After the girl fainted, the slime decided it should move her somewhere safe. It shaped its tentacles into a rectangular tray, lifted her onto it, and set off.

Claire nearly fell off six times as it bounced along. Through trial and error, the slime learned to move its tentacles with each hop so that as little vibration as possible reached her. Then, about ten minutes later, Claire woke up.

▶Headed off so confidently, and it was the wrong way lmao.

[Squishy Queen]▶How could my kin know when this is its first time here! This is all Smartass's fault for not telling it beforehand!

[Free Spirit]▶Telling Squishy everything wouldn't be doing it any favors. Finding its own way is what matters. Yep.

▶Knowing everything from the start would take the fun out of it.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶More importantly, why haven't we seen any other monsters for a while?! Show me that stronger Body Slam! That's how I can give you pointers!

▶How about getting closer to your kids first?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Shuuuuuut uuuuuup!!!

▶Lmaoooo.

While the chat buzzed with conversation, the slime kept moving in the direction Claire had indicated.

"Left here."

'Left!'

It bounced!

"You need to go right."

'Right!'

"Too far. Just a little to the left."

'Just a little to the left!'

Having met a human for the first time in a month, the slime cheerfully followed Claire's instructions. Meanwhile, Claire sat atop it in utter confusion.

'It really understands me. This slime is strange.'

She had only given it directions on the off chance it might understand. She deliberately pointed it the wrong way, then gave it the correct direction again. And the slime changed course exactly as instructed, without a single mistake.

'Could this be the slime Marin was looking for?'

The elf had definitely said she was looking for an intelligent slime that was friendly toward people.

Was this slime intelligent? At the very least, it could understand her instructions.

Was it friendly? For one thing, it had tried to save her from monsters over and over. She could at least consider it nonhostile.

'Still, I can't let my guard down. A slime is a mon—'

Just as she was thinking that, the slime suddenly stopped and lowered its tentacles, setting Claire on the ground.

"What?"

After putting Claire down, the slime retracted its tentacles and stood still.

'Is it tired?'

KRAK-KAK!

Just then, a Rock Monkey emerged from the undergrowth—a C-rank monster native to Sudden Calamity Forest. It resembled a monkey, with thick, rocklike hide covering its forehead and fists.

Normally, the slime would have sensed other monsters and changed course to avoid them on its way out. But it had decided to follow Claire's directions to the village, which was how they had ended up encountering this one.

The instant Claire saw the Rock Monkey, she sprang up reflexively and prepared to fight. She had only been unconscious for about ten minutes, but that sleep had restored some of her stamina.

'I just need to aim for its torso. I'm not going to sit back and be protected.'

She clenched her fists and was about to put strength into her legs.

The slime sprang forward!

THWAAACK!

KREEEARGH!

Before Claire could step in, the slime used Bounce Tackle and finished the Rock Monkey with a single blow. Struck squarely in the torso, the monster slammed into a tree.

CRACK!

Its spine snapped.

Having defeated the Rock Monkey in an instant, the slime bounced back over to Claire and popped out two tentacles. Then it shaped them into a soft platform.

▶Look how awkward she is lmao.

▶Ahahaha. Quit posing and just get on!

▶No more backtalk! Get on Squishy, furry!!!

Claire's bewilderment as the slime took out her opponent the moment she assumed her stance was entertaining for the viewers, too.

That wasn't the only time Claire was left feeling awkward. Three more times before they left the forest, the slime set her down and dispatched a monster.

At one point, Claire grew stubborn enough to try charging out the instant a monster appeared. But no matter how quickly she tried to move, the slime moved first and killed it. Using Sensing, it knew exactly where the monsters would appear, so there was nothing she could do. Claire, however, had no way of knowing that.

+++

As soon as Amelia and Paulen finished their report, the Holy City assembled a team to investigate the lich. Naturally, their task was to look into the rumors concerning it. At Amelia's request as the next Saintess, they also began searching for the slime that had been seen at the Great Church.

While the investigation was underway, Paulen threw himself into training, burning with the desire to grow stronger.

"Hup! Hup! Hup! Hup! My muscles! I must train my muscles more!"

Amelia, equally determined not to go through anything like their last encounter again, headed to the holy arts training grounds after her regular duties and diligently honed her abilities.

"It's still not enough. I need to concentrate more holy power in one place..."

"Lady Amelia is incredible."

"Her holy arts are already so amazing, yet she's so determined to improve...!"

Without intending to, Amelia earned the admiration of the faithful sharing the training grounds.

As for Gracie, who had accompanied them all the way to the Holy City...

"There's... nothing to do!"

She found herself in a deeply awkward position in the room the Great Church had provided for her.

Gracie had expected to search for the slime herself once she reached the Holy City. But things hadn't gone as she imagined. The Holy City had formed and dispatched separate investigation teams to look into the lich and the slime, so the Great Church told her there was no need for her to take action personally. They not only thanked her for drawing an accurate likeness of the lich, but insisted they couldn't put a guest of the Saintess to work. Instead, she found herself being waited on.

"Our facilities may be lacking, but please continue your research here at the Great Church, Lady Gracie," they told her.

Yet nothing could have been more frustrating for Gracie to hear.

If Gracie had been a natural-magic practitioner, she would have devoted her time to improving herself. But she was a magical-device mage. In fact, she had switched to that approach precisely because she had recognized her own limitations.

The Great Church didn't have anything like the vast collection of magical devices at Gracie's home, nor did the Holy City have device makers as skilled as those at the Mage Tower. In the end, all she could do was repeatedly practice magic she already knew like the back of her hand. Even that was limited to devices powered by her own mana, since she couldn't waste magic stones recklessly.

'I'm not like that muscle-loving Paladin or the Saintess with all that untapped potential! Not in the first place!'

They could tell her to relax and do her research all they liked.

'But the slime I need for my research isn't here!'

There wasn't a single thing in the Great Church worth researching. It wasn't as though she could set up her own workshop inside it, either. And so Gracie had no choice but to spend five aimless days at the Great Church.

Her only real consolation was...

'My skin seems better lately. My hair, too.'

The month-long carriage journey and life at the Great Church had one thing in common: both had forced her into a regular routine.

For most mages living at the Mage Tower, an irregular lifestyle was the norm. Gracie was no different, and before finishing her paper, her habits had reached their worst. To get it properly completed, she routinely stayed awake for a night or two, and her sleeping hours were never consistent.

Sometimes she slept four hours, sometimes six. Often, when she woke midway through and struggled to fall asleep again, she got less than three hours. Naturally, she was constantly drinking potions to keep herself awake. Only when she became so exhausted that even the potions stopped working did she finally sleep for around eight hours.

But both in the carriage and after arriving at the Great Church, Gracie had repeatedly gone to bed and risen in step with Amelia, Paulen, the Holy City's faithful, and others for whom healthy routines were second nature. With steady, regular sleep and no more stimulants, her body naturally grew healthier. The change in her skin and hair was the result. Her dry skin now had a sheen, and her formerly unruly hair looked full of life.

If anything, her improved health only fueled her guilt.

'At this rate, it looks like I came here as a tourist instead of to search!'

She had gone to Amelia and Paulen herself and urged them to find the slime, yet now she was sitting idle in the Great Church. It didn't sit well with her.

Just then...

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

Someone knocked on her door.

"Who is it?"

Gracie opened the door to find a female member of the faithful bowing to her.

"Excuse me, Lady Gracie. Saintess Fresia wishes to see you."

"What? Saintess Fresia?"

+++

"Thank you for coming, Gracie."

"N-no! The honor is mine, getting to meet you again, Saintess Fresia!"

Gracie was a bundle of nerves as she entered Fresia's room. Understandably so: the woman before her was one of the legendary heroes, Fresia, The Saintess of Healing. She had been a companion of Ventus Frail, The Mage of a Thousand Spells, whom Gracie admired.

When she first met Fresia five days earlier, it had been in a meeting room with the High Priests present. Now she was face-to-face with her in Fresia's own room. How could she not be nervous?

"Um, w-why did you call for me?"

"I wanted to talk for a little while. I hear you've been staying in your room lately. Have you found it uncomfortable here?"

"N-no! Not at all! It's very comfortable and lovely! In fact, it's so lovely that even my skin's improved, you could say! Ha-hahaha!"

"Hehe, I'm glad to hear that."

"Yes! Absolutely! Really, the reason I'm sitting around doing nothing is my own inadequacy!"

"Inadequacy?"

"Yes, yes! I'm absolutely inadequate! Compared with my forebear, Ventus Frail, I'm terribly lacking!"

So nervous that she couldn't stop talking, Gracie began rambling about herself. She explained that her talent fell far short of Ventus Frail's, and that she used magical devices to compensate for her lack of ability. As she went on, the guilt that had built up during her stay at the Great Church mingled with her words, and her long-held feelings of inferiority and helplessness began to seep out.

"Hahaha! Really, compared with my great forebear, someone like me is..."

"That isn't true."

Fresia gently took Gracie's hand and shook her head.

"Don't belittle yourself, Gracie. You're a fine mage, and you'll become a great one."

"What? But without magical devices, I..."

"Even after recognizing your limitations, you didn't stop moving forward. You found a new path in magical devices, didn't you? Take pride in the path you've chosen."

"S-Saintess Fresia...!"

To Gracie, it looked as though a halo shone behind Fresia's head.

"Besides, Ventus... He was great, but he wasn't perfect in every way. He was surprisingly endearing, you know."

"What? M-my forebear?"

"Would you like to hear about him?"

"Yes!"

To hear stories of the forebear she admired directly from Fresia, who had been his companion! She didn't want to miss an opportunity like this.

"Oh, but why did you call for me after all...?"

"I'll tell you later."