WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Monster Livestream Star ◈
Chapter 49: Muscles (2)
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The Godric Party headed for the counter as soon as they entered the Guild.
After Nellin stepped aside, Godric took out a pouch and placed it on the counter.
“Count these.”
“Certainly.”
The receptionist quickly counted the proof of subjugation inside the pouch.
Monster body parts.
“I have confirmed them all. Good work on subjugating the Orcs, everyone.”
“Yeah. More importantly... still no news?”
“I’m sorry. There hasn’t been any significant news yet.”
“We’ll pay the flyer costs properly, so keep it up. There’s no way they died that easily.”
‘There’s no way they died?’
“Yes, understood.”
“Guys, let’s go train.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Godric Party headed for the Guild’s training ground.
‘Are those the ones?’
Nellin guessed that the party the receptionist had mentioned was the Godric Party.
Their words about there being no way their companion had died, and the fact that they went straight to train after completing their request, matched what she had heard.
“Hey, was that the party you were talking about?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But didn’t you say they lost a companion? Why the flyers...?”
“They didn’t see their companion die themselves. But they fell from a cliff and were swept away by the current.”
At that point, it was only natural to consider the companion’s death all but certain.
Yet Nellin felt sorry for the Godric Party, who still refused to accept it.
“Do you have one of those flyers?”
She did not think their companion was alive, but she decided she should at least remember what they looked like.
“Yes. Here it is.”
Nellin looked at the flyer the receptionist immediately handed her.
“Hm?”
A question mark seemed to pop up above her head.
“Uh, wait. This is...”
“Ah, it makes sense that you’d be surprised.”
That was because the flyer did not show a person’s face, but a Slime.
“The companion they lost is a Slime.”
“A Slime?”
“Yes. They attracted attention around here as an adventuring party that traveled with a Slime.”
Nellin read the distinctive traits listed on the flyer.
Name: Tongtong[1]
Light green Slime.
Very nimble.
Friendly toward people.
Smart enough to understand human speech.
Often bounces, and trembles when happy.
Can jump very high.
Can shine on its own.
If found, please report to the Adventurers’ Guild.
An additional reward will be paid for bringing it in personally.
‘Could this be... Alexander II?’
The traits written on the flyer were far too similar to the Slime Nellin knew.
If it could defeat twelve Goblins, of course it would be nimble. And it had been friendly enough toward people to spend a month at the count’s estate without any trouble.
It was smart enough to write on its own, and Jessie had personally told Nellin that it bounced or trembled whenever it was happy.
‘But what is this about glowing?’
She could set aside the part about jumping high, since she had no standard to judge that by. But the fact that it could shine on its own was a trait she had never expected.
‘I should ask them about it in more detail.’
“Got it. Thanks for the flyer.”
Nellin tucked the flyer into her clothes and headed to the training ground where the Godric Party was.
The Godric Party was, quite literally, training.
“Fourteen...! Fifteen...!”
They did push-ups.
“Huff! Huff!”
They ran hard around the training ground.
Clang! Clang!
And they sparred with drawn swords, honing their skills.
But...
‘Something feels... sloppy?’
By Nellin’s standards, their training was sloppy.
That did not mean it was bad or wrong.
Focusing on improving one’s strengths was also a form of training.
Still, to Nellin, it felt somewhat unfocused.
‘At that rate, it’ll take them a long time to grow stronger.’
Fifty years ago, Nellin had watched one of her companions, a human known as the Shield of Iron Wall, Aldor Meyer, train without fail even during their journey to defeat the Black Dragon.
That was why she knew.
Training had stages, and once someone reached a certain level of strength, they needed more intense training or their progress would slow.
The Godric Party’s training fit that example exactly.
They were not deliberately doing low-intensity training.
They simply did not know better.
They had no teacher to tell them such things, and until now, they had been satisfied with the strength they naturally gained through mercenary work.
On top of that, their impatience to grow stronger after losing the Slime was narrowing their vision even further.
“You there. Stop for a moment.”
Rather than continue watching, Nellin called out to the Godric Party.
“Eighteen...! Hm?”
“What?”
“An Elf?”
“What do you want with us?”
Since the only people in the training ground were the Godric Party and Nellin, Godric naturally assumed she was calling them and approached her.
“You’re looking for a Slime, right? A light green Slime that readily clings to people.”
“...Do you know something!?”
“D-do you know where Tongtong is?”
“No, I don’t.”
“What?”
“Hey, don’t make such scary faces. The truth is, I saw that Slime once too, so I thought it was fate and decided to talk to you.”
“You saw it before?”
“Yeah. I saw it while hunting deer in the forest. I even brought it to our village and gave it some jerky. I’d never seen such an unwary Slime before. Well, my grandma made such a fuss that I sent it back into the forest.”
“Boss. To-Tongtong did eat jerky well.”
“Hold on, Def.”
Godric did not lower his guard as he spoke to Nellin.
“So there really was a coincidence like this. It was nice meeting you. We’re going to continue training, so why don’t you be on your way?”
“I can’t do that.”
“What?”
“I told you, didn’t I? I spoke to you because I thought this was fate. You guys...”
Nellin had learned something during her travels.
In times like this, speaking a little provocatively made people take the bait more easily.
“If you want to grow stronger that way, it’ll take a long time.”
“A long time?”
“You’re just doing every kind of training you know without any plan. You could do that all day and never see much improvement.”
“You know a better way?”
“Of course! I used to know someone obsessed with training. That guy loved explaining his workouts so much that I heard about them until my ears grew calluses. Well, there’s no point just talking about this and that. Right?”
Nellin walked to the corner of the training ground, picked up a wooden sword from the rack, and spoke.
“All four of you, come at me together. I’ll show you whether what this big sister says is true or false.”
Nellin had been given the title Starlight Archer because of her divine skill with a bow.
But archery was simply what she was best at.
Nellin also knew how to use a sword.
+++
‘What exactly is Trembly...?’
In her room, Amelia was lost in thought about the Slime.
It was already surprising enough that it could glow and create antidote, but something even more astonishing had happened today, so it was not strange for her to be thinking this way.
When Amelia woke up in the morning and found the Slime gone, she had panicked.
Fortunately, the devotee who assisted her baths entered the room carrying the Slime.
After hearing that Paulen had sent it over, she first felt relieved.
She did not know how it had gotten out, but at least it had not gone missing.
She had thought it would end as a minor incident, but after breakfast, Paulen suddenly said to Amelia,
“Amelia, Trembly is a muscle buddy from now on!”
“...?”
What was this muscle-obsessed Paladin talking about?
Had he hurt his head somehow?
Such questions passed through Amelia’s mind.
“Trembly! Muscles!”
Paulen struck a biceps pose.
Pop!
Tentacles sprang out from both sides of the Slime and copied Paulen’s pose.
“Uh. Huh? Wha...?”
At the sight before her, Amelia looked back and forth between Paulen and the Slime several times.
“Wh-what is this...?”
“I will explain!”
Paulen briefly explained what had happened early that morning.
The moving sight of the Slime coming to the training ground, seeing Paulen, copying his pose, and trying to lift a dumbbell.
He told her that they had become muscle buddies who would exercise together to grow stronger.
Paulen continued rambling about why the Slime wanted to grow muscles, but Amelia let it go in one ear and out the other.
She instead fell into thought about the Slime, which could now even bring out tentacles.
But no matter how much she thought about it, no clear answer would appear.
Brrrrrr!
“Ah.”
The only thing she knew for certain was that the Slime’s vibrations against her hand felt pleasant.
“Trembly! Do my back too! Maybe because I’m so happy today, I put too much strain on my muscles!”
“Don’t take your clothes off in my room, Paulen.”
“Hmm, then I shall take them off in the training ground! Let us go to the training ground together!”
“Why do I have to come too...?”
“As your escort, I cannot leave Amelia’s side!”
Was that really something an escort should say?
The thought crossed her mind, but Amelia could not actively argue against it.
After they finished all their morning duties.
Brrrrrrr!
“Oh! This is it! This! My muscles are loosening up!”
After moving to the training ground, Paulen immediately received a massage from the Slime.
A blanket had been spread across the floor, and he lay face down as it massaged his back.
Amelia did not even glance at Paulen’s blissful expression. She opened the scripture she had brought and began reading.
After finishing the massage, Paulen sat up and spoke to the Slime.
“Thank you, Trembly! Once everything is ready, I’ll help you build muscles as promised, so look forward to it!”
Boing!
‘What does building muscles even mean? Can a Slime grow muscles?’
Amelia inwardly objected as she listened to Paulen and the Slime talk.
Then...
“Saint! There you are! Eek!”
A nun came into the training ground, saw Paulen, and covered her face with both hands.
“P-Paladin Paulen. Why have you taken off your clothes?”
“My apologies. I was training. Hahahaha!”
“I-I see.”
Her face red, the nun tried not to look at Paulen as she spoke to Amelia.
“Saint, could you please come to the clinic?”
“Is someone seriously injured?”
Unless Amelia visited personally, as she had yesterday, it was very rare for the clinic to summon the Saint directly.
That only happened when a patient with very serious injuries had been brought in.
“No. They are not injured. A group of patients infected with poison has arrived. They were poisoned by a Manticore.”
“Manticore poison?!”
A Manticore.
It was a monster with a lion’s body, a snake’s tail, and a human face framed by a lion’s mane.
Those infected by the poisonous gas that came from its human mouth suffered hallucinations and extreme itching, scratching at their own bodies.
In severe cases, some even died from wounds they had inflicted by scratching themselves.
“Wait. If it was a Manticore, were Holy Knights affected?”
“Yes. Of the ten Holy Knights sent to subjugate it, four were poisoned. Saint, could we please borrow the power of the Slime you keep?”
“Trembly’s power?”
The nun nodded.
“Yes. I heard yesterday that the Slime has the power to neutralize poison. Please lend us that power again.”
Footnotes:
[1] Tongtong: The Korean name evokes bouncing or springing, fitting the Slime’s characteristic movement.
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