"Hard as it may be to believe, it's true."

"But why... Why would the tower master...?"

Since his former companions Nellin and Fresia already acknowledged him, Gracie had all but accepted that the lich before her was Ventus Frail. But the shocking statement that followed was much harder to believe.

"I couldn't believe it at first, either. Until I fell into his trap, I thought of Brooks as a fellow mage who'd started out alongside me, a colleague pursuing magic just as I was. But... Brooks didn't see me that way. He saw me as someone to envy."

"Someone to envy?"

"He said that with me gone, he would be the next master of the Mage Tower."

"What? Are you serious? He tried to kill you because he wanted to be tower master?"

"I couldn't believe it at first, either. Anyway, when he was about to blow up the entire room, I took a gamble. I cast Warp, which I hadn't even finished testing yet, and transported myself to my secret workshop. And then..."

"You turned yourself into a lich, Ventus?"

Smartass nodded at Fresia's question.

"It had only been for research, but I knew how to do it. Haha, I never imagined it would come in handy like that."

"May I ask you something?"

Paulen raised his hand as he spoke.

"Anything you like."

"It has been thirty years since your death was announced, Master Ventus. Have you been here all that time? I'd like to know why you've only come out now."

Paulen's question was one Nellin and Fresia had also been wondering about.

Why hadn't he come out sooner? Why hadn't he immediately revealed the truth?

The Ventus Frail they knew would have stormed into his own funeral as soon as he became a lich to denounce the culprit, Brooks Besilza.

"After becoming a lich, I wasn't in any state to go outside."

"You weren't in any state to go outside...? Do you mean your transformation into a lich was incomplete?"

"No, the transformation itself went smoothly. The real problem came afterward. I'd gone from a human to a monster, after all. And right after being betrayed, at that."

Smartass spoke as he recalled how he had felt back then.

"When you become a monster, you become more emotional than you were as a human. My rage at being betrayed spread uncontrollably, like a wildfire. It went beyond anger at Brooks and became anger at humanity itself. I wanted to destroy everything, smash it all to pieces, and make them pay for betraying me."

"How did you keep yourself from going outside in that state?"

"You could call it good fortune. Even after becoming a monster, I never lost my passion for magic. Drawing on every last scrap of reason I had left, I managed to turn my attention away from my anger at humanity and toward the study of magic. Thanks to that, my rage faded with time, and I regained my senses, as you see me now."

That was a lie.

His enthusiasm for studying magic hadn't diminished, but the real reason was that he'd become engrossed in an unexpected new discovery—the system—and spent more than ten years doing nothing but watching streams.

Smartass had no intention of admitting something so uncool. Besides, he wasn't sure he should explain the very concept of the system to humans, when only highly intelligent monsters could use it.

Thus, to those who knew nothing of the circumstances, his story sounded like a tale of a great mage's courage—desperately resisting his monstrous impulses for humanity's sake!

"Ancestor...! Y-you're truly amazing!"

Moved to tears, Gracie wept freely.

"Thank you, my dear."

"So you've only just regained your senses?"

At Nellin's question, Smartass scratched his cheekbone.

"No. It took time, but it's been quite a while since I regained my senses. Still, I couldn't bring myself to go outside. As you can see, I'm a lich now. I was afraid... to let you see me as a monster."

"Ventus..."

"What was there to be scared of? You could've just come to see us. Besides, here we are together now."

"True. Hahaha! Looking back, I was worrying over nothing. And while I fretted needlessly, far too much time passed."

After a brief silence, Def cautiously raised his hand.

The story of the past seemed to be over. They had learned that the lich was actually the hero Ventus Frail. They had learned why he had become a lich and why he hadn't come out until now.

Surely it was finally time to talk about the slime?

With that thought, Def asked his question.

"U-um... So where is Bouncy?"

"Yes. We should talk about that, too."

"Come to think of it, you said you sensed special mana in Quivery back then. What did you mean? Does Quivery really have special mana?"

Once the topic turned to the slime, Amelia also asked about something Smartass had mentioned during their first meeting.

"Ah, that was a lie. That slime doesn't have any special mana."

"What?"

He so casually dismissed the meaningful words he'd spoken back then that not only Amelia, but Paulen and Gracie as well, were bewildered.

"It was a lie?"

"A lie I cobbled together to explain why I'd suddenly appeared there. The slime is certainly very unusual and fascinating, but it doesn't possess special mana."

"Then why on earth did you show yourself back then...?"

"To save that slime."

"To save Quivery? You, Master Ventus?"

The slime didn't have special mana. Yet he had appeared to save it?

As his words grew increasingly bewildering, Amelia blinked at Smartass. He began explaining the reason he had prepared in advance.

"Even if I couldn't go outside, I could see the outside world when certain conditions were met. By chance, that slime became the medium through which I could see it."

"B-Bouncy was a medium...? What's a medium?"

"Oh, come on, Def! You don't even know that? A medium is! A medium is... Boss, do you know what it means?"

"..."

"Heh. That word is beyond the likes of us."

Shaking her head, Nellin shouted at Godric's companions.

"For crying out loud. He's saying Bouncy acted as his eyes so he could see outside!"

"Oh, I get it!"

"Through that slime, I learned what was happening in the world. Though I never imagined I'd see you through it, Nellin."

"What? You were watching us back then?"

"Then you must have... seen me, too?"

"Yes, Fresia. I was truly happy to see that neither your kindness nor your beauty had changed with the years."

"V-Ventus."

At the unexpected compliment from the man she loved, Fresia felt her face begin to warm.

"What is this? Are you blushing?"

"Please be quiet, Nellin. Ahem! If you were watching the outside world through the slime, does that mean you appeared at the Mage Tower because you saw it was in danger?"

"Yes. I doubted that bastard would tolerate seeing my descendant succeed. And things turned out just as I expected."

"Then when you pulled out the tower master's beard..."

"Hehe, that was revenge. He used to treasure his hair, but when I saw him this time, he'd lost it and grown a beard instead. He cherished that beard dearly. So I took it away from him—with a little curse magic to make sure it never grows back."

Chuckling over how he'd made Brooks suffer, Smartass went on to briefly describe the month he'd spent with the slime in his secret workshop.

"I kept the slime with me for nearly a month. If I'd released it too soon, people might have been suspicious of a slime returning after who knew what a lich had done to it. I went outside and hunted monsters to feed it. It wanted to exercise, too, so I made those dumbbells over there for it."

"Oh! You even provided exercise equipment! You're very considerate, Master Ventus!"

"I'd seen how much the slime enjoyed exercising with you, after all."

"You kept it for a while? So it's not here anymore?"

"That's right. It was getting bored from being cooped up here all the time. I can transport myself straight to it if it's ever in real danger, so I let it go outside."

"Ugh! So where is it? Stop dragging this out and tell us!"

Seeing Nellin urging him on right before his eyes brought back Smartass's memories of fifty years ago.

'Nellin always wanted me to get straight to the point like this.'

"The slime is in Chilture now."

"What? Chilture?"

"That's where we were!"

"What the hell! Then we'd have found it if we'd just stayed there?"

"So this is... a twist of fate."

"Incidentally, the slime is currently with a wolf beastfolk girl named Claire."

Godric was taken aback at the sudden mention of the girl he'd fought at the Black Dragon Festival.

"Claire? You mean Snowflake Fist?"

"What? She's got it?"

"Come to think of it, that girl seemed to know you all. She knows you as Marin, Nellin. Obviously you gave her an alias, but... wasn't that a little too slapdash? Marin, really?"

"Why are you suddenly picking a fight? You're the one wearing that tacky crown you made."

"It's not tacky!"

"I don't think it's tacky, either. And I also thought Marin sounded like an alias you hadn't put much thought into."

"Hey! Fresia! Why are you suddenly taking his side?"

"I'm only saying what I think, Nellin."

Wanting more details about the slime's whereabouts, Godric interrupted with a question.

"So Bouncy is still with Claire? They haven't left Chilture?"

"That's right. The girl was worried that if she traveled needlessly, you might miss each other again. They'll stay in Chilture for the time being. Well... they aren't really in a position to leave Chilture right now anyway."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Chilture is under attack by a band of orcs right now. The girl and the slime are in the thick of battle, defending the village."

At that sudden, shocking statement, everyone stared at Smartass in alarm.

+++

As she began taking on quests with the slime, Claire had a thought.

'This makes things so easy.'

The slime was far more capable than Claire had imagined.

For one thing, it found the monsters they were looking for with remarkable speed and accuracy. Its detection abilities were so impressive that even Claire, who prided herself on tracking, had to tuck her tail.

Its teamwork was excellent, too. The slime clearly knew how to fight alongside someone.

It kept its distance so as not to interfere when Claire attacked, moved to cover her blind spots, and so on. With every battle, Claire grew more comfortable with how well the slime coordinated with her.

'I understand why Marin wants to find the slime now.'

It was so clever and so easy to fight alongside that Claire thought she'd want to find it too if she ever lost it.

And Claire made up her mind. She would stay in Chilture for a while and wait for Godric's Party to arrive.

Part of the reason was to avoid missing each other, but...

'I'm going to beat even more monsters!'

For the first time in ages, Claire was brimming with enthusiasm.

Having always taken on quests alone, she was now experiencing for the first time the joy of working smoothly together with a partner who was in sync with her.

Besides, staying with the slime meant she could get a massage every day!

A few days after she made that decision...

"Emergency! Emergency! A band of orcs has appeared!"

The orcs sent by the Orc King appeared near Chilture.