“Fresia, what are you talking about?”

“Th-that's right! What do you mean, you aren't going back?”

“Is there some reason for this?”

Startled by Fresia's words, Smartass, Amelia, and Paulen questioned her in turn.

Unlike the flustered onlookers, Fresia merely answered with a serene smile, as though she had already made up her mind.

“I mean exactly what I said. I won't return to the Holy City. I'm staying here. So, Ventus, I'm sorry, but I can't do what you've asked.”

“No, I mean, why would you stay here...”

“Because I want to.”

Fresia approached Smartass and took his bony hand.

“I don't want to be separated from you anymore, Ventus. From now on, I want to stay by your side.”

“Whaaat!?”

“Saintess Fresia!?”

“Oh my!”

“Huh? What? Oh. Ooooh...”

At Fresia's utterly unexpected confession, Smartass's jawbone dropped wide open.

Smartass. Username: Free Spirit. His name as a human: Ventus Frail.

In all his living years—no, even including his years as a lich after death—this was the first confession of love he had ever received.

Smartass wasn't the only one shocked. Amelia could hardly help being astonished by a confession of love from the Fresia she so respected. Fresia, always so benevolent and seemingly above worldly concerns, had confessed her love—and to a companion who had become a lich, no less.

Even Gracie, who already knew that Fresia had feelings for Ventus Frail, was startled by the sudden confession.

The one who adjusted most readily to this turn of events was none other than Nellin.

“When did you two get together?”

“G-get together!? Fresia and I were never in th-that kind of relationship...!”

“Boss, what does ‘get together’ mean?”

“I've heard it somewhere... Oh, right. Didn't the old herb lady say that when she was talking about her life with her late husband?”

“Th-then the Mage of a Thousand Spells and the Saintess of Healing were married?”

The moment Def mentioned marriage, Smartass recoiled in alarm.

“Married!? Don't make things up!”

“S-sorry!”

“Of course we weren't married. We never courted, either. But it is true that I love Ventus.”

“Gah! Uh, uhhh...!?”

“Ooooh.”

The even more passionate confession left Smartass speechless, while Nellin watched with a broad grin.

“S-s-since when...?”

“I'm sure I already had these feelings when we were all traveling together. But I only realized those feelings were love... foolishly enough, after I'd accepted that you had died in the accident.”

“Uh, um. I-I s-see. S-so that's h-how it was.”

“Pwahahaha! Look at you stuttering like hell! The others should've been here to see this!”

Smartass couldn't tell whether this was real. After all, romance hadn't so much as crossed his mind all these years!

And now Fresia had suddenly confessed that she loved him. Fresia, who was always so kind and inspired such deep trust in her companions.

Even back when he was alive and thought romance had nothing to do with him, Smartass had at least recognized that Fresia and Nellin were immensely attractive women. But finding a companion attractive and actually becoming romantically involved with her were two entirely different matters.

That was why he was so flustered now, so unable to make sense of the situation. Along with this unprecedented, overwhelming bewilderment, he felt as though he were breaking into a cold sweat and his heart were racing, despite being a lich.

Though he looked like a skeleton, Fresia could still see the man he had been in life in his behavior. The sight of him floundering, seemingly in a cold sweat and at a complete loss, struck her as adorable and endearing.

“So let's say I died alongside Ventus in this battle. That should make it easier to win sympathy, too. I'll leave it to you to deliver the message instead, Amelia.”

“What!?”

“Saintess Fresia, that's...”

They could understand her love for Smartass and her desire not to leave him. But proposing that they pretend she had died was far too bold and extreme.

Fresia knew herself how extreme her words were. Yet from the moment she learned that Ventus was still alive, even as a lich, her heart had begun racing like a runaway locomotive, and she couldn't bring it to a stop.

“I'm old enough to retire now. There are already two Saintesses, so wouldn't it be only natural for me to step down?”

“But I-I'm still nowhere near your level, Saintess Fresia.”

“You need only grow to make up for what you lack, Amelia. If things become too difficult, come see me. I'll give you all the advice you need.”

“But if we part here, how will I come back...?”

“Ventus says he's always watching Quivery, doesn't he? If you're having trouble while you're with Quivery, just say so. I'll ask Ventus to take me to see you.”

“W-wait, Fresia! This is far too sudden!”

“Oh my, Ventus. Do you not want me by your side?”

“N-no! That's not it. Not at all, but...”

Nellin grinned at Smartass as he trailed off.

“Hehehe. Hey, you know how she is. Fresia's got one hell of a stubborn streak.”

“Stop laughing and say something, Nellin! Do you think it's all right for Fresia to stay with me!?”

“That's for you and Fresia to decide. Why ask me? Quit being a chicken and make up your mind already.”

“Urgh...!”

He prided himself on knowing everything there was to know about magic and being able to produce answers with ease. But the problem before him now was harder to solve than any magic he had ever worked on.

Feeling that things would go horribly wrong in all sorts of ways unless he answered quickly, Smartass thought desperately.

“Fresia! If you... if you stay by my side, I would... I would be happy, too.”

“Really?”

“Yes! But couldn't we put it off until later, rather than doing it now?”

“Why?”

“If we're going to live together, we need preparations! Yes! We need to prepare. Look at this place!”

Smartass spread both arms.

“This isn't a comfortable place for a human to live! If you're going to live here too, we should prepare first...”

“Then we should prepare together. I'll help.”

“N-no, even with your help, making this place fit for a human will take quite some time!”

“Then we can find somewhere else to live.”

“Somewhere else!?”

“Yes. With your magic, Ventus, you could make a temporary place to sleep in no time, couldn't you? And by your own account, you simply happened to stay cooped up here. You don't have to live here.”

“Uh, th-that's true, but...”

“Besides, if it really will take that long... I can become one, too.”

“B-become what?”

“Undead. Wouldn't it be perfect if you cast the spell that made you a lich on me as well? Oh! Even if I do say so myself, that's a wonderful idea!”

“What!?”

“Huh? Hey, Fresia. Are you serious?”

Even Nellin couldn't help being thrown by Fresia's declaration that she would become undead herself. Fresia nodded without a moment's hesitation.

“Yes, I'm serious. When you think about it, even if I stay by Ventus's side as I am, I'll only have another twenty years to live at most. Wouldn't it be better to become undead like Ventus and stay with him instead?”

She would become undead herself to remain beside the one she loved. It was almost impossible to believe those words had come from a Saintess.

But viewed another way, they showed just how sincere Fresia's love for the man named Ventus Frail was.

“F-Fresia. Y-you... you love me that much...”

Fresia's love, which only ever pressed forward, smashed through the wall of his bewilderment and struck straight into Smartass's heart. And that love made him feel the flutter of a heartbeat, though he no longer had a heart.

“Ventus, I can stay here, can't I?”

“W-well... yes. Fresia. You can stay...”

“Hehe. I look forward to our life together.”

In the end, Smartass couldn't stop Fresia.

Fresia's declaration that she didn't mind becoming undead silenced not only Amelia, but Paulen, Gracie, and Godric's companions as well. They had realized that, whatever they said, nothing could stop Fresia now.

+++

While Fresia was declaring that she would live with Smartass...

“Three cheers for Bouncy!”

“Hip, hip, hooray!”

“Three cheers for Bouncy!”

“Hip, hip, hooray!”

'Hooray!'

The slime was being tossed into the air in celebration, treated as a true hero. And with good reason: Chilture had survived almost entirely thanks to it.

They had desperately hoped it could buy them some time against the two Orc Champions. Even that had seemed like a gamble. Yet it had exceeded their expectations, not merely holding the two off, but defeating them both!

Then, after defeating the pair, it had helped the adventurers fighting the orc horde. Thanks to that, although some adventurers had suffered serious injuries in this battle, not a single one had died.

Words couldn't express the joy of surviving a battle they had entered believing they might truly die this time. At the same time, their affection for the slime—the one most responsible for their victory—soared without limit.

Once the battle was over and the wounded had been sent to the temple with the priests, the adventurers went to rest. Exhausted by the fierce fighting, they all returned to their lodgings and fell fast asleep.

Meanwhile, the guild staff kept busy while the adventurers slept. First, they had to drag the fallen Orc Champions' corpses into the village and collect the spoils. They also had to summon back the villagers who had been sent away to evacuate.

By the time the exhausted adventurers woke, the evacuees were returning to the village.

“I-it really is safe.”

“They really defeated a horde that even had Orc Champions in it?”

Even seeing their village unharmed left the villagers bewildered. Only after they saw the two Orc Champion corpses that the guild staff had brought inside beforehand did they accept what had happened.

What followed, naturally, was a festival. After the first orc attack, the adventurers had celebrated among themselves inside the guild, but this time the entire village joined in.

They were delighted that the orc horde hadn't destroyed their village, of course, but the substantial increase in the village's income was also worth celebrating.

Outside the major cities, there was a limit to how many monsters a guild could butcher. Thus, smaller villages like Chilture, which had many monsters in the surrounding area, helped the guild butcher them in exchange for a share of the profits.

The orc horde that had arrived a few days earlier alone had brought in the equivalent of two months' normal earnings. Now, on top of that, two A-rank monsters—Orc Champions—had been slain.

Instead of being reduced to ruins, the village had come into enough money to leave it free of worries for several months. Naturally, all the villagers cheered and held a festival for the adventurers.

And once they learned that the slime deserved the most credit for all of this, they joined the adventurers in tossing it into the air again and again.

“Three cheers for Bouncy!”

The slime had become a hero not only to the adventurers, but to the villagers as well. Throughout the festival, it was repeatedly tossed into the air, constantly offered food, and showered with thanks.

'I like festivals!'

Naturally, the slime had grown fond of festivals.

[Squishy Queen]▶Because of these blasted humans, I still can't find out about my kin's new evolutionnnn!!!

As the slime enjoyed the festival and put off explaining Mighty Slime, the Slime Queen only grew more frustrated.