The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 4 - Chapter 194

Chapter 194:

Huh?! Already?

“Hello, Professor Ivy.”

I turned toward the sound of the voice and saw Druid walking into the break room. Six days had passed since his old mentor ventured into the forest.

That’s strange. He’s usually still out helping the gatekeepers around this time. “Did something happen?”

“I just heard a little while ago. Their quest was a success.”

“Huh?! But it’s only been six days.”

“C’mere.”

“Okay.” Is it something he doesn’t want anyone else overhearing?

I followed Druid out of the break room to the very back of the shop. We stood in front of the shed that stored rice and other supplies.

“I don’t have any specific details yet, but it sounds like Ciel helped them out.”

Ciel…helped? As I’d predicted, I hadn’t been able to go into the forest for the past several days, so I hadn’t seen Ciel at all. I was worried about the creature, but I never would have imagined it had gone deep into the forest with Druid’s old mentor and his party.

“Um…is Ciel hurt?”

“They contacted us with a magic item, so they didn’t give a lot of details. But Master says there weren’t many wounded in his party, and the monster who helped out was okay, so I think Ciel should be fine.”

“Oh, good. What a relief.” That’s a big load off my mind.

“They’ll be back in about three days.”

Three days? That’s pretty fast. “Oh, what happened to the berserk monsters? If the quest was successful, does that mean they’re back to normal now?”

“The gatekeepers are searching the forest right now to find out. We’ll probably know for sure later today or tomorrow.”

“I really hope all the monsters are back to normal…” If they weren’t, we were all out of ideas.

“Yeah, well, judging by the sound of my master’s voice, everything’ll be fine. They should get a solid answer well before we do.”

Oh, right. They were in the middle of the berserk monsters’ territory, so if there’s a change, they’ll know about it right away.

“Are you tired?”

“Mr. Druid…who would be tired from working four hours with a one-hour break?”

It was a mystery just what Druid and his father had been saying to each other about me, but Druid’s father was giving me a one-hour break for every four hours of work. I’d told him that I didn’t need that much time off, but he said it was too late and he’d already promised Druid.

“Ha ha ha. Ivy, you’re still just a child. Let people take care of you.”

Let people take care of me…that’s easier said than done.

“Anyway, here’s the real reason I wanted to talk to you. I think you should sleep here tonight.”

Hm?

“The news that the quest was successful will probably arrive sometime today. And when that happens, there’ll probably be a street festival.”

“A street festival…”

Was that what had happened back in Ratomu Village? I remembered how everybody made a big fuss when there were rumors that the ogre king had been defeated. The plaza was a chaotic mess, too. I’d been a bit scared.

“Since the town was in real danger, everyone’s gonna drink like there’s no tomorrow. And where there’s heavy drinking, there’s more drunken brawls.”

I thought I caught the gist of what he was trying to say. If I stayed in the plaza, there was a good chance I’d get hurt.

“I’ll ask Mom and Dad for you. I’ll make sure they let you stay here for the night.”

“But…are you sure that’s okay? I mean, um…” What with the situation with Dolgas, would it really be all right?

“You could stay at my house, but it’s pretty far away. You’d be much safer here. Don’t worry about my brother. I’ll tell Shurila to keep him in check.”

Well, I am very happy to have Shurila on my side…but is this really okay? Won’t it only provoke Dolgas? Then again, I don’t think I could rest in my tent, either. If this town celebration is going to be worse than the last one I experienced…maybe drunkards will wander into the tent? They might discover Flame and Sora…

“Um, thank you. I accept the offer.”

“Good. I’ll tell everyone. I’ve got to get back to my post soon.”

“Okay, thank you. And be careful out there.”

I guess he’s going to have to deal with berserk drunks today instead of berserk gurbars. Poor guy.

“Thanks. Bye.”

“Goodbye.” I went back into the store and watched Druid walk over to his parents. I was still technically on break, so I went back to the break room.

“So Ciel helped out. That creature sure is reliable…but I do hope it didn’t get hurt.”

I’ll go to the forest tomorrow. Oh, but if Ciel followed Druid’s mentor’s party deep into the forest, it probably won’t be anywhere near here, so I might not be able to meet up with it even if I go to the forest? Well, I guess I’ll just wait and see.

I walked through town on my way to the forest, and every person I passed had a smile on their face. I hadn’t seen the likes of these smiles for over a week, and that made me smile in turn. Rumor had it that the monsters had returned to normal. It really was a relief that the quest had been successful.

But I stopped in my tracks and looked at my surroundings. Drunks were scattered here and there along the road. I’d seen them there even when times were normal…but they’d multiplied. There were way too many today. The neighborhood watch had been giving them a stern talking to, one by one…and it seemed like quite the task.

“Good morning. How’s the forest looking today?” I asked the gatekeeper.

“Good morning, Ivy. We haven’t seen any gurbars since yesterday around noon.”

Apparently, the rumors were true. “Is it all right if I go into the forest?”

“Hmm…I’m not sure about that.”

Was the answer still no? But all I wanted to do was go in for a while to check on something.

“I’ll come along.”

Huh? I turned around to find Druid standing behind me. “Oh, hello, Mr. Druid. Have you finished your work for the day? Aren’t you tired?”

“I’m fine…though I don’t think I ever want to see another drunk person again,” Druid smirked.

He must have had a hard time of it. His clothes were all ­disheveled, which meant he’d probably gotten in a few fights with the drunks.

“Well, if you’re too tired, then…”

“I want the forest to heal me.”

“Huh? Did you say something?” the gatekeeper asked. Apparently, what Druid had just whispered was only loud enough for me to hear.

“It’s nothing. Now, it shouldn’t be a problem if I go with Ivy, right?”

“Yes, I think that should be fine. Just please be careful, okay?”

“Thanks. Well, Ivy, let’s go.”

“Okay. Goodbye,” I waved to the gatekeeper as we walked through the gate toward the forest.

After we were a little way into the forest, I took Sora out of its bag. Druid immediately grabbed the slime and held it in his arms.

“Puuu?”

“Are you okay?”

“Ha ha ha, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just still amazed at how rowdy the town got.”

He was right. There were big drums and flutes playing. It really was exactly like a street festival.

“Do you think everyone’s just relieved to finally feel safe?”

“Probably, yeah. The veteran adventurers getting slaughtered really took a toll on the town.”

Well, they do say that the simple presence of veteran adventurers makes everything feel different.

“I guess they’re going to have a hard time moving forward without any veteran adventurers.”

“My old master says he’s going to stay here for a while to train any promising new blood he finds.”

“Oh, really? Well, I’ll bet that takes a load off the guild ­master’s mind.”

“Ha ha ha, well, his face twitched when he heard the news, actually.”

But why? He’s going to get some new veteran adventurers trained.

“He’s grateful, but you know what my old master’s personality is like.”

“Ha ha ha.” Yeah, the only way I can respond to that is laughter. Oh! “Ciel’s here.”

We stopped walking, and Ciel soon floated down to the ground.

“Ciel, I heard you helped the questing party. Are you okay?”

Mrrrow.

Starting with its head, I patted Ciel all over to make sure it wasn’t hurt. I couldn’t find a single scratch on its body. What a relief.

“Thanks, Ciel. You helped us solve the problem faster than we’d expected. And I hear we kept casualties to a minimum, too.”

“That potion…do you think he tested it out?” Druid asked, sitting at the root of a big tree nearby. He still had Sora in his arms.

I sat next to him and said, “I’m not sure. Though I don’t think he would have used it unless someone in his party was on the brink of death.”

We were talking about the potion that Tombas had deemed impossible to appraise. Apparently, when he used his appraise skill, letters or numbers would appear near the item he was trying to evaluate. But when he tried to do this with the potion Sora had made, the letters sparkled so much that he couldn’t read them and the appraisal failed. Druid’s mentor said he’d muttered under his breath that this had never happened before. And when Druid heard the story, he marveled, “That’s Sora for you.”

So Druid and his mentor thought that Sora’s concoction was much more powerful than even the highest-level potion. I was going to lock it away at the bottom of my bag, but Druid’s old mentor offered to buy it from me. This had surprised me, since I’d assumed he would have a hard time fending off all the people asking him questions about it.

But Druid’s old master said, “This quest is particularly dangerous. If this potion means one more of us can come back alive, then I’d rather have it with me. Please, let me buy it.”

And after a lot of thinking, I asked that he only pay me for the potion if he wound up using it. If he didn’t use it, he would return it to me. Incidentally, he also took the red magic stones, which were used in fire magic attacks, with him. I wondered if he’d made good use of them.