After the sli left, only Troll remained in the secret workshop.
As he moved, he looked at Claire, who seed more relaxed after receiving a massage from the sli.
‘I’m jealous. If I had muscles, I could’ve enjoyed that too.’
While they were still in the secret workshop, the sli had offered to give Troll a massage as thanks for bringing it at.
Troll had seen people enjoy it on the broadcast and tried it out.
But the pleasure he expected never ca.
Well, Troll is a lich.
aning, he’s all bones!
No matter how much he trembled from the massage, there was no way he could feel any muscle relief.
At best, he just felt his bones shaking a bit.
While having such carefree thoughts, Troll began to speculate about what might happen next.
‘eting Nellin in Chilture won’t be easy. But the clues should be easy to find, so maybe they’ll et her within a month.’
But reality didn’t go the way Troll expected.
As soon as they arrived in Chilture, Claire took the sli straight to the Adventurer’s Guild.
“Are Marin and Godrick here? They're handing out flyers for a missing sli.”
“Ah, you must an those folks. Unfortunately, they’ve already left Chilture. That sli by any chance...?”
The receptionist glanced at the sli sitting on Claire’s head.
“Might not be, but it looked smart so I ca to check.”
“I see. Did you co after seeing the flyer?”
“No, I didn’t see the flyer. But I t Marin and heard she was looking for a smart sli. Anyway, where did Marin go?”
“They said the Godrick party was heading to the Holy Capital.”
“The Holy Capital?”
“Yes. They said sothing ca up, and asked that if soone found the sli, they should either bring it to the Holy Capital or leave it with this guild.”
“Leave the sli with the guild?”
“This is the first ti we’ve had such an unusual request. But they repeatedly assured us it was a smart and friendly sli, so there wouldn’t be any issues. And even if it goes wild, it’s just a sli—we can handle that.”
‘Yeah right.’
Claire, who knew full well the strength of a sli that could one-shot a B-rank monster, couldn’t believe the guild would be able to handle it if things went south.
“Would you like to leave the sli with the guild?”
Claire shook her head.
“No, I’ll keep it with .”
“Then are you planning to go to the Holy Capital?”
The Holy Capital was about ten days away from Chilture.
‘That’s far.’
She had just spent a whole week riding a carriage to get here.
Even jerky from the last village had gotten boring.
“I’ll think about it. I just want to rest now. My butt hurts from riding all that way.”
“Understood. Ah, since you haven’t seen the flyer, please take one. Here it is.”
“Thanks.”
Claire tucked the flyer into her clothes and headed straight for the tavern.
***
After finishing her al, Claire returned to her inn room, placed the sli on the bed, and pulled out the flyer.
[Na: Tongtong]
[Light green sli]
[Very nimble]
[Friendly to humans]
[Understands human language quite well]
[Often bounces around and trembles when happy]
[Can jump very high]
[Can glow on its own]
“Hmmmm.”
Claire glanced between the sli and the flyer.
There were many similarities between the two.
First, it was indeed a light green sli.
It was nimble, friendly, and trembled sotis.
But she had never seen it jump high or glow before.
After thinking for a bit, Claire realized sothing.
There was no need to overthink it.
‘I’ll just show it to the sli.’
This sli could read nus, after all.
If it could read this, she could just ask if it was the one ntioned.
Claire showed the flyer to the sli and asked, “Is this you?”
The sli looked at the flyer Claire held out.
‘Tongtong! That’s !’
Boing!
Realizing the flyer was about itself, the sli bounced on the bed.
anwhile...
▶ What does it say?
▶ It sounded like the human called it a flyer.
▶ Maybe it’s sothing written about Squishy?
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Hey, anyone here can read human writing?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Troll! Translate it! You must know! I saw books written in human language in your nest!
[Free Spirit] ▶ It’s nothing much. Just his na and traits written there.
▶ Ah, don’t be vague. Translate it properly.
▶ Do your job, Troll!
▷ I’ll say it!
As the chat clamored to know more, the sli copied the contents of the flyer word for word, like it was reading its own skill description.
▶ Tongtong lol, it’s been a while.
▶ This is from those four humans, right?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Hmph, still looking for my kin, huh? I suppose that’s... kinda endearing.
▶ So pure lol Honestly, aren’t those humans closer to Squishy than you are?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ SILENCE!
▶Looooool
▶ Stop hitting her with facts lolol
▶ Just saying what’s true! Ikkacola!
While the chat was teasing the Sli Queen...
‘Is it really?’
Claire had only been with the sli for a week and couldn’t tell if its reaction was a confirmation or just a response to the flyer.
So Claire decided to test its intelligence.
“If that’s really you, show one tentacle.”
Pop!
At Claire’s request, the sli imdiately extended a tentacle.
“Oh.”
Seeing the exact answer she was hoping for, Claire nodded.
“So your na is Tongtong.”
Boing!
‘Tongtong!’
The sli was thrilled to hear its other na again after so long and bounced on the bed.
▶ Ahahaha, not Tongtong but Squishy, haha.
▶ Nah nah, the na is actually Alexandros II.
▶ Aw~ I thought Furry was going to co up with Squishy’s new nickna this ti. Too bad.
‘So it really was the sli Marin was looking for.’
Claire clenched her fist in joy at the unexpected stroke of luck.
Even though it was supposed to be a smart and friendly sli that Marin was searching for, she still had doubts about whether such a sli could really be strong enough to take down a B-rank monster in a single blow.
But now, with this flyer, she had confirmation that it was the sa sli.
‘I can beco even stronger.’
Now that it was confird to be the sa sli, hope blossod inside Claire—hope that she could truly beco Nellin’s disciple and grow stronger.
“?"
A sudden thought popped into her mind, and Claire looked at the flyer again.
‘Can glow on its own.’
“Tongtong.”
‘Yep!’
Boing!
“Can you glow too?”
‘Yep! Sparkle sparkle!’
It had been a while since the sli had used its glowing skill.
Excited, it poured more magic into it than usual and lit up brightly.
Paaah!
“Ahhh!”
The sudden flash of light struck Claire’s eyes head-on.
***
—No, no, that won’t do. That’s boring.
Sowhere on the Derxia continent, in a certain cave.
There, soone was watching the sli’s broadcast through a system window.
A humanoid monster over 3 ters tall with dark green skin.
Possessing intelligence enough to use the system, and an aura proving it to be one of the highest-ranking beings—one that pressured and dominated nearby monsters with sheer presence.
This being was one of the S-rank monsters living on the Derxia continent.
The apex of orcs and ruler of all orcs.
The Orc King.
Currently, the Orc King had major complaints about the broadcast.
Naly, that it had been nothing but boring content for way too long.
Months of dull, bloodless sparring.
The only excitent ca from the sli’s performance in the Lightning Strike Forest, but even that was short-lived.
Now it was back to another boring travel arc.
The Orc King found no entertainnt in humans getting massages from the sli and smiling.
‘And now it’s heading to the Holy Capital? That ans it’ll et that saintess and paladin human!’
That would just an more boring content.
The Orc King preferred scenes of blood, human screams, or dramatic monts.
And he didn’t really care if the sli died to make that happen.
In fact, the one who anonymously urged the sli into dangerous actions every ti it got close to trouble after leaving the cave—giggling and pushing for more—was none other than the Orc King.
He once had a proper nickna but got banned from other broadcasts for trolling, so now he operated anonymously.
If he didn’t like the sli’s show, he could just watch another one.
But that wasn’t the kind of troll the Orc King was.
‘Why should I leave first? They should change the show to suit !’
His mindset was one where others should adjust to him, not the other way around—one of entitlent and constant complaints, earning him the title of troll.
Back when the sli was with the Godrick party, the Orc King had considered creating content of his own.
He planned to send his minions to the village where the sli and the Godrick party were staying, start a raid, and enjoy watching the sli and humans fight back.
He was thinking about how to stage it and which minion to send first, but that plan got shelved when the sli fell off a cliff and t Alia and Paulen.
‘Can’t ss with the guys who took down that damn flying lizard.’
As a top-tier creature, the Orc King had naturally extended his lifespan.
It had been 60 years since he evolved into one.
And he still rembered a certain unforgettable broadcast from 50 years ago.
A deranged black dragon who suddenly claid to be a human turned dark dragon.
At first, the dragon went around picking fights for a “Get Stronger” challenge.
Then he launched a “Show True Evil” arc, starting a Human Massacre Challenge.
He labeled non-existent races on the demon continent—humans, beastkin, elves, and dwarves—as Ningen, Furry, kanpun, and Dwarfs, coining terms that are still used today.
And instead of massacring humans, he just went around burning places down, even torching the forest the Orc King lived in.
Because of that fire, the Orc King lost many of his hard-earned minions.
Just thinking about that ti still made his teeth grind.
▶ You bastard!!! You said you were killing humans—why’d you have to burn down the forest too?!
▷ Co fight then, lololol. Can’t, right? Too weak? Scaredy-cat?
Even when he complained in the chat, the black dragon would just taunt him more.
The Orc King ground his teeth, unable to confront the dragon directly.
Just from watching his fights on the demon continent, it was obvious he was far stronger.
And the ones who eventually took down that black dragon?
A group made up of Ningen, kanpun, and Dwarfs.
That broadcast was so powerful it still haunted the Orc King’s mory.
He rembered clearly that one of those humans was called the Saintess.
And now he was supposed to attack that Saintess?
If he ssed up, he could die.
‘But not right now.’
The Saintess wasn’t around, and neither was Troll.
‘If Troll were nearby, he might co if Squishy was in danger.’
But it didn’t seem likely they’d co all the way to his nest.
Keh heh heh heh...
The Orc King chuckled at the thought of restarting the content he’d once given up on.
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