Chapter 56: From Rival to Friend

Apparently, Qiu Nuoya had become Viktor’s disciple.

The Moonlit Sage had a disciple?

Warren had never heard anything about that!

Warren did not have any talent for magic, so becoming Viktor’s disciple was impossible. But when he jokingly said that he wanted to become Igor’s disciple instead, Qiu Nuoya immediately offered to introduce him.

Just like that?

It was really that easy?

The more Warren talked with Qiu Nuoya, the more confused he became.

Qiu Nuoya never acted arrogant.

He never bragged.

He simply smiled happily and spoke normally.

It was completely different from the image Warren had built up in his head.

What was with this guy?

He made no sense.

Actually... Why had he been so angry at him in the first place?

While Warren’s thoughts continued spinning in circles, somehow, he had ended up becoming friends with Qiu Nuoya.

When Qiu Nuoya mentioned that he could not accept slime extermination missions because he could not afford proper equipment, Warren told him he could have the leather armor he had outgrown.

Qiu Nuoya immediately accepted it.

And then he smiled so brightly that his entire face lit up.

"W-Well, it was only because it was a hassle to throw it away!"

"It wasn’t because I was thinking about you or anything!"

Despite his own embarrassment, Warren handed over the leather armor and helped Qiu Nuoya accept a slime extermination mission.

But seriously... This guy was too small.

Much smaller than Warren had expected.

The leather armor was already too small for Warren to wear, yet it was still slightly loose around Qiu Nuoya’s body.

Actually, he was not just small.

He was also thin.

Was he lacking muscle?

Well, that made sense.

Qiu Nuoya was a mage, after all.

It was not strange for a mage to have a slender build.

Still... He seemed a little too thin.

Was he eating properly?

Warren could not help but worry.

Standing in front of a slime, Qiu Nuoya clenched his fists and shouted, "Alright!"

He looked surprisingly determined.

Good.

Keep going.

A slime extermination mission was something every adventurer needed to complete at least once if they wanted to raise their rank.

Warren silently cheered him on.

Do your best, Qiu Nuoya.

That was what Warren had been thinking. But the moment Qiu Nuoya actually stood in front of a slime, everything changed.

Qiu Nuoya suddenly collapsed to the ground with a helpless expression.

"The slime is too cute. I can’t kill it."

"What!?"

Warren could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"Look at it! It’s adorable, isn’t it!? It only causes trouble because it eats too much. It’s not like it’s trying to hurt anyone. Do we really have to kill it...?"

You’re the cute one here!

But that was absolutely not a valid reason to fail an extermination mission!

Stop hugging the slime!

And what was with these slimes!?

They completely seemed to trust Qiu Nuoya, they were bouncing happily around him without the slightest intention of running away.

Meanwhile, they would not even come close to Warren anymore!

Wait.

Now that he thought about it, wasn’t a monster extermination mission considered complete as long as the target monster was dealt with somehow?

If Qiu Nuoya could tame this slime as a familiar, wouldn’t that count as completing the mission?

The slime was already incredibly attached to him.

Could it be that Qiu Nuoya had the Beast Tamer skill?

"If you make that thing your familiar, I think they’ll count it as defeating one monster. Probably."

"Really!? How do I do that!?"

"How should I know? I’m not a Beast Tamer. But that thing seems ridiculously attached to you, so maybe you can just... figure something out?"

Warren had no idea how Beast Tamer skills worked.

He had only suggested it on a whim. But Qiu Nuoya immediately reacted to the idea.

After that, somehow, through a series of events, Qiu Nuoya actually succeeded in making the slime his familiar.

Seriously... When the slime started merging with other slimes and grew larger and larger, Warren was genuinely terrified.

What was that?

He had never seen a slime do anything like that before.

People always said slimes were weak and useless monsters.

They were only good at eating and making one your familiar was usually a bad idea. But seeing how happy Qiu Nuoya and the slime both looked.

Well, maybe it was fine.

After becoming friends with Qiu Nuoya, Warren was also able to receive training from Igor.

Qiu Nuoya was extremely weak when it came to physical combat.

His stance was unstable and he was completely unprepared for close range fighting.

However, he seemed to have plenty of determination and listened carefully to everything Igor taught him.

Igor also seemed to find Qiu Nuoya’s efforts endearing, because he trained him seriously and patiently.

The two of them looked less like a teacher and student and more like family.

Almost like a father and son.

Or perhaps brothers.

Qiu Nuoya really was a strange person.

Before Warren realized it, Qiu Nuoya had already slipped into people’s hearts and was smiling happily beside them.

Warren who was still unable to be honest with himself continued to throw out sarcastic remarks like always. Yet somehow, he had already started thinking of Qiu Nuoya as a younger brother and wanting to look after him.

It felt strangely unfamiliar.

Qiu Nuoya’s slime had apparently been named Mochi.

However, whenever they trained together, Warren would occasionally see it grow enormous out in the grasslands.

Seriously... What kind of slime was that thing?

Whenever the giant slime appeared, the number of smaller slimes in the area decreased.

Was it eating them?

Was it some kind of cannibalism?

Terrifying.

Absolutely terrifying.

But at the same time, the extermination missions available to Rank G Adventurers like them were limited.

If the slime population decreased too much, there would be no more slime extermination missions and that would actually become a problem for them.

Advancing from Rank G Adventurer to Rank F Adventurer was actually not that difficult.