The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 5 - Chapter 251

Chapter 251:

Aren’t They Cute?!

“But my goodness, your creatures are so cute,” Rose said, petting each of them on the head in turn. Sora, Ciel, and Flame jiggled happily in reply.

“Oh yes, they’re extremely cute!” I was so flattered by her praise that my voice cracked a little. I was so happy that I could introduce my precious companions to somebody who truly cared about them. I wished I could share my wonderful creatures far and wide, but I knew that wasn’t possible.

“Hee hee! Oh, Ivy, ya sure do love ’em, don’tcha?”

“Yes. Very much so.” I could tell even without looking in a mirror that I was wearing the goofiest grin. It was such a good feeling.

“Oh, by the way, when d’ya want to meet my son?”

“Whenever he has time. We have a very flexible schedule.”

“Do ya now? Well, thanks for being so accommodating.”

Flame had slid onto the top of the table and was stretching toward me. I was a little startled by this new behavior, but I picked it up and put it on my lap. Then it just stared up at me, and I stared back in confusion.

“Something wrong?”

“Teryuuu.”

It sounded like it was asking me something, but I didn’t understand. I thought through all the possible things Flame could want.

“Are you sleepy?” It didn’t wiggle, so that must not be it. What could it be? It’s no use. I can’t think of anything.

“I’m sorry. Um, if you could give me a hint, maybe I could understand you.”

Flame’s gaze spun around to something behind it on the table. The black board? I turned Flame on its side and peered into its face. Hm?

“The magic stones?” Was it indicating not the board but the stones? After all, Flame’s specialty was magic stones and potions.

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.” Flame cheered up at those words.

Oh, thank goodness. So magic stones was the correct answer. Wait, could that mean… “Flame, do you want to make red magic stones?”

“Ryu! Ryu, ryuuu.”

I guess that means I was right. Flame was jumping for joy on my lap.

“Are ya gonna make me a magic stone, hon?” Rose asked Flame.

“Ryuuu,” Flame sang cheerfully back. It seemed even more inspired than usual.

“But, Flame, there aren’t any spent magic stones here. We’ll have to go get some from the dump tomorrow.”

“Teryuuu.”

Come on, you don’t have to be so obviously upset.

“We got some gray magic stones, though. Would they work?” Rose asked.

This brought back Flame’s good mood in a flash. Flame really was behaving so differently today. Even Druid looked at it in surprise.

“Is Flame okay?”

“I’m not sure. I just hope this whole thing doesn’t tire it out later.”

It was nice that Flame was in such high spirits, but I would feel so sorry for the poor slime if it ended up collapsing from exhaustion. I needed to be considerate.

Rose returned to the back room and came out with a large drawstring bag. She set it down on the table with a heavy-sounding clunk. She loosened the strings and opened the bag to reveal a large number of gray stones. To the untrained eye, it was a worthless sack of rocks somebody had found on the side of the road.

“That’s quite a big collection.”

“Well, I gotta use magic stones to test and measure items. I forgot to throw these out, so they’ve been pilin’ up.”

I could see what she meant with just one look around the shop. You’d need a lot of magic stones to test and operate all these magic items.

“Teryuuu.” Flame examined a gray magic stone on the table, then cheerfully bounced up and down in my lap. Its jumps were about a centimeter high, so low that you wouldn’t even notice if you weren’t paying attention. I set Flame down beside the bag.

“Take as many as ya please,” Rose said.

Flame jiggled in reply, then chomped down an ordinary-looking gray stone from the bag.

“Ryu! Ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu…”

The magic stone foamed with bubbles inside of Flame’s body until it disappeared from view. Then Flame cried out…so softly that you wouldn’t even have heard it if you weren’t right next to it.

“Ryu!…pong!” And with a delicate sound, a beautiful red magic stone flew out of Flame’s mouth.

“Wow, you work fast. And what a pretty stone you’ve made, too.”

“Ryu-ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu,” Flame chirped, swallowing the next magic stone and jiggling. Its eyes were closed, and it was smiling contentedly. “Ryu!…pong.”

That made two. Flame jiggled happily and swallowed the next stone.

“It sure is having fun.” Druid picked up the magic stone Flame had just made and set it beside the other one.

“Yeah, I think it likes making magic stones.” I felt bad about keeping it from doing what it loved.

“Ryu-ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu…”

I examined the row of new magic stones. They were quite clear and bright, just like all the magic stones Flame made.

“That one’s mighty pretty, too. Been a while since I’ve seen magic stones so transparent. Adventurers haven’t been findin’ many high-level stones in caves lately, ya know.”

“Ryu!…pong.”

“Oh, really?”

Druid placed the third magic stone beside its companions.

“Ryu-ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu…”

I suddenly realized Sora and Ciel had been awfully quiet, so I looked for them… Wait, where did they go?

“Ivy, over here.”

I looked where Druid was pointing. Sora was perched on his head and Ciel was on his shoulder.

“Aren’t they heavy?”

“A little, yeah, but not enough to be a problem.”

But why had they settled there, of all places?

“Ryu!…pong.”

The fourth magic stone was a bit smaller than the others, and when it was set next to the previous three, it was obviously murkier, too.

“Ryu-ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu.”

“Ivy, is Flame gonna be okay makin’ all these magic stones at once?” Rose asked, casting a worried glance at Flame. I wondered what she meant by “okay.”

“Um, what do you mean, ma’am?”

“It takes a bunch of magic to recharge a magic stone. Won’t recharging all these stones at once use up all its magic?”

“Ryu-ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu.”

Use up all its magic? Come to think of it, I guess regenerating a magic stone would use up a lot of magic.

“Well, Flame once spat out twenty magic stones like it was nothing, so we never really worried about it running out of magic.”

“Ryu!…pong.”

“And it didn’t even run out of magic when it pumped out twenty stones, remember?”

“Yeah, it didn’t have any problems.”

“Well, that’s impressive. Ya must have a ton of magic yourself, eh, Ivy?”

“What?!” Druid and I gasped in unison, since we both knew that I had the lowest possible level of magic.

“Ryu-ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu…”

“What makes you say that, ma’am?”

“Well, a tamed creature’s level of magic depends a lot on the magic of its tamer.”

“Really, ma’am?”

“Oh yeah! That is how it works.” Druid slapped his knee hard, suddenly remembering.

“Ryu!…pong.”

But that information couldn’t be completely right. After all, my very existence disproved it.

“Um, but I…” It should be safe to tell Rose. I glanced at Sora on top of Druid’s head. Our eyes met, and the slime jiggled happily in encouragement. I said, “I have no stars, so I don’t have much magic. I’m not at all powerful, either.”

“Ryu-ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu…”

“What?!” That was the most shock Rose had shown all day…and I found it a little flattering. “Ivy, don’tcha dare just blurt that out to anybody! What if somebody uses it for evil?!”

Her anger was flattering, but she was really mad at me. There was such a huge crease between her brows that I was slightly…er, very scared.

“But I don’t just blab it to anybody. I trust you, Rose, so there’s no problem with telling you.” Even though Rose scared me sometimes, I knew she was a worthy exception. I would never trust just anybody without thinking!

“Ryu!…pong.”

Rose sighed, “D’ya really have no stars?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh, wow… So are adandaras actually weak monsters or somethin’?”

“Ryu-ryuuu, ryuuu, ryuuu…”

Now it was Ciel’s turn to be doubted, so I quickly told her the story of its taming.

“I don’t know why, but ya seem to attract some pretty amazin’ creatures, Ivy.”

“Ryu!…pong.”

“Oh, Ivy! Flame fell down.”

“Huh?! Oh…so it really did burn itself out.”

Flame had fallen flat and was asleep on the table. Next to it, Druid had lined up all the magic stones it had regenerated. There were eighteen in total. I had heard all the sounds while we were talking, but there were even more magic stones than the number of pongs I’d noticed.

“Aghhh, not again.”

One of the magic stones in the lineup was particularly eye-catching. It was clearly far more transparent than the other stones.

“Just what in blazes are ya?” Rose asked, grabbing the stone and squinting as she rotated it in her hand.

“A magic stone…probably Level 1 or Level 2.”

“Level 1 or 2? Well, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen one that high.” Rose ceremoniously set the stone back down on the table. “Yeah, ya can’t offer this stone to anybody. You’d cause quite a ruckus if ya did.”

So I guess that magic stone really isn’t fit to sell or give away…too bad.