The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 3 - Chapter 159

Chapter 159:

Druid and Doluka

SIDE: DRUID

“ARE YOU OKAY?”

He was acting so different from before—I had no idea what to say to him. Not to mention, “before” was many years ago.

“I saw you with a kid adventurer. It’s Ivy, right? The kid everyone’s been talking about.”

Damn it. I’ve made Ivy the center of attention by hanging around him. Why do I have to be so… I clenched my fist.

“Druid?”

“Oh, sorry… Yeah, that’s right.”

“It’s been years since I’ve seen you looking like…that.”

The guild master said the same thing. He was talking about me smiling. Have I really changed so much?

“It made me remember the past. And when I told Shurila about it, she said that up until a little while ago, I was scum for stealing your smile away.”

Huh…?! I’ve only met my brother’s wife once, but she seemed like such a kind woman.

“Humph! I guess I don’t blame her for calling me scum. I really did steal your smile.”

“Brother…”

What is going on here? He’s not the sort of man who would own up to a mistake. Is this really my brother?

“So, I had a serious talk with Father a little while ago. I told him he couldn’t handle the shop by himself much longer.”

He changed the subject? Now we’re talking shop? Well, Father is getting on in years. It’s about time he left the shop to his firstborn.

“And here’s what Father said: ‘Give it a month. Run the shop yourself and face reality.’”

Face reality? What did he mean? Is the shop going under? I never heard anything about that.

“My original plan was to win Father over during that month and then take over the shop. But the thing about customers is…they’re brutally honest.”

“The customers?”

“Yeah, when it was just me running the shop, we barely got any customers. But if Shurila or Mother were there, the normal amount would come in.”

Well…his personality was to blame. He probably never noticed, but he tended to say really cruel and condescending things without thinking. And he used to be much worse, too. Well, making an effort to hold his tongue wouldn’t necessarily be enough; people could still tell by looking at him what he was really thinking.

“I managed to make it through somehow, but it was a disaster. I lost my temper and took it out on Shurila.”

Yikes…his poor wife.

“And, well, Shurila said I should have known this would happen.”

It seemed like anyone who underestimated Shurila would pay for it later. I recalled how she went out of her way to come and tell me she was marrying my brother, even though she knew he hated me. Most people wouldn’t do something like that, no matter how nice they were. I remember making Shurila leave right away because I was worried my brother would find out and get angry with her. Now I really felt bad about that.

“I must have looked shocked, because she said, ‘You mean you didn’t notice? Everyone thinks you’re not only the worst merchant but the worst man in the world’…all with a big smile on her face. As you can imagine, it took a minute for me to actually register what she said.”

The worst man in the world… Didn’t she take that a little too far?

“Ha ha ha, and even when I finally did understand what she meant, I had no idea how to respond. And when Mother overheard, instead of leaping to my defense, she told Shurila, ‘You’re a saint for marrying my deadbeat son.’”

Um…was that really the best move, Mom?

“It was way too much to process—I just shut down.”

Well, I’d shut down too if I were him. I guess he’d grown up a little. When we were kids, he’d always blow his top if anyone made him look foolish.

“The next day, I must’ve showed up to work with a real sour expression on my face, because Tokihi took one look at me and sighed so loud you could probably hear him across the street.”

Oh, Tokihi. He was one of our regulars, and he was always really nice to me. I hope he’s doing well.

“He said, ‘This shop gets more uncomfortable for customers every time I come here. Are you trying to put your father out of business?’ Well, that made the blood rush to my head, especially after what happened the day before. And I just exploded… I laid out everything that was on my mind.”

Oh, brother…what a way to treat a customer.

“I told him how Father never acknowledges my hard work and that it’s all because I lost my stars.”

Ahh…yeah, like I figured, he was still angry about that. My gaze fell to my feet, and I could see my clenched fists. I hadn’t noticed, but I’d been squeezing them pretty hard for a while. My nails were starting to disappear into the palms of my hands. Now I remembered—whenever my brothers talked to me, I always had puncture wounds in my hands afterward.

“I really gave him an earful…I think.”

What is he trying to say? That he still hasn’t forgiven me?

“Then he said, ‘I’d hoped losing your stars would make you grow up a little…but you’re still holding on to such a stupid grudge? Pathetic. The only son from this family worth a damn is the youngest!’”

“Huh?!”

“‘You think you got like this because you lost your stars? You’re wrong. You and your other brother were scum from the start, and Druid gave you an opportunity to grow into better people. Well, ask anybody and they’ll say you’re the worst.’…That’s what Tokihi told me.”

Now I remember…Tokihi was always very kind. He would let my brothers take his orders, even if he sighed the whole time.

“And there was something about the way he said it. I remember being called things like ‘scum’ and ‘the worst man in the world’ many times, but I always brushed it off. I thought people were just jealous that I had what they didn’t. But…when Tokihi said it then…I had no idea how to respond. I was utterly gutted.”

“Brother…”

“I couldn’t get my mind off Tokihi’s words, so I asked Dad. I said, ‘What would you say if Druid offered to take over the business?’ and he said, ‘I’d hand it over to him tomorrow. He actually respects people.’”

Wow…it’s been years since I’ve spoken with Father.

“After my trial month was over, Father said to me, ‘There. Now do you understand why you can’t do this job? Being a merchant is more than just selling goods to customers. Making a connection with people is extremely important, especially for sales clerks. Customers always come in asking for advice about something. You not only have to listen to their every word and try to help solve their problems, you have to empathize with them. You’ve made some progress over the years, but you still look down on others. I can’t entrust my business to someone like that. I’ll leave my shop to Shurila instead.’”

Advice… It was true, lots of Father’s customers would come in asking him for advice about something. And even if it had nothing to do with what they were buying, my father and mother would lend an ear and commiserate with them.

“Well, I was knocked sideways. I never dreamed he would leave the business to Shurila. But apparently, Mother and Shurila both knew about it before I did. Did you know, Druid?”

“No, it’s news to me.”

“Huh.”

Doluka had always bragged about how he would take over the family business, so Father’s decision must have really been a shock. But it’s nice to hear that Shurila will take it over. That’s very reassuring.

“Mother always used to say, ‘Skills and stars are just bonuses. You must never forget that.’”

She’d said something similar to me: “It’s true that skills can help you do your job more easily. And if you have a good number of stars, you’ll probably do the job a little better than most people. But there’s no substitute for hard work, so you should always think of your stars and skills as a bonus, nothing more.” And she meant every word. She’d have to, after seeing how hard Father worked all his life.

“This past month, I’ve done a lot of thinking. I guess that’s why I always took the wrong lessons away from the things Mother and Father told us. Though to be honest, I’m still a little hung up on skills and stars. But I know that’s not enough…I finally realized that something needs to change.”

I see… So he noticed. All of Mother and Father’s hard work finally paid off. What a relief.

“Shurila told me that losing my stars made me grow a little as a person. And that I’d done a little more growing over the last month…and that if things had stayed the same much longer, she’d have divorced me.”

Shurila…I knew it was wrong to judge a book by its cover, but she proved it. She really did look like the meekest little lady…

“Druid…I’m so sorry. I was so fixated on stars that I treated you horribly. I finally understand how that makes me the worst man alive.”

“No, the one who caused all the suffering was—”

“Me and Dolgas.”

“Huh?!”

I looked sharply at my brother. He smiled awkwardly back at me.

“The horrible way Dolgas and I behaved…you were the one who was hurt most by it. You must have wanted to do something to help us. You were always nice to us, even though we were hateful toward you. And when our stars disappeared, we were even crueler.”

But that’s not true.

“I tried to keep the peace for Father’s sake. I felt like our family was falling apart. So I didn’t just do it for you and Dolgas.”

“Don’t you remember?”

“What?”

“You asked me a question. You said, ‘If you didn’t have your stars…then would you be nicer to people?’ I don’t remember what answer I gave you. But I do remember you asking.”

Did I really ask him that…? I don’t know…but if he says I did, then I guess it’s true?

“I know it’s too little too late, but I still had to apologize.”

As I watched my brother bow in remorse, my heart swelled with an indescribable feeling. I’d always wished we could patch things up. But those feelings were all way in the past… What is it that I want from my brothers now?