The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 3 - Chapter 154

Chapter 154:

The Guild Master Has a Problem

YIKES…the guild master’s face is twitching. And Druid definitely noticed, but he’s pretending not to… I wish I could just run away.

Druid and I had gone to see the guild master, figuring we should tell him about the gurbars. But when I saw the look on the guild master’s face, I felt really guilty about it. Still, he was the only person we could rely on in this situation, so we had no choice but to come to him for help.

“Thanks for the report. But…this is a literal mountain of corpses. It’s a huge problem!”

“It’ll be fine.”

“Fine, my foot!”

“We can just give the same excuse as last time,” Druid assured him casually.

The guild master’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. Oh wow, an Oni-face. “Oni face? What’s an Oni?”

“Hm? Something wrong, Ivy? Don’t worry, we’ll get this all sorted out. Nothing bad will come from killing a bunch of gurbars.”

Oh no. I think I accidentally said what I was thinking out loud. “Yes, um, well, I’m sorry, Mr. Guild Master, but we’ll have to rely on your help again.”

The guild master sighed. “Well, I admit, I’m grateful we no longer have these gurbars wandering so close to town… But people will start asking who killed them all. And that’s the problem.”

I felt so bad coming to the guild master with yet another sticky situation.

“We haven’t even finished cleaning up after the last gurbar incident…”

The last gurbar incident? He must mean the pack that attacked Druid’s caravan. That reminds me, there was talk of reward money for that.

“Man…” the guild master sighed. “At this rate, maybe I should just tell everyone I asked a top-secret agent for help.”

“A top-secret what?”

“It’s just an idea that popped into my head just now. Oh! By the way, I asked some adventurers from the next town over to come.”

“Guild master…please finish your first thought before you move on to the next one. Why did you ask them to come here?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? We’re shorthanded. The veteran adventurers left in this town can’t handle it alone.”

“Yeah, you aren’t wrong there. So, who all’s coming?”

“Dunno.”

“You…didn’t ask?”

“That town’s guild master knows about gurbars, so don’t you worry. He’ll send over some sturdy adventurers.”

Druid sighed softly in reply. “Well, I guess I’ll trust your judgment. So, what are we going to do about all the gurbar corpses?”

“Argh…I was trying to get my mind off them!”

“Um, you really shouldn’t, though.”

The guild master’s head drooped feebly. “Yeah, I guess the top-secret agent idea won’t fly…”

After some discussion, we decided to recycle the same excuse as last time. The gurbars were probably killed by some powerful monster—except this time there wasn’t a witness. Druid just happened upon the dead gurbars when he was taking a walk through the forest to get used to moving with only one arm.

Once the conversation was over, I bent in a deep bow. “I’m so, so sorry about all of this!”

Ping!

“Eep!”

Hm? Did I hear a weird sound just now? I looked up.

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for, Ivy. The townsfolk want us to get rid of these gurbars as quickly as possible. Reducing their numbers even a little will settle the people down a bit.”

For some reason, the guild master sounded very eager to change the subject. I thought it was a little odd, but since Druid wasn’t saying anything, maybe everything was okay?

“Well, I’m just glad I could help.”

Ever since the gurbar sighting outside town two days ago, the people had been getting more and more anxious. Easing everyone’s worries, even just a little, made me feel good, too.

After the guild master promised to send some adventurers to the lake in the next hour or so, Druid and I left the lodge.

“Mr. Druid, I’m causing so much trouble for you and the guild master,” I sighed as we walked back toward the forest. Maybe I should just register with the guild… No, I can’t. I’d have to tell them about Ciel.

“Don’t worry about it, Ivy. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I know, but I keep pushing all kinds of annoying things onto him.”

“Ha ha ha! Well, that’s his job.”

“I think it’s not quite like that.”

“You do? Well, as far as most of us are concerned, guild masters exist to solve all of a town’s most annoying problems.”

I guess…in a way, he was right. Being a guild master seemed like a really stressful job.

When we got back to the lake, Ciel, Sora, and Flame were all asleep in a big cuddle pile. They looked so happy, bathing in the sunshine. If I looked just a bit to the side, I could see the piles of gurbar corpses…but I ignored that. I can’t let myself obsess over it.

“Thanks, Ciel. The guild master is going to send some adventurers here in a little bit.” I felt bad for disturbing their slumber—but I needed to explain what was coming, so I woke Ciel and laid out the details. Ciel purred in reply and stretched its back, which woke Sora and Flame.

“Pu, puuu.”

“Tu-yu-yuuu.” Flame’s voice was even more pitiful than usual; it must have been half-asleep still.

“Sorry I woke you guys. Let’s wait until the others get here before we move.”

Sora bounced around us, twirling and whirling. Up until just a few days ago, something like this would have put it in a grumpy mood, but it seemed fine now. I guess the change happened right around when Flame was born? Maybe Sora was experiencing some sort of pre-birth anxiety? Wait, is Sora female?

“Um, Mr. Druid?”

“What’s up?”

“Do slimes have sexes?”

“Sexes?”

“Yes, since Sora…gave birth?…to Flame, I was wondering if it’s female.”

“Hm…I’ve never heard of slimes having a sex.”

So they don’t? Or maybe it’s just not common knowledge? “I see.”

Did something else happen besides Flame being born? Oh! Maybe healing Druid’s mortal wounds was what settled Sora. That could be it, too. I guess as long as Sora’s doing okay, I shouldn’t worry about it? But Sora might go through something similar in the future… Then again, going out of my way to avoid offending Sora is the wrong move. For now, if Sora has more mood swings, I’ll just have to try to do the same things that helped this time around. I have way too little information right now.

“We’d better get moving.”

As soon the words were out of Druid’s mouth, Sora eagerly leapt on top of his head. I guess we couldn’t stop Sora even if we tried. And Druid kind of seemed to like it… But was it really okay to let Sora keep doing this?

“Let’s go,” Druid said, taking the lead. Sora rode on his head, and I held Flame in my arms. Wait…huh?

“Um, don’t you need to stay near the gurbars?”

“Hm? Oh! Right… I’ll go back.”

Druid did need to be there as a witness to meet the adventurers when they arrived. I lifted Sora off his head and parted ways with him for the time being.

“Will you be okay… No, wait, Ciel’s with you, of course you’ll be okay. See you later then,” said Druid.

“I’ll be waiting for you around the dump.”

“Sure. No more hunting for you today, Ciel, okay?”

Mrrrow.

“You’re a good kid,” said Druid, giving Ciel’s head a flurry of pats before turning back to the lake.

Sora jumped out of my arms and started bounding off in the opposite direction from Druid. The slime was going in the correct direction this time, but did it know that? Sora took the lead as we hiked over to the dump.

I still couldn’t believe how fierce Ciel was back then. It had killed all those gurbars in just a few minutes. I looked at Ciel, who was padding along next to me. You were so majestic… Though, to be honest, you really frightened me at first. Ciel’s fur had been soaked in gurbar blood. I’d never seen anything like that before.

Mew? Ciel asked, looking up at me curiously.

“I was just thinking about how magnificent you were back there.”

Mrrrow. Ciel was twirling its tail, clearly in a very good mood. Its tail-twirling stirred up a little breeze and sent a few leaves flying.

“Ciel…could you maybe tone it down a little?”

Mrrrow. Ciel slowed down the tail-twirling and the leaves fluttered gently to the ground. Ciel’s tail truly was a formidable weapon.

Come to think of it, Ciel fought with just its fangs today. People probably won’t be able to tell what sort of monster killed the gurbars. Did Ciel do that on purpose? Judging by its behavior thus far, it was entirely within the realm of possibility. Ciel was very smart, after all.