A tray.

A platter used to carry things placed on top of it.

It was one of the tools the slime had seen most often in its dealings with humans.

It had first seen one at the Rudendion mansion, where it had lived with Jessi. The servants carried them when bringing snacks and meals.

Even after leaving the Rudendion mansion, it had found trays everywhere it went. It saw them at restaurants while traveling with Godric’s Party, and at the church, it watched worshippers use them to carry meals.

To the slime, a tray was both the human tool it had seen most often and something it wanted to imitate.

Above all, the shape was simple. It only needed to spread itself out into a wide circle.

Now that it had acquired the skill, the slime poured in more mana and tried changing its tentacle’s shape.

'Big tray!'

VROOM!

As it supplied mana, the tip of its tentacle became a tray and began growing larger.

Naturally, there was no way chat would fail to react.

▶What is that? LMAO

[Squishy Queen]▶At last, thou hast acquired the skill, my kin!

▶But why make it like that?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Hey, Squishy! Why’d you make your tentacle that shape?

Fenrir had nothing to do that morning and was watching the stream. The slime immediately answered his question.

▷Tray! Platter!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶A platter?

▶Hold on! What is a platter, you ask? It’s a flat thing humans and knife-ears use to carry stuff!

▶Thanks for the explanation.

▶Oh, that thing they carry food on?

[Noblesse Fire]▶But why a platter?

[Squishy Queen]▶What matter whether it is a platter or not! What matters most is that my kin has acquired a new skill!

▷Can carry!

▶Carry?

The slime bobbed up and down as it answered chat.

▷Amelia! Can carry! Paulen! Can carry! This time I can carry!

The slime had always been the one being carried or riding on someone.

And to the slime, riding on someone or being carried was a “good experience.” It could see the world from a different perspective than it could on the ground, and it liked simply looking around from high up.

That was why it had made a tray: it wanted to share the fun it had experienced with the people who had given it that fun.

If it put a person on its tray-shaped tentacle and lifted them, just as people placed objects on trays, wouldn’t they enjoy it too? That innocent thought had first led it to think of a platter.

A tray.

▶Ahahaha, it’s for carrying humans? LOL

▶Is it trying to show them the difference in strength?

▶You think?

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Our adorable Squishy would never do that.

“Aaaah! Wh-what is that?!”

Just then, Amelia woke up, saw the slime with its tray-shaped tentacle, and screamed.

BANG!

“What’s wrong, Amelia?”

Hearing her scream, Paulen immediately burst into the room.

“Paulen! Q-Quivery is...!”

“Quivery? Huh? Wait, Quivery’s tentacle is... flat?”

'Paulen!'

The slime bounced straight over to Paulen, then concentrated still more mana into its tentacle.

And not just one tentacle.

It popped out another, made it into the same tray shape, and focused its mana to enlarge it.

Its body quivered naturally with the effort of concentrating mana and exerting itself.

“What on earth are you...?”

Even Paulen, who usually caught on quickly to the slime’s intentions, couldn’t immediately work out what was happening this time.

'Paulen! Get on!'

Once it had made its tentacle trays wide enough, the slime raised them slightly toward Paulen to convey its meaning.

This time, its gesture got through.

“Don’t tell me... you want me to get on?”

'Yes!'

The slime bounced in place as if to say he was right.

“Ha, haha! I never thought the day would come when I’d ride on Quivery!”

“Paulen? Are you really going to get on?”

“Yes. Well, Quivery is asking me to, isn’t it?”

“But what if you squash Quivery when you get on?”

“Amelia, the dumbbells and barbells Quivery lifts weigh more than I do.”

Grinning to reassure her, Paulen climbed onto the slime’s tentacle tray and sat down.

“Oh, it’s soft.”

The slime’s tray-shaped tentacle was more comfortably cushioned than he had expected.

'Up high!'

Feeling Paulen’s weight, the slime used more mana to lengthen its tentacle.

“Oh, oooh?!”

“Paulen?!”

Once the tentacle had extended far enough, the slime bent it to lower him again. Then it repeatedly straightened and bent the tentacle.

“This is...!”

The sight of the world moving up and down, together with the soft feel of the slime’s tentacle tray, brought back fond memories for Paulen.

The one carrying him was different, and his own body was far larger now, but...

[“Hahaha! Do you like it that much, Paulen?”]

[“Yeah! Do it more, Dad!”]

[“Of course, of course! If my son wants it, then I’ll do it! Up, up you go!”]

[“Woohoo!”]

The memory of his father lifting him up to play when he was little tugged at Paulen’s heartstrings.

“Sniff!”

“Paulen?! Why are you crying?”

“Oh, I just remembered something from my childhood with my father.”

“What?”

Naturally, Amelia couldn’t immediately understand what he meant.

Oblivious to her confusion, Paulen wiped his tears and thought carefully.

“I got lost in my memories for a moment. Now that I think about it, this isn’t so much a game of up-you-go as... yes! That’s it! Quivery is using me as a barbell!”

“...”

His outlandish remark left Amelia speechless.

“Oh, Quivery! So now you wanted to work out using me as a barbell! I’m touched, but my weight won’t be enough! You should have asked when I was wearing armor!”

'Huh?'

▶What’s with that human...? He’s scary.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶His brain has been completely taken over by muscles.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Muscles every single day. Doesn’t that human ever get tired of it?

▶Says the guy who tells it to slam things every single day?

▶Ah! Slam-o-hol*c!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶What did I do?! What I do is strictly for Squishy’s sake!

▶LOL. This is how scary a lack of self-awareness can be.

“Paulen, however I look at it, I don’t think that’s what Quivery meant to do.”

Having recovered her composure, Amelia pointed out his misunderstanding.

“What? But it’s lifting me like this! That means it wants to exercise with my weight...”

“Doesn’t it just want to play by carrying us? Isn’t that right, Quivery?”

The slime quivered in agreement with Amelia.

“See?”

“How... can this be! It wasn’t exercise!”

“However much Quivery likes exercising, it doesn’t like it as much as you do. More importantly, get down. ... I want to try riding too.”

Secretly, Amelia thought Paulen’s up-and-down ride looked fun.

+++

Gracie Frail wondered how often she had ever been surprised this many times in such a short span of less than a month.

After finishing breakfast as usual, she stopped by the villa to join Amelia and Paulen on their daily walk.

And there, Gracie witnessed a shocking sight.

“Quivery can carry us now, Gracie.”

“Really?”

At first, Amelia’s announcement left her indifferent.

'Well, sure. That’s the kind of slime it is.'

This was a slime that could lift a dumbbell she herself could barely budge. She figured it could stretch out its tentacles, wrap them around a person, and lift them up.

“Yes! I’ll show you! Quivery, could you lift me again?”

Amelia called Quivery over like someone eager to show off a pet’s new trick.

The slime bounced down from Paulen’s shoulder, approached Amelia, and popped out a tentacle.

'This is going to look a little embarrassing.'

The Saintess, wrapped in a long tentacle and hoisted into the air.

Just imagining that sentence made Gracie think the church’s people would be furious.

Then the tentacle stretched out.

“Huh?”

Gracie’s eyes went wide as the tip of the slime’s tentacle suddenly spread into a tray shape.

When Amelia climbed onto it, the slime immediately extended its tentacle and began moving her up and down.

“It can carry us like this now. Quivery is so clever, isn’t it?”

Amelia sounded as though she were saying, “Isn’t my little Poppy good at tricks?” Gracie couldn’t give her a proper answer.

'Am I the strange one? Am I strange for not being able to accept this right away? What is a slime? What is a monster?'

Gracie was one step away from sinking into a philosophical quagmire.

Just then, Paulen came over, placed a hand on Gracie’s shoulder, and spoke.

“Miss Gracie, you should try riding it too. It’s more fun than you might think.”

“What? Ride it? Me too?”

“Of course. Quivery will enjoy it as well.”

“That’s right. You should try it too, Gracie.”

'Gracie!'

The slime lowered its tentacle and held still while Amelia climbed off.

“Come on, now.”

“Are you sure this is all right?”

“Of course. Besides, this thing of Quivery’s... is much more comfortable to sit on than you’d expect.”

Unable to resist their urging, Gracie sat on the slime’s tentacle tray.

“...!”

'It’s soft!'

She felt the slime’s squishy cushioning. It was wonderfully gentle on her lower back, and the sense of support that told her she could sit there for hours traveled up her spine to her brain.

As a mage living at the Mage Tower, Gracie frequently spent long hours seated while working on research and papers. She thought:

'With this slime, my back wouldn’t ache no matter how long I sat!'

Gracie’s opinion of the slime rose for a reason unrelated to her paper on magical devices.

While Gracie was marveling at that, the slime began moving its tentacle up and down, just as it had done for Amelia and Paulen.

“Whoa! O-oh!”

The movement startled her out of her thoughts, but its steady rhythm soon allowed her to calm down.

“Isn’t it more fun than you expected?”

“Y-yes, it is.”

“Doesn’t it bring back childhood memories?”

“Childhood memories?”

After her ride on the slime’s tentacle tray ended, Gracie spoke.

“Saintess, could you tell Quivery not to do that outside?”

“What? Why?”

Amelia had seen the slime do unusual things so often that her sense of what was normal had become numb. Gracie explained:

“Why else? If it only pointed directions with its tentacles, people might just barely accept that it was a rare slime. But I’ve never seen or heard of a slime making such strangely shaped tentacles and even lifting people with them.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“If we aren’t careful, someone might kidnap Quivery as a rare research specimen.”

“K-kidnap Quivery?!”

“That certainly could happen. We’re used to it now, but Quivery really is a special slime.”

“Yes, exactly. If something like that happened...”

“That would be dangerous. Quiv—”

“For the people trying to kidnap it.”

“What?”

“...? What’s wrong?”

“Wait, why would the kidnappers be in danger? Wouldn’t Quivery be the one in danger?”

“What are you talking about, Saintess?”

Gracie addressed Amelia with genuine puzzlement.

“Even if he isn’t fighting seriously, this slime can spar with a Paladin. It couldn’t possibly go down easily. If anything, I’m worried Quivery might ram someone while resisting and kill them.”

“Oh.”

“Hahahaha! Miss Gracie is right! Quivery isn’t weak enough to lose to some riffraff!”

Paulen smiled and offered the slime some advice.

“Quivery, people will be startled, so let’s not play up-you-go outside. All right?”

'Yes!'

Answering enthusiastically, the slime bounced in place.