The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 6 - Chapter 287

Chapter 287:

Magic Energy?

“HEY, SOL, is it okay if I touch these things?” Druid asked, pointing at the black fuzzies floating around the slime.

“Pefu!”

That meant it was fine. Druid also seemed to understand what Sol was saying. He carefully reached out to grab one of the black fuzzies, but he couldn’t catch it. The moment it touched his hand, it vanished into thin air.

“Huh? This sensation…is it magic energy? Hm? Wait, are these things magic energy?”

Magic energy? Oh! Now I remember Druid telling me that the older texts described magic energy as being like a black haze. I didn’t pay attention to it back then, but they said magic energy was black in color. I wonder if there are people out there who can see the color of magic? Or maybe magic used to have a visible color but doesn’t anymore?

“No mistaking it…this is magic energy.” After he had made several of the black fuzzies disappear, Druid was sure of it.

“Pefu!” Sol sounded a little upset, probably because Druid had made its lunch vanish.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Druid apologized. “I was just trying to see what they were.”

“Sorry about that, Sol,” I chimed in. I’d be upset if somebody stole my lunch, too. Sol jiggled a bunch, materialized more black fuzzies out of thin air, and started chowing down again. “Mr. Druid…where do you think it’s getting that magic energy from?”

“Probably the trash.”

That’s right; trash has magic. That was another thing Druid told me before. Okay, so it’s gathering the leftover magic energy from all this trash.

“How do you think it does it?”

“Um…I dunno?”

As I stood there, watching the bizarre feast, a shiver ran through my body. “Mr. Druid, let’s just get the rest of what we need and head back. I’m cold.”

“Yeah, good idea. By the way, where did Ciel go?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve been looking, but I don’t see it anywhere.”

Druid helped me scan the area, but we couldn’t see the creature from where we were standing. Our eyes landed on Sora and Flame, who were both eating their lunch like nothing was wrong. And Flame had regenerated a huge number of magic stones, even more than usual.

“It looks like everything’s fine, at least,” Druid said.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s just finish up our errands for the day.”

We picked up the things we needed, talking about them as we went. After we were done with that, we gathered potions for Sora and Flame. We had already collected enough to last the winter, but we wanted some extra ones for insurance.

“Should we call it a day?”

“Yes, sireeee!” I stood up and stretched my hunched back. Boy, did it feel so good. “Hey, guys, we’re leaving the dump soon, okay? Wow, Flame, look at you!”

There was a huge pile of red magic stones with Flame at its center. My jaw dropped a little at the massive amount.

“Wow, Flame…you’ve outdone yourself.” Druid held back a laugh as he took two sacks out of his bag and handed one to me. I filled it with magic stones, and I kept finding more… Just how many stones did Flame regenerate, anyway?

“How many did you find?” Druid asked.

“Thirty-eight. And you?”

“Thirty-two.”

So, all together, that’s sixty-ten? But doesn’t Flame need a lot of magic energy to regenerate magic stones?

“Flame, are you feeling all right? I hope you didn’t tire yourself out.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

Yeah, sounds okay to me. I guess regenerating magic stones isn’t a strain on Flame at all. If anything, it seems to energize it.

“As long as you’re okay, then I’m fine with it. Just don’t overwork yourself, got it?”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu!”

Ugh, you’re so cute. It was jiggling and bouncing with even more vigor than usual, probably trying to show us just how healthy it was. I put Sora, Flame, and Sol into their bag, then we stepped out of the dump. After walking a few meters away, we stopped and I scanned the area for auras.

“So? Are you sensing Ciel’s aura anywhere around here?”

“I don’t feel any auras.”

“Oh dear.”

I hope nothing happened to it. I opened my bag and looked at the slimes. “Do you know where Ciel went?” There was no reaction from any of them. I guess they don’t know. “Ciel is coming back, right?”

A worrying thought had been gnawing at me: What if Ciel’s run off for good? But all the slimes jiggled right after I asked my last question. I sighed in relief. Oh, good. Ciel is coming back. I guess that means we should wait here a while longer until… Oh!

“Mr. Druid, I sense Ciel’s aura coming toward us. It’s almost…” Just after I said that, I heard something very large fall to the ground behind me. I whirled around to see Ciel holding a white object in its mouth. At a closer glance, the white thing had legs… 

It was a monster.

“Oh, were you off hunting? You had me worried sick, you big silly!” It was a relief to see it was okay.

“Oh, look at that!” Druid cried when he saw the prey Ciel had in its teeth.

“Mr. Druid, do you know what this monster is?”

“Yes, it’s a type that only come out when it snows.”

“Is it one of the monsters we’re trying to hunt?”

“No, the monsters we’re after are more like rabbits. This isn’t one of them. It’s called, uh…I think it’s a bearth.”

I looked at Ciel. It set its kill down by my feet and rubbed its nose in my face, just like it did the first time we met.

“Thanks, Ciel.”

That was its way of telling me it was a gift. If I rejected it, Ciel would be heartbroken, so I had to take it. I was honored to get the present from the adandara, anyway.

“Wow, Ciel, you’re a wonderful hunter.”

Mewww.

Ciel, you look so pleased with yourself. Just look at all the snow your tail is stirring up. Well, at least it’s not a dust cloud.

“Okay, now that we know the winter monsters are out, wanna try to get those traps set up tomorrow?”

“Sure, but we have to butcher this first.”

“No, let’s take it to the adventurer guild as is.”

“We’re not butchering it?”

“This kind of monster’s pelt and organs are valuable, so the guild actually wants to get the carcass as fresh as possible.”

“Oh, interesting. Okay, let’s hurry back to the village, then.”

Druid was about to pick up the bearth, but Ciel whisked it back into its mouth and started marching ahead.

“Thanks, Ciel.”

Ciel happily wagged its tail in reply. Once we were close to the village, the adandara gave the bearth back to us.

“Thanks.”

Mrrrow.

Ciel shapeshifted back into a slime, and I put it back in the bag with the others. Since Druid was carrying the bearth, I took his gear.

“Is that too heavy for you?”

“Oh, please, I’m fine. It’s nothing.” I do daily exercises, you know!

When we reached the gatekeepers, they gasped in shock at the sight of the monster on Druid’s shoulder. I wonder why?

“Are bearths rare monsters?” I asked him.

“I don’t think so…” Druid looked just as confused as I was.

“Um, that’s a bearth, isn’t it?” one of the startled gatekeepers asked Druid, approaching him eagerly.

Druid looked a bit uncomfortable. “Uh, yes, it is… They aren’t that uncommon in Hatow, are they?”

“Well, adventurers overhunted the young bearth population about seven or eight years ago. Nobody’s seen any bearths for four or five years.”

Apparently, Ciel had hunted us quite the monster.

“Wow, we didn’t know that. Oh, by the way, could you please send word to the adventurer guild for us? We’d better bring it in through the back entrance to the butchering area since we don’t want to cause a ruckus with a rare catch, and because freshness is important!”

“Yes, of course! If the adventurers get too excited and put their grubby paws all over it, that alone will make it a little less fresh. Understood. Tatath, could you send word to the adventurer guild master and let him know they’re getting a delivery to the butchering area? I’ll take them straight there.”

Since the white bearth stood out, we borrowed a large cloth to cover it. Then the gatekeeper, whose name was Kari, took us to the butchering area.

“This errand just got much bigger than we intended, huh?” I said to Druid.

“It sure did. Good job, Ciel!”

Druid…please don’t encourage it!