruction followed.

Ayra tore at his hair until the fine silver strands became a mess. He checked the D-Day date–there were now 201 days left. After 201 days, his territory will be occupied by Sobleche or Bolney and perish, or the dragon will wipe the territory out, extinguishing it from the map. He hoped for the former. They had a better chance of fighting and winning against an army compared to a dragon.

After contemplating for a long while while kneading Pebble like a rice cake, Ayra decided, “Fine. I guess I’ll need to visit Bolney as well.”

Between the firm grasp of the mage’s hand, the flattened Pebble chirped as it emitted a small heart emoji.

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“You want to send it to Solar? Then, using the carrier bird, it’ll cost 1 cell.”

It costs 1 cell to send a message by bird?!  ‘The money–no mana stone–that was as precious as his own blood…’ Ayra shook his head slightly and paid for the letter. He was learning what it meant to be a poor lord, something he had never felt since arriving at Solar. This was the true agony of an impoverished lord. 

Amidst the accumulating stress and fatigue day by day, Ayra tried to console himself. ‘I should at least praise myself for acting responsibly in this sort of situation…’

The trainer who had finished measuring the value of the mana stone headed to the carrier bird, sitting atop its perch. The bird tilted its head, eyes shining red. When the trainer hung a letter alongside white gravel on its leg, the carrier bird pecked at the gravel, as if it were tasting it, before soon flying out the window.

‘That creature is more monster than animal.’

Ayra, who had been observing the carrier bird with deep interest, soon remembered that he had no time to waste, sighed, and moved on. He had just written to Ginas that he had arrived in Bolney. 

As soon as he left the building and the sharp chirps of carrier birds housed inside, Ayra pressed his hood down to the tip of his nose. Perhaps because he still held a grudge against Bolney’s heir, Nilma Argan, but everything about Bolney looked a bit despicable for no reason. Nevertheless, he had to somehow procure food from this despicable land. 150,000 citizens were on the verge of spending the entire winter trying to suck food off their bare fingers.

‘As long as it’s cheap and abundant, quality doesn’t matter. I need a merchant who’s willing to trade with Solar, even with some risks involved…’

Ayra wandered around Bolney with futile hope in his heart. Though Bolney wasn’t as fancy and luxurious as Sobleche, it seemed all the more inauspicious due to its large and intimidating buildings.

Unfortunately, like Sobleche, the traders in Bolney refused to do business. They even refused when the young lord offered extra money. Though the territory was geographically closer to Solar than Sobleche, they cited frequent earthquakes as their reason to refuse business.

“Hah? Winter is going to start soon, but you want us to go to Solar? Don’t be ridiculous…Maybe we can talk next spring.”

“It’ll be a bit troublesome now. The snow will start falling soon… And, weren’t there earthquakes in that region recently?”

“There’s many rumors that a trade caravan was crushed to death because of an avalanche. Aish, there’s not much money to be made there–who’d risk their life for that? We’ll go in spring.”

“Please come back next spring. I can go then.”

After receiving multiple rejections, Ayra sat down with a frustrated flop. ‘By next spring, our citizens will have eaten nothing but snow and stones. They’ll wither up before our eyes!’

Due to the rocky terrain, there were no edible plants to dig up or tree bark to gather. As a result, there were fewer animals to catch for food compared to other similarly mountainous regions.

Splayed out on the ground, Ayra sighed deeply and checked on the rumors of possible dragon sightings he had collected in Bolney. The rumors here weren’t so different from Sobleche. The only distinction was the uncertainty among the citizens; they wondered if there truly was a dragon living on their land.

Besides these vague rumors, Ayra had gained nothing else.