The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 412

Chapter 412:

Moving Forward...

AFTER BREAKFAST, I put my slimes in their bag and we headed to the captain’s house. The guild master and sub-vice-captain were already awake and filled in on everything. The captain had been pacing in the garden all morning, which earned him an earful from Melisa. Arly remarked with a sheepish grin that the captain did look awfully frail and he didn’t blame her for worrying.

“I’m glad to see him looking well.”

“Yeah… I wouldn’t exactly say he looks well. He’s way too thin—it’s a bit scary.”

“I’ll admit, he does look a little ill…”

It looked like the flesh had vanished from his body and his face. He was so frail that I’d thought for a moment that he was dead when I saw him unconscious in bed. He looked so dreadful that it was almost awe-inspiring that he’d managed to survive in that condition.

“Captain! How many times must I tell you to take it easy?!” Melisa barked at him as soon as we stepped into his house. Apparently, the rumors of him pacing around all morning had been true. It looked almost like Eche had pumped him full of medicine, though I certainly hoped she hadn’t.

“Good morning, Captain,” I said.

“Ah, hullo there.”

Wow… I didn’t think she’d actually tie him to a chair. What in the world was he trying to do? I looked around the room to see everyone was trying not to laugh.

“You’re looking well—ridiculously well,” my father said.

The captain laughed awkwardly in reply. He seemed much more carefree today—or was it just my imagination? We were offered some chairs, so we sat. Then the guild master and sub-vice-captain, whom we hadn’t had a chance to talk to yesterday, entered the room.

“We were briefed on everything. I cannot thank you enough. I’m Uliga, the guild master.”

“They got me caught up, too. Thank you for everything you’ve done. I’m Gigina, temporary vice-captain of the watch.”

“Glad to see you’re doing well. I’m Druid, and this is my daughter Ivy.”

“Nice to meet you, gentlemen. Please, you don’t need to bow to me. Are you feeling all right?”

As far as I could tell, they looked okay. But when I recalled the terrors of summoning circles I’d learned about the day before, fear overcame me.

“We’re doing well. We’ve lost some of our memory, but that’s happened to everyone.”

That’s right, their memories were tampered with, too. Summoning circles really are menaces, aren’t they?

“May we have a word?”

I looked over at the captain…and, tied up in that chair, he failed to have any sense of authority. What’s more, Melisa had planted herself behind him at some point…and there was a terrifying gleam in her eye.

“Sure, we don’t mind. But you’re forbidden to set foot outside of your house without Melisa’s express permission, Captain. Please, just focus on getting yourself back in good health first. Otherwise, I’m scared to see what might happen.” Zinal stole a glance at Melisa, then he quickly looked away.

“Ha ha ha! Oh well, if I must. So, for today’s schedule, I’ll need your help with all sorts of things, Ivy. Oh, but before that, the new folks need to sign some contracts.”

The guild master and sub-vice-captain presented their contracts to the captain, who read them over before signing them. Once the contracts were all finished, I took my slimes out of their bag. I caught a little twinkle in the guild master’s eye. Was he another sucker for rare creatures?

“Ivy…”

“Yes? What is it?” I drew my lips into a tight line when I heard the captain’s voice.

“I want to add more people to our team; we really could use more help. So I need a hand from your slimes—Sora and Sol, was it?—to break some more summoning circle spells and heal some more magic cores. Will that be doable?”

I shifted my gaze from the captain to Sora and Sol, who were playing on my father’s and Arly’s laps.

“Sora, Sol, can you help?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Pefu!”

“That’s a yes.”

I looked back to see the guild master had scooted up next to Arly.

“Thanks. Now, about the monsters in the forest. We found traces of them slamming against the front gate, but the gatekeepers acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. Then, there’s your adandara—may I call you Ciel? We need you to help us buy some time. I don’t think you’d be able to make it deep into the forest, but we would like you to go on a rampage, to keep the monsters away from the village. Would that be okay?”

Mrrrow.

Ciel was visibly excited. Come to think of it, the poor creature hadn’t been to the forest for several days and was probably dying to have a good romp.

“Don’t worry, sir, Ciel is very eager to please.”

“Really? Well, thanks,” the captain said. “Oh, and the people we want you to bring back to normal are a few elite adventurers and watchmen. We want to drug them and take care of everything while they’re asleep so they don’t have to find out about your slimes. We think it’s best that we keep the number of people who know about you small, Ivy. The circle is already big enough as it is…”

I nodded in agreement. I was really relieved to hear it.

“I appreciate the offer, but just how are we going to fool them?” My father shot a stern look at the captain. “Many elite adventurers have sharp minds. It’ll be a real hassle if they get suspicious.”

“I know. I received a faax from the honorable Lord Foronda this morning, and it turns out he’s one of the nobles funding research into summoning circles.”

Really?

“Besides funding, he’s in a position to offer guidance as well. And he’s been asking that the research be directed toward one aim: finding a way to save people who have been possessed by summoning circles.”

The captain handed us the faax from Lord Foronda. He wrote of how worried he was about me and my father. He wrote that he was funding summoning circle research. He wrote about why he ended up doing so. And he wrote about the specific research that he was personally funding.

After my father finished reading the faax, he gave the captain a long, hard stare. “Does this mean they’ve found a way to save people?”

“It’s not perfected yet, but it has a seventy percent success rate. As for the method itself, I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to tell you.”

“I understand. I’d rather not know anyway.”

Seventy percent… It feels a bit small, but I guess it’s good that we at least have a way to save people.

“Are you going to tell the elite adventurers that you used that method to revive them?”

“Yeah…” The captain’s eyes darkened for just a moment. Could it be that it was dangerous? But my slimes wouldn’t be able to save every single adventurer and watchman in Hataka, so I was glad there was some other way to help them.

“Got it. That should cover us okay.”

“And Ivy, there’s something I wanted you to clarify for me.”

“Yes, sir?”

“How many more people can you bring back to normal with your magic energy?”

“Huh?!”

Bring people back to normal with my magic energy? I hadn’t the foggiest idea what he was talking about.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

I looked up at the sound of Sora’s voice. Wait a minute, most tamed monsters get their magic energy from their tamers. Does everyone think Sora and Sol are using my energy to heal everyone? No, wait! Sora is the only one with the taming symbol, so it must be just Sora.

“I’m sorry, sir, um…there seems to be a misunderstanding. I don’t share my magic energy with Sora. That means my magic energy isn’t involved with this at all, so I have no idea how many people we can return to normal. The only thing I am sure of is that Sora and Sol don’t seem to get worn down at all from breaking the spells and healing people’s magic cores.” They’d seemed extra energized yesterday, and they were both in high spirits this morning.

“Is it, um, because you’re…a rare tamer? Er, I have heard something about that before… Maybe it’s not related…” The captain was muttering something into his hand, but I couldn’t hear him very well. After a while, he sighed and said, “Got it. If it’s what I think it is, that would make sense.”

Huh?

“There’s fifteen adventurers and watchmen total—would that be all right?”

“Sora, Sol, there’s fifteen people to heal. Can you handle it? It’s okay to say no if you can’t.”

It felt like a little too much, even to me.

“Pu! Pu, puuu!”

“Pefu!”

Sora’s and Sol’s eyes were sparkling. It took me a little aback.

“I think it’s okay, sir.”

“It is? Well, thanks. You’ve really saved our hides,” the captain said.

Sora and Sol bowed at him a little. Seeing this gesture from them confirmed it: Those two slimes didn’t realize why they were being thanked. The thought on their mind wasn’t “Time to help!” It was “Time to eat!” Well, maybe they’d better keep misunderstanding the situation… I glanced at my father to see he had a hand clamped over his mouth, trying not to laugh. Yeah, he lives with my slimes. I’m sure he knows exactly what’s on their minds right now…