"A slime that really understands human speech..."

Paulen stared quietly at the slime, feeling bewildered. If it couldn't understand human speech, it would never have massaged Amelia's shoulders at Fresia's request.

Still only half convinced despite seeing it with his own eyes, Paulen tried giving the slime a few instructions: move over here, massage this spot, or jump three times if it understood him. When it followed every instruction he gave to test it, not just one, Amelia and Fresia also had to acknowledge that the slime possessed enough intelligence to understand speech.

Meanwhile, the viewers watching the entire process burst out laughing.

▶LOL, here we go again.

▶These human bastards, lmao. They always think they're the only smart ones, lol.

▶Idiots can't even use the system, lmao.

Perhaps because they had repeatedly seen people react with "Monsters have intelligence!?" through the slime's stream, the viewers were getting a kind of ego boost.

[Squishy Queen]▶I do not approve! Testing or not, how dare he order my kin around!

▶Don't you make slimes do tricks on your stream too?

[Squishy Queen]▶I am their queen, so it is permissible!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶I'm just happy I get to watch Squishy moving around so adorably~.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶When are you going to fight? Hurry up and show off more of what I taught you!

As all sorts of opinions appeared in the chat, Fresia was seeing hope in the slime.

'With this slime, perhaps... what I've imagined could really come true.'

This slime alone might be special. But having even one meant something entirely different from having none at all.

"Amelia."

"Yes, Saintess Fresia."

"This little one holds tremendous potential. Keep it close, and try to get along with it. I'm sure you can do it."

Amelia swallowed nervously. A monster that wasn't merely intelligent, but could understand what people said. She knew very well how extraordinary such a being was. Who would have thought the slime she had brought along on a whim was a monster harboring such an enormous secret? But she couldn't let the burden overwhelm her and say, "I can't do it!" now.

"Yes."

'Will our saintess be all right?'

Seeing how tense Amelia was beside him, Paulen grew worried.

+++

"Bouncy..."

"Damn it."

Back in the village, Godric's Party was drinking, bitter and helpless.

The moment they saw the slime and the lesser troll fall over the cliff, Def, Godric, and Sgol had rushed to look down. But the strong current swept them so far away that they couldn't even make them out properly. There was no way to reach the bottom of the cliff, and even if they somehow managed it, finding the slime was already impossible. In the end, Godric's Party had no choice but to take proof of the lesser troll's defeat and return to the village.

The villagers were delighted. The lesser troll was finally gone. And to think there had been not one, but two!

Grateful to Godric's Party, the village chief wanted to hold a modest feast in their honor, but they declined. At first, he couldn't understand why they were so downcast. Then he realized the slime that had accompanied them was missing. He couldn't understand why they were acting this way over losing a mere slime, but he was perceptive enough to accept their wishes without questioning them further.

"I'm sorry. Because I let my guard down..."

Hawein hung his head and blamed himself, without so much as a smile.

But Godric shook his head.

"No, it wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could have done in that situation. If we're going to blame anything... we should blame our own weakness."

This incident had made Godric realize just how much they had relied on the slime. Of course, the party had grown stronger through their many requests. But that strength depended entirely on having the slime with them. On extermination requests, they had done little more than provide support; the slime had always been their main damage dealer.

And this was the result. When the lesser troll suddenly appeared, they had frozen without even properly preparing to face it. They had only survived thanks to the slime's help.

"Ugh, uhhh... Bouncy..."

Def sniffled and shed tears, grieving their separation from the slime. Having spent more time close to it than anyone else, he felt its absence all the more keenly.

"Argh! Stop crying, you idiot!"

SMACK!

Sgol slapped Def's upper arm and snapped at him.

"Not yet! We haven't even confirmed that Bouncy is dead!"

"But..."

"No buts! You too, Hawein! Huh? And Boss, why are you already assuming it's dead?!"

Sgol ground his teeth. Tears threatened to spill, but he stubbornly held them back as he spoke.

"Was Bouncy ever an ordinary slime? Huh? It's an absurdly weird slime! Its attacks are strangely powerful! It jumps incredibly high! It even glows at night! There's no way something like that would die so easily!

"Besides, slimes can't drown! I'm sure... I'm sure it's already out of the water, bouncing around like a fool!"

Sgol huffed in anger. His words carried both rage at himself and desperate hope.

"... Right. We can't just sit here bawling."

His mind made up, Godric rose from his seat.

"Boys, tomorrow we're heading straight back to the guild."

"B-Boss?"

"Sgol is right. Bouncy wouldn't die that easily. I'm sure it's still alive and well. So as soon as we get back to the guild, we'll hand out flyers to find it."

"Flyers?"

"Will that work?"

"Do you think there's another slime as unusual as Bouncy? Besides, it's friendly with people. Even if it meets someone else, it'll make friends with them in no time."

Hawein nodded at Godric's words, and Def agreed.

"With its personality, it would make friends quickly."

"B-Bouncy is really sweet!"

"Besides, even if someone attacked it, do you think Bouncy would just stand there and take it? It'll dodge right away if there's danger."

Sgol jumped once on the spot in agreement.

"That's right! You know how quick it is!"

As their conversation continued, Godric's Party began to believe the slime was alive, not dead. Even looking at things calmly, it clearly wasn't a slime that would die easily.

"Then we'll get a good rest today and start searching for Bouncy tomorrow. And of course... we'll train to get stronger, so when we see it again, it won't have to do anything like this! Understood?"

"Yes, Boss!"

The party's thunderous reply resounded through the village tavern.

+++

"Old lady, I'm heading out of the forest for a while."

"What on earth are you saying, Lady Nellin!"

Nellin's abrupt declaration left the elf elder as shocked as if lightning had struck her out of a clear sky.

"Leaving the forest? Didn't you just visit the County of Rudendion?"

"Yep. That's why."

A week had passed since Nellin returned from the County of Rudendion. She had spent that time at home, absorbed in thought. She had heard about the slime directly from Count Rudendion, and his daughter Jessi Rudendion had told her about life with the slime she had named Alexandros II. None of those stories could possibly have been about an ordinary slime. A slime that enjoyed being read to, gave excellent massages, was friendly toward people, and even understood writing. The more she heard, the more it felt as though she were hearing about some undiscovered treasure.

In addition, Nellin had personally told Jessi stories of what had happened fifty years ago. Naturally, at Count Rudendion's request, she left out the more explicit tales of her wild antics. Jessi's eyes sparkled as she heard those vivid stories firsthand, stories that had never made it into the biographies.

Nellin didn't dislike that look. In fact, she enjoyed it. Whenever she tried telling stories to the elves in the village, they would usually say they had heard them already and leave to attend to their own affairs.

While she was enjoying telling stories for the first time in ages, a question Jessi asked with shining eyes lodged deep in Nellin's heart.

["When will you set out on your next journey, Lady Nellin?"]

["My next journey?"]

["Yes! Not a journey to defeat a calamity, but one simply to travel the world! A hero like you would leave legends behind just by traveling!"]

["Leave legends behind just by traveling? Hahaha! Aren't you flattering me a little too much?"]

["Not at all! You possess both outstanding character and exceptional skill! I'm sure all sorts of things are happening in the world even now! If you simply passed by and resolved them with ease, legends would surely be written about you!"]

["Is that so? Hahahaha! Well now, you certainly know how to say lovely things!"]

["I'm only stating the facts!"]

Nellin knew perfectly well that Jessi had only said those things out of admiration for her. Yet even knowing that, the words kept circling through her mind after she returned to the village.

"A journey without any particular purpose..."

Thinking about it, Nellin hadn't left the forest of her own accord in the last fifty years. The only occasions had been when she was invited somewhere, or when a companion died and she attended the funeral.

"Come to think of it, I'm so bored, but I never thought of simply leaving."

She had become so accustomed to staying in the village that, no matter how bored she grew, setting out on a journey alone had never occurred to her as an option. Really, there was no reason Nellin couldn't leave the forest. Her departure wouldn't put the village in any immediate danger. The elf village had been perfectly fine even when she returned from setting out to defeat the calamity, the black dragon.

'If there's one obstacle...'

It was the elder's nagging, and nothing else.

That was why Nellin had spent a week thinking up an excuse to give the elder, and why she was here now. She addressed the flustered elder.

"What do you mean, what am I saying? I'm going to travel around the world for a while."

"Why would you say such a thing? You are a hero of the elves! Shouldn't a hero set an example for the elves in the village?"

"No, let's be honest, old lady. Do the kids in our village even respect me? Whenever I offer to tell them stories from the old days, they all scatter because they can't be bothered."

"Ahem! I shall have a stern word with them later."

"No, no. You can't do that. Forcing people isn't good, old lady. Better for me to bring back some new stories."

"New stories?"

"It's been fifty years, but has the world really changed? Of course all sorts of things are still happening. If I, huh, travel around helping people in trouble and getting my face out there, the kids will know I'm still active."

"Even without doing that, Lady Nellin, you are more than..."

'Now!'

"Besides, old lady... something feels wrong."

"Wrong?"

"I have an ominous feeling, like fifty years ago. So I think it would be better to act first."

"Fifty years ago? Surely you don't mean...!"

"Would I say I was leaving for no reason? I've stayed quietly in the village all this time, haven't I? So, old lady, I'll be off."

It went without saying, of course, that Nellin's claim about an ominous feeling was a complete lie.