After booking a room, Nellin and her group brought the slime inside.
The room they gathered in was a four-person room originally reserved for the Godrick party, so even with eight people, it felt spacious.
Rather than explaining what had happened so far to the slime first, Nellin flopped face-down onto the bed and spoke.
“Hey, give me that massage or whatever it is too. I've always been curious about it.”
“Yes, Lady Nellin......”
"Nellin sis.......”
“Oh, come on. You guys have all had it already. What’s wrong with me trying it too?”
‘Massage! Massage!’
Boing!
The slime immediately jumped off Def’s head and landed on Nellin’s back.
Pop!
Then it extended its tentacles to Nellin’s shoulders and started the massage right away.
Brrrrrrrr!
“O-oh-oh-oh, ooooh~ ahhh~ this feels amazing~.”
Not just her back, but also the tentacle massage on her shoulders received rave reviews from Nellin.
“Wow, Tongtong actually pulled out tentacles!”
“Well, it is a slime, so it can pull out tentacles.”
“It really has grown since we last saw it.”
“Heh, by the way, Nellin sis’s voice sounds like an old man having a drink after work.”
“Hawane, you and I need to talk later.”
“Haha...... Hawane never changes.”
Familiar with the usual banter of the Godrick party, Paulen watched with a smile.
“Well then, I should get ready too.”
Paulen started taking off his top.
“P-Paladin!? Why are you taking off your clothes all of a sudden!?”
“Well, it’s because I want to get a massage from Jiggly too, Miss Gracie.”
“I-I see.”
Gracie couldn’t argue against such a confident answer.
Then Amelia moved to stand behind Paulen, who was near the bed.
“Saintess?”
“I also want to get Jiggly’s massage after so long.....”
“I want it too!”
“Let’s see how much it has improved.”
When Skol and then Godrick also lined up, “Jiggly’s massages are good for focus too!”
Gracie also quietly joined the line.
***
“Phew! I feel so refreshed. No wonder everyone kept praising the massage.”
After the slime’s massage ended, Nellin praised his skills with a bright expression.
“Ah! You’ve improved so much, Jiggly! Your massage skills are even better than before!”
Of course, Nellin wasn’t the only one praising it.
Paulen, well-known for his muscles, also admired how much better his muscles felt than before.
And the rest of the group all wore relaxed expressions after receiving the slime’s massage.
“It really got so much better.......”
“Hehe, Tongtong’s gotten even better.”
“Is it really a slime, though?”
“Thanks to this, I feel like I can focus more on magic~”
Meanwhile, the viewers watching this scene were more interested in something other than the slime’s massage.
They were curious about the members who had gathered there.
▶ Wow, except for that big nest human, everyone’s here.
▶ How did they know that muscle human, orange human, and the one with all the accessories would show up too lol.
▶ No one expected even that Kanf to appear.
The viewers could understand why the Godrick party would look for the slime.
But no one imagined that the person named Marin was actually the elf the slime had first met.
That’s because only Troll realized Marin was Nellin!
For the other viewers, this meeting was nothing short of a surprise stream.
▶ So who’s doing the sparring content now?
▶ Ah~ I liked watching them fight clumsily though.
▶ Will they take turns?
▶ Now that the orange human showed up, is it time for healing content again?
As the group grew larger, the monsters discussed among themselves what content might come next.
While the chat was getting rowdy, Nellin got up from the bed and looked at the slime.
“Well then, let’s test something.”
‘Test?’
“Nellin sis, what do you mean by test?”
“Of course, it’s to see how smart Tongtong really is.”
“But don’t we already know Tongtong is smart?”
“You all thought it could only understand words so far. You didn’t know it could write until I told you. So let’s test it here. Honestly, even I’m still not fully convinced just hearing about it.”
“Ah...... it would be good to confirm it for sure.”
‘If this goes well, I might get even closer to Jiggly.’
“I-I definitely want to confirm it.”
‘If this gets fully proven, it’ll be an incredible discovery!’
Amelia and Gracie both strongly agreed with Nellin’s proposed test.
“Hehe, I actually prepared all this for just this moment~.”
Nellin pulled out paper and a pen from her luggage.
Then she started writing names on the paper.
Alexandros II.
Tongtong.
Jiggly.
These were all names that the slime had been called.
Nellin placed the paper with the names in front of the slime.
“Hey, Tongtong. Poke them in the order you were called. Since you can write, you should understand this much, right?”
‘It’s names!’
What did she write?
▶ What’s this about the order they were called?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Troll!!! Can’t you come out and tell us what it says immediately!?
[Free Spirit] ▶ It says Alexandros II, Tongtong, Jiggly. Those are the names Squishy was called so far.
▶ Eh, that’s it? Kinda boring.
Pop!
▶ Lol, was it just a reading test?
The slime pulled out its tentacles again and lightly poked the names on the paper.
Of course, it poked them in the order it had been called.
Alexandros II, Tongtong, Jiggly.
“As expected, it can read.”
“Hmm, Lady Nellin. I think that was a bit too easy.”
“Easy? Then what do you suggest?”
“Let’s do this. Please lend it to me for a moment.”
Paulen took the paper and pen and began writing the names of everyone currently in the room on the paper.
“Jiggly, if you can really read letters.”
Paulen placed the paper with all the names in front of the slime.
“Read the names starting from here and point to the person they belong to with your tentacle. It’s a name-guessing game.”
‘Name-guessing game!’
Boing!
Delighted by the new game, the slime immediately started reading the paper.
‘Amelia! Def! Gracie! Skol! Godrick! Nellin! Hawane! Paulen!’
The slime pointed to each person in the order their names were written.
“Perfect.”
“Bro! Tongtong can really read all our names!”
“Should we have asked it to choose from a menu when we ordered food instead?”
“Jiggly isn’t just kind but also really smart!”
“This... this is truly the discovery of the century!”
“Ventus would be interested in this. Oh, by the way. Hey, so which name do you actually like being called the most?”
‘Which name?’
Not understanding what Nellin meant, the slime tilted its body curiously.
“Look at this.”
Nellin pointed to the three names written on the paper with her finger.
She pointed out the names the slime had been called so far.
“Which one do you like the most? Alexandros II? Tongtong? Jiggly? Honestly, it’s a pain for us to call you by different names. Choose the one you like the most.”
What Nellin was proposing was to unify how they called it.
“So you mean we should decide on one name to call Jiggly by?”
“Yeah. It’s best if it gets called by the name it likes the most. Don’t you agree?”
“That makes sense.”
“Tongtong! Which name would you like?”
The slime looked at the paper and thought.
Which name did it want to be called the most?
The one Jessie gave it, Alexandros II?
The one Def gave it, Tongtong?
Or the one Amelia gave it, Jiggly?
What did it want to be called by its human friends?
As it pondered, the slime suddenly remembered.
The very first name it chose for itself when it was born in this world.
Not from humans, but from those who always watched over it.
‘Squishy!’
If it was going to have an official name, and be called by its close friends, the slime thought that this name felt the best.
And so.
Sliiiide!
The slime reached out a tentacle and grabbed the pen Nellin was holding.
“Huh?”
Although she was surprised by the sudden grab, Nellin handed over the pen without resistance.
Then, using the pen, the slime wrote on the paper.
The name it wanted to be called.
‘This one!’
Tap tap!
After writing it, the slime tapped the paper with the pen for emphasis.
“What’s this? Squishy?”
‘Squishy!’
Boing!
“You want to be called this? Toton... no, Squishy?”
‘Yes!’
Boing!
“I never expected it would actually choose its own name.”
“Heh, Squishy... it really suits you. Though I personally prefer Alexandros II...”
“Well, it is squishy, so Squishy does fit.”
Skol poked the slime—no, Squishy—with his finger.
“Alright! Then let’s all call it Squishy from now on! Everyone’s fine with that, right?”
“Yes, if Squishy likes it, I’m fine with it too.”
“M-me too!”
▶ Oh, so the humans are finally calling it by a proper name?
▶ Having multiple names was fun too, though.
▶ But yeah, it’s easier to just stick to Squishy~.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Hmph! Finally, my kin is being called by the right name!
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Squishy is cute no matter what name it has~.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Enough about the name, aren’t these guys going to do something else?
[Just Slam First] ▶ Spar! Hurry up and spar, Squishy! Show that muscle human your new strength!
***
After Nellin and her group took the slime to the room, Claire quietly spent time at the inn’s first floor, sipping a drink.
While she was sitting there, an adventurer came up and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Too bad. You’ll have to part with Tongtong now.”
“Huh?”
“The people who came to retrieve Tongtong are here now. This village... it’ll feel lonely.”
The adventurer thought Claire was going to complete her quest and separate from the slime, so he was trying to comfort her.
“It’s okay. When there’s a goodbye, there’s also a new meeting. Even if you part ways now, you’ll meet again someday...”
“I’m not parting with it.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not parting with Tongtong.”
“W-what? But isn’t the quest to find the slime over now?”
“Yes, that’s true. But if Marin leaves this village, I’m going to follow. Marin promised to teach me how to become stronger after finding Tongtong. So I have to learn.”
“Ah, ahh~ is that so?”
“Yeah.”
The adventurer felt extremely awkward.
“Ahem! Looks like this village is the only one that’s going to get lonely~.”
The adventurer wasn’t shameless enough to keep standing there, so he quickly left the inn.
‘Thank goodness I didn’t talk to her first.’
‘I almost embarrassed myself.’
‘She’s going with them?’
Thanks to that one adventurer’s sacrifice, the other guests at the inn who had thought about comforting Claire were spared from embarrassment.
Not long after, Nellin’s group came downstairs with the slime.
Seeing Claire waiting on the first floor, Nellin spoke.
“Oh, by the way, you guys never properly thanked her.”
“Ah!”
“Oh, right! We were so happy to see... Squishy again that we completely forgot.”
“W-we need to thank her properly!”
“Heh, we can’t betray a favor.”
“How could I make such a mistake!”
“Let’s go, Saintess.”
The group approached Claire one by one to thank her, and Claire just replied with a quiet “Mm” and nodded several times.
“Q-quite a reserved person.”
“She looks so cute, but she talks... s-so little.”
Her unwavering attitude left Amelia and Gracie flustered.
Meanwhile, Paulen looked up at the slime sitting on Def’s head and spoke.
“Squishy! How about a workout after so long?”
‘Workout!’
Brrrrrr!
“Hehehe, it tickles, Squishy!”