The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 6 - Chapter 306

Chapter 306:

Baths Are Essential

WE WERE AT the adventurer guild to submit our report…but Druid was still in a terrible mood. He was doing a fine job of giving the young party of adventurers a good tongue-lashing with a kind voice. The poor adventurers got paler and paler as a result. Are they going to be okay?

“Mr. Druid, maybe it’s time we just let it go?”

“No, I have to drill the message into their brains so they won’t make the same mistake again.”

Uh, I think they got the message loud and clear. They were trying so hard not to look at each other that some of them were even on the verge of tears. Oh, Guild Master Priya is here now! That’s reassuring.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

We explained everything that had happened, including the fact that there was a dead monster at the dump. We could let him handle the rest.

“Aha. So that’s what happened.”

Wait a minute…Guild Master Priya’s aura looks like it’s on fire. Is it really okay to leave the adventurers with him? No, no, they probably all come from Hatow, so they must know him. They’ll be okay…I hope.

“Mr. Druid, let’s leave the rest to the guild master.”

I was worried about Ciel’s strange behavior. It wasn’t wounded or anything, but I wouldn’t feel better until I was back by its side.

“Yeah…I guess we should. All right, Guild Master, take good care of these boys.”

“Oh, I will.”

The menacing way Druid asked the guild master to “take good care of” the adventurers didn’t exactly calm my nerves. I hope they’ll be all right.

“Don’t worry, Miss Ivy, I’ll give them a stern warning.”

“Er, a mild warning is fine, sir. A mild warning.”

He smiled nicely back at me, so I would just have to trust him. Yeah, I’m sure they’ll be fine.

We left the adventurer guild and hurried back to the dump. It wouldn’t be long before some adventurers would come by to haul off the monster’s corpse, so we needed to get deep into the forest before they arrived.

We met back up with Ciel and Snakey on our way to the dump. They had stationed themselves near the village to wait for us. When we explained that some adventurers would be along soon, Snakey let us ride into the forest on its back. I checked in on Ciel, and I didn’t sense any of the strangeness I’d felt from it earlier. Just what was wrong with it?

We had Snakey drop us off deep in the forest. I looked it in the eye and said, “Thank you. I didn’t get a chance to properly say that when you saved us. Also, it’s nice seeing you again. It’s been a while.” The last time we’d seen Snakey was when Ciel showed us where the bearth lived, so it had been about a month.

“It really has been nice.”

Oh, good! Druid’s foul mood is gone. As I stood there, sighing in relief, Druid softly tousled my hair.

“You okay?”

He was probably worried I was hurt or frazzled from the attack. His gentle tousling made my cheeks soften into a smile.

“I’m okay. Thanks.”

Mrrrow. Ciel, equally concerned, nuzzled against me.

“Thanks.” I gave Ciel’s head some gentle pats. The creature’s warmth made me smile again. Then Snakey popped up right in front of my face and peered into my eyes. Was it worried about me, too? “I’m all right, Snakey. Thank you.”

Snakey smiled softly and rubbed its nose against me. I gave it plenty of pats, and it replied with a content smile. I took Sora out of the bag, and it began to play with Snakey. Flame and Sol were…well, they were napping, like they always were. I watched the three creatures play for a bit. It was still quite cold out and I was starting to shiver, so I called out to Sora and Ciel.

“Let’s go, guys, it’s getting cold.”

At my command, Sora jumped right onto my chest from far away.

“Agh!”

Sora jiggled in my arms, happy that I’d caught it. It was very cute, but my rib cage hurt a little. I think it jumped too hard.

“Sora…”

“Pu! Puuu…”

Argh…Sora really does love catching people unawares.

Snakey escorted us to the outskirts of the village. We thanked it and said our goodbyes.

“Thanks for everything, Snakey. See you later.”

We watched Snakey disappear into the forest, then headed back to the village. When we greeted the gatekeeper, he gave us a message from the guild master. The monster corpse was safe, so they’d had it butchered and wanted us to come by the guild to pick up our payment for the meat.

“Are you sure we can take money for it?” I asked. We weren’t the ones who had transported or butchered the meat, so it didn’t feel right to take any payment for ourselves.

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Okay.”

If Druid says it’s all right, then I guess we’ll take the money. It was a relief to hear that the monster hadn’t gone berserk and there was nothing else wrong with it. I’d been incredibly nervous that I was about to get myself caught up in some more trouble.

“Want to go get our money now?” Druid asked.

“Sure.”

When we arrived at the adventurer guild, Priya was there to greet us. The troublesome party of young adventurers had been ordered to spend a year of close study with some senior adventurers. When Priya mentioned the veterans, the look on his face sent shivers down my spine. I went ahead and asked him to tell the younger adventurers I wished them luck.

We took our payment for the monster meat, wrote our names on the document, and the deal was done. We also got a sample of the meat. I was curious to try it, since it was a creature I’d never encountered before.

As we were walking toward the inn, I suddenly realized I didn’t know anything about the monster. “By the way, what is this monster called?”

“It’s a sheepe.”

“Does it taste good?”

“Well…their meat is a bit tough.”

Their meat is tough? In that case, I don’t think I’ll grill it. How should I cook it, then? If I give it a long, slow braise, maybe that’ll make it more tender? I think I’ll cook a little of it when we get home, just to check the flavor, then I’ll decide how to cook the rest of it. But before that, I’ll need a bath. It’s freezing.

“Hello!”

“We’re back from our trip!”

As soon as we walked through the inn’s front door, warmth tingled through our bodies. We’d been chilled to the bone yet again.

“Let’s take a bath and warm up before we do anything else,” Druid said.

“Agreed.”

Over the past several weeks, we’d made it a habit to take a bath as soon as we returned to the inn. In moments like this, I was always grateful that we’d picked an inn with a bath. Back when Druid told me a bath was nonnegotiable, I hadn’t thought it would be all that necessary. But now that I was experiencing a bath’s blessings firsthand, I realized I could never live without one again. Especially when I was contentedly floating in a bath’s warm water during wintertime, I was so grateful I could cry. When I told all of this to Druid, he gave me a satisfied “Glad you’ve come around.”

I stepped out of the bath and got to work on cooking the sheepe meat. I grilled a little piece of it to have a taste…and it was definitely tough and gamey. I decided to add extra medicinal herbs to mask its flavor and to give it a low and slow braise.

“So, think you can use it?” Druid asked with a bit of concern. He probably knew the challenges that sheepe meat posed.

“Yeah, I can.”

“That’s good to hear. Oh, by the way, the next time you send out some faaxes, you should tell everybody we’re hitting the road soon.”

“Why?” I cut the meat into extra-large (but still bite-sized) pieces and chopped the vegetables into equally big chunks.

“If faaxes addressed to you come to Hatow after we’ve left, things will get awfully complicated.”

That made sense.

“What do they do with faxes that arrive after the person has left?”

While we talked, I filled a pot with meat and water and brought it to a simmer. Then I simmered it a bit longer and tossed out the water. Now that the impurities were cleaned off the meat, I put it in a larger pot with some vegetables. I added some water, put in five types of medicinal herbs, and then lit the fire under it to bring everything to a boil.

“You pay them to forward the faax to a place where the recipient can pick it up.”

So you had to pay more money. I’d better write all my faxes today so I don’t forget. “Do you think I should say where our next destination is?” Hatahi Village, if I recall correctly.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

When the pot started boiling, I skimmed the scum off the top. After another three minutes at that temperature, I lowered the heat to begin the braise.

“Roger that. Okay, I’m all done here.”

“You’re done? That was awfully quick.” Druid peered inside the pot.

“I’m going to simmer it slowly over the next twenty-four hours.”

“Ohh, okay. I’m excited to eat it tomorrow.”

The stew just needed to be checked occasionally to make sure its water levels were good.

Okay, let’s write some faxes!