The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 7 - Chapter 334

Chapter 334:

Dying to Know

“It’s really hard to find two cages that are the same size,” I remarked.

“Well, that’s what you get when you look in the trash.”

“Still…”

“Personally, I think it’s fun, searching the trash for two cages that fit just right together.”

I wasn’t sure how fun the activity itself was…but I was sure he was having fun doing it.

“Oh! I found a match!”

Well, it does make me happy to see him find a perfect pair…which makes me take the hunt a little too seriously.

“I think you’re having just as much fun as I am, Ivy. You love looking for materials and making the traps.”

“I won’t deny that… Oh! Shoot, if only it were a bit taller, it would be a perfect match. But yes, catching prey with traps I built myself is a lot of fun. Maybe that’s why searching for the materials isn’t a nuisance to me at all.”

I was angry whenever I failed to catch anything, but I was twice as happy when I succeeded. In a way, that knowledge was what made searching for supplies at the dump enjoyable.

“Oh, somebody’s coming! Wait…huh?” I knew that aura. “It’s Ashley…and probably some watchmen.”

Druid sighed. “They must be on patrol.”

There were three human auras headed straight for us at a moderate speed. The two people with Ashley must have picked up on our auras because they sped up their approach.

“Oh, you’re the folks we ran into earlier! Are you looking for supplies for your traps again?”

“Good afternoon. Yes, we are.”

One of the watchmen eagerly approached the dump. He was probably interested in the idea of hunting with homemade traps.

“What are you collecting?”

“We set some traps earlier, but they all got destroyed, so we decided we needed stronger cages. We’re going to double up two cages at a time, so we’re looking for pairs of cages around the same size.”

Druid showed the watchman two identically sized cages.

“Oh, I see. Are you hunting obitsune?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How are you countering their magic?”

“Obitsune magic isn’t that powerful, so we’re not worrying about that now.”

“You’re right, obitsune magic is only effective when they can surprise you with it.”

Everyone looked rather excited over the whole thing. Which was nice and all, but I didn’t like that I was being watched. I stole a glance at Ashley…and sure enough, he was staring at my bag. His detect magic skill must have picked up on Ciel’s presence in there. Well, he probably just senses that it’s powerful magic, not that it belongs to an adandara. For that matter, he would never suspect an adandara would be inside a bag in the first place—though Ciel is in slime form right now. Wait a minute… It doesn’t matter that Ciel is disguised as a slime if Ashley can still detect its powerful adandara magic.

“Wow, that’s incredible!”

Oops! I wasn’t paying attention. What’s incredible?

“So nobear are your goal, eh?”

Hm…? My head drooped to the side in confusion over Druid’s conversation with the watchmen. Methinks some dreadfully inauspicious words just reached my ears… Something to the effect of “Nobear are your goal”… No, no, nobear are those violent monsters, aren’t they? Or are they animals? No, they’re definitely violent monsters. This is bad. I’m getting worked up.

“Oh, nobear aren’t my goal.”

Thank goodness. Yeah, nobody would do something that reckless.

“Nobear are my stepping stone. My true quest ends with a prize much bigger than that.”

You heard nothing, Ivy, got it? Nothing. Wait a minute… Those giant traps I saw the other day… Is this guy planning to hunt the monster they were made for? That can’t be right, can it? Druid…please tell me I’m wrong.

“Hello there, Miss Ivy.”

“Agh!”

“Whoa! Sorry I startled you.”

“Do you know each other?” one of the watchmen asked, wondering why Ashley had called me by name.

“Oh! Um, yes, we sort of know each other.”

Ashley, don’t panic so obviously!

“Yes, we met the other day. Hello again.” I looked Ashley in the eye, willing him to calm down…but his eyes fell on my bag. Then he quickly shook his head and looked back at me.

The watchman beside Ashley frowned at him, and I had to sigh at his suspicious behavior. I guess he just couldn’t ignore the mysterious powerful magic energy he sensed coming from my bag. When I saw how hard he was trying, I felt guilty. But the detect magic skill sure was amazing. Ciel was so good at masking its aura that I couldn’t even sense it unless it was quite close to me.

“So…what brings you gentlemen here?” I had to say something before they got suspicious. Even without my help, Ashley was getting plenty of dubious stares from the watchman next to him.

“Ahh, well, I didn’t come to talk about anything in particular. How are you?”

“Fine, thanks. And you, Mr. Ashley?”

“I’m all right.”

This conversation is kind of weird. It’s making me feel even more nervous…

“What’s wrong?”

Druid’s here! Oh, thank goodness. I could just fling my arms around him and thank him right now.

“Nothing’s wrong,” I smiled.

Druid gave me a sly smile back. Then he patted my head. “Hello there, Watchman Ashley.”

Watchman? Oh, maybe I should’ve called him by that title, too?

“Hello, Mr. Druid.”

“Well, we were about to head back to the village. Take care,” Druid said.

“Oh! Yes, sir. You two take care,” Ashley said to Druid, stealing glances at my bag all the while. I guess once his curiosity is sparked, it just won’t go out… There’s a turn of phrase like that, right? Or maybe not?

“Thank you for your service,” I told Ashley and his watchmen as we turned back to the village. Even as we walked, I still felt his eyes on my back.

“Pfft! Ha ha ha, that Ashley was failing miserably to contain himself,” Druid chuckled.

“Uh-huh, that was pretty painful to watch.”

“Should we try to meet with him sooner than later?”

“Yeah.”

The previous night, we’d explained Ashley’s detect magic skill to our monsters. We also told them that since he didn’t know the source of the powerful magic energy, he would probably be dying to find out. So I asked everyone if it would be safe to tell Ashley about Ciel under those circumstances and, for some reason, they all recommended we tell him. From the loud, shrill tones in their voices, they seemed adamant about it. Maybe they all liked Ashley?

“Should we go to the village watch office after dinner? Or should we leave a message instead?”

“I’m not sure. Which would be better?”

I wanted whichever option was more discreet. Lots of people must have known about his detect magic skill, so we wouldn’t want them to hear that he had taken an interest in us. If they asked us why that was, we wouldn’t be able to answer.

“We can think about it on our way to the merchant guild.”

“Okay. First, let’s go sell the obitsune Ciel hunted.”

I was curious about Ashley, but I also wondered about the obitsune. Even though they were about three times the size of 

wild rabbits, they weren’t exactly rare here. And since Druid had said they had a unique flavor, I thought maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up.

We entered the merchant guild and looked at the front desk. I made eye contact with the lady who had helped us last time.

“Let’s go to her.”

The obitsune sold for about twice the price of wild rabbits. As I suspected, they were hunted regularly and weren’t that expensive.

“They’re easy to prepare.”

We asked her for advice on how to cook it, and she told us they were best salted and grilled, and also that if you put them in a stew, their flavor overpowered the dish. I still wanted to see how it would do with a short braise, though.

“Oh, look. That must be Watchman Ashley.”

I followed Druid’s gaze to find Ashley’s backside. His shoulders were slumped, and I could even hear him sighing heavily. I wondered what had happened.

“Perfect timing,” Druid remarked.

“Yeah, perfect timing.”