The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 8 - Chapter 398

Chapter 398:

A Little Break

AFTER WE EXCHANGED CONTRACTS, I had my father and Zinal explain everything to Nalgath. They walked him through everything from how we met to how we freed everyone from the spell, and then they told him how his wounded magic energy had been healed.

“This slime healed me?” Nalgath stared hard at Sora, who was smiling proudly. I sighed over how cute it was, and Fische seemed equally enamored.

“Sora really is so precious, Ivy! Could I pet your slimes later? Please? Just a little pat or two?”

“If they all give you permission, you may. Just be gentle with them, okay?”

Fische looked a bit startled by my answer, which confused me.

“You mean…I can just pet all of them?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Er, well, it’s just that…don’t slimes refuse to be touched unless their tamer orders them to? I assumed they’d run away if I tried to touch them.”

Fische’s questions made me think of the normal slimes I’d met. He was right: They were awfully standoffish.

“Well, my slimes are okay with it. Hey, guys, come here.”

All the slimes came bouncing over to me. Huh, I wonder if it’s okay for them to be jumping up and down on the table? I stole a glance at Zinal and Garitt, but they didn’t look upset by it, so I decided it was all right.

“Go ahead, Mr. Fische.”

“Seriously?” Fische looked quite conflicted, but I knew from experience that it was faster to just show him than to explain everything to him.

“Yes, sir. It’s fine, I promise.”

“Ummm…er, is it okay if I pet you?” Fische asked the slimes embarrassedly. He was entertaining to watch.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

Mrrrow.

“Pefu!”

Fische gave me a baffled stare when he heard the four singing.

“They say it’s all right for you to pet them, sir.”

“Ohh, okay. Wow, you and your creatures understand each other really well. Okay…I’m gonna pet you now.”

Fische cautiously reached out. After a couple of slow pets, the slimes jiggled and squinted their eyes.

“Huh? Oh, Ivy, why doesn’t this one have a taming symbol?”

“Because I haven’t tamed Sol, sir.”

“What?!” the trio gasped.

Huh? Did I forget to mention that? Hmm, with everything that’s happened, it’s hard for me to remember what I did and didn’t tell them. But judging by their reactions, I guess I didn’t…

“Um, so, when I asked Sol if it was okay with being tamed, it said no, so I didn’t. But Sol’s a sweet little thing; it’s helped me out of so many scrapes.”

“Ohh, so that’s why. Well, I can understand, since it was okay with me touching it, too. Wow, I didn’t even know that was a thing…” Fische gave Sol a troubled look, then followed it up with a timid pat. I can’t quite describe it, but he seemed stiffer than before.

“Oh, wait a minute… Untamed slimes attack people, don’t they?”

“Ha ha ha! Yes, they do… Or at least, they usually do.”

“But it’s not attacking you.” Garitt stepped up beside me and cautiously peered at Sol.

“Sol would never do that. Right, Sol?”

“Pefu!”

“Ivy, can I ask you something?”

“What is it, sir?” I looked up at Garitt beside me.

“The noises they make…why do they sound that way?”

Their noises? What does he mean by “Why do they sound that way”?

“They’ve made those sounds ever since the day I met them… Is there something strange about them, sir?”

“Not strange, exactly. It’s just…maybe we just never knew they made sounds like that?” Garitt mumbled. He was too quiet to understand, even though he was right next to me. I stared up at him, but it seemed like he’d found his own answer. He was nodding to himself. “Well, I guess it is possible.”

I don’t get it.

“Well, unique noises aside, your slime named Ciel has a very strange design on its skin.”

“Oh, that’s because Ciel is an adandara. I think you’ll find it doesn’t look or sound exactly like a slime.”

And Ciel made the same sounds it did as an adandara.

“Oh, I see, that’s… Huh? Um, what?”

“Did you just hear that strange sound?”

Fische and Garitt stared intently at Ciel. No matter how closely they examined it, the only thing that looked like an adandara to them was the skin pattern and the noise it made.

“An adandara?”

“Come here, you two, we’re starting the meeting,” Zinal called out to the pair. “You can talk about her monsters after we’re done.” At last, they were going to talk about something that made sense to them.

“Aye aye, sir,” Fische sighed. “Let’s get this settled quickly—I need to know what’s up with her monsters.”

“Me, too.”

Fische gave each slime’s head a final gentle pat and smiled contentedly. Garitt only watched instead of touching them. Maybe he wasn’t a slime person.

“Okay, now that everyone’s here, Ivy, Nalgath has a request for you.”

A request for me? It must be about his friends. Well, I can help out, as long as Sora and Sol say it’s okay.

“Please save my friends. You’re our only hope.” Nalgath bowed, his face motionless with worry.

“Sol, Sora, I want to help Mr. Nalgath’s friends. Can you do that?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Pefu!”

Oh, good. They can help.

“They say yes.”

“Thank you. Sora, Sol, thank you so much.” The nervousness about the slimes melted away from Nalgath’s eyes. Had he been worried they would say no?

“Will your slimes be okay, though? It must take quite a lot of magic energy to cure the magic wounds. Nalgath has three friends, so we understand if not all of them can be saved.”

Huh? Zinal sounded really worried, but do they even need magic energy to heal magic wounds? Doesn’t Sora just use the same stuff it uses to make potions? Come to think of it, I’ve been meaning to study magic energy, but I still haven’t gotten around to it yet.

“Sol, Sora, can you save all three of them?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Pefu!”

“They say they can.”

“Really? But do you have to give them some of your magic energy halfway through, Ivy? If you do, I don’t want you to hurt yourself saving them.”

“Oh, I couldn’t do that anyway, sir. I don’t have much magic energy.”

“Oh, that’s interes—what?! You don’t have much magic ­energy? But then, how did you manage to tame rare slimes?” Zinal gave me a blank stare.

I hope I can explain this easily…

“I don’t have any stars, so I have less magic energy than the average person. Sora was a collapsed slime, so I was able to tame it. Flame was born from Sora, and it had its taming symbol from the beginning. And Ciel got tamed when I wasn’t paying attention. Sol is not tamed, so my energy level doesn’t matter.”

The four men just stared, and the room got very quiet. My father sipping tea was the only sound that echoed through it. I cast my father a sheepish glance to say, Oops, I messed that up.

My father cleared his throat. “Well, Ivy’s a complicated person, but she’s special.”

“She sure is.”

Er, Dad, what kind of explanation was that?! And Zinal, why did you accept it so readily? I looked at the two in surprise. I got the sense they had become very good friends. How odd.

“I understand exactly what you’re saying, Druid.”

“Right?”

“Yeah.”

Seriously, what’s going on? I strained my ears, but nothing made sense. I looked at Zinal, feeling something was off, and he smiled back at me.

“Sorry. Take good care of Nalgath’s friends.”

I nodded earnestly. Sora and Sol were confident in themselves, so I was confident in them, too.

“Now the real question is, how do we make those boys cooperate?” Fische asked.

“I’ll put them to sleep with some medicine first. Don’t worry, I’ll knock them out if I have to.”

Ah. Nalgath was, without a doubt, Zinal’s son.