The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 4 - Chapter 180

Chapter 180:

Evolution? Maturation?

Ciel coming to the adventurers’ rescue was nice and all, but I was worried that it had only gone and caused more problems.

“Um, so, how did the guild master explain Ciel to everyone else?”

“Don’t worry about that. My mentor explained that adandaras are smart, so they tend to do things like that.”

“Is that really true?”

“Um, no, I’d never heard of an adandara doing anything like that before. I’m sure the guild master’s behavior clued in our old mentor that something was up, so he just said what he did to deescalate the situation.”

We’d better tell Druid’s mentor the truth later. It feels like the right thing to do.

“So, Ivy…is it okay if we tell my old mentor about Ciel? He would never blab your secret to anybody else; the guild master and I can vouch for him.”

“I don’t have a problem with it. I was just thinking it would be a good idea if your old mentor were in on our secret, too.”

“Thanks. With him on our side, I know you and your monsters will be safe.”

He really trusts his old mentor a lot, doesn’t he? And his mentor must have earned that trust with years of good behavior. I’d really love to sit down some time and hear a lot more about him… I have a feeling there are some pretty funny stories about Druid and his old mentor.

“Puuu?”

I looked up at Sora on Druid’s head. It was looking at the ­forest across from us and whimpering. I scanned the area for auras, but I didn’t sense anything…

“Puuu, pu! Pu, puuu.”

Oh! It’s back to normal. I wonder what that was about?

“Are you okay, Sora?”

“Pu! Puuu.”

Seems okay to me. I’m a little concerned about the forest, but I don’t sense any auras. I wish I could understand what Sora’s trying to tell me…but it’s too complicated for me to figure out.

“Is everything okay?”

“I think so, sir. I wonder what Sora was whimpering about?”

“I’m not sure, but its tone sounded a bit different from usual.”

Sora was whimpering in a concerning way… Its pitch was definitely higher at the end. I’d never heard Sora make that type of sound, as if it were asking a question, so I was a little concerned at first, but everything seemed to be normal again. Sora was back to its cheerful self, doing its vertical stretching exercises atop Druid’s head. I was so used to the sight by then that I hardly even noticed.

“Okay, I feel bad for Ciel, but we have to head back,” Druid announced. “If we’re out too much longer, I wouldn’t be surprised if that gatekeeper came here looking for us.”

“Sorry, Ciel. Thanks for saving the townsfolk, but please don’t do anything too reckless, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt!”

Mrrrow.

I guess it understood me? I was still a little worried, though.

We parted ways with Ciel and headed back to town. Sora had slid down from Druid’s head and was bouncing in circles around us. It seemed to be in a very good mood.

“Hey, Sora, can you get back in your bag soon?”

“Pu, pu! Pu, puuu,” it sang, jumping high and landing in my arms.

Huh? Did it measure the distance and jump into my arms on purpose? Up until then, I’d always had to maneuver myself to catch Sora. But this time, the slime had flown gracefully into my arms.

“Sora…did you mean to do that?”

“Buuu!”

“Bu”? Did you say “bu”?

“Whoa! Did Sora learn a new word?” Druid asked in awe as he stood beside me. “It definitely sounds like it’s speaking a language now.”

So I hadn’t misheard the slime. “Sorry, Sora. Don’t get mad. You just surprised me. I see you’ve figured out how to measure distances now.”

“Puuu.”

Which was it, evolution or maturation? Well, regardless, Sora had gotten a little easier to understand.

“Thanks, Sora.”

“Pu, puuu?”

Aha! Its tone went up in the end. How cute! I gave Sora a hearty helping of pats before returning it to its bag. Flame yawned really wide and fell right back asleep.

Oh well. I guess Flame is maturing at its own pace… Oh, wait! I don’t think I’ve seen Flame yawn before. I see Sora do it all the time, though. So Flame yawns now…and I’m not sure if that’s evolution or maturation, either. What a puzzle.

As we slowly made our way back to town, I sensed a presence coming toward us from far away. After a while, three heavily armed guards marched into my line of vision.

“See?” Druid groaned. “What did I tell you?”

Wow, I didn’t think they’d actually come after us. After barely half an hour, too.

“We were worried, so we came to check up on you. Have you finished your errand?”

“Yes. Thank you, gentlemen.”

“All right. We have to get back to our posts.”

Um, we’re only a little walk away from the gates, you guys.

“Hey, guys, we told you we’d be all right.”

“What if the worst had happened?” the oldest-looking guard snapped. “I can’t let a kid die on my watch.” He seemed very fired up, but maybe I was just imagining it…

“Yeah, fine. So, where’s the guild master’s party?”

“They got back a minute ago with plenty of gurbar and chijika meat.”

“Okay, good. Ivy, I’m gonna swing by the guild. Do you want to come along?”

“Sure. I want to thank your mentor.” And let him in on our secret.

“I see. Well, take it easy,” one of the gatekeepers said.

“We will, thank you.”

We were now safely on the other side of the town gate, so the three guards looked satisfied.

“I’m amazed they actually came to check up on us, Mr. Druid. I didn’t think they would.”

“Ha ha ha! Anyway, do you want me to tell my mentor about Ciel?”

“No, I think I should tell him since Ciel is my monster. Thank you, though.”

I wonder if Druid’s mentor knows much about slimes or adandaras? I’d love to have some better information about my beloved travel companions…

When we arrived at the guild lodge, there was quite a crowd of people around it.

“Why do you think they’re here, sir?”

“The townsfolk are probably anxious for news. I’m sure some of them are just curious to see what gurbar and chijika corpses look like, too.”

Upon closer glance, there were several corpses of two types of monsters piled in front of the guild lodge. I guessed that those were the ones Ciel had killed.

“Wow, the chijika are huge,” I marveled. They were larger than gurbars and their tusks were quite thick, too. Their bodies were also very muscular.

“Their territory is in the forest. If you leave them alone, they’re actually quite docile.”

But both the gurbars and the chijika had gone berserk and expanded their territory. What could have caused that?

“Let’s go this way.”

“Yes, sir.”

I followed Druid through the crowd and into the guild lodge. This was my first time walking in such a big mob, so it was a real relief to make it through to the other side.

“Phew…”

“You okay? That crowd was much thicker than it looked.”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Since I’m short, I got squished too many times to count. Druid came to my rescue whenever that happened, but…I never wanted to experience that again!

There weren’t nearly as many people inside the guild lodge as outside of it, but it was still much more packed than usual. There wasn’t a relaxed face in the room.

“Heeey, over here,” Druid’s mentor called, waving at us from the stairs.

We walked up the stairs and found two men around the same age as Druid’s mentor. Who could they be? Maybe they were the reinforcements Druid said he would call.

“Good morning. Wow, it’s been ages since I last saw you,” Druid greeted the pair, and they responded in turn. Unlike Druid’s mentor, these men looked like they took things more seriously.

“Ah, morning. I see ya brought Ivy along. Anyway, let me introduce you to Marual and Tombas.”

The two men waved, and I bowed back at them.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ivy.”

“Marual. It’s a pleasure.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I’m Tombas.”

“So that thing I was telling ya about earlier? Ivy was actually the one who discovered it. Smart kid, yeah?”

“Whoa! I’m impressed.”

Discovered what?

“We’re going down to look over the monsters they brought in,” Tombas said. “We’ll report back to you once we’ve found something. Let’s go, Marual.”

And with that, the two men walked down the stairs to look at the monsters outside. I wondered if they were going to perform autopsies. Oh! That’s right, I wanted to talk to Druid’s mentor.

“Mr. Mentor, there’s something I have to tell you.”

“Hm? I’m a little busy here. Can it wait?”

“Please, Master. Let us talk to you first,” Druid said gravely.

His mentor nodded and gestured to the next room over.

“Thank you, sir.”

As soon as the three of us were in the room, Druid’s mentor pulled something out. It was a magic item that looked like the one that Bolorda had used when we wanted to avoid being overheard. I guessed it was definitely the sort of thing high-ranking adventurers tended to have. As someone with a lot of secrets, I sure wished I could have one. Huh. I wonder how much they cost? Are they within my budget?