An unexpected visit from the Saintess, the Paladin, and the slime.
Gracie was surprised they had come to her home, but she quickly tried to figure out the reason with her sharp mind.
‘If you ask around the Magic Tower, anyone could easily find out where I live. Does that mean they seriously plan to use me until there’s nothing left?! My... my research time…!’
Her initial shock rapidly turned into horror and despair.
It felt like having a looming deadline on an important assignment and suddenly being told by your parents that your younger cousins will be staying with you and that you have to look after them.
“I’m sorry, Miss Gracie. Jiggly suddenly insisted we come here…”
“W-what? The slime?”
‘They’re shameless enough to blame a monster while trying to make me work for them?! I’ve never seen this kind of roundabout exploitation before!’
Gracie felt dizzy with confusion.
She truly believed they were using a monster as an excuse to abuse their authority.
“Jiggly, why did you suddenly say we should come here?”
The Paladin asked as he approached from behind, which shocked Gracie even more.
It was because she now felt not only the Saintess but also the Paladin were united in a new type of power play!
‘This is... the Saintess and the Paladin from the Holy Capital? This is a different dimension of bullying!’
If the Magic Tower’s abuse was about directly demanding things from others, the Holy Capital’s version felt like shamelessly pushing responsibility onto others.
‘Magic tool!’
Squelch!
While Gracie stood frozen in shock, the slime extended a tentacle to touch one of the magic tools she was wearing.
The slime wasn’t forcefully taking it—it was simply feeling the texture.
Startled by the slime’s sudden move, Amelia cried out.
“Jiggly! You can’t touch other people’s stuff without permission!”
She stepped back quickly, pulling the tentacle away from the magic tool.
‘No?’
Hearing Amelia’s words, the slime retracted its tentacle and drooped forward dejectedly.
“Ah! Jiggly. You just need to ask for permission! So don’t be too sad.”
“Hm, could it be that Jiggly wanted to come here just to see the magic tools?”
“What? Really?”
“I can’t think of any other reason for Jiggly to want to come here.”
‘What the heck?’
Gracie, who had been assuming it was some new form of exploitation, now had a big question mark floating in her mind after what she just witnessed.
‘Are they seriously saying the slime came to see me?’
They weren’t just saying one or two sentences—they were going on and on, making her truly wonder if they were being sarcastic or just part of a new type of manipulation.
“Um… Miss Saintess? Sir Paladin? Are you really saying that slime led you here?”
“Oh. I’m sorry. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?”
“We were just taking a walk near the Magic Tower when Jiggly pointed in this direction. We were surprised too. We had no idea this was your house, Miss Gracie.”
‘Seriously? Really?’
Gracie was still uncertain, but that didn’t mean she could kick out a Saintess and Paladin who had come all the way to her house.
After all, she had been directly appointed as their guide by the Tower Master.
If she kicked them out and word got back to him, it could impact her research funding.
More than that, her reputation in the Magic Tower could plummet if word spread that she’d kicked out a Saintess and a Paladin.
As a magic tool–buffed mage, Gracie wanted to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble.
“Um, could you please wait just a moment? It’ll only take a second. The house is a bit messy~ I’ll tidy up right away!”
Gracie quickly shut the door and rushed to clean up.
“This goes here! That goes there!”
“W-was there always this much laundry?”
“Just stuff it all in…!”
Five minutes later, Gracie opened the door again, drenched in sweat.
“P-please come in!”
“Are you sure it’s okay to come inside?”
“Of course! My house is equipped with magical tools, so it’s very comfortable!”
‘I shoved everything that looked messy into the room, so it’s fine!’
Amelia, Paulen, and the slime entered Gracie’s house.
Immediately, the slime’s eyes sparkled, and Amelia and Paulen were amazed.
As soon as they entered, they were greeted by an overwhelming number of magic tools.
Not only were they displayed on the walls, but there were special drawers and stands specifically for displaying them.
Someone unfamiliar with magic tools might think she was someone obsessed with collecting luxury accessories, but the bracelets and necklaces had slots for special gems or magic stones, so Amelia and Paulen immediately recognized them as magic tools.
“There sure are… a lot of magic tools.”
“It’s quite the sight.”
Hearing their admiration, Gracie felt a surge of pride.
“Ahem! I personally selected and purchased all of these. Each one demonstrates amazing performance depending on the combination.”
“You mean you can actually use all of them?”
To Paulen’s question, Gracie responded with great enthusiasm and began speaking rapidly.
“Of course! I’m not like those foolish collectors who just gather things and don’t use them. All the tools I’m wearing right now—these are the result of finding the most optimal combinations! Naturally, what’s optimal can change depending on the situation, so those over there could be combined with others to…”
While they were still taken aback by the most energetic version of Gracie they’d seen so far—
The snarky little slime who led them to her house was feeling a shock it hadn’t anticipated.
‘How much did all that cost?! Why did she buy so many?! Why is she so proud of it all…?!’
Given how many magic tools she was wearing, the slime figured she’d have a few more at home.
But Gracie’s home was practically a miniature magic tool museum.
To the naturally minimalist slime, it was beyond comprehension.
The slime had already finished analyzing the market prices of magic tools during the walk with Paulen.
That’s why it was easy to imagine just how astronomically valuable all the magic tools in Gracie’s house must be.
‘Instead of wasting money on all those magic tools, she should’ve invested in training to grow stronger herself!’
No matter how passionately Gracie spoke about magic tool combinations, to the stunned mind of the natural-born mage, it all sounded like complete nonsense.
‘While she’s wasting time thinking up combinations, she should be honing her own skills! Aah! Aaaahhh!’
This was Ventus Frail, former Sage of Magic and now a lich, experiencing his worst mental anguish in 30 years.
The slime, completely unaware of Troll’s suffering, began to show a strong interest in Gracie’s words.
‘Combinations! Amazing!’
It was already fun just to use a single magic tool, but the idea that combining multiple ones could create even more varied effects?
Having discovered the joy of using magic tools, the slime now looked forward to the thrill of building combinations.
“Ah!”
Getting too fired up about magic tools, Gracie suddenly snapped back to reality.
‘This isn’t the time! I need to find out exactly why they came to my house!’
“I’m sorry, Lady Saintess, Sir Paladin. I got carried away talking, didn’t I?”
“N-no! You were very passionate, and it was great!”
“I thought it made perfect sense that you would have such an impressive collection of magic tools.”
“Ahaha, th-thank you. So… did you really come here because of the slime?”
“Well… it might sound unbelievable, but let me explain what happened yesterday. It may be hard to believe, but Jiggly is a really smart and friendly slime.”
“Yes.”
‘Is this like bragging about a pet or something?’
“After we met the Tower Master yesterday, we returned home right away. And then…”
Amelia began recounting yesterday’s events from her perspective.
After they got home, the slime started playing with a water-releasing magic tool.
It used its tentacles to operate the tool and seemed to have a lot of fun with it.
Later, when she came out after reading in her room, she found that the slime had inserted mana into a tool with no mana stones left and was using it—demonstrating just how much it loved magic tools.
“So maybe that’s why it insisted on coming to Miss Gracie’s house, where there are lots of magic tools.”
“Miss Gracie?”
“What… did I just hear? You’re not lying, are you?”
“It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? But Jiggly really can use magic tools on its own. It’s incredibly skilled with its tentacles, too. Right, Jiggly?”
‘Yup!’
The slime extended a tentacle and flexed a pretend bicep.
“See? It even understands what we’re saying so well—”
“That’s not what’s important!”
Gracie suddenly shouted, slamming the table with a loud bang as she stood up.
“Huh?”
“What’s the matter, Miss Gracie?”
Amelia and Paulen couldn’t understand what had shocked Gracie so deeply.
Wasn’t it a big deal that a slime could be this intelligent?
So what was she so surprised about?
Seeing their genuinely clueless expressions only made Gracie more dumbfounded.
‘Are you serious? You really don’t get it?’
‘Yes! You can sense it too, right?! You understand, as a magic tool–enhanced mage, just how insane this is, don’t you, Gracie?!’
Troll, who had been mentally shattered moments earlier, now rejoiced at finally seeing the reaction he had been waiting for from Gracie.
“How could a slime just insert mana into a magic tool designed for mana stones and make it work?!”
“What? But aren’t there magic tools that work if you just inject mana into them—?”
“Those are intentionally designed to accept free mana! Magic tools made for mana stones are constructed totally differently!”
“Is that so?”
Amelia and Paulen both looked puzzled.
They clearly didn’t understand how impossible what they were describing was, and that was making Gracie want to scream.
‘So frustrating! How can they not get it?!’
While Troll, having lived through many experiences, might think some people just don’t know better, Gracie hadn’t yet reached that level of patience.
‘Did this slime really do that? Really?’
She couldn’t just take someone’s word on such a ridiculous claim.
So Gracie decided she had to see it for herself.
“Please wait a moment. You said it was a water-dispensing magic tool, right?”
Gracie went to her display case, pulled out a magic tool that sprayed water, removed the mana stone from it, and brought it over.
“Can you show me with this?”
She half-expected Amelia or Paulen to try to weasel out of it.
She couldn’t think of a reason they’d lie to her, but the story was just too unbelievable not to feel suspicious.
But contrary to Gracie’s thoughts, Amelia immediately took the magic tool.
“Sure. Jiggly, hold this.”
‘Yup!’
The slime reached out with a tentacle and grabbed the tool.
Amelia then carried the slime to the kitchen.
“Lady Saintess? Where are you going?”
“Hm? I need to put Jiggly in a pot. We can’t have water splashing everywhere.”
“R-right. That makes sense.”
Everyone moved to the kitchen, and Amelia placed the slime—still holding the magic tool—into a pot.
“Jiggly, use the tool like you did yesterday.”
‘Okay!’
Click!
The slime flipped the switch, opened the lid, and pressed its tentacle against the device.
Then, as it injected mana—
Ssshhhhhhh!
Just like yesterday, the tool activated and sprayed water over the slime’s head.
Brrrrrr!
“Whaaa?!”
Seeing it happen with her own eyes, Gracie’s jaw dropped open and she instinctively covered her mouth with both hands.
‘This is… this is…!’
…
Watching a scene that completely shattered what she thought she knew, Gracie felt not only shock but also came to a major realization.
‘This is a new thesis topic!’
The very research theme she had been struggling to find was now right in front of her eyes.