“…Strong? The Proud Wolf and slimes?”

Armor that couldn’t withstand the power of a slime did not sound like it would be useful for anything.

…Even the Proud Wolf was not that strong.

As I thought this—Master Gaiger answered me.

“If you look at the monster by itself, they are not that strong. …But the power of a monster is related to the Tamer. Once they are paired with you, there are no monsters stronger than them. At least, from what I have seen.”

I didn’t really understand… In other words, a Tamer’s skills were included in a monster’s power?

In that case, maybe my monsters would be considered stronger than most.

I cast all kinds of strengthening magic on the slimes and Proud Wolf, so they would be a lot stronger than average.

While I considered all of this, Master Gaiger brought out some monster armor from the back of his shop.

I didn’t know what monster it was for—but it looked expensive.

“Let’s try with this one. It increases running speed.”

“Try?”

“Aye. You will see if they can fight without a problem while wearing this. If not, it will break. Simple enough.”

I see.

It was simple—but didn’t that thing cost over 300,000 cicols?

“Break…and you don’t mind?”

“Aye. I was going to throw this away regardless. So I don’t mind. If anything, I’d prefer it if even a slightly strong monster was able to make use of it.”

So saying, Master Gaiger tried to put the monster armor on the slime.

“…Uh, that’s for slimes?”

“No, it’s for a different monster. But it shouldn’t matter with slimes. They can change shape as they see fit.”

Right.

So monster armor was effective as long as they could wear it. It didn’t have to be made for them.

In that case, it would be easy to acquire slime armor.

‘Yuji! This guy’s trying to put something weird over me!’

‘It’s so heavy!’

‘Just bear it for now. It’s supposed to make it easier for you to move.’

‘Uhh, okay…’

And so the slime stayed still so he could put the armor on.

“All right. Now it should work.”

“…I guess we should test it. …Slime, can you try moving?”

‘Okay!’

And then the slime started moving around the store.

It did seem to be a little faster than before.

‘It’s easy to move in!’

So the slimes noticed the difference as well.

“It’s not breaking.”

“It seems like it’s barely holding together. ….Barely.”

Master Gaiger said as he looked at the slimes.

I couldn’t tell–but to him, it was barely holding up now.

“But my slimes are in their normal state. They haven’t been buffed at all. And it could still break?”

“Monsters are as strong as their Tamers. …So, you don’t usually fight in this state?”

“No. I use strengthening magic first.”

“Do it.”

And so I cast the usual strengthening spells on the slimes.

However, the armor did not break.

“It seems to be fine.”

The slimes were moving around and yet the armor held together.

And like before, the slime seemed to be moving faster.

–Master Gaiger looked at this and said,

“Ahh. It’s no use. It won’t be able to bear it.”

…It didn’t look like it was about to break at all.

And the slime was moving around cheerfully.

What was he seeing?

As I thought about this—the armor that the slime was wearing suddenly cracked.

“What?”

“…Sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. If I wanted, I could have taken it off before it happened. …If anything, I’m quite happy to be put to the test after so much time.”

Master Gaiger said as he petted the Proud Wolf.

It seemed like he had agreed to make armor for my monsters.