The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 8 - Chapter 368

Chapter 368:

Soothing Our Weary Bones

JUST AS MY FATHER PREDICTED, our neighbors were a family with two children and a trio of women. At first, the three women cast doubtful glances at my father, but they seemed reassured by the sight of me. I guess when everyone in your group is a woman, you have to be vigilant in a lot of ways.

“Ivy, you’ve gotten even better at cooking your stews, haven’t you?” 

“Mr. Chikar gave me some good tips.”

“Well, I’m impressed.”

My father’s praise brought a smile to my lips. Dinner tasted so much better when you shared it with someone who said it was delicious.

“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” I asked.

“We’ll sit back and see what this town is like. I’m still worried about that strange feeling in the forest, though.”

“Yeah, me too. Think we can go to the dump?”

“Of course.”

That was a relief. I wanted to restock Sora’s and Flame’s potions, and I was even more eager to make sure Sol had magic energy to eat. There weren’t any illegal dumps outside this village, so we hadn’t been able to get any food for Sol. This was technically a good thing, but we were surprised by the lack of illegal dumps; we’d assumed there would be some. So I absolutely wanted to go to the dump the next day to let Sol eat its fill since that would be its fifth day without food. As far as I could tell, it didn’t look any weaker, so I was glad we weren’t too late.

“Let’s go to the dump tomorrow morning, then spend the afternoon exploring around town. They said something about forming a survey team, so maybe we should hold off on hunting in the forest until they report back.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, and let’s also go to the merchant guild tomorrow to sell the stuff we foraged in the forest. Then we’ll need to get some faax papers after that.”

“That’s right, when’s the last time we sent a fax? Twenty days ago?” 

“Yeah, they’re probably starting to worry about us.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, because he was right. They’d definitely be worried. “True. We’ll have to drop them a line and say we’re having a fun trip.”

It’s been a little while since our last message in Hatahi Village. Oh, they said some mid-level monsters were discovered nearby and they might put together a party to get rid of them. I wonder how that turned out? I’ll have to ask them if everyone’s okay.

“Guess our schedule for tomorrow is pretty full now,” my father said.

“Yeah.”

We cleared the table and went to the nearby bathhouse. Now that I had discovered how good a proper inn bath felt, I just had to take one after supper. My father had assured me, “It can’t be helped—once you get a taste of it, you just can’t get enough of that good feeling.”

“That must be it.” He pointed at a sign over the building that said Ahhh. “What a funny name.”

I nodded. “I think that’s supposed to be the sound you make when you get in a bath.”

“Aha, that makes sense.”

We stepped into the bathhouse and parted ways. Since my father was always faster than I was, I decided to take a shorter bath so he wouldn’t get cold waiting for me. But despite my best intentions, I wound up staying much longer. It had been too long, and the bath just felt so good.

“I’m sorry, Dad.” When I got out of my bath, I found my father seated in front of the bathhouse, waiting for me. He told me it was okay, but I wondered if he should’ve gone back without me. “Are you cold?”

“I’m okay, I just got out a couple minutes ago. I stayed in the tub longer than usual because it’s been so long.”

“Oh, really? Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

I decided everything was okay, then.

“Okay, we should head back and go to bed. Tomorrow’s a busy day.”

“Yeah. I can’t wait to finally have a long, deep sleep.”

“Well, we did have to cut our sleep time short the past few days.”

“Uh-huh, I know we have a lot do tomorrow, so let’s make sure we get plenty of sleep, okay?”

We chatted as we strolled back to the plaza. I was delighted that the bathhouse was only a minute’s walk away from camp. Back at the tent, we drank some hot tea, then got into our beds. The proper bedding felt so good after all those days without it. I glanced at my feet and saw that my creatures were all fast asleep.

With a yawn, I said, “G’night, Dad.”

“Good night. Sweet dreams.”

“Hm? Mmm… Boy, did I sleep.”

I stretched my arms and legs under the covers. It felt so good. All my fatigue from the journey was gone, and for the first time in a long while, I woke fully rested. I looked around the tent. Everything seemed normal and my dad was still asleep. Feeling a rustling at my feet, I glanced down to see that Sora was up and doing its vertical stretches. I stared at the slime, feeling like it had been some time since I’d seen those exercises. And after a while, our gazes suddenly met. Sora froze for an instant…then it jiggled and jumped right at me.

“Good morning, Sora.”

Sora jiggled hello in reply.

“You’re so cute.”

“Puuu?” Sora’s face tilted to the side.

God, you’re adorable.

As Sora and I had a little morning playtime in bed, I heard a faint moan beside me.

“Dad?”

“Mm…yeah?”

“Ha ha! Good morning, Dad.”

“Ohh… G’morning. Wow, I haven’t slept that deep in ages.”

I looked over and saw that my dad’s eyes were bright, all traces of fatigue gone. He was sitting up and stretching toward the ceiling. He had spent the last few days anxious over the strange feeling in the forest, so it was a relief to know he’d slept well and wasn’t tired anymore.

“I’ll go make us some breakfast, okay?”

“I’ll help.”

“No need, I’m just heating up some soup.”

I just had to add some vegetables to the leftover soup and breakfast would be done. Though the weather had gotten warmer, mornings were still chilly, so a hot soup was just the thing.

We dipped black bread into our soup and ate it. Mmm, it’s so good.

When we were almost finished with breakfast, I took out one of our foraged fruits and peeled it.

“You really do like abbles, don’t you, Ivy?”

“Well, they’re delicious! I just love how crisp, sweet, and juicy they are!”

They were crisp when you bit into them, and then your mouth would fill with an intense, sweet juice right away. But they had a refreshing aftertaste. They were just the best! Also, most fruit in the forest was completely ripe, and my father said that made it tastier than the stuff you could buy in towns and villages. It was just such a good feeling eating yummy fruit at its most delicious. After a thoroughly enjoyable after-breakfast fruit fest, we cleared the dishes and went back into our tent.

“Okay, kids! Let’s go to the dump.”

All four creatures happily wiggled in reply. I put the fruits, nuts, and magic stones we were going to sell at the merchant guild into my magic bag.

“Since abbles are premium fruit, let’s only sell half of them,” my father said.

They’re premium? Yeah, I did hear him say that when we were picking them… I was so excited by how good they tasted that I totally forgot.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I quickly shook my head.

My father smiled at my behavior. “Let me guess, you forgot abbles were premium.”

How does he always see right through me?

“Well, they were good. I did hear you say they were premium…but I forgot.”

“Ha ha ha ha! Well, it’s okay, no harm done. We can probably get a great price for them.”

“Okay… I think I’ll take out some more.”

I took some abbles out of the magic bag and put them in a different one. I checked with my father before I put more tree nuts in. When he saw what type they were, he said it should be okay, but since he wasn’t familiar with either kind of tree nut, he suggested we only sell half. Then I put the creatures in my bag, and we walked out of our tent.

“All right, first stop: the merchant guild.”

“Okay. Oh, good morning, ma’am!”

Just as we were about to leave the plaza, we bumped into Puffy, who was checking permits at the entrance.

“Good morning. Going out?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

“Scout Puffy,” my father greeted her.

For some reason, she stood straight and tall. That confused me a little.

“Do you have any confidential information you can give us?”

“Confidential information? No, sir. None at all.”

“All right… Thanks.”

“No problem. Have a nice day.”

I understood my father was asking about the weirdness in the forest. I guess he’s still pretty worried about it, probably because I didn’t sense it. I’m a little worried about this, too…