The slime bounced its soft body through the undergrowth.

'I want to see!'

Just what had it sensed? The slime eagerly anticipated whatever new sight awaited it. The viewers, too, were curious about what its first encounter would be.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶What will Squishy encounter, I wonder?

[ Noblesse Fire]▶What else would be in a forest like that besides animals?

▶Asshole humans are animals too, yep.

[Squishy Queen]▶Anything but those humans! Absolutely not!

Their reactions varied: some felt no particular danger, some were already bringing up the worst-case scenario, and others worried about everything. Continuing toward the creature it had picked up with Sensing, the slime finally came face-to-face with it.

'Wow!'

A deer appeared before the slime's eyes. Seeing one for the first time, it found everything about the animal fascinating.

▶A wild deer appeared!

[Noblesse Fire]▶Ugh, what a letdown.

▶But isn't even a deer dangerous for a slime?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶With the Body Slam I taught it, a mere deer would go down in one hit!

'Deer? Deer!'

Now that the slime had begun paying attention to chat, it read the messages and realized that the creature before it was a deer.

'I want to see more!'

The slime bounced toward the deer.

The deer, which had been grazing with its head lowered, spotted the round, pale-green slime approaching. At the monster's sudden arrival, it stopped eating and stared at the slime.

Deer sat low on the food chain in the wild, hunted by monsters as well as humans. To survive, wild animals had developed a heightened instinct for distinguishing threats from harmless creatures. This deer possessed that instinct, too.

Had a goblin approached, it would have turned around and kicked it with its hind legs. Had it been a human or a monster such as an orc, it would have fled immediately.

But...

'Woooow...!'

The deer sensed not the slightest hostility or killing intent from the slime approaching it. After bouncing over, the slime abruptly stopped nearby and remained still. The deer relaxed its guard, lowered its head, and resumed grazing.

Meanwhile, watching the deer eat grass felt fascinating and new to the slime, while also giving it a sense of kinship. Apparently unwilling to keep those intense feelings to itself, it even wrote in chat.

▷It's eating! Grass! It's eating!

▶Yep, that's a deer eating grass.

▶What the heck? Why isn't the deer running away?

▶They usually bolt on sight. What's gotten into this one?

▷I want to eat too!

As if copying the deer, the slime absorbed the grass directly beneath it.

▶What happened to the epic duel with the deer?

▶Suddenly it's a mukbang.

▶Ah! S*x!

▶First time I've seen an animal not bolt with a monster right next to it.

Normally, a monster encountering an animal would hunt it. And, as everyone knew, animals would be busy fleeing. The viewers were baffled by this scene of the two grazing together peacefully, defying that common sense.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Eee! So cute~

Of course, some disregarded all that and focused exclusively on the slime's cuteness.

+++

'So squishy~ It's so adorable eating grass~ Just like my babies~.'

On a continent other than Dersia, where the slime lived, there stood a dense forest in Monstopia, the so-called Demon Continent inhabited mainly by powerful monsters.

There lived a monster with the upper body of a mature human woman and the lower body of a gigantic spider—the highest-ranking spider-type monster.

Arachne.

Nickname: Madam Cat's Cradle.

She watched the slime's stream with a broad smile. Several spider-shaped monsters approached her along their webs. Every one of them was a child she had borne.

"Oh my, what's the matter, my babies? Hungry? Just wait a moment~."

Wearing a motherly smile, Arachne manipulated her silk to bring her young one of the prey she had wrapped tightly and stored in advance.

The silk-wrapped prey was a gigantic bear-shaped monster, large enough to easily destroy an entire village and then some.

A Red Moon Bear.

Here on the Demon Continent of Monstopia, however, it was a prey species that could easily become someone's meal.

When Arachne set the prey down for her young, dozens upon dozens of small spider-shaped monsters rushed at it together.

"Awww~ You're so adorable even when you're eating~ My babies~."

To Arachne, the slime eating grass and her young eating a Red Moon Bear were equally adorable sights of little ones eating their “food.”

'All the monsters who stream are grown up and twisted in some way, so they're not cute~. But Squishy is reeeally special. Hehe, I can't wait to see how it grows.'

With those hopes in mind, Arachne continued watching Squishy's stream. On-screen, the deer finished grazing, raised its head, and bounded away, with the slime following behind.

'Eeee! Even the way it follows is adorable~.'

The slime bounced after the deer. The sight alone brought a smile to one's face, but that mood did not last long.

THUNK!

An arrow flew in from somewhere and buried itself in the deer's torso.

+++

The world outside the cave was immensely interesting, fascinating, and astonishing to the slime. Most fascinating of all was the deer. In a way, it was only natural to take an interest in a creature that moved and ate grass like itself, yet was bigger than it. That was why, when the deer moved, the slime followed.

'Deer!'

Where was the deer going? What would it do next? Without any such specific thoughts, the slime simply followed the moving deer. Even trailing along and watching it was enjoyable.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Why's it following that thing?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶It's probably fascinated because it's never seen an animal before.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Why isn't it slamming into it?! It's a perfect target!

▶Tsk, tsk. Typical wolf behavior.

▶How could you say that about cute little Mr. Deer!

▶Deer's on the menu for lunch today.

▶Hmm... Nice view of that deer booty, huh?

▶Dude?

As the idle chatter flowed...

THUNK!

Both the slime and the viewers watching the screen saw the deer struck by an arrow.

▶???

▶Huh?

▶D-Deeeeeer!

'What?'

An arrow had appeared without warning, and the deer toppled onto its side. The slime stopped moving, unable to understand what had just happened.

'Deer, not moving! It fell over!'

The slime tried to approach the fallen deer. But just then...

▶[Squishy Queen has donated 1 coin.]

▶[Message: Hide this instant! Now! In the bushes, anywhere! Hurry!]

The Slime Queen hurriedly warned the slime. An arrow flying in meant whoever had fired it was nearby. Someone who was nothing much to the monsters living on the Demon Continent, but whose very presence posed a direct threat to the slime's life.

It meant there was a human.

▶Straight from relaxing with a deer to survival mode lmaooo.

▶Ahh, now this is worth watching.

▶Run right out there! ... Almost said that~.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶No, no, no! Sweet little Squishy, run away, quickly!

[Free Spirit]▶You really have to watch out for those asshole humans! Hurry and run!

The chat filled with messages from trolls delighted by the slime's peril and from those worried about this rare, soothing newbie. Meanwhile, through its experiences so far, the slime had learned that the voices it heard through messages meant it no harm.

'Hide!'

Following the advice delivered in the message, the slime concealed itself in the nearby bushes.

Shortly after the slime hid, the archer appeared with the sound of approaching footsteps. The figure had long, pale-green hair, blue eyes, pointed ears, and green clothing similar in color to the forest. With a bow held in one hand, it was obvious to anyone that this pointy-eared figure had fired the arrow.

▶It's a knife-ear!

▶So it was a knife-ear, not an asshole human.

▶Not as bad as humans, but knife-ears are assholes too, yep.

▶Either way, it's dead if it gets spotted lmaooo.

The elf looked down at the deer they had shot.

"Caught a pretty good one."

With practiced ease, the elf untied the rope hanging at their waist and bound the deer's legs. Then they hung it upside down from a nearby tree, slit its throat with a dagger, and began draining its blood.

▶Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're supposed to eat it blood and all!

▶Those tasteless fools don't appreciate the fresh flavor of blood.

▶That blood really is going to waste.

▶I'm seriously craving venison.

As comments failing to understand another species' eating habits scrolled past, the slime observed the bleeding deer and the elf beside it. It had been startled when the deer fell to the arrow. But it felt no sadness about the deer being hunted. Even if eating the same grass had given it a sense of kinship, the deer was, after all, a creature it had only just met!

Besides, the slime was now far more curious about the newly arrived creature and what it was about to do than about the deer's death. Only one thing filled its mind.

'I want to know!'

It wanted to know more. That was the very impulse it had possessed from the beginning.

And there was something the slime had realized back in the cave, while learning Body Slam from Slam First Ask Later—Fenrir.

If you didn't know, you could ask!

▷What's that?

A message appeared from the slime, which rarely used chat except to express amazement. Naturally, it drew the viewers' attention.

▶Ah, you mean that?

▶A knife-ear. A knife-ear.

▷Knife-ear?

▶Knife-ear's a nickname. Those guys are called elves, yep.

▷Elf?

▶Hold on! What is an elf, you ask? Unlike asshole humans, they live a bit longer, mostly inhabit forests, and are slightly less assholish! They mainly use arrows and control spirits to attack us monsters, the absolute fucking...

▶Thanks, Professor Know-It-All.

[Squishy Queen]▶Elf! Knife-ear! Whatever it is, you must not approach!

Watching the various responses to its question, the slime sorted through the information it had received. And...

'Elf!'

Leaving the complicated details aside, it at least understood that the creature was an elf. The joy of seeing yet another thing it had never known made the slime tremble.

The bushes rustled with the trembling of its body. The sound was very faint, but...

"...! What was that?"

The elf's sensitive ears caught even that. In a flash, the elf nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring, aiming at the bushes.

▶Ah, it's f*cked.

▶It was short, but it was fun.

[Squishy Queen]▶No! Run away this instant!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Just slam into it! Slam it!

Tension shot up in the chat at the elf's reaction. Meanwhile, unaware that it was in danger, the slime grew curious about the arrow the elf had taken out.

'Wow! What's that?'

Unknown things kept appearing, one after another. Unable to contain its feelings and impulses, the slime bounced out of the bushes.

[Squishy Queen]▶F-Fellow slime! No!

The Slime Queen was horrified by the slime's sudden leap out of the bushes.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Yes! Are you going to slam into it?!

Fenrir thought the slime had found its courage.

[Noblesse Fire]▶??? Why's it going out there?

The fire dragon expressed genuine bewilderment.

The slime bounced.

Most of the viewers watching the stream pictured an arrow piercing its body.

But...

"A slime?"

Seeing the slime leap out of the bushes, the elf instead lowered the arrow.

"It was nothing, then."

Had it been a goblin, the elf would have shot it right between the eyes. Had it been another animal, they would have fired, thinking of it as extra prey. But what had appeared was a slime. It was hardly threatening, and hunting it would be of little use.

Instead, the elf waved a hand dismissively, as though annoyed, and spoke to the slime.

"This is my prey, you know? Don't get any ideas. Go away."

And at that reaction...

▶Hahahahaha.

▶Hahahahaha.

▶Fucking hilarious lmaooo.

The chat erupted in laughter.