▶? Why's Squishy sucking a hooman's blood?

▶Finally developed a taste for humans?

Since the slime had acted without telling them anything first, most viewers couldn't immediately understand what it was doing.

But one viewer knew a great deal about poison: Arachne, otherwise known as Madam Cat's Cradle. She was different.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy, are you trying to neutralize the poison?

▶Neutralize it? Doesn't Squishy already have Detoxification?

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Antidote Production was in the shop last time, too. I think Squishy bought it and is using it.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Seriously? Why waste money on a skill like that?

▶LOL gotta stay on the good side of the hooman who feeds you LOL

▶True lol

[Squishy Queen]▶Do you think my kin would buy a skill for such a servile reason, you fools?!!!

"S-Saintess!"

The flustered priest looked at Amelia. He wanted to pull the slime off immediately, but since it was the Saintess's companion, he couldn't lay hands on it without permission.

"Quivery, you mustn't massage him right now!"

Seeing the slime quivering, Amelia assumed it was giving the sick man a massage. Its intentions were sweet, but that would only cause him more pain. She hurriedly reached out and pulled it off the patient.

Meanwhile, the slime had absorbed the poison along with the blood.

'Antidote Production!'

It immediately produced a substance that could neutralize the poison. Mana was consumed, and antidote instantly formed inside its body.

Then...

PFFT!

The slime spat the antidote onto the calf marked by the snake's teeth.

"Quivery!?"

It had never done anything like this before. The slime's sudden spitting of a mysterious liquid at the patient left Amelia even more flustered.

"W-We need to wipe that off right away!"

Afraid that a monster's bodily fluids might worsen the wound, the priest hurried to wipe away the liquid the slime had spat out. Just then...

"Would you please wait a moment?"

Paulen stopped him.

"Paladin Paulen?"

"Paulen?"

'Considering everything it's done so far...'

If the slime had never shown any unusual abilities, Paulen wouldn't have intervened either. But it had surprised them too many times already. It understood human speech, possessed enough strength that he suspected it had slain the lesser troll, and could emit light. That made him wonder whether it was about to surprise them again.

And then...

"U-Uuugh! Huh? Hmm?"

The patient, who had been enduring the pain caused by the slime's vibrations, began to groan less and less.

"The pain... it's easing? Saintess, the pain is going away."

"What? Really?"

"How is that possible...?"

Amelia blinked, while the priest stared in disbelief at the liquid covering the wound. The fluid the slime had spat out was gradually soaking into it.

"Could it be... Quivery, did you do that?"

'Yep!'

The slime quivered vigorously.

PFFT!

Still quivering, it spat another dose of antidote onto the patient's wound. This time, the priest simply watched without trying to wipe it away.

A little later...

"It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt anymore!"

The patient spoke with overwhelming relief as the pain caused by the stone snake's venom subsided. His paralysis hadn't completely cleared, but the pain was gone, and he had recovered enough to sit up on his own.

"Incredible..."

The priest couldn't believe what was happening before his eyes. The antidote for stone snake venom was difficult to make, and its ingredients were hard to obtain as well. Yet that troublesome venom was now being neutralized by the mysterious fluid the slime had spat out.

'Is it because this is the slime the Saintess chose? Of course! The Saintess would never take an ordinary slime around with her!'

"Just as one would expect of you, Saintess!"

"Pardon?"

Amelia was bewildered by the sudden praise.

Meanwhile...

"Just what you'd expect of a slime chosen by the Saintess."

"Exactly! I knew there was something extraordinary about it the moment I saw it!"

The patients Amelia had treated interpreted the priest's words however they pleased and burst into cheers.

"Saintess, could you come over here? This patient is suffering from poison."

Even a nun attending another poisoned patient asked Amelia, who was holding the slime, for help.

"O-Of course."

Though bewildered by the situation, Amelia decided that saving people came first.

After that, the slime and Amelia did wonderful work together in the clinic. Amelia used holy arts to treat patients with physical injuries, while the slime spat out a substance that neutralized the poisons afflicting the others.

As it sucked blood from the wounds of patients suffering from poison and produced an antidote, all anyone could see from the outside was a slime sitting on a wound. Yet the poisoned patients improved immediately, and they promptly thanked Amelia.

"Thank you, Saintess."

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

"I see. Thank you, slime."

The slime quivered vigorously. Hearing words of gratitude directed at it made it happy.

Of course, that wasn't the only benefit for the slime. By producing antidotes for the small amounts of poison it absorbed from the patients' blood, it gained immunity to those poisons. All the information about them was also stored within its body, so if it acquired Poison Production, it would be able to create the poisons it had neutralized. For now, however, none of that occurred to it. It was simply happy to be praised.

+++

After leaving the clinic, Amelia had lunch in the Great Church, since it was conveniently time to eat.

"The more I see of Quivery, the more amazing it is."

Paulen, who was eating with her, spoke as he watched the slime enjoying its food on the table.

The slime quivered enthusiastically. It hadn't even heard Paulen's praise, busy savoring its meal.

"..."

Amelia gazed silently at the slime. Looking at it now, it was just a sweet, docile little slime. Yet today, it had shown her something truly unbelievable.

A slime that secreted a liquid capable of neutralizing poison. She had never seen or heard of such a thing. One utterly impossible event kept following another—and from Amelia's perspective, they were almost too good to be true.

'Could it be...?'

That was why a thought suddenly struck her.

'Could Quivery be something like an angel sent down by God?'

It was a fantasy born of Amelia's low self-esteem: because she lacked confidence in herself, perhaps God had sent an angel in the form of a slime to help her.

'Th-That's impossible!'

Even Amelia found the fantasy far too absurd, and she shook her head in denial.

'It seems Amelia's imagining something strange again.'

It was a familiar sight to Paulen.

The next day, Amelia stayed in her room practicing holy arts as usual. She had mustered the courage to venture into the streets, but with her normally low self-esteem, she didn't have the courage to go out two days in a row.

The day after that...

"This time, I'd like to give Quivery's abilities a proper test."

Paulen made the suggestion to Amelia with a mischievous grin.

"Test Quivery's abilities? Haven't you already done that?"

"That was only a little taste, Amelia. Besides, I bet Quivery would enjoy some exercise! Exercise is good for your mental health, too!"

"Muscles!" he declared, flexing his biceps.

"But what if Quivery gets hurt while sparring just so you can test its abilities?"

"What are you so worried about, Amelia? Have some faith in my abilities! They call me the strongest in the Holy City!"

"... All right."

Once they reached the training grounds, Paulen took his primary armament, a greatshield, out of his Inventory.

"You're even bringing out the Shield of the Holy Spirit?"

"I think there's a limit to what a wooden shield can do."

'Wow! A new shield!'

The slime's gaze fixed on the unfamiliar shield.

The Shield of the Holy Spirit was reserved for Paladins, blessed and crafted with no expense spared by the Church. Even the viewers could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary shield.

▶Looks tough as hell.

▶Hoomans have stuff like that?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Hmph! My scales are tougher.

▶Why are you bragging about your scales here?

▶Guess there's nothing else to brag about?

[Noblesse Fire]▶That's not true!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Hohoho, please don't bruise that shut-in loser dragon's pathetic pride too much.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Shut up! You're a bony bastard whose scales all rotted away!

THUD!

Paulen planted the Shield of the Holy Spirit firmly on the ground.

"All right, Quivery! Try the strongest attack you've got! I'll take whatever you throw at me!"

The slime bounced off Amelia's shoulder and landed on the ground, understanding Paulen's words.

'Something strong!'

It bounced repeatedly in place as if warming up, thinking about the strongest attack it could perform.

That was the attack combining two skills it had used when Godric, Sgol, and Def were in danger. It had used them unconsciously then, but after recalling the moment again and again, it now instinctively understood how to do it.

Using mana to build its elasticity to the maximum, it aimed at the shield and used Bounce Tackle. It sprang forward, closing the distance in an instant. The tackle that had sent the lesser troll flying over the cliff slammed into Paulen's shield.

CLAAAANG!

A sound like a gigantic bell rang through the training grounds.

It was the strongest blow the slime could deliver. Yet Paulen blocked it perfectly. The title of Paladin, borne by the Holy City's strongest paladins, was granted only to those whose abilities were worthy of it.

'This is much more impressive than I expected!'

Even to Paulen, the slime's attack packed considerable force. Ordinary monsters' attacks couldn't budge him, yet this one had briefly left his arm tingling.

'With that much power, it could seriously injure even a B-rank monster.'

Meanwhile...

'Huh? What? What just happened?'

Amelia blinked and stared ahead. The slime's strongest blow had been too fast for her eyes to follow.

All she had seen was the slime suddenly disappearing as a deep clang sounded—and then it was in front of the greatshield.

As for the slime that had delivered the tackle...

'Wow! Amazing! So tough! Amazing!'

It bounced around Paulen, marveling at how he had blocked its attack.

"What's this? Why are you so excited? Are you amazed by how impressive I am?"

The slime bounced in place as if agreeing.

It somehow looked like a little child admiring him, and Paulen felt a tickle of pleasure in his chest.

"Hahahaha! Quivery, do you want to get this strong, too?"

'Yep!'

It bounced.

"Then exercise every day without fail, just like me! You'll get strong, too! Hup! Muscles!"

Delighted by the slime's response, Paulen flexed his biceps.

The slime bounced again.

'Muscles!'

Paulen was strong enough to block its attack without a care. Paulen said exercise made you strong. And judging by his actions, getting stronger through exercise gave you muscles.

'I want muscles, too!'

The slime had found a new goal.