There were two kinds of magical devices. One ran on the user's mana. The other required a magic stone and activated by drawing on the mana stored inside it.

Devices that absorbed mana from magic stones were fundamentally different in construction from those that absorbed mana supplied directly by a user. Those that drew on a person's mana essentially sucked it in indiscriminately. They absorbed even the slightest trickle of mana immediately, but sacrificed efficiency to do so.

By contrast, devices powered by magic stones drew steadily on the stones' own mana. They would only absorb a fixed quantity at a fixed concentration. Simply pouring in more mana would not make the device absorb it.

Using such a device without a magic stone required delicate mana manipulation without the slightest margin of error. A high-level mage could manage it, but even they needed considerable concentration.

Yet the slime was doing it nonstop, enjoying itself all the while. Smartass alone realized just how outrageous this was.

'I knew it wasn't ordinary, but I never imagined it was this extraordinary...'

For the first time in ages, Smartass felt his curiosity as a mage stirring.

'Can it only operate that device? Or can it use others too? How much longer can it keep this up? Should I tell it to try another device?'

Smartass belonged to the natural-magic camp, but that merely meant he preferred that approach when developing his own abilities. He had nothing against research into magical devices itself.

'This is so fun!'

SPLISH, SPLASH!

Spraying water over its own head, the slime bounced lightly inside the pot.

Amelia finished reading and came out into the living room, where she caught sight of it.

"Quivery? What are you doing?"

'It's Amelia!'

SPLASH!

"Huh? Is that a tentacle in the magical device?"

She noticed the slime sitting inside the pot, holding the magical device overhead with an extended tentacle. The lid of the magic-stone compartment was open, and the stone sat off to one side. A slime tentacle occupied its place instead, while water continued pouring down over the slime. Amelia readily understood what was happening.

"Did you use up the magic stone, so now you're putting your own mana into the device? Is it that much fun?"

'It is!'

SPLASH!

The slime bounced lightly inside the pot as though answering her. The sight brought a fond smile to her face.

"Even if it's fun, don't use too much of your own mana, Quivery. I hear mana exhaustion is hard on you."

'Okay!'

Amelia merely offered a gentle warning. Unlike Smartass, she wasn't astounded. The reason was simple: she didn't know much about magical devices either!

Even when the slime used its own mana to power the device directly instead of a magic stone, her only thought was that it was all the same mana, so why wouldn't that work? All Amelia really knew was that some mages fainted or grew weak from mana exhaustion.

'Why are you just letting that pass?! That's incredible! Doesn't it even strike you as strange?!'

Watching her, Smartass felt as though his nonexistent insides would burst with frustration. It couldn't be helped if the monsters didn't understand, but he had expected Amelia, a human, to notice something unusual.

'Yes! The Paladin! A Paladin would know! Someone who's fought so many battles will recognize how strange this is! He'll understand just how outrageous Squishy's feat is!'

A little later, Paulen entered the villa after finishing what, by his standards, was a light workout.

"Whew! A little exercise really does leave you feeling refreshed!"

"All that sword swinging counts as light exercise?"

"Were you watching?"

"I could see you through the window. More importantly, look over there, Paulen. Quivery is..."

Pointing at the slime as though showing off something adorable, Amelia explained what she had seen. Paulen responded,

"Oh, you're right! Not only can you lift dumbbells, you can feed mana straight into magical devices too. You really are talented, Quivery!"

The slime quivered vigorously.

Paulen casually brushed past the matter and praised it, and the slime trembled inside the pot, delighted by his praise.

'Why?! Why are you brushing it off so easily?!'

Smartass's nonexistent insides felt even closer to bursting.

It was true that Paulen had fought many battles as a Paladin. But extensive combat experience did not necessarily imply a thorough knowledge of magical devices. In that respect, he was little different from Amelia. A mage who had spent even a year studying at the Mage Tower would have raised an objection, but unfortunately, the only people present were a monster slime and Amelia and Paulen, both from the Holy City.

'This can't go on! It can't!'

Smartass felt that watching any more of this would frustrate him to death as a mage.

He racked his brain for a way to relieve his distress, and his descendant Gracie came to mind.

'Yes! She'll understand!'

When he first saw Gracie, he had suspected she suffered from such a severe addiction to magical devices that he hadn't even wanted to acknowledge her. But precisely for that reason, he thought she would recognize the slime's audacity better than the clueless Amelia and Paulen. She would understand just how outrageous a feat that little slime was performing.

'And it'll give me a chance to find out how our family is doing these days.'

The slime couldn't ask her directly, but if he brought them together, he might get to hear something. And so Smartass decided to steer the slime into meeting Gracie.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, having fun playing with that magical device?

▷It's fun!

[Free Spirit]▶Like the human said, be careful not to use up all your mana. Mana exhaustion's dangerous, yep.

▷Okay!

After opening naturally with a word of concern, Smartass got to the point.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, don't you want to play with other magical devices too?

▷Other magical devices?

[Free Spirit]▶Yep. Ones that blow wind instead of water, or have all sorts of other functions.

'Other magical devices!'

The slime was already having so much fun just playing with the water-spraying device. And now it could play with others too? Its body quivered at the mere thought of all the different kinds of fun.

▷I want to play!

[Free Spirit]▶Then I've got a good idea!

[Squishy Queen]▶Wait a moment! Just what are you about to tell my kin?!

[Free Spirit]▶? I just thought of a way for Squishy to have more fun.

Even when Squishy Queen spoke up out of concern for the slime, Smartass answered with feigned innocence and continued.

[Free Spirit]▶Besides, playing with other magical devices would make Squishy happier, wouldn't it?

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶That's a lovely idea~ I can never get enough of watching Squishy enjoy itself!

▶Honestly, watching it use nothing but that water thing is boring lol.

▶Humans make all sorts of weird stuff. I'd like to see the other things too.

▶Fact is, just spraying water is boring now.

▶For real lol.

The other monsters, eager for something new, joined in with the mood Smartass had created.

'Good. I can keep going.'

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, remember the human covered in magical devices?

▷Gracie!

[Free Spirit]▶Yep. Gracie probably has even more magical devices at home. Try visiting her tomorrow.

▷More magical devices!

▶How do you know that?

▶With that many hanging off her, of course she'd have more. Tsk, tsk.

▶Aha!

▶"Aha," my ass.

Smartass added that the human's job was to help the humans staying with the slime. That meant she wouldn't turn it away if it visited her house.

▷How do I get to Gracie's house?

[Free Spirit]▶Find her with Sensing.

'I've given it both a reason and a method. As for the rest... Squishy should manage on its own.'

If it couldn't, he could always give it more advice.

'I'm looking forward to her reaction.'

Smartass hoped his descendant would relieve his frustration.

+++

The next day, after breakfast, Amelia found herself in a bewildering situation.

The slime bounced along.

TAP, TAP!

"What's wrong, Quivery? Do you want to go for a walk that badly?"

As soon as breakfast was over, the slime had gone straight to the door and tapped it with a tentacle, eager to play with more magical devices.

'It was perfectly happy playing indoors yesterday. Why is it suddenly acting like this?'

The slime had happily supplied its own mana and kept playing even after the device's magic stone ran dry, so Amelia couldn't understand what it was thinking now.

"Hahaha! It must want to explore now that we're somewhere new. We were planning on taking a walk anyway, weren't we? Come on, let's enjoy the bright sunshine together!"

"Ugh..."

Amelia wasn't mentally prepared for a walk yet. She would have been fine if she'd had the morning to compose herself as usual and gone out in the afternoon. But ready or not, the energetic Paulen and slime drew her outside. She carried the slime in both hands as they set out. Meanwhile, following Smartass's advice from the day before, the slime began searching for Gracie with Sensing.

"Let's start by walking around the Mage Tower. I imagine something could happen there even this early in the morning."

"A walk is fine, but shouldn't we be home by noon? The sunlight's been getting stronger lately, hasn't it?"

"Hahaha, I won't ask you to spend the whole day walking around looking for people who need help, Saintess. I only hope this will encourage you to get out more in the Holy City too."

With so many people around outside, Paulen addressed Amelia as Saintess as he answered her heartily. They walked toward the Mage Tower, though they did not actually go inside. Offering a hand to someone in need was only natural, but dropping in for no reason before an accident had even occurred would be a nuisance. So after reaching the tower, they simply strolled through the surrounding neighborhood.

'Found her!'

As they walked near the Mage Tower, the slime's Sensing picked up Gracie.

'This way!'

The slime perched on Amelia's hands shot out a tentacle and pointed toward Gracie.

"Hm? What is it, Quivery?"

'This way!'

The slime stretched its tentacle farther, pointing in the same direction.

"You want to go that way?"

'Yes!'

It quivered vigorously.

"What is it, Saintess?"

"Quivery seems to want to go over there."

"Over there? Hmm. Let's take a look."

Amelia and Paulen followed the direction the slime pointed. They arrived at...

"This is... a house."

"Why would Quivery point us to this house? Hm? This is..."

Paulen blinked at the nameplate by the entrance.

"Gracie Frail?"

"What? Gracie? Is this her house?"

"It seems so. But Quivery, how did you know this place was here and tell us to come?"

They knew the slime had all sorts of special talents, but they had never imagined it possessed a Sensing skill that could locate people it couldn't even see. Unconcerned by their surprise, the slime jumped down from Amelia's hands and headed for the front door.

"Ah! Quivery!"

The slime popped out another tentacle in front of the entrance and knocked. A tentacle capable of lifting dumbbells that even adults struggled to lift could easily strike the door hard enough to make a solid knocking sound.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

"Q-Quivery! It's rude to drop in unannounced!"

Just as Amelia hurried over and picked up the slime—

CREAK!

"Who is it?"

Gracie opened the front door and peered out.

"Oh."

"Huh? S-Saintess? And Sir Paladin too? How did you find my house...?"

Blinking in confusion, Gracie had an ominous thought.

'A-Are they determined to work me to the bone for the entire month?!'