The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 5 - Chapter 246

Chapter 246:

The Snow Report

When we stepped out of the inn, we could tell it was colder than yesterday—so cold that we almost went right back inside.

I looked at the bag with my creatures in it. I hoped they were warm enough. I’d bought a fluffy towel to make the bag warmer, but I hadn’t expected having to deal with weather this cold.

“Everything okay?” Druid asked, eyeing me with worry as I stared at the bag. I must have made him think there was something wrong.

“Do you think there’s any way I can make their bag warmer?”

Druid thought for a moment. Then he nodded, understanding what I was trying to do. “Let’s stop by Rose’s shop on the way back and ask her.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Well, we do love the little guys.”

My bag moved a bit in reply. Was it Sora? Or maybe Ciel?

We set out on Main Street, which turned out to be almost empty. Most people had probably stayed home to keep out of the cold.

“Hardly anybody’s out today.”

“Yeah, and some of the stores are closed, too.”

I looked around the stalls and saw that about half of them were shuttered. This kind of cold weather must have even changed people’s daily routine.

“Let’s go.”

Usually, I’d have a look around as we walked down the street, but it was too cold for that today. That meant we made it to the adventurer guild in record time. And when we got there, you could hear a pin drop. I’d never seen any guild lodge in that state before.

“I guess nobody wanted to come here in the cold. Maybe that guy will help us.”

There was a guild employee seated at the counter. His eyes were droopy with fatigue.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh! Yes! May I help you?” the man yelped, seeming a little frazzled. Was he sleeping with his eyes open?

“We came here to report that we saw some snow blooms in the forest yesterday.”

“Thank you for that. Could you please tell me more?”

The man explained to Druid that snow blooms matured quickly. They bloomed and withered within a single day, so if you found snow blooms on multiple days, you had seen more than one set of flowers. Therefore, the more reports of snow blooms they received, the harsher the winter would be. We didn’t know how many times the guild had already heard about snow bloom sightings, but judging by the man’s facial expression…well, let’s just say he looked a bit ill, unless I was mistaken. Maybe they were already under a heavy load of snow bloom reports.

“Thank you very much for providing that information.”

“Um, have you gotten a lot of reports this year?” Druid asked.

The man nodded meekly. His face was creased deeply with solemnity.

We walked out of the adventurer guild. Rose’s shop was our next stop, but the sun was already starting to hide behind some clouds. Without its warmth, the air was really icy cold.

“When winter truly begins, it might be too dangerous to travel into the forest,” Druid said.

“Yeah, we’ll most likely have to just relax at the inn.”

“We probably will.”

There was no need for us to risk our lives by going into the woods. If Ciel had to live in the forest, we probably would have found a way to visit it, but Ciel could stay with us now. I really was grateful to Flame for creating the magic stone that let Ciel shapeshift.

Even though we walked twice as fast to Rose’s shop, it seemed twice as far away. Human senses really can be unreliable sometimes, can’t they?

As soon as we opened the door to Rose’s shop, we were slammed with a voice greeting us. “Hello! Come in…and close the door quickly, please! It’s cold—oh, hey, Ivy.” The instant she recognized us, the sourness in her voice sweetened. I had to stop myself from laughing.

“We wanted to ask you something, Rose,” Druid said.

“Sure, what’s up?”

On the way over, we had decided to tell Rose that I was a tamer who had tamed slimes.

“I keep the slimes I’ve tamed in this bag, and I’m worried they might get cold. Do you have any items like a heater to defend against cold?”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were a tamer, Ivy.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Rose looked at the bag hanging off my shoulder. Since it was the only bag I carried that wasn’t magic, it obviously held the slimes.

“Bag-warming merch, eh? Hmm…I think I saw somethin’ like that lying around somewhere…” Rose flipped through her catalogue. “Aha, found it! How’s about this?” She smiled and pointed at an item on her list.

I took the book and read its description: “This baby is powered by fire magic stones and heats bags like nobody’s business! Use with its companion bag to double—even triple—its power! Buy yours today!”

Hm? Why does this product description sound like a really cheesy advertisement? Well, it’s easy to understand; I’ll give it that much.

“Yes, I’d like to see this one, please, so… Huh?” I looked up at Rose, only to find that she was gone. “Hey, Rose?”

“She ran off to the back room. She’s probably finding the item for you.”

She sure moved fast.

“Found it! Here ya go.” Rose showed me the item, which was a thin wooden board with a hole in one end. It was a little bigger than the bag I was currently using.

“Will it really heat up the bag?” Druid asked, squinting skeptically at the board.

“Well, that’s what it says. Anyway, here’s the companion bag that comes with it.” Rose showed us the bag. It was a size and shape that allowed the board to sit flat on the bottom, so it was bigger than the one I was already carrying.

“Why don’tcha give this thing a spin to see how ya like it? The description didn’t really say just how warm it made things.”

Rose let me borrow a red magic stone with fire magic, so I checked the product description to see how to use the item. All I had to do was put the magic stone in the hole in the board, set the board on the bottom of the bag, and push the button once. That was it. The magic stone didn’t even need to be particularly special or high-level. After a few seconds, the bag started to feel warm.

“Wow! It really does make the bag pretty warm.” I slid my arm into the bag to check its temperature. Druid and Rose followed suit, testing the item’s effects with their hands.

“It really is warm. I think it’ll do just fine. Oh, I guess that means we’ll have to change bags…” As Druid looked at the bag the slimes were currently in, I remembered he had told me that it was given to him by someone special. He might have felt conflicted about giving it up. And I felt conflicted, too, but when it came to my creatures’ safety, I couldn’t stay conflicted for long.

“The slimes will just have to have one bag for summer and one for winter. It feels a little extravagant, but it’s for the best.”

Druid laughed at my cheap idea of extravagance, but I didn’t think the bag was exactly cheap.

“I’ll pay for this one—I insist!” I said.

“No, it’s something we need for the journey, so the money should come from our joint account.”

“No, I’m paying. It’s for the creatures I tamed.”

After a brief staring contest, Druid finally caved in with a sigh. “You are just so damn stubborn, Ivy.”

“Oh, really? But you’re the stubborn one, Mr. Druid!”

Rose looked at us and burst out laughing. “You two really are so cute. C’mon, Ivy, why don’tcha let him buy it for ya?”

“Not you, too, Rose! Um, you see…if I get used to letting him buy things for me, I’m worried I’ll become very selfish and greedy.”

“That would never happen,” both adults insisted in unison.

“But my creatures have helped me so much… Please, I want to repay them.”

Sora, Ciel, and Flame really had helped me out a lot. That’s why I wanted to give them a special present, to give them a better living environment. My heartfelt words seemed to work because Druid conceded. But he insisted that he would pay next time my creatures got a present.