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After the young lord had exited the notification windows in disappointment, Janus, judging that he had ample time to appreciate the view, pointed his finger at the estate’s castle.
With his other hand, Janus grabbed the young lord’s waist; though Ayra felt a little uncomfortable, he patiently endured because he might fall. Perhaps because the hand at his waist was too warm–or because he was afraid since they had climbed too high–Ayra felt some itchiness in his stomach.
“That, over there, is the lord’s castle. Recently, the lord and his whole family died.”
“One child was still left alive.” Momentarily furious, Ayra refuted the other’s words reflexively.
Janus spoke bluntly, “What, is there any meaning to just one remaining living child? This territory is doomed anyway.”
Whether or not this region will soon meet its end, his words were just too much! Ayra sneakily glowered at Janus; when their eyes made contact, the young lord quickly turned away.
It was unlikely Janus would find out, but Ayra didn’t want to give the mercenary any hint to his identity. Of course, the fact that he’s a mage had already been exposed by the other…
Janus continued to explain, paying no heed to his companion’s glare. “You can see the square, right? Surrounding that is the market; the temple of Mollunka is the high building over there; the people live roughly near the river; across that river are the slums. And, beyond the castle walls…you can see the city of Sobletche, dimly visible past the plains. And there’s Bolney, beyond the mountain the range.”
Both Sobletche and Bolney were territories larger and more powerful than Solar. As with most long-time neighboring territories, they did not get along–large and small conflicts often arose. As far as Ayra knew, Solar had suffered some skirmishes here and there while between these two territories and gradually decreased to its current size.
“So, where should I take you?” Janus asked.
“Can’t we visit all of them?” Ayra, still guilty of requesting a guide without paying, groped through his pockets. How many mana stones did he bring?
As the young lord thought about it, Janus pleasantly replied, “There’s no reason we can’t. The city isn’t that big; even if we only did three or four hours a day, in three to four days we’d go around the entire place.”
“If it’d only take three to four days…” Ayra, who had become accustomed to the Labyrinth’s huge scale, muttered subconsciously. The Labyrinth, which for him felt more like home, was large enough to rival metropolises
Upon hearing that, Janus once again wore a strange smile, “If it’s okay to take a longer time, I can show you all that I know.”
“If you’d do that for me, I’d be happy, but…” That wouldn’t be a bad deal for Ayra at all. Whatever he would learn, the basics were the most important. Therefore, the young lord considered it essential to learn about the territory and its people first. It was fortunate that he was given so much free time before officially becoming the lord.
“…Why are you doing so much for me?” However, Ayra was also a little suspicious of Janus.  Although there were differences according to region, the public security throughout the territories was so incomparably bad compared to the Labyrinth one could say it didn’t exist. There were so many vicious and perverted criminals everywhere.
At Ayra’s question, Janus muttered, “Hmmm,” as he bowed his head obliquely. Faced with open wariness, his red eyes thinned narrowly underneath wind disheveled hair. “If I’m so suspicious, why did you follow me all the way here? What did you think I’d do?”
“I have the ability to protect myself.”
Ayra believed in his own capabilities as a mage, so he was able to follow him to the top of this mountain. He wouldn’t have done so if he were an ordinary person without any sort of ability.
Janus openly smiled–as if he saw something cute and insignificant–at Ayra’s words. “Of course, you’re a mage. How great and scary.”
Ayra frowned, wondering if the other was sarcastic; Janus, though, talked sweetly, like an adult soothing a child. In other words, he adopted a blatant teasing tone. “No matter your skill, you shouldn’t come to such an isolated place with an unfamiliar man.”  Then, he placed significant force on the hand gripping Ayra’s wrist, peculiarly licking the corners of his lips with the tip of his tongue. “In such a deserted place…very bad things can happen to you.”
Ayra, crumpling his forehead, reflexively tried to retreat but hesitated–they were standing in such a narrow space that could only accommodate two people. This man… he had such an impish personality. Ayra knew well that men like him don’t give free service out of the good of their hearts.
Janus continued, “Anyway, you’d better not let your guard down just because you’re a mage. Wizards are not the only beings that can exert more power than ordinary folks.”
Even Ayra knew all that. A well-adapted mage that has lived in the Labyrinth for 20 years has the ability to block an arrow shower, lift an entire small house, and deal with dozens of civilian opponents at once.
However, there were strong people who could attack far more fatally and quickly than him in this world. A mage that had awakened to physical talents may be able to deal with those opponents, but, unfortunately, Ayra’s enlightenment did not tend towards those abilities.
“I followed you even while assuming those scenarios,” Ayra said.
“Oh? You’re confident you can deal with those folks?”
“No. In any case, if someone like that made up their mind to do something to me, no matter my efforts the results will probably end the same anyway.”
Additionally, people at that level would be equally dangerous in crowded villages and in these desolate mountains. Rather, it would be less of a disturbance if they fought somewhere isolated–furthermore there would be less collateral victims. Anyway, wasn’t Ayra going to be the future lord that would one day be responsible and care for these citizens?
“Aha…That’s definitely true.” Janus shrugged, as if the drive to tease him had disappeared. He looked down with an indifferent expression–Ayra couldn’t really read that face–and soon gently patted Ayra’s shoulder.  “Now, if you’ve regained your breath, shall we slowly climb down?”
At those words, Ayra turned and looked down the cliff and sighed deeply. Anyone who has gone mountaineering would know: it’s harder to go down than to climb up…
Just in case Janus would throw him down again, he took the initiative to step on empty air and descend. Janus gave a chuckle at that sight and jumped down, dealing with the problem in one go.
Coming down the mountain was incomparably difficult from climbing up. If Janus hadn’t caught him at various ledges, he would have fallen a dozen times. As Ayra forced his shaking legs along, something caught his eye.
Had there been a turf battle? A dead demonic beast was lying there.  Ayra unknowingly let out an exclamation and ran towards the beast. “What in the world–this is…”
It was a Stradia, a half-melted elemental monster, something he’d only seen as a sample once–and it’s a subspecies he hadn’t seen before either! The large-dog-sized demonic beast that seemed to be made out of translucent gelatin was freshly killed, with a few slight dents in its head and a few damaged portions. Ayra was simultaneously happy to see it and regretful that he couldn’t sample the monster due to the lack of tools; the young lord touched the dead beast with his bare hands.
“It’s pink, soft, malleable, and warm… How great is it that I can observe the Stradia’s unique radiality and cystic fronds?” Ayra said ecstatically.
Ayra swept his fingers over the abdomen, trying to see if it was fluffy pink fur or tentacles that the monster developed in order to adapt to the harsh cold environment. Ayra returned back his senses because he felt a stinging gaze stabbing him in the back of his head.
After futilely coughing to hide his embarrassment, Ayra reluctantly and disappointedly tore his gaze away from the demonic beast. He turned around, adopting the guise of a normal person who was shocked after finding a dead beast. “It’s the first time I’ve seen such a rich, beautiful pink Stradia; I was startled and only wanted to touch it a little.”
At those words, Janus stared once at Ayra before staring at the pitifully dead Stradia. Taking one step backwards–which reflected his desire to create some mental distance–Janus said, ” Sure, when someone’s a little startled I guess they might want to stroke and hug something that looks like a half-chewed, half-regurgitated intestine.” Then, he looked at Ayra with a pitiful gaze, as if he was looking at some insane person.
‘What do you mean a regurgitated intestine! It’s far more beautiful than that!’ Ayra clenched his fists. ‘And, I’m not some insane person…! As a mage and researcher, my response couldn’t be helped…!’
Anyway, the young lord learned his lesson–normal people would scream when they see a dead demonic beast. He began walking again, dragging his feet. After a brief heavy silence, Ayra cast a sidelong glance at Janus and thought, ‘What a crazy yet powerful person who would just unexpectedly throw people around in the mountains.’
‘What a slightly insane pretty-boy who gets excited at dead demonic beasts.’
And, without voicing their inner thoughts, the two continued down the mountain path.
“Ayra-nim. Ayra-nim.”
Ayra woke at Botello’s gentle shoulder shake. Even afterwards, though, the young lord groaned for a long while, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and could barely spat out, “Is it morning?”
The sun felt a bit too weak for morning.
Botello looked at Ayra with an anxious gaze, “Why don’t you have some lunch and return to sleep?”
“…Is it lunchtime?”
“It’s a little past lunch time.”
Looking out the window, Ayra could see that the Sun had set a little bit past its summit. After realizing that he woke up a little late today, the young lord fought inertia and barely stood up. 1 If Botello hadn’t woken him up for his meal, Ayra would have probably slept until dinner.
Botello brought over some warm water for the young lord to wash his hands; the artificial spirit, after stretching its tiny hands high, looked happy to be submerged in the water. Sitting at the edge of the bed, Ayra simply wetted his fingers, letting Pebble do as it pleased.
‘Wow, I’m so tired…Why am I so tired?’ he thought.
The cause was, probably, due to his lack of exercise–because his guide was just far too fit.
TL: Ngl, I want to squish all the fantastical beasts too. Ayra has his priorities straight! There might be a few mistakes in this chapter bc I’m still in need of an editor! Feel free to message me with grammar mistakes.
Sorry for taking such a long hiatus! School caught up with everything (Finals etc) But I can finally focus a little now!
미적미적 (mijuk-mijuk) is the onomatopoeia for doing something with great effort (like pushing a heavy block) or the sound of procrastinating. Literally anything can be an onomatopoeia in Korean lmao