“Exercise? What are you talking about all of a sudden, Paulen?”

As the slime tilted its body, Amelia questioned Paulen.

“Exactly what I said. We’re going to exercise. Quivery gets bored sitting around here anyway, doesn’t it? Moving around at the training grounds would be much better! Hahahaha! And of course, you should join us, Saintess!”

“But if I try to keep up with your workout...”

‘I’ll be too sore to get out of bed tomorrow!’

“Amelia, what do you take me for? I wouldn’t put a beginner with barely any muscle through excessive exercise. At most, I’d have you walk around while I play and exercise with Quivery.”

“Really? If that’s all...”

Won over by his words, Amelia stood up.

The slime bounced up onto Paulen’s shoulder—the spot that had become its usual perch during its stay at the Church.

At first, it had tried to climb onto Amelia’s head, but Paulen had told it that, however harmless it might be, a monster sitting on top of the Saintess would give people plenty to talk about. It should climb onto his shoulder instead.

Understanding him, the slime had made Paulen’s shoulder its designated perch.

Amelia, Paulen, and the slime left the room and headed for the training grounds.

These were no ordinary training grounds. They were reserved exclusively for Paulen, a Paladin, and built for the man who held the title of strongest holy knight. A protective barrier could be deployed so that even if he went all out, the surroundings would suffer no damage. The exercise equipment was also sturdier than anything normally sold, so it would neither bend nor break.

Looking around the training grounds, Amelia asked, “Paulen, doesn’t it bother you to use this place all by yourself?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s so big. Wouldn’t it feel awkward moving around alone...?”

“Hahaha! This is time spent training myself. What does it matter whether I’m alone or with others? Of course, I enjoy exercising with a group too, but being alone doesn’t make me lonely! If you want to see people, you can go see them anytime!”

“...”

For Amelia, who struggled to muster the courage to seek people out herself, his words stung.

“Besides, today I have you and Quivery with me! Training will be even more fun than usual! Would you like to visit when I’m training on other days too?”

“I think it would smell too much like sweat, so...”

“You certainly don’t mince words at times like this.”

CLAP! CLAP!

Paulen clapped his hands and said, “Then I’ll play and exercise with Quivery. You can walk around the training grounds and get some fresh air, Amelia.”

Amelia wondered whether the air beside Paulen once he started exercising would really be fresh, or simply smell of sweat. Still, she had enough tact not to say that out loud.

As Amelia began walking around the training grounds, Paulen addressed the slime.

“Let’s get started too, Quivery!”

‘Exercise?’

“First, get down from my shoulder!”

‘Okay!’

The slime bounced down to the ground, and Paulen immediately struck a pose.

“Hup! Biceps!”

Flexing his biceps, Paulen declared, “Exercise leaves your body refreshed and clears away useless thoughts! I’m sure that’s true for monsters too! So let’s exercise together, Quivery!”

‘Exercise!’

The slime bounced happily. It didn’t know exactly what exercising involved, but it could tell Paulen was doing this for its sake, and that made it happy.

▶What’s with that hooman suddenly wanting to exercise?

▶Sounds more fun than watching that boring female hooman sit around.

The viewers were interested too. After three days of sitting around, the stream had offered little entertainment outside mealtimes. Now it seemed there was some new content.

“Good! Let’s start with an easy twenty laps! Follow me, Quivery!”

The slime bounced, following Paulen as he began running around the training grounds.

“Huh?”

Amelia, who had started walking before them, felt conflicted as Paulen and the slime overtook her. Now that those two were running, shouldn’t she run too?

With that thought, she briefly quickened her pace from a walk to a run, but...

“Hahaha! You’re a good runner! Then how about this speed?”

The slime bounced along. Less than ten seconds later, it and Paulen overtook her again, going even faster, and Amelia went back to walking. Seeing a pace she could never hope to match, she immediately realized there was no point trying.

Paulen and the slime soon completed twenty laps of the training grounds.

‘It moves much faster than I expected.’

He was privately surprised by how well the slime kept up even when he increased his speed.

At first, he had gone slowly, matching the slime’s usual bouncing pace. But moving that slowly wouldn’t give him any exercise, so he had sped up, intending to finish his own workout before helping it. Yet the slime had easily kept pace with him. Curious, he had tried running even faster, and it had kept up with that too.

‘It really isn’t an ordinary slime.’

Paulen’s curiosity grew. This slime understood human speech and could keep pace with him, even if he hadn’t been going all out. He knew that highly intelligent monsters were cunning—and strong. Could this slime be considerably stronger than its appearance suggested?

‘I should check.’

His duty as the Paladin protecting the Saintess gave him a valid reason as well, so he immediately said to the slime, “That’s the warm-up finished, Quivery! Next comes sparring!”

‘Sparring?’

“Paulen? What are you talking about? You aren’t going to fight Quivery, are you?”

“Not fight. Spar. Spar.”

“With a slime?”

“I understand what you’re worried about, Amelia, but don’t worry. It’ll be little different from exercise.”

Paulen took a wooden shield and practice sword from a rack in the corner of the training grounds.

“All right! Come at me, Quivery! Attack me as much as you like! I’ll block it all.”

CLACK! CLACK!

Paulen struck the wooden shield with his practice sword, urging the slime on.

‘Attack? Why?’

The slime didn’t understand why Paulen was suddenly asking it to attack him. To the slime, attacking was something it did to catch prey, or to deal with bad creatures that hurt it or made it sad.

But a message in the chat immediately cleared up its confusion.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Squishy! That human’s offering to help you practice your slams! Give it a go!

‘Practice!’

It hadn’t immediately understood sparring or the instruction to attack, but practicing its slams made perfect sense. This was practice. Training. It understood that it wasn’t attacking with the intention of actually taking him down.

The slime bounced up and down.

‘Practice!’

It hadn’t had many chances to move around lately, and it was delighted to practice again after so long.

“You’re eager, aren’t you? Good! Come at me!”

‘Okay!’

Bouncing toward Paulen, the slime used Body Slam. Since it wasn’t attacking seriously, it chose a Body Slam weaker than usual rather than Bounce Tackle.

But...

‘Huh?!’

The slime’s Body Slam packed more weight than Paulen had expected.

‘That would knock an ordinary animal flat!’

Nutritious food and experience fighting various monsters had increased the slime’s basic strength. Though it wasn’t as powerful as the skill Bounce Tackle, its Body Slam still packed quite a punch.

“Good! You’re doing well! Keep going, Quivery!”

‘Okay!’

Excited that Paulen had blocked its first attack, the slime bounced into a continuous series of Body Slams. Attacking from the same direction would be boring, so it kept changing positions as it slammed into him. Naturally, Paulen, who had risen to the rank of Paladin, caught every one with his shield.

Meanwhile...

‘They’re having fun.’

To Amelia, slowly walking around the training grounds, it looked as though Paulen was simply playing with the slime at his leisure. The slime’s characteristic softness and elasticity meant that even its collisions with the wooden shield made little noise, so she couldn’t tell from watching just how powerful its tackles were.

The slime bounced at him again. As Paulen continued blocking its tackles, he analyzed its strength out of habit.

‘Every strike has exactly the same power. Is it that practiced? No, maintaining such consistency means it must be quite skilled at controlling its power.’

And the ability to keep attacking with consistent power meant it was holding a stronger attack in reserve.

‘Let’s test it.’

“Quivery!”

‘Huh?’

At the sudden call, the slime stopped its Body Slams and waited for his next words.

“You can hit harder! Come on!”

▶Oh, lol. That hooman knows Squishy’s going easy on him?

▶Harder! Go, go, go!

The viewers laughed as Paulen confidently invited a stronger attack. They knew how powerful Bounce Tackle was—the tackle the slime normally used against other monsters. They grinned mischievously, wondering just how shocked the hooman before it would be when it unleashed that skill.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Show him what you can do, Squishy! A few tackles won’t hurt that hooman anyway!

Having fought humans who climbed his snowy mountain to challenge him on numerous occasions, Fenrir could gauge Paulen’s abilities and gave his stamp of approval that it was safe.

‘Okay!’

After reading the chat, the slime immediately used Bounce Tackle, springing forward.

THWAAACK!

The slime’s elasticity-powered tackle slammed into Paulen’s wooden shield.

“...!?”

‘What is this power?!’

The slime’s Bounce Tackle could take down not only a deer, but even a Scarlet Goblin with a single hit to the face. Its power went far beyond merely packing a great deal of weight.

CRACK!

Unable to absorb the full impact, the wooden shield began to split. Paulen quickly judged that simply continuing to block would be dangerous.

He leaned back slightly while twisting his shield arm, dispersing the force.

“Hup!”

Then he swung his shield, deflecting the slime.

A technique for turning aside an opponent’s attack: a parry. Though, thanks to the slime’s unique elasticity, it would be more accurate to say he had redirected it high into the air rather than knocked it away.

‘Wheeee!’

Being deflected by Paulen hadn’t dealt the slime much of a shock. Instead, it found the sudden sensation of floating upward fascinating and fun.

▶What was that? Did he knock the slime away?

▶Ohhh, lol. That hooman bastard’s pretty good.

[Squishy Queen]▶How dare you send my kin flying! Such insolence!

▶It’s a flying slime!

“Quivery?!”

Amelia had been watching calmly as she walked, but the sight of Paulen suddenly sending the slime flying upward horrified her.

“Paulen! What are you doing?!”

“Amelia, I think...”

The slime landed without any trouble after its flight and began bouncing happily. Watching it, Paulen said, “I think Quivery was the one who killed the lesser troll.”

“What? Where did that come from?”

“Look at this.”

Paulen showed Amelia the cracked wooden shield.

“Quivery really is no ordinary slime.”