Chapter 50: A New Resolve

It was small enough to fit into the palm of Qiu Nuoya’s hand.

Moreover, Mochi’s body had always had a nice amount of elasticity before, but today it felt completely different.

It had no strength at all and hung loosely like a puddle of liquid.

Clinging to Qiu Nuoya’s chest, Mochi continued trembling violently.

It seemed to have been truly terrified, because it kept crying pitifully without stopping.

Still, more than anything else, Qiu Nuoya was simply relieved that Mochi was alive.

"That child is your familiar?"

"Yes. This is Mochi, my familiar. Apparently, it’s a Big Slime despite looking like this."

At Qiu Nuoya’s words, Mochi’s body trembled again.

[ Uuuuuuu... I... I’m not a Big Slime anymore. I wanted to grow even bigger and become a Huge Slime, but I turned back into just a normal slimeeeee... ]

Mochi burst into even louder tears.

Qiu Nuoya still did not really understand slime biology at all.

"Mochi, Mochi, calm down. I don’t care if you’re not a Big Slime anymore. I’m just happy that you’re safe."

[ But... but we were trying so hard because we wanted to be useful to Nuoya... We wanted to help youuuuu... Uwaaaaaah... ]

While Qiu Nuoya gently stroked Mochi’s trembling body and tried to comfort it, Viktor tilted his head curiously.

"Nuoya, are you able to communicate with that slime?"

Qiu Nuoya felt like he had once had a similar conversation with Igor.

Being able to communicate with a slime really was that unusual, wasn’t it?

"Mochi and I can talk normally. Come on, Mochi, stop crying. If you cry too much, your body will melt, you know. You just need to eat a lot and grow big again."

[ Waaaah... ]

"A slime... is crying?"

"Is it really crying? It just looks like it’s trembling to me... Also, slimes don’t make sounds, right? They don’t even have mouths."

Viktor and Igor both looked at Mochi with doubtful expressions.

They had a point. Slimes were basically transparent jelly like creatures with only a core inside. They did not have any visible organs for sensing things.

Even Qiu Nuoya did not understand how Mochi saw, heard, or spoke. But he could still tell when Mochi was crying while trembling.

Seeing it like that made his chest ache.

At that moment, a quiet knocking sound came from the door.

Someone was here.

"Um... How is Nuoya doing?"

The person who peeked into the room was Warren.

The moment he saw Qiu Nuoya sitting up on the bed, tears immediately streamed down his face.

"N-Nuoya is okay... I’m so glad. I was scared... I thought you might die... I’m sorry, Nuoya. It’s because I forced you to come on that goblin extermination mission... Your injuries... I’m really sorry. I’m sorry..."

"W W Wait, don’t cry! I’m fine. I’m alive, and my injuries aren’t that serious..."

"They are quite serious."

Viktor immediately interrupted from the side.

But he was alive, wasn’t he?

There was no point dwelling on something that had already happened forever.

"Nuoya can move right now only because Lady Sherria happened to be there. But when I think about what would have happened if she hadn’t been there, it truly frightens me."

"Sherria...?"

Qiu Nuoya felt like he had heard that name before, but he could not remember where.

"However, she was also grateful to you for saving her."

"Ah, the woman who injured her leg back then? Is everyone safe?"

"Thanks to you, everyone made it out safely. However, while saving them was a noble thing to do, rushing into a battle alone was extremely reckless, Nouya. Before trying to save them, you should have called for help."

"But what if something happened to those women while I was waiting for help...?"

"I admire your courage, but you should only take such risks after you become capable of protecting yourself."

Qiu Nuoya could not argue against that.

It was completely reasonable.

He still knew far too little about this world.

"Speaking of which, Sherria said that once you regained consciousness, she wanted to properly thank you for what you did."

"She doesn’t have to do that... But everyone around her called her Lady Sherria. Is she perhaps the daughter of some noble family?"

"Ah, that’s right. You wouldn’t know." Viktor nodded. "Her name is Sherria Realight. She is a Saintess affiliated with the church in the royal capital."

A Saintess!

So people like that really existed in this world.

And since she had a family name, she was probably from a noble family as well.

"Still, why would a Saintess from the royal capital come all the way to such a remote countryside area? She barely even had any guards with her, right? It’s fortunate that she was unharmed, but if something had happened to a Saintess, it would have become a serious matter."

"There is something about that I do not fully understand either, but when I went to the capital, I noticed something that concerned me."

"Something that concerned you?"

Viktor’s expression became slightly serious as he began to explain.

"Kingdom of Velikorya has always had a close relationship between the royal family and the church. It is customary for the royal heir to marry the Saint. Lady Sherria was also supposed to follow this tradition and was engaged to the First Prince. However, when the investigation at the border was conducted, the First Prince also went there with her. Yet for some reason, he brought another woman with him instead of Lady Sherria."

"Furthermore, the way he acted with that woman was clearly intimate. It was very obvious."

"Whoa, so was that cheating? Or was she some kind of mistress?"

"The woman he brought was also a Saint, although her virtues were not comparable to Lady Sherria’s. So it cannot simply be called an affair. However, even if they were both Saints, I do question the actions of someone who already had an official fiancée."

Qiu Nuoya thought about it.

Yeah, that really was suspicious.

What exactly was that prince thinking?