Laika

* Light Novel
* Anime

**Laika** (ライカ, *Raika*) is one of the main characters of *Slime Taoshite 300-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita* series. She is Azusa's student and sees herself as Azusa's surrogate big sister, much to her chagrin.

## Background

A member of the Red Dragon species, she first appears when she challenges Azusa to a test of strength while proclaiming herself to be the strongest being in the province of Nanterre. But after being defeated at her hands, she reconsiders her stance on power and skill, and asks to become Azusa's student to better herself.

## Appearance

In her human form, Laika takes the form of a short and youthful girl, almost appearing childlike. She has chin length ginger hair in a bob cut with two black horns jetting backwards out either side of her head and also rose hip colored eyes.

She wears an ensemble consisting of a white puff shoulder bell sleeve blouse with a standing collar tied with a black ribbon in addition to two more tied under the shoulder puffs. A pair of black chevrons and a series of ovals adorn the sleeves.

On top of that, she wears a double breasted apron dress, cut down the middle from her abdomen revealing a white petticoat, complemented by a black underbust corset-like garment. Lastly, she wears solid black tights or stockings and red bulldog toe boots with an orange saddle and collar.

## Personality

As a proud member of the Red Dragon tribe, Laika is generally characterized as polite and somewhat quiet, and possesses a strong sense of honor and respect for everyone she meets, regardless of their reputation or her impression of them. She believes in fair play and seniority through strength as a result, as evidenced when she asked Azusa to tutor her on becoming stronger following their fight and even offered to rebuild the portion of her house she destroyed.

However, these predispositions are dropped when facing members of the Blue Dragon tribe, whom she treats suspiciously and with hostility, as the tribes are mortal enemies.

## Powers & Abilities

As with all Red Dragons, Laika possesses the ability to breath fire. She likewise can fly in her dragon form and has enough strength to destroy a portion, if not all, of a house. She has a signature move called a "Dragon Kick" that she utilized against Shalsha.

In her initial service to Azusa, she demonstrated sufficient knowledge of magic circles to construct a protective field around Flatta Village.

She can also cook, apparently very well, as Azusa described her omelettes as "Amazing and well-seasoned". She breathes fire on the pots to heat them up.

## Trivia

* The name Laika is rather dubious regarding its meaning, as it is the name of various companies, an island in the Shepard Islands of Vanatu and even a class of fifth-generation nuclear-powered Russian submarines. However, its most iconic association is with the first dog and animal in space, Лайка or Laika, from the dog breed of the same name and literally means barker.
* Kaede Hondo, Laika's seiyuu for the Drama CDs and anime, gave congratulations on the animation, and commented that nowadays she feels it is a nostalgic memory when she first struggled with Drama CDs.
	+ Kaede Hondo’s character, Laika, befriends a witch on the show. Kaede Hondo has voiced a witch named Elaina in the anime, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina in the past. Also, Laika has some similarities to Elaina:
		- Both became an apprentice to a witch.
		- Both learn to not endure and to stop when they feel like it.
		- Both can by picky with their food.
* When she was younger she attended an all-girls' school.
* In the animated version (regardless of which language it's dubbed in) Laika has a distorted voice when she challenges Azusa; to compensate for Azusa not knowing her gender.