The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 2 - Chapter 105

Chapter 105:

Lazy Morning

I SLOWLY REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS. I yawned and checked the entrance of my tent…and chuckled a little. I’d gotten so used to being on high alert lately. But caution wasn’t a bad thing, so I figured I might as well keep it up. I’d learned a lot of things through this ordeal.

“Aaah…good morning,” I said to Sora as I sat up.

Sora glanced at me and started stretching as hard as it could. The slime had been stuck inside that cramped bag the whole time yesterday.

After that tempestuous day, I didn’t need to worry about anyone targeting me. The unease that had become part of my daily life was finally gone. Of course, I would need to stay wary during my travels, but at least for today, I wanted to relax. No sooner had I decided that, I heard a noise outside. My ears pricked up immediately.

“I’m hypersensitive now…”

Sora bounced into my lap and started quivering. Its rhythmical bobbing was its way of demanding food. Sora’s different movements were subtle, but I’d started to figure out their meanings. Though…it was still difficult to be certain.

“Wait just a second.”

I got out the bag where I kept Sora’s potions and peered inside. Huh? That’s not many… Well, that makes sense. I gave Sora all the potions I had except for the ones it needed for this morning’s breakfast since it worked so hard. I’ll have to go to the dump to get more today.

“Sora, let’s go out and gather potions later. I’m worried about the adandara, too.”

I’d been wondering about the adandara for a while. Ever since I started traveling with Seizerk’s team, I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the catlike monster. My book said it was really strong, so I wasn’t too worried, but it was a bit like a spoiled child in some ways. Sora stopped eating and started bouncing up and down in front of me. It seemed it wanted to see the adandara, too.

“Do you think the adandara’s nearby? I’m concerned since we haven’t seen it in so long. I know! If it’s still waiting, we should see if it would be okay to give it a name.”

When you tame a creature, you give it a name. That was one of the few things I’d learned about my profession. But I didn’t have enough mana, so I hadn’t tamed the adandara. Would it be okay to name a monster I hadn’t tamed? I could probably ask somebody, but I didn’t want them getting too curious. Still, names were important. Maybe I’d ask the adandara directly if I saw it today.

Rattloore’s voice filtered in from outside the tent.

“Ivy, you awake?”

“Yes. Just a moment, sorry. I’ll come out soon.”

I rushed to get dressed. Before leaving the tent, I checked to see if Sora was finished eating. The adventurers didn’t know that Sora was eating lesser potions, container and all. If they did, they’d probably be really surprised to see it eating both organic and inorganic matter. I had a feeling Rattloore wouldn’t cause any trouble for me even if it did surprise him, though.

“Good morning. Sorry I’m late.”

When I emerged from my tent, Seizerk and Bolorda’s teams were already awake. Wow. They drank a whole lot last night to celebrate the success of our strategy, so I’m surprised they’re up. Marcreek and Seizerk were holding their heads, probably hungover, but the others were the same as ever. Sifar, who drank the most, was nonchalantly munching on last night’s leftover meat for breakfast. But Gnouga’s still eating way more right next to him…

“Morning. Not still pooped out from yesterday, are you?”

“I’m okay. Are you all doing well?”

“We’re just fine, except for those two.”

As he finished his meal, Sifar wiped his mouth with a cloth and beckoned me over. I approached curiously, and he pulled a chair out for me. I took a seat while Rattloore brought me soup and bread. It was soft white bread again—they must’ve gone shopping this morning.

“Thank you very much.”

Rattloore seemed to be in a good mood. Had they received some good news?

“Ivy, the captain sent us a message.”

“The captain?” Last night, the captain looked morose when he saw all the documents bring brought into the base. Reading over all of those would be an enormous amount of work. Still, the captain would be the last eyes on them, so we were counting on him. What sort of message would he have for us? “Erm… Right. What is it?”

“You don’t have to be so stiff. He only asked for a small favor, so it can wait until after you eat.”

“Oh…understood.” I tucked into my breakfast. Gnouga brought over a basket and set it in front of me. I stared up at him uncertainly.

“A friend of mine gave this to me as a thank you. It’s for you,” he said.

I swallowed my mouthful of bread and asked, “For me?” Soft bread was truly delicious.

“Yeah. It’s from one of the victims who lost a family member to the organization. He’s a former adventurer, sort of like a teacher to me and Sifar. Since you were with us, he guessed you were part of the plan. I thought I’d hid the truth well enough, but I guess not. He just came by with this.”

“Sorry the secret got out, Ivy,” Sifar apologized. “He may be retired, but he’s sharp as a tack still.”

Gnouga and Sifar’s teacher? I could only imagine he must be a very unique person.

“If he’s your teacher, then I’m not worried.”

“Thanks for saying that.” Sifar smiled at me. Gnouga looked happy, too.

Still, what could this be? I put my bread down and reached for the basket. When I opened it up, I smelled something sweet.

“Sweets?”

“Looks like it. I can’t imagine him buying pastries…eugh, what a horrifying thought.” Sifar seemed deeply bothered. So did Gnouga. What sort of man was their teacher if just buying sweets was enough to make everyone so…perturbed?

I ate the food they’d served me and cleaned up after myself. Then I made tea for everyone, and we relaxed together. It looked like Seizerk and the others were eager to take the day off, too.

“So what did the captain say?” I asked Bolorda. For some reason, he looked at me oddly. Huh? I was just told that he’d sent a message…

“Ah, right. My bad.” He shook his head. Perhaps the fatigue made him forget. “The captain says, ‘Wait a little while for your gratuity and reward. Two weeks, probably.’ He’s got a mountain of documents to review. The whole force of the town guard will be working on those, but I doubt they’ll get around to that soon.”

Gratuity? Reward? What’s he talking about?

“Sorry, can you explain? Is this related to the kidnappers?”

“Hmm. You hadn’t considered that at all, huh?” Bolorda chuckled.

For some reason, Rattloore had a big smile on his face. What’s going on here? Everyone’s acting funny.

“Yes, it is related to the kidnappers,” Bolorda answered. “You’ll be getting a gratuity for formulating and assisting with the strategy, and you’ll be getting information rewards, too.”

“Umm…”

It was less that I’d come up with a strategy and more that I’d just spurred everyone into action. And of course I’d helped—they were targeting me, after all. Could I really accept a reward?

“You look confused. Just accept it with pride, okay, Ivy? You’re the biggest contributor to our success. Alongside Sora, of course.” Rattloore patted my head merrily.

Oh, I see. The strategy was reliant on Sora’s judgments. They’re not really paying me, then; they’re paying Sora.

“I understand the gratuity, but why the information reward?”

“They pay out rewards for information on the organization. That system was set up to gather as much info as possible. Specifically, you provided information on Count Faltoria and Mira.”

I see. I suppose I did tell them about Mira and her brothers. And they’re counting what I told them about Faltoria, too? I’d have thought that one would fall under the gratuities paid to Sora.

“Don’t overthink it! There’s a lot of complex details that go into the whole thing.”

“Is it?” I cocked my head at Rattloore. What made it complex?

“Normally, the guard receives information, performs an investigation, and then takes action. It’s rare for information and action to be so muddled like they were this time.”

Bolorda then chimed in, “Oh, also, you’ve got gratuities from other towns’ and villages’ adventurers’ guilds coming your way.”

“That would be related to the wanted criminals, right? I doubt that has anything to do with me…” That should’ve been the guard’s doing. I’d understand them paying the adventurers who joined in the hunt, at least.

“Technically, yeah, but their capture was part of your strategy. So they consider you to have assisted in it.”

Is that how it works?

“No such thing as too much money,” Sifar said with a shrug. “Just take it.”

He wasn’t wrong. When summer passed, winter would come. Maybe it would be best to save up what lodging funds I could until then.

“You’re right. I’ll do that.”

“Hooray!” Rattloore cheered. “Ivy, now you can buy a slave.”

“Huh? Um, what do you mean?”

“Hm? Well, you’re coming into money. And it’s gonna be a whole lot of it. You could probably buy an expensive one.”

Huh? That’s scary…I was kind of just expecting it to be enough for room and board.