The boss heard Def’s words and wondered if he had misheard.
“Who caught it?”
“The slime!”
‘So I didn’t mishear him.’
The boss looked around.
Def, who had spoken to him.
The corpses of the deer and wolf nearby.
And Hawane and Skol, sleeping.
Lastly, the slime bouncing up and down.
First of all, it was clear that Hawane and Skol hadn’t gone with Def.
“You’re really saying the slime caught it? Tell me how.”
“Yup!”
Def nodded with a smile and began to explain.
“...And that’s how I dragged the deer and the wolf back.”
“I see.”
The boss knew that Def wasn’t the type to lie.
To begin with, he wasn’t cunning enough, or smart enough, to make up a lie.
And if Skol ever tried to make him lie, it would show all over his face.
Deciding to trust Def’s words for now, the boss accepted the fact that the slime had caught the wolf.
‘What kind of slime is this?’
A slime that’s not only faster than Skol, but also caught two wolves in the blink of an eye?
He’d never heard of such a thing.
“H-Hey boss.”
“What.”
Def’s stomach growled as he spoke.
“If we don’t clean the meat soon, it’ll spoil.”
“Yeah, we should clean it.”
The boss decided to put off his thoughts about the slime for now.
Growl.
Though not as loud as Def, the boss also felt that one rabbit hadn’t been enough.
“Wake Hawane and Skol. We’ll clean it and eat.”
“Yes, boss!”
Smiling brightly, Def woke the sleeping Skol and Hawane.
“Ugh! What the heck, pig! Why’d you wake someone up?”
“Yaaawn~ Huh?”
“Both of you get up and help clean this.”
“Boss? What the!? Where’d these deer and wolves come from!?”
“Did you and boss catch them because you were hungry at night?”
“I’ll explain later. For now, help us clean them.”
Following the boss’s orders, Hawane and Skol began cleaning the deer and wolves.
Sizzle, sizzle.
The sound of venison cooking late at night drifted on the breeze.
Since one rabbit wasn’t enough for Hawane and Skol either, the whole bandits watched the meat grilling with hungry eyes.
While the meat cooked, the boss explained why they suddenly had meat.
“What? The slime caught the wolves?”
“That’s what Def said.”
“You believe this idiot’s words, boss?”
“I-I’m not an idiot...”
“Def may be a bit slow, but he’s not the type to lie. You know that.”
“But it’s just a slime...”
Skol stared at the slime suspiciously, but Hawane laughed and said, “Pfft, you’re the one who lost to that slime, Skol. Isn’t it better to just admit you lost to a slime that even took down wolves?”
“I didn’t lose!”
“Oh! It’s done!”
The bandits decided to fill their stomachs first with the grilled meat.
“Hey, slime, here. This one’s for you.”
Boing!
The slime also ate the meat that Def had grilled separately.
‘Tasty!’
Though it couldn’t compare in taste or nutrition to what he ate at the mansion, sharing food with others made it taste delicious.
After they’d eaten their fill, the bandits, tired from being woken up, fell back asleep.
***
The next morning.
Since they had eaten meat late at night, the boss’s face was swollen when he woke up, and he fell deep in thought.
‘What should I do about this slime?’
At first, he had only thought the slime would sell for a good price at the black market, since it approached people without fear.
But once they returned to the hideout, surprising things kept happening.
After a hunting trip, he realized the slime was faster than even Skol.
After waking up from sleep, he saw the slime had taken down two wolves in an instant.
A slime that doesn’t fear people, yet is this powerful.
The boss had never heard or seen anything like it.
It was clearly no ordinary slime.
Which is why he began to question whether it was okay to sell it to the black market.
What if he used it for something else?
‘Maybe we could make more money that way.’
The boss looked at his men.
Hawane, Skol, and Def.
All of them were from the same rural village.
They called him “boss” and had followed him when they left the village.
Having brought them with him, he felt responsible for them as their leader—and he couldn’t let them go hungry.
Since hunting monsters as adventurers was too dangerous, the boss had decided they would work mainly as mercenaries taking on safer tasks.
A mercenary group of only four members.
At first, they started with transporting cargo.
Then they took on minor tasks like eliminating nearby goblins, even if they weren’t full-fledged adventurers.
After that, they started getting requests to escort merchants or intimidate newly opened shops.
They mainly took on work that wasn’t life-threatening.
Even if it wasn’t monsters, they’d had plenty of fights with people since they were young.
Because of that, the four of them had built a strong bond over the years, and even rookie adventurers or local thugs were no match for them.
But now, that mercenary group had become a bandits.
‘It’s all because of me.’
It had started with a noble’s request.
By then, they had gained some reputation as a mercenary group.
A noble named Baron Fedfil approached them with an arrogant attitude and demanded they take on his request.
The pay was good, so the boss immediately asked what the job was.
And the contents of that request were shocking.
The kidnapping of a village woman.
When they first heard it, not just the boss, but the other three questioned whether they had heard correctly.
Baron Fedfil had a twisted hobby too shameful to even describe.
He liked forcing himself on women who had no feelings for him.
He especially enjoyed seeing them suffer.
Even the reason he gave such unspeakable tasks to mercenaries was absurd.
He couldn't order his private soldiers directly, fearing it might tarnish his honor if he were caught.
He didn’t trust the filthy thugs in the back alleys enough.
But if he hired a mercenary group that had earned some trust through several jobs, no one would suspect them even if women went missing.
Moreover, knowing how seriously mercenaries take contracts, he had said, “I’ll personally give you this request.”
He even added that a mere mercenary group that had luckily gained some reputation should be grateful to be paid such a large sum for this.
After hearing all that, the boss snapped and punched the baron square in the face.
That’s how they ended up in this situation.
They barely managed to escape the noble’s mansion, but the mercenary group became wanted and could no longer accept legitimate requests, forcing them into banditry.
Even then, they weren’t good at being bandits.
Though they were called bandits, all they did was block roads and demand tolls—it was more like aggressive begging.
They couldn’t bring themselves to actually swing their swords at people or rob them of their possessions.
‘At this rate, this half-hearted bandit life will only take us so far. If that’s the case, then maybe...’
The wanted posters only applied to regions under the baron’s influence.
They had chosen the path of banditry thinking it was less dangerous than monster hunting.
But after trying it themselves, they realized something.
They just weren’t suited for being bandits.
The boss himself was feeling the limits of this lifestyle when he met the slime.
A slime that was fast enough to instantly take down at least two wolves and was friendly toward humans.
‘If we can train this slime properly...’
It might be dangerous, but maybe living as adventurers would be better.
To test that possibility, the boss decided to run some experiments.
***
First, the boss told his men.
Today, they were going to hunt goblins.
“Goblins? Boss, it takes at least an hour to walk to where the goblins are. It’s not worth much money either. Also, aren’t we going to do any robbing today?”
“Stop whining and come with me. Skol, Def, take care of the slime.”
“Yes, boss!”
The boss took his men and headed to the goblin territory.
Upon spotting the goblins, he gave an order to Def.
“Def, go take down those goblins with the slime.”
“Yes, boss!”
“Boss? What are you even saying...?”
“Quiet.”
He wanted to verify whether the slime really had the skill to catch wolves.
“Let’s go, slime! Let’s catch some goblins!”
Boing!
Though unsure, the boss sent Def and the slime.
And he saw the truth.
“Yah!”
While Def swung his sword and defeated one goblin—
Boing! Boing! Boing!
Whack! Thud! Smack!
Each time it bounced, the slime took down a goblin.
“What the heck is that.”
“That slime’s seriously amazing.”
Even Skol and Hawane blinked in disbelief at the sight.
“Hehe, slime, you’re incredible!”
Boing!
Even though he didn’t defeat as many as the slime, Def smiled purely and praised it, while the slime bounced happily in response.
Seeing that, the boss felt a spark of hope and gave additional orders.
He paired the slime not only with Def, but also with Skol and Hawane to hunt goblins.
And finally, he himself teamed up with the slime to fight goblins.
The results of the test were—
‘What the... Why is it so obedient? And also... insanely smart?’
It was an unbelievably good result.
The slime was unusually cooperative.
Not only that, but it clearly understood human speech.
“Hey! I’m going to catch two this time, so you just get one and stay still!”
Because the slime kept defeating most of the goblins it spotted, Skol once complained like that.
And surprisingly, the slime quickly took down one goblin and then remained still.
That wasn’t all.
“Hey! What are you doing? Help me out!”
When more goblins showed up while Skol was dealing with the last one and he shouted for help—
Boing!
The slime reacted immediately and defeated the goblins.
It was clear to anyone that the slime could understand human language.
‘It’s possible. At this level, we can definitely do this!’
The boss saw hope in the test results.
That evening, he spoke to his men.
“Guys, be honest. You don’t really like being bandits, do you?”
“Huh? I don’t care if you say we should do it, boss.”
“Pfft, you’re asking that now, boss?”
“M-Me too, I’m fine with whatever you say, boss.”
“Don’t think about me. You guys don’t actually like banditry, right?”
“Well, who really wants to be a bandit by choice?”
“If it weren’t for that damned pervert noble, we wouldn’t be doing this crap.”
“Ugh... honestly, I felt guilty asking passersby for money...”
Hearing their honest words, the boss made up his mind and said, “Guys. Then let’s... take this slime and become adventurers.”
““Huh??””
Their voices overlapped in surprise.