Show Me Your Stats!

“Did you think I was trying to seduce you? What a shame?”
As Ayra suddenly snapped and raised her voice during dinner back at the castle, the attendants who were serving her turned their attention toward her.

It wasn’t her first kiss, nor was it her first time having a crush on someone. But she did have some interest in Janus. From his perspective, he might have really thought she was trying to seduce him. But in that moment, she had been absentmindedly messing with her hair, so it wasn’t impossible for him to think she might be moving toward a kiss.
Objectively, it wasn’t something worth getting upset about, but still, she clenched her teeth. Sometimes, more truths could be found in non-verbal actions, like a person’s expression, atmosphere, or behavior. People often referred to it as a "suspicious feeling." Ayra felt that Janus had that kind of "suspicious feeling."
"...Did I make it that obvious?"

A moment later, Ayra's shoulders slumped. Thinking of Janus' relaxed face made her inexplicably angry and hurt her pride.
She continued to cut her steak, almost shredding it, until she finally noticed the nervous gazes of the attendants. Calmly, she collected herself and made an effort to shift her thoughts elsewhere.
‘Before I forget names, let me try to organize my thoughts again.’

Hess Lu Jinas. As the steward, he was someone very important to the lord. He seemed to be highly suspicious of Ayra, though she wasn’t sure why.
Bloom. His title suggests he’s a commoner, a deputy commander of the knights, and outwardly loyal. The knight commander... what was his name again? There were so many people at the banquet...
Aterra te Act. The young High Priest of the Morunka religion, someone to watch out for.

And then, Janus Rehzedet.
Janus...
Suddenly, Ayra’s glass, untouched by her hands, began to spin on its own before falling to the ground. The attendant who was serving her gasped, trembling as they quickly tried to collect it. Ayra, deep in thought, didn’t notice until later when she had nearly turned her steak into a soup.

After taking a deep breath and calming her mind, Ayra opened her quest window.

[Let's level up the poor stone.]

*Check stats of 300 people (286/300)
Reward: Open 1 stat of the user’s choice.
As Ayra had spent the last few days with Janus, checking the stats of everyone they met, she had almost filled the 300 people requirement. Ayra clenched her fist.

Right, the next stat she would open was Favorability.
By opening the favorability stat, she could at least learn something about what Janus was thinking behind that relaxed expression. No, to be more precise, she wanted to know how much he liked her. Even if not that, the favorability stat would definitely be useful in many ways.
Ayra finished her meal eagerly and then wandered around the castle, checking the stats of everyone she met until her mana ran out. She slept deeply and then, after replenishing her mana, she started her day by walking around the castle again.
As her steps grew more frequent, the quest progress steadily increased. Three attendants cleaning the bedroom: 287, 289, 290. Knights training fervently in the morning: 295, 296, 297.

Always loyal Head Attendant Botello... 298.
Jinas, who had overworked himself to the point of nosebleed, 299.
And finally, 300.

The moment she reached 300, the last one being Bloom, who was guarding outside her bedroom, a fanfare sound rang out.

[Let's level up the poor stone.]

*Check stats of 300 people (300/300)
Reward: Open 1 stat of the user’s choice.
The stone, now leveled up, glowed faintly before returning to its original state. There was no significant change, but the translucent body of the stone seemed to shine more than before. As the stone flapped its body, it opened the quest reward window.

[Please choose which stat to open with the quest reward.]
HP
MP

Physical Attack Power
Magic Attack Power
Favorability

Detailed stat view update (Level 5 or higher required)
 
"Mm? Detailed stat view?"

Ayra had thought that the five stats alone were more than enough for her research... well, the titles and six stats already seemed useful, so the option for detailed stat view was intriguing. But for now, she decided to open the Favorability stat. Without hesitation, Ayra selected option 5, and with a "ding!" sound, a notification popped up.
[Favorability stat has been opened!]

[Let's open another stat.]
*Accumulate stat window usage time (0/10 hours)
*Simultaneously check stats of two people (0/100)

Reward: Open 1 random stat.
Another quest window appeared. The difficulty of the quests was rising, but Ayra didn’t mind. She noticed that the mana consumption when opening stat windows had significantly decreased, a clear sign that her proficiency was improving.
Anyway, now that a functional feature had finally been unlocked, it was time to test it out.

Ayra started by checking the stat of Botello, the head attendant who had been loyal to the Solar family for generations. The stat window appeared next to Botello’s head as he was adding logs to the fireplace for Ayra, who was feeling cold.
 

HP: ???
MP: ???
Physical Attack Power: ???

Magic Attack Power: ???
Favorability: 85♡
 

If the maximum favorability score was 100, then a score of 85 was really quite high. It seemed that the affection the people had for the Solar family was being shared with Ayra as well. In fact, she could feel the care and attention in Botello's service without needing to check his favorability.
After Botello, Ayra decided to check the stats of Lord Bloom and Lord Jinas as her next test subjects.
 

HP: ???
MP: ???

Physical Attack Power: ???
Magic Attack Power: ???
Favorability: 65♡

HP: ???
MP: ???

Physical Attack Power: ???
Magic Attack Power: ???
Favorability: 3♡

 
The numbers weren’t far off from what Ayra had expected. After checking the stats of several people in the castle, Ayra realized something that wasn’t particularly surprising.
‘Seems like the people in this castle don’t like me that much.’

Aside from Botello and Bloom, the favorability scores for most people in the castle averaged around 18.3. It didn’t hurt her feelings, though. She was more curious about whether this was a normal level of favorability or if it was because she was a mage.
He quickly stood up and left. As soon as he exited the castle, a bit excited, he headed toward the plaza, but today, Janus was nowhere to be seen.
"Why isn’t he here today?"

Actually, thinking about it, it was strange that Janus had been sitting in the same spot for so many days like a homeless person. Plus, there weren’t really any new places to show in the estate anymore. Ayra stood still and looked at the spot where Janus usually sat.
‘Still, I should at least say something like ‘the tour’s over’ out of courtesy.’
Feeling a bit disappointed by Janus’s indifference, Ayra turned her steps. Deciding to collect some more samples regarding favorability from the estate residents, she approached a passing farmer to check his stats.

"Mm?"
When Ayra checked the farmer’s stat window, she tilted her head. She had expected the favorability to be 0 since they had no prior acquaintance, but to her surprise, it was 24. After thinking it over, Ayra checked the stats of a very young child nearby, and sure enough, the favorability was 0.
‘This… it seems like the favorability is related to the second son of the Solar family, the future lord.’

It was a good thing for Ayra that the favorability scores reflected the estate residents’ support for their future lord.
As she walked a little further, she considered checking the stats of some animals or beasts if she still had enough mana left. That’s when she noticed the Mercenary Office building in her line of sight. Deciding to stop in, she entered the office.
As soon as she opened the door, the chatter of the mercenaries quieted, and all eyes turned toward her. When Ayra checked their favorability stats, she found that their averages were oddly higher than the castle residents.

The first to acknowledge her was Nadal. Even though they had only met once before, his favorability toward Ayra was a surprising 45.
"Ah, welcome. Janus’s client, right? Are you here to make a request?"
"No, I’m not here for a request. Is Janus here?"

The moment Ayra mentioned Janus’s name, curious eyes from all the mercenaries turned toward her. Nadal, smiling broadly, responded.
"No, he’s not here. What brings you to look for Janus?"
"I think the task we assigned him is finished, but he disappeared without saying anything, and I wanted to confirm that."

Upon hearing this, Nadal nodded with an understanding expression and spoke cautiously.
"Ah, Janus... well, yes."
"He’s impossible to read, fickle, and unpredictable."

"He’s good at what he does, and his prices are cheap, but because of his personality, it’s hard to get requests through. He does whatever he wants."
As soon as Nadal spoke, other voices chimed in to add their opinions. Listening to them, Ayra, who had received help from Janus, felt a bit embarrassed.
"Still, he’s a good person..."

As she defended him, laughter erupted from the group. The reaction seemed to suggest they had heard some entertaining nonsense, and Ayra raised an eyebrow.
"Heh, Janus is a good person, huh?"
"Well, he’s good enough, but... you know."

"I can’t say he’s a good person, no matter how much I try."
With that, someone scanned Ayra with a meaningful look and grinned. Anyway, it seemed certain that Janus wasn’t here, and feeling a bit uneasy, Ayra left the Mercenary Office.