Show Me Your Stats!

‘Fickle, unpredictable, and doing things his own way.’
Hearing the mercenaries’ evaluation of Janus reminded Ayra of her first impression of him. He didn’t look like a normal person, sitting in the same spot all day with an instrument he had picked up from somewhere. Whether he was a beggar or a homeless person, it certainly wasn’t a usual sight.
‘Well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be.’

Ayra shook her head, trying to shake off her thoughts about Janus. Yet, while she was out walking around the city, completing her quest, she couldn’t help but keep looking around, wondering if she’d spot him somewhere.
However, no matter where she went in the small town that barely shed its village-like atmosphere, she couldn’t find Janus. It wasn’t until lunch that Ayra completely gave up on the idea of finding him.
‘Maybe he’s left to find a new lover in a different city.’

As she thought this, a sudden emptiness hit her, and she felt a hunger in her stomach. Ayra rubbed her belly and walked toward the steamed bun shop.
After buying a spicy meat bun and chatting cheerfully with Ulf, the owner, who surprisingly had a favorability of 53 toward her, Ayra started to think seriously about whether she could arrange for these meat buns to be delivered to the castle. But as she was lost in her thoughts, someone rushed by her and knocked her over.
What kind of rude person would do that? As she turned around, a moment later, someone shouted, “Thief!” and began running desperately. Instinctively, Ayra patted her belongings, only to remember that she had placed them in her spatial storage.

"...Hah, at least I saved the bun."
Thankfully, she had instinctively protected the bun as she fell. The shopkeeper, startled by the sudden fall, rushed over.
"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"Ah, yes. I’m fine..." Ayra waved her hand, signaling she was okay, but her eyes wandered toward the steamed bun shop’s sign. In this world, literacy rates weren’t very high, so most shops had signs with pictures. But unusually, the steamed bun shop’s sign had a four-leaf clover on it. The clover was faded with age, but as she looked closely, she noticed that it had smiling eyes, nose, and mouth. Ayra furrowed her brow as she stood up with the shopkeeper’s help.
‘That’s strange... I’ve seen that four-leaf clover sign somewhere before.’
Where had she seen it? Why did it look so familiar? As she tilted her head, she suddenly caught sight of striking red hair in the distance. Even from this far away, Ayra recognized it. It was Janus. Pushing thoughts of the sign aside, Ayra hurriedly shoved the remaining bun into her mouth and began running.

"Hah, hah, why is he so fast?"
In the midst of coughing from trying to swallow the bun too quickly, she barely managed to gulp it down and chase after him. But in no time, Janus disappeared from her sight. Panting heavily, Ayra looked around, realizing she was near the castle walls.
"What the... where did he go?"

She walked a little further, but all she saw were the estate residents chatting by the walls. With the succession ceremony soon to take place, Ayra sighed, wondering if her connection with Janus was coming to an end. She turned to head back when suddenly, a loud rumble shook the ground.
"An earthquake?"
Startled, Ayra looked around, but the estate residents continued on with their activities as if it were nothing. They didn’t seem bothered at all, as if this had happened before. Seeing their calmness helped Ayra relax a bit, and she sighed in relief.
"Come to think of it, didn’t we have a few earthquakes when I was a child?"

Thinking back to her childhood, Ayra was about to retrace her steps when suddenly, a much stronger earthquake hit. This time, the estate residents screamed in terror and fell to the ground as the ground violently shook.
"Ugh...!"
It was just as hard for Ayra to maintain her balance, so she crouched down, scanning her surroundings for a safer place.

At that moment, there was a distinct, crushing sound. Debris began falling from the castle walls, and with a loud crash, a massive boulder fell to the ground. Once the walls started crumbling, the damage became a chain reaction.
The falling rubble was heading toward the estate residents resting below the walls. Ayra’s eyes widened as she noticed the danger. There wasn’t enough time to warn them, so she quickly used her mana to freeze the falling rocks. The stones that had been about to fall froze mid-air.
Having pushed herself with magic, Ayra’s face paled slightly. Naturally, her position wasn’t entirely safe either. As the stone dust fell with a hiss, Ayra looked up, only to see a massive fragment hovering above her head. Instinctively, she tried to protect herself, but then remembered the residents she had just shielded with magic.

Biting her lip, she hunched down, trying to brace for impact. But the expected shock or pain never came. Someone had grabbed Ayra and quickly pulled her away from the falling debris. After confirming the residents were safe, Ayra released her magic, gasping for air as she looked up.
Standing before her, with the crumbling walls as a backdrop, was a familiar face looking down at her.
"What are you doing here?"

"Janus!"
Ayra shouted in surprise, but immediately froze. The only reason she wasn’t safe was because most of the buildings were low-rise structures made of stone. She could see soldiers from the castle running and screaming as stones fell, embedding themselves into the ground with a thud. But even in this moment of danger, Ayra couldn’t tear her eyes away from Janus.
It wasn’t because of his burning red hair and eyes that stood out. Nor was it because of his handsome face, smiling so confidently without fear or anxiety in the face of the disaster.

‘What...?’
Something felt off.
Outwardly, nothing seemed different, but why did it feel so terrifying now?

The presence of the other person felt strangely heavy, and as Ayra hesitated and began to step back, a strong arm suddenly grabbed her by the wrist, pulling painfully. The gaze directed at her glowed like a red flame, seething with intensity.
"If you go that way, you’ll die."
His voice, completely devoid of weight, pierced through the air calmly. Ayra, though realizing this wasn’t the time to act out, found herself mesmerized as she checked Janus's stat window. Meanwhile, the stone had come out and was nervously circling around her.

Soon, a translucent window appeared next to Janus’s head.
 

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

Magic Attack Power: ???
Favorability: 1♡
It was like being struck with the force of a blow to the head.

‘Favorability 1? Only 1?’
 
Ayra stared intensely at the stat window, and Janus’s eyes followed her gaze. He briefly looked behind him, then settled on a spot in the air where Ayra was staring. His red eyes narrowed.

"Ayra."
Only when her name was called did Ayra snap back to reality. Even in a situation where the ground was shaking violently, Janus’s body didn’t falter at all.
"Why did you follow me all the way here? Isn’t our business finished... unless you have something else to say?"

Now that Ayra had seen his favorability stat, she could detect a subtle irritation beneath his calm and gentle voice. Biting her lip, Ayra finally stood up, brushing herself off. Janus extended his hand, but Ayra purposely turned away and grabbed the nearby fence to rise.
Janus shrugged his shoulders and bit his hand, but his red gaze coldly fixed on the stone that had been nervously floating around her. Startled, the stone fled behind Ayra’s back. In a desperate rush to steady herself, Ayra failed to notice how Janus’s gaze was turning colder by the second or how her artificial spirit was frantically waving its tiny pebble-sized hands.
"...What are you trying to pull, mage?"

"What?"
Ayra couldn’t quite catch Janus’s question due to the noise around them. As she glanced back at Janus’s stat window, she checked the favorability again—still at 1. Janus’s gaze followed hers once more, and that’s when his fingers twitched. Suddenly, Ayra felt her mana rapidly draining, and something materialized in front of her.
"Eh?"

Ayra made a blank sound. What she was more concerned about, even more than the intense tremor or the fact that his favorability was only 1, was what was appearing now. It wasn’t a stat window or an alert window.
Thanks for saving me earlier. (Bad Ending)
What do you mean, “trying to pull something”? (Bad Ending)

I don’t quite understand what you’re saying. (Bad Ending)
 
Wait... Wasn’t this just supposed to show a stat window? Why are there choices now?

Wait, what is this ending? ...Bad Ending?
As she absentmindedly recalled the enjoyable times she had spent with him, Ayra stared blankly at the man in front of her. Janus grinned widely, his sharp teeth showing as his red eyes narrowed with a predatory gleam. His gaze was oddly slippery, almost like a reptile’s.