The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 8 - Chapter 388

Chapter 388:

For What Purpose?

“WOULD ANYBODY BENEFIT, you say?”

“That’s right, sir. If I’m on the right track, the mystery at the dump is where we should start. I was just wondering why anybody would dump trash somewhere other than a dump.”

It wasn’t like there was money to be made from it. If it was to hide the fact that the dump was overflowing with trash, a tamer would have to be in on it, but I don’t see why you’d even have to conceal that fact in the first place. The dump was cleared by more than one tamer. And if all the tamers were in on the conspiracy, then there wouldn’t be any rumors about trash levels in the first place. Which then raised the question: Why would you need to prevent people from realizing that the dump was overflowing with trash?

“That’s a good question. If everything started with the problem at the dump, I can’t see the reason behind it.” Garitt looked quizzically at the ceiling. Zinal fell into thought as well, but neither could come up with a good explanation.

“Say…is anybody hungry?” Fische asked me, pressing a hand to his tummy.

You know…I think I am hungry. Is it almost lunchtime?

“Is it time for lunch?”

“Ivy, want to go back to the plaza? You didn’t sleep well, remember?” My father gave my head a worried pat.

You know, he’s right. I’ve had so much on my mind that I forgot.

“I’m okay now.”

“You sure?”

Maybe he won’t stop worrying until I go back to the plaza and take a nap.

“You didn’t sleep well?” Zinal asked apologetically.

“No, sir, but I’m all right. No need to worry,” I assured him with a smile.

Garitt reached out and gave my head a little pat. “Don’t you work too hard, Ivy?”

I don’t think I do.

“She sure does. That’s why I always have to keep an eye on her,” my father said, looking a bit troubled.

I really don’t think it’s that bad… I silently shook my head at him, but he just sighed back at me.

“You know, Ivy, why haven’t you registered with the adventurer guild?”

“Err…” I guess it’s okay to tell them since Sora says they’re safe. “There’s a problem with my skill, too, so I’m not going to register. My father and I registered together with the merchant guild.”

“You have a problem, too, Ivy? It’s just one surprise after another…”

“Boy, am I hungry!”

“Shut up, Fische! Learn some patience!”

“But you talk forever, Zinal. Anyway, I’m hungry, so I’m gonna go buy something! The food stalls get crowded at lunchtime.”

Zinal sighed at Fische and got up from his chair. “Sorry about that. We did have an early start, so you both must be very hungry.”

“Oh, it’s okay, sir. We’ll just go back to the plaza to eat.”

“Okay. I’ll look into your theories, Ivy. We’ve been checking out the other angles, too, but we aren’t getting any results.”

We all left the room at Michelle together. The inn’s dining hall was a bit noisy, probably because it was the lunch rush. I eyed the crowd as we walked out of the inn.

“Thanks for seeing us today. We had a lovely time,” Zinal said.

“Oh, the pleasure was all ours,” my father replied.

“We’ll come visit you in the plaza in two or three days.”

“Sounds good.”

As I watched my father and Zinal talk, I started to feel really sluggish. Why is that? Am I tired? Well, I guess anybody would be tired after all that talking on no sleep. Oh, wait! Maybe Fische picked up on it.

“What do you want to do for lunch?” my father asked.

I looked up at him with a start. Zinal and his party had walked off to the food stalls while I wasn’t paying attention. I really must have been tired. 

“You look a bit pale,” he said. “Want to go back to the plaza and take a nap?”

“I think I’d better. I need a nap. I was going to cook something from the leftovers for lunch. That okay?”

“Of course. I’ll help, so take it easy.”

“Oh, I’m okay.”

“Ivy, your definition of ‘okay’ isn’t always reliable.”

“Oh, come on, that’s not true.”

But I think I will cook something simple for lunch. I’m starting to get a headache. A rice bowl would probably be easiest. Oh, come to think of it, I just remembered fried rice exists. You can put anything in it, so as far as I can remember, it’s very easy. Okay, I think I’ll try it out for the first time today.

As we walked down Main Street, rows of bustling food stalls lined the way. Every place was packed beyond capacity. Even though nobody could go into the forest, it was business as usual.

“Since we can’t go into the forest, we can’t see sharmy, can we?” I heard someone saying.

“True. But I wonder what happened this year?” said someone else. “I haven’t even seen our friend from the front gate.”

“Really? What a shame. Sharmy is such a comfort to the people of Hataka.”

Sharmy? I think I heard that name before somewhere… That’s right, it came up when we were keeping our ears open for rumors. I got the sense that it was a cute, friendly animal. So it’s a comfort to them… I’d sure love to see it.

“Want to buy something to take back?” my father asked.

“Nah, not today. Let’s just go home.”

“Okay.”

Back in the plaza, we found most of the adventurers carrying on as usual. I didn’t blame them for getting restless; they’d had to sit out in the plaza all this time since they couldn’t go into the forest.

“We’re home. Sorry we’re late,” I apologized to my creatures as we entered the tent. Since we’d left in the early morning, everyone had been home alone the entire day. All the potions I’d set out for them were gone, so they had already finished their lunch.

“Here, Ivy.” My father gave me one of the red potions Flame had made. I poured it into a little cup and drank it down, and the pain in my head instantly vanished. I wasn’t sick, but the ­potion still seemed to be effective. “You okay? Didn’t you have a little headache?”

Busted.

“Can’t put anything past you. I’m fine now, though.” I felt a little lighter, meaning the potion had worked.

“I’m making lunch, okay?” my father insisted.

“I’ll help… There’s something I’ve been wanting to try.”

“Boy, you’re stubborn.”

“Well, it’s been on my mind, and now I really want to eat it.”

Maybe it was because I’d remembered how to cook it, but I wanted to eat fried rice…very badly. Besides, it was easy, so I should be okay.

We took all the necessary ingredients to the cooking area, where we found some adventurers already making food. Luckily, one of the stations was open. I explained the recipe to my father while we cooked it together.

When the dish was finished, I gave it a skeptical look. I thought I remembered that the grains of rice were supposed to be more separated.

“Is something wrong? It tastes good to me,” my father said.

“I think the rice should be a bit less sticky.”

“Did we use too much water, then? Or was the fire not hot enough?”

Next time, I’ll turn the heat up a little. Too bad it’s easy to burn things that way.

We stacked our plates and picked up our tableware.

“Ivy, you go to bed. I’ll do the dishes.”

“You sure?”

“I can wash the plates with one hand just fine. It’ll just be a bit hard, that’s all.” And with a little laugh, he marched off to the wash area without me. And maybe it was because I had a full belly, but I was pooped. I guess I’ll let my father take care of me and go to bed.

I went back to the tent and got ready for bed. As soon as I lay down, I could feel my consciousness drifting far away. I must have been incredibly sleepy.

“Hm? Mmm?” I opened my eyes. It was a bit dark. I looked around inside the tent and found my creatures all snuggled up asleep against me. My head felt crystal-clear after a good sleep. I sat up and stretched my arms. It felt so good to stretch my back. “I guess Dad’s outside?”

I got up and stretched my arms again. I twisted my waist side to side and loosened my joints before stepping outside the tent.

“Huh? He’s gone.”

Where did he go? But wow, it’s already evening, isn’t it? I sure did sleep a lot.

I looked around our tent. The lady adventurers next door were drinking and partying as usual. On the other side, the children were busy with something at the table.

“What’s wrong?”

It was a sight I had seen every day for the past few days, but something about it felt off. I took another look around.

“Yeah, it’s really scary. I wonder what’s going to happen?”

“I know.”

I started to hear the children’s voices. Of course they were scared, considering what was going on in the forest.

“Wait a minute… Even though there’s an anomaly in the ­forest…” Why is everything the same in this village?

Hataka was a little less animated than the other villages I’d been to, but the past several days had felt exactly the same. I looked around the plaza. Even though the adventurers couldn’t travel into the forest, they were drinking and partying, as if they weren’t at all scared or restless.

“Good evening, Ivy. You were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you. What’s up?”

I looked up at the sound of my father’s voice. He was carrying a pot. He had been cooking dinner while I was asleep.

“Oh, this? Yeah, our ladies next door helped me make dinner.”

“Hey, Dad, don’t you think it’s weird?”

“Agh! You mean the food?” My father nervously took the lid off the pot and looked inside.

“No, this village. When the forest is in such a mess, how can this village and this plaza be so normal?”

“What?!” My father’s eyes darted around the plaza, a look of shocked realization on his face.