The slime knew about the item that Troll had spread out.
[Squishy] ▶ It’s a map!
▶ A map? What’s that?
▶ Hold on! What is a map? It’s something humans draw to depict the terrain of a certain area!
▶ Humans really draw all kinds of things.
▶ Why not just remember it as you go?
The map Troll took out showed only the continent of Derxia.
Pointing to each place with his bony finger, Troll began to explain.
▷ This is the Blue Elven Forest where you were first.
▷ This is where you lived with Jessie.
▷ This is the village where you were with those four humans.
▷ This is the Holy City where you were with Amelia, and this is the Magic Tower.
[Squishy] ▶ Jessie! Village! Holy City! Magic Tower!
The slime enjoyed recognizing the places it had been through the map.
▶ What, they draw it this close together?
▶ Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?
▶ More importantly, where should he go next?
▶ Wouldn’t that big human mansion be good?
There’s tons of food there.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Wouldn’t the best place be where that human Amelia is? You got separated suddenly, after all.
[Just Slam First] ▶ If we’re going there, the place where those four humans are should come first! You can do lots of bashing around if you’re with them!
The viewers started arguing again about where the slime should go.
Ignoring them, Troll spoke to the slime through telepathy.
[Squishy, you can’t go straight to the Holy City or the Magic Tower right now. If you do, you’ll be in danger.]
Even though there had been no reports mentioning the slime or Gracie in the circulating rumors, it couldn’t be considered completely safe.
Especially since Brooks Vessilja, who had tried to kill the slime for his own greed, was in the Magic Tower.
And Amelia and Paulen must have already reported back in the Holy City.
The High Priests of the Grand Church might suspect some connection between the slime and himself, the lich.
Meeting humans in areas away from the Holy City or Magic Tower was safe, but going directly to either place was dangerous, Troll thought.
So Troll tried to spark Squishy’s curiosity.
[How about going somewhere new you haven’t been yet?]
‘A new place!’
Troll’s approach worked on the slime.
Squishy stared more intently at the map.
The Ludendion County, Blue Elven Forest, Magic Tower, and Holy City all seemed clustered together on the map.
But the map of the Derxia continent showed many other regions besides the ones the slime had been to.
Going north from the Holy City, there was the capital.
Above the capital was a marked snowy mountain region.
Going south, there was the Active Magic Zone, a place where monsters were especially active on the Derxia continent.
To the east, there was a region divided among several nobles—unlike the clearly marked Holy City, Magic Tower, and Capital.
Squishy’s gaze wandered toward the unexplored north, south, and east.
Its curiosity about new things was stirring.
But the slime was no longer the same as when it was first filled with nothing but curiosity.
The slime had met many humans.
And it had become close to them.
Nellin.
Jessie, Nina, Finn.
Godrick, Hawane, Skol, Def.
Amelia, Paulen.
Gracie.
Meeting these many humans, learning various things, and finding joy in simply being with them had been wonderful.
And so, a new desire had been born within the slime.
It wanted to share the joy of discovering new things with the humans it cared about.
It wanted to meet them again.
So after looking away from the unexplored areas of the map…
‘Here!
It pointed to a forest below the Magic Tower on the map.
Coincidentally, this forest was about five days away by carriage from the Colosseum.
[Squishy] ▶ I want to go here!
Though this forest was a first for the slime, it didn’t seem too far from the places it had already visited.
The slime vaguely thought:
‘If I explore this area and keep moving, I’ll run into the humans I got separated from again.’
There was no solid reason behind this thought, but the slime didn’t doubt it.
▷ Here, huh?
[Squishy] ▶ Yup! I want to go here!
Troll was curious why the slime had chosen this forest.
It was a place where fairly strong monsters appeared.
C~B rank monsters lived there, so it was nicknamed "Lightning Strike Forest."
It earned this name because adventurers often went to hunt C rank monsters but ended up unexpectedly encountering B rank monsters instead.
‘Lightning Strike Forest... with Squishy’s current strength, it’s not a bad choice.’
Troll judged that the slime could handle multiple B rank monsters attacking at once.
Originally, bounce slimes were rare and hard to find.
But a normal bounce slime wasn’t that strong.
They were just slimes that specialized in using their elasticity to bounce higher and farther.
But the slime before him was different.
Because it was intelligent, it actively leveraged its traits.
It had also grown stronger through regularly eating nutritious food and training.
This slime was nothing like an ordinary slime.
Moreover, it had gained valuable combat experience through sparring with the much stronger paladin Paulen and the lich Troll.
Such a slime wouldn’t lose to wild B rank monsters that couldn’t use system-based abilities.
‘If it gets too dangerous, I’ll just step in and help.’
Having been holed up in his secret workshop for over thirty years, Troll had recently gotten used to going outside thanks to going out daily to prepare food for the slime.
▷ Got it. I’ll teleport you to that area tomorrow.
[Squishy] ▶ Okay!
***
Troll gave the slime breakfast and, as promised, prepared to send it out of the secret workshop.
The next day.
[Squishy, are you ready?]
‘Yup!’
Boing!
[Then I’ll teleport you.]
Troll used Warp Magic to move himself and the slime to Lightning Strike Forest.
‘Wow! It’s outside!’
Seeing the green scenery for the first time in a month, the slime was thrilled.
Feeling the soft earth and grass, instead of the hard floor of the secret workshop, delighted the slime.
[Squishy, I’m heading back now. If it gets dangerous, I’ll come again, so don’t worry.]
‘Okay! Troll! Thank you!’
Boing! Boing!
Once Troll had teleported back to the secret workshop, the slime excitedly turned on its stream for the first time in a while.
The title was simply [I Will Meet Them!]
A title reflecting its desire to reunite with the humans it had parted from.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ You've finally started the stream, my kin!
The first one to enter the room was Squishy Queen, who had been waiting the whole time.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ You finally escaped that gloomy Troll nest.
▶ It was seriously dark and gloomy.
▶ Typical of that loser Troll lololol.
[User 2214 has been banned.]
[Free Spirit] ▶ I'm still the manager.
▶ LOL.
▶ I still have power, so watch your mouth, lolol.
Slime had always watched the viewer chat through Troll’s streams.
But seeing the chatroom from its own stream felt a bit different.
[Just Slam First] ▶ So what are you going to do now, Squishy?
▷ I'm going to move! I want to explore!
Out in the open after so long.
The slime decided to roam freely before deciding its next move.
Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing!
The slime bounced energetically, dashing through Lightning Strike Forest.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Kyaaah! Squishy bouncing around like that is just too cute~.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ My kin! No matter how excited you are, don't let your guard down!
▶ Yesss! This is what I’m talking about! Now we’ve got some speed!
▶ Ah! Speed x Slime!
Even though it was excited, the slime wasn’t moving recklessly.
It had just eaten breakfast, so there was no need to defeat monsters on purpose.
So Squishy used its detection ability and adjusted its route to avoid encountering monsters.
After all, it could just hunt monsters when it got hungry!
Instead, the slime was more interested in trying out different ways of moving.
Boing!
Sliiiide~!
Usually, it just bounced along the ground.
But this time, it started moving by using its tentacles.
The slime extended a tentacle to wrap around a tree branch, swung forward like a swing, and then retrieved the tentacle and stretched it toward the next branch, moving forward again.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
‘This is fun!’
Grabbing parts of golems or dodging Paulen’s sword—Squishy was using all the techniques it had learned to its heart's content.
▶ What the heck is that lolol.
▶ Why is it moving like a monkey instead of bouncing lolol.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Looks like it really wanted to use those tentacles.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ That’s some weird movement.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ What do you mean weird! A slime should naturally be able to use tentacles!
▶ Then have you ever moved like that?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ SILENCE!
▶ LOLLOLLOL.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Even the way it uses tentacles is super cute~.
▶ Is there anything about it that isn’t cute?
[Thread-Lady] ▶ You.
▶ LOL.
▶ Seriously, a roast? Right here?
Thanks to the slime's first stream in a while, the chat had come alive again.
The slime also felt a strange joy as it glanced at the lively chat.
And then—
‘Huh? A person!’
The slime detected a human presence.
But it wasn’t just a human.
There were also multiple monster presences surrounding the human.
The monsters were approaching the person.
Danger!
The slime stopped moving by tentacle and switched back to its most reliable method—bouncing—and followed the presence.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ What the—why are you turning around?
▷ Person! In danger!
‘A human?’
▶ Why is there always a human everywhere you go lolol.
▶ Isn’t that normal in the Derxia Continent?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Are you heading toward another human again, my kin! Wouldn't it be nice to be alone sometimes?
▶Look at her panicking, worried about getting NTR'd again lolol.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Who said I’m panicking?!
▷ Person! In danger right now!
Soon, the slime arrived at the place where it had sensed the presence.
Grrrrrr!
"Ugh..."
What had only been a presence became a clear scene before the slime’s eyes.
A girl with white-silver hair, ears and tail, and golden eyes was leaning against a tree, bleeding from her shoulder and thigh.
Surrounding her were several monsters, drooling and baring their fangs as they closed in.
The girl in danger, surrounded by monsters—
She was the winner of the Colosseum and the one who had once asked Nellin for guidance.
It was Claire.
‘She’s in danger!’
Boing!
The slime launched itself toward the monsters surrounding the girl, using a Bounce Tackle.