The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 47

Chapter 47:

Huh?! Captain Oght!

“WELCOME BACK, IVY,” Vice-Captain Velivera greeted me.

“Oh! Thank you.” My mind was so caught up in other things that I was a little flustered. “Excuse me. Do you know where Captain Oght is?”

“What, do you need something from him?”

“Not quite, but I met someone named Gunsvel at the dump who asked me if I was ‘that kid Ivy that the captain mentioned.’ I thought maybe he was referring to Captain Oght.”

“Oooh, sorry,” said Vice-Captain Velivera. “Has your name spread that much already? The captain’s been telling officers to help out a young adventurer named Ivy if he’s ever in trouble.”

“Huh?!”

“I think he’s keeping an eye out for you, since you’re trying so hard all by yourself.”

“Whaaat?!” Oh no, that’s so embarrassing. My cheeks were hot.

Vice-Captain Velivera suppressed his laughter, though not well enough, when he saw me blush. “Sorry, I tried to stop him! Heh heh, word had spread before I even knew it. Ha ha ha, the captain’s not a bad guy! He just gets his mind set on something and you can’t stop him. Ah ha ha ha…” He couldn’t help but continue to laugh.

So all those gatekeepers and patrolling guards are keeping an eye on me because of Captain Oght? I know he’s not a bad person, but…!

“I’m really sorry,” he apologized.

“No, it’s okay.” I bowed my head to Vice-Captain Velivera and went into the village.

On my way to the plaza, several people greeted me by name. Every time, my face heated up. Would things be like this the entire time I was in this village?

Urgh… So embarrassing.

When I arrived, the supervisor greeted me by name. How many people did Captain Oght tell?! When I got inside my tent, I instantly collapsed. I’d had no idea something like this would be so exhausting.

I took Sora out of its bag and gave it ten red and ten blue potions. After making sure my friend was eating, I left the tent. Outside, I took the liberty of tying rope to a nearby tree and hung my wet clothes on it. When I came back in, Sora was happily bobbing away as it dined, and the bobbing intensified when it noticed me walk in.

I took my pickings out of my bag to check and sort them. By the time I finished putting everything in its proper bag, Sora had finished scarfing down its meal. I watched the little slime for a moment. It was still bubbling. Hmm… It seems like there are more red bits than last time. I know! I’ll go to a bookstore. Even if they don’t know about Sora, I might be able to learn something from a book about slimes.

“Let’s go to the bookstore, Sora!”

Sora stopped its crazy vertical stretching—some after-meal exercise?—looked at me, and sprang up… The slime bounced so hard that he hit the ceiling of the tent and crashed into the floor.

“Are you okay?!” There were tears in its eyes. I’d never seen it express itself like that, but I wasn’t exactly happy to see it. “That must’ve hurt.”

I stroked Sora and put it in its bag. I’d never heard of a slime crying. What would I do if it started to become even more unlike other slimes? I looked down into the bag.

Ha ha ha…that…that won’t happen, right?

I left the plaza and walked toward the main street, where more strangers spoke to me. One even asked where I was going. When I answered that I was off to find a bookstore, they led me to a famous one with tons of books.

I went in, but…it was way different from what I’d imagined a bookstore would look like. I’d thought that they would have shelves full of books. They did, but each shelf had a few books laid on their sides. That’s weird. Why did I imagine the books standing up on the shelves? I picked up a book on a nearby shelf and peeked inside. It was a book about weapon types. I put it back on the shelf and checked the other books. When I finally found an introduction to taming, I flipped through it.

Hmm…it looked like it was for one-star tamers, but it only listed names of tamable monsters and their strength rankings. Didn’t they have books that went into more detail? I searched for a book on slimes, but I couldn’t find one. They didn’t even have any like the one the fortune-teller had given me.

There was a book with instructions for making traps, but it only explained ones that would stop high-level monsters in their tracks. It was really unclear, too—for example, it would tell you a hole needed to be “big” but not the exact size. While I was searching, other customers came in, bought stuff, and left. In the end, I had picked up every book, but they were all way too vague. Was everyone else satisfied with info like this? I gave up and left.

“There you are!” someone yelled.

I was startled, but it turned out to be Captain Oght. He seemed a little flustered.

“Huh? Oh, hi, Captain Oght. Is something wrong?”

“I’m sorry!”

Huh? Huuuh?! Right in front of the bookstore, he bowed in apology. What’s going on? Somebody, please explain!

Vice-Captain Velivera ran after him and pulled his head back up. “Aaargh! This is why I keep telling you to pay attention to your surroundings!” I still had no idea what was going on, but we were totally making a scene.

“But you said he was mad!” Captain Oght protested.

“Mad?” I repeated. What did he mean? Was I mad at Captain Oght?

“No!” said the vice-captain. “I said he’s uncomfortable because you keep telling all the guards about him!”

Captain Oght blinked. “Huh? You’re not mad?”

I see. Captain Oght is kinda reckless, isn’t he?