+++

The adventurers' guild was bustling as usual.

“Let's head out on another job today!”

“Yes, Big Sis Marin!” they chorused.

Marin led Godric’s Party out to exterminate goblins so she could advance to D-rank. Ordinarily, the party should have been hunting D-rank monsters such as Orcs. Lately, however, they had deliberately been taking lower-ranked jobs with Nellin to help her advance, and had taken to calling her Big Sis.

The reason went back a few days.

+++

When Nellin first met Godric’s Party, she decided to coach them, thinking this, too, was a connection forged through the slime.

And so she sparred against all four at once.

“How do you expect to get anywhere moving that slowly?”

THWACK!

“Urgh!”

“Too hesitant. All you do is wait for openings.”

THWACK!

“Aaagh!”

“Your arms aren't strong enough.”

CRACK!

“Ack!”

“You've got strength, but no boldness.”

WHACK!

“Owww!”

With nothing but a wooden sword, Nellin overwhelmed Godric’s Party. Their attacks failed to brush even the hem of her clothes. Exhausted, the party flopped onto their backs in the training grounds.

Looking down at the four of them, Nellin curled her lips into a smile.

“Well? I look like I know what I'm doing, at least, don't I?”

“J-just who are you?”

“Your big sister's name is Marin. I came out of the forest to do a little traveling.”

“You're incredibly strong...”

“Yes, yes. Much stronger than you lot, at least. So? You want to get stronger, right? Want to try training the way I tell you?”

“Hah... hah... Why are you doing this for us?”

“I told you. I've met that slime, too. And what do you know? Here are some fellows who met the same slime, working hard to find it again. I thought that was a connection worth something.”

Still grinning, Nellin continued.

“Once you're a little stronger, come travel with me and look for that slime. I'd like to see it again myself.”

“I-I want you to train me!”

“Def?”

“Hey, what are you saying?”

Def was the first to accept Nellin's offer.

“I want to see Bouncy again soon! But if we're weak, we'll lose Bouncy again. That's why I want to get stronger! Besides!”

“Besides?”

“If you were friends with Bouncy, you can't be a bad person!”

“Hahaha!”

Nellin laughed at his words.

'Wait, that's why you trust me?'

It was an answer she hadn't expected.

And on top of that...

“True, Bouncy must know how to judge people.”

“Ahem, it's not as if some bad person could easily get the better of it, either.”

“Hey! What do we have to do to get stronger?”

The fact that the others actually found Def's reasoning convincing made Nellin laugh all the more.

'Are these guys serious?'

Godric’s Party didn't seem ignorant of the ways of the world, yet they had such profound trust in the slime. It reminded her of her companions during the expedition to slay the black dragon fifty years ago, when they had trusted and followed one another.

Nellin was starting to like Godric’s Party even apart from their connection to the slime.

Thus began Nellin's days of training Godric’s Party. In the mornings, she had them help with jobs to raise her rank. Once those were done, she trained them at the training grounds. Drawing on what a former companion had taught her and her own experience, she put them through the exercises they needed and personally sparred with them to build their experience.

Only a few days of training.

Only a few days had passed since they began, but that was enough for Godric’s Party to develop respect for Nellin. The elf was a little rough around the edges, but her training worked, and even they could see how exceptional her skill was when they sparred. Above all, they could feel her sincere desire to make them stronger, so they naturally began following her lead and calling her Big Sis.

One day, as usual, they finished their goblin extermination quickly and began training. During a short break, Def asked Nellin a question.

“Come to think of it, Big Sis Marin, why is your rank so l-low?”

“What? Why ask that all of a sudden?”

“You're so strong, Big Sis Marin. It's s-surprising that you're still E-rank.”

“Well, obviously, it's brand-new—”

'Whoops.'

Nellin closed her mouth before she could blurt out the truth. She had almost said she'd had a new identification tag issued.

“Brand-new?”

“Because I'm a brand-new adventurer! Why ask something so obvious?”

“With your skills, Big Sis Marin, you're only becoming an adventurer now?”

“Well, that's right. You know most elves live in the forest, don't you? There was no particular need to leave, so I stayed there until now.”

Nellin had no particular reason to lie to them. More importantly, Godric’s Party knew nothing about elves, so they readily accepted her explanation, thinking it sounded plausible.

Nellin, however, thought it might become a nuisance if they picked holes in her hastily improvised lie, and hurried to change the subject.

'What would work... Oh, right!'

“You lot are pretty impressive, though.”

“Impressive? How do you mean?”

“Well, you're an adventuring party, but you're all front-line fighters. You've certainly got guts. No priest, so no healing. No mage or archer, either.”

'At C-rank, of course, that's not a problem as long as they fight well.'

Godric’s Party had no answer to her observation. Sgol was the first to find something to say.

“We can heal with potions!”

“True enough. But buying potions costs money, doesn't it?”

“Ugh.”

With Sgol's argument immediately shot down, Hawein spoke up next.

“Ahem, Big Sis Marin. I can shoot a bow.”

“Really? You don't have one.”

“It's at the inn. We haven't needed a bow against monsters like goblins or Orcs.”

When they fought alongside the slime, it found the monsters and struck first, leaving him little opportunity to shoot. That was why he had started leaving his bow behind.

“Oh, really? Then bring it tomorrow. Let's see how well you shoot.”

“Heh. I'll show you what I can do.”

The next day...

“Hey. Don't go around telling people you can shoot a bow.”

After seeing Hawein's archery, Nellin delivered a ruthless verdict. His skill was barely enough to hunt successfully with a lucky break.

“Hehe, so Big Sis Marin's an archery snob.”

“Who are you calling a snob?”

CRACK!

“Ow!”

+++

At the Great Church in the center of the Holy City of Yupitel, Saintess Amelia was watching Paulen and the slime at the training grounds reserved for Paladins.

“Good, that's it, Quivery! One more! One more!”

'One more!'

The slime strained.

“Good! You're doing great!”

Paulen was teaching the slime to exercise, his voice brimming with excitement. Anyone seeing it for the first time could only have marveled at the bizarre sight: a Paladin hailed as the Holy City's strongest paladin was teaching a slime, the weakest of monsters, to work out.

Two days after the manticore poison had been neutralized, the exercise equipment Paulen had commissioned from the Holy City's blacksmiths arrived. It was a set of dumbbells and barbells custom-made for the slime.

“First, let's test how much you can lift!”

The slime bounced.

'A test!'

The dumbbells and barbells each came in ten weight levels, so Paulen first told it to lift them in order. Delighted at the prospect of getting stronger through exercise, the slime popped out its tentacles.

Paulen demonstrated how to lift, and the slime copied his movements, straining to lift the dumbbells he had specially ordered for it.

Its tentacles looked small and thin, but they were still part of the slime that had grown so much already.

“As expected, level one is easy for you.”

'I lifted it!'

They weren't entirely without strength.

It went on to lift the next levels in order. Level three was the limit of what its tentacles could lift.

When it tried level four, it began trembling violently.

'Nnnngh! It won't budge!'

It shook with effort, but couldn't lift it.

'I couldn't lift it...'

The slime sagged and spread out in dejection. Paulen, however, praised it for reaching level three.

“That's amazing, Quivery! I never imagined you'd manage level three!”

'Huh?'

The dumbbells and barbells the slime had lifted were lighter than Paulen's own equipment. But they were light only by Paulen's standards. Even level one was no easy weight for a grown man to lift.

'No wonder its tackle packs that much power.'

Having experienced the power of its tackle using two skills together, Paulen had thought the slime would be quite capable of lifting weights like these.

Meanwhile, Amelia, who had been quietly watching, approached the dumbbells.

“How heavy are these?”

“Ah. Lady Amelia, I would advise against lifting them.”

“Why? Quivery lifted this one easily. Besides, it's so small, even I could...”

Amelia gripped a nearby level-one dumbbell made for the slime and tried to lift it.

“Ngh! It's h-heavy!”

But the level-one dumbbell would not come up easily.

'Quivery lifted it so easily!'

Perhaps her pride was wounded by being unable to lift something the tiny slime had lifted with ease. Stubbornly, Amelia strained to raise the dumbbell however she could.

“Hnnnngh!”

Her face red, she succeeded in lifting the level-one dumbbell. But she couldn't hold it for long, and soon set it back on the floor.

“Hah... hah... Paulen? What is this? Why is it so heavy?”

“Dumbbells are meant to be heavy.”

“That's not what I meant!”

“Hahaha! Naturally, that dumbbell is heavy because it was made to suit Quivery! Even an ordinary man would struggle to lift it.”

“Why did you think to give Quivery something this heavy?”

To Amelia, the slime was so small, cute, and soft that, remarkable though it was, she had trouble imagining it possessed tremendous strength.

“Quivery's Body Slam was powerful, Amelia. I thought it would have strength to match. If it couldn't lift them, all I had to do was have lighter ones made.”

“To think you lifted something two levels heavier than this... You really are strong, Quivery.”

'Strong!'

It bounced.

“Quivery! Now the real workout begins! Let's build more muscles together! Muscles!”

'Muscles!'

The slime and Paulen struck identical poses. Watching them, Amelia thought,

'No matter how hard it exercises, aren't those tentacles incapable of growing muscles in the first place?'

But she didn't say it aloud. She might disappoint the slime for no reason.

And so, today as well, Amelia was watching the slime and Paulen work out as soon as her morning duties were over.

The slime's workouts had also become new content for its stream.

▶Ahahaha, watching a slime work out never stops being funny lol.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy is adorable even while exercising~.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Tsk, tsk. All that fuss over lifting that little thing.

▶Ah! Workout se×!

[Squishy Queen]▶Yes! Well done, my kin! You shall lift more than yesterday! Keep at it!

▶You really do see all sorts of things here.

▶Ah, that's not how you're supposed to lift heavy things~.

▶Backseat coach, gtfo.

The slime's daily life at the Great Church was passing peacefully. It exercised and sparred with Paulen to improve its strength and feel for combat, absorbed various poisons to make antidotes whenever the clinic requested help, and wandered the streets with Amelia, who had found her courage again.

While it was living those everyday days, something new happened.

“Amelia, go on an expedition.”

“What!?”