The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 7 - Chapter 333

Chapter 333:

Total Trap Annihilation!

“Looks like all our traps got destroyed in epic fashion.”

When we went to check the traps we’d set in the forest, we found they had all been annihilated. Even the cages were totally smashed.

“Maybe they weren’t strong enough? Oh, or maybe it was magic?” Obitsune could use thunder magic, if I recalled correctly.

“No, from the way these were broken, they clearly weren’t strong enough. If they were destroyed by thunder magic, there would be burn marks on the ropes, but I don’t see any.”

“Oh. Well, how do we make the traps stronger, then?”

“Good question. We could double up the cages or wrap rope around them. Which do you think would work better?”

Double up the cages or wrap rope around them? Did he mean we would bundle up the cages with the rope?

“Step One: We go back to the dump,” Druid said. He sounded excited.

Mrrrow.

“What’s up, Ciel?” I asked. The adandara sounded restless.

“What’s wrong?” Druid asked, curiously peering at Ciel.

Mew! Ciel chirped, looking at the broken cages.

Oh! I think I know… “Ciel, do you want to help us with the hunt?”

Mrrrow.

Ciel had always helped me hunt when I needed it, but I had to get a promise from it first.

“Ciel, can you promise me you’ll go easy on the obitsune?”

If I didn’t say anything, Ciel would hunt an incredible number of the monsters for us.

…Mrrrow.

Ciel sounded disappointed, as usual. But if I gave in then, we really would have a big problem on our hands.

“Promise me you’ll go easy on them. Okay, Ciel?”

Mrrrow.

Success!

“This is so funny to watch. It’s the exact opposite of the conversation you’d see from most tamers.”

“Ciel is just too powerful. If it really put its mind to it, the obitsune in this forest might be wiped out completely.”

“Yeah, I could definitely see that happening.”

“So it’s not just me?”

“Yep, obitsune are easy prey for an adandara.”

Is the power difference really that big? Ciel did promise to go easy on them…but would they be okay? I looked at Ciel, who was waving its tail and looking all around. Hm? Is there something out there? Wait, don’t tell me Ciel is thinking of going hunting already? It can’t be, right?

Mew!

“Huh?!”

I turned my head at the happy sound Ciel had made and gasped at the sight of the adandara bounding off into the forest.

“What happened?” Druid asked, staring blankly as Ciel ran away. “Come on, what happened?”

“Pu! Puuu?”

“Teryu?”

Sora and Flame stopped playing and watched Ciel run into the trees.

“Ivy, what happened to Ciel?”

“I think…it went to hunt obitsune.”

Ciel had been awfully interested in our immediate surroundings. Would it be able to hunt obitsune that quickly for us?

“Oh! Ciel’s come back. Wait, can it really hunt something in such a short time? That’s amazing.” Druid did look quite impressed as he watched Ciel’s triumphant return, and I felt the same way. It had been gone for barely fifteen minutes.

“You really did hunt obitsune, didn’t you?”

Ciel happily swished its tail to and fro. In its mouth were some animals I’d never seen before.

“Are those obitsune?”

“They’ve got two tails, so they’re definitely obitsune. And there’s three of them, to boot.”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

Sora and Flame cheered agreeably in reply.

But if Ciel kept up hunting at that pace, we would have quite the haul of obitsune to bring back to the village. I’d better have a talk with Ciel again. Killing three obitsune in fifteen minutes was probably its idea of “going easy on them.”

“Ciel, happy to have you back. You never cease to amaze me. Look at you, hunting all those monsters so quickly!”

Thud!

Mrrrow.

Ciel was so proud that it was hard to break the news. Wait, maybe I should give it a maximum number to hunt.

“Ciel, thank you so much for catching these. I’d like you to hunt five of them for me every day, please.”

Obitsune were indeed bigger than wild rabbits, so even five of them made quite a large amount of meat.

Meeew.

Yeah. Ciel is crazy upset.

“Please, Ciel, we want to have a chance to hunt them, too.”

Just ignore those broken cages, okay? I know, I know, we didn’t catch anything today.

“Ciel, share some of the joy of the hunt with us…all right?”

…Mrrrow.

“You’re so good to us, Ciel,” Druid said. “Now, since we’ve got a nice big catch, we’d better clean and butcher them while they’re still fresh.”

“Good idea. How do you cook obitsune anyway?”

“They have a very unique flavor, probably because they eat mostly qiblakarla.”

“Oh, interesting. Do they taste good?”

A “unique” flavor… It might overpower whatever dish you put it in, depending on how you use it.

“I’m not sure, I’ve only seen them salted and grilled.”

That must mean they have an unusual flavor that’s hard to pair with anything. I’ll have to taste it on its own once to see.

“Is it okay if I use the meat we butcher today for tonight’s supper?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I told the inn we wouldn’t need supper tonight. We’ll sell two of them to the merchant guild and have the other for supper.”

“Oh, good. Okay, we’ll have to butcher them first. Ciel, do you know where there’s a river?”

I couldn’t hear any water even if I strained my ears, so I had asked Ciel. After a few seconds, its ears prickled and turned, and then it yipped once.

“Will you take us there?”

Mrrrow.

“Thanks.”

We followed Ciel for a while until we came upon a river streaming between two giant boulders.

“The rocks must’ve blocked out the sound of the river.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Yeah, people say they sometimes can’t hear a river because of the direction it’s facing or because of boulders. I’m not sure how true that is, though.”

The river between the two boulders was quite narrow. Its flow was slow and smooth, too, so there was probably no way I would’ve heard it.

“Do I butcher these the same way as wild rabbits?”

“Yeah, except it’ll take longer to bleed them because they’re bigger.”

So it takes longer. In that case, we’d better get right to it.

“You really do know your way around a carcass,” Druid murmured as he watched me break down the obitsune.

“Well, I have been doing this since I was five.”

“Yeah…I guess you’d have to be good at it, then.”

It took a bit longer than usual to bleed the carcasses, but we finished butchering them quickly. I wrapped the meat in bana leaves and put it in my magic bag. I was so grateful for the time-stopping feature since it meant we could swing by the dump on our way back to the village.

“Okay, next we’ll go to the dump,” Druid said. “We need cages and rope. Ideally, we’ll find two cages around the same size.”

“Two cages around the same size. Got it.”

“Yeah, that’ll help us make them stronger.”

“Understood. I’ll do my best to find them.”

“Pu, pu?” Sora hopped over to me and tilted to the right. That was one of the ways it told me when it was confused or curious about something. I wondered what was making it feel that way. It would have to be something from the conversation we’d just had.

“Cages?”

Sora just stared back.

Not cages.

“Um…the dump?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Sora has a question about the dump? Oh, I get it. We already went there before we checked on our traps, so the slimes are wondering why we’re going back to the dump when they’ve already had their meal. Yeah, Sora and Flame were playing far away from us when we were talking about that.

“We need some stuff for our next hunt, so we’re going to the dump to look for it,” I explained.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Good. It understands now.

“Oh, and somebody might show up, so can you hide in the bag?”

They already ate, so it ought to be okay.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

“Thanks, Sora and Flame.”

“I just realized, is Sol still asleep?” Druid asked, looking at the other two slimes. I opened the lid of the bag hanging on 

my shoulder and showed Druid. Inside was Sol, who had been sleeping since it finished its lunch.

“Yup. Still asleep.”

“Okay.”

I didn’t know what had made Sol decide to go to sleep in the bag right after lunch that day. I was worried it wasn’t feeling well, but it had told me it was doing okay. Maybe it just hadn’t slept well the night before.

I searched for auras as we walked out of the forest and toward Hatahi’s dump. Going there always made me nervous since it was so close to civilization.

“Sora, Flame, Ciel, can you get in the bag now?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

Mrrrow.

“Thanks.”

I put them all in the bag one after another and kept my eyes on the gate as we walked past it on our way to the dump.

“Okay, let’s get some cages!” said Druid.

“Yes, sir!”