A month had passed since Smartass brought the slime to his secret workshop. At first, he had brought it there merely to save its life and, beyond that, to honor the promise Nellin and the slime had made to meet again. But now...

["Squishy~ I caught some meat for you again today~."]

'Meat!'

The slime bounced up and down!

By now, life with Squishy in the secret workshop made Smartass happier than he could say.

He had once spent his days doing little more than watching streams in his dust-covered secret workshop. But everything changed after the slime arrived. The biggest change was having someone to look after. Giving advice from the other side of a screen was entirely different from caring for someone right beside him.

Even procuring meat, which he had initially considered an unavoidable chore he had to perform for the slime, was now a joy every day. Why? Because the slime was genuinely delighted!

As the saying went, praise could make even a whale dance. The slime's innocent reactions, expressing its joy and gratitude with its whole body whenever Smartass did something for it, warmly embraced the heart of a man whom betrayal had brought to death's door before he became a lich. And that wasn't all.

'Squeaky clean!'

The slime had tried cleaning out of curiosity and found it fun. Every day, it shaped its tentacles into cloths and wiped down every corner of the secret workshop. Unlike before, the furniture gleamed, somehow leaving even Smartass feeling refreshed. On top of that, the sight of the slime cleaning so diligently was both endearing and adorable!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy is so adorable when cleaning~!

[Squishy Queen]▶Smaaaartass! How dare you keep making my kin clean up after you!

▶Lmao, gotta earn that food lol.

[Squishy]▶Cleaning is fun!

▶See? It's fun. Have a drink and relax~.

The slime's cleaning sessions were a hit even on the stream shown through Smartass's eyes. As time passed, he found himself increasingly wanting to feed it better meat.

'What kind of meat should I feed it?'

If he was going to feed it anyway, he wanted the meat to be more nutritious and beneficial to the slime. He couldn't get spices to cook with, but who was Smartass? A lich! A monster classified as possessing strength far beyond an A-rank threat. He simply couldn't approach humans; he was by no means weak. And so he thought:

'Why not bring back meat from some powerful monsters!'

Smartass used Warp to travel to the territories of C-rank and B-rank monsters living far from human habitation, hunting enough to feed the slime. Since butchering them in the secret workshop would mean disposing of the innards with Warp anyway, he butchered them on the spot and brought the remaining meat back.

Whenever he returned with meat, the slime greeted him with delighted little bounces, making the effort feel worthwhile. It happily ate every last bit of the meat he brought back and roasted for it.

'Yummy!'

["Sorry, Squishy. I'd like to get some more ingredients and make you something tastier."]

[Squishy]▶It's okay! It's yummy!

["Urgh! You're such a good little slime!"]

[Noblesse Fire]▶That bastard Smartass is using Telepathy again so only Squishy can hear him.

[Squishy Queen]▶What are you saying to my kin this time!

▶Isn't it pretty obvious?

▶Guess being a slime means you're short on brains?

[Squishy Queen]▶What did you just say!

Living with the slime had taught Smartass another completely unexpected fact. Telepathy—the spell he had created after taking inspiration from the system's voice—already existed as a skill. He had learned this on the second day of their life in the secret workshop, while continuing to tell the slime about his days as a human during the campaign against the black dragon.

[Squishy]▶Wow!

[Squishy]▶Amazing!

▶???

At the time, Smartass had been holding the slime on his bony hand without saying a word. Yet the slime was responding in chat, leaving the other viewers understandably baffled.

[Squishy Queen]▶My kin, what exactly is so amazing?

[Squishy]▶Smartass's story! Amazing! Fun!

[Squishy Queen]▶What?

Squishy Queen couldn't understand how Smartass's story could be fun when he hadn't uttered a word.

'Oh, I forgot to make a private room before telling the story.'

Just as Smartass noticed his mistake and was about to turn off the stream, someone immediately answered Squishy Queen's question.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What the hell? Don't tell me you're talking to Squishy with Telepathy?

It was the fire dragon.

▷Wait, how'd you know?

Smartass was stunned by the fire dragon's words. The dragon knew about Telepathy, which he had worked so hard to create after becoming a lich.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What do you mean, how? What else lets you talk to Squishy with your mouth shut? You're using a skill hardly anyone bothers with.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Telepathy... It's been a long time since I've seen that. More importantly, I didn't know Smartass possessed the Telepathy skill. I thought only dragons had it.

Indeed, Telepathy, the spell Smartass had created after being inspired by the system's voice, was one of the skills dragons possessed from birth.

'How can this be...!'

[Noblesse Fire]▶Telepathy? What sneaky-ass shit. It's just for whispering secrets to each other.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Isn't that because you're a shut-in loser with no friends to share Telepathy with?

[Noblesse Fire]▶What, you bastard!

Smartass learned the truth through the remarks the fire dragon and bone dragon hurled at each other. It was disappointing that the spell he thought he had invented already existed as a skill, but he chose to look on the bright side.

'That's right! I recreated a dragon's skill as a spell! I really am amazing!'

Smartass's self-esteem rose.

'That really reminded me my magical skills hadn't gotten rusty.'

As he recalled that incident while the slime ate its meat, Smartass realized it was time to tell another story about the old days.

▷I'm gonna talk with Squishy, so I'll turn the stream off for a bit.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What?

[Squishy Queen]▶Why are you suddenly turning it off! This is tyranny!

▷All you'd see is me keeping my mouth shut and Squishy responding in chat anyway.

▶Then why not just talk out loud?

▷Only Squishy gets to hear this.

▶That's fucking petty.

▶Boo! Dictator! Boo!

▷My stream, my choice.

Without hesitation, Smartass turned off the stream, opened a private room where he could talk to the slime alone, and continued his story.

+++

Besides hunting for meat and telling stories, there was another activity Smartass enjoyed with the slime: sparring. One week into its life in the secret workshop, the slime grew bored of doing nothing but exercising with the dumbbell he had made and sent him a request in chat.

[Squishy]▶I want to spar! Let's spar!

▷?

[Squishy]▶Smartass is strong! Let's spar!

As Squishy remembered it, Smartass was powerful. After all, Paulen, who always beat it in their sparring matches, had stood still the whole time. And at the end, Smartass had easily deflected Amelia's attack, which contained an enormous amount of some kind of energy!

▶What's this? New content?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Smartass and Squishy are sparring this time?

[Squishy Queen]▶Smartass, you scoundrel! If you hurt my kin, I shall never forgive you!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶I've been wanting to see Squishy being adorable and moving around excitedly, too~.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶That's right! Gotta keep moving so your Body Slam doesn't get rusty!

▶Ah! Sparring s*x!

The viewers enthusiastically welcomed the slime's request.

▷Yeah, sure.

Smartass thought sparring wasn't a bad idea, either. He had enjoyed watching the slime steadily improve as it sparred with Paulen!

▷I'll summon some golems, then. Try fighting them first.

As the match began, a magic circle appeared on the floor, followed by three humanoid golems formed from rock.

[Squishy]▶Wow! What's this?

▷Golems.

'Summoning magic isn't my specialty, but this much is nothing.'

Smartass, once called The Mage of a Thousand Spells, possessed intermediate proficiency even in fields outside his specialty.

▷It's fine to break them, so knock them down however you like.

[Squishy]▶Okay!

Fighting the golems gave the slime its first chance in a while to relieve its boredom.

It sprang forward! The slime attacked a golem with Bounce Tackle right from the start. Under Smartass's control, the golem immediately brought its arms together to block the tackle. But blocking was all it could do; a single Bounce Tackle left enormous cracks in both arms. In time with the slime's attack, another golem swung a fist at it.

[Squishy Queen]▶My kin! Watch out!

It had been so long since the Slime Queen had watched a sparring stream that she followed the match with even greater anxiety. But there was no need to worry.

The slime bounced away! It had spent over a month sparring with Paulen, a Paladin. A golem's surprise attack was far slower than his strikes. Extending a tentacle, the slime knocked the incoming fist downward and dodged, then flew toward the head of the remaining golem.

With another springy leap, it used the golem's head as a foothold before the creature could move and launched a Bounce Tackle combined with Bounce Jumping at Smartass. The broadcast showed his first-person view, and the speed of its sudden approach startled several viewers. But that attack would never reach him.

SPLAAAT!

The slime's attack couldn't break through the barrier Smartass had raised. Its soft body struck the translucent wall and spread wide against it. The sight was somehow both ridiculous and adorable.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Pwahahaha! That's fucking hilarious lol.

▶Lmaoooo.

▶Stretched out so damn far lol.

[Squishy Queen]▶How dare you laugh at my kin!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Squishy is so~ much cuter stretched out than I expected~!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶A failed slam. Don't lose heart, Squishy! Keep honing your slams and smash it next time!

▷You okay, Squishy?

While some laughed, some worried, and others offered encouragement, the stretched-out slime slid slowly down the barrier it had struck. It gazed at the barrier for a moment, then bounced up and down in place.

[Squishy]▶Amazing! So hard!

Rather than feeling discouraged that its attack had been blocked, the slime marveled at Smartass's barrier.

▶That's some mental fortitude.

▶Nah, think about it. Doesn't Squishy lose to that human every day?

▶Ohhh, so it's just business as usual lmao.

▶Always a loser, so it doesn't feel the least bit frustrated.

[Squishy Queen]▶Who called my kin a loser! Take that back this instant!

▶Lmaoooo.

▶Always gets so triggered over Squishy lol.

The slime bounced back to its original position.

[Squishy]▶Let's do it again! Keep going! Sparring!

▷Yeah, okay.

At the enthusiastic slime's request, Smartass set aside regular times to spar with it. Sometimes he summoned golems to give it experience fighting multiple opponents. Sometimes he fired arrows or swords formed from mana to improve its dodging. At other times, he used magic that suddenly erupted from the ground, training it to sense the flow of mana in advance.

For the slime, sparring with Smartass was a delightful game in which it gained and learned something new every time. Those happy days for both Smartass and the slime flew by, until a month had passed and they arrived at the present.

[Squishy]▶I want to go outside!

At last, the inevitable had come.