Chapter 117 - Gathering (5)

While Nellin, Paulen, Amelia, and Gracie were meeting with Smartass and Fresia, Godric and his companions were having fun with Squishy in the four-person room assigned to them.

"Hup! Hup! Hup! Hup! Huuup! Ack!"

"Sgol lost."

"Hah, losing to Squishy. What a scrub!"

"Nice going, Squishy!"

"Grrrr! How'd you get so good so fast?!"

Since it would probably take a while for the others to return, Godric and his companions had agreed to play with Squishy for the first time in ages. Sgol went first, proposing a hand-clapping game.

Normally, the game involved singing while repeating a set sequence of movements. But since Squishy couldn't sing, they taught it just the movements and explained that whoever could keep repeating them would win.

At first, Squishy mixed up the sequence or was too slow to keep pace, losing several times to each of them. But it quickly got the hang of it, and now it was beating even Sgol, the best at the game, over and over.

'This is fun!'

The slime liked this game. It was less about winning a contest of speed and more about playing while staying in constant contact with someone else.

"Never thought I'd be playing a game from my childhood back in the village with Squishy like this."

"Hehe, Squishy didn't have tentacles back then, either."

"All right, how about arm wrestling next?"

"But there's no table in here, Boss."

"Hawein! Go borrow one from downstairs. They'll probably lend us one if it's to play with Squishy."

"Why should I obey your orders, Boss?"

"Quit fooling around and get going."

"Heh, I'll be back in a flash."

A little later, Hawein returned to the room carrying a table.

"Squishy, let's arm wrestle and see how much stronger your tentacles have gotten."

Godric placed Squishy on the table, then rested his elbow on it. And that sight...

▶What's that hooman doing? lmao

▶Oh, come on, pick a contest you've got a chance in lol

▶He talks like he's stronger than Squishy.

▶Don't talk so big. It makes you look weak, you know?

To the viewers, who had watched Squishy's strength all this time, it was practically a comedy. The outcome was obvious, after all.

Not that they minded. They enjoyed watching a weakling act tough only to get made a fool of.

'Arm wrestling!'

Squishy extended a tentacle. But it didn't stop there.

'Mmmmm~!'

Concentrating, Squishy poured mana into its tentacle.

As Squishy grew through evolution, its basic abilities had improved. That included not only physical strength but also its ability to use skills such as Mana Manipulation and Tentacle Transformation.

Previously, it hadn't been able to create complex shapes with Tentacle Transformation. Now it could.

'Hand!'

"H-huh?"

"S-Squishy? Your tentacle..."

As it fed in mana, Squishy wished for the shape it wanted. Its tentacle turned into a hand.

It wasn't a perfect copy of a human hand, but the rounded tentacle hand it had created was at least recognizable as one.

▶Fuck, what's that?

▶Whoa! A tentacle hooman hand!

▶Is this a slime or not?

[Squishy Queen]▶Once one grows accustomed to Tentacle Transformation, such things are child's play! You marvel at the smallest things.

▶Ah! TransformXrs!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶You're not going to ditch Body Slam to use that thing from now on, are you, Squishy?!

▶lmao Talk about jumping the fucking gun.

"Now you're even making hands?"

"That's amazing, Squishy!"

"Hmm."

Hawein pressed his finger into Squishy's tentacle hand a couple of times.

"Squishy indeed!"

"But you really did only make a hand. Don't you need a forearm, too?"

'Forearm!'

POOF!

Increasing its volume was easy enough. Squishy lengthened its tentacle and immediately bulked up the section that would serve as a forearm.

"Oh."

"All right, let's do this!"

Godric sat on the bed and clasped Squishy's hand.

'Wow, it really is soft.'

"Here I go, Squishy!"

'Okay!'

Squishy and Godric began arm wrestling. And...

"Grrrrrgh!"

"Come on, Chief!"

"Heh, you look splendid struggling like that, Chief."

"You... I k-know you're laughing at me!"

"Go, Squishy!"

Naturally, Squishy was dominating the match. Godric strained so hard that his face turned bright red and the tendons in his forearm stood out.

Yet he couldn't push Squishy's slime arm over even a little. Squishy's tentacle kept forcing his arm down until, finally...

THUD.

"Guh!"

The back of Godric's hand hit the table.

"Squishy wins!"

"Yay!"

CLAP CLAP CLAP!

'I won!'

Delighted at winning the game, Squishy bounced up and down on the table.

▶Predictable result.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What made that scrub of a hooman think he could challenge Squishy?

▶Aw, it's fun. Have a drink~.

[Squishy Queen]▶Do you now understand the gulf between your strength and my kin's?!

▶It's not like they were underestimating Squishy, though, right?

▶What're they playing next? Get on with it!

"Hah... hah..."

Godric had strained with all his might, only to prove no match for Squishy.

'I'm not taking this alone.'

He wanted to share this experience with his dear companions, in exactly the same measure.

"Hey, Sgol. You're next. Give it a try."

"Me? I'm weaker than you, Chief."

"We're doing this, so everyone gets a turn!"

"Hmm, how pathetic, Boss."

"Pathetic or not! Come on! Hurry up and play a round each!"

At Godric's order, the other three also arm wrestled Squishy.

"Come on! Why won't it budge at all?!"

"The time has come to reveal my true strength! Hrrrrgh!"

"S-Squishy's seriously strong! Grrrrr!"

Just as with Godric, every match ended in an overwhelming victory for Squishy. Though Godric had forced them to participate, once the matches began, their masculine pride kicked in and they gave it everything they had. It was no use.

All the three gained was the realization that Squishy's tentacle arm was very soft.

"Hey, Hawein. Go return the table."

"Having unleashed all my hidden power, I'm now unable to move a muscle, Boss."

As if to declare his determination never to carry that table, Hawein flopped onto the bed.

"Ugh, that bastard..."

"Hey, Squishy! Can you massage people with that arm, too? My arm's all numb from arm wrestling. Knead it a bit!"

'Knead?'

Squishy tilted its body when Sgol held out his arm. With his other hand, Sgol mimed kneading his forearm.

"Here! Like this! Knead it like this. You're good at massages, so shouldn't you be good at this, too?"

'Knead!'

Realizing what Sgol wanted, Squishy immediately gripped his forearm with its tentacle arm and squeezed rhythmically. Even with a different shape, the massage techniques it had learned through vibration massages remained the same.

"Ohhh! That feels good. That's the stuff!"

'Sgol likes it! I'll do Vibration, too!'

Squishy began vibrating, pleased by Sgol's enthusiastic response.

"O-ohhhh~!"

Sgol's muscles, knotted from straining so hard while arm wrestling, were quickly loosening up.

"S-Squishy! Me next, please."

"Me, too!"

"I want one, too!"

Three massage reservations came in immediately.

+++

After a lengthy conversation with Smartass and Fresia, Nellin and her companions returned to the inn.

"Excuse me, but could you ask the people upstairs to return the table soon?"

No sooner had they arrived than the innkeeper asked them to get back the table Godric and his companions had borrowed.

"Honestly, take your eyes off those idiots for a moment and they cause trouble."

"Hahaha! Perhaps they were bored waiting and wanted to arm wrestle?"

"Then they could've come down here. Why take the table?"

"Hmm, I suspect they wanted to arm wrestle Squishy. Doing it downstairs would draw people's attention."

"Does that sound remotely plausible to you?"

Nellin threw open the door to the four-person room.

"Hey! Return the table!"

"Rock, paper, scissors! Ack! I lost!"

"How many times has Sgol lost now?"

"Hah, Sgol the scrub."

"Who're you calling a scrub?!"

"Hehe, well done, Squishy!"

Godric's Party was in the middle of playing rock, paper, scissors with the slime. Then...

"Agh! What the f*ck?!"

Startled by the tentacle arm the slime was using to play, Nellin cried out.

"Oh, Big Sis Nellin. You're back."

"Welcome back, everyone!"

"S-Squishy has an arm?"

"It couldn't make anything this elaborate last time. Has it gotten better at using its tentacles while we weren't looking?"

Amelia was flustered, while Gracie began analyzing the situation like the mage she was. And then...

"S-Squishyyyy!"

"Paulen?!"

Shouting, Paulen approached Squishy and lifted it up.

"Ah! At last! At last you can make arms! Now! Now you can exercise more efficiently! Your muscles! Your tentacle muscles can grow even stronger!"

The mere fact that the slime had formed an arm moved Paulen to tears.

"Wow... He's a genuine muscle freak."

▶That hooman's a hardcore freak. The real deal.

▶What's a hardcore freak?

▶Hold on! What's a hardcore freak, you ask? It's system slang for someone so obsessed with and fond of something that you'd think they were a pervert!

▶Still don't get it, even with the explanation.

▶It'd be weird if you understood those freaks.

▶Wolf bastard = hardcore headbutting freak.

▶Ahahaha Now I get it!

▶Perfect analogy~.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Why're you bastards suddenly picking a fight with me?!

"Squishy! Dumbbells, just like this! Yes, let's try lifting dumbbells! I'll teach you the proper form and timing!"

"Paulen! It's nighttime! You'll disturb the other guests, so do it tomorrow."

"But, Saintess! Look at Squishy's magnificent arm! Surely it's meant for lifting dumbbells..."

"Come on! Let's go, Paulen! I'm sleepy, too."

"Ah! S-Squishy!"

Unable to bring himself to shake Amelia off, Paulen left the room with profound regret.

"That's... a Paladin?"

No one contradicted Sgol.

+++

The next day.

"Come on, Squishy! Try lifting it with that tentacle arm! Show me your magnificent tentacle muscles!"

As it had while living at the Great Church, Squishy exercised with Paulen, who had risen at dawn.

At Paulen's request, Squishy used Tentacle Transformation to make an arm and lifted a dumbbell. Only its shape had changed, not its strength, so it had no trouble lifting the dumbbell Paulen had prepared.

The only difference was...

'Easy to lift!'

It could now lift the dumbbell more easily than by simply wrapping a tentacle around it.

"Yes! That's it, Squishy!"

The movements of Squishy's fingers as it gripped the dumbbell, and the way it raised and lowered the weight, were exact copies of Paulen's own movements during his workouts. Seeing it perform perfectly from the very start filled Paulen with emotion.

After finishing its dawn workout, Squishy found itself with more free time than usual during its stay in Chilture. The reason was...

"Should I ask about this when Lord Ventus teaches me? No, I should ask more about this first..."

For one, Gracie had shut herself in her room, pondering questions to ask Ventus rather than observing Squishy further.

"Oh, Saintess. Thank you for coming all the way to our village. Oh, thank you so much."

"I'm delighted to have this chance to meet you all, too."

The villagers who would normally seek out the slime had flocked to Amelia instead. And...

"All right, come at me. Let's see how good you are right now."

"Okay."

"Show us your strength, Snowflake Fist!"

"Why are you talking like you're the one fighting her?"

"Hehe, Squishy. Let's watch together!"

'Okay!'

"Big Sis Nellin, it's her first time, so don't beat her up too badly!"

"I know what I'm doing! And this isn't a beating. It's instruction, instruction!"

Nellin's lessons for Claire had begun.