The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 414

Chapter 414:

Sharmy?

A WHILE AFTER NALGATH’S PARTY walked through the gate, the gatekeepers wandered away to tend to their tasks. We stayed put and kept watch as Cobalt disappeared into the forest. After a while, we noticed a rustling in the trees. Something was moving out there, but we couldn’t sense its aura. In his faax, my father’s mentor had said that he knew nothing about monsters that could mask their auras. He did tell us he would ask around, however, which gave us some hope.

“Looks like there’s quite a few of them,” my father said.

“How can you tell?”

“I can’t sense their aura, but I just know something is out there. And there are a lot more of the something I’m sensing than the last time.”

A lot more… Will Cobalt be okay?

“A monster without an aura…” I mused.

What did it look like? Elite adventurers had been searching for it, but I didn’t think anybody had seen it yet. Was it because our monster could move fast? But was that even possible? No matter how fast a monster was, you should be able to see it running away. I have this nagging feeling. A monster…without any witnesses…in the forest… The forest…

“I just don’t get it,” I shrugged.

Wait a minute, I think I heard a rumor about the forest. What was it again? Let’s see… There’s this animal that usually shows up in the springtime, but it’s not here this year. Was that it? Well, what with all the rampaging monsters out there, of course it would stay hidden. I wonder what kind of animal it is…

“They’re on the move.”

My father’s voice brought my focus back to the trees. Ciel’s aura was moving now, and I sensed distorted magic energy. But the monster that Ciel was supposedly chasing had no apparent aura whatsoever.

“From the movement in the trees, I can tell something’s going on…but I just can’t get a read on an aura,” I said.

Based on the way the trees were moving, I could tell it was quite the violent scuffle. Yet I still couldn’t sense any aura… In the past, I had been attacked many times by monsters whose auras or magic energies couldn’t be sensed unless they were close, but those attacks had greatly sharpened my aura-detection skills. The last time I was attacked by such a monster, I was at least able to faintly sense its aura as it approached. And yet I couldn’t sense any auras now, even though auras and distortions in magic energy were easy to spot when their owners moved around. It was almost as if the aura of the forest was hiding these monsters. 

Wait, can forests do that?

“Hey, Dad, does the aura of the forest ever hide monster auras? Like, if there’s a monster who possesses a similar aura to the forest?”

“Monsters with forest auras? Never heard of that. Now, on the other hand, small and mid-sized animals do have auras like the forest.”

Animals… That’s right, animal auras evolved to blend in with the forest to ensure their survival.

Meowww!

Ciel’s voice boomed through the forest again, but I sensed no panic in it. If anything, it sounded like…

“Is Ciel having fun?”

“Yeah, sounds like it. Had the poor thing gotten restless all these days indoors?”

“Well, it was a slime for a long time, and it didn’t get a chance to show off while Sora, Flame, and Sol had plenty to do.”

A chance to show off?

“I hope Ciel doesn’t get so excited it goes overboard…”

What did I tell Ciel when I sent it off? I didn’t say anything that would provoke it, did I? Oh no, now I’ve got a whole different thing to worry about…

“Don’t worry, Ciel knows when to show restraint…I hope.”

“That wasn’t very convincing, Dad.”

“Well, Ciel disappeared while I was saying that.”

Fair point. The trees were rustling wildly, as if a hurricane had touched down. Shortly after, I saw something running away—probably our monster. As I watched it flee, I felt like something was wrong… 

Wait a minute, am I finally seeing the monster nobody’s been able to see yet? Oops—now it’s gone.

Mewww! Mewww!

“Is Nalgath’s party okay?” Had Ciel’s antics scared them?

“Agh, we should have asked Ciel to bring us back a monster!”

That’s right, then we could have found out what it was! But we’d had no idea the whole hunt would be so one-sided. I caught glimpses of Ciel climbing up the trees, its tail swishing merrily to and fro.

“Excuse me, what was that voice?” A handful of gatekeepers popped up beside me and stared into the forest. Thankfully, the trees were hiding Ciel.

“I dunno, but I think there’s a high-level monster out there,” my dad said.

The gatekeepers looked a little startled. But the very next moment, they were casually saying that it would be cool to see what kind of monster it was.

“I guess everything’s under control. We’ll just leave you to it,” a gatekeeper said as they all wandered away, having lost interest in the monster now that they figured they wouldn’t see it. As I watched them walk off, anger and sadness welled up inside of me. I was at a vantage point on higher ground, from which I could get a panoramic view of the forest. The walls of the building were plastered with papers, detailing the different types of monsters, how powerful they were, and how to deal with them. The handwriting varied, so it was clear that the people had worked together to create those documents. But now, all of them were idle. They were merely standing at the gate, doing the bare minimum to fulfill their duties as gatekeepers. 

I clenched my fists, terrified by the summoning circle’s power.

“I’m scared…” I said.

“Me, too.”

We looked into the forest, which had gotten a bit quieter. Cobalt hadn’t even been in there for an hour yet.

“That was quick,” my father remarked.

“I know, Ciel sure is strong.” I had heard how powerful adandaras were, and I had seen Ciel fighting before, but in my day-to-day life, it was just adorable and cute. For me, that cuteness greatly overshadowed any physical power the creature had.

“They’re back, Ivy. Are they hurt?”

I held my breath as I watched Nalgath’s party emerge from the trees. Nalgath’s and Piarre’s clothes were stained bright red.

“Looks like the potions worked.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

Though their clothes were red, the way they both were walking toward us made it clear there was nothing to worry about. It was a relief to see they were okay, but the red-stained clothes still made me shiver with worry.

“Hey, there!” Arly spotted us and waved. Then he gave us a big thumbs-up: mission accomplished.

I breathed a sigh of relief, though I’d known for sure that our mission would be successful as soon as I saw how violently Ciel was rampaging. We headed to the village entrance to meet Cobalt. When the gate opened, the gatekeepers were quite alarmed by how red the party’s clothes were.

“We’re okay,” Nalgath said stiffly as he greeted the gatekeepers. Then he promptly walked away from them. Had something happened?

“We need to give you our report as quickly as possible. Let’s go somewhere else,” Arly said.

We said goodbye to the gatekeepers and hurried on after Cobalt.

“Where are we headed?”

“Our house. Juggy, tell the captain,” Nalgath commanded.

“On it. See you later.” Juggy trotted along another path. I felt a disturbance in the air around us.

“Come on in.”

When we got to Cobalt’s headquarters, Nalgath and Piarre excused themselves to wash the blood off their clothes. I took the bag from Arly, opened the lid, and out jumped Ciel. I was relieved to see it alive and well.

“Good job, Ciel. Did you make it out okay?”

Mrrrow.

“Uh, I don’t think you need to worry even a little bit about that. Ciel was a wonder—truly a wonder,” Arly repeated, his face stiff with awe.

I wonder what Ciel did out there? Maybe I’d better not ask…

“I’m glad Ciel could help, sir.”

“Oh, Ciel really helped. Now we know what our little mystery friend in the forest is.”

“Really? Good job, Ciel!”

Mrrrow! Ciel trilled proudly.

My father gave the adandara’s head a pat.

“So we know what the it is…but…” There was a catch in Arly’s voice as he pulled out a creature somewhere between small and medium in size. When he set it on the table, I sensed there was something unusual about this “monster.”

“Why don’t I sense any magic energy?”

“Because it isn’t a monster. It’s an animal called ‘sharmy.’ It lives on the outskirts of Hataka Village. Except it looks a bit different than usual…”

“It’s an animal?!”

I never would have guessed it was an animal… And didn’t we hear villagers gossiping about the sharmy? They said they’ve been missing this spring… Wow…I never would have thought it was an animal.