Monster’s Streamer Star Chapter 94 : Advance (3)

‘I never expected sothing like this to suddenly happen.’

The sudden announcent of an Orc King raid.

Thanks to that, the sli had to remain in the village, giving Troll more ti to prepare.

‘Assuming the raid ends properly, I’d say we’ve got a full week.’

Even if the subordinates sent by the Orc King arrived early, it would take at least three days.

Since the Orc King himself called it a “raid,” a large number of orcs were expected.

So, Troll figured it would take at least four days to fully eliminate them.

The rank of an average orc is D.

When the sli had peeked at the village’s request board, most of the monster elimination requests were C-rank or higher.

This ant the adventurers in this village were highly skilled.

With the sli joining in, Troll judged they could easily withstand a raid by orcs.

‘Then I should... maybe organize the magic I want to show to Nellin and Presia!’

With a sly grin, Troll spent several hours selecting spells to show to comrades he had yet to et.

Like a child excited to show off a talent, Troll lost track of ti focusing on which spells to use that day.

“Hoo, hoo, hoo-hahaha! Perfect! This is it!”

At last, he had decided on all the magic he would show the two.

All that remained was delivering the invitation—in the form of a warning—as Lich, to the Holy Capital where they resided.

‘Hmm, what should I say? To rule the world! I have arrived! No, that sounds too grandiose. That might make not just the capital but the entire kingdom see as an enemy. Then how about... A fair and square duel! No, that’s too weak an impact.’

A dilemma tougher than choosing magic had co to visit Troll.

***

Alia was resting in her room after finishing her divine law training.

Her guard, Paulen, had completed his dawn training before she woke up and was in the room with her, as usual, to protect her.

At that mont, Gracie brought in the people who had apparently been with the sli before eting them.

“These are the ones who used to be Jiggly’s forr companions?”

“Yes, Saintess.”

Alia looked at Godrick’s group.

A man with a sturdy build, another with a lean fra, one shorter than herself, and the largest one with a gentle face.

They were a very distinct group of four.

Godrick, as the party representative, spoke to Alia first.

“Greetings, Saintess Alia. My na is Godrick.”

“Hmph, I’m Hawane.”

“Skol.”

“D-Def here!”

“Hello. I’m Alia. And this is…”

“I am Paladin Paulen, assigned to protect the Saintess.”

“Paladin...!”

At the ntion of paladin, Godrick’s group widened their eyes and stared at Paulen.

What is a paladin?

It’s a title that refers to the strongest of holy knights.

In Godrick’s group, the strongest person they knew was Nellin.

For a mont, a typical “guy thought” passed through their minds—who would win in a fight, Nellin or Paulen?

“Is sothing wrong?”

Receiving all their attention, Paulen couldn’t understand why he was being stared at so intensely.

“Ahem, no. It’s just our first ti seeing a paladin.”

“U-Um, Saintess Alia, has Tongtong been doing well at the Great Church?”

Although Godrick was speaking on behalf of the group, Def couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked Alia.

They had already heard from Presia how the sli had been at the Great Church.

But he still wanted to hear directly from the one who had cared for the sli.

He wanted confirmation that the sli had lived peacefully at the church.

“Tongtong?”

“Oh, that’s the na we used to call the sli. It bounced a lot, so we called it Tongtong. You called it Jiggly here, right?”

“Tongtong... That’s a fitting na too.”

Alia smiled softly as she briefly thought of the sli.

“I-I ca up with it!”

“I see. I nad it Jiggly because it felt soft when touched.”

“I think Jiggly is also a cute and lovely na!”

“Really?”

Alia felt happy that her opinion was genuinely appreciated.

At the sa ti, she thought Def was far more innocent than she’d expected.

‘He must’ve treated Jiggly really well.’

At that mont—

“I have a few questions, if you don’t mind.”

Paulen addressed Godrick’s group.

“What is it?”

“When we first t Jiggly, it was under quite unique circumstances. I’d like to hear about what happened when you parted ways and what kind of life you lived together.”

Paulen, who considered the sli his muscle-training buddy, also wanted to know about the sli’s previous lifestyle.

There might be things he could apply to the sli’s workout routine once they got it back from the Lich.

“We’d be happy to talk.”

Godrick’s group also had nothing else to do until Nellin and Presia were done with their discussions, so they were grateful for Paulen’s suggestion.

For over an hour, Alia and Paulen talked with Godrick’s group about the sli.

“So that’s when Jiggly truly shined!”

“No way, Tongtong carried sothing that heavy?”

“Jiggly was that good at hunting monsters?”

“Tongtong could cure poison...!?”

The conversation was beneficial for both Alia and Paulen, as well as for Godrick’s group.

They learned things they hadn’t known about the sli.

Godrick’s group could share what Presia hadn’t fully explained.

Alia and Paulen learned about the sli’s past actions they weren’t aware of.

In the end, they all reached the sa conclusion.

The sli they knew was incredibly cute and uniquely special.

As they continued to talk about the sli, they began to feel an invisible bond.

Even if they looked different, their shared affection for the sli was the sa!

When the heated conversation finally ca to a close, they regarded each other as comrades.

“We’ll definitely get Tongtong back from the Lich.”

“Yes! Let’s do our best together!”

‘Should I... have joined in the conversation?’

Gracie, who had quietly listened the whole ti, felt a small twinge of being left out.

***

A week had passed since Nellin and Godrick’s group arrived in the Holy Capital.

Since they were the companions of the legendary hero Nellin, the group was given a separate room inside the Great Church.

They decided to wait there while the investigation team brought back information about the Lich and the sli.

In the anti, Godrick’s group began training under Paulen.

Normally, Nellin himself would have whipped Godrick’s group into shape.

“I’m busy thinking right now, so ask him instead.”

With that excuse, Nellin passed the responsibility for their training onto Paulen.

They were surprised by the sudden announcent, but since the one taking over was none other than Paulen, the strongest of the paladins, Godrick’s group had no complaints.

“Hahahaha! An assignnt entrusted by Lord Nellin! I will give it my all! I look forward to training with you all!”

Paulen’s training style was quite different from Nellin’s.

While Nellin focused primarily on sparring—

“Hngh! Hnnnnnngh! Huhh!”

“Good! You're doing great! Just one more! Let’s push through one more! You're not at your limit yet!”

“Heugh! Hngh! Urghhh! I-I think I’m gonna puke...!”

“Not yet! Let’s run one more lap! You’ll need to do at least ten more laps if you want to puke!”

Paulen’s training focused heavily on building physical strength.

On the first day, after doing one-on-one spars and gauging the abilities of Godrick’s group, Paulen assigned each of them a customized workout plan.

“What you all lack right now is strength! Thanks to training with Lord Nellin, your instincts have sharpened, but your bodies can’t keep up with your eyes! So I’ll help you build up that strength!”

Paulen’s training left them drenched in sweat, to the point the sll of perspiration filled the air.

However, it never pushed them past the point of exhaustion—instead, it was perfectly tuned to leave them with just enough muscle soreness to show improvent.

Because of that, Godrick’s group endured it, driven by a desire to beco stronger.

And once again today, Godrick’s group ca out at the scheduled ti, ready to train under Paulen, and Paulen was deeply moved by their dedication.

“Ahh! I’m truly touched that you’re all working so hard! Then, today, let’s focus on lower body—”

Woooooong!

“Paulen!”

Suddenly, a chilling aura of death began to spread through the sky.

As a saintess, Alia was highly sensitive to death energy, and she imdiately called out to Paulen.

Not just the Great Church, but everyone in the Holy Capital turned their gaze to the sky in shock.

Though the sky was clear and bright, it radiated a sinister, undead energy—an aura of death.

And then—

[To the Saintess, the Paladin, and the legendary heroes—I speak to you now.]

A voice echoed in the minds of everyone in the Holy Capital.

It was a voice that spoke as if to their very souls, one that couldn’t be blocked no matter how tightly one covered their ears.

[Three days from now, I shall wait at the Hill of the Saint. There, I will reveal the essence of my magic!]

“W-What is this voice?!”

“Eeeeek! Oh gods!”

“What the hell! What is this?!”

“Don’t tell —it’s the Lich?!”

“I heard the Lich’s voice! My soul! My soul is tainted—aaagh!”

The Holy Capital was thrown into chaos as the people reeled from both the aura of death and the voice in their heads.

Fortunately, the deathly aura and the voice vanished right after the proclamation, so the confusion didn’t escalate into any actual casualties.

Still, the gravity of the situation remained unchanged.

The Lich had spoken directly to the minds of everyone in the Holy Capital.

Naturally, a eting was convened that included the high priests of the Great Church, Presia, Nellin, Alia, Paulen, as well as those connected to the situation—Gracie and Godrick’s group.

The eting's sole topic: how to respond to the Lich’s declaration.

“For the Lich to act so boldly!”

“We must recall the investigation team imdiately! There's no point continuing the current investigation!”

“More importantly, our troops! We need to gather all the forces in the capital and prepare to face the Lich!”

“To summon us to the Hill of the Saint—how dare that Lich set foot on such sacred ground!”

“And speaking directly into our minds—what kind of sorcery is that?!”

Even the usually composed and benevolent high priests of the Great Church were visibly shaken and could not maintain their usual calm.

The Lich—a wicked undead sorcerer.

It was bad enough that he had caused panic by projecting his voice across the entire capital, but to brazenly declare a eting at the Hill of the Saint?

The Hill of the Saint was revered as the place where the first saint received divine revelation from the gods.

It was also where, fifty years ago, heroes including Presia had gathered and vowed to defeat the black dragon—making it an especially sacred and aningful location.

“Everyone.”

When Presia finally spoke, the high priests—who had all been talking over one another—fell into silence.

“He want only myself, Nellin, Saintess Alia, and Paladin Paulen to go to the Hill of the Saint.”