The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 8 - Chapter 384

Chapter 384:

A Maintained Dump

WE LEFT THE MERCHANT GUILD and made our way to the plaza. You know, the dump in Hataka did seem kind of unattended. The trash was all piled up. Would that dump even count as “maintained”?

“Hey, Dad, the dump in Hataka doesn’t seem to be taken care of that well. Would we even call it a maintained dump?”

“Village and town-sanctioned dumps have magic items buried in the ground that decompose magic energy. As long as a dump has that, it counts as official, even if it’s not well maintained.”

Huh. I guess it’s still technically maintained, then.

“They decompose magic energy? But Sol eats magic energy, right?”

How does all that work? If the magic items decompose magic energy, there shouldn’t have been any left.

“The energy-decomposing magic items are buried in the ground so monsters can’t feed on the magic energy that couldn’t be removed from the trash. Magic energy used to be completely cleaned out, but that was long ago. Now, there’s too much trash to be cleaned by magic items alone, so I’m sure the stuff Sol eats is magic energy.”

“Oh.”

“And even though not all the magic energy is fully cleaned out, no monsters have ever gone berserk from a maintained dump as far as we know. In a way, that means those magic items are extraordinary.”

So I guess it’s managed, even though the magic energy can’t be entirely cleaned out.

“People say it’s also those magic items that keep monsters away from maintained dumps. Then again, there’s no telling if that’s true or not. But rumors like that were common in the past.”

If those rumors are true, then those items really are extraordinary.

“Having said that, if the trash keeps piling up like this, there’s no telling what will happen.”

“Can’t they make more of those magic items?” I asked. “That way, they could clean up the magic energy.”

“There’s a rumor going around that there was some kind of accident and the cave where monsters dropped those magic items collapsed. Right after that, there was a survey of all the caves in the area, but there’ve been no reports of anything new being found.”

So they can’t make more of those magic items? What a shame. I guess the problems we’re having with waste disposal affect a lot of other things, too.

“I hope we solve the waste disposal problem soon,” I said.

“I guess it’s an issue with the collective consciousness of the tamers.”

I’m a tamer… Is it really okay for me to be traveling, then?

“Aren’t you tired? You barely slept.” My dad’s hand rested on my head.

His gentle touch brought a smile to my face. “I’m fine. Talking made my headache go away a little.”

“Overwork is against the rules, all right?”

“Okay, I know.”

I looked around as we walked down Main Street. Since it was early in the morning, the shops were getting ready to open and most of the food stalls were still prepping for service.

“Life still goes on as usual, I guess,” I remarked.

The oddness in the forest worried everyone a little, but it hadn’t affected their daily lives. The situation was perhaps a little unique that way. The other villages and towns I’d visited were hypersensitive to any changes in the forest. I was really expecting the mood in Hataka to get tense with worry at any moment.

“You’re right. Now that I think about it, everyone here is quite relaxed,” my father agreed.

“Yeah.”

It’s actually a bit disturbing. Unless the village watch captain and adventurer guild master are just that capable? But they don’t get along, right?

“Are Hakata’s guild masters and captain of the watch really good at their jobs?”

“The guild masters and the captain of the watch? Hmm…I can’t say I’ve heard they are.”

I guess that means no other rumors will come from outside Hataka. But the relaxed mood of this village… Is it okay for me to just trust it’s because their leaders are doing a good job?

“Oh!”

“Déjà vu.”

My dad’s reaction made me laugh. Standing ahead of us, at the entrance to the plaza, was a trio of men who turned out to be Zephyr. Fische saw us and waved, which prompted the other two to look our way.

“Good morning. What brings you gentlemen here so early in the day?”

“When you said you were going to send Monz a faax, we couldn’t get it off our minds,” Garitt said, sounding a little embarrassed. He really did have a thing for my father’s mentor, didn’t he? I wondered if we should have mentioned Garitt in the fax.

“We just sent the faax, actually, so we should hear back in the next couple days. Unless something happens on his end, that is.”

“I see…” Garitt seemed a little disappointed by my father’s answer. Maybe he had hoped to be included in the errand? If so, I wished he’d said so the previous day.

“You’re such a fool, you should’ve asked them yesterday.” Fische gave Garitt’s shoulder a slap. Garitt swatted his hand away and glared at him. But that didn’t seem to have much of an effect on Fische, who just laughed while Zinal sighed in frustration at their banter. I wondered if they were always like that.

“You two are such great friends,” I said.

“Yes, we’re great friends.” 

“No, we are most certainly not friends.”

Fische and Garitt gave the exact opposite answers at the same time. They were entertaining to watch.

“It’s not that we have a bad relationship,” Zinal said, glancing at the two as they spiraled into an argument. “But it’s a problem that Fische loves to drive us crazy for fun.”

“You’re a real trouper,” my father said.

Zinal nodded firmly in reply. “You’re speaking from experience?”

“Yeah. My mentor always drove me crazy, so I know the feeling well.”

Zinal cast him a sympathetic glance. “You can never take your eyes off him, because you never know what crazy thing he’ll do next.”

My father nodded. “Exactly. Just when you think he’s behaving himself, he’ll suddenly do something off the wall.”

“Yes, yes. And by the time you realize it, you’re already in too deep yourself, and then he’ll run away, leaving you to clean up the mess he put you in.”

It sounded like Zinal was having quite a hard time, too, especially with his two Zephyr comrades.

“In my case, he causes problems with the intention of shoving everything on me all along.”

The two heaved heavy sighs. In a way, I was glad they’d found common ground. Up until quite recently, there had been sparks flying between the two. I guess we had my father’s mentor, Garitt, and Fische to thank?

“Um, did you gentlemen come here for anything besides the fax?” I asked.

Zinal nodded yes. Then a solemn look filled his eyes as he faced us directly. “I needed to ask you a question, Mr. Druid…and I have to pick your and Miss Ivy’s brains about something, too.”

What could it be? He looks much more serious about this than anything before.

“All right. Can we talk in the plaza?”

“If possible, I’d like you to come to the inn where we’re staying.”

When Zinal said that, Fische and Garitt quietly looked over at us. My father stole a glance back at them.

“Ivy…that okay with you?” My father looked at me. He was probably worried about my sleep-deprived headache.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

He nodded and turned back to Zinal. “All right. Did you want us to come over right now?”

“Yes, if you can.” Zinal looked faintly relieved by my father’s answer.

I’m nervous about what they’re going to ask us. Oh, Zephyr’s members don’t live in Hataka. Could my father and I ask them about the stuff we were just talking about? Since they’re from different places and have different points of view, maybe we can get some different answers out of them.