The slime had been dejected after its unintended separation from Godric’s Party, but its spirits gradually lifted. The fierce current was still carrying it along just as quickly, yet the scenery that came into view once it left the cliffs behind both stirred and satisfied its curiosity.

Unlike the densely wooded Green Elf Forest, there were scattered trees and rocks carved into unusual shapes by the rushing water. Largely untouched by human hands, the water was clear, with fish swimming beneath its surface.

'Wow!'

While waiting for the current to weaken, the slime took in its new surroundings, dispelling its gloom. Meanwhile, its stream began losing viewers. The scenery was fresh and exciting to the slime, but to its audience, it was merely more of the same passing by!

It wasn’t an eating stream, nor was the slime traveling under its own power. With the stream reduced to nothing but drifting along, more and more viewers left to watch something else. About the only one still watching the slime ride a lesser troll and gaze at the flowing water was its moderator, Smartass.

Time continued to pass, and the night went by. The current had weakened considerably, but there was nowhere suitable to get off, so the slime kept watching the scenery drift past. Then it happened.

'People!'

A woman dressed in white and a man in armor came into view. Delighted to have encountered people, the slime bounced once on top of the lesser troll.

Meanwhile, the woman and man were bewildered by the sight of the slime. Amelia and Paulen blinked as they stared at it.

“Paulen, why is there a slime on top of that troll?!”

“I don’t know either.”

“Besides, isn’t that a lesser troll rather than a troll?”

At Amelia’s words, Paulen composed himself and began examining it. He had assumed it was a troll because of its skin color, but a closer look revealed that it was smaller than one.

“It really is a lesser troll. I’ll check.”

“Check? Check what?”

“I need to make sure that lesser troll is actually dead. We can’t just stand here.”

“B-be careful! Should I c-cast a blessing on you?”

“No, I’ll be fine. Please stay here, Amelia.”

Before the lesser troll could drift all the way past them, Paulen approached it. He waded into the river’s gentle current and grabbed its arm.

'This thing is definitely dead.'

Since it showed no reaction whatsoever, Paulen concluded that the lesser troll was dead. The slime bounced.

“Why on earth are you sitting on this thing?”

He still had no idea why the slime was perched on it, but for now, he dragged the lesser troll out of the river by its arm. Naturally, the slime riding it came out of the river as well, landing on the ground with a bounce.

“How is it, Paulen?”

“Rest easy, Amelia. As you can see, it’s already dead. What’s more, it seems to be the lesser troll we were going to exterminate.”

“Really? But you said the village with the lesser troll was still several days away.”

Paulen looked at the river as he spoke.

“This is only a guess, but there’s a stretch of very fast-flowing water near the village that reported the lesser troll. I think this one probably fell off a cliff and died after being caught in the current.”

“Does that make sense?”

“I can’t think of any other explanation. Lesser trolls do regenerate, but I don’t see any major wounds on this body.”

The indentation left by the slime’s attack had regenerated before the troll drowned, leaving no visible trace.

“Then what about this slime?”

“I don’t know about that either. Really, why was this slime riding on it...?”

The two of them regarded the slime with puzzled looks. It simply kept bouncing, happy to have met new people.

Meanwhile...

'Wait, why has a saintess shown up here?!'

Smartass was deeply shocked by the sight of Amelia and Paulen on the stream. Having once traveled with Saintess Fresia to defeat the black dragon, he was very familiar with the sacred vestments that only a saintess was permitted to wear.

A woman in sacred vestments, accompanied by a paladin in silver armor engraved with golden patterns. Her guard was even a Paladin—a rank granted only to skilled members of the holy order. It would have been stranger if she weren’t a saintess.

So much time had passed that the appearance of the next saintess was hardly unusual. The question was why a saintess would be in a place like this.

'Could a new calamity like the black dragon have appeared? But I haven’t seen any monsters saying they’ve gone all the way to the Dersia continent to stir up trouble...'

For now, Smartass decided to keep watching.

'Saintess! Armor! Knight! Clothes! The same!'

The slime bounced excitedly at the sight of Amelia and Paulen. After all, Amelia’s outfit was identical to the saintess’s clothing in the illustrations from the biographies of the heroes who had defeated the black dragon—the books Jessi had read to it.

And then there was the paladin. Clad in the heavy armor of a Paladin, Paulen also reminded it of the knights at Count Rudendion’s mansion.

“Paulen, why does this slime keep bouncing?”

“Even I can’t read a slime’s mind, Amelia. More importantly, we now have a decision to make.”

Looking at the lesser troll’s corpse, Paulen continued.

“Whether to continue on to the village where the lesser troll was sighted.”

“Are you certain this lesser troll is the monster that was near that village?”

“Honestly, it’s the only explanation that makes sense. Lesser trolls are rarer sights than trolls.”

“Is that really true?”

“Yes. I’ve heard that lesser trolls are more timid than trolls, so they aren’t as active.”

BANG!

'That’s not why!'

Watching the exchange, Smartass slammed both skeletal hands against his desk, contradicting Paulen only in his mind. Lesser trolls were an evolved form of trolls. That was simply why there were fewer of them to be seen.

Smartass himself had only learned this after becoming a lich, so he could understand Paulen’s mistaken belief. Still, as a mage, he couldn’t help squirming at the way false information was being presented as common knowledge.

“Besides, a lesser troll wouldn’t have drowned in ordinary water. It wouldn’t die like this unless it fell into an exceptionally strong current.”

“I see...”

Amelia sank into thought at Paulen’s words. He was her personal guard, a paladin who held the rank of Paladin. Having fought countless monsters, his judgment was very likely correct.

The lesser troll was already dead. What would happen if she went out of her way to visit the village and announce, “We found the lesser troll after it was swept away by the current!”?

[“Um... Th-thank you, Saintess.”]

Amelia imagined an awkward situation.

'The villagers will realize the lesser troll is gone in a few days anyway!'

Wouldn’t they find it bothersome if she came all that way just to tell them something so obvious? And since she was the saintess, wouldn’t a personal visit from her only make the villagers feel intimidated? At least, that was how she would feel.

Having made up her mind, Amelia looked at Paulen.

“Paulen, I’m sorry.”

“Hahaha! There’s no need to apologize to me! Then let’s hurry along.”

“Let’s return to the Holy City.”

“Yes! To the village... The Holy City, you said?”

“It’s already been dealt with. If the saintess goes to the village in person just to report that, the villagers are bound to feel awkward! I’m so sorry for making you come all this way for nothing!”

'There she goes again.'

Paulen sighed inwardly. From everything he had seen of Amelia, she was certainly kindhearted, but her self-esteem was low. At the same time, she held the position of saintess in very high regard, and constantly considered how others might perceive her actions as its holder.

The problem was that she imagined their reactions from the perspective of her own low self-esteem.

'It looks like she’s already made up her mind.'

On top of that, she was incredibly stubborn once she had reached a decision. He knew perfectly well that if he simply suggested going to the village now, Amelia would insist on her own position and refuse to listen.

“Understood. Then let’s do this.”

Paulen drew his sword and severed the lesser troll’s neck in a single stroke. Then he opened the pouch at his waist and put the troll’s head inside.

Judging by the pouch’s size, the head should never have fit. Yet it slipped neatly inside.

Paulen’s pouch was no ordinary pouch. It was a portable spatial pouch, an extremely difficult item to create that could be called the pinnacle of spatial magic. An inventory.

'Wow!'

Having witnessed it firsthand, the slime quivered with excitement at seeing yet another new thing.

“Let’s take this head as proof and make our report. If we have the Holy City spread word that the lesser troll has been exterminated, the village will naturally hear about it as well.”

“Good. Let’s do that.”

Readily agreeing to Paulen’s suggestion, Amelia set off with him toward the Holy City.

The slime bounced along.

“... Paulen.”

“Yes, Amelia?”

“Why is that slime following us?”

“I don’t know either.”

Amelia and Paulen stopped and turned around. The slime gave another bounce. It was still hopping along behind them.

“Does it want to come with us?”

“That does seem to be the case.”

Amelia knelt down, looking at the slime as she spoke.

“Do you want to come along?”

'Yes!'

The slime bounced.

“... Did it just answer me?”

“Please don’t ask me that as well.”

Believing that the slime had answered, Amelia continued.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t. We’re going to the Holy City.”

'The Holy City!'

“Even if you’re only a slime, bringing a monster there would put you in danger—”

The slime sprang up.

“Eek!”

With one high leap, it landed squarely on the crouching Amelia’s head.

“What? Why did you climb up there?”

“Pfft!”

The slime was perched on her white nun’s coif. The sight was both funny and cute, and Paulen let out an involuntary laugh.

“Paulen! Stop laughing and do something!”

“My apologies, Amelia. Please hold still.”

Paulen was about to reach for the slime when it began to vibrate vigorously on top of Amelia’s head.

“W-whoa-a-a-a?!”

The sudden vibration left Amelia even more flustered.

'Wait, this...!'

“Amelia?!”

Startled, Paulen immediately tried to grab the slime, but Amelia stopped him.

“W-wait! Paulen! Stop!”

“What?”

“Th-this feels good. It’s just right...”

“What did you say?”

The vibrations on top of Amelia’s head were no ordinary vibrations. The slime was putting to use the techniques it had acquired while giving massages to Jessi, Nina, and the other servants during its stay at the Rudendion mansion.

In particular, this was the vibration pattern that had received the best response when used on someone’s head. The carefully controlled vibrations gently shook the recipient’s head, dispelling nagging worries and refreshing their mood.

“It feels like all that anxiety I kept needlessly building up is being shaken away, Paulen.”

“Really?”

Paulen could hardly believe it, but seeing the smile on Amelia’s lips left him utterly baffled.

“You should try it too, Paulen.”

“No, I don’t particularly need—”

With a bounce, the slime moved from Amelia’s head to Paulen’s.

“Huh?! Hey! Get off—”

The slime began vibrating vigorously.

“O-oh?!”

As soon as the vibrations began, Paulen’s hand stopped just as he was about to pull the slime off. A little while later...

“Amelia, let’s take this one with us.”

“That’s a wonderful idea!”