The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 69

Chapter 69:

Sword of Flames and Lightning Royals

WHEN THE END OF THE HUNT was announced, the tents scattered over the clearing were put away one by one. I struck my own tent as I watched the camp break down, and beside me, Gnouga and Sifar packed up their group’s tent. Here and there, I heard people talking about how glad they were to be going back to town and how thankful they were that nobody got hurt. Group after group finished their preparations and headed back for town.

Mira came over to where I was packing. Having her so close made me nervous.

“We never got a chance to talk, did we? That’s a shame.”

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.” I bowed and thanked her, trying to keep cool. Sifar and Gnouga were nearby, so I was safe.

“Let me show you around town when we get to Otolwa,” she insisted.

“If we have the time, that would be…lovely.”

What do I do? When we get to Otolwa, I’ll be alone again. Should I leave the town immediately? But they said someone might be stalking me, so…what do I do?!

Gnouga cut in. “Ivy’s going to stay with us for a while.”

Hm? A while? I looked at him, but he was still busy packing.

“Aww, really?” Mira sighed. “Well, let me know if you’re ever free. You can contact me through the guild.”

“Okay.”

I heard someone call for Mira. Her brothers were waving a short distance away.

“Later, Ivy,” she said.

“Yeah. See you later.”

Mira waved to me and smiled, so I waved back. I was relieved to see her go, of course. I’d somehow managed to avoid being alone with her all this time. Ever since that dinner, someone from Sword of Flames had always been with me. Low and Marcreek had helped, too.

“Sorry for the wait!” Rattloore returned after being pressed into the day’s expedition team. Behind him were Seizerk and, for some reason, four other adventurers I knew.

“Good work out there,” I said.

“Boss, you’re a real pain in the butt, you know that?!” he shouted at the expedition leader.

“You seem energetic. We have plenty more work where that came from.”

“No, thanks!”

“Ha ha ha! Ivy, I hear we’ll be heading back to town with you. Good to have you aboard.”

“Thank you for having me.”

It was comforting to have the expedition team with me. Wondering if they’d made that decision for my sake, I bowed my head. For some reason, everyone always patted me and ruffled my hair. Right when I realized my hair was already messy even though I’d brushed it this morning, Low fixed it for me. He seemed used to doing others’ hair, for some reason.

“You’re good at fixing hair, Low,” I said.

“Think so? I’m always tidying up my sons’ hair.”

“You have kids?” I wasn’t aware that he had a family.

“Two of ’em! They’re adorable.” His voice grew warmer when he talked about his family. I liked that.

“We ought to get going.”

I sprang up at the leader’s voice. Everyone else was a grown up, so I’d have to move fast to keep up. I felt bad for Sora, but it would be stuck in its bag a while longer. I rubbed my hand on the bag in an attempt to pet the slime through the fabric. Sorry, little guy…

Our two-day journey to town was uneventful. We were almost there now.

“See that, Ivy?” Rattloore said. “That’s our home, Otolwa.”

Following his pointing finger, I looked toward the town. Gazing at it from atop the tall hill we stood on, I realized that it was far bigger than I imagined.

“Wow…it’s huge!”

“Right?! Home sweet home.”

I rushed to keep up as Rattloore pulled me by the hand toward town.

“Don’t hurry Ivy too much,” Seizerk called from behind us, “he might fall!”

“Ack! Sorry, was I too fast?” Rattloore asked.

“A little. I’m fine, though.”

It felt like we had gotten closer over these past two days. I’d learned the name of the leader’s group, too—it was called the Lightning Royals. The leader got really sulky when I’d told him that I just thought they were called “the expedition team.” I felt a little bad about that. He must’ve really been into that name.

There was another huge gate at Otolwa, with a gatekeeper. He waved when he saw Rattloore. “Good work on your hunt. Uh…where’d you abduct the kid from?”

Abduct?

“I would never do such a thing! Anyway, we need to do some paperwork. This way!”

Paperwork? For what? Before I could wonder, Rattloore dragged me off to a small room, where I was handed a piece of paper. On the paper were columns labeled NAME, HOMETOWN, and PURPOSE. What would I write for hometown? Also, I hadn’t told him that I’d run away from Ratomi Village. Should I write that?

“Oh, can you not read?” he asked. “Sorry!”

“It’s okay, I can,” I assured him. “Do I have to write something for hometown, though?”

“Hm? Oh…I never asked, did I? Where are you from?”

“Um…I’m from Ratomi Village.”

“Ratomi?” I whipped around to face the source of the new voice, a man wearing the same uniform as the gatekeeper. Thinking he was probably a guard, I looked at him and nodded. “Huh,” he grunted. “Do you have a guarantor?”

Guarantor… Is Captain Oght my guarantor? I guess so, but how do I explain that?

“Umm, yes. Captain Oght, of Ratome Village.”

“Did you conduct any official business there?”

“I opened a bank account at the merchant guild.”

“May I see proof?”

“Sure.” I took the bag I’d been using as a wallet from my hip and removed the white plate from within.

“Can you bring it over to this stone?” the officer asked me.

Should I do that? Will it tell them what’s in the account?

“Yeah, go for it,” said Rattloore. “It’ll just confirm whether it’s genuine.”

“Okay.” As I put the plate near the stone, the stone glowed and faded.

“No issues,” the man announced.

“Whoa…” gasped Rattloore.

What was happening? Totally confused, I glanced at my companion. He looked pretty surprised. “Um…?”

“Ivy, you got Captain Oght to be your guarantor? That’s incredible.”

“It is?”

“You don’t know? He used to be an incredible adventurer!”

“I’d heard he was an adventurer, but that’s all. Wow…”

“Yeah. Lots of people still look up to him.”

“Apologies,” the officer cut in. “Just your name and the purpose of your travels are fine. Write those, please.”

“Oh, okay.”

My name and the objective of my trip. What is my purpose, anyway? The dump? I can’t just write that… Maybe “passing through”? When I passed the paper back, the man laughed. I wonder why?

“I’ve never seen someone write that they’re passing through,” he said with a chuckle. “Here you go.” He handed me something. It looked to be…a rod-shaped permit? “You’ll need this when you enter and exit the town. When you leave for good, please return it.”

“Okay. Thank you.” A big town meant a lot of people going in and out, so I guessed permits would be necessary, now that I thought about it. This was new.

“Done?” someone called out. The expedition leader was standing at the room’s entrance now.

“All done,” said Rattloore. “Ivy, let’s go.”

“Okay. Thanks for your help.”

“Yeah…” For some reason, the man who gave me the permit was gazing at the leader in awe. Did they know each other? I couldn’t be sure, but Rattloore was hurrying me on, so I bowed and left.

Outside, everyone was waiting for me. “I’m sorry for the wait,” I said.

“Hey, guess what?” Rattloore called out. “Ivy knows Captain Oght from the next village!”

“Really?”

“Yes. He acted as my guarantor.”

“Your guarantor?”

“Because I ran away from Ratomi Village.”

“Ratomi, huh?” The leader sighed and gave my head a gentle pat. “I heard the news about what’s going on there. That’s rough.”

When they heard the name Ratomi Village, everyone looked at me with pity. Whatever was happening there must’ve been pretty bad now…