That night, while Amelia was asleep, the slime immediately announced its new goal in chat.

▷I'm gonna build muscles!

▶Muscles?

▶You mean the muscles that hooman was talking about?

▶A slime with muscles lmaooo

▶Wait, can it even do that? Do slimes... have muscles?

[Squishy Queen]▶How rude! How dare you ask such a question! Where do you think its strength has come from all this time? We may not have muscles like other races, but slimes can grow stronger too!

▶Ohhh, that's news to me. Taking notes.

▶So no muscles, but sluscles, huh.

Squishy Queen's remarks revealed that slimes, too, could develop greater strength. But that left the viewers wondering: How did a slime get stronger?

Evolution and the like were, of course, excluded.

▶Then how do they build strength?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶By doing Body Slam over and over, right?

'Y-you idiots!'

The Slime Queen felt ready to burst with frustration at their foolish remarks. It was painfully obvious that, whenever the viewers thought of a slime, they pictured only the shape of the one currently streaming.

[Squishy Queen]▶Do you think our tentacles are just for show? Of course training your tentacles makes you stronger!

▶Ohhh, tentacles.

▶Forgot about those.

A slime started out with nothing but a body. But as slimes evolved and acquired skills, they gained the ability to use tentacles as well. Even the Slime Queen's arms and legs could be described as tentacle skills developed further into their current humanlike form.

▶But Squishy doesn't have tentacles, does it?

▶Nah, you can buy them in the skill shop.

'Tentacles! Muscles!'

From the conversation in chat, the slime understood that getting tentacles would let it build muscles. And building muscles would make it stronger.

It quickly made up its mind. Opening the shop, it purchased Tentacle Production for twenty coins. The moment it made the purchase, it was granted the knowledge of how to use the skill.

The slime climbed down from the bed without waking Amelia, gave off a faint glow, and created its tentacles. Two tiny tentacles popped out from its sides.

'Wow!'

Feeling its soft, slightly elongated tentacles, the slime was utterly fascinated. With the addition of tentacles, its sensory range expanded too.

It patted the floor and its own body with its tentacles. The floor felt the same as it always had, but...

'Woooow!'

The sensation of touching its own body directly was wonderfully new.

'So soft!'

Delighted by the feel of its own body, the slime stroked and poked itself with its tentacles again and again. Then it quivered all over.

'It's shaking!'

With its tentacles pressed against its body, it could even feel its own vibrations. Satisfied, it climbed back onto the bed and fell asleep.

Time passed, and early morning arrived.

'Exercise!'

The slime woke before Amelia, climbed down from the bed, and headed to the door. Its former self would have struggled to open it, but...

'Tentacles!'

It created tentacles and opened the door easily. Spending mana to extend one upward, it grasped the handle and pulled it down.

Once outside Amelia's room, it immediately retracted its tentacles and bounced toward Paulen's private training grounds.

As a Paladin, his first priority was to protect the Saintess at all times, wherever he was. That was why the training grounds were not far from her room, and the slime arrived in no time.

"Hup! Hup!"

Paulen was exercising hard at the training grounds. Since he spent most of his day guarding Amelia, he always began training in the early hours before dawn. Dressed in light clothes, he was dripping sweat, apparently having worked out from dawn until now. It was proof of how diligently he had been exercising.

'Muscles!'

The slime caught sight of Paulen's large, firm muscles, normally hidden beneath the armor he always wore on escort duty. It already had a general idea of them through Sensing, but seeing them directly was something else.

'Strong!'

Those muscles radiated strength just by their appearance. Godric was fairly muscular too, but Paulen's muscles were even firmer and more supple.

'I wanna get strong too!'

The slime bounced up to Paulen.

"Hup! Hup! Hm? Quivery?"

In the middle of training with dumbbells, Paulen tilted his head at the slime's arrival.

"Are you alone? Wait, how did you get here?"

The slime bounced up and down.

"Quivery, Amelia's going to worry when she finds out you've sneaked out."

Paulen set down his dumbbells and picked up the slime.

"I'll talk Amelia into letting us play at the training grounds again today. So let's go back to your room first."

'Muscles! Wanna build them!'

Quivering in Paulen's hand, the slime brought out its tentacles.

"Huh?"

Tentacles had suddenly emerged from either side of its body.

It moved its newly extended tentacles.

'Muscles!'

Copying Paulen, it curled them inward. They were short and soft, with no musclelike bulge in the middle, but...

"You, that's..."

At least it could show Paulen that it was striking a muscle-flexing pose.

While Paulen stood bewildered, the slime hopped off his hand and approached the dumbbells on the floor.

'Exercise!'

It reached out with its tentacles and tried to lift a dumbbell. But no matter how hard it strained, it couldn't lift it.

That was only natural. Paulen's dumbbells were custom pieces he had commissioned from a dwarf, made of a special metal heavier than most others. Even a veteran warrior would struggle to lift them. A slime that had only just learned to control its tentacles had no chance.

'Nnnngh!'

The slime tried with all its might, but however hard it strained, the dumbbell wouldn't rise.

'Can't lift it... '

It kept trying, but to no avail. At last, it removed its tentacles from the dumbbell and slumped forward.

"Hah, hah, hah, hah."

Paulen watched, breathing hard.

'A beginner.'

The slime looked dejected at its failure to lift the dumbbell. To Paulen, it looked like a workout novice who had met discouragement just as it was getting started.

'I can't leave it like this!'

"Quivery!"

Breathing forcefully through his nose, Paulen asked,

"Do you want to build muscles too?"

'Yeah!'

The slime bounced as if in affirmation.

'Wh-what an admirable slime!'

Paulen recalled his wistful, sorrowful past: the days after he became a paladin, when he had trained daily in his efforts to grow stronger. But the stronger he became, and the more intense the training he imposed on himself grew, the more his companions who had sought strength alongside him drifted away.

Of course, there had been no ill feeling. They had simply given up, saying they couldn't keep pace with the increasingly demanding training. Paulen understood how they felt, but he couldn't help feeling disappointed.

After his appointment as a Paladin, he had spent day after day training alone at his private training grounds. Naturally, he was lonely.

And now a new "workout buddy" had appeared before him. Better yet, a beginner he could teach everything from the ground up. Even if that beginner was a monster, he didn't want it to give up on exercise.

"Quivery, don't be sad because you can't lift this! You can't lift it yet! That's all—yet! Let's start with something light and work our way up! I'll get everything you need! I'll help you build muscles too!"

'Yaaay!'

The slime bounced, delighted at his promise to make it stronger.

▶What's gotten into that hooman all of a sudden?

▶His eyes are scary.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Y-you damn hoooooman! You dare steal my place as Squishy's teacher?!

▶Since when was that wolf bastard its teacher?

[Squishy Queen]▶Exactly! Teaching it a single slam hardly makes you my kin's teacher!

▶Student NTR, oh damn.

▶But seriously, is it actually planning to build tentacle muscles lmaooo

"Four days! No, just give me three days, Quivery! I'll gather workout equipment for you! We'll have fun exercising together!"

'Exercise! Muscles!'

The slime bounced happily on the floor.

+++

"Wow, it's been ages since I was here too."

Having left the elf forest and traveled by carriage, Nellin was looking around a city she hadn't visited in a long time. Now that she was out in the world, she had decided to start with places she knew.

"Even after fifty years, some places just don't change."

Though fifty years had passed, she could still see shops that remained exactly as they had been. There were also plenty she hadn't seen before, and she made a mental note of several to visit later. After one round of sightseeing, she entered the adventurers' guild.

'Ahh, this is it. Now this is an adventurers' guild.'

The atmosphere seemed utterly unchanged by time. People studying the request board or sitting at tables discussing jobs. Adventurers who had finished their work early, lounging over celebratory drinks. Receptionists working as they spoke with one adventurer after another.

It was the scene Nellin had seen most often fifty years ago.

'Well then, shall I register?'

Nellin approached a receptionist to obtain a new adventurer registration card.

"I'd like to register as an adventurer."

"Certainly, a new adventurer registration. Please write your name here and pay the registration fee."

Nellin wrote a name on the paper offered to her and paid the fee. The receptionist took back the paper and checked the name.

"Marin, then. Please wait a moment."

Marin. Nellin had deliberately used an alias instead of her own name, precisely because of her fame.

Talking with Jessi at Count Rudendion's mansion had reminded Nellin anew of just how famous she was. If she operated under her real name, she would soon attract attention.

'Being too famous is a nuisance.'

So many people had swarmed her when she returned from defeating the black dragon fifty years ago. She knew it came from goodwill and respect, but she didn't want that happening every time she went out alone.

The receptionist handed her an adventurer identification tag produced by a magical device.

"Here you are! Now, let me explain what you need to know as an adventurer..."

"Oh, no need. I know pretty much all of it."

"Do you?"

"Yes. I've heard plenty from another elf who used to be an adventurer."

"Understood. Good luck with your F-rank jobs, then."

'Oh, right.'

Though Nellin had remembered to register anew, she had forgotten that she would have to start with the lowest-ranked jobs.

'Well, I've gathered plenty of herbs in the forest. Will two or three days do it?'

Deciding to get the tedious part over with quickly, she immediately chose an herb-gathering job.

Two hours later, Nellin brought the herbs she had gathered to the reception counter.

"All checked! They're excellent quality!"

"I've been gathering herbs for years. This much is nothing."

"I'm glad we have another person who gathers such good herbs, Marin."

"What, there's someone else besides me?"

"Yes. They've all reached C-rank now, so they don't gather herbs anymore."

"Really? Hm?"

During their conversation, Nellin noticed the receptionist's expression darken.

"What is it? Did those C-rank adventurers cause some sort of trouble?"

"Pardon?"

"Your expression suddenly turned gloomy while you were talking."

"Oh, no, nothing like that. They're still diligent and work very hard on their jobs! They're exemplary adventurers. It's just... they recently lost a companion, so they've been devoting themselves to getting stronger."

'Ah, so that's why.'

Nellin could easily picture it. Plenty of people lost companions on jobs, blamed their own shortcomings, and became obsessed with getting stronger. Since they were apparently exemplary adventurers, it was understandable that the receptionist would worry.

'If I meet them, should I offer a little advice as their senior?'

It was just as Nellin was thinking this that it happened.

CREAK!

The adventurers' guild door opened, and four men entered: Godric, Hawein, Def, and Sgol.

It was Godric's Party, who had become separated from the slime.