Returning from his hunting trip with Hawein, the bandit leader was bewildered by the sight before him.

"What the hell is going on now?"

"Hah! Hah! Hah!"

The slime bounced merrily on Def's head while Sgol lay sprawled on the ground, panting hard.

"Oh, Boss, Hawein. You're back? Hehe, did you catch a deer?"

At Def's eager question about dinner, the leader pointed behind him to Hawein, who was carrying their catch.

"We caught rabbits."

"Rabbits..."

Hawein gave the disappointed Def a sinister chuckle.

"Heh, you should be glad we caught anything. You can't even catch a rabbit."

"But a deer would give us lots to eat..."

"Pfft, you pig."

"Stop complaining, Def. More importantly, explain what happened."

"Yes, Boss. Well..."

Def told them what had happened while they were out hunting. After hearing his explanation, both men stared at Sgol in disbelief.

"Sgol, did you lose to a slime?"

"Pfft! Haha! W-weaker than a slime! Pfft!"

"Hah! Hah! I didn't lose, Boss! Hawein! How dare you laugh at me!"

"But you did lose."

"I didn't!"

The bandit leader turned to Def.

"Why is it sitting on your head, anyway?"

"Uh... I-I don't know. Hehe, I guess it likes being up there."

The slime bounced.

"It certainly doesn't fall off."

'Agile enough that Sgol couldn't catch it...'

Sgol looked pathetic sprawled on the ground after failing to catch even a slime, but the leader knew his abilities well. Normally, Sgol should have been able to catch an ordinary slime with ease. Small as he was, moving quickly was his specialty.

This slime was unexpectedly agile, yet friendly enough toward humans to play on Def's head.

'This really could make us some money.'

Merchandise with a special talent to boast about tended to fetch a higher price.

The bandits immediately began preparing their meal with the rabbits they had caught. They cleaned the rabbits, skewered them on suitable branches whittled into spits, and roasted them over the fire.

'Roast rabbit!'

The slime watched the rabbits sizzling over the fire.

At the mansion, it had eaten one luxurious, nutritious meal after another. That did not mean it had developed an aversion to simpler, less tasty food like roast rabbit. It had gained a sense of taste rather than judging food solely by its nutrients, but a slime was still a slime. In the end, it could happily eat anything.

Once the rabbits were cooked, the bandits each picked up a spit and tore into one, chewing away in silence.

'I want some too!'

The slime bounced around Def.

"W-what is it? Do you want some of this?"

'Yes!'

The slime bounced.

"N-no. This is mine."

At Def's refusal, the slime stopped bouncing and tilted its body slightly downward. It looked as though it were hanging its head in dejection.

"Uh... Would you like this instead?"

Def took a piece of fruit from their fruit pouch and placed it in front of the slime.

'Fruit!'

While traveling through the Green Elf Forest, the slime had eaten fallen fruit as well as rabbits and deer, so it immediately climbed onto the fruit and absorbed it.

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

"Hey, you idiot! Why the hell are you giving fruit to that damn slime?"

Still fuming over his defeat by the slime, Sgol got up and snapped at Def.

"But we're all eating rabbits, and the s-slime hasn't eaten anything. It looks hungry."

"Hungry, my ass! A slime can just eat the grass around here! We've already picked all the fruit nearby. We'll have to walk forever to get more!"

"Pfft, Def's the one who picks it anyway. You're too short to reach it."

"Shut up!"

"You're being noisy, Sgol. Just eat quietly."

"S-sorry, Boss."

At the leader's words, the irritable Sgol immediately sat back down.

"Def. You can give the slime more fruit. But replenish it tomorrow."

"Yes, Boss. S-slime, want another?"

The slime bounced in answer and received three pieces of fruit from Def.

▶This human bastard doesn't know a thing. Hurry up and hand over the 'steak'!

▶Ahahaha, this isn't the big human nest, lol!

▶One rabbit per guy, hahaha. I eat better than that.

The viewers, who had been enjoying Sgol's ridiculous failure to catch the slime, now entertained themselves by mocking the bandits' meal and its contrast with the food at the mansion.

+++

CRACKLE, CRACKLE.

Only the campfire gave off light as it burned in the dark night. There were wild animals nearby but no monsters, so the bandits had simply lit a fire and all gone to sleep.

Then Def woke and sat up.

'I'm hungry.'

With his large frame, one rabbit had not been enough to fill him, and hunger had woken him from his sleep. As he sat up on the ground, the slime sleeping on his belly rolled off.

'?'

Naturally, the sudden tumble woke the slime too. It bounced.

"Oh, you're awake? Sorry."

After he apologized to the slime, another pang of hunger made Def's stomach growl.

GRRRR!

"Ugh."

Rubbing his plump belly, Def muttered softly, "I'm hungry... I want meat."

It was the faintest murmur, but the slime heard him.

'Hungry? You shouldn't be hungry!'

The slime knew how difficult and painful hunger could be. Hearing that Def, who had given it fruit, was hungry made it want to help.

When the slime suddenly began bouncing, Def tilted his head.

"Huh? Are you hungry too? Is it because you only had fruit?"

The fruit Def had given it had been enough to satisfy its hunger, but he had no way of knowing that.

The slime bounced a short distance away from Def, then used Sensing.

'Found one!'

Having sensed a deer nearby, it headed in that direction.

"Huh? W-where are you going?"

'This way! Over here!'

The slime paused a little way from Def and bounced in place.

"You want me to follow?"

'Yes!'

It bounced again. Although they could not communicate in words, Def felt as though the slime was calling him.

"W-wait a second."

Def stood up and rummaged through their baggage.

"I'm sure it was in here... Ah, found it."

He pulled out a magic-stone lantern, a magical device that absorbed mana from a stone placed in its base to produce light. He inserted one of the remaining magic stones from the baggage and gave it a gentle shake. A soft glow shone from the lantern, and Def carried it over to the slime.

'A lantern!'

The slime was delighted to see something it recognized. It had seen servants carrying them through the mansion late at night a few times.

Whenever Def drew closer, the slime moved a little farther toward the deer it could sense.

"W-wait for me."

Def followed it with the magic-stone lantern.

'Where is it going?'

He was following the slime without any clear idea of where they were headed, but he wondered about their destination.

'Did it want more fruit? There were three more in the bag.'

Remembering how the slime had eaten the fruit, Def wondered whether it was taking him somewhere to ask him to pick more.

'Might as well pick plenty.'

Since he was hungry, he figured he could fill his stomach with fruit tonight and replenish their supply at the same time. He might have wondered how the slime knew where to find fruit, but Def did not think that deeply about it.

While he was thinking this, the slime suddenly began bouncing faster.

"What's wrong? L-let's slow down!"

Def hurried after the suddenly accelerating slime. At the end of their pursuit, they found...

GRRR!

Two wolves were tearing into a deer's neck and legs.

'W-wolves! What do I do?'

At the sight of them, Def hastily drew the sword at his waist.

The slime, meanwhile, gave a delighted hop when it saw the wolves.

'Meat! More meat!'

The reason it had suddenly sped up was simple. As it tracked the deer with Sensing, two life-forms had appeared out of nowhere and attacked it. Upon hurrying over, it discovered what those life-forms were. Far from being frightened by the two wolves, the slime was delighted that there was now more "meat" to eat.

The slime immediately bounced toward the wolves.

"Ah! It's d-dangerous, slime!"

Def shouted urgently as he watched it approach them.

GRRR!

The wolves, about to eat the deer they had just hunted, bared their teeth at the slime that had appeared so suddenly. From their perspective, a pathetic-looking slime interrupting their meal could only be irritating.

Then the slime sprang forward and struck one of the growling wolves with Bounce Tackle.

WHAAAM!

The attack, powerful enough to bring down a deer in one blow, slammed into the wolf's jaw. Its jawbone shattered, and its body flipped over. It fell without even a twitch, felled by a single strike.

"Huh!?"

Not only Def but also the wolf standing closest stared at the slime with wide eyes. Sensing its life was in danger, the remaining wolf turned to flee, but...

The slime sprang again.

WHAAAM!

Its Bounce Tackle was faster. The instant it landed, the slime struck the wolf's jaw before the animal could even finish turning around. The remaining wolf collapsed with a broken jaw as well. It had taken less than ten seconds to bring down both wolves.

The unbelievable scene had unfolded in mere moments. Def blinked, unsure whether what he had seen was real, but nothing before his eyes changed.

The slime bounced over to Def.

'We have meat now!'

An ordinary person might have felt wary or frightened upon seeing a slime dispatch two wolves in an instant. But...

"A-amazing."

Despite his size, Def was a simple, guileless man, and what escaped his lips was pure admiration rather than fear.

'Amazing!'

Pleased by Def's praise, the slime hopped back and forth over the dead wolves and deer.

'Meat!'

That alone was enough for Def to understand what it was trying to tell him.

GRRR.

"Ah!"

Leaving aside the fact that the slime had dispatched two wolves in an instant, there were three animals before him that he could eat once they were cleaned: one deer and two wolves. His growling stomach told him what to do next.

"Meat."

'Meat!'

Def dragged the deer and wolves back to the hideout.

"Heh, hehehe. Meat. Thank you, slime."

The slime bounced beside him as Def grinned foolishly at the thought of roasting the meat and thanked it.

Once they reached the hideout, Def left the deer and wolves nearby and shook the sleeping leader.

"Boss, wake up."

"Mmm... What is it?"

"L-look at this."

"Look at what... Huh?"

As the leader sat up, rubbing his eyes, he caught sight of the two dead wolves and the deer.

"Don't tell me you caught these?"

He looked at Def in surprise. Strong as Def was with that massive frame, he was not agile, and the leader could hardly believe he had brought back such a haul.

Def shook his head with an innocent smile.

"No, it wasn't me..."

'He must have gone with Hawein or Sgol. That figures.'

"The slime caught them!"

"What?"