While strings of laughter kept flooding the chat, the slime observed the goblin.

'Goblin!'

To the slime, the goblin looked like an elf. It was smaller, but its general appearance was similar. The slime was fond of the elf who had treated it kindly, and that influenced its judgment.

'Want to know!'

It wanted to learn more about this creature it had never seen before. Thinking the goblin resembled an elf, the slime wanted a closer look. It bounced over to the goblin.

[Free Spirit]▶??? Squishy! What are you doing? Why are you going closer?

▷Not human! Won't attack!

The slime had been warned that humans might attack it. But the very person who had given that warning said the creature before it wasn't human. Didn't that mean this creature was safe?

'I seriously underestimated just how innocent Squishy is!'

CLACK!

The Smartass struck his skull with his skeletal hand.

It wasn't the kind of creature the slime had been warned about. And from the slime's perspective, it looked like an elf. Those thoughts alone had sent the slime rashly approaching the goblin.

As far as the Smartass was concerned, humans were naturally what the slime needed to be most wary and careful of. But that didn't make other creatures safe. Some nonhumans showed malice for no reason at all. Prime examples were monsters that streamed themselves slaughtering for fun. Goblins were monsters with precisely that tendency.

That was particularly true of their highest form, capable of streaming: the Goblin King. Goblin Kings made content out of attacking other monsters or humans simply because they were bored. And they merely gave the orders, then watched from the rear.

Their viewers found it ridiculous how they disregarded goblins' innate limitations and tried to overwhelm everything with sheer numbers. Of course, the full package included their inability to restrain themselves: as they expanded their raids and aimed ever higher with their hunts and massacres, they would eventually be discovered, tracked down, and exterminated.

Attacking unintelligent monsters posed little risk of discovery. With humans, however, mounting casualties led them to suspect a Goblin King had appeared and launch an investigation. Thus, even once a Goblin King began streaming, it couldn't survive for very long.

The Smartass wondered whether he should warn the slime in chat. Just then...

[Squishy Queen]▶My kin! Stop! Just because it isn't human doesn't mean it won't attack you!

The Slime Queen immediately sent the slime a warning.

But the slime, its mind already filled with curiosity about the goblin, wasn't even looking at chat. In the end, it bounced right out in front of the goblin.

"!"

The walking goblin froze in surprise at the slime's sudden appearance.

But the moment it identified the newcomer as a slime, its tension melted away. What followed was mockery. The goblin snickered as it looked down at the slime.

The goblin was irritated at being assigned tedious patrol duty. It wanted to relax in the cave, but it kept being ordered to scout the surroundings. Yet it couldn't rebel. The moment it did, the hobgoblin, stronger than itself, would beat it senseless. It had encountered the slime while patrolling in that foul mood.

A slime. Something that looked far weaker than itself. If it was small, it had to be weak. The goblin was stronger. The goblin was better. So it could do whatever it pleased. After all, that thing was weaker!

With those thoroughly goblin-like thoughts, it stared at the slime.

'Saw! Me!'

Feeling the goblin's gaze, the slime was simply delighted.

The other viewers, however, knew exactly what that look meant and immediately caught on. Ah, this goblin was looking down on it just because it was a slime.

▶This goblin bastard lmao. Look at it sneering the second it sees a slime lol.

▶That signature "You suck!" look! Ahh! Classic goblin! Funny as fuck!

▶But who wins if Squishy fights the goblin?

▶You think evolution is worth sh*t?

▶Squishy wins by a landslide lmao.

▶It one-shots deer! Like some lousy goblin could beat it lol.

▶Ah! Turning the tables is better than s*x!

▶Ugh, can't we kick that bastard?

It was painfully obvious that any attack from the goblin would be met with an immediate counterattack. Fenrir's training had made the slime strong. To the viewers, the goblin was nothing but an idiot picking a fight without realizing the gap in their abilities. A clown about to put on an entertaining show. Their attention turned to exactly how the slime would defeat it.

And just as the viewers expected, the goblin raised one foot. It intended to stomp on the slime and burst it. Cackling, it brought its foot down.

Had this been a weak slime, that stomp alone would have caused serious injury. But the slime bounced back. It wasn't an ordinary slime—it was a Bounce Slime. Its body's elasticity was beyond comparison with an ordinary slime's. Far from crushing it, the goblin was thrown backward by that unexpected springiness and fell over.

THWACK!

"Kragh!"

The goblin clutched its head and rolled from side to side, reeling from the violent impact to the back of its skull.

▶LMAO.

▶Knew that would happen lol.

▶Fucking idiot lmao.

[Squishy Queen]▶Pfft! That's your punishment for underestimating my kin, you stupid goblin!

Not a single viewer sided with the goblin.

'?'

Meanwhile, the slime tilted its body after bouncing the goblin away. It couldn't quite tell whether what the goblin had just done was an attack. After all, it hadn't hurt one bit!

The goblin stopped rolling, rose angrily, and glared at the slime. A mere slime. A lousy little slime. It had hurt the goblin. It had humiliated it.

Even a goblin, dim-witted and unable to judge an opponent's strength, understood this much: stomping again would only make it fall over. It struck the slime with the moderately sized wooden stick in its hand. By goblin standards, it was a powerful blow. But the Bounce Slime's elasticity sent it rebounding. Just like the stomp, it did no real damage.

"Kyaaaagh!"

Enraged, the goblin kept bringing its stick down. The slime bounced and jiggled with each blow. To an onlooker, the scene was pure comedy.

▶LMAO.

▶It never learns lol.

▶Yep, exactly goblin-level intelligence.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Eee! Squishy, you're adorable when you jiggle too~

[Squishy Queen]▶Why are you just taking those blows, my kin? Punish that insolent creature at once!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Yes! Slam it! Slam it already!

▶Go teach it a lesson!

▶Secondeddddd.

▶Thirdeddddd.

And even the slime, however little damage it was taking, understood after so many repeated blows that the goblin was attacking it.

'Goblin! Attacks me! Bad!'

The slime knew what attacking meant: hurting someone else. And the goblin was trying to hurt it. Again and again! The slime remembered all too well the pain it had felt after eating poisonous plants. It never wanted to feel that again. It grew angry at the goblin for trying to hurt it.

It pulled away from the goblin's continuing blows, putting some distance between them.

"Keeee!"

Thinking it insolent for fleeing while being beaten, the goblin went after the slime.

The slime bounced. Having retreated, it moved before the goblin could even give chase. It bounded this way and that, darting all around the goblin. It was reproducing the movements Fenrir had demonstrated three days earlier.

The goblin couldn't follow the slime's frantic movements with its eyes. It tried desperately to track it, but the slime's speed only made its vision swim. The instant those bewildering movements left the goblin dazed, the slime sprang. Without missing its chance, it delivered a Bounce Tackle to the goblin's side.

THUD!

"Kraghhh!"

At the moment of impact, the goblin's body bent at a right angle at the waist, accompanied by the sound of breaking ribs.

That wasn't the end of it. Bounce Tackle was powerful enough to launch a deer, far heavier than a goblin, into the air. Taking the attack head-on, the goblin flew into a tree. Its body, already bent at a right angle, arched like a bow against the trunk.

CRACK!

Its spine snapped.

The sight was funny, yet looked painful enough to make the viewers groan in sympathy.

▶That's definitely broken.

▶Lousy goblin lost to a slime, huh? Total scrub, huh?

▶Goblin, sign here at once! Admit goblins are weaker than slimes!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Hahahaha! Good! You did exactly what I taught you! Well done, Squishy!

[Squishy Queen]▶What? When in the world did you teach it that?

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy~ You're so amazing!

As mockery of the defeated goblin mingled with praise for the victorious slime, the Smartass welcomed the outcome.

'This should have taught Squishy not to approach unfamiliar creatures carelessly.'

He judged that it would now be more cautious when encountering humans.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy! Got it now? Even if they're not human, even if you're curious, don't go straight up to them! They might attack!

▷Yes! Won't go close right away! Will watch from far away!

▶Lol, observing first is important, yep.

▶Can't it just charge straight in?

▶Going all-in with no brakes is more fun lol.

The slime had defeated the bad goblin that attacked it and learned a new lesson in the process. All that remained was to absorb the fallen goblin. Yet the slime didn't even approach the dead goblin. It simply bounced onward, continuing its journey out of the forest.

▶??? Not eating the goblin?

The slime immediately replied to the anonymous viewer.

▷Goblin bad! Don't like! Won't eat!

▶A lousy goblin isn't worth eating anyway lol.

▶Better not to eat it, really.

▶Goblin fact: filthy.

▶Does that even matter to a slime?

▶So what lol. It doesn't want to lol.

It was the moment the slime developed food preferences of its own.

+++

Two days after its encounter with the goblin, the slime finally saw scenery other than dense trees. It had continued toward the edge of the forest, defeating any goblins it encountered along the way.

'Wooooow!'

Grassland stretched so far it was impossible to tell where it ended, and a road shaped by human hands made travel easier. There was nothing else particularly remarkable about the view, but to the slime, sick of seeing nothing but forest scenery, it was deeply moving.

▷Out! Of forest! Excited!

[Free Spirit]▶Grats grats grats!

[Noblesse Fire]▶Are we finally done with that forest we've seen enough of?

▶Old fart hasn't shown up for a week and now he's bitching about being bored.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Do you think I'm idle enough to spend all my time in this room?

▶Yep, the old fart's always busy backseat streaming in reverse-scale reveal streams.

The fire dragon had been giving unsolicited advice for decades. Naturally, he had also spent decades getting kicked out. As a result, his infamy was well established across every streaming room.

▶LMAOOOO.

▶Doesn't he ever get tired of it lol?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Hey! Where do you live? Tell me where you live!

▶Not telling~

The slime quivered all over, expressing its delight at seeing something other than forest. And as it reveled in that happiness, an even greater joy was approaching.

CLOP-CLOP, CLOP-CLOP.

A carriage was coming down the road from the distance.