The adventurers’ guild was bustling as usual today.
“Let’s go take on a quest today too!”
“Yes, Sister Marin!”
Marin led the Godrick Party outside on a goblin extermination quest in order to qualify for her D-rank promotion.
Normally, the Godrick Party should be fighting D-rank monsters like orcs.
However, lately, they’ve been intentionally taking on lower-rank quests to help Nellin get promoted, and have started calling her “sister.”
The reason goes back a few days.
***
When Nellin first t the Godrick Party, she decided to guide them, thinking it was fate that they t through the sli.
And so, Nellin challenged them to a four-on-one sparring match.
“You think you can get by moving that slow?”
Thwack!
“Gah!”
“You're too focused on tiny openings.”
Wham!
“Argh!”
“You lack arm strength.”
Smack!
“Ow!”
“You’ve got power but no boldness.”
Whap!
“Ouch!”
Nellin overwheld the Godrick Party using only a wooden sword.
Their attacks didn’t even graze her clothes, and they collapsed on the training ground, exhausted.
Looking at the four of them, Nellin smirked and said, “Well? At least I look skilled, don’t I?”
“Wh-Who the hell are you?”
“This sister’s na is Marin. I just left the forest and decided to go on a journey.”
“She’s insanely strong…”
“Right, right. At the very least, I’m way stronger than you guys. So, what do you think? Want to get stronger by training under ?”
“Pant… pant… Why are you doing this to us?”
“I told you. I t that sli too. But guess what? The people who t it are now trying to find it again. I figured that must be fate.”
With a sly grin, Nellin continued.
“Once you get stronger, let’s travel around and look for that sli. I want to see it again too.”
“I-I want to train!”
“Def?”
“Hey, what are you talking about?!”
The first to respond to Nellin’s offer was Def.
“I really want to see Tongtong again! But if I’m weak, I might lose Tongtong again. That’s why I want to get stronger! And also—”
“And also?”
“If soone was friends with Tongtong, they can’t be a bad person!”
“Hahaha!”
Nellin laughed at Def’s words.
‘Wait, you trust for that reason?’
She hadn’t expected that answer.
But still—
“Well, Tongtong probably knows how to pick people.”
“Yeah, and if he t a bad person, he wouldn't just get taken down easily.”
“Hey! What do we have to do to get stronger?”
Even the rest of the party was starting to agree with Def, making Nellin laugh even more.
‘Are these kids for real?’
They didn’t seem totally naïve, but they had an incredible amount of trust in the sli.
Their attitude reminded her of the comrades she fought with 50 years ago in the Black Dragon subjugation, trusting and supporting each other.
Even without the sli connection, Nellin was starting to like the Godrick Party.
And so began the days of Nellin training the Godrick Party.
In the morning, they would take on quests to help with Nellin’s promotion, and afterward, she would train them at the training ground.
She used knowledge passed down from her old comrades and her own experiences to guide them through the exercises.
And she personally sparred with them to build real battle experience.
It had only been a few days.
But even that short ti was enough for the Godrick Party to start respecting Nellin deeply.
Though she had a bit of a rough personality, her training was effective, and her skill during sparring was clear even to them.
More importantly, they could feel her genuine desire to make them stronger.
Naturally, they started calling her “sister” and following her lead.
Then, just like any other day, they quickly finished a goblin extermination and began training.
While taking a break, Def asked Nellin, “Now that I think about it, Sister Marin… why is your rank so, um, low?”
“Huh? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
“Well, you’re incredibly strong, but you’re still E-rank. It’s strange.”
“That’s because I’m a newbie—”
‘Oops.’
Nellin almost blurted out the truth.
She nearly said that she had just gotten a new ID tag.
“Newbie?”
“I’m a new adventurer, obviously! Why ask sothing so obvious?”
“So you’re only just now becoming an adventurer despite being so skilled?”
“Yeah, that’s right~ You know most elves live in forests, right? I never had a reason to leave, but now I finally did.”
There was no real reason for Nellin to lie to them.
And the Godrick Party didn’t know much about elves, so they figured it made sense and accepted her explanation.
Still, Nellin thought that if they started digging into her lie, it would be annoying, so she quickly changed the subject.
‘What should I say… oh, got it!’
“You know, you guys are pretty amazing.”
“Amazing how?”
“Well, you’re all frontliners in an adventurer party. That takes courage. You don’t even have a cleric for healing. No mage or archer either.”
‘Fighting well is fine at C-rank level, but still.’
The Godrick Party didn’t know how to respond.
The first to speak was Skol.
“Healing’s fine if we have potions!”
“Well, yeah, but potions cost money too.”
“Ugh.”
When Skol was imdiately refuted, Hawane spoke up.
“Ahem, Sister Marin. I can shoot a bow.”
“Really? I don’t see a bow.”
“It’s at the inn. We didn’t need to use it against goblins or orcs.”
Back when they were with the sli, it would always find enemies first and launch the opening attack, so Hawane never got a chance to use the bow and left it behind.
“Riiight? Then bring it tomorrow. Let’s see how well you can shoot.”
“Fufufu, I’ll show you my skills.”
And the next day—
“Hey, don’t go telling people you can shoot a bow.”
After seeing Hawane’s archery, Nellin gave a harsh verdict.
His skill was just barely good enough to occasionally succeed in hunting with luck.
“Whoa… Sister Marin’s a bow-snob.”
“Who are you calling a snob?!”
Smack!
“Ow!”
***
At the center of the Holy Capital Yupitel, inside the Grand Cathedral.
Saintess Alia was watching Paulen and the sli in the paladin-only training grounds.
“That’s it, Jiggly! One more! One more!”
‘One more!’
Squeeze!
“Nice! You’re doing great!”
Paulen was excitedly coaching the sli at the training ground.
To an outsider, the scene might look absurd or even insane.
The strongest paladin in the Holy Capital was training the weakest kind of monster, a sli.
Two days had passed since the manticore’s poison was neutralized.
The exercise equipnt Paulen had ordered from the blacksmiths in the Holy Capital finally arrived.
A custom-made set of dumbbells and barbells just for the sli.
"First, let’s test how much you can lift!"
Boing!
‘Test!’
Since the dumbbells and barbells ca in 10 weight levels, Paulen instructed the sli to lift them in order.
Pop!
The sli excitedly extended its tendrils, happy at the idea of getting stronger through exercise.
When Paulen demonstrated how to lift, the sli mimicked the movent and picked up the dumbbell Paulen had custom-made.
Squeeze!
The sli’s tendrils looked small and thin, but they were part of a sli that had grown significantly up until now.
“As expected, Level 1 is a piece of cake.”
‘Lifted it!’
It wasn’t like the sli lacked strength.
Then, it proceeded to try the next weights one by one.
The sli was able to lift up to Level 3 with its tendrils.
But when it tried to lift Level 4—
Shiverrrrrrr!
‘Ughhhh~! I can’t lift it!’
It trembled with effort, but the weight wouldn’t budge.
‘Couldn’t lift it……?’
Its body slumped in disappointnt.
But Paulen praised the sli for managing up to Level 3.
“That’s amazing, Jiggly! I didn’t think you’d be able to lift up to Level 3!”
‘Huh?’
The dumbbells and barbells lifted by the sli were lighter than Paulen’s own set.
But that was only by Paulen’s standards.
Even Level 1 was difficult for an average adult male to lift.
‘No wonder its tackle was that powerful.’
Having experienced the strength of the sli’s two-skill tackle, Paulen figured it could handle weights like this.
anwhile, Alia, who had been silently watching, approached the dumbbells.
“How heavy is this thing?”
“Ah, Lady Alia, you probably shouldn’t try to lift that.”
“Why not? Jiggly lifted it so easily. And it’s so small, I thought I could too…”
Alia grabbed the Level 1 dumbbell ant for the sli and tried to lift it.
“Ugh! S-So heavy!”
But she couldn’t lift it easily.
‘But Jiggly lifted it so easily!’
Seeing that the tiny sli could do sothing she couldn’t hurt Alia’s pride, and she beca determined.
“Hmmmmrgh!”
Her face turned red as she finally managed to lift the Level 1 dumbbell.
But she couldn’t hold it long and soon set it down on the floor.
“Huff… huff… Paulen? What is this? Why is it so heavy!?”
“Dumbbells are supposed to be heavy.”
“That’s not what I ant!”
“Hahaha! Of course it’s heavy—it was made specifically for Jiggly! Even a regular man would struggle to lift it.”
“Why did you think it was okay to give sothing this heavy to Jiggly!?”
To Alia, the sli looked tiny, cute, and squishy—hardly the image of a creature with great strength.
“Jiggly’s body slam was powerful, Alia. So I figured it must have a lot of strength. If it couldn’t lift it, I’d just have made a lighter one.”
“To think it can lift sothing two levels heavier than this… Jiggly really is strong.”
‘Strong!’
Boing!
“Alright, Jiggly! Ti to start the real workout! Let’s build so muscles! Muscles!”
‘Muscles!’
The sli and Paulen struck the sa pose.
Watching them, Alia thought to herself:
‘Wait… even if it works out really hard, wouldn’t it be impossible for tentacles to grow muscles in the first place?’
But she didn’t say it aloud.
If she did, the sli might get discouraged.
So, once again, Alia spent the rest of her morning watching Jiggly and Paulen work out.
And the sli’s workouts beca a new streaming hit.
▶LOL the sli working out cracks up every ti lol
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Squishy-chan working out is just too cute~.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Seriously? Everyone’s freaking out over it just lifting that much?
▶Oh! It’s Workout x Sli!
[Squishy Queen] ▶ That’s it! You’re doing great, my kin! You’ll lift more than yesterday! Keep pushing, my kin!
▶ Honestly, I’m seeing all kinds of stuff now.
▶ Ah~ that’s not how you lift heavy things though~
▶Backseat trainer alert lol.
At the Grand Cathedral, Jiggly’s daily life continued in peace.
Training and sparring with Paulen to build strength and battle instincts.
Helping in the infirmary by absorbing various poisons and producing antidotes.
Walking around town with Alia, who had regained her courage.
That was their routine.
Until sothing new happened.
“Alia, you are to go on an expedition.”
“Wha!?”
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