The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 7 - Chapter 342

Chapter 342:

A Heroic Name

I added flour and water to a glass bowl and mixed them together. I was making gyoza for the first time today. Since I was relying entirely on my memory, my chances of success remained a mystery. But I was confident that even if I failed, the ingredients I was using would at least make the results edible.

“That’s sure taking a long time to make,” Druid commented.

“Yeah, it might be the most boring thing I’ve ever cooked.”

Everything else I’d cooked was easy compared to gyoza, though my memory was hazy enough that there was no telling whether I’d be able to recreate everything perfectly. Anyway, at the very least, it all was edible.

“Oh, Mr. Druid, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

While I chopped the vegetables that would fill the gyoza, I looked at Druid as he expertly kneaded the dough with one arm.

“You know how Ashley’s memory got hazy when he was so surprised? Does that happen to other people, too?”

I’d been thinking for quite some time about how Ashley could still talk and answer questions that day. You might even say he seemed perfectly normal. And yet, days later, I was surprised to hear that he didn’t remember any of it.

“Yeah, you can sometimes lose your memory if you’re shocked mentally or emotionally. Also, sometimes a physical blow to the head can erase your memories.”

“Really?”

Since Ashley hadn’t been hit on the head, that would mean he experienced a mental or emotional shock. Was it because he didn’t want to come to terms with the part of himself that feared monsters?

“Some people who have been attacked by monsters are ­psychologically traumatized by it, just like Ashley. Some of them can’t get over their trauma, either, and they have to quit being adventurers or watchmen.”

Wow, so some people even lose their jobs because of it.

“Every town and village has at least one doctor who specializes in this kind of thing, but going to see these doctors is often a struggle.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, even if you know a doctor can help you, it takes a lot of courage to show your weaknesses to someone else.”

“Oh, yes, that’s true.”

It took a lot of courage for me to accept the fact that I had no stars. In my head, I knew it was true, but that didn’t mean I’d come to terms with it. It took the support and kindness of so many people to help me get this far.

“But Mr. Ashley will be okay, won’t he?”

“Yeah, he’ll be fine. He’s got a lot of obstacles to overcome, but he’s been blessed with a good supervisor.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

That’s right, he’s surrounded by people with plenty of experience. I know he’ll overcome his trauma.

“Did I knead it enough?”

“Ideally, it would be as soft as an earlobe.”

“Um…that’s both easy and impossible to understand.”

“Aww, it’s okay. Just wing it.”

“Will do.”

Okay, I mixed the veggies and meat together to make the filling. Now all I need to do is wrap them… Wait, we need to roll the dough into circles first.

“Mr. Druid, can you roll a bunch of little balls of dough like this?” I took a small chunk of dough and rolled it into a neat ball on the table. Then I showed it to Druid so he could get a sense of how big it should be.

“Okay. You just want me to roll a bunch of balls of that size?”

“Yeah. Once they’re like that, it’s easier to do the next step.”

I took the little balls and rolled them out on a wooden board with a rolling pin.

“Sorry, Ivy…”

“What’s wrong?”

I looked over at Druid’s workstation and saw a bunch of mismatched dough balls.

“I think it’s hard for me to make them all the same size with just one hand.”

Oh dear, that does make sense. “Okay, I’ll separate the dough chunks for you then.”

“Thanks.”

I broke off the pieces of dough and handed them to Druid. Once they were all separated and formed into balls, I rolled them out with a rolling pin.

“Hmm…it’s hard to get them into perfect circles.”

I’m just really bad at this. I feel like I could do a better job making them rounder…but I guess it’ll be okay when we fill them, right?

After working together silently for a while, we finally finished the last dough circle. It was a much nicer shape than the first ones.

“Ahh, I’m so tired.”

And we still have to fill them. This really does take forever. But we’ve come this far… We’re almost there! I put some filling in the center of one of the circles and pinched it shut. I had to be careful not to break the dough.

“It’s filled.”

It was filled…but it looked quite ugly. And that wasn’t all…

“Good job. What’s wrong?”

As I frowned at the gyoza I was holding, Druid gave me a curious look.

“It’s twice as big as the gyoza in my memory. I wonder why?”

It was bigger than the palm of my hand. It was supposed to be about the size of two bites…but there was no way anybody could finish that gyoza so easily.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s big; it’ll just be that much more satisfying to eat. So, what are we going to do with them?”

“Well…I guess we’ll cook them all today.”

“Think I can do it, too?” Druid picked up a frying pan.

“You’re supposed to sauté them for a bit, then add water, put a lid on, and steam-fry them.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.”

Since Druid was going to cook the gyoza, I started working on the salad and white rice.

“Let’s eat in our room today,” Druid suggested.

“Sounds good.”

Since cooking the new dish was kind of exhausting, I did want to take the time to savor everything in our room. Still, I’d had no idea gyoza were this exhausting to cook.

“Yeah, they’re nicely browned, so they should be okay. Okay, dinner is ready.”

Since we had already moved everything that wasn’t gyoza into our room, all we had to do was carry the cooked gyoza back with us.

“They smell wonderful. Boy, I’m hungry!” I said.

“Me, too. I’ll have to stop myself from eating some on the way back.”

We’d washed all the dishes aside from the frying pan while the gyoza were cooking. Now we’d only have to wash our dishes after we ate.

We returned to our room and examined the gyoza. The more I looked at them, the more I realized they weren’t twice as big as the gyoza in my memory…they were three times as big!

We sat down to eat. Truth be told, I had no idea how they would taste, but I did know I’d seasoned the filling well. The only problem was that the dough was too thick. I guess I failed. The dough-to-filling ratio is way off, and the wrappers should probably be half as thick.

“We’ll roll the wrappers thinner next time, and we’ll make the circles smaller, too,” I said.

“These actually taste pretty good the way they are, but yeah, they’d probably be even better with a thinner wrapping.”

I guess he likes the flavors okay, then.

We cleared our dishes, then took our baths and sat on our beds to relax for a while.

“Oh, I completely forgot!”

“Forgot what?”

“I had one other question for you, Mr. Druid.”

I’d been wanting to ask him for a while, but I kept forgetting since it wasn’t that important.

“What is it?”

“It’s Mr. Tabulo. And Mr. Tableau… Do you know why those names sound so similar?”

“Sure I do. They’re probably all named after that hero Tablow.”

A hero?

“This was quite a long time ago, but there was a time when the entire world was just crawling with monsters.”

Funny, when I was reading about the history of this world, I don’t recall the books mentioning a time when that happened.

“How long ago was this? When I studied up on this world’s history, the books didn’t mention anything like that.”

“I don’t know for sure, but it was before this country was even a country.”

That long ago! I guess that’s why it wasn’t in the country’s history books.

“When monsters covered the land, there was a hero who helped and guided humans and cleaned the monsters out of this world. That man’s name was Tablow, this world’s earliest hero.”

Wow, I never knew there was ever a hero like that.

“Some parents name their children after Tablow in hopes that they’ll be courageous and have a strong sense of justice. It’s not as popular as it used to be, but it’s still a quite common name.”

Aha. So that’s why there are so many names that sound like Tablow.

“I had no idea such an amazing person ever lived.”

Cleansing the entire world of monsters sure would be an incredible feat indeed.

“Oh, I’m sure the story was embellished a little since it happened so long ago.”

I could definitely see that, but at least part of it must have been true. Tableau… That was my father’s name. Did he ever have any of that ancient hero’s sense of justice?

“Are you okay?”

“Huh?!”

“You looked like you were zoning out.” Druid reached out and touched the area just between my eyebrows. I probably had a huge frown-wrinkle there.

“I’m fine.”

I didn’t mean to zone out. I mean, it’s all in the past now… Wait, I just realized something… It doesn’t hurt as much now when I remember the family who abandoned me. It used to make me so bitter, angry, and sad, too, so I tried not to remember. But when I look back on it now…even though it was a tragic thing to experience, it doesn’t hurt me anymore. Oh…maybe that’s why I was finally able to ask about the name, because remembering the name of my father who abandoned me doesn’t make me sad anymore. Oh…

“Now you look happy.”

“I am happy. Something wonderful just happened to me.”