The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 28

Chapter 28:

Evolution? And Monster Information Fees

I WAS SCARED TO LEAVE the village, but the dump couldn’t be far. I started searching—even if it was close, they’d put it out of sight from inside the town. Based on where I’d seen other dumps, it was pretty easy to guess where it was. I guess every village makes their dump in similar places.

I pulled Sora out of my bag and made a little wall of stuff around the slime so it wouldn’t be blown away. It watched the dump and quivered excitedly. Did it sense mealtime approaching?

“Wait there, okay?”

I went in to examine the huge pile of trash. It didn’t take long to find the blue potions. I’d had great expectations after seeing all the adventurers in the village, but this was even better than I’d hoped. I found a cage, too, and threw some blue potions inside. In no time, I had thirty. When I brought the cage over to Sora, it was shaking like mad. Was it that hungry? I put down the cage and set the slime on top. It immediately started digesting the potions below, each fizzling away to nothing inside. Yep, my friend sure was ravenous.

While Sora stuffed itself, I went back to the trash and crammed as many blue potions as I could into my bag. If the monsters near the village were dangerous, I wouldn’t be able to leave…or visit the dump. I needed to stock up while I still could.

When I got back to Sora, it was bobbing rhythmically inside the now-empty cage. I had never seen it move like that.

“You’re just full of surprises…” Over the past few days, Sora had shown all sorts of new types of movement. Was this a kind of growth? Sora truly was a mystery.

There were clothes discarded in the dump, too. I picked a few items and made sure they weren’t torn. I could sew most of them back together, but some were just too damaged—about half, actually. Still, I had gotten a big haul: two pairs of pants and four blouses.

I wanted to look for water, but the monsters scared me. With how people had reacted to the news in the office, it’d be best to stay inside until they knew what the threat was.

“Sorry, Sora. I need you back in the bag. Is that okay?” Sora bounced out of the cage toward me. Wait…bounced? Huh?! For a moment, I could hardly believe what I’d just seen. “Sora, you…you bounced!”

Until now, the slime had done nothing but roll…but it bounced! I lifted it up and looked it in the eye. In response, it quivered in its usual way. You’re just too cute! After hugging and petting it to my heart’s content, I lowered it in my bag and went back to the village.

In the morning, I set out for the public office. Ever since yesterday evening, seasoned-looking adventurers had seemed tense. The investigation must’ve concluded that the monsters were strong.

“Excuse me,” I said as I walked in.

“Oh! You’re the child from yesterday,” said that nice lady from before.

“Yes. Am I too early?”

“Not at all. The monsters have been identified, so I’ll pay out your information fee.”

I heard conversation in the back. The voices were raised—maybe a little angry. Those monsters must be annoyingly strong…

“Mind confirming the amount for me?” she asked. I walked over to the desk and looked down at the money on it. It was two gold coins and one silver token. “Two radal for informing us about a high-level monster—that’s two gold coins. Five gidal for the information on the five deceased people.”

“Umm…yes, that is correct.” Still, my heart was beating like crazy! This was my first time seeing silver and gold currency. Five silver coins added up to a silver token, while ten made a gold coin… A gold coin?! I tried to imagine the value of it, but that just made me panic more.

Monster information fees are incredible. Money…is scary.