Moved by Gracie’s earnest request, Alia conditionally allowed the sli research to proceed.
First and foremost, there must be no risk to the sli.
All research would be conducted under the supervision of Alia and Paulen.
And since Alia was at the Magic Tower for training, Gracie was also to accompany her on rounds through the district to see who might be in need of help.
The final condition was from Paulen, just in case Gracie tried to skip these walks under the pretense of helping with research.
Gracie accepted all these conditions.
Walking the streets every day? Just think of it as a stroll.
Gracie’s only concern from the start was having her focus broken in the middle of deep concentration.
But if walking briefly helped her concentrate better afterward, then that was a plus.
With the terms settled, the group set out on their walk to look for those who might need a helping hand.
“Magic tools…”
Though the agreent went smoothly, once they stepped out for the walk, the sli looked disappointed.
It had thought it would get to see and play with all the magical tools, but instead, they were going for a walk.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Poor Squishy is all sulky now.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Even sulking, it’s too cute~!
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Hoho, must be because it saw so many magic tools but couldn’t play with them.
[Just Slam First] ▶ Hmph, what’s so fun about playing with those? Hunting is way more exciting.
▶ Tsk tsk, such an outdated mindset.
▶ Just hunting randomly is boring, seriously.
▶ Honestly, I thought it looked fun when Squishy was playing with them too.
[Just Slam First] ▶ You guys just don’t understand the true thrill of hunting!
▶ –Old Man–
▶ No wonder your kids don’t talk to you.
[Just Slam First] ▶ Shut up!!!!
▶ LOLLOLLOL.
While they were teasing and bantering in the chat window as usual, Troll managed to recover from his emotional damage and looked back at the screen.
‘Yeah, just think of it as being willing to devote yourself for the sake of research.’
Having ntally justified his descendant’s pitiful behavior, Troll decided to cheer up the sulky sli.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Squishy! Don’t worry. After the walk, you’ll get to play with lots of magic tools!
The sli responded imdiately to Troll’s ssage.
▷Really?
[Free Spirit] ▶ Yup. That’s what the human ant. After the walk, you’ll get to play with several magic tools.
‘Wow! magic tools! Play with many!’
Brrrrrr!
The sli trembled with joy at Troll’s words.
“Huh? Why are you trembling all of a sudden?”
Gracie tilted her head as the sli suddenly began shaking during the walk.
“Jiggly shakes or bounces in place when it’s happy.”
“Hahaha, I guess the walk has lifted its spirits.”
“R-Really?”
‘A truly fascinating research subject… I an, sli.’
As they walked, Gracie began observing the sli that would beco the topic of her thesis.
And soon, she understood what Alia and Paulen had ant before.
‘Is this really a sli?’
The sli that the Saintess had brought along understood and responded to human speech to a shocking degree.
At first, Gracie thought the Saintess was just biased and doting on a pet sli, but everything she said turned out to be true.
The sli, while perched atop the Saintess’s hand, didn’t move on its own, but communicated its intentions in various ways.
If there was a store it wanted to enter, it would point a tentacle in that direction.
It would shake in response, as if it fully understood and replied to what the Saintess or paladin was saying.
Though it couldn’t speak the sa language, it was clearly engaged in mutual communication.
It was an astonishing sight, but Gracie wasn’t all that shocked.
‘Well, it’s a sli that can do things even high-ranking mages struggle with, so it being smart shouldn’t be surprising.’
Watching the sli use magic tools had already left a huge impression on Gracie.
Of course, the walk wasn’t completely silent either.
Since Alia and Paulen had only arrived at the Magic Tower three days prior, they didn’t know much about the area.
As they wandered, they’d point out unfamiliar buildings or interesting items and ask questions, and Gracie kindly answered each one.
“That’s a scroll specialty shop. Adventurers with deep pockets tend to shop there.”
“Oh, that place is known as a hidden gem for food. Their pasta is seriously delicious. Huh? Why is it famous if it’s hidden? Well, it’s only famous among those in the know. If it beca too popular, there wouldn’t be enough to go around, so they keep the info sowhat restricted.”
“It’s best not to go that way. That area’s where folks who got kicked out of the Tower—either because they lost it or caused trouble—tend to hang out…”
“What kind of accident did they even cause…”
“An explosion that took out not just their lab but both neighboring ones too. And afterward, instead of reflecting on it, they went straight to argue with the Tower Master.”
“Ah…”
Since Gracie had been officially appointed to the task by the Tower Master on top of getting permission to research the sli, she explained everything she thought was necessary.
Thanks to that, even though it was just a single stroll, Alia and Paulen got to learn both where they shouldn’t go and where they must visit within the tower’s premises.
Their walk, accompanied by Gracie’s helpful explanations, ended up lasting longer than expected, and by the ti they realized, it was lunchti.
They decided to eat at a restaurant Gracie recomnded.
“Thank you for guiding us today, Miss Gracie.”
“Your explanations were so easy to follow, Miss Gracie.”
“Oh, not at all! This is part of my job anyway! Really, I should be the one thanking you both for allowing to continue my research…!”
While the three conversed peacefully,
‘Yummy!’
the sli temporarily forgot about the magic tools and was happily enjoying the food ordered for it.
Normally, viewers would’ve been flooding the chat with food reactions, but today’s topic was slightly different.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ That chattery human is hilarious lol.
▶ Why’s she talking about failing to use a scroll herself? lolol
▶ Ah, that cracked up—cheers!
▶ The story about her losing in a bargain was funny too.
To keep Alia and Paulen, her precious research subjects, from getting bored, Gracie mixed in stories from her own experiences.
Most were basically tales of failure, so they really resonated with the viewers.
After all, for viewers hungry for entertaining content, it was quality cody.
To them, it was like listening to a well-told story of soone falling flat on their face.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ The part about shaless humans was hilarious too.
▶ She blew up the neighboring nests and didn’t even apologize.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ I kinda admired that girl’s nerve though.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ You probably relate because you’re a shaless old fart too, hoho.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Oh, you wanna go again?
▶ The boors are fighting again lololol
Even with a change of topic, the chatroom was still the chatroom.
Once a topic ran its course, the atmosphere always returned to the usual chaos.
But even in that setting—
‘Why does every little thing about her have to turn into a joke?!’
The fact that his own descendant was being used as comic relief in the chat was beyond frustrating for Troll.
Sure, he would’ve laughed too if it were so other monster’s offspring being ridiculed.
But now that it was her, the shock hit hard.
The psychological damage Troll suffered through Gracie today was arguably the worst he’d experienced in all his years as a lich.
After lunch—
Gracie’s long-awaited mont finally arrived.
It was ti to research the sli.
“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”
‘I can do this! Observe without taking my eyes off it for a second! Where do I start? Should I test if it can use other magic tools? Or how long it can sustain them?’
Gracie took deep breaths while considering how to begin her research.
It was ant to calm herself, but to others, she looked extrely anxious.
“Miss Gracie, please relax.”
“Sir Paladin?”
“We’ll be here for a month, so how about we take it one step at a ti? It’s like choosing whether to start training upper or lower body, or how to build muscle. Instead of overthinking it, it’s better to pick one and go from there.”
“Oh…”
The muscle analogy didn’t really land with Gracie, who had zero connection to exercise, but precisely because it didn’t resonate, it helped calm her down.
“Thank you.”
‘Alright, let’s start with that then!’
Gracie picked one of the magic tools from the display and held it out to the sli.
“This! Wanna try using this one?”
Her eyes sparkled as she offered it.
‘A magic tool!’
The sli, excited to try the new tool, extended a tentacle—only for
“Hold on.”
Alia raised a hand and blocked the way.
‘Huh?’
“Wh-What is it, Your Holiness?”
‘Wait… is she saying we can’t anymore?’
Was she being toyed with?
Did the Saintess actually have a twisted personality?
It felt like having candy handed over then snatched away, and all kinds of doubts raced through Gracie’s mind.
“Please explain what kind of magic tool that is.”
“Oh!”
‘How could I forget that! What was I thinking?!’
“I’m so sorry! I got excited and forgot the most important part! Really sorry! Please don’t cancel the research…!”
Alia had simply ant that she should explain how to use it since it was unfamiliar, but Gracie’s extre reaction caught her off guard.
“I-I won’t cancel it. Just explain it. Jiggly needs to know how to use it too.”
“Yes! This is a magic tool that blows wind. As you can see, it runs on mana stones. If you turn this handle here—”
The magic tool Gracie brought out was cylindrical.
It had a hole on one end, a slot for a mana stone in the middle, and on the opposite side, a handle shaped like a combination of the Korean characters ㄱ and ㄴ.
Gracie grabbed the handle and turned it to the right.
Whoooosh!
Air began blowing from the open end.
“This is how the wind cos out! If you turn the handle more, the wind gets stronger!”
‘Wow!’
The sli, fascinated by this entirely new kind of magic tool, was itching to play with it.
After finishing her explanation, Gracie returned the handle to its original position and handed the magitool to the sli again.
“Try using this first. Once the mana runs out, try powering it with your own magic like you did earlier, okay?”
‘Okay!’
Pop!
The sli responded internally and extended a tentacle to take the magic tool.
And then—
‘This is awkward!’
The sli encountered a brand new problem.
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