Show Me Your Stats!

Ayra trudged to the inn, opening the door and entering. Inside, only a couple of villagers with tired faces were sipping on their drinks, making the place quite empty. The innkeeper, who had been comforting them, immediately recognized Ayra and smiled as he approached.
"Welcome! You must be very tired today. If you’re staying here, I’ll take you to the best room."

"Um, is there someone named Janus staying here? He’s the one I came with. He’s got red hair, a bit handsome..."
"Ah, him! Yes, he checked in earlier this morning and is staying upstairs."
Before going up, Ayra ordered some hot stew and ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) a few dishes. When she opened the door to the room the innkeeper had directed her to, she found Janus lazily lying on the bed with his arm under his head. When the door opened, he merely tilted his head up and grinned. Ayra forced a smile back and shook the bottle of alcohol as she asked.

"Can I sleep here tonight?"
Given the uncertainty of when or where the person who had caused the landslide might appear again, Ayra was extremely tired. Though she didn’t fully trust Janus, it seemed better to sleep with him than alone in an unfamiliar place. Plus, Janus’s formidable power had been proven during their journey through Dalum Gorge.
Fortunately, Janus agreed to her request without hesitation.

"Of course."
Having received permission, Ayra dragged her feet inside. She sat near the brazier and lazily removed her boots. Shivering, she placed her cold hands and feet close to the fire. After watching the villagers being rescued all day, her whole body felt frozen. Her ears felt like they might fall off, and her hands and feet were icy to the point of stiffness.
‘I want to go back to the labyrinth... I miss the warm southern sun...’

Sweet fruits dripping with juice, birds chirping loudly as they flew by, the sun that was not just warm but almost hot in the summer, the thin silk robe... She was longing for the labyrinth as she sat sluggishly warming herself by the fire, when Janus got up from the bed and lazily approached her.
He came over, sitting next to her and reaching for the bottle of alcohol, then slumped down beside her. Ayra took a few spoonfuls of stew, but she barely tasted it, setting it aside. She was too tired to eat.
‘My hands are freezing...’

Even with her hands placed directly in front of the fire, they didn’t seem to warm up at all. The inn was poorly heated, making it feel even colder. She missed the warm leather water bag that Botello used to give her. While rubbing her hands vigorously in front of the fire, Ayra stole a glance at Janus.
Janus, holding the alcohol bottle in one hand, had his other hand resting on the floor. A fur carpet made from deer hide was laid in front of the brazier. After a moment of hesitation, Ayra slipped her hand between Janus's hand and the fur carpet.
Janus, who had been casually drinking, raised an eyebrow at her action. Ayra smiled awkwardly, as if asking him to notice, and he chuckled lightly, shifting his body to the side. He then pulled her cold, bare foot into his hands and began to rub it gently.

‘A human heater... a human heater.’
As Janus massaged her icy cold feet with his body heat, Ayra felt the warmth spreading, though it made her feel somewhat awkward. However, her hands were still left unattended, so she glanced over at Janus again.
Normally, people didn’t like putting their hands under their clothes during winter, but this man... He was sitting in a room barely warm enough to keep his breath from showing, wearing nothing but a linen shirt. He hadn’t shown any signs of feeling cold throughout their journey and had even taken a cold bath in the snow.

Ayra slowly lifted the hem of his shirt. She carefully touched it with one finger, then placed her palm on his stomach. When she got no reaction, she slowly slid her hand inside his shirt and curled herself up into the warmth of his body.
It was certainly warm.
As Janus continued to rub her feet until they became slightly warmer, his hands moved elsewhere. He casually touched and fondled her body, but Ayra left him to it. For someone so warm, she didn’t mind where he touched.
After pressing her palm flat, Ayra flipped her hand over and applied pressure to the back of her hand.

Slowly, she began to feel drowsy, her eyes fluttering open and closed, when Janus’s lips, tracing the back of her ear, finally touched her cold earlobe. His tongue, even warmer than his hands, slowly licked her ear, and a chill ran down her spine, chasing away the sleepiness.
"Mmm..."
It was troublesome how quickly her resistance melted after just a slight mix of their bodies. Ayra tried hard not to be drawn to him, but part of her couldn’t help but think that she wished someone like him could be hers. However, Janus didn’t seem the type to be anyone’s.

‘And he feels pretty dangerous.’
From the perspective of a lord, he was someone she’d prefer not to let into the estate unless he was on her side. She recalled his terrifying strength when he easily slaughtered the Ocampania group. She had been trying to gauge his skills while passing through Dalum Gorge, but even now, she still had no idea how powerful he really was.
As Ayra turned her attention back to the Stat Window, she quickly summoned Janus’s stats.

HP: 9,999,999
MP: ???

Physical Attack: ???

"…?"
"What's wrong?"
Ayra froze, her body stiffening as the shock of the numbers overwhelmed her. Janus, who had been lazily lounging, rubbed his eyes, confused by her sudden reaction. No matter how many times she rubbed her eyes, the numbers didn’t change. Janus, sensing her confusion, offered to check her eyes for her, but Ayra remained lost in thought.

9,999,999? Is that even possible? That kind of number is almost impossible to find without using cheat codes, even in a game. Ayra blinked in disbelief. Bug? A glitch? It had to be, right? She tapped the back of her hand and called out to her spirit.
"Stone, come here for a moment."
"Is its name really Stone? Seriously?"

Janus asked with amusement, while Ayra's spirit, who had been sleeping on her hand, floated out into the air. It flapped its tiny wings, causing drops of cold sweat to scatter, as it looked around with its usual indifferent expression.
"Are you going to do your job properly? Is this how you’re going to work?"
Despite Janus’s extraordinary stamina, could 9,999,999 be a legitimate stat? Ayra pulled the spirit, stretching and pressing it, making it squeak and complain. However, oddly enough, the spirit kept releasing little heart effects during the entire ordeal...

‘This perverted spirit... Well, it’s cute, so I’ll let it slide.’
Reading her thoughts, the spirit looked up and, in a flustered motion, gathered its hands together, constantly releasing big heart shapes from its body in an adorable display. When Ayra’s mood softened, she let it go, but Janus, having waited for this moment, quickly reached out to grab it. Naturally, his attempt failed.
"It won’t catch?"

Janus tried to grab the spirit again several times, but his hands passed through the spirit’s body. The translucent spirit fluttered around like a soft line, and every time Janus waved his hand, it drifted lazily back to Ayra’s knee.
"Spirits don’t have physical forms, so if you can’t handle mana, you can’t touch them."
As Ayra petted the spirit on her knee, she gently pushed it into her body, where it slowly disappeared inside. Janus, now left with an empty space where the spirit had been, touched the spot curiously.

Once the shock of seeing the 9,999,999 number passed, Ayra suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion and yawned.
"So? How do you handle mana?"
"Well... there are several ways. One is awakening as a mage. The other is always making contact with magic stones and the skin. You can also use magical tools for training."

Not only mages can handle mana. About five out of ten people can gradually learn to use magical tools, and about one in a thousand will awaken as a mage. While Ayra explained how to handle mana, she recalled the unbelievable numbers on her Stat Window.
How could someone have a stat of 9,999,999? If it’s a relative scale, it might make some sense. People’s HP might reach 9,999,999 compared to ants, so maybe for Janus, her own HP is close to that of a magical ant...