Monster’s Streamer Star Chapter 88 : Your Name (2)

While Claire had made up her mind to head to Chilture, Nellin and Godrick's party had already left Chilture and were headed sowhere else.

Originally, they planned to stay in Chilture a bit longer, take on so requests to improve their skills, and distribute more flyers to find the sli.

However, rumors rapidly spreading throughout the kingdom had reached the ears of Nellin and Godrick's party.

A lich appeared in the Magic Tower.

Rumors—heavily distorted—spread that the Tower Master, the next saintess, and a paladin fought against the lich, drove it out, and that the Tower Master fell into critical condition as a result.

If Troll had heard it, he would've smacked his skull with a bony hand yelling, “What kind of propaganda and fabrication is this?!”

Nellin was so shocked by the rumor she heard while eating, she slamd the table and stood up.

“What the hell!? What? A lich appeared at the Magic Tower!?”

“L-Lady Marin? Why are you so surprised?”

“What’s a lich?”

“Hey, don’t you guys know what a lich is?”

“Heh, why do you think we’d know? You overestimate us, Lady Marin.”

“Don’t act all cool and say dumb things!”

Smack!

“Ow!”

As Hawane clutched the spot on his head where he got flicked, “B-But really, what is a lich?”

“Never heard of it.”

Godrick’s party wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what a lich was.

“Hey, you ever heard of it?”

“Nope. You?”

“I think I’ve heard of it sowhere… Maybe… It’s an undead, right?”

“Why would an undead show up in the Magic Tower?”

“Maybe they were experinting with corpses and it backfired?”

“No matter how accident-prone the Magic Tower is, it’s not that ssed up!”

‘What? It’s not just them who don’t know?’

Nellin grew flustered as she listened to the surrounding conversations.

To think that not only Godrick’s party, but also the adventurers dining in the restaurant didn’t know much about liches!

But she couldn’t really bla them.

Nellin had embarked on a journey to defeat the catastrophic black dragon.

During that journey, through conversations with her companions, she’d learned about many dangerous monsters to be wary of.

And it was from Ventus and Presia that Nellin learned how dangerous liches were.

One of the rare cases where a human becos a monster.

A monster that possessed both a human’s intellect and the power of a powerful monster—an absolutely dangerous being.

In terms of danger, it was comparable to the catastrophic black dragon.

The tragic end of a great mage.

That was what a lich was.

But liches weren’t exactly well-known monsters.

You could say they were rare monsters known only to those in the know.

They were monsters that hadn’t appeared in hundreds of years.

Even in places that suffered from their attacks, stories about liches were barely passed down as old legends.

Those truly knowledgeable about liches were limited to long-serving mages at the Magic Tower or high-ranking clergy at the Great Church.

Unless it was a still-living monster like a dragon or a Fenrir that occasionally left victims, it would be strange to know so much about a centuries-old monster known only through records.

But Nellin didn’t imdiately realize that.

‘Is this a generation gap? They really don’t know about liches?’

For the first ti, she felt the flow of ti she hadn’t cared about until now.

‘No, this isn’t the ti for that. I need to head to the Holy Capital right away. Sigh… I was going to et Presia after finding Tongtong.’

Nellin had her own plan.

Since she’d co all the way from the Blue Elven Forest, her original goal was to find the sli and visit her old comrades.

That plan was updated to include finding the sli while traveling with Godrick’s party.

After finding the sli, the next step was seeing her old comrades.

If possible, she wanted to visit the Saintess of Healing, Presia, who was closest.

In Nellin’s view, Presia wasn’t the type of person to imdiately say, “It’s a monster! Kill it!” even if she was introduced to a strange sli.

So Nellin wanted to surprise her with the sli.

But if a lich had appeared in the Magic Tower—and if the next saintess and a paladin fought it—this wasn’t the ti to leisurely look for slis.

If this lich was as dangerous as Ventus and Presia once said...

‘Then Presia would definitely step in too.’

Even if they were once a great mage, a lich was still undead.

Naturally, divine power would work on them, and not only the next saintess but even the current saintess, Presia, would likely join the subjugation effort.

No—knowing Presia, she’d probably be the first to volunteer to take down the lich.

“Hey, we need to go to the Holy Capital.”

“The Holy Capital?”

“What’s with the sudden talk of the Holy Capital, Lady Marin?”

“You said we were gonna search for clues about Tongtong here.”

“Sorry. Sothing’s co up.”

“Sothing?”

“This isn’t sothing to talk about here... Let’s eat first and then gather in my room!”

***

After the al, Nellin called Godrick’s party to her room and explained the situation.

“So… You’re saying soone you know in the Holy Capital needs help because of the lich that rumor was about?”

“Exactly. When it cos to loyalty, that’s ! If a friend’s in danger, I gotta help.”

“Hmmm, what kind of person is this friend that’s got you all worked up, Lady Marin?”

“She holds an important position in the Holy Capital. But now that a lich has appeared, things are gonna be chaotic there, and she’ll probably have to take action.”

“An important position?”

“Don’t tell your friend’s a high-ranking priest?”

“Well, sothing like that. Normally I could go alone…”

Nellin glanced over Godrick’s party and continued.

“But it’d feel wrong to just leave you guys behind while you’re still in the middle of training. And… I still haven’t found Tongtong.”

“Heh, so you’re saying we can take a break?”

“I can see right through you trying to get out of training. Don’t even try it, Hawane.”

Skol pointed at Hawane.

“Lady Marin, this isn’t just trying to get out of training—he’s flat-out saying he wants out.”

“That’s true.”

Nellin crossed her arms and went on.

“Well, if you really don’t want to co, you can stay here. Even if I bring you to the Holy Capital, the only thing I’ll have you do is… training.”

“So you’re just gonna work us anyway.”

“Heh, no rcy at all. When will my muscles ever get a break?”

“Sigh.”

Even though no one said it outright, the atmosphere clearly leaned toward following Nellin.

Then, Def twiddled his fingers and asked her, “U-Um, Lady Marin. I’ve got a question.”

“Yeah? Go ahead.”

“Is your friend in the Holy Capital famous?”

“Yeah, you could say she’s famous.”

“T-Then! If you help her out, could we maybe ask her to spread Tongtong’s flyers in the Holy Capital?”

“Oh! That’s a great idea!”

“Hey, Def! Since when did you get so smart?”

“Flyers?”

‘Well, if I ask Presia, that’d be easy enough.’

Besides wanting to surprise her, there was another reason Nellin didn’t go to the Holy Capital right away.

If she explained the situation, Presia would obviously help, not only distributing flyers but even mobilizing an investigation team in the capital.

However, she hesitated to ask such a favor from a friend she hadn’t seen in a long ti, so she wanted to find the sli on her own if possible.

Still, she figured that if she helped out with the lich situation, it wouldn’t be too much to ask Presia to hand out so flyers.

Because it wouldn’t be one-sided—this would be mutual help!

“Alright! Then I’ll go ahead and ask her!”

Def raised both hands in joy at Nellin’s bold response.

“Wow! We’ll be able to find Tongtong even faster now!”

And so, Nellin and Godrick’s party decided to head to the Holy Capital.

***

Claire and the sli were on their way to Chilture.

Their mode of travel was, of course, a carriage.

Inside the carriage, Claire held the sli tightly with both hands to prevent it from slipping away.

‘So soft.’

Holding the sli ant feeling its slightly bouncy, squishy texture.

It was a strangely satisfying feeling.

Squish, squish.

‘Squishy.’

That texture had a magical pull, making Claire unconsciously continue kneading the sli.

▶ Hahaha, she’s still squishing it.

[Squishy Queen] ▶ How dare you touch one of my kin so casually! Insolent!

[Free Spirit] ▶ The squishy texture is kind of addictive, though.

▶ Haha, only soone who's felt it would understand.

▶ I… I want to touch it too!

[Thread-Lady] ▶ Squishy is so cute when it flattens under your hand.

[Just Slam First] ▶ Ugh, looks like we won’t be hunting for a while again during this trip.

Claire found it strange that she was touching a sli like this.

To her, monsters were enemies—creatures she needed to kill.

And yet, here she was, squishing a sli she normally wouldn’t even look at because it was too weak.

‘It just feels too nice.’

But the sensation was just too good to deny.

‘Massage!’

anwhile, the sli interpreted Claire’s continuous kneading as a massage.

After all, repeatedly pressing the sa spot in a rhythm felt just like the massages it knew.

‘I’ll give a massage too!’

Vrrrrrrrrr!

“!?”

Suddenly, the sli began to vibrate intensely in Claire’s hands, startling her enough to let go.

‘Did I touch it too much?’

‘Massage!’

Boing!

The sli instantly bounced up onto Claire’s head and began vibrating in place—head massage mode.

Vrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

“Uuh!? A-ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!”

The sli’s signature vibration, well-reviewed by many, had begun.

The vibrations didn’t just give a pleasant tingle across the scalp—they were so refreshing they gave you goosebumps.

For Claire, who had sensitive wolf ears on top of her head, the effect was even more intense.

“O……!”

Caught off guard by the unexpected refreshnt, Claire’s tail shot straight up and began to quiver.

‘So… good.’

“Uaaaah~.”

After over three minutes, Claire’s usually expressionless face had lted into pure bliss.

After about five minutes, the sli stopped vibrating and hopped back down.

Boing!

“Ah.”

As the lovely sensation suddenly ended, Claire instinctively looked at the sli with longing eyes.

‘My turn!’

But unaware of her feelings, the sli climbed onto Claire’s thigh and waited for its massage.

“Thanks. That felt really good.”

Claire picked up the sli again and resud squishing it.

That’s when—

“Hey.”

An adventurer in the carriage with a scar on his cheek spoke to Claire.

“What?”

“Could I… maybe get what you just got?”

He’d seen how good Claire looked getting her massage and got curious.

“No idea.”

Claire looked down at the sli and asked, “You gonna do it for him too?”

Boing!

The sli moved over to sit on the man’s thigh.

“Wh-What the…?”

As the man flinched in surprise, Claire offered a guess.

“Try massaging it. It might do it then.”

“Massage it? Like this?”

Squish squish.

“Oh. This actually feels nice.”

And a few minutes later—

“Uuh, ah, ah, uaaaah~.”

A deep, satisfied moan echoed from the carriage.