The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 7 - Chapter SS1

BONUS:

The Little Girl, Pretty in Pink

“Hey!” a girl cried, waving at me.

I tilted my head in curiosity. Where have I seen her before…? Oh! Right, she’s the girl I gave pink dye to during the festival.

“Hi again! Look at me! Look at meee!” She ran over to me, did a twirl, and flashed a smile.

Let’s see, what am I looking for… Oh! Those pink clothes she’s wearing…

“Are those your festival clothes?” I asked her.

“They are! I had my mom make them extra pretty for me.”

Her clothes had indeed changed their look quite a bit. They were still a vibrant pink from the dye I gave her, but they now had dainty flower patterns embroidered on the collar and sleeves as well.

“They’re very pretty, and you look wonderful in them.”

She squealed and jumped for joy. What an incredibly cute little girl.

“Where’s your mother, little one?” Druid asked her.

“Oh, um, she’s behind…me…” The girl turned around and made a face.

“Are you lost?”

“Oh no.”

The girl, noticing her mother was gone, looked up at us anxiously.

“Don’t worry. We’ll help you find your mother,” Druid said, crouching down to her height and nodding with a smile.

“Yeah, Mom’s probably scared because she’s lost. Let’s go find her!”

Uh, her mom’s the one who’s lost?

“Er… Oh, okay. Yes, your mother must be very scared, so let’s go find her.” Druid faltered a little from what the girl said, but he quickly smiled again and tousled her hair.

“Okay.”

“By the way, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. I’m Druid.”

“And I’m Ivy. Nice to meet you.”

The girl looked back and forth between us, repeating our names under her breath and nodding. “I’m Mimi. I’m four!”

So she’s four. And she showed us on her fingers… Gosh, she’s so cute.

“Look at you, introducing yourself like a pro,” Druid praised her. “Okay, let’s go find your mom! Do you remember what she’s wearing?”

“Huh?” Mimi gave him a strange look.

“Do you know what color her clothes are today?” Druid was completely unfazed by the little girl’s reactions. I hadn’t known he was so good with kids.

“Well…she was wearing colors just like me.”

I looked at Mimi’s clothes. They were such a vibrant, bold pink that it was hard to believe they were colored with leftover dye. So her mother was wearing clothes the same shade of pink? That was difficult to imagine; the last time I saw her mother, she’d been dressed in subdued colors. Maybe she was just wearing pink tones rather than the same shade.

“Okay. And what does her hair look like?”

“Umm…it’s all tight like this,” Mimi demonstrated by pulling her hair behind her in her fist. She probably meant her mother was sporting a ponytail in the back.

“Okay. Thanks, Mimi. You described her really well,” Druid said. Mimi smiled proudly in reply. “All right, let’s go find your mom.”

But where were we going to look?

“Mr. Druid, where should we start?”

“Let’s go tell someone at the village watch station first. Mimi’s mother might’ve already been there to report Mimi is missing.”

Ah, right, the station. Going by Main Street would probably be the shortest route, but there’s a lot of people.

“Is Main Street okay?” I asked Druid. Since Mimi was so small, I thought a less crowded street might be better for her.

“Yeah, let’s do that. If Mimi’s mother already went to the station, a watchman might see Mimi and flag us down.”

“Okay. Um, Mimi?”

“What’s up, Auntie Ivy?”

Hearing her call me “Auntie Ivy” gave me a funny feeling, but it was flattering. “We’re gonna walk through a crowded street… Wanna hold hands? Is that okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Mimi and I held hands and walked next to Druid. Since I was keeping pace with her, we went much slower than usual.

“Ooh, Auntie Ivy, look at the pretty flowers!”

“Yes, Mimi, that’s nice. Let’s find your mom first, okay?”

“Oooh, they’re so pretty! Oh, look! More flowers!”

The easily distracted Mimi was pointing and giggling here, there, and everywhere. This was risky behavior. If we let our guards down for a second, she might run off somewhere.

“I think I know how she got lost,” Druid murmured.

I nodded, trying not to laugh. No mistaking it, Mimi must have chased after something that caught her eye and gotten lost. 

“Mimi, please don’t let go of my hand!”

That was a close call. She almost slipped away from me.

“I’m sorry, Auntie Ivy.”

She did seem genuinely remorseful, but her curiosity was overpowering. I felt sorry for her poor mother.

“Mimi, I just know your mom is very worried about you.”

“Oh no!”

Uh…did she forget about her mother?

“Hee hee!”

Wow… Did she actually forget?

“How about we go looking for pretty things after we find your mom? I’m sure she wants to look at pretty things just as much as you do, Mimi.”

“Okay…yeah. If I get to see all the pretty things all by myself, Mom’ll get jealous.”

“Yes! That’s right, Mimi. And you don’t want her to feel like that, so let’s find her, okay?”

“Okay.”

Mimi’s brain worked in a funny way.

“Hey, Auntie Ivy?”

“What’s up?”

“Your dad… He’s really strong.”

My dad? Mimi was looking at Druid.

“Hee hee! I know, he is strong, isn’t he?”

We weren’t related by blood, but he was like a father to me now, so it made me happy to hear somebody else call him strong.

“I’ve got a strong dad, too, you know,” Mimi said.

“Oh, that’s nice.”

“Yeah. All his friends are strong, too. They wear matching clothes, and they protect the village.”

Huh? They protect the village? Could it be…that Mimi’s father is a village watchman or a guild employee?

“Mimi, what kind of clothes does your dad wear when he goes to work?” Druid asked.

Mimi’s eyes darted back and forth for a moment, then she said, “Like that.”

So Mimi’s father worked with the village watch. That meant we would certainly find her father, if not her mother, at the station. And if he wasn’t there, somebody would at least know who Mimi was.

“Your father is a village watchman, isn’t he? Well, we’re going where he works right now.”

“I love Dad’s work! Everybody loves it when I play with them.”

Did she mean she loved it when the village watchmen played with her?

“Hey! Is that you, Mimi?”

I turned toward the nearby voice and saw three village watchmen looking at Mimi in surprise.

“What the hell are you doing to this poor girl…”

“Wait!”

Uh-oh. They got the wrong idea about Druid.

“My apologies. What is Mimi doing with you?”

“She spotted Ivy and called out to her,” Druid explained.

The watchmen’s gaze shifted over to me, and they nodded.

“She was with her mother during the festival, but we were worried when we saw Mimi by herself today, so we asked her where her mother was. She said her mother was lost, so we were going to the village watch station to tell you.”

The watchmen smiled sheepishly at Druid’s story.

“I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions earlier…” The watchman who mistook Druid for a kidnapper lowered his head apologetically.

“You saw a girl you know with a man you’ve never seen before; it was natural to worry,” Druid said, nodding his head in understanding. The watchman sighed in relief. “Anyway, it sounds like Mimi’s father is a village watchman. Will we find him at the station?”

“Yes, her parents are both there right now.”

So her mother did go to the station.

“Ooh, look, Auntie Ivy! Over there!”

Mimi’s hand almost slipped out of mine, so I squeezed it tight. “Yes, that’s very pretty. But, Mimi, I said not to let go of my hand.”

“Okay.”

One of the watchmen who overheard our little conversation heaved a sigh. “Mimi, what do we always tell you about your mom’s hand?”

“Don’t let go!”

“And if somebody talks to you when you’re by yourself?”

“Be careful! But Auntie Ivy didn’t talk to me…I talked to her! So it’s okay.”

The watchman sighed again at Mimi’s chipper reply. “That’s not quite what we meant…”

Ha ha ha ha! Good luck, guys.

“Mimi!”

Aha, that’s Mimi’s mother! And I think that guy behind her is her father?

“Ooh, it’s Mom! Dad’s there, too!”

We arrived at the village watch station just as Mimi’s mother was coming out of it. When she spotted Mimi, she frantically ran over to her. Her eyes were a little red, and I could tell she’d been worried sick. 

“Silly Mom, don’t get lost.”

Mimi’s mother tried not to laugh as she squeezed her tight.

“I don’t envy them…” Druid said.

I giggled under my breath. Mimi was curious and a chatterbox. I thought it must be pretty challenging for her mother and father to raise her. Uh-oh, her dad’s yelling at her now! Wait, is she standing her ground?

“Mimi really is quite a girl,” Druid said.

“She sure is.”

Oh dear…now her father really is mad at her. Hee hee! Well, that chance encounter really made this a colorful day. It was a nice change…just for today, though.