The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 3 - Chapter 168

Chapter 168:

Because Sora’s Special

SORA, PERHAPS FEELING particularly good now that it was perched atop Druid’s head, was wiggling left and right as it went through its vertical stretches. Dang…kid’s got talent.

“So, what is it that Sora and Flame eat?”

“Potions.” Wait, that probably made him think I meant the liquid inside the bottles.

“Let me guess…Sora drinks the blue potions? Those heal wounds… Then again, I’ve never heard of a slime eating a blue potion and then healing wounds.”

“Yes, Sora eats the blue potions, and Flame eats the red ones…um, but they eat the whole thing, flask and all.” There. I hope he got it.

“Wow, so Flame eats the red ones… Red potions cure illness, so…huh? Flask and all?” Druid’s tone of voice quickly changed as he realized how strange that was. “They eat…the potions and the bottles they’re in? Not just the potions?”

Some slimes were able to digest potions, but only the actual liquid, not the bottles. Out of concern for Sora’s health, I had done a little research, but I’d found no instances of slimes eating potion bottles.

“That’s right. They devour everything completely, right down to the bottles.”

Sora puffed out its chest, maybe out of pride. Druid couldn’t see, since it was on top of his head…but since I could see everything, the whole scene looked really goofy to me. Still, maybe I should give Sora a little praise?

“Well, I already knew your slimes were unique from the way you talked about them. But I never would have dreamed they ate both organic and inorganic matter.”

Oh, there’s more… “Well…”

“Is there…more?”

“Yes. Sora recently took up sword eating. It eats them up very quickly, too.”

It was yet another one of Sora’s endless mysteries. And boy, was it getting fast. Only this morning, it gulped down a little knife in one second flat. That really startled me. So much so that I thought I dropped the knife and ended up frantically searching the ground for it.

“Um…swords?”

“Yes.”

Druid’s eyes were as big as saucers. Whoa! That’s even more of a reaction than I was expecting. Was sword eating more unusual than I thought?

“Ivy, I think that’s a really extraordinary feat, so you shouldn’t tell just anybody… No, eating inorganic and organic matter is already an extraordinary feat…”

“Is it really that rare?”

“Slimes that can dissolve swords are quite rare. Also, you said it was fast. How fast are we talking?”

“Well, I’ve seen one other slime eat a sword before, but I’d say it was about ten times slower than Sora.”

“Now that’s something I’d like to see. So, what kind of swords does Sora eat?”

“What do you mean, what kind of swords?” Druid’s question genuinely confused me. I didn’t know what he meant.

“Oh man, sorry. I guess you wouldn’t know. Okay, well, there are true swords—those require skills to use. And then there are the multi-swords that monsters and such drop.”

There are two kinds of swords? I’ve never heard of that.

“Wait, have you never heard of true swords and multi-swords?”

“No, this is the first I’ve heard of either one.”

“I see. Well, in a nutshell, true swords can only be crafted by people with blacksmith, alchemy, or swordsmith skills. Nobody else can make them.”

“I have heard of sword crafting skills. Can people with the weapon crafting skill make true swords?”

“No. They can make weapons other than true swords, but they can’t craft swords with the weapon crafting skill alone.”

Well, I didn’t know that. Actually, I don’t really know anything about swords at all.

“Some swords are dropped by monsters, but aside from the few that come from high-level ones, most aren’t any good. So we usually take the swords monsters drop over to blacksmiths to get upgraded.”

Ooh, wow. Blacksmiths sound pretty cool.

“The swords blacksmiths make don’t break or chip easily. Well, they will chip on you if you don’t do regular maintenance, but they’re still in a different league than freshly dropped swords.”

“Oh, how interesting. I had no idea.”

“Well, I wouldn’t expect you to, since you don’t carry a sword.”

“I do have a little knife in my magic bag.”

“Oh, really? So…which kind of sword does Sora eat?”

Now I understand what he meant…but I still don’t know the answer. I didn’t even know there were two types of swords until one second ago.

Druid continued. “You won’t find blacksmiths just anywhere, you see. There are many adventurers who just use dropped multi-swords as is.” 

Now it all made sense.

“I was wondering if Sora ate true swords because it’s so special. Most slimes that eat swords only dispose of multi-swords, and even they are pretty rare.”

“Are there any slimes who eat true swords?”

“Well, not that I know of. True swords are upgraded by skills, so I heard slimes can’t eat them.”

Wow, I had no idea they were so different. “So you think Sora probably eats multi-swords?”

“Yeah, probably.”

I agreed. The swords Sora ate were chipped, so they had to be multi-swords. But wait… I could have sworn I’d seen one really shiny sword mixed in with the others.

“You know, Ivy, sometimes the most unlikely things can happen. Why don’t we see if we can find a true sword at the dump and feed it to Sora?”

“Yes…I’d like to try it out.”

He was right, sometimes the unlikely could really happen. Sometimes the impossible could happen. Experimentation is important.

“Hey, Sora, please don’t be any more extraordinary than you already are, okay?”

“Puuu, pu, puuu,” Sora chirped goofily at me. Some things never changed.

When the dump came into view, my heart started to race. Just imagine, feeling excited at a dump of all places.

“Okay,” I said, “let’s look for some multi-swords and see if Sora will eat those first, I guess?” 

“Sora, can you eat those?” asked Druid.

“Pu! Pu, pu, pu, pu, puuu.” Sora was chirping up a storm now.

Wow, are you really that hungry? You just ate breakfast.

“Ha ha ha, you’re a lively little thing, Sora.”

As I watched Druid go off to look for multi-swords in the dump, I gently took Flame out of its bag. As usual, it had been snoozing the whole time. I had been a little worried that Flame was sick, but Sora never seemed to think so when I asked. I figured Flame was probably okay…but if the little slime was asleep all the time just because it enjoyed it, that was way too much sleep.

I asked Ciel to keep and eye on Flame for me. “Thanks, Ciel. I’ll be right back.”

Mrrrow.

I collected blue and red potions and stowed them in my bag. The quality of the potions had clearly dropped since the last time I’d come here, probably because fewer adventurers were passing through. I filled my bag with as many as I could and returned to where Ciel was waiting.

When I got back, I saw Druid returning with a bundle of swords slung over his shoulder. I glanced up at Sora, who was still riding on his head, and saw it was already busy devouring the swords. Since Sora liked to start with the tip of the sword, it looked from a distance like there was a sword sticking straight down through Druid’s head. As Druid approached with his new headgear, I surveyed our surroundings. Good. Nobody there. I’d been checking for auras all along, but I still couldn’t help but look.

“Okay, Sora,” Druid said. “You’ve got a big meal to look forward to.”

“Um, but Sora’s already eating.”

“What?! Sora’s eating… Wait, right now? On top of my head?”

When I told him yes, a crease formed between Druid’s eyebrows. “For how long?”

“Well, I couldn’t really say, but Sora was already eating swords by the time you walked over here.”

“Wow. How long ago did I get these swords from the dump?”

Sora was smiling smugly from her perch atop the confused Druid.

“Sora, get down from there.”

Sora wiggled in reply, then bounced down to the ground.

“Sora, were you already eating the swords?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Do you have room for more?” Though I highly doubt that’s a problem.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Told you so. I mean, it’s been eyeing the pile of swords beside Druid ever since he set it down. 

“Good,” said Druid. “Okay, which sword shall we offer you first… How about this one?” He pulled a sword out of the pile and handed it to Sora. I still couldn’t tell what kind of sword it was.

“Is that sword different from the others?”

“All but one of these swords were dropped by monsters, so they each have unique magical properties. I also collected swords of varying strengths.”

“There’s magic in those swords?”

“Yeah, see these little stones in them? These let you use magic.”

He showed me a sword, and sure enough, it had little magic stones in it. Aha, so this is how you do it.

“Since this magic stone is red, you can use fire magic with this sword.” Druid gripped the sword, and it lit up with fire.

“Wow!” This is the first time I’ve seen a flaming sword up close. It’s so pretty.

“If you look at the glyphs and patterns at the hilt, you can tell what kind of monster dropped it.”

I looked at the hilt of the sword Druid was holding and there were indeed symbols I’d never seen carved into it. Wow, I didn’t know about any of this.

“Kyu-shuwaaa, kyu-shuwawaaa, kyu-shuwaaa, kyu-shuwawaaa.”

The indescribable sound echoed throughout the dump. With a little gasp, Druid watched Sora gulp down the sword.

“What an interesting noise… It wasn’t making that noise earlier, though. And isn’t it eating a bit too fast?” Druid stared in awe as Sora devoured the sword in seconds. I was also amazed by the sounds it was making, even though I’d heard them many times now.

Wait…huh? Why didn’t Sora make any sound when it was eating on top of Druid’s head? “Hey, Sora, can you eat quietly?”

As soon as I asked that, the noise of it eating stopped. But Sora looked a bit concerned.

“Does it taste better if you make the sound?”

“Kyu-shuwaaa, kyu-shuwawaaa, kyu-shuwaaa, kyu-shuwawaaa.”

I guess that meant “yes”? But did making noise really alter the eating experience that much? Well, if it tastes better for Sora that way, I guess there’s nothing wrong with it.

“I don’t know what’s more shocking, Ivy: how quickly Sora’s eating or the fact that you’re not surprised by how quickly Sora’s eating.”

“I guess I’m just used to it… By the way, I just realized Sora ate the magic stones along with the sword.”

“That’s true. Which must mean the red magic stones are okay.”

“What do you mean?”

“I figured there would be some magic stones Sora can and can’t eat.”

Was that how it worked? I hadn’t really given it much thought…but then again, I hadn’t even noticed the magic stones in the first place. I looked at the swords next to Druid. Now that magic stones were on my mind, they were all I could see. I was almost shocked I hadn’t noticed them sooner.

“Are there any swords Sora wouldn’t eat?” asked Druid.

“No, Sora ate every sword I ever gave it.” And very happily, I might add.

“Huh? Every sword?” Druid sounded shocked.

“Yes. Oh, look! Sora already ate its third sword.”

“Yeah, I gathered a few different types of swords, so that proves it’s okay. Let’s try the blue magic stone next… Are you sure there hasn’t been any sword Sora couldn’t eat so far?”

“Yes. Hey, Sora, are there any magic stones you can’t eat?”

Sora stared silently back at me.

“Does that mean everything’s fair game?” I asked.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Sora says everything’s edible.”

“Yeah, sounds like it. Sora’s uniqueness never ceases to amaze.” There was a distant look in Druid’s eyes. Was he okay?

By the time I looked back at Sora, it was already eating a new sword. Was it really that hungry? I needed to be more mindful. Still, I wonder how many swords Sora can eat in one sitting? I already give it as many as ten swords a day…