Monster Livestream Star - Chapter 27

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Asakusa

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Monster Livestream Star ◈

Chapter 27: New Encounter (3)

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The leader wondered if he had misheard Def.

“Who caught them?”

“The Slime!”

‘So I didn’t mishear.’

The leader looked around.

Def, talking to him.

The wolf and deer carcasses lying nearby.

Hawein and Seugol, asleep.

And finally, the Slime bouncing around.

At least that ruled out the possibility that Hawein and Seugol had gone with Def.

“You’re really saying the Slime caught them? Tell me what happened.”

“Yes!”

Def nodded with a smile and began explaining.

“...So then we dragged the deer and wolves back.”

“Right.”

The leader knew Def was not the type to lie.

To begin with, Def was neither cunning nor smart enough to lie.

If Seugol ever made Def try to lie, it showed all over Def’s face.

The leader decided to believe Def for now and accepted that the Slime had caught the wolves.

‘What kind of Slime is this?’

It was not only agile enough that Seugol could not catch it, but it had taken down two wolves in an instant.

He had never heard of such a thing.

“Um, Boss.”

“What?”

Grrrr.

Def spoke as his stomach growled.

“I-if we don’t prepare the meat soon, it’ll spoil.”

“Right. We need to prepare it.”

The leader decided to worry about the Slime later.

Grrr.

He was not as hungry as Def, but one rabbit had not been enough for him either.

“Wake Hawein and Seugol. We’ll prepare it quickly and eat.”

“Yes, Boss!”

With a bright smile, Def woke Seugol and Hawein.

“Urgh! What is it, you pig? Why are you waking people up when they’re sleeping?”

“Yaaawn. What is it?”

“Get up, both of you, and prepare the meat.”

“Boss? What’s this? A deer and wolves?”

“Hehe, did you and Def go out hunting because you were hungry in the middle of the night?”

“I’ll explain later, so hurry up and help prepare them.”

Following the leader’s orders, Hawein and Seugol prepared the deer and wolves as well.

Crackle, crackle.

The sound of venison roasting in the dead of night drifted on the wind.

One rabbit had not been enough for Seugol and Hawein either, so the entire bandit gang watched the roasting meat with saliva practically dripping from their mouths.

While the meat roasted, the leader explained why they had it in the first place.

“What? This Slime caught the wolves?”

“That’s what Def said.”

“You believe what this idiot says, Boss?”

“I-I’m not an idiot...”

“Def may be a little slow, but he isn’t someone who would lie. You know that too.”

“But it’s only a Slime...”

As Seugol looked at the Slime suspiciously, Hawein laughed.

“Pfft. You’re the one who lost to a mere Slime, Seugol. Isn’t it better to admit you lost to a Slime that could even beat wolves easily?”

“I didn’t lose!”

“Ah! It’s done!”

The bandit gang decided to fill their bellies with the cooked meat first.

“Slime, here. This is yours.”

Boing!

The Slime ate the meat Def had grilled separately for it.

‘It’s delicious!’

It was certainly less tasty and nutritious than the food it had eaten at the mansion, but eating with others made this meat feel especially delicious.

After filling their bellies with meat, the bandits, tired from being woken in the middle of the night, soon fell asleep again.

+++

The next morning.

Having eaten meat late at night before going to bed, the leader woke with a puffy face and sank into thought.

‘What should I do with this Slime?’

At first, all he had thought was that a Slime that approached people without fear would fetch a decent price on the black market.

But after returning to the hideout, one astonishing thing after another had happened.

After going hunting, he learned that the Slime was agile enough that Seugol could not catch it.

Then he woke up to discover that the Slime was strong enough to take down two wolves in an instant.

A Slime that did not fear people, yet was this strong.

The leader had never seen or heard of one like it.

It was anything but an ordinary Slime.

That was why he began wondering whether he should really sell it on the black market.

If he did not sell it and used it for something else...

‘I think we could make even more money.’

The leader looked at his subordinates.

Hawein, Seugol, and Def.

They were all from the same rural village.

They called him Big Brother and had followed him when he left the village.

Since he had brought them along, he at least had to make sure they did not go hungry as their big brother.

Being adventurers, whose main work was hunting monsters, could be dangerous, so he had chosen to become a mercenary who mainly took on other jobs.

A mercenary company with only four members.

At first, they started by carrying cargo. Later, they gained experience by dealing with nearby Goblins, though nothing on the level of adventurers. After that, they took jobs escorting merchants or intimidating newly opened shops.

They mainly took on work that did not put their lives at great risk.

Even if they did not fight monsters, they had often fought people since childhood.

After spending so long together, the four of them worked seamlessly as a team. Ordinary thugs and novice adventurers were no match for them.

But that mercenary company had now become a bandit gang.

‘It’s all because of me.’

It had started with a noble’s request.

When their reputation as mercenaries had risen somewhat, a noble called Viscount Pedphil had arrogantly demanded that they accept a job.

The pay was good, so the leader immediately asked what the job entailed.

And its contents were rather shocking.

Kidnapping women from a village.

When they first heard it, not only the leader but the other three had doubted their own ears.

Viscount Pedphil had a hobby too vile to speak of.

He enjoyed forcing himself on women who had no feelings for him.

He enjoyed it even more when they suffered.

Even his reason for assigning such a vile task to mercenaries was ridiculous.

He could not have his own private soldiers do it, in case he was found out and his reputation suffered.

He could not entrust it to filthy back-alley thugs because they were not trustworthy.

But if he assigned it to a mercenary company that people trusted because it had completed so many jobs, no one would suspect them even if women were kidnapped.

Besides, he knew how important it was for mercenaries to honor contracts, so he was graciously giving them the job.

They should be grateful that he was offering a huge sum to a mere mercenary company that had gained a little fame through luck.

By the time he had heard all that, the leader had lost his reason and his fist had slammed into the viscount’s face.

That was how they had ended up like this.

They had somehow escaped the noble’s estate, but wanted notices were issued for the mercenary company. Unable to take normal jobs, they had no choice but to become a bandit gang.

Even after becoming bandits, they could not properly do that job either.

They were bandits in name only. All they did was block roads and stubbornly demand passage money.

They could not bring themselves to swing swords at people or rob them of their belongings.

‘If we keep doing this half-hearted bandit work, we’ll eventually hit our limit. In that case, maybe...’

Even if they were wanted, the order was only valid in the nearby region where the viscount held influence.

They had turned to banditry because the leader thought it would be safer for his subordinates than being adventurers.

But after actually becoming bandits, he realized something.

They were completely unsuited to being bandits.

Just as the leader himself felt they were reaching their limit, they had met the Slime.

A Slime that was swift, friendly toward people, and strong enough to take down at least two wolves immediately.

‘If we train this Slime properly.’

It might be dangerous, but he thought living as adventurers would be better.

For that possibility, the leader decided to conduct a few tests.

+++

First, the leader told his subordinates that they would hunt Goblins that day.

“Goblins? Boss, it takes at least an hour to get to the Goblins. They aren’t worth much money, either. And aren’t we robbing anyone?”

“Stop complaining and follow me, Seugol. Def, you take good care of that Slime.”

“Yes, Boss!”

After taking his subordinates to the area where Goblins lived, the leader spotted some and ordered Def.

“Def, try taking those Goblins down with the Slime.”

“Yes, Boss!”

“Boss? What are you saying...”

“Quiet.”

First, he wanted to see whether the Slime really was strong enough to catch wolves.

“Come on, Slime! Let’s catch Goblins!”

Boing!

The leader sent Def and the Slime off, still half doubtful, but he soon saw the truth.

“Yah!”

While Def swung his sword and took down a Goblin.

Boing! Boing! Boing!

Thud! Whack! Bam!

The Slime hunted one Goblin with every bounce.

“What is that?”

“It really is an amazing Slime.”

At that sight, even Hawein stared and blinked, along with Seugol.

“Hehe, Slime. You’re amazing!”

Boing!

Def smiled innocently as he praised the Slime despite catching fewer Goblins than it, while the Slime bounced as if pleased.

Seeing that, the leader sensed possibility and gave further orders.

He had the Slime pair up to hunt Goblins with not only Def, but Seugol and Hawein as well. Finally, he teamed up with the Slime himself and took down Goblins.

The result of those tests was...

‘What? Why is it so obedient? And it’s incredibly... smart?’

The results were astonishingly good.

The Slime was strangely cooperative.

Not only that, it clearly understood human speech.

“Hey! This time, I’ll catch two, so you catch just one and stay put!”

After the Slime killed most of the Goblins it found, Seugol grew irritated and made that demand.

Amazingly, the Slime quickly caught only one and stayed still.

That was not all.

“Hey! What are you doing? Help me!”

While Seugol was taking down the remaining Goblins, more Goblins arrived and gave him trouble. When he shouted that...

Boing!