The slime did not stop at a single attack. The instant it landed after its first Bounce Tackle, it launched itself at its next target.

BOING!

With goblins clustered all around it, finding another target was easy.

THWAAACK!

-"Kraaagh!?"

Once again, a goblin went flying from the slime's tackle, taking another goblin behind it along for the ride. In moments, their numbers had dropped from twelve to eight. Even these dim-witted goblins no longer thought the slime before them was an opponent they could underestimate.

-"Kyaaaah!"

One goblin brought the wooden club in its hand down at the slime.

BOING!

But that attack was easy for the slime to dodge.

BOING!

It counterattacked the instant it dodged. Another goblin folded at a right angle, taking the one behind it down as well and leaving only six standing.

-"Krgi, giggit!?"

With only half their number remaining, the goblins realized that the slime before them was a powerful monster they could not defeat. They were foolish enough to hunt through sheer force of numbers, then mistake their victories for proof of their own strength rather than their numbers. Still, watching half their comrades fall in an instant was enough for even them to understand that they could not win.

The remaining goblins all abandoned their own kind and tried to flee. All six turned and bolted into the forest.

'You're not getting away! I'll teach you a lesson!'

BOING! BOING!

For a slime that could already catch fleeing rabbits and deer, overtaking goblins scrambling to escape was easy.

BOING!

What followed was a one-sided assault. The slime used its elasticity to strike with lightning speed. The goblins had neither a way to block its tackles nor the toughness to withstand them. In less than two minutes, the slime had defeated all twelve goblins single-handedly.

Finn, who had been blinking as he watched the slime steamroll its weaker opponents, finally spoke.

"You... were strong all along?"

BOING!

The slime bounced as though responding to Finn's words.

"Alexandros II!"

Jessi, who had been watching from Nina's arms, broke free and ran toward the slime. It bounced toward her in turn. She spread her hands wide and gathered the approaching slime into her embrace.

"You were amazing, Alexandros II! Incredible!"

'Incredible!'

Understanding that she was praising it, the slime quivered.

"Ahahaha!"

After laughing her fill, Jessi held the slime away from her and looked at it.

"What a relief. I'm sure you'll do just fine out there, Alexandros II."

Jessi had been worried. She had thought the slime might get badly hurt if she left it alone. But what she had just seen dispelled much of that fear. After all, it could defeat twelve goblins on its own.

"I believe so too, my lady."

Finn agreed as he sheathed his sword.

"With skills like those, there's no need to worry."

"Really, Finn?"

"Yes."

'I never imagined it would be this strong. At the mansion, it was just a slime that gave good massages.'

With the assurance of Finn, a knight, Jessi felt even more at ease. She set the slime down again. They still had to finish the farewell the goblins had interrupted.

"Take care, Alexandros II. See everything you want to see, as much as you like."

"My lady..."

Watching Jessi try to say a proper goodbye to the slime, Nina's heart swelled at how the young lady she served had matured and taken another step forward. She also felt sad that she, too, had to part with the slime they had spent the past month with.

BOING!

And just like Jessi, the slime began the farewell the goblins had prevented it from giving.

BOING! BOING! BOING! BOING! BOING!

Moving some distance away, the slime hopped around the grassy meadow.

"Alexandros II?"

It was not simply hopping around. Each time it landed, it used Vibration, twisting its body from side to side and rubbing against the ground. After leaving a clearly flattened patch of grass, it jumped again, repeating the process. These were not random movements. It was trying to convey something.

A little later...

"Ah..."

"Unbelievable."

"I-is this real?"

Not only Jessi, but Nina and Finn as well, could hardly believe what they were seeing.

The marks in the grass, firmly flattened with the help of Vibration, were unmistakably letters. Over the month that Jessi had kept reading books aloud to it, the slime had learned to understand human writing. These were not the characters in chat, which the system automatically let it understand, but letters it could only understand by learning them itself. Jessi's nightly reading time had given the slime a new form of knowledge: human writing.

And with the letters it had learned—with the new knowledge Jessi had given it—the slime conveyed its feelings to her.

[See you again! Jessi!]

BOING! BOING!

The slime bounced beside the words it had written. Yesterday, it had felt sad upon realizing it would have to part with Jessi. But it knew that where there were farewells, there were meetings too.

Until now, it had only wanted to see and learn new things. Now, it also wished to reunite with the human it had grown close to. That was why it had left words promising another meeting: see you again.

Jessi answered through her tears.

"Yes! We'll definitely see each other again, Alexandros II!"

They exchanged a promise to meet again. This was not the end.

"When we meet again, tell me about everything you've seen!"

'Okay!'

BOING!

The slime leaped energetically, as though answering her.

+++

"Finn, am I hearing you correctly?"

"Every word is true, my lord."

Count Rudendion felt that surprises had been coming one after another since yesterday. Jessi, who had left in tears when he told her to release the slime, had decided that very evening to let it go. Then today, expecting her to return sobbing after their farewell, he had prepared to comfort his daughter as best he could. Yet she had returned with only slightly reddened eyes, without crying at all. Instead, she had smiled brightly and said she wanted to collect books to read to the slime next time.

The count had worried that she could not accept reality and was clinging to a reunion that was unlikely ever to happen. But the report Finn subsequently gave him in his study was nothing short of shocking.

A band of goblins had appeared during their farewell. The slime had easily defeated them all by itself. And...

"That slime learned to write?"

"Yes. It clearly conveyed 'See you again, Jessi' to Lady Jessi by trampling the grass in the meadow."

"Good heavens..."

He had known the slime was intelligent enough to understand human speech. But learning the human language was not something he could dismiss as mere intelligence. This slime had the strength to defeat twelve goblins alone, yet had remained docile and friendly throughout its month in the mansion—and had even learned to write.

'Did I make the wrong decision?'

For such an exceptional slime, perhaps staying at the mansion would have been better after all. But it had already left. Even if they pursued it immediately, their chances of finding it were extremely slim. It was a slime, after all. Intelligent though it might be, he could hardly expect a monster to innocently follow the road on its way.

'I should write a letter.'

Thus, Count Rudendion decided to take what action he could now. Bearing in mind that the slime might return to the Green Elf Forest, and wishing to share information about this unusual slime, he wrote an account of what had happened with it and sent it to the elder of the Green Elf Forest.

+++

Meanwhile...

BOING! BOING! BOING!

Contrary to Count Rudendion's expectations, the slime was bouncing along through the meadow beside the road. One thing it had learned during its month in the county was that, so long as you more or less followed the road, you would not lose your way.

The slime disliked having the same boring scenery stretch on and on, as it had in the Green Elf Forest. It therefore thought that following the road would help it encounter new villages and new living things sooner. Having said everything it wanted to Jessi, it traveled cheerfully onward, eager to see new sights.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶I'm so glad Squishy is full of energy~.

[Squishy Queen]▶Hmph. Why would parting with a mere human get it down?

▶Lmaooo that human gave it tons of food! Not like the other humans lolol.

▶Hot take: honestly, I teared up a little during the goodbye.

▶Sameeeee.

▶It is a shame we won't get to hear those super-fun human stories anymore.

At first, most of the viewers had been filled with hatred for humans. But the month spent living in the county had softened much of that intense hatred. Of course, that did not mean they would show a shred of mercy to a human who attacked them.

▶But why did the human cry at the end?

[Free Spirit]▶Because Squishy wrote its goodbye in human letters.

▶????

▶Wait, it can write human letters?

▶When did it learn that?

▶Oh~ from listening to the human read books all the time~.

▶So did you learn them too?

▶Why would I learn that?

▶Lmaoooo.

Some viewers were astonished upon belatedly realizing that the slime had learned human writing.

▶So what now?

▶Probably nothing to do for a while?

▶Ugh, are we entering another boring stretch?

▶We had a month of great stuff, gotta have some boring bits too lolol.

▶Give. Us. Fun content every day.

Others lamented the lack of exciting scenes while it traveled.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Now that you're out of human territory, you can learn properly! Squishy! I'll teach you a new way to hunt!

[Squishy Queen]▶Wait! This time, I shall teach my kin! We cannot have it mindlessly using Body Slam forever!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶You're calling my finely honed hunting technique mindless?! You got anything else to say?!

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, I'll teach you how to handle encounters with other humans!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Why are you butting in too, Smartass?!

With no humans watching, some also tried to teach the slime new things.

▷All of it! I wanna learn! Teach me!

Although it was sad to part with Jessi and the other humans it had befriended, the slime was not lonely. After all, the viewers were always there, talking to it in chat.

A week after parting with Jessi, the slime was still traveling, learning what some of its viewers taught it. Along the way, it saw traveling merchants' wagons pass down the road several times.

The slime was delighted to see new humans again, but unfortunately, the merchants and drivers riding those wagons were different from Jessi. Seeing a slime bouncing along beside the road struck them as a little odd, but they did not bother stopping. Once this had happened more than three times, the slime, too, simply thought, 'Wow! A wagon!' whenever it saw one and continued bouncing on its way.

The ones who did take an interest in the slime were instead...

"Huh? What's this?"

"What's wrong, boss?"

"Hey, look here. There's some slime."

"A slime?"

They were a group in shabby clothing, wearing headscarves and carrying swords with damaged edges in one hand.

"A slime traveling along the road? That's unusual."

'Humans!'

BOING! BOING!

"Oh, look at it bouncing!"

"Boss! It stopped right in front of us!"

"Doesn't even run when it sees people. What a weird slime."