The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 8 - Chapter 386

Chapter 386:

Too Many Problems!

“SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK of that rumor?” Garitt asked my father.

My father sighed quietly. “The ‘dead body’ was probably just trash. Put a sheet over anything and people will perceive it how they want. Maybe they deliberately made it look like a dead body. As for the trash, it was probably thrown away somewhere other than the village dump, and so the trash levels have stayed the same. That’s what clued the tamers in on something being amiss.”

When my father gave his answer, Zinal smiled and Fische seemed disappointed. I recognize those looks… “Did you gentlemen make a bet?”

The men of Zephyr smiled awkwardly and let their eyes wander. I’d thought their faces looked like the adventurers I’d seen placing bets in the plaza, and I was right.

“Agh, you’re the worst!”

“Seriously, the worst,” I echoed my father.

“Sorry, they’re always like this.”

I giggled uncontrollably because I could tell he was right. Wow, these men are really good at getting people to let their guards down. In a way, that makes them even more menacing.

“Anyway! What do you all think, Zinal?”

“We had the same opinion,” Zinal answered my father. I guess it was a logical conclusion.

“Excuse me, sir, but there’s something I’ve been wanting to know.” I looked Zinal right in the eye and asked, “The guild master and head watchman of Hataka…what are they like?”

Hataka was facing a crisis, yet the two heads of the village were rumored to be bickering. I wanted to know if there was some reason behind it or if they just didn’t get along.

“Ah, that…” Zinal frowned sternly and shook his head. I gave him a questioning look. “Two years ago, Hataka got a new guild master.”

“And, how should I put it…?” Garitt stuttered just as badly as Zinal.

My father gave the three men a strange look.

“He’s an acquaintance of mine. I’ve known him for a very long time,” Fische said.

Aha. So Fische knows him.

“He was very skilled and principled. He had the level of commitment a good guild master needs.”

Is it just me…or does Fische sound incredibly bitter?

“But when I saw him again after two years away, he’d turned into the worst guy you could imagine. He doesn’t care at all about the problems Hataka is facing.”

It looked like Fische was holding back some emotions behind his eyes. Zinal and Garitt both seemed a bit defeated.

“He doesn’t care?”

Is it just me…or does something feel a little off here?

“But if the monsters keep going berserk, at this rate…” my father said. Zinal nodded.

That’s right. If we don’t do anything, the monsters will certainly attack Hataka. That might put the whole village’s continued existence in jeopardy.

“I’m sure he knows about the trash, too, but he’s not doing anything about it.” Garitt rolled his empty cup around on the table.

“I want to get the guild master’s privileges taken away, but we can’t do that unless we go to the guild headquarters in the capital,” Zinal said. Fische sighed quietly in reply.

“The guild headquarters?”

“Haven’t you heard of it, Ivy?”

“No, sir.”

“They make the rules for the adventurer and merchant guilds. If you tell them that a guild master is causing trouble, they’ll investigate them. Then, if the headquarters concludes that they’re a problem, they can strip them of their title. But since Hataka is on lockdown, nobody can go to the capital to make the report.”

“Can’t they just send a fax?”

“We used to do that, but somebody exploited the system once, so now face-to-face reports are required.”

I guess every era has its own share of people doing foolish things.

“Oh dear, that’s too bad,” I said.

“And what about the captain of the watch?” my father asked.

The gentlemen of Zephyr shrugged their shoulders.

“He’s been sick, so we haven’t been able to see him.”

“Sick? Then what about the second-in-command?”

“He’s…not here,” Zinal said indecisively.

“Not here?” My father got a look on his face that was hard to place, and I didn’t blame him. The vice-captain was supposed to be available to act in case something happened, but she wasn’t there?

“He disappeared somewhere.”

Ah, so he went away. First the guild master started acting strange, then the captain of the watch got sick, and now his second-in-command is MIA? I have a really bad feeling about all of this. What do they say? Oh yeah, it’s like a web of intrigue. Or somebody’s pulling the strings behind the curtain? Stop it, Ivy, you read too many detective novels. Huh? But I don’t read novels. Come to think of it, I haven’t read a single one, have I?

“Does Zephyr investigate people other than elite-level adventurers?” my father asked, zapping me out of my thought spiral. What was he getting at?

“You’ve got good instincts,” Zinal said. “Once he found out we were going to Hataka anyway to celebrate my son’s promotion, he pushed the investigation on us… That rotten old fart,” he added grumpily.

I see, so Zephyr investigates entire villages, too.

“Oh, I think it’s a good thing. If somebody didn’t step in, your son might have fallen victim as well. But as long as we’re here, everything should work out okay.”

He’s right. If nobody steps up, it’s highly likely monsters will attack this village. And since Zinal’s son just became an elite adventurer, he would almost certainly be on the front lines.

“Too bad we’re not making any breakthroughs.” Zinal’s expression turned stern. It was clear from the look in his eyes that Hataka was in grave danger. I realized this might be even more serious than we’d thought.

“Now I see. So that’s why you wanted some outside opinions,” my father said.

“That’s right. We came up with a lot of theories, but they all hit dead ends.” Garitt kept staring at my father. “We have absolutely no clue what kind of monster we’re dealing with. According to recent research, monsters’ dislikes and weaknesses stay the same even if they go berserk, so if we could just know which type of monster it is, we could find some way of fighting it. But this one’s identity is an utter mystery. It also seems, well, impossible. What kind of monster doesn’t have an aura when you approach it?”

An impossible monster… Come to think of it, where has all the trash been going?

“Excuse me, sir, but have they found the missing trash?”

“What?” All three men gave me blank stares.

What’s wrong? Did I ask something strange?

“Ivy, you sure are calm,” Fische said.

“Calm, sir?” I didn’t feel particularly calm.

“You do realize this village is in danger, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

How could anyone not be afraid when there are monsters closing in? Wait a minute, surely the guild master feels a sense of danger. I mean, whenever there’s a problem, he’s always on the front lines dealing with it. And if nobody steps in, something bad will almost certainly happen. How can he not care when his life is in danger? Are people even like that? Is he really not doing anything? Unless…he wants to do something, but he can’t…?

“Ivy?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Um…have you been paying attention?”

Ack! Should I just be honest and say no? Well, um, I’ll try laughing it off.

“Hee hee!”

“You’re cute, I’ll give you that,” Fische smiled.

“We were just saying you’re calm even with all this danger because we’re trying to figure out what’s going to happen,” my father explained.

“Aha, that makes sense.”

I guess I’m managing to handle it by staying calm?

“I think it just hasn’t quite hit me yet how much danger we’re in,” I replied. “My head understands everything, but my heart keeps telling me that we’ll be okay somehow, and we’ll be protected. That’s why I can remain calm while we face this problem.”

Yeah, I know we’re in danger, but it just hasn’t sunk in. I really do need better instincts for danger.

“So calm.”

“I know, so calm.”

Zinal and Garitt both stared hard at me, and even Fische seemed a bit impressed. My father looked pretty pleased about it, though.