[Squishy]▶Why? I want to go back!

The slime asked, tilting its body sideways.

To the slime, an unwanted parting was something sad and hateful. It was pure and innocent, so even after suffering the pain of separation, new encounters, the joy they brought, and its ever-bubbling curiosity could cover its sorrow.

But it had not completely forgotten the pain of those partings. It still remembered Def screaming its name when it fell off the cliff.

▷Your life really will be in danger if you go back now. Let me explain.

Through chat, Smartass explained the situation, choosing his words so the slime could understand. The human who had put it on the magic circle—the human named Brooks Besilza—was a very bad human.

[Squishy]▶He's a bad human?

▷Yep. A very bad human. He bullies Gracie and tried to kill you too, Squishy.

[Squishy]▶Bad human!

Innocent as the slime was, it knew perfectly well that anyone who tried to kill it was bad.

'Good. I've made sure it has the right impression of that bastard Brooks.'

▷But that bad human is powerful. If you go back now, Gracie, Amelia, and Paulen will all be in danger.

[Squishy]▶They can't be in danger!

▷Yep. That's why I can't let you go back right away.

[Squishy]▶Then when can I go back?

It understood that returning right now would put the three of them in danger. That left the question of when it could see them again—a question that gave Smartass a headache too.

For the slime's safety, he had brought it to his secret workshop for the time being. He expected the Saintess and Paladin to return to the Holy City in a few days. Their stay at the Mage Tower had only been scheduled for a month anyway, and with a lich appearing, they would naturally have to report it.

If he could have his way, Smartass would hand the slime directly to the Saintess a few days later. But a lich personally handing it over could arouse all sorts of suspicions. People might even conclude that, since the lich had delivered it himself, he must have done something to the slime. That would only place it in greater danger.

By Smartass's estimate, a safe reunion with Amelia would have to wait at least a month or two after the news reached the Holy City. And of course, rather than having him hand it over personally, it would be best for her to happen upon the slime after it had been released.

'But I don't know if Squishy will understand all that.'

As far as Smartass could see, the slime was friendly toward people and purehearted. Yet once it set its mind on something, it could also be stubbornly determined to do it.

'For now...'

▷I'm not sure either.

[Squishy]▶You don't know?

▷Yep. I need to think some more and figure out when to let you out, Squishy. So please wait.

[Squishy]▶Oh...

The slime's body drooped. It understood that Smartass was keeping it here for its safety, not simply refusing to let it outside. Still, it was sad that it had ended up being separated from Amelia and Paulen against its wishes too.

Even Smartass found the sight terribly pitiful. If possible, he wanted to send it to the Green Elf Forest, where Nellin was, and help them reunite. But even if he did, the elf elder would most likely drive it out again. Sending it to the County of Rudendion would be no different.

'Sending it to that adventuring party would be best, but...'

Given their profession, adventurers were not particularly likely to stay in one place.

'It'll have to stay in my workshop for a few days first.'

Smartass placed his skeletal hand on the slime and used Telepathy.

[Squishy, is there anything you want? Tell me. I'll do my best to get it for you.]

He used the same manner of speaking through Telepathy that he used in chat, but it did not feel particularly awkward. After all, the chat window worked by entering his consciously directed thoughts exactly as he formed them.

[Squishy]▶Anything I want?

[If there's anything you're curious about, I can explain that too.]

Smartass knew the slime was a bundle of curiosity. His secret workshop was full of things it had never seen before. By satisfying that curiosity, he hoped to draw it out of its sorrow, even just a little.

'Anything I'm curious about?'

Things it wondered about. Things it wanted to know. The question touched on one of the slime's most primal desires, and it responded immediately.

What was it curious about right now? The question of when it could return could not be answered at present. Apart from that, then, what did it most want to know?

[Squishy]▶What are you, Smartass?

[Huh?]

[Squishy]▶I want to know about Smartass! Your species! What is it?

The answer was Smartass himself. He had offered all sorts of advice about the slime, shown it many wondrous things, and even saved its life. Right now, it wanted to know about him.

'I never imagined it would ask about me first.'

Though he had spent all this time alone, Smartass's secret workshop held assorted magical tools, as well as magic circles he had drawn here and there whenever a stream inspired him. The slime had wandered around in fascination as soon as it arrived, so he had expected it to ask about one of the objects in the workshop.

[I'm...]

Now that he actually had to introduce himself, Smartass was at a loss for words. How should he describe himself?

It had been thirty years since he became a lich. Apart from chat, the act he had just put on was his first conversation since then. The performance had posed no problem because he had prepared it beforehand, but introducing himself left him tongue-tied.

'Should I just name my species? Or tell it about my human days too?'

After pondering briefly without finding a clear answer, Smartass decided to start by answering the slime's first question.

[I'm a lich.]

[Squishy]▶A lich! ... What's a lich?

[A human mage who becomes a monster is called a lich.]

[Squishy]▶Wow!

Humans and monsters. The slime understood instinctively that the two were considered different. But a human becoming a monster was something it had never encountered before. In other words, it was utterly fascinating.

[Squishy]▶How did you become one?

[Explaining the magic would be really complicated. To put it simply... I worked really hard.]

[Squishy]▶Really hard!

Delighted by how readily Smartass answered its questions, the slime bounced its body up and down.

[Squishy]▶What's your name, Smartass?

[Huh?]

The system had instilled the concept of a username in the slime. Thus, it knew that Squishy Queen, Noblesse Fire, Gothic Luxury Bone, Madam Cat's Cradle, Slam First Ask Later, and all the other names in chat were nicknames their owners had chosen themselves.

Smartass's username was Free Spirit. Besides that username, he had acquired the additional nickname Smartass. Now the slime had learned something new: he had once been a human mage. Thinking that he must therefore have an original name like other humans, it wanted to know what that name was.

[My name is...]

Was it really all right to tell the slime? After a moment's deliberation, Smartass spoke.

[Squishy.]

[Squishy]▶Yes!

[Please don't tell other humans or viewers about my name or who I am. And please don't turn on your stream while you're here.]

[Squishy]▶Because you're embarrassed?

The slime recalled the reason Smartass had given when he asked it to turn off its stream.

[Yep. I'm embarrassed.]

[Squishy]▶Okay!

Hearing its enthusiastic reply, Smartass spoke the name he had borne as a human for the first time in a long while.

[My name is... Ventus Frail. Ventus Frail, The Mage of a Thousand Spells.]

[Squishy]▶Woooow!

The slime could not help being astonished by his words.

Ventus Frail. It knew that name. He was a figure in the biographies and storybooks Jessi had read to it time and again in the County of Rudendion. He was also the person Gracie had proudly called her ancestor.

[Squishy]▶Amazing! You're alive! You didn't die!

While staying at Count Rudendion's mansion, the slime had heard Jessi say many times that, sadly, Ventus Frail, The Mage of a Thousand Spells, was already dead. Yet the person said to be dead was now right before it.

'You could say I'm dead, since I'm undead, but...'

[That's right. I turned from a human into a monster, so I'm still alive.]

[Squishy]▶Wow!

It did not understand how that worked, but the simple fact that he was alive was marvelous to the slime. Seeing its innocent wonder filled Smartass with a deep warmth.

'Is this what it would feel like if I had a grandson?'

[Squishy]▶Ventus!

[Just call me Smartass. I'm used to that now.]

[Squishy]▶Smartass!

[What do you want to ask next?]

[Squishy]▶I want to hear! About defeating the calamity! I want to hear!

[Huh? Haven't you already heard lots about that from Jessi?]

[Squishy]▶I want to hear again! I want to hear you tell it, Smartass!

Through Jessi, the slime had already learned that even the same story could offer different kinds of enjoyment in a biography and a storybook. This time, it wanted to hear the tale directly from Smartass himself.

'I never imagined I'd be telling what happened back then with my own mouth.'

[All right. Just understand that I can't tell you everything in one go.]

[Squishy]▶Okay!

Slowly retracing his memories, Smartass began telling it about his experiences during the black dragon calamity: how terribly people had suffered because of the calamitous black dragon, how he had joined the expedition to slay it, meeting his companions, setting out on their journey, and more.

Speaking through Telepathy, with no chance of his throat growing dry in the first place, Smartass continued without a break, and the time flew by.

'Hmm? It's this late already.'

He realized it was nearly time for the stream of a monster he had watched regularly even before he began watching the slime.

[That's all for today's story, Squishy.]

[Squishy]▶Okay!

The slime accepted his words without fuss. It had experienced something similar when Jessi read thick biographies to it at Count Rudendion's mansion.

[What are you going to do now, Squishy?]

[Squishy]▶I'll exercise!

Its internal clock told it that this was the time it would be exercising with Paulen.

'Exercise, huh...'

The slime's exercise consisted of sparring with Paulen or lifting specially made dumbbells and barbells. But Paulen was not here in the secret workshop, and naturally, neither were any dumbbells or barbells.

[Wait a moment.]

Smartass lifted his skeletal hand off the slime and pointed at the ground.

HUMMMMM!

A magic circle appeared on the floor, and a stone wall rose from the ground. Then, the instant another magic circle was inscribed on the raised wall—

CRACK! CRRRUNCH!

The wall changed shape as though it were crumpling paper, eventually taking the form of the dumbbell the slime usually lifted.

[Squishy]▶It's a dumbbell!

▷Try lifting this.

[Squishy]▶Okay!

The slime bounced over to Smartass's homemade dumbbell and popped out a tentacle. Wrapping it around the handle, it lifted the dumbbell.

'Heavy!'

The dumbbell was an entire raised stone wall compressed into one object. Yet for the slime, which had trained under Paulen's guidance, it was just the right weight to lift. It strained steadily through one lift after another.

After watching the slime happily exercise with the dumbbell in fond satisfaction, Smartass looked away to tune into the stream he regularly watched.

'Hmm?'

The instant he opened the stream list, a startling title caught his eye.

[Anyone Who Knows News of My Kin, Come In!]

It was the title of Squishy Queen's stream—the Slime Queen.

'Ah.'

Smartass realized what he had overlooked.

The other viewers might have stayed put, but not the Slime Queen. There was no way Squishy Queen would sit idly by after seeing the slime's stream suddenly switch off.