Chapter 118 - To the Mage Tower (1)

Claire and Nellin began their sparring match in front of Squishy. The monsters were looking forward to the spectacle too.

▶Didn't that knife-ear carry a bow? Why's she holding a wooden sword now?

▶Tsk, tsk, tsk. You don't even know bows work at a distance? Clearly you've never fought hoomans.

▶You'd know even without fighting hoomans if you'd fought anything that spits or shoots needles. Yep.

▶So who's gonna win?

▶Dunno?

All the monsters had seen of Nellin's abilities was her shooting a deer when they first met her. That left them unable to tell for certain who would win: the human who fought with her fists, or the elf using a sword instead of a bow.

Still...

▶The other hoomans are telling the knife-ear to go easy on her. Doesn't that mean the knife-ear's stronger?

Some drew conclusions from what the people nearby were saying.

▶Nah, that furry's gotten way stronger after sparring with Squishy. The furry could be stronger.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Furry, knife-ear, hooman... they're all just bastards weaker than me in the end.

▶Ugh, the old fart's butting in again to flex, completely unable to read the room.

▶Red.

▶Purple.

▶Old fart trait: Give them a little time and they're itching to brag. Trait number two: They brag without reading the room and get roasted to fucking hell.

▶For real lol.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Where's your nest? Huh?

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶I'm embarrassed just watching you. If you're a shut-in loser dragon, kindly stay holed up where you are.

[Noblesse Fire]▶That pile of bones is talking shit again!

As the fire dragon and bone dragon bickered as usual, Nellin and Claire's match began.

THUD!

Claire clenched her fists and kicked off the ground, closing the distance.

'Oh, she's gotten faster?'

Between her experience fighting the orc horde and her sparring with Squishy, Claire had grown even faster. Her skill had improved noticeably since the first time she challenged Nellin, making Nellin smile inwardly.

'Looks like she hasn't just been fooling around. But... she's still a long way from beating me.'

Nellin met Claire with dazzling swordplay. She deflected and dodged Claire's increasingly swift punches with ease, then—

CRACK!

"Ugh!"

The moment Claire left an opening, Nellin swung her wooden sword and struck.

However much stronger Claire had become, she was still no match for Nellin, a veteran of countless trials who had even helped defeat the black dragon. But she was leaving fewer openings than last time. Nellin found that commendable, and Claire herself felt a sense of accomplishment at having grown stronger. Yet...

"She's merciless."

"Heh, she's toying with her completely. With the very Snowflake Fist who overwhelmed me! That's Big Sis Nellin for you."

"We'll have to ask the Saintess to heal her when she gets here."

"Th-that looks painful."

To anyone other than the two participants, all that was apparent was that Claire was getting trounced.

▶Absolutely toyed with lmao.

▶That knife-ear's surprisingly good?

▶Damn furry, you fought Squishy that many times and can't land even one hit?

▶Wea~kling. Furry wea~kling.

[Free Spirit]▶That elf's abnormally strong, yep. Claire isn't weak.

Unable to watch any longer, Smartass came to Claire's defense, at least a little.

A few minutes later...

"Hah, hah, hah."

"All right, I've got a rough idea of your abilities. That's enough."

Nellin called an end to the match.

Tapping her own shoulder with the wooden sword, she grinned.

"You've gotten a lot stronger since last time, huh?"

Claire nodded as she caught her breath.

"Yeah. Hunted lots of monsters since then. And sparred with Squishy a lot. Sparring with someone strong helps you improve a lot."

"Hmm~? Really? Squishy's that strong?"

Nellin looked at Squishy with interest.

"Yeah. Squishy's really fast. And strong too."

'Come to think of it, Squishy was exercising with Paulen at dawn too, wasn't it?'

Nellin recalled what had happened early that morning. She had been sleeping soundly when Paulen's voice, overflowing with emotion, suddenly woke her. Frowning, she opened the window. Looking down, she saw Paulen shedding tears in the inn's backyard while Squishy exercised with a dumbbell, its tentacle formed into an arm just as it had been yesterday.

'That dumbbell looked heavy at a glance. I suppose Squishy must be strong if it can lift that.'

Though Nellin had heard about Squishy killing a lesser troll and defeating Orc Champions, her first impression of it from their meeting in Green Elf Forest still lingered strongly. She had, of course, seen it spar with Paulen in person, but that had only been a light match.

'Shall I see for myself?'

Nellin wanted to test Squishy's abilities firsthand.

"Hey, Squishy! Switch with Claire! Come over here. Let's see how strong you are!"

'Sparring!'

The moment Squishy heard Nellin, it jumped out of Def's hands.

▶Oh, sparring with the knife-ear this time?

▶Who's stronger, the knife-ear or Squishy?

▶Squishy, surely?

▶The knife-ear looks pretty formidable too.

Since they still didn't know the full extent of their abilities, the monsters continued debating who was stronger.

'Nellin's fast!'

Meanwhile, Squishy was looking forward to sparring with Nellin. Just watching her fight Claire had made it immediately clear that she was strong. Unlike Paulen, she fought without a shield, darting this way and that. Squishy was curious what other moves she would show during their match.

And the experience proved even better than Squishy had hoped.

BOING! BOING! BOING! BOING!

"Oh, you're quick!"

Moving even faster than it had against Claire, Squishy launched tackle after tackle. Each time, however, Nellin anticipated its movements and either dodged or deflected it with her wooden sword, just as she had Claire's punches and kicks.

It was a fresh experience for Squishy. During its matches with Paulen and Smartass, most of its attacks had been blocked. Whether against a greatshield or a magical barrier, those matches had been contests against walls the slime couldn't break through even with a full-power tackle.

BOING!

"I can see it all coming!"

But Nellin didn't block. A wooden sword would snap in no time if she tried to stop the slime's tackle with it. Instead, she predicted its movements and dodged, then...

"Here comes another~."

WHOOSH!

Nellin whipped her wooden sword around and struck Squishy. Since it was only a wooden sword, the soft slime took no major damage; it merely went flying.

'Fun!'

Even being sent flying so quickly was fun for Squishy. Some viewers, however, were uncomfortable with the sight.

[Squishy Queen]▶That knife-ear!!! How dare she send my kin flying like that! Such insolence!!!

[Noblesse Fire]▶There goes Squishy throwing another fit.

▶Squishy Mom has arrived!!!

▶But Squishy looks like it's having fun?

▶So energetic! Excellent!

▷Fun!

▶??? It really was having fun lmao.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶I'm sooo happy to see dear Squishy enjoying itself~.

[Squishy Queen]▶Knife-ear! Can you not entertain my kin more!

▶Oh, come on lmao.

▶Did she seriously switch attitudes that fast?

▶Faster than those crocodile bastards' death rolls.

After missing several tackles, Squishy tried something else.

'Fists!'

POP!

It extended its tentacles and unleashed a series of tentacle punches, just as it had against Paulen.

"Oh, that thing you did yesterday?"

The tentacle punches shot out in rapid succession. With dazzling movements of her sword, Nellin knocked aside or deflected each one.

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!

"Amazing. So fast."

"Isn't she faster than when she was putting us through the wringer?"

"Squishy's really fast too!"

"Seriously, is Big Sis Nellin really an archer? Wouldn't swordswoman suit her better?"

"Heh, so a true archer keeps a sword hidden."

"Don't spout bullshit like it's some wise saying, Hawein."

Squishy's tentacle stretched far out. Realizing its rapid punches weren't working, it stopped punching, wrapped a tentacle around Nellin's wooden sword, and shortened the tentacle to close the distance.

"Oh, that's your move? Then I'll do this."

As Squishy picked up speed and retracted its tentacle, Nellin let go of the wooden sword without hesitation. Freed from her hand, the sword was pulled toward the slime instead and struck it.

THWACK!

'Whoa!'

The slime was taken aback by the unexpected turn. Seizing the opening, Nellin closed in and threw a punch at it.

"Pow!"

WHAP!

It was a quick, seemingly light jab. Yet it carried enough force to send Squishy flying all the way to a training-ground post.

BOING!

Of course, being knocked into the post didn't seriously hurt Squishy. Having evolved from a Bounce Slime and gained even greater elasticity, its slime body was durable enough to absorb most blows.

'Amazing! Nellin! Fast!'

As the slime bounced off the post and landed on the ground, Nellin beckoned with her fingers.

"Come on, try again. I'll fight you with my fists this time."

'Yeah!'

BOING!

Squishy charged at Nellin again.

+++

Nellin sparred with Squishy for another fifteen minutes. Leaving the wooden sword on the ground, she fought entirely unarmed. She had begun partly for her own amusement, but the other half of her intent was to give Claire, a martial artist, something to watch and learn from.

"Whew. Squishy, you really are strong. That loosened me up nicely. First time I've worked up a sweat in a while."

Wiping the sweat from her cheek with the back of her hand, Nellin looked at Squishy in satisfaction.

'Sparring with Nellin! Fun!'

Squishy was just as satisfied. It wasn't that sparring with Paulen wasn't fun, but this new style of match was refreshing.

Meanwhile, those who had watched Squishy and Nellin spar had their own reactions. The guild's adventurers were fired up by the match between Squishy, the hero who had saved their village, and Nellin, a legendary hero.

"Did that match really just happen?"

"My heart swells with awe."

"Our village's hero against a legendary hero! Damn! I'm so glad I watched!"

Godric's Party realized once again how incredible Squishy was. Its match against the Paladin had been impressive too, but seeing it draw out the skills of Nellin, who had put them through such grueling training, brought its strength home even more.

"We're no match for Squishy anymore."

"Heh, we never were."

"Hmph! I'll catch up anyway!"

"W-we can't leave Squishy to do all the fighting alone."

Claire, meanwhile, gazed silently at Nellin, recalling the movements she had shown. Her fighting style efficiently intercepted an opponent's attacks and countered them. It was different from Claire's style, which prioritized speed alone and focused on striking first. Even so, Claire felt she had much to learn from it.

'Amazing. I'm so glad I decided to learn from her.'

Claire firmly believed that mastering Nellin's fighting style would make her stronger.

+++

In the tower master's office at the top of the Mage Tower, its current master, Brooks Besilza, had deep, dark circles beneath his eyes.

Brooks Besilza had collapsed from the shock of losing his beard thanks to Smartass. After finally managing to get out of bed, he checked the spot where his beard had been in the mirror every single day.

One day. Two days. A week. A month.

No matter how much time passed, not a single hair of his beard—or even his mustache—grew back, subjecting Brooks Besilza to extreme stress. He hadn't felt such stress since his hair had started falling out.

"My beard. M-my beard... Wh-why won't it grow!"

Hoping his beard would grow back quickly, he even tried taking a beard-growth remedy said to be used by dwarves, but it did no good. More than a month later, his chin still bore nothing but bare, wrinkled skin.

"I-I won't forgive you. I will never forgive you. Lich... You half-dead undead wretch, how dare you! How dare you do that to my beard...!"

Just as his seemingly endless sense of loss was turning to anger, Brooks Besilza received an urgent news bulletin.

"Wh-what? Saintess Fresia died destroying the lich?!"

News that the target of his revenge was already gone from this world.