“Of course Quivery isn’t an ordinary slime!” Amelia said, sounding a little angry at Paulen’s remark.

How could a slime that understood human speech possibly be ordinary? Paulen had suddenly launched it high into the air, and she had momentarily lost her composure.

“No, Amelia. Look closely here. This crack.”

“A crack? Huh? When did that happen?”

“Haha, this little fellow’s handiwork.” Paulen pointed his thumb at the slime, chuckling as though he still found it absurd.

“Quivery did that?”

“Yes. Its attack packed quite a punch. It could certainly finish off an ordinary animal in one hit.”

“Quivery?” Amelia looked back and forth between Paulen and the slime with a doubtful gaze.

The slime bounced eagerly.

'Let’s do more!'

While the two talked, it kept hopping, wanting another turn at being launched into the air. That had been fun.

“Yes. Otherwise, why would I have deflected it while redirecting the impact? Let me show you again.”

Paulen went to the rack, exchanged his shield for a new wooden one, and stood before the slime.

“Come on, Quivery! Let’s do that again!”

'Again!'

The slime sprang forward, immediately using Bounce Tackle. But unlike the first time...

THWACK!

Paulen took the tackle head-on. This time, he wasn’t caught off guard and immediately dispersed the impact of Bounce Tackle. Even without batting the slime away, his wooden shield didn’t crack.

“Did you see that?”

“...”

He could ask whether she had seen it, but Amelia couldn’t tell the difference. No matter how skillfully Paulen dispersed the force, from the outside it looked as though he had simply blocked the attack!

Still, he had no reason to lie to her, so she answered honestly.

“I’m not sure.”

“... True, I suppose it all looks the same from the outside.”

Meanwhile, the slime bounced in circles around Paulen.

'Different! This is different! High! Send me high!'

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

Once Paulen was watching, the slime jumped a little higher than his head to express what it wanted.

'High! High!'

“Hmm, you want me to launch you up high?”

'Yes!'

The slime stopped bouncing and quivered in place, as though telling him he had guessed correctly.

'So you enjoyed that? All right, then.'

There were other ways to prove that the slime was far stronger than expected, so Paulen decided to play with it for now. After all, they had come to the training grounds because it was bored.

“Come at me again! I’ll send you upward this time.”

'Upward!'

The slime sprang at Paulen with Bounce Tackle. Each time it struck his wooden shield, he redirected the impact and launched it upward.

'This is fun!'

Each time, the slime delighted in soaring high into the air and landed safely, bouncing happily.

'Should I test something else?'

Paulen continued observing as he received one Bounce Tackle after another. Like its ordinary tackles, these attacks had a consistent amount of power. He therefore judged that the slime had an even stronger attack in reserve.

His suspicion that it had slain the lesser troll was gradually becoming a certainty. Now that he had tested its attack power, it was time to check its agility.

“Quivery! Let’s play a different game now.”

'Different?'

“This time, I’ll swing my sword, and you dodge it. Understand?”

'Dodging!'

The slime bounced in place as though it understood. The moment Paulen saw that signal, he stepped toward it and swung his sword.

“Paulen! Wait!”

Amelia worried that his sword might strike the slime and badly injure it. But in less than ten seconds, she realized her fears were unfounded. The slime kept bouncing out of the way.

'It’s good at dodging.'

Paulen wasn’t swinging in earnest, so his attacks could hardly be called swift or fierce. Still, he wasn’t swinging carelessly; he aimed precisely at the slime with each stroke. It nimbly hopped clear of every one.

“I’m going a little faster, Quivery!”

To find the slime’s limits, Paulen began swinging faster and faster.

▶Oh, hahaha! He’s getting faster.

▶Keep it up, Squishy!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Hmph! You think Squishy can’t dodge something this slow?

▶The first-person view is seriously intense, lmao.

The slime was having a wonderful time playing the dodging game, and the viewers enjoyed watching the sword-dodging stream in both third- and first-person views.

The speed kept climbing. It grew so fast that even Amelia, watching from the side, began to wonder whether it was too much.

'It’s more agile than most C-rank monsters at this point. But it doesn’t seem to have faced anyone faster than itself.'

Grinning, Paulen changed his swordplay. The moment the slime jumped to avoid one swing, he accelerated and struck it with the flat of his blade while it was still airborne, as though shoving it away.

The slime flew backward, bouncing twice before it came to a stop.

'Got hit!'

▶What just happened?

▶He hit Squishy really fast while it was in the air. Yep.

▶That was a sudden burst of speed.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Tsk, tsk. You’ve got to twist your body to dodge that!

▶Does a slime even have a body it can twist?

▶Dunno?

“Hahaha! How was that? Surprised you, didn’t I?”

'Yes! Let’s do it again!'

The slime quickly bounced back to Paulen and hopped around him.

Its reaction told Paulen that this slime posed no threat to people.

'It understands that I wasn’t trying to hurt it with my sword. In fact, it sees this as a game and wants more, just like before. We really picked up quite an extraordinary slime, didn’t we?'

“Quivery, are you all right?”

While the slime enjoyed itself and Paulen felt reassured, Amelia approached, worried about the slime he had sent flying.

“Are you hurt?”

“Don’t worry, Amelia. I carefully controlled the force when I sent it flying.”

“What do you mean? You hit it with a sword!”

Paulen’s strike had been so fast that Amelia hadn’t even seen him use the flat of the blade.

“I used the flat of the blade to push it away, so there’s no need to worry. More importantly, I was right, wasn’t I? Quivery moves so quickly. It’s no ordinary slime.”

“Yes, I understand that now. But that doesn’t change the fact that you hit Quivery, does it?”

“We are simply playing.”

“...”

To Amelia, this went far beyond playing, but the slime itself was bouncing happily, so she didn’t press the matter. Still...

“You might be hurt... so I’ll heal you. Come here, Quivery.”

'Healing?'

When Amelia held out her hand, the slime jumped onto it. She stroked it with her other hand and began healing it with her holy arts.

'O God, grant this one Your healing touch.'

A soft yellow light began shining from the hand stroking the slime. It enveloped the slime, bringing warmth and healing power.

'Warm!'

The moment it felt that warmth, the stamina it had spent moving around began to recover.

'Woooow!'

The sudden return of its energy seemed both wondrous and pleasant, and it quivered on Amelia’s hand.

“So holy arts do work on monsters.”

“God’s touch treats everyone equally. All done, Quivery.”

With a bounce, the slime hopped down from Amelia’s hand once the healing was finished.

“Now play carefully, understood?”

“Understood, Amelia. Aren’t you going to heal me, too?”

“There’s no way this much would tire you out.”

“Hahaha! True! This is nothing! Not with these muscles I train every day! Look at these biceps!”

Even as he flexed his biceps, Paulen smacked his lips in disappointment.

'I’d have liked to test the slime’s abilities more seriously while I had the chance. But if I do it today, Amelia will glare at me.'

Reluctantly, he decided to keep playing with the slime at the level he had used so far.

+++

That night, Amelia had trouble falling asleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Paulen and the slime’s games earlier that day.

'This happened because I wasn’t confident enough.'

Because she lacked the confidence to take the slime outside, Paulen had brought it to the training grounds. Then, under the guise of playing with it, he had repeatedly sent it flying with his sword and shield.

Paulen said the slime had enjoyed itself, but to Amelia it had looked like a mischievous uncle roughhousing with a niece or nephew and playing dangerous pranks.

'If I keep doing nothing, who knows what dangerous thing Paulen might do to Quivery next?'

[“Hahaha! Let’s see how well Quivery bounces!”]

She pictured Paulen bouncing the slime against the floor over and over like a basketball.

'I can’t let that happen!'

Amelia’s eyes flew wide open. That ominous image only made sleep feel further away.

“Haah...”

Sighing, Amelia sat up. After getting out of bed, she switched on the magic-stone lantern, which cast a soft light around her. She then went to her study and took out the scriptures.

Along with God’s teachings, the book described the blessings clergy could use—also known as holy arts.

Whenever she couldn’t sleep at night, Amelia had a habit of reading the scriptures until she grew sleepy again. Returning to bed, she leaned against the backrest and softly rustled through the pages one at a time.

'Hmm?'

Awakened by the sound of turning pages and the lantern’s soft glow, the slime hopped over to Amelia’s side.

“Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?”

The slime quivered as though saying it was no big deal. Amelia gazed fondly at it and continued reading the scriptures while stroking it with one hand.

The lantern’s glow lent Amelia’s pink hair a dreamlike softness, but gradually the light weakened and went out.

“Huh? Has the magic stone already run out?”

Amelia was taken aback. Other believers replaced it at the proper intervals, so she didn’t keep any spare magic stones.

The room had gone pitch-black. Little moonlight reached Amelia’s room, making it all the darker.

She had thought just another ten minutes of reading would make her sleepy, so she could only feel disappointed.

'It can’t be helped.'

Just as she was thinking of closing the scriptures, setting them beside the bed, and lying down again...

HUMMMM!

The slime used Luminescence, emitting a gentle glow.

“Q-Quivery!? Y-you’re g-glowing!?”

Amelia’s eyes widened, and all her sleepiness vanished. After all, the slime was glowing.

“Quivery, how on earth are you glowing? You’re all right, aren’t you?”

'Light! Scriptures! Let’s read!'

The slime pressed closer to Amelia and rubbed against her fingers, which still held the open book.

“Are you glowing so I can keep reading the scriptures?”

'Yes!'

It quivered.

“Ha, hahaha...”

A disbelieving laugh escaped her at this incomprehensible situation. Yet the knowledge that the slime was doing this for her filled Amelia’s heart with warmth.

“Thank you, Quivery.”

Amelia read the scriptures for twenty minutes before her vanished sleepiness returned. Then she hugged the slime, which had kept glowing the entire time, close to her and was able to sleep peacefully.

'Next time, I promise... I’ll take you outside.'