As Amelia carried Quivery to the clinic, complaints were pouring into the chat.

▶Ugh, when are we getting Squishy's muscle-building show?

▶Didn't you hear that weird hooman say he's getting things ready?

[Squishy Queen]▶Those insolent humans! How dare they use my kin as a tool for healing! Outrageous! Were I nearby, I would punish them at once!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶But Squishy enjoys it too, so isn't it all right?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Sparring! Show us sparring instead! At least do some slam training and show us you're getting stronger!

For viewers who had already watched the slime treat poisoning once, another detox stream at the clinic was utterly boring content. After all, the process consisted of the slime pressing itself against a patient's wound, then squirting out liquid. To viewers who had followed its eventful adventures all this time, it was a terribly dull sight.

Smartass, the moderator, actually saw this as a good development.

'This will improve what the people around Squishy think of it.'

The slime wasn't on the Demon Continent. It was on the Dersia continent, teeming with races hostile to monsters. In a place like that, befriending humans could only improve its chances of survival. Above all, the person it was living with now was none other than the next Saintess.

'There shouldn't be any sudden partings this time.'

Its separation from Godric's Party, the bandits turned adventurers, had been completely unexpected. But Smartass thought there was no need to worry about that with the Saintess. From what he had seen of her personality, she didn't seem like someone who would venture far afield.

'If anything, she doesn't go out enough. ... Doesn't she visit Fresia very often?'

Deep down, Smartass wanted to see more of his old companion through the slime's stream.

While he was thinking this, Amelia and the others arrived at the clinic. The nun led them straight to the paladins suffering from manticore poisoning.

"Here they are."

"No! D-don't come any closer! I! I like women!"

"No! No! Cockroaches! Aaaaaagh!"

"Where is it?! My sword! My sword! My swoooooord!"

"Monster alert! Monster aleeeeeert!"

Four paladins lay on separate beds, stripped of their armor and tied down with ropes.

▶Wow lolol what's with these hoomans lol

▶Did they get hit with hallucinogenic poison? lmao

▶Damn it lol I was eating and spat out my food lol

The unexpectedly hilarious scene instantly lifted the complaining viewers' spirits. The four poisoned paladins were panicking, trapped in hallucinations of things they feared. Their arms and legs had been bound to keep them from scratching their itchy bodies. But these men had physiques strong enough to become paladins; the ropes couldn't hold out for long and were already on the verge of snapping.

When Paulen and Amelia appeared, the fellow paladins keeping watch nearby laid their right arms over their hearts.

"Paladin Paulen! Saintess Amelia! Thank you for coming!"

"Never mind the greetings. More importantly, did you kill the manticore?"

"Yes! Of course!"

"When it was near death, it spewed poisonous smoke in one final desperate attack."

"Fortunately, we managed to avoid it and finish the creature off, but..."

One paladin looked at his poisoned comrades in frustration.

"Our comrades were caught in it. We apologize for this disgraceful display..."

"Don't call it disgraceful. You bravely fulfilled your duty. This is like an honorable wound you sustained in the process."

At the words of the Paladin they revered, the men turned admiring eyes toward him.

"Paladin Paulen...!"

"I like womeeeeeen!"

"Monster aleeeeeert!"

"... A rather noisy wound, admittedly."

The nun bowed her head to Amelia.

"Saintess, please help them."

"Of course."

Amelia brought the slime in her hands over to the patients.

"Quivery, these people have been poisoned too. Can you neutralize it?"

'I'll try!'

The slime bounced out of Amelia's hands and landed on a paladin's body.

'...? None! No wound!'

To neutralize the poison, the slime first had to absorb it into itself. But the patient had been poisoned by gas and had no wounds, so it couldn't absorb the poison through his blood.

The slime bounced once, looking at Paulen.

"What's wrong, Quivery? Is there a problem?"

It popped out a tentacle and pointed at the patient's forearm.

'Here! Here! A wound! Need to make one!'

After pointing insistently at the forearm, the slime swept its tentacle back and forth across it as though making a cut.

"Hmm. Ah! So that's it."

Paulen, who had felt a sudden affinity for the slime ever since it imitated his muscle-flexing pose, understood its intent. To prevent any misunderstandings, he first addressed Amelia loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Saintess, I believe I need to make a small cut on this man's forearm. Please grant me permission to use the sword entrusted with your protection."

The nun and the paladins focused their attention on Paulen and Amelia.

"A cut on his forearm?"

"Yes. It seems Quivery needs to absorb the poison in order to neutralize it. Yesterday, too, didn't Quivery climb onto the wound before spitting out the antidote?"

"Oh. That makes sense. All right. You have my permission."

"Thank you."

Having explained why a wound was necessary and obtained the Saintess's permission, Paulen immediately drew the sword at his waist and cut the paladin's forearm just deeply enough to draw blood. As soon as the wound opened, the slime bounced onto it and absorbed the poison along with the blood flowing out.

It shuddered violently.

'It hurts!'

Even with the Detoxification skill and experience neutralizing several poisons, the slime felt pain when exposed to a poison for the first time. Still, it endured that pain and began neutralizing it.

"Paladin Paulen, why is the slime trembling?"

"It must be in the middle of neutralizing the poison. Just watch."

"Yes, sir!"

A little later, having finished neutralizing the poison, the slime bounced back onto the patient's torso.

PFFT!

It spat antidote onto the wound.

"Good! It spat it out. The antidote should start working now."

"Really?"

"Manticore antidote is notoriously difficult to make, and yet so quickly..."

Three minutes after the antidote began seeping into the wound, the patient who had been screaming nonstop in the grip of hallucinations started showing signs of coming to his senses.

"Aaaaaagh! I like women! Women... Women? Huh? Where am I...?"

"Coming around?"

"The middle-aged men in women's clothes are gone..."

"What kind of horrifying hallucination were you seeing?"

"A hallucination? All of that was... Ugh! I-itchy! My body itches..."

Although the patient was free of the hallucinations, the itching remained. But there was no doubt that his condition had improved markedly.

"It really works."

"Please help the next patient too!"

One by one, Paulen made cuts, and the slime spat antidote onto them. Since it had already made the antidote once, there was no need to absorb each patient's blood, allowing it to treat the others quickly.

Once the poison had been neutralized, the paladins and nuns all bowed to Amelia and Paulen in thanks.

"Thank you so much, Paladin Paulen, Saintess Amelia."

"Thank you for treating our comrades!"

Amelia shook her head at them.

"No, I didn't really do anything. Please thank Quivery instead."

"She's right. This little fellow is the one who neutralized the poison."

'Ahem!'

The slime quivered.

Amelia extended the hand holding the slime a little farther, and the paladins thanked it in unison.

"Thank you so much!"

'Yay!'

The slime quivered joyfully at their gratitude, just as it had yesterday.

+++

The most famous person in the Holy City—someone everyone would agree was even more renowned than the pope—was smiling softly in her room. It was Saintess Fresia.

'It seems she's doing well.'

Since her successor had been chosen, Fresia had gradually taken a less active role. Her advancing age was part of the reason, but if she stepped forward too often, she might hinder the growth of the next Saintess, who would one day lead the Church.

Despite the considerable age gap, Fresia regarded Amelia, the next Saintess, as a dear young junior. She wished Amelia would have more confidence in herself.

That was when the slime appeared: a curious creature, friendly toward people and clearly intelligent. Fresia instinctively felt that it could bring about a change in Amelia.

And her prediction had proved correct. At first, Amelia had merely followed Paulen to the training grounds, but she was leaving her room more often nonetheless. She had even begun taking the slime out into the streets herself.

But even Fresia had been surprised.

'I never imagined that slime would have such an ability.'

Word of the slime's exploits at the clinic had reached Fresia as well. A slime at the Saintess's side with the power to neutralize poison: it had treated a poison whose antidote was difficult to make, then dealt with manticore poison the very next day. Rumors were bound to spread throughout the Church.

Naturally, people were saying that the Saintess kept the slime with her because it possessed such a rare ability. Of course a slime accompanying the Saintess couldn't possibly be ordinary.

Knowing the truth, Fresia could only chuckle wryly at those rumors.

'... Still, this isn't a bad situation.'

What worried Fresia and the Church's High Priests was Fresia's lack of confidence and initiative. But she thought that if Amelia continued attracting attention, becoming a topic of conversation, and receiving praise and admiration, it would bolster her insufficient confidence at least a little.

Of course, excessive praise could sometimes lead people astray or make them arrogant. But Fresia was certain Amelia wasn't someone who would make that mistake.

'But gaining just a little confidence won't be enough.'

True confidence came from accomplishing something oneself.

When Amelia had said she would accompany Paulen to slay the lesser troll, Fresia had thought it a good opportunity. But that opportunity had fallen through with the encounter with the slime. Of course, meeting the slime had been a good thing for Amelia, as well as for the poisoned patients and paladins.

'Perhaps I should create an opportunity for her instead.'

Given her personality, unless someone told her to act, it would likely be a long time before she stepped forward of her own accord again.

'I hope you grow quickly, Amelia. Then I can retire with peace of mind too.'

Fresia smiled, imagining a future in which Amelia had matured, and she herself traveled after retirement to visit her old companions. She might be called a hero whose defeat of a calamity had become legend, but she was also simply an old woman preparing for—and looking forward to—a happy retirement.