The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 7 - Chapter 363

Chapter 363:

An Inn of Excellence

“All right, does tomorrow afternoon at the front gate work for everyone?”

Since it was already getting a bit late, we decided Gol would meet my slimes the next day. He was about to go with Ashley to see the captain of the watch since Boug was already waiting there.

“That works for me. I’m looking forward to it,” Gol said.

“I’m also excited, sir!”

“Good for you, Ivy.”

From the way my father and I were acting, it must have been clear to Gol that we truly meant it. Gol smiled and said, “My kids are gonna be so happy.” We sent him and Ashley off to the village watch station, then started to walk back.

“Want to go back to the inn?”

“Sure.”

We started walking down the darkening path back to the inn. Huh…I feel like we’re forgetting something. What is it? Oh well, whatever.

“We’re back, Mr. Chikar.”

“Welcome back, you two.”

Chikar’s voice was coming from a different direction than usual. I looked toward it…to find him frantically at work in the kitchen.

“Here! Take this.” An overly excited Chikar thrust something at us. It was a metal object a bit larger than my fist…but what was it? I gave him a confused look. “The inns in Hatahi are evaluated and given a rank. This symbol means that we’ve been ranked as an Inn of Excellence! I asked around and found out that the nobleman who came to visit the two of you put in a word that this was a good inn. Ahhh, I truly cannot thank you enough.”

“Wow, that’s wonderful, sir. Congratulations.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten the Inn of Excellence award. It was always one step out of reach, and now I have you both to thank. Again, I’m so grateful!” Chikar jabbered excitedly.

“Oh, but we didn’t do anything, sir. Your hard work paid off,” my dad insisted.

But Chikar just shook his head. “No, if you hadn’t stayed at this inn, the Lord of Otolwa would never have set foot in here. You two gave me my lucky break, and I am forever grateful.”

Apparently, Chikar had made up his mind and wouldn’t be swayed. My father smiled sheepishly and said, “You’re welcome.”

“Oh, and dinner’s on me tonight! Come eat in the dining hall if you’d like.”

We decided to take Chikar up on his offer. We returned to our room and got our bath things ready while we set out Flame’s and Sora’s potions. Once we made sure that the creatures were eating, we went to take our baths.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“All right.”

I was just about to follow my dad out of our room when he stopped at our door.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your clothes…we forgot about them.”

Oh, that’s right! We were on our way to buy clothes.

“Hee hee hee! Well, things did get a bit hectic today.”

“They sure did. Too many surprises. If we have time tomorrow after we see Gol, let’s go buy those clothes.”

“Okay!”

We then parted ways to take our baths. Now that the festival was over, only two parties other than us were staying at the inn, which meant we could take our time in the bath. When the place was crowded with guests earlier, I hadn’t been able to stay in the tub long. After a nice long bath, I returned to our room to find that my creatures had already fallen asleep. I thought Sol was staring out the window again, but it was sleeping on the sill. I gently picked it up and set it down where Sora and the others were fast asleep. 

Our dinner was lavish and a lot of fun to eat. Chikar was no bread baker, but his cooking was very good otherwise.

“Gee, I sure can’t wait until tomorrow!” As I got in bed, I started to wonder what would happen the next day. What would Gol’s slimes be like?

“You want to know about Gol’s slimes?”

“Yeah, do you think they’ll play with me a little?”

My father looked a bit confused by that question.

“I know, I know, monsters only open their hearts to their tamers, right?”

“Right…”

I knew that, of course, but I couldn’t help but get my hopes up a little. As I lay there, thinking about tomorrow, I noticed Flame waking up out of the corner of my eye. “Oh!”

Flame sat up with a start, jiggled a little, and then flopped back down to sleep. All the creatures except Ciel did that occasionally, so I always thought it was a unique slime thing. However, to this day, I had no idea why they did that. I tried asking them whenever they were awake, but they never remembered doing it.

“Huhhh, maybe they won’t play with meee… Wait a minute.”

My dad said it so matter-of-factly that I didn’t notice at first…but what he said was strange, right? Yeah, if monsters only opened their hearts to their tamers, then why…?

“Dad?”

“What is it?”

I could sense he was looking at me, but my focus stayed on my slimes. “I tamed Sora and Flame…but they’ve opened their hearts to you, too, you know.”

They came to him for affection, and they even played pranks on him. That means they’ve opened their hearts to him, right?

“When you put it that way…I guess you’re right. It’s just that they’ve always been that way with me, so I never thought anything was odd about it. Wait a minute… Maybe the idea that they only open their hearts to their tamers is a lie.”

Common knowledge said that monsters were only friendly with their tamers. 

“Come to think of it, Sora liked Rattloore and Sifar as well.”

Maybe it was because Sora and Flame were special? Or was that just another thing that made them rare? But maybe…just maybe there was a chance I could play with Gol’s slimes, too.

“Now I’m even more excited about tomorrow!”

“If you’re too worked up, you won’t be able to sleep.”

I smiled sheepishly at my dad. My exhaustion had indeed disappeared. I might not be able to fall asleep.

We were going to meet up at the front gate of Hatahi Village. We got there a little early, but Gol was already there waiting for us. I was a little sleep-deprived because I’d just been too excited to sleep.

“Good afternoon. Sorry we made you wait,” my dad called out to him.

Gol shook his head in understanding. He seemed even more excited than he’d been the day before. He seemed antsy, even.

“Well, shall we head out?”

We were going to head into the forest and introduce our slimes to each other. But just as my mind raced through our plans, Gol told us to wait.

“Ashley’s coming, too. Also, read this and sign your names.”

Gol handed us a document which my dad seemed surprised to see. When I gave him a questioning glance, he let me have a look. Ack, our collection got bigger! It was a contract stating that nobody would tell a third party what we saw or heard that day. Gol had already signed it.

“Are you sure about this, sir?”

“Our conversation yesterday made me think there might be more than meets the eye to your slimes, so I drew up this contract.”

Our conversation? Did I say anything out of the ordinary?

“But it’s a little extreme…”

I trusted Gol, so I’d thought everyone would be okay.

“Ivy, I don’t know what it is you’ve tamed, but if it’s something rare, you must always be on guard. Besides, you’ve only just met me. It’s too soon to trust me; you need to suspect people more. Also, now that people know we’re having waste disposal issues, kids who’ve tamed slimes are being kidnapped. You need to be extra careful.”

Just how many people have demanded I not trust them at this point? I mean, it’s hard not to trust somebody who’s so clearly concerned for my well-being.

“I’d heard the rumor about the kidnappings… So it’s true?” my dad asked.

Gol nodded. “It’s been happening in the capital and the neighboring towns. I haven’t heard any news about the kidnappers being caught yet, so you and Ivy need to be careful.”

“We sure do… Ivy might become a target.”

Gol and my father stared at me, which made me feel uncomfortable. Was I really that easy a target? Well, I’d been targeted once before, so I couldn’t say I was entirely safe.

“Well, she ought to be okay, Mr. Druid, seeing as she has you.”

Having a dad was definitely reassuring, and I had Ciel and Sora to protect me in the wild. All that was left was to be mindful of my own actions as well—that was the hard part.

“Ivy, let’s sign it.” My dad handed me the papers. I signed them both and gave one to my dad, the other to Gol.

“There! Now I can see the monsters you’ve tamed to my heart’s content. Ooh, there he is!”

I followed Gol’s gaze to see Ashley running toward us.

“Sorry I’m late!” He was still wearing his uniform, so he had probably come straight from work.

“Didn’t you say you had the day off?”

“I did, but I got called in suddenly.”

Ashley’s reply made me worry a little. “Are you all right? You’re not too tired, I hope?” At a closer look, Ashley did seem a little worn out.

“I’m all right. I needed to talk to the captain about that thing I brought up.”

“By the way, how did that go?” Gol asked as he set off toward the forest. Ashley scrambled to keep up. My father and I kept a leisurely pace behind them. It was going to be quite a lively day.