The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 8 - Chapter 402

Chapter 402:

Flame’s Potion

“OKAY…SO YOU’RE SAYING you want to test out Flame’s potion on him?”

“Yes, sir.”

For some reason, Zinal’s and Nalgath’s parties looked exhausted after I told them about Flame. Flame’s potions cure fatigue, too, don’t they? Maybe I should test that out on them later.

“Sorry we just ran our mouths off there without explaining everything first. Anyway, I think storming the captain’s house is our best bet; what about you?” my father asked.

Zinal’s party gave him bitter stares in reply.

“Please, just slow down.” Garitt stopped my father with a frustrated look in his eyes. Maybe storming the house was a bad idea? With a sigh, he continued, “I figured you two had a few secrets, but why does every new thing you tell us get more dangerous than the last?!”

“Er…yes, I understand your frustration, sir.” It would be incredibly dangerous if the world found out what Flame and Sora could do. “Thank goodness you folks were the ones we met.”

“Oh, you’re so stinking cute… Wait, no, Ivy! Listen to me, you must never trust anyone so easily. Especially me—you only met me today! Don’t you get it? If you trust strangers, you could put yourself in serious danger!” Piarre poked my forehead for emphasis. I smiled, once again glad that he was the one I met, but that only made him angrier.

“Ivy, I’m serious! Be more cautious,” Nalgath said. “You’re making us all worried. Mr. Druid, please, put your foot down.”

“Well, I decided you kids were safe, and Sora said you weren’t a threat, either,” my father answered.

But everyone just shook their heads.

“Please, don’t tell us anything else. I have a feeling we’ll just hear more dangerous information.”

Dangerous information? I scrutinized everyone, curious about that choice of words, but they just chuckled at me.

“Anyway, I want to make something clear first.” Arly’s serious tone made all eyes gather on him. “The potion that will cure the captain, how much does it cost?”

How much does it cost? “It’s free, sir.”

“…Free?”

Arly, that’s quite a scary look in your eye!

“Ivy, listen to me,” Arly growled.

“Yes, sir?” My back shot up straight. I stole a glance at my father and saw he was trying not to laugh. Had I said something wrong?

“The head watchman is terribly sick. No potion has been able to cure him.”

Oh dear. Will Flame’s potion not work, then? Now I’m getting anxious… “If Flame’s potion doesn’t cure him, then I’m sorry.”

“No, that’s not the issue here—why is it free? Most people would ask for money. If you could cure the captain, you’d be well within your rights to seize his assets.”

Seize his assets? “Oh, no no no, why would we do that? The idea terrifies me.”

“But that’s the norm.”

It’s the norm? Ah, come to think of it, Sora’s potions and Flame’s magic stones were worth gold plates. And we could have gotten even more money for them. But we don’t even know if Flame’s potion will work yet. You could almost call it an experimental drug.

“Well, we’re fine with providing Flame’s potion free of charge—we want to find out how well it works. You okay with that, Dad?”

“You should do whatever you feel is best, Ivy.”

“Mr. Druid…” Arly sighed. “Fine, we’ll let you provide the potion for free then.” He sure was a stickler for the rules. “Ivy…you really are such a good girl. Mr. Druid, can I have her?”

“Drop dead.”

Wh-what’s going on? Why are Arly and my father suddenly at each other’s throats? And why are my father’s eyes so menacing…?

“Let’s get back on topic,” Garitt snapped.

My father’s death glare left Arly.

You know, “can I have her?” was a weird way to phrase it anyway. I’m not a thing.

“Anyway, the team going to the captain’s house will be Nalgath’s party, Druid, and Ivy. Nalgath, protect Ivy with your life.”

“Will do.”

Protect me? Well, yeah, I am pretty weak. “Thank you, sir.” I bowed at Garitt, and he gave my head a soft pat.

“No, Ivy, you deserve all the gratitude, not us.”

Really?

“Wait a minute. Druid, Ivy, you aren’t registered with the adventurer guild, are you?”

“We aren’t. What about it?”

Fische looked at me and my father. “If the summoning circle is at Hataka’s adventurer guild, then why did you two fall under its spell? Have you ever been to the adventurer guild?”

You know…I’m not sure we have?

“We haven’t. We’ve only been to the merchant guild.”

“Maybe we should investigate the merchant one again, then.”

Zinal and his party were thinking back on the places they had visited before. Nalgath and his colleagues were getting ready to go to the head watchman’s house.

“Sure is quiet…” I remarked.

My father and I were sipping tea and watching everyone else while the slimes bounced around the house in the background.

“Sure is. If Flame’s potion works, it’ll be mission accomplished. Then what? The guild master?”

“Wouldn’t the head watchman’s second-in-command be easier? We could just have the head watchman bring him to us.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point.”

Piarre and his party were ready now. They approached us with slightly wary looks on their faces. “Watching the two of you makes me feel weak in the knees.”

“Does it?”

“Yeah…”

Piarre sat in the chair beside me. He looked around the room and laughed at something. I followed his gaze to see Zinal and Nalgath having a face-to-face conversation.

“Thanks for giving Nalgath the push he needed,” Piarre said.

I gave him a curious look. I didn’t remember doing anything like that.

“He’s always had a chip on his shoulder. He respects the hell out of Zinal, but he’d never admit it.” Piarre looked quite happy, and Nalgath and Zinal also had reserved but visible smiles on their faces. They were probably having a fun chat.

“By the way, where’s that potion? Do you have it with you?”

Oh, right! We have to go back to our tent in the plaza to fetch it. But it’s a bit far from Cobalt’s party headquarters, and they said the captain’s house is in the opposite direction from the plaza. Wait a minute, I remember seeing an empty bottle earlier…

“Hey, Flame? I have a little request for you.”

“Teryu?”

“I need one of your potions to cure a serious illness. Could you make me one right now?”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

“Do you have an empty bottle, sir? Also, if you have any red or blue potions you were going to throw out, I’d like those, too, please.”

“Huh?! It’s going to make the potion right now?”

“Piarre, potions and a bottle.”

Piarre was muttering under his breath, so it was difficult to hear him.

“Ahh, right, right. I’ll go get them. How many empty bottles do you need?”

“Just one is fine, sir.”

Now we can go straight to the captain’s house from here.

“Here you go. What are you going to do with the discolored potions?”

I got eleven discolored red potions from Piarre. He had a lot more than I’d anticipated.

“I’m going to feed them to Flame.”

I lined the potions up in front of the red slime, and it got right to eating them.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Sora had wandered over to us, too, so I placed the nine blue potions I’d received in front of it.

“Pu! Pu, puuu,” Sora sang merrily, getting right to work on the potions.

Everything’s been so hectic, we haven’t had a chance to go to the dump. Well, the gate’s closed, so we wouldn’t have been able to go anyway. We still have some potions to spare, but I really want to go get some more soon. We need magic items for Sol as well.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a slime eat the bottles, too.”

Nalgath, Arly, and Juggy, finished with their packing, had now joined Piarre in staring at Sora and Flame.

“Teryu.”

At Flame’s signal, I set the empty bottle in front of it. Then it swallowed the bottle whole and closed its eyes. Meanwhile, Sora finished eating and went back to play with Ciel and Sol.

“Whoa!!!” everyone gasped as Flame produced a sparkling red potion. It seemed especially sparkly this time. Was it just my imagination?

“Thanks, Flame. Will this cure the head watchman?”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.” Flame sounded confident, so I was sure everything would be okay.

“Okay, since you gentlemen are all ready now, let’s make our way to the captain’s house.”

Everything was still quite unsettled, so our top priority was getting the captain of the watch on our side.