Chapter 120 - To the Mage Tower (3)

▶Huh? You're right!

▶Besides, Smartass is a lich. He's all bones.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶I sense some anti-undead discrimination coming.

▶Guy who helped Squishy -> Smartass. Guy who punished the hooman who tried to kill Squishy -> Smartass. Guy who can use magic -> Smartass.

▶What, Smartass used to be a hooman?

▶I knew ages ago~ (For real.)

▶↑No bullshit.

'So the time has finally come.'

Ever since showing himself at the Mage Tower to rescue the slime, Smartass had expected this moment.

He had even spent a whole month running a temporary substitute stream to avoid getting caught, but he hadn't told Nellin's party about the system he had discovered after becoming a monster. He doubted they would be able to process the shocking revelations that would follow. The concept was far too alien for humans to grasp, and difficult to truly comprehend without seeing it themselves.

That was why he had known he might be exposed if they brought him up while discussing things in front of the slime.

And Smartass had already decided how to act when that moment arrived.

His plan was simple.

[Free Spirit]▶Yep, that's right. I'm Ventus.

Admit it outright, without a shred of shame.

▶??? Smartass really used to be a hooman?

▶Why only tell us now?

[Free Spirit]▶You never asked.

▶Ahahahahaha!

▶Who would even think to ask that? lol

[Noblesse Fire]▶Then why didn't you say anything when your name came up at that hooman's house with the huge nest?

The fire dragon recalled the many times Jessi had read biographies of the heroes who defeated the black dragon at the Rudendion mansion. Ventus Frail, the Mage of a Thousand Spells, had come up again and again.

Smartass answered the fire dragon's question.

[Free Spirit]▶Why would I have to tell you? Besides, saying it then would've sounded like bragging. Embarrassing.

▶Hahaha, fair enough.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Oh my, then what does that make me? I spoke up when I came up in the story.

[Free Spirit]▶You weren't the star of the story, ma'am. It was just something that happened, so you're fine. But I was the main character in mine.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶That's true.

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Hoho, I can certainly see why volunteering that information would be awkward. Unless one has narcissistic tendencies, like a certain shut-in loser dragon.

[Noblesse Fire]▶This fucker's at it again!

'Good. That went over without much trouble.'

The other monsters didn't particularly care that Smartass had once been human anyway. Most of their reactions amounted to, "You used to be human? Hmm. So what?"

They mocked and looked down on humans as "hoomans," elves as "knife-ears," and beastfolk as "furries," and thought of humans as creatures who flew into a killing frenzy at the mere sight of a monster. But all of that fell within the law of the jungle that monsters took for granted.

A human went on a rampage and killed someone?

Hahaha, what a weak-ass bastard, getting killed by some fucking hooman~.

With that mindset, they felt no intense revulsion at the mere fact that he had once been human, nor did they rage about him being an enemy of monsterkind. Unless they belonged to the same species, they felt no kinship with the broad category of "monsters" in the first place!

As long as humans weren't trying to kill them, they didn't care what humans did. That was precisely why they could find the human lives shown on Squishy's stream interesting.

Then someone appeared in chat who would unwittingly change the subject—something even Smartass hadn't anticipated.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Aaaaah! Finally free!!!

Fenrir, who used the username Slam First Ask Later, returned to chat for the first time since the day Squishy had reunited with Nellin's party.

'It's Slam First Ask Later!'

Seeing Fenrir, Squishy wondered why he hadn't been around.

▷Why didn't you come?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶It's not like I stayed away because I wanted to. My streaming ban finally got lifted.

[Free Spirit]▶? I never blocked you.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Not that kind of ban! ... My wife told me not to, so I couldn't until now.

▶Hahahahaha!

▶Man, you're totally whipped. lol

The fire dragon clicked his tongue at the reason for Fenrir's absence.

[Noblesse Fire]▶Tsk, tsk, tsk. What kind of male can't stand up to his own female? Cut your dick off, asshole.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Shut up, you fucking lizard without a mate!

[Noblesse Fire]▶WHAT!!!

▶Hit a nerve, huh?

▶Damn, those facts hit hard. lol

▶Why do you need a mate? (Genuinely don't know.)

▶Ah, well, you see...

Returning after so long, Fenrir wanted to get his tale of woe off his chest first.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶I went through hell just to get here!

This was the story behind Fenrir's complaints.

+++

Fenrir had been watching Squishy's stream as usual. His wife always looked at him as though he were pathetic, and his children wouldn't even give him the time of day, so he had thrown himself even more fully into the stream, forgetting important responsibilities in the process.

As he lay sprawled out, blankly watching Squishy's stream, his wife addressed him.

"Honey."

Fenrir answered without even looking around.

"Yeah, what?"

"What are you doing right now?"

"What does it look like? Watching a stream."

"Don't you have something to do?"

"Something to do? What something? There's nothing..."

"What do you mean, nothing, you lazy bum!"

"!?"

At his mate's furious voice behind him, Fenrir hastily turned around. His mate stood there with her face twisted into a ferocious scowl, and beside her was one of their children, looking away.

"You're lounging around watching streams instead of hunting!? This is why our child went into those boars' territory without a care in the world!!!!"

"W-what!?"

Boars.

She meant the boar-shaped monsters called Cocytus. Not only were they enormous, they emitted an intense chill that froze their opponents, and they occupied a territory on the mountain where Fenrir lived.

Fenrir was confident he wouldn't lose a fight against a Cocytus, but they were powerful enough that even he couldn't expect an easy victory. For that reason, he didn't trespass on their territory lightly.

And now his own child had entered it.

"What were you thinking! Daddy told you not to go in there."

"N-no. I just..."

"You keep quiet!"

Fenrir's wife immediately silenced their child, then glared at him.

"You're so obsessed with streams you don't even know we've run out of food! Things got so bad our child went all the way into that boar's territory, not knowing any better, to refill our stores!"

"What? W-we've run out already? But I only filled them..."

"It's been over a month! Of course we've run out!"

"...!?"

'A-a whole month has passed?'

"Do you have any idea how shocked I was when I spotted our child running into that boar's territory on patrol? Thank goodness I happened to notice right then!"

As the head of the family, Fenrir was responsible for maintaining their territory and hunting, while his wife cared for their children and patrolled the territory.

"You! Restock the food! And! No streams for the time being! Just try watching one where I can see you! You'll be sorry!"

"W-wait, no streams? H-how am I supposed to pass the time without..."

"What gives you the right to talk back! If you're that bored, run around our territory and work off that great flabby belly!!!"

+++

[Slam First Ask Later]▶That's the tragic story behind it all!

▶Tragic?

▶Since when did "getting what you deserve" mean "tragic"?

[Noblesse Fire]▶Yep, cut your dick off.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Goodness, you need to look after your children~ No wonder your wife nags you. Raising children is ve~ry important, you know.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶What's your mate like, then! Huh! Bet he's no different from me!

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶My mate ran away. I don't know where he is.

[Slam First Ask Later]▶What?

Fenrir's jaw dropped at that unexpected bombshell.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶He's so cunning, honestly. All that remained was for him to become my flesh and blood, but I ended up falling asleep from his sleep venom. I was so naive back then, wasn't I?

[Slam First Ask Later]▶...

▶Don't female spiders eat the males after they're done mating?

▶Scary as fuck.

[Squishy Queen]▶How inconvenient it seems for the rest of you. Your offspring do not arise naturally with sufficient mana and the right environment.

▶That's just slimes.

▶Comparing us to single-celled organisms is a bit...

[Squishy Queen]▶WHO ARE YOU CALLING SINGLE-CELLED!!!

The chat was as noisy as ever. As Squishy watched it, a thought suddenly occurred to it.

'Slam First Ask Later! Strong! Good teacher!'

Fenrir had once taught Squishy how to fight through his own stream. Along with that memory came the image of Claire asking Nellin to teach her.

Squishy knew that to grow stronger, it needed to ask someone stronger than itself for instruction. And the best way to learn was through sparring.

▷Slam First Ask Later!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Hm? What is it?

▷I want to spar!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶What?

▶Where'd that come from?

▶???

Question marks filled the chat at Squishy's sudden request to spar with Fenrir.

[Free Spirit]▶Squishy, what do you mean? Why do you suddenly want to spar with the wolf?

▷Slam First Ask Later! Strong! Good teacher!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶I certainly am strong!

[Squishy Queen]▶Shut up and listen to my kin!

Squishy went on to list its reasons for wanting to spar with Fenrir.

▷I want to get stronger! To get stronger, I have to spar with someone strong! I'll spar with Slam First Ask Later and get stronger!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Ooooh! Squishy! What a wonderful idea!

Free from his mate's scolding and watching a stream for the first time in ages, Fenrir was overcome with emotion at Squishy's pure, earnest heart.

But Squishy still had something to say that would move him even more.

▷I'll spar with Master and get stronger!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶M-Master?!

Having watched Claire and Nellin's conversations, Squishy considered Fenrir its own master.

▶Oh, Squishy acknowledged him as its master all on its own.

[Squishy Queen]▶Grrrrrr! You daaaamned woooolf!

▶Hahahaha, now that's some proper NTR~.

▷Sparring with Master will make me stronger! I want to spar lots!

[Slam First Ask Later]▶Wooooo! Yes! I'll spar with you as much as you want! I'll teach you the essence of my Body Slam firsthand, as much as you like!

Overwhelmed with joy, Fenrir wanted to give Squishy everything he had and teach it every technique he knew.

Then one viewer raised a question.

▶But how are you gonna spar? Can Squishy even get to where the wolf lives?

The problem was location. In fact, most monsters kept their homes secret, so no one knew exactly where everyone else lived.

▷We can't spar?

Squishy's body drooped.

[Squishy Queen]▶Bah! Hurry up and find a way! You must not make my kin sad!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶Hmm, couldn't Smartass solve that problem?

▶Smartass?

▶Oh, right, that Smartass bastard has a skill that lets him go all over the place.

[Free Spirit]▶It's magic, not a skill.

▶Like I care?