The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 3 - Chapter 142

Chapter 142:

Sora’s Baby?

DRUID AND I left the guild master to handle the gurbar situation and headed out of the lodge. Otolwa had been buzzing when I first arrived there, and it was hard to believe I’d run into trouble my first day in Oll, too. That’s right, they also formed a task force to look into the blessed balm. I hope I don’t get drawn in any further… I’d made that wish many times, but I still always seemed to find myself right smack in the middle of trouble.

“By the way, Ivy, what are your plans in Oll?”

Druid’s question jogged my memory—I had to go see a slave trader. “I came here to get a slave.”

“A slave? Oh, you mean as a travel companion?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. Well, Oll does have a very large slave market. One of the traders was busted recently, though.”

Was busted? I looked at Druid, and he smirked in reply.

“Let me guess…were they involved with the human traffickers?” From Druid’s body language, it seemed I’d hit the nail on the head.

“Bingo. It was a real scandal. The parents of the lost children stormed his business. The boss and the guild master somehow managed to calm things down, but things were pretty awkward around here until the criminals finally left town as slaves.”

I would imagine so. And I couldn’t blame the families for acting that way when their beloved children were stolen from them. Oh, wait! Which slave trader was it? I hope it’s not the one I was going to.

“Um, was Golga the one who got busted?” I sure hope not. I have a referral for him…

“Oh, no. It was Murlar’s Slave Trade. Is Golga the one you’re hoping to see?”

“Yes, an adventurer I know wrote me a referral.”

“Oh, okay. If you want to go there now, I can take you.”

I would love that, but I’m kind of wiped out. “No, thanks. I’ll go tomorrow. I’m a little tired.” I thought Druid would probably be tired, too, but he sure looked chipper.

“I understand. I’m not sure why, but I’m not tired.”

He’s not tired? Even though he lost an arm today?

“Maybe it’s because of what your friends did to me.”

Does he mean Sora? Does Sora’s healing also cure tiredness? Is that what happened when Sora healed me? My memories of that day are pretty hazy, what with the shock of being attacked and then healed. Hmm… Come to think of it, I was pretty active right afterward, considering I’d just been nearly killed. But that still doesn’t change the fact that Druid was heavily wounded earlier today.

“Please, take it easy the rest of the day, sir. You might really be fatigued and you just don’t notice it. But…I know it’s a bit hypocritical for me to lecture you when I was the one who asked for your help with the gurbars.”

“Ha ha ha, don’t worry. I suppose you’re right, though. I should probably spend the rest of the day taking it easy at home.”

“Yes, please do.”

After I parted ways with Druid, I took a look around the marketplace before heading back to the plaza. I wanted to see what kinds of vegetables, fruits, and nuts were for sale here. I was also scouting the shops to see if any of them would buy the fruit I’d foraged and stored in my magic bags. But all the shops had the guild’s seal on them, meaning the produce sold there was guild certified. In other words, unless I was offering some pretty rare items, my goods would be difficult to sell. Well—that was a problem.

“And is it just me…or are all these prices a bit high?”

All of the produce in the market was just a touch more expensive than in Otolwa. Maybe it was because of the gurbars. The guild master had implied it was dangerous to venture into the forest. And the gatekeeper was rather stern with me, too.

I strolled around the market, taking a close look at the sellers and their goods. As I walked, I overheard lots of people talking about the gurbars and the monster who killed them. News sure travels fast around here. But why is everyone saying the monster was over three meters tall? I doubt the guild master’s report said anything like that. Hm? The monster had giant fangs? It stood on its hind legs? 

The longer I listened to the chatter, the further away this mystery monster got from Ciel’s actual description. Wow, gossip sure is something. I’m actually kind of looking forward to seeing how this monster’s described tomorrow.

After I had a look around all the shops, I headed back to the plaza. All the items for sale were expensive but very fresh. The guild was most likely doing some pretty thorough quality control. That meant they’d probably lowball me if I wanted to sell anything independently…or they might not even buy from me to begin with. If I managed to meet a friendly shopkeeper, they might give me a good price, but I really wasn’t sure.

Back at the plaza, I went inside my tent and sealed the entrance up tight. When I peeked outside, it looked safe enough. Okay then. I carefully eased the bag off my shoulder and placed it in the middle of the tent. When I opened it up, I found the two little slimes asleep inside. I gently picked up Blue Sora.

“Rise and shine, Sora.”

“Puuu.”

“We’re in an adventurers’ plaza, so be quiet, okay?”

Sora jiggled in my arms in response. I set it down softly beside the bag. Then I took out the red slime, a bit more cautiously than the first one. It was softer than the Sora I was used to. I very carefully and deliberately set it down atop the blanket. This sure brings back memories—it’s just like the day I first met Sora.

“Well, good morning, I guess. Please don’t make any loud noises, okay?”

The new slime opened its eyes and looked around. Sora stared at it, too. That made me wonder, what memories did each of these slimes carry with them?

I figured I would try addressing them both. “Sora?” The blue slime jumped in the air once and jiggled at me, but the red slime just sat and stared. 

Does the red one not have Sora’s memories? But I thought it reacted when I called it Sora back in the forest. And look, both Soras have the same taming mark in the same spot. Does that mean the second one copied all its taming from the original Sora?

Well, let’s set that aside for now. It’s important to make a good first impression. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ivy. Is it all right if I name you?”

Wait a minute…isn’t it impossible to tame a creature without naming it first? I looked at the red slime’s taming mark again. There was no mistake: It was the same symbol as Sora’s. It seemed pretty clear that the two slimes were connected.

“Well, just sitting here wondering about it won’t give me any answers. Hmm, what should I name you…?” Come to think of it, I got both Sora’s and Ciel’s name from Past Me’s memories. Let’s see, for the new slime, since it’s red…Tomato? Huh, that’s strange. The word popped into my head, but it didn’t have the same impact as Ciel’s and Sora’s names. Tomato, huh… What else is there… Flame? I looked at the new slime. Flame… I stared at it, and it stared right back.

“Flame… Your name is Flame.”

Flame jiggled back at me. My heart jumped at the sight. If it was as weak as Sora was when I first met it, this new slime was in danger.

“Flame, don’t jiggle so hard! You’ll die.”

Flame stopped jiggling and looked up at me. Oh, good. It stopped. Oh, wait! That means it understands me, so it’s a little different than Sora was at the start. Sora didn’t understand anything I was saying at first. Huh? Wait, the taming symbol is a little different now.

“A tamer is only supposed to have one taming mark, right?”

I looked at Sora again. Oh! Sora’s symbol also changed a little. Does the symbol change each time you tame another creature? I’ve never heard of that happening before… I’d better go visit Ciel tomorrow and see if its symbol changed, too.

Sora bounced around and landed right next to the bag that contained its meal potions.

“Sorry, Sora, dinner’s a little late today.”

I got to work lining up the potions in front of Sora. I had blue and red potions. Oh! That’s right, what does Flame eat?

Shu-waaa…shu-waaa…shu-waaa…

That was the sound of two sets of potions being dissolved. I looked over and saw that Sora was eating the blue potions, and Flame was eating the red ones. Oh, good. Flame eats red potions. I lined the red potions up in front of Flame. I’d better start collecting extra red potions from now on.

After watching them eat for a while, I noticed Sora wasn’t eating any of the red potions. “You don’t want red ones?” I asked Sora. It wouldn’t even look at them. That’s strange. Was Sora eating the red potions for Flame? Is that even a thing? Come to think of it, it was right around the time Sora got a red patch that it started eating red potions. Was it eating red potions to help the red slime grow?

“When you think of it like that, I guess that means Flame is Sora’s baby?” Do slimes give birth? Is this the sort of question I’m allowed to ask? “You know what—forget it. I have a feeling nobody would be able to answer that anyway.”

Once the two slimes finished their meal, they snuggled up against each other and fell asleep. They were so cute to watch. But Flame…was it drooling? Flame seemed like a bit of a disappointment compared to Sora.

This makes me think. Sora is a blue slime that eats blue potions. Flame is a red slime that eats red potions. But…there are two more colors of potions left: green and purple.

“Really though, it’s no good to make your brain work so hard when you’re tired. Let’s just go to sleep.”

So many things had happened today. I’d better not let myself get overwhelmed!