It had been a month since Troll brought the sli into the secret workshop.
At first, it was simply to save the sli’s life, and later, to honor the promise of reunion between Nellin and the sli.
[Squishy~ I brought so at again today~]
'at!'
Boing! Boing!
Now, Troll was incredibly happy with his life in the secret workshop with Squishy.
He used to spend his ti watching streams in the dusty old workshop.
But everything changed after the sli arrived.
The biggest change was having soone to take care of.
Giving advice from behind a screen was nothing like actually taking care of a being right beside you.
At first, he hunted for at out of obligation, but now, he genuinely enjoyed it each day.
Why?
Because the sli truly appreciated it!
As the saying goes, even a whale will dance if praised.
The sli’s pure reaction of joy and gratitude toward Troll’s efforts ward the heart of soone who had once faced betrayal and death before becoming a lich.
That wasn’t all.
'Squeak squeak!'
The sli, who had curiously started cleaning, found it fun and shaped its tendrils like cloths to wipe every corner of the secret workshop daily.
Unlike before, the now sparkling furniture sohow brightened Troll’s mood as well.
On top of that, the diligent little sli looked both admirable and adorable!
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Squishy cleaning is so cute~!
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Troll! How dare you keep making one of my kin do your chores!
▶ Hahaha, they gotta earn their keep~
[Squishy] ▶ Cleaning is fun!
▶ See? They said it’s fun—cheers to that~.
Even the broadcast from Troll’s perspective got great reactions during Squishy’s cleaning ti.
As ti passed, Troll started wanting to feed the sli better at.
'What kind of at would be good?'
If he was going to feed it, he wanted it to be more nutritious and helpful to the sli.
He couldn’t get cooking spices, but co on—Troll was no ordinary being.
He was a lich!
In terms of danger level, he far surpassed even an A-rank monster.
Troll couldn’t approach humans, but he was far from weak.
So he thought, 'Maybe I should bring back so strong monster at!'
Troll used Warp to travel to remote areas inhabited by C-rank and B-rank monsters and hunted enough to feed the sli.
Since he had to process the at anyway, he cleaned it on the spot and used Warp magic to bring the prepared at back to the workshop.
Each ti he brought at, the sli bounced happily, which made Troll feel all the more rewarded for his efforts.
The sli ate every single piece of grilled at that Troll brought with great delight.
'So tasty!'
[Squishy, sorry. I wish I could get more ingredients to make it even tastier.]
[Squishy] ▶ It’s okay! It’s delicious!
[Ugh! So precious!]
[Noblesse Fire] That damn Troll’s using Fla Talk again so only Squishy can understand him.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ What are you saying to my kin this ti?!
▶ Isn’t it obvious?
▶ Looks like thinking isn’t their strong suit since they’re a sli?
[Squishy Queen] What did you just say?!
While living with the sli, Troll discovered an unexpected fact.
It was about the magic he’d created, inspired by the System’s voice.
Fla Talk.
It turned out to be an actual existing skill.
He discovered this on the second day of living in the secret workshop, while telling the sli about his days as a human, during the Black Dragon subjugation.
[Squishy] ▶ Wow!
[Squishy] ▶ Amazing!
▶ ???
At the ti, Troll was silently holding the sli on the back of his skeletal hand.
But since the sli was responding through chat, the other viewers had no idea what was going on.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ My kin, what exactly is so amazing?
[Squishy] ▶ Troll’s story! It’s amazing! Fun!
[Squishy Queen] ▶ What?
Troll remained silent, yet the sli said the story was fun, leaving Squishy Queen utterly confused.
'Ah, I forgot to set the story to private mode.'
Just as Troll realized his mistake and was about to end the stream, soone solved the mystery.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Wait, are you using Fla Talk to talk to Squishy?
It was the Fire Dragon.
▶ How did you know?
Troll was shocked by the Fire Dragon’s words.
After all, Fla Talk was a spell he had worked hard to develop after becoming a lich.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ How do you think? You’re sitting there quietly talking to Squishy—what else would it be but Fla Talk? Hardly anyone uses that skill.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Fla Talk, huh? I haven’t seen that in ages. I didn’t expect Troll to have that skill—I thought only dragons had it.
Indeed.
The Fla Talk spell that Troll thought he had invented was actually a skill dragons were born with.
'No way...!'
[Noblesse Fire] Using sothing as shady as Fla Talk—only used for secret chats between themselves.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Is that because you have no friends to use Fla Talk with, you recluse?
[Noblesse Fire] Why, you little—!
Through the conversation between the Fire Dragon and Bone Dragon, Troll realized the truth.
Though it was disappointing to learn that the magic he thought he had created already existed as a skill, Troll chose to think positively.
'Yeah! I recreated a dragon skill with magic! I really am amazing!'
Troll’s self-esteem soared.
'Looking back, that really proved my magic skills hadn’t gone rusty.'
While the sli was eating, Troll reminisced about those days and realized it was ti for another story.
▶ I’m going to chat with Squishy, so I’m turning off the stream for a bit.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ What?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Why are you suddenly turning it off?! This is tyranny!
▶ I’m sitting here silently while Squishy chats back anyway.
▶ Then why not just say it out loud?
▶ I only want Squishy to hear it.
▶ How petty.
▶ Boo! Dictator! Boo!
▶ My stream, my choice.
Troll unapologetically ended the stream, opened a private chat with the sli, and continued his story.
***
Aside from hunting for at and storytelling, there was another activity Troll loved doing with the sli.
It was sparring.
It had been a week since the sli began living in the secret workshop.
The sli, getting bored of just working out with the dumbbells Troll had made, made a request via chat.
[Squishy] ▶ I want to spar! Let’s spar!
▷ ?
[Squishy] ▶ Troll strong! Let’s spar!
To Squishy’s mory, Troll was a powerful being.
After all, he had always defeated Paulen during their sparring sessions, and even easily deflected that massive energy attack Alia used at the end!
▶ What is this? A new type of content?
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Is it Troll vs. Squishy this ti?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Troll, you fiend! I will never forgive you if you hurt my kin!
[Thread-Lady] ▶ I wanted to see Squishy moving around all cutely~!
[Just Slam First] ▶ Yeah! You gotta move to keep those body slams sharp!
▶Ah! Sparring ti!
The sli’s request was t with great enthusiasm from the viewers.
▷ Doo, got it.
Troll thought sparring wasn’t a bad idea either.
He had been enjoying watching the sli steadily improve while sparring with Paulen!
▷ Then I’ll summon so golems. Try taking them on first.
As the sparring began, a magic circle appeared on the floor, summoning three humanoid stone golems.
[Squishy] ▶ Wow! What are those?
▷ Golems.
'I’m no summoning specialist, but this is nothing.'
Troll, once known as the Mage of a Thousand Spells, had at least interdiate skill in fields outside his specialty.
▷ You can smash them. Go all out.
[Squishy] ▶ Okay!
Facing the golems, the sli was thrilled to finally break the boredom.
Boing!
It imdiately attacked with a Bounce Tackle.
The golem controlled by Troll brought its arms together to block the sli’s tackle.
Of course, it managed to block the attack, but the force of the single Bounce Tackle caused large cracks in the golem’s arms.
Another golem then swung a punch toward the sli in response.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ My kin! Watch out!
Seeing this rare sparring content again, Squishy Queen watched nervously.
But there was no need to worry.
Boing!
Having sparred with the paladin Paulen for over a month, the sli found the golem’s surprise attack much slower in comparison.
Unfurling its tendrils, the sli knocked the incoming punch downward and dodged.
Then it leapt toward the head of the remaining golem.
Boooiiing~!
Before the last golem could react, Squishy used a Bounce Jump combined with a Bounce Tackle, using the golem’s head as a platform and aiming straight for Troll.
The first-person view from Troll’s stream made the sli’s sudden approach surprise several viewers.
But the attack never reached Troll.
Shraaaap!
Because the sli’s attack couldn’t break through the barrier Troll had deployed.
Unable to penetrate the semi-transparent barrier, the sli’s soft body smushed against it and spread wide.
The sight was both comical and cute.
[Noblesse Fire] Pwahahaha! Oh man, that’s hilarious lolol.
▶ Lololol.
▶ It’s stretching like crazy lolol.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ How dare you laugh at my kin!
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Stretched-out Squishy is just too adorable~!
[Just Slam First] ▶ Failed to break through. Don’t get discouraged, Squishy! Keep honing that body slam and break it next ti!
▷ Squishy, are you okay?
While so laughed, so worried, and so cheered, the sli slowly slid down the barrier and bounced in place after staring at it for a mont.
[Squishy] ▶ Amazing! So sturdy!
Far from being discouraged by having its attack blocked, the sli was instead impressed by Troll’s barrier.
▶ Strong ntality.
▶ Yeah, co to think of it, doesn’t Squishy always lose to that human?
▶ Ahh, just the usual then lolol.
▶ Always losing, so they don’t even feel bad about it anymore.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Who dares call my kin a loser! Take it back imdiately!
▶ lolol.
▶ Always gets riled up about Squishy lolol.
The sli bounced back to its original spot.
[Squishy] ▶ Again! Let’s keep going! Spar!
▷ Doo, got it.
Motivated by the eager sli, Troll regularly set tis for their sparring sessions.
Sotis he summoned golems to let the sli practice fighting multiple opponents.
Sotis he shot arrows or swords made of magic to help improve its dodging skills.
Other tis, he used magic to make the ground suddenly erupt, training the sli to sense and anticipate the flow of mana.
For Squishy, sparring with Troll was always a fun ga where it could learn and experience new things.
For both Troll and the sli, these happy days passed quickly, and after another month had gone by—
[Squishy] ▶ I want to go outside!
At last, the inevitable mont arrived.
User Comments
0 comments from readers