The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 416

Chapter 416:

Dad’s on the Case!

WE WENT BACK to the room where my father was. Arly was there, but Nalgath wasn’t. Sharmy wasn’t on the table, either.

“Where did Mr. Nalgath go?” I asked.

Piarre wiped the table clean for me, which I appreciated, since a sharmy had been on it just a few minutes ago.

“He went to dissect the sharmy. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Oh, okay. Um, here’s some tea and snacks.” I set everything on the table in a neat little row.

“Thanks.” My father took a sip of tea, and Arly followed suit.

“I hope he finds something…” Piarre said. Arly nodded.

“I’m back… Oh, you’re having tea?” Juggy entered the room while we were sipping tea and waiting for Nalgath to come back.

“Hey, buddy,” Arly greeted Juggy with a wave of his hand. “What’d the captain say?”

“Easy, man, I want some tea first.”

Even though it wasn’t all that warm out, Juggy’s forehead was dripping with sweat.

“Did you run here?”

“Yeah, I figured I should give you the news as quickly as possible.”

“Okay, here’s your tea.” Piarre handed Juggy the tea, which he chugged down.

“I told the captain the sharmy were the source of the ruckus in the forest. He was baffled, since he knows a lot about them. He’d also never heard of animals using magic energy before, so we have no idea how it happened. He’s gonna ask a friend of his by faax.”

So it really was unusual for animals to use magic energy, then.

“By the way, Miss Ivy, Mr. Zinal thought it was strange how your slimes seem to get more and more energized each time they heal somebody.”

They were probably thrilled with the joy of having a full belly.

“I’m glad they’re doing well, sir,” I replied.

“We were afraid healing so many people would exhaust them, but now we feel much better,” Piarre said.

I nodded. Overeating made me more worried than exhaustion…

“What did he say our next move should be?” Arly asked.

Juggy frowned a little. Had the captain given them an order that would be tough to follow? “He said we should stand by.”

“Stand by?” Piarre looked conflicted.

“But isn’t this a race against time?” Arly asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Juggy answered, an irritated furrow in his brow.

“They probably don’t know what’s the best thing to do, either,” my dad answered Arly. Everyone’s eyes turned to him. “Even for the most experienced adventurer out there, we’re just dealing with too many unknowns here, and the village leaders must be at a loss for what to do. You have to remember, they’re also missing parts of their memories.”

“It’s a weird feeling… The guild master and the captain always seemed perfect to us.” Juggy looked perplexed, and his two companions were listless, too.

“They’re only human—there are some things they can’t do. Just like us.”

“Yes, sir. You’re quite right.” Arly nodded and sipped his tea.

Confused by everyone’s expressions, I raised an eyebrow at my father, who shrugged in reply. He was his usual self. Oh, I get it! I’m so calm because my dad’s his usual self, but Arly and his friends are overwhelmed because their captain and guild master are stressed out. When those at the top falter, so do those beneath them. I wonder if Hataka Village can recover from this…

“Everything will be okay,” my father whispered in my ear.

He startled me a little, but I smiled back at him. “Hee hee! I’m not worried, but it sure is tough at the top.”

My father nodded.

With an odd atmosphere still hanging over the room, Nalgath returned. Sensing the mood, he gave his companions a questioning stare. “Something wrong?”

“No, we’re okay. Did you find out anything about the sharmy?”

Nalgath was confused by the desperation in Piarre’s vice. The poor guy must have just wanted a breakthrough.

“No, I didn’t find anything. There was no magic energy in the body and no magic stone, either. Well, that tracks, since it’s an animal.” When Nalgath said this, Juggy hung his head. “What’s wrong?”

“The captain and guild master aren’t doing so well… Their minds are jumbled.”

My father handed Nalgath some tea, and he gave Juggy a troubled look. “The captain isn’t doing well? What makes you say that?” he asked. Juggy answered that the captain had commanded everyone to stand by. “Ah. So that’s what he wants us to do.” Now even Nalgath was giving off that indescribable sense of gloom. 

Well, they haven’t been elite-level adventurers for very long. I guess it’s only natural for them to despair? I looked at my father, who was staring hard at each of the men of Cobalt in turn. Something about his gaze looked different. I looked at him curiously, and our eyes met.

“Elite adventurers need somebody to guide them at all times. They start to lose their nerve if they’re forced to sit and wait for orders. That’s why they’re recklessly asking a third party for advice,” my father whispered to me.

I stole a glance at Nalgath’s party. Aha… So that’s why they’re talking themselves into an anxiety spiral. I mean, my father doesn’t know if the captain or guild master really are overwhelmed. Actually, from the limited interactions I’ve had with them, they didn’t seem like the kind of people who would crack under pressure. Did Juggy misunderstand the captain’s mood when he spoke to him?

“It’s tough to be a top adventurer, too,” I observed.

“That’s what it means to be at the top.”

From the way Dad’s talking, he seems to think they lack the commitment and bravery needed for the job. But they’ve gotta wait, huh… Is there anything that can be done right now? The captain is handling the summoning circle, so I guess there’s nothing for me to work on. We didn’t learn anything from dissecting the sharmy, either. Seems like there just isn’t any other way we can look into it…or is there? Come to think of it, I don’t know anything about sharmy. Maybe if I learned more about them, I could make some connections…

“May I ask a question, sir?” I asked Nalgath and his party.

They hesitantly nodded. Oh dear, were they thinking about what their next move should be? I feel bad interrupting them, then. I’ll just ask and get it over with. “Can you tell me more about the sharmy? What do they eat? And you said they came to the outskirts of Hataka in the springtime, but where are they during the other times of the year?”

“What do sharmy eat? Well, mostly little insects, flower nectar, and tree fruit. Sharmy give birth in the spring, so they come to Hataka’s outskirts to eat the fruit and flowers. In the summertime, they usually stay cool in a cave nearby. They’re really busy in the autumn, getting ready for the winter. Unlike the springtime, they’re on edge in the fall. They’re in heat then, and they also have to store enough food for the winter. They spend the wintertime in a near-hibernation state deep inside their cave.”

Piarre’s explanation made me curious. What was a near-hibernation state like? I’d never heard of it before, but I supposed it didn’t matter right now. But maybe the cave was significant…

“Do people ever go in the sharmy’s cave, sir?”

“No, never. The people and adventurers of this village alike love the sharmy. Leave them be—that’s the rule here.”

A cave where nobody goes… Did that mean they were in a place where people wouldn’t disturb them even when they went to dump their trash? The sharmy’s mutation was still a mystery. If you assumed they were a monster and not an animal, the theory about them sucking magic energy from the trash at the dump made sense. You would need to check their cave to make sure, though.

“Whereabouts is that cave, sir?”

“It’s about a thirty-minute walk out of the village.”

Thirty minutes? With the sharmy on the loose, it would be tough to get there. I shot my father a glance, and he was smiling right back at me. I instantly knew he was reading my mind.

“Dad, can we?”

“Hmm… Hey, Ciel? Would you like to go on another rampage in the forest for us?”

Ciel jumped up from its sleeping position on my father’s lap and jiggled eagerly. Mrrrow!

The squeak in its voice told me that was a yes.