Chapter 115 - Gathering (3)

At first, word spread through the village that people had arrived to take Squishy away. Since Squishy was already practically the most popular resident in the village, the news traveled fast.

Just as everyone was lamenting the slime’s impending departure, another piece of news began to circulate: the identities of the people who had come for Squishy.

The group actually included a Saintess and a Paladin. Most astonishing of all, it also included Nellin, The Starlight Archer—one of the heroes who had defeated the black dragon known as a calamity fifty years ago.

Though surprised by the identities of Squishy’s visitors, the villagers quickly accepted it.

Aha! So the slime was extraordinary because it traveled with such incredible people!

Until now, they had only vaguely thought of it as amazing. Now they had a plausible explanation.

“Hey! Bouncy’s going to spar with the Paladin this time!”

“What?! I’ve got to see that!”

With so much attention inevitably focused on the group, anything they planned to do immediately became the talk of the village.

“Oh dear, Bouncy’s going to fight the Paladin? What if it gets hurt?”

“Oh, honestly, old man. Bouncy defeated an Orc Champion, didn’t it? It’ll be fine.”

“We can watch a Paladin spar? There’s no way I’m missing that!”

The elderly villagers worried about Squishy and the adventurers eager to see a Paladin’s abilities all flocked to the guild’s training grounds.

“What the heck? Why are there so many people?”

“Well, Big Sis, you’re not hiding your name anymore. Isn’t that why they’ve gathered?”

“Ahh, my fame’s still going strong after all these decades.”

“If I may offer my honest opinion, rather than you, Big Sis Nellin, perhaps they came because of the Saintess and Paladin, who are still famous...”

SMACK!

“Ow!”

“Paulen! Don’t go too hard on it just because you haven’t seen it in so long!”

“I know. Now then, Squishy.”

Before reuniting with Squishy, Paulen had heard about its exploits from the guild receptionist. Squishy had defeated two Orc Champions all by itself.

In his judgment, it hadn’t been capable of such a feat when they parted at the Mage Tower. That meant...

‘You didn’t neglect your training even while you were with Master Ventus!’

Although Smartass had already told him that Squishy had trained during its stay in the workshop, hearing what that training had achieved moved him deeply.

That was why Paulen intended to take this match a little more seriously, so he could experience Squishy’s newfound strength for himself. Tightening his grip on his sword and greatshield, he signaled the start of their match.

“Come!”

‘Time to spar!’

Squishy was bursting with enthusiasm at the chance to spar with Paulen again after so long. It wanted to show him how much it had grown, but it also wanted to demonstrate the “new techniques” it had developed through sparring with Claire.

BOING!

Squishy opened with its more powerful Bounce Tackle.

CLAAANG!

It slammed into the greatshield at a speed an ordinary warrior’s eyes could barely follow.

‘Ah! You’ve grown stronger, Squishy!’

The tingling in his hand was more intense than before.

‘I’ll have to take this more seriously.’

Having felt the slime’s growth in that first blow, Paulen circulated his mana to reinforce his body.

‘Paulen’s tough!’

Delighted that Paulen had easily blocked even its post-evolution, more powerful Bounce Tackle, Squishy kept attacking.

POP!

It extended a tentacle upward, grabbed the greatshield, and pulled itself up. The slime and Paulen’s eyes met.

Squishy drew its two extended tentacles back slightly.

“...!”

With superhuman reflexes, Paulen raised his shield and stepped back. At that very moment—

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Squishy’s barrage of tentacle strikes rained down on the greatshield.

“W-what is that?!”

“It can attack like that with its tentacles?”

“Wow, I never knew it could do that.”

Not only Godric’s companions but even Nellin had never imagined it would unleash such a rapid barrage with its tentacles. And the spectators at the training grounds weren’t the only ones surprised.

▶???? What’s that?

▶Those tentacles are fast as fuck lmao

[Slam First Ask Later]▶What happened to headbutting?! Why are you attacking like that, Squishyyyyyy!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Couldn’t you think of them as tentacle headbutts?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶This crap isn’t headbuttinggggg!

▶Look at him losing it lmao

[Squishy Queen]▶You’ve learned to make better use of your tentacles, my kin! Well done!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶You look adorable throwing tentacle punches too, Squishy~.

▶Become Slime Punch!

The tentacle barrage was a technique Squishy had thought up while sparring with Claire and was using for the first time today. Unlike Smartass or Paulen, Claire sparred with the slime using nothing but punches and kicks.

Watching her fighting style, Squishy had wondered whether it could use its tentacles to attack in a similar way. The scene unfolding now provided the answer.

Its tentacles repeatedly battered Paulen’s greatshield with greater force than Claire’s punches. It had attacked with its tentacles before, but this was its first time putting them to such full use.

“Not bad, Squishy!”

Delighted by Squishy’s growth, Paulen launched a counterattack.

CLAAANG!

He swung the greatshield that had been blocking the tentacle barrage and sent Squishy flying. Even airborne, Squishy didn’t panic. It immediately used another “new technique.”

‘Kick!’

Extending its tentacle as it spun in midair, Squishy swung it like a whip.

CRAAACK!

Of course, a tentacle whip slower than its headbutts had no chance of working on Paulen. The moment he blocked it with his greatshield, he closed the distance.

“Let’s see how well you can dodge, Squishy!”

His sword swept fiercely toward Squishy.

‘Fast!’

It was faster than anything Paulen had shown in their previous matches. But now that Squishy had evolved into a Mighty Slime, it was more than capable of dodging.

BOING! BOING! BOING!

“Whoaaa! That’s incredible!”

“I can’t even follow his sword!”

“Bouncy’s so fast too!”

The adventurers cheered wildly at the match. They had often watched Claire spar with Squishy and had even sparred with it themselves, but they had never seen it move this fast.

Neither had Claire.

‘Bouncy’s amazing. So fast.’

She had known it was holding back against her, but to think it was this fast.

Even as she marveled at Squishy’s abilities, the desire to grow stronger blazed within her.

+++

The match with Paulen continued for about ten minutes. Squishy might have evolved and grown stronger, but its opponent was a Paladin.

Paulen revealed more of his abilities to match Squishy’s increased strength, leaving the slime unable to land a clean hit. But Squishy wasn’t frustrated by that. To it, sparring was a kind of play.

‘This is fun!’

It was simply happy that even after growing stronger, it could still play with Paulen just as before—no, have even more fun with him.

And Squishy wasn’t the only one enjoying itself.

“Hahahaha! You really have grown stronger, Squishy!”

Now that the match was over, Paulen was equally delighted to have seen how much further Squishy had grown.

“All right! Now let’s work out together for the first time in—”

“Paulen, let’s stop here for today. We aren’t the only ones happy to see Squishy again, are we?”

“... A shame, but I suppose it can’t be helped.”

Putting his disappointment aside, Paulen brought his sparring session with Squishy to a close.

Watching Paulen and Squishy return after the match, Claire asked Nellin a question.

“There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Why do you call it Squishy?”

She was asking why its name had suddenly changed after they went into the room and came back out.

“Oh, that. I don’t know if you’ll believe this, but actually...”

Nellin gave her a brief account of what had happened in the room.

“I see.”

“What, you believe me just like that?”

“Yes. I know Bouncy can read. But I didn’t know it could write.”

“You knew?”

“It picks what it likes from the menu itself.”

“It does? Well, anyway, you should call it Squishy from now on too. That’s what it says it likes.”

“Okay. What are you going to do now, though? Leave the village right away?”

Claire would follow them regardless, but she asked as she recalled what an adventurer had said to comfort her while she waited downstairs.

“No, we’re staying here for about three days.”

“I see.”

After Fresia’s memorial service, Nellin’s group had set out for Chilture immediately. Before arriving, they had all agreed to rest there for about three days to recover from the long journey.

“Squishy, let’s go for a walk.”

‘A walk!’

“Gracie, come with us.”

“Y-yes!”

With its match against Paulen over, Amelia and Gracie were next to enjoy their reunion with Squishy. Amelia had hoped to spend some time strolling leisurely through the village with it, but things didn’t go as planned.

“It’s an honor to have you visit our village, Saintess.”

“An honor? Like all of you, I’m simply one person under Lord Lutinus’s care.”

“Ah, how very humble you are.”

Even if she was the next Saintess, a Saintess was still a Saintess. To believers in Lutinus, the God of Light, Amelia was someone to admire and revere.

Thus, even during their walk, the village’s faithful kept coming to catch a glimpse of her, bowing their heads repeatedly. Before she knew it, her leisurely stroll had turned into something like a Saintess fan meeting, with believers lining up to see her.

‘What should I do?’

Unable to bring herself to turn away the believers who had come to see her, Amelia continued greeting them.

“E-excuse me, everyone!”

Gracie, standing beside her, spoke up.

“Th-the Saintess isn’t leaving today. She’ll have time tomorrow too, so could you come back then? She’s tired after traveling for so long!”

“Oh my! What was I thinking? Of course the Saintess must be tired too.”

“Goodness, I’ve grown old without learning any consideration.”

“We’re sorry, Saintess.”

“Oh, n-no! It’s all right! Your kindness truly makes me happy. But I’d like to relax and take a quiet look around the village today. I’ll see you all again tomorrow.”

“Ah! Yes, Saintess!”

“Let’s all head back! We mustn’t bother the Saintess!”

The believers immediately dispersed.

“Thank you, Gracie.”

“Oh, n-not at all! That was nothing. More importantly... we can send the signal now.”

“The signal?”

“Yes. The prayer with three claps.”

“... Oh! That’s right!”

Amelia had been so focused on simply taking a walk with Squishy that she had forgotten their promise to signal Smartass once they reunited with it.

+++

Time passed, and evening came.

After dinner, Claire was tired and went to bed early. Leaving Squishy with Godric’s Party, Amelia, Paulen, Gracie, and Nellin headed out of the village together.

They had already sent the signal at least three times. Once in a quiet spot during their walk, once after lunch, and once after dinner, they had clapped three times and prayed in front of Squishy.

“Master Ventus must have seen it, right?”

“We did it three times, so I’m sure he did.”

“The question is where he’ll appear. I’m worried we might miss each other.”

“You worry about the strangest things. Once he appears, we’ll know right away from all that aura of death pouring off him.”

- Hmm, really? Can you sense it now, Nellin?

“Huh? I don’t sense anything right... huh?”

Nellin and the others all turned toward the voice. Two figures emerged through the bushes.

At the sight of them, everyone’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“Th-this can’t be.”

“How did this happen?”

“M-Master Ventus? Fresia... Saintess?”

“Hehe, it’s been a while, everyone.”