The orc horde and the adventurers clashed.

The adventurers on the front line swung swords, thrust spears, and brought axes down on their enemies. The mages and archers waiting in the rear fired spells and arrows at the orcs farthest away, taking care not to hit their own front line.

No matter how hard the adventurers fought, facing over a hundred orcs carried considerable risk. Chilture had only about thirty-five adventurers at most, fifteen of whom were archers, mages, or priests. That left twenty on the front line to hold back the surging horde.

Even with veteran adventurers capable of taking on several orcs alone, such a disparity in numbers made the outcome far from certain. In a fierce melee, a single small mistake could easily cost someone their life.

Moreover, as they fought, the adventurers realized that the charging horde contained more than ordinary orcs. Mixed among them were Orc Warriors, far more muscular than the rest.

This would be no easy battle. They would need extraordinary luck to get through it without a single death.

Normally, that was what they would have thought.

Just as those thoughts crossed everyone's minds...

BOING!

THWACK!

"GROOOONK!"

BOING!

WHACK!

THWACK!

"GRUUUGH!"

"GRAAAGH!"

"Wh-what the hell is that slime?!"

The adventurers saw the slime sending several orcs flying with tackles and taking down others with thrusts of its tentacles. While another adventurer dealt with a single orc, the slime was putting on a spectacular performance, dispatching three or more in an instant all by itself.

Its efforts were keeping the worst from happening. Even in the middle of battle, they could hardly believe their eyes as it fought better than most veteran adventurers.

A slime.

A creature so weak that the reward for exterminating one barely bought a child's snack.

And it was bringing down more orcs than anyone else. Nor was it simply attacking at random.

"GROOOGH!"

THWACK!

"Argh!"

Whenever a nearby adventurer staggered under an orc's blow and found themselves in danger...

BOING!

THWAAACK!

"GREEEEEK!"

The slime immediately tackled the attacker and saved them. It happened time and time again.

Those rescued adventurers could fall back briefly, recover, and return to the fight. Thanks to the slime, which watched its surroundings rather than charging about blindly, none of the adventurers had died yet.

While the adventurers marveled at the slime and fought desperately against the orcs...

▶Ohhh! Now this is worth watching!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Good! Nice work! Get in closer and slam them one after another!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Hoho, Squishy really has grown much stronger.

[Squishy Queen]▶Hmph! Of course! Do you know how hard my kin has worked?!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶That's right! Squishy worked sooo hard. It was adorable!

▶Lmao watching these scrubs fight is fucking hilarious.

▶It really is more fun with plenty of blood flying~.

▶Ahahaha that hooman fell over.

The viewers were enjoying the stream, cheering for the slime or laughing at the humans shown in the third-person view. But the Orc King, the very one who had sent the orcs, watched with disappointment.

'Should I have sent more? This is a little dull.'

The slime was fighting far better than he had expected. The Orc King had envisioned a more desperate battle—not for the slime, of course, but for the humans fighting alongside it.

Yet not a single human had died so far. For the Orc King, who had wanted to see them bleeding, screaming, and begging for their lives, it was utterly bland. He had included Orc Warriors, but with the slime's skill, it would clearly make short work of those as well.

'Next time, I'll throw in some blue ones and Champions too.'

And so the Orc King decided to send stronger underlings next time.

+++

After successfully eliminating the horde of a hundred and fifty orcs...

"Then, to celebrate safely repelling the orc raid!"

"Cheers!"

The adventurers held a celebration at the guild.

Most raised their mugs to celebrate surviving the day's crisis. Best of all, the guild was providing the drinks for free as thanks for their hard work! For adventurers who loved drinking, that made every mouthful taste even better.

Of course...

GULP.

Adventurers like Claire, who didn't enjoy alcohol, drank fruit juice instead.

"Have some too, Bouncy."

'Okay!'

The slime dipped a tentacle into its cup and sucked up the juice.

'Yummy!'

Its body quivered enthusiastically.

As the celebration got into full swing, an adventurer approached Claire and the slime.

"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier."

"Huh? About what?"

"What else? For looking down on this slime."

He was the man who had told Claire before the battle that if she was going to fight, she should take it seriously.

"I survived thanks to that slime too. Thank you, really. And I'm sorry I underestimated it."

"It's fine."

Claire wasn't particularly angry with him. His reaction had been perfectly understandable. She herself would have found it hard to believe the slime was strong without seeing it firsthand.

"Haha, you're letting me off so easily that I still feel bad... All right. What does this slime like? I'll treat it."

"What Bouncy likes?"

Claire tilted her head, then took out a menu and showed it to the slime. She figured it would be better to let the slime choose than to guess herself.

"Bouncy, pick what you want to eat. He says he'll buy it for you."

'Wow!'

As the slime gazed at the menu with shining eyes, the man couldn't understand what Claire was doing.

"What are you doing?"

"Bouncy should eat something it likes. So I'm telling Bouncy to choose."

"No, however amazing that slime is, there's no way it can read..."

'This one!'

POP!

The slime extended a tentacle and pointed at the dish it wanted.

"Huh?"

"It wants this."

Claire held up the menu and pointed out the slime's choice to the man.

"Wait, did the slime really read the menu and choose?"

"Yeah. Bouncy's smart. It understands people too. And it can read. It's a really smart slime."

'I'm smart!'

The slime quivered proudly.

▶Lmao look at that hooman bastard's stunned face hahaha.

▶Squishy's pretty damn smart, yep.

[Squishy Queen]▶Hmph! This is nothing for my kin!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Perhaps Squishy might even learn magic.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Isn't that pushing it a bit?

[Squishy Queen]▶You scoundrel! How dare you belittle my kin!

▶Lmaooo.

▶Fight! Fight!

▶She goes after absolutely everyone when Squishy's involved hahaha.

"Order this."

"Oh. S-sure."

While the man ordered the dish, a stir spread through the guild.

"Did you see that? It chose its own dish."

"It understands speech and can read?"

"It's not just incredibly strong, but smart too? Is it really a slime?"

The adventurers marveled at what the slime had done. There was no aversion, disgust, or wariness in their gazes, of course. They already considered it a comrade who had fought alongside them.

What's more, most of the front-line adventurers had escaped death thanks to its efforts. Hearing that the slime that saved them was not only strong but intelligent even inspired a sense of pride: 'Ha! Just what I'd expect from the slime that saved me!'

A little later, the whole roast chicken the slime had chosen arrived.

'Meat!'

The slime immediately climbed onto the food and began absorbing it.

"Ohh, so that's how slimes eat."

"It's fascinating to see it like this."

"Surprisingly, you can't really see everything inside it."

'Yummy!'

Having devoured the chicken in one go, the slime knew perfectly well that the man had bought it. It wanted to repay him for the food.

BOING!

It sprang off the table and landed on his head.

"Wh-what?!"

"Oh. Bouncy wants to give you a massage."

"A m-massage? How does a slime give a... With its tentacles?"

"It uses those too. It feels really good."

The man couldn't make sense of what Claire was saying. How on earth was a slime supposed to sit on his head and massage him with its tentacles?

Just as he was wondering that, the slime began vibrating and giving him a massage.

"Uhhh, oh, ohhhhh~."

A voice that sounded as though its owner were melting escaped the sturdy man's lips.

"Wh-what is this? It f-feels good. Ah, ah, ah, ah."

The sensation of perfectly measured vibrations spreading from his head through his entire body gave him a pleasure unlike anything he had felt before. The vibrations worked on his battle-worn muscles, easing his fatigue.

"Wh-what's wrong with him?"

"The slime's giving him a massage?"

The slime's vibrating massage continued for five minutes.

BOING!

When it finished and hopped back down onto the table, the man slumped into his seat with a thoroughly undignified expression.

"That was... the b-best..."

"Yeah. Bouncy's really good at massages."

"Hey, could I get one too?"

Drek, the B-rank adventurer who had fought that day with a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, approached and asked.

"That's up to Bouncy."

"Hmm... Bouncy, was it? Could I get one too?"

After everything he had seen, Drek believed the slime could understand him and addressed it directly.

'Okay!'

BOING!

Still in a good mood after its delicious chicken, the slime immediately hopped onto Drek's head and began a vibrating massage, its body quivering rapidly.

"Oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh~!"

"D-Drek's making weird noises!"

"He could make a sound like that?"

The nearby adventurers were astonished to hear high-pitched moans from the large man who always spoke in a deep, low voice.

Five minutes later...

"Uhhh, oh, ohhhh... That was amazing..."

Seeing even the normally dour Drek's face go completely slack, the adventurers were overcome with curiosity. Just how good did it feel?

"... Hey, could I get one too?"

"Me too! I want to try!"

"Wait, me first! I fought really hard today!"

"You weren't the only one fighting!"

"My shoulders are stiff from casting so much magic."

"Why would using mana make your shoulders stiff?!"

"Um, could I have it focus just on my legs?"

Adventurers began gathering around Claire and the slime's table, making the guild even livelier.

Enjoying this peaceful moment, they did not yet know that this would not be the last orc raid. On the contrary, even more orcs—and stronger ones—would descend on the village.

Chilture's crisis was not over yet, nor was the content for the slime's viewers to enjoy.