The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 7 - Chapter 337

Chapter 337:

Asking for Advice Is Important

We had Ciel look after the unconscious Ashley while we set the traps. Now that we’d reinforced the cages, I wanted to actually catch something this time!

“Do you think Mr. Ashley will be okay?” I asked.

“I’m sure he will. I want these traps to be more stable, so we should flatten the earth where we’re setting them.”

“Whereabouts? Here?”

We moved some of the dirt to flatten the spot where we would set our trap, then took our enhanced cage out of the magic bag and set it on the even ground.

“We’ll have to make sure it stays still.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “But what made you think that Mr. Ashley might faint?”

“Because he put curiosity over caution.”

Curiosity over caution? Yeah, he did seem awfully careless, especially since he knew he was dealing with powerful magic. I wonder why?

“Yeah, most people would be more careful, wouldn’t they?”

“It all comes down to experience. He’s still young, so his personal curiosity got the better of him.”

“His curiosity put his life in danger once before, didn’t it?”

I wonder if he’s the type who would make the same mistake twice.

I took twelve long stakes we’d found at the dump out of my bag.

“Yes, but he had an obstacle standing in the way of his vigilance this time, Ivy. It was you.”

“Me?” I used the stakes to attach the cages to the ground.

“Since you, a child, controlled the source of the powerful magic, he probably assumed it couldn’t be all that harmful.”

Well, that’s a dangerous assumption to make.

“Once he gets more life lessons, he’ll prioritize caution over curiosity.”

“Is that how it works?”

“At first, I thought he was worried about how it would affect the village, but judging by his behavior, his personal curiosity seems to trump that. Besides, when we invited him to talk, he agreed to it without question. That was the wrong thing to do.”

It was wrong for him to agree to our proposal, even though we were the ones making it? Why was that? I… I don’t get it. But boy, I’m always amazed by how much Druid thinks everything through.

“If he had been at all careful, even the sudden appearance of an adandara wouldn’t have stunned him into inaction.”

So I guess he was so curious that the surprise sucker punched him unconscious. That reminded me of my solo travel days, when I had looked up after a nap and locked eyes with a monster in a tree above me… I almost passed out from terror. I ran like my life depended on it that day. Well, if I had passed out, I would have died. And even though I managed to get away, I wound up lost in the forest.

“I guess this’ll work?” I grabbed the cage and tried to shake it, but it was secured firmly to the ground. Next, I picked some qiblakarla and placed it in the cage.

“Looks sturdy enough,” Druid agreed. “Now we just need to hide the cages with leaves and stuff.”

I looked around, but I didn’t see anything on the ground we could use. “Hmm… I’ll just go find us some leaves.”

“Thanks. Don’t go far, okay?”

“Of course not!”

I searched for human auras and decided I was clear. I quickly got to work searching for leaves and twigs to hide our cages. Once I’d gathered enough, I returned to the area with our trap and covered the cage with the debris.

“Thanks. Now the cage is nicely hidden.”

“Yup. What about the other one?”

Since we’d thought our conversation with Ashley might not leave us enough time to set all the traps, we had only brought two traps out that day. The first was the one we’d just set, but where would we set the other one?

“I decided to put it over here, in the brush you found earlier. I think it’s a good spot.”

“Yeah, I think so, too!”

Gee, it sure is flattering when someone agrees with you.

After we finished setting the second trap, we went back to check on Ashley.

“Looks like he’s awake,” I observed.

Ashley was sitting up and looking at Ciel, frozen in shock.

“You awake?” Druid called out to him.

Ashley slowly turned his head to look at Druid. Then he opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

“Thanks, Ciel.”

Mrrrow.

Ciel pulled itself up from the ground into a sitting position. As I gave its head some nice leisurely pats, I sensed a pair of eyes piercing into me with impressive intensity. I turned to see Ashley looking at us, his mouth half open.

“Watchman Ashley, pull yourself together, man,” Druid said. “So, how does it feel to know where that magic came from?”

“Huh?! It feels, um…shocking,” Ashley answered, stealing nervous glances at Ciel.

Druid sighed loudly. “Listen, kid, you’re lucky it was us. Do you know what kind of danger you could have put yourself in?”

“Huh?!” Ashley and I gasped in unison. What danger was he talking about?

“Watchman Ashley, did you tell anybody that today we were going to tell you the source of a powerful magic energy you sensed?”

“Oh, I would never do something like that!”

Druid sighed. “Well, that’s where you went wrong.”

Really? But he promised us he wouldn’t tell anybody.

“Ivy isn’t scheming to hurt this village through you, but what if she was?”

Hmm… Yeah, a powerful magic energy could be used for a lot of things. Is that what he was getting at? I’ve never really thought about it like that before.

“Oh! Well…”

I wonder if a person could use that kind of powerful magic to put the entire village in danger…

“When we suggested this to you, your first move should have been to ask us if it was okay for you to tell your supervisor what we told you. And we are already on speaking terms with Guild Master Lish and Captain Tabulo, too. If we didn’t know them, you should have asked your supervisor for advice in secret.”

That made sense. In case something happened to him, he should have shared the information beforehand with someone he trusted. That must be why Druid said it was foolish of Ashley to agree to speak with us without question. Come to think of it, it would have made perfect sense for Ashley to secretly check with his supervisor about the powerful magic. I’ll have to be more careful to talk with my allies whenever I need to decide something.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well, because I know you, Mr. Druid.”

“A man can change in a few years. That means you should always be cautious, even of people you think you know.”

Oh! Yeah, I’ve heard that advice from so many different people now. People change, don’t trust them so easily. Druid and his mentors both told me that.

“Forgive me, sir,” Ashley apologized.

So Druid wasn’t just making fun of Ashley for kicks; he was trying to get a better sense of the guy. I realized I’d misread the situation a little.

“No, I was wrong, too,” Druid said. “I should have warned you that Ciel was an adandara.”

“Oh, no, I’m okay now.” Ashley sounded kind of sad. This must have been a valuable life lesson for him, too.

“Pu! Pu, puuu!” Sora, who had been playing a few meters away, eagerly bounced onto Ashley’s head. 

Yikes… Now that probably wasn’t the nicest thing to do to him.

“Um…what’s this? Huh?”

“The slime on your head right now is named Sora,” Druid explained. “Don’t worry, this one is a real slime.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Ashley’s arms suddenly went from frantic to frozen.

Wait, can’t he tell Sora’s a real slime from its magic energy? I thought this guy had finally calmed down, but is he still all wound up? Druid’s trying not to laugh, so maybe Ashley really isn’t doing too well after all…

“Well, I’ll end the lecture here,” Druid said. “Would you like to ask us any questions?”

“May I?”

“Ask Ivy. She’s the one who tamed Ciel.”

“All right. Miss Ivy, may I ask you some questions?”

He seemed awfully nervous, and it was making me nervous, too. “Sure, go ahead.”

Ashley’s eyes shifted over to Ciel. “Is that really an adandara? I’ve only read about them in books.”

“Yes, Ciel is most definitely an adandara.”

“A real adandara… I’ve never seen one before today.” Ashley stared at Ciel in amazement. I’d assumed he would ask me a bunch of questions now that he knew what the powerful magic was…but he didn’t seem to have any.

“Maybe we should’ve brought out more traps today,” I murmured. 

“Maybe,” Druid agreed.