The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 4 - Chapter 209

Chapter 209:

Someday…

“What happened?! Why is Dolgas being so gross?!”

Apparently, Dolgas had apologized to the rest of his family the night before, which was why Shurila was angrily pounding on Druid’s door at the crack of dawn. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and let her vent.

“I mean, can you get any more messed up than that? He knew the truth all along? Then fix your behavior sooner, you jerk! You wanted to stop, but you couldn’t? Well, that sounds like a you problem!”

Druid and I exchanged awkward smiles. Shurila’s griping just wouldn’t stop. 

“I think he just needed a little courage,” I offered.

“Yeah, he did let himself go really rotten, and I’ll admit it’s hard to come back from that. But he brought it all on himself!”

“Well, yeah…that part is true.” I stifled a yawn. We’d been up pretty late the night before planning our trip. Druid seemed to be doing okay, but I was quite sleepy—so sleepy that if I wasn’t careful, I could just nod off then and there.

“First I hear he apologized to you both. Then I came here to see for myself if it’s true, only to find out he half apologized and then ran off. I always knew the guy was an idiot, but I never knew he was spineless to boot.”

Wow, she’s showing him no mercy… Urrrm…I’ve got bleary eyes.

“Seems like his parents already noticed how he’d changed, but it took me completely by surprise. Guess I’m not as wise as I thought I was. But, Ivy, when Dolgas showed up, did he traumatize you at all?”

Who, me? Oh dear…I was slipping into dreamland, wasn’t I?

“Was everything okay? Did he do anything to you?”

Er, what is she talking about?

“Did he hurt you?”

“No, Shurila,” Druid cut in. “Everything’s fine.”

“Yes, everything’s fine.” I don’t know what she’s talking about, but if Druid says everything’s fine, it must be.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Shurila sighed loudly. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know how Dolgas got so stubborn.”

Huh?

“There were rumors that the guild knew those wastelands only grew ryce when they sold them to the farmers. The guild did everything they could to deny it, but a lot of the town still has hard feelings about it. Things got pretty bad there for a while… People were attacked and their houses were set on fire.”

Wow, that sounds pretty intense.

“And that good friend of his worked so hard to make that land produce after he moved his farm there—this is all according to his mother, mind you. I thought he was an insufferable child obsessed with stars, but I knew he was trying to help out when his friend suffered crop failure after crop failure. He tried so hard to help his friend that I almost respected him for it. But whenever he came home, he’d take out all his anger on us.”

That must have been pretty terrifying. It definitely would have traumatized me.

“Dolgas always was hard to read, but ever since then, his mind has been a total mystery. He was probably just desperate to help his friend.”

Shurila took another deep breath in and out. “But even if we give him all of that, he still let himself get messed up for far too long. It lasted twenty years—twenty whole years. No, wait, he was like that even as a kid, so it’s more like thirty years…forty years? It’s way too long, anyway!”

It sounds like she thinks he had a good reason for acting the way he did, but that still doesn’t excuse his behavior. Well, twenty years is long enough as it is. But when it turns into thirty years…or forty years…

She shrugged her shoulders and added, “Then again, my own husband was messed up for a good forty years himself, so I’m one to talk.”

Then there was another knock at the door. Druid went to answer it.

“How’s Druid doing? Did he say anything about Dolgas?” She seemed genuinely worried about Druid. After all, he was pretty good at hiding negative feelings and anger inside.

“I think he’s all right, though he seems a bit disoriented.”

“Aha. Well, Druid does tend to conceal his feelings.”

So she was on to him.

“Sorry I got you caught up in our family drama, Ivy.”

“Oh, it’s okay.”

I heard two sets of footsteps coming our way—there was someone else with Druid.

“I thought I’d find you here, Shurila.”

“Oh, hi, Doluka. What brings you here?”

“Um, maybe the surprise and fear of waking up to find my wife was missing?”

Wow. She came here without telling anyone?

“Huh?! But I told your mother I was here.”

“What?! I asked her where you’d gone, but she said she didn’t know…”

Would Druid’s mother really lie like that?

“Let me guess, did you try to talk to her when she was working?”

“Oh, yeah…she was busy with something.”

“Well, that’s your fault, then.”

“You’re right.”

That’s a married couple for you. What they were saying was an utter mystery to me.

Shurila answered my curious look. “Whenever she’s focused on something, she’ll always answer you like she’s listening even though she actually isn’t. I can’t count how many times that’s gotten us in big trouble.”

Oh, that’s interesting. She always seems to have everything together.

“She’s always been like that,” Druid chuckled. 

I guess you can’t judge people on outward appearance. Well, I had a prime example of that idea standing right in front of me. I stared at Shurila, who gave me a questioning look in reply. At first glance, she truly looked like your typical damsel in distress, but once she opened her mouth, she was anything but that. You really can’t judge a person by how they look, and she taught me that lesson on a visceral level.

“Druid?” said Doluka.

“Yes?”

“I’m sure after everything you’ve been through, you’ll never be able to completely forgive Dolgas. Or me, for that matter.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say never…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to pretend. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I were in your shoes.”

Druid fell silent.

“Someday…when you’re feeling up to it, let’s have a drink. I’ll be waiting for you.”

After a few seconds, Druid answered. “Okay.”

We stood in the doorway, watching the couple leave. It felt like we’d been under constant assault from a storm since the evening before. I looked at Druid beside me. There was a mixture of confusion and unease on his face, but from time to time…he looked happy. There was a look in his eyes that was difficult to express. His mind was probably swimming with thoughts about everything he’d been through up until that moment. I gave his hand a squeeze.

“Huh?”

“Would you like some breakfast? I’m still sleepy, but I’m hungry, too.”

“Yeah…breakfast sounds nice.”

If he takes some time to sort out his feelings…I’m sure that he and his brothers will be able to greet each other with smiles again someday.

“Good morning.”

“Ahh, hey there. Sorry to drag ya all the way out here.”

While we were in the middle of breakfast, we’d received a message from Druid’s mentor. Today was shaping up to be hectic from start to finish.

“Good morning, Mr. Mentor.”

“Druid…what happened?”

“Huh? Er, nothing.”

The old man’s got eyes like a hawk.

“Aha… Well, anyway, that appraisal you asked for came through. Here it is.”

We took the documents, inhaled deeply, and began to read. I’d assumed that the new red magic stone Flame had produced was SSS-level just like the other ones. The real issue was the transparent magic stone—that’s what I was most curious about.

The top sheet of paper said the red magic stone was Level SSS, and I wasn’t at all surprised. I decided to keep it tucked away in my bag unless there was some dire emergency. Then, I looked at the second sheet of paper.

“A transparent SSS-Level magic stone. Type: Shapeshifting.”

“Shapeshifting?” Druid asked. “What does that mean?”

Is shapeshifting magic an actual thing? For that matter, what exactly are we supposed to shapeshift with it?

“Beats me. I looked it up, but none of the books say anything about a magic stone that shapeshifts…or that shapeshifting magic even exists, for that matter.”

In other words…this stone has the power to shapeshift things, but we don’t know what those things are. Hmmm… Level SSS. Shapeshifting.

“If this means Ciel can shapeshift into a smaller version of itself, that would really make me happy.”

“Why?!” both men exclaimed.

“Huh? Well, because if I could make Ciel small, it could ­always be with me, whether I was in the forest or in town.” It would sure put my heart at ease during the wintertime, too.

“Is that even possible? Nah, it can’t be…”

“You don’t know that for sure, though,” Druid argued. “Sora has done so many spectacular things for Ivy’s sake. Don’t you think Flame might be trying to do what it can to help Ivy, too?”

“Yeah, I guess ya might be right.”

Both men sounded rather serious…but I knew it couldn’t be true. Not even magic was powerful enough to make a living creature bigger or smaller. It’s impossible…or at least that’s what I think.