The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 8 - Chapter 374

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Chapter 374:

No Answers

THE MEAT AND SALAD disappeared from their plates in a matter of minutes, and the soup was gone before I knew it. I hadn’t even noticed anyone helping themselves to seconds.

“Here you go.”

My father made us some tea and set out the pastries Zinal brought on a plate. When he carried them over to the table, Garitt was all smiles.

“Thanks, Mr. Zinal.”

“You’re welcome.”

I took a bite of feena, and its soft flavor filled my mouth. It was a delicate, delicious taste, and not too sweet. It was so calming.

“That look on your face made buying those sweets worth it.”

Wh-what kind of look am I making? I got a little self-conscious and averted my eyes.

“Mmm, these are just so good!” Garitt reached for a second feena, but Zinal slapped his hand.

“Take it easy, you.”

“C’mon, you didn’t have to hit me.” Garitt rubbed his hand and glared at Zinal, who ignored him and happily ate his feena. Seeing he was no match for Zinal, Garitt reached for the tea instead.

“Go ahead, sir.” There were still some feena on the plate, so I offered Garitt one, but Zinal shook his head.

“No, I bought those for you, Miss Ivy. Garitt can buy his own.”

Even though his expression was easygoing, Zinal had an inexplicably scary aura about him. He must have had a mean streak.

“I’ll just get things ready,” my father said.

Garitt gave him a curious look. My father walked into the tent, then came out carrying the magic item that muted your conversations to outsiders. The trio looked a bit startled at the sight of it.

Huh? Weren’t they going to tell us something sensitive?

“Don’t you need it?” my father asked.

Zinal shook his head. “Actually, it would be a big help. This information isn’t public yet.”

My father activated the item and set it in the center of the table. The table we were using didn’t have any functions that would aid in secret conversations. Our sound-canceling table that we normally used was being repaired at the moment, so we had to use this item instead, which was a little inconvenient.

“Quite right. Okay, I’ve activated the item, so you’re good to talk now.”

“All right. Well, let me cut to the chase: The survey team cut their investigation short.”

“What?!”

They cut it short? The village buzz seemed to be that the investigation was complete, but some problems came up… I guess that wasn’t quite right, then. But why did they stop their investigation? Was it because everyone on the team was bad at the job? No, probably not. They were all elite adventurers.

“Why would they do that?”

“Well, they were able to go pretty far into the forest.”

“Yes…”

“And once they were there, they looked for monster tracks or any other traces of the problem, but they couldn’t find evidence of either.”

Neither one? Does that mean they didn’t find any illegal dumps? Then that would mean the monsters causing these problems aren’t mutations…

“If they couldn’t find evidence of either thing, then I guess we’d have to say their investigation was inconclusive.”

“Yeah… Well, they had to cut it short when they were attacked in the middle of their survey and people got hurt,” Zinal said.

My father nodded in understanding.

In other words, the survey isn’t finished yet?

“So they have to keep going with the survey, but they’ll need some bodyguards with them for protection,” my father said.

Zinal shook his head. “That won’t work. These are monsters only top-level adventurers can sense. The bodyguards would need to be high-level adventurers, and we don’t have the numbers. Even if we call in the adventurers on the road, we still won’t have enough.”

It did sound like they didn’t have enough people to investigate and fight the monsters. High-level adventures were few and far between, after all.

“They might have to recruit mid-level adventurers who are almost ready for promotion and fill the ranks with high-level adventurers they find along the way,” Fische said. Zinal nodded in agreement.

So we had unidentified monsters…and we weren’t completely sure there were no illegal dumps around, but none had been found so far. That would mean it was a monster that had been there all along, but the residents of Hataka Village didn’t know about it. Could it be a monster that traveled to Hataka Village for some reason, then?

“Um, excuse me…” When I spoke up, my father’s eyes darted over to me. “Do monsters ever change where they live?”

I’d learned that monsters rarely left the environments they were used to, but what if there was an exception? Such an exception might be the monster we were looking for. Maybe it was a creature from the deepest reaches of the forest.

“I haven’t really heard of monsters moving… They have their territories, you know.”

Right. I wonder if monsters have territorial disputes?

“Have you noticed any changes in the monsters around the village?”

Garitt glanced at Fische.

“They looked into it but couldn’t find any issues. There’ve been no reports of monster populations dropping dramatically, and no word of monsters getting riled up over intruders in their territory.”

Wow, they’ve checked everything out.

“So it’s hard to imagine that they migrated from other territories.”

“Yeah…”

Then I guess it has to be a sudden mutation brought on by magic? But nobody found any illegal dumps around here. I wonder where they were looking? All the illegal dumps I’ve found so far have been in caves or other places monsters like to show up. They were in fairly easy-to-find places, but what if they were in hard-to-find ones this time?

“Do you think there might be illegal dumps in places that are hard to find?” I asked.

“Hard to find? Well, if there were dumps like that, I don’t think they’d be very large.”

Of course they wouldn’t. If they were hard to find, adventurers wouldn’t use them. And if they weren’t used, they’d stay small. I guess they wouldn’t gather enough magic energy to make monsters mutate, then.

Fische sighed. “It’s gonna be more meetings tomorrow, huh? I want my vacation back!”

Garitt nodded in agreement. “There’s no time for rest now. Besides, our troublesome monsters might have multiplied, too.”

The monsters multiplied?

“What do you mean?” my father asked.

Garitt frowned hard. “When the survey team went into the forest, they immediately sensed something nearby. The number of monsters they sensed had nearly doubled by the time they came back from the forest. Depending on which adventurer you asked, the number was different. Then again, since it’s all a matter of senses anyway, you can’t say for certain.”

But this was something high-level adventurers had sensed, so this information shouldn’t be dismissed. And monsters multiplying was a bad thing. If there were more of them, it was highly likely they would attack the village. Now I see, this village is in danger.

The reality stirred a little fear in my soul. My father suddenly took my hand and squeezed it. I looked at him, and he gave me a reassuring nod.

“There’s one more thing: These monsters are a little more intelligent than usual.”

They’re more intelligent? I wonder how they know that.

“What makes them think that?”

“Because the monsters attacked the adventurers’ weak spots many times. They probably scouted them out and followed them around to learn more about them.”

Wow, so they tracked and studied their weaknesses…

“This is a real mess,” my father muttered bluntly beside me. That’s just how sticky the situation was.

Wait a minute, just how much magic energy would induce a sudden mutation anyway? The amount of magic energy needed to enhance a monster’s pre-existing powers and make it go berserk is high enough already, isn’t it?

“Um, what amount of magic energy is needed to cause a sudden mutation?” I asked.

“Hm? Amount has nothing to do with it,” Zinal said.

I gave him a questioning look. Amount has nothing to do with it?

“It’s well known that you need a great amount of magic energy to turn a monster berserk. But a sudden mutation doesn’t need that much magic energy. All you need is the energy left behind in magic items.”

The energy left behind in magic items… Wait a minute, if they don’t need that much magic energy, then wouldn’t smaller dumps be more than enough?

“The guild master and captain of the watch are going to ask the neighboring village for help.”

“But that won’t be easy.”

“I know.”

Why? Won’t they be able to help?

“Okay, we have an early start tomorrow, so we’d better head back.”

Oh no. They’re leaving.

“Yes, we don’t want to outstay our welcome.” Garitt rose from his seat and stretched his arms.

“You’re welcome anytime. And thanks for the information.”

All three of them said it was their pleasure. Then Zinal deactivated the magic item and gave it a long, critical stare.

“Something wrong, sir?”

“No, no, I’m just impressed that your item is in such good shape.”