The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 417

Chapter 417:

Courage

“UM, SORRY, but what are you doing?” Nalgath looked back and forth between my father and me in confusion. The other three men were also staring at us.

“What else? We’re going to the forest to look for the sharmy’s home. Do you know where it is, by the way?”

“I do, but we were instructed to stand by,” Nalgath answered.

My father sighed. “You boys are elite adventurers. You know what that means?” Cobalt’s members exuded a sour atmosphere, but my father smiled. “You are elite adventurers. You aren’t allowed to just sit idle and wait for orders from the top. Get it? You boys took what I said as gospel—and that was also wrong. While we’re at it, don’t use me as a scapegoat.” The quartet’s faces tensed up. “I do feel sorry for you boys, going through a horrible ordeal just after you became elite adventurers, but didn’t you consent to 

that the moment you reached that rank? Then it’s about damn time you own it. Hunkering down won’t solve anything,” my father snapped.

Cobalt’s members nodded bitterly. “I’m sorry, sir… You’re absolutely right.” Nalgath took a deep breath in and out, then looked right up at my father. I could see the fire of strength returning to his eyes. “Before the captain fell ill, a gang selling illegal drugs passed through this village. A lot of orders flew back and forth while we were trying to find proof to arrest them and figure out who they victimized. It took everything we had just to keep up with all the orders. But looking back now, those times were easy—all we needed to do was follow orders.”

Nalgath’s three companions nodded in agreement. I could see where they were coming from: It would be easiest to just sit back and follow orders, though you would have to worry about getting hurt if you messed up.

“Whenever there was a problem, our orders never stopped…until today. For the first time, our captain told us to stand by…”

Did that mean the command stand by held a significant meaning to them?

“Sometimes the captain gives the stand by command when he wants to give his subordinates time to think, so it scared us…”

Oh, so that’s what it really means! Then it was a command that only the adventurers of Hataka would understand. Interesting.

“I really am a failure,” Nalgath said. “And here I thought I had enough courage to be an elite adventurer when he offered me the job.”

 Well, they are still in their twenties, and this is a horrible problem to have as their first assignment… I agree with Dad; I feel sorry for them.

“But I’m okay now. You guys are, too, aren’t you?” Nalgath asked confidently. The three nodded with a look of closure in their eyes.

Wow, elite adventurers sure are brave. If I were in their shoes, I’d skip town.

“So, Nalgath, Juggy, Piarre, Arly, what’s your next move?” my father asked, his tone firmer.

I could just see the tension melt from Arly’s body. Had he really been that nervous? His eyes met mine, but he quickly looked away in embarrassment.

“Please, let us help you in any way we can,” Nalgath said. “But first, I must ask why Miss Ivy thinks we need to go to the sharmy’s home. It seems to me like the summoning circle should be our top priority now, since Ciel bought the village some time before it’s attacked.”

I shook my head. Time was running out for Hataka, and yet it faced two big problems. The first was the summoning circle. Adventurers were still held captive under its spell. Their magic cores were damaged more with each passing day, and they might turn into empty shells of themselves at any time… But the captain had already found a way to solve that problem. It didn’t look like we would be able to save everybody that way, but the light of hope was reassuring. Still, it would not solve the root of the summoning circle problem. According to the captain and other experts, anyone who used a summoning circle was also affected by it. Worst case scenario, this village might have a psychopathic mass murderer on its hands. That would mean more victims in Hataka.

But there was more to it than that. We still didn’t know where the summoning circle had been cast. If we just left it alone, its magic would keep producing more victims. Besides, the people released from the spell might fall under it again. The problem was that we needed more helpers so we could catch whoever drew the summoning circle and to find the summoning circle itself. Since the captain and guild master were securing those helpers as we spoke, there really wasn’t anything for us to do about that.

Then the other problem was the rampaging animals in the forest. We knew they were sharmy now, but that revelation only gave us a new problem. Sharmy were supposed to be friendly animals, yet they had mutated into violent creatures. Until we found the reason why and did something to counter it, it was only a matter of time before the sharmy attacked the village. Ciel had bought us a few days of safety from a sharmy attack, but this was no time to relax. Besides, there might be too many sharmy for us to simply dispose of them. For the time being, they were afraid of Ciel, and that was why this was the perfect time for us to try to find their home. We couldn’t let this chance slip through our fingers. The higher-ups had their hands full with the summoning circle, but my father, the members of Cobalt, and I were all free to act. Maybe that was what the captain wanted us to realize…

“There is nothing I can do about the summoning circle, sir. We should let the higher-ups handle it. I thought we should go look for the sharmy’s home since they almost certainly aren’t about to attack us right now—we have Ciel’s heroics to thank for that. We need to take this moment to find out what happened to the sharmy.”

If safety was our top concern, now was unmistakably our best bet to move. I’d forgotten to ask about the sharmy’s way of thinking, but maybe Ciel wouldn’t scare them next time they met. If that was the case, we would be in grave danger of an attack on our way to their caves. But now, when they had freshly retreated in fear, we had our best chance to safely go there.

“You know, she does have a point.” With a look of surprise on his face, Piarre nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, this probably is our best chance for success. Let’s ask the captain. The clock is ticking, right?” Juggy stood up and got ready to leave, and everyone else followed suit. My father gently patted my head and put Ciel and Flame in the bag.

Um, guys? Aren’t we moving a little too quickly now?

“Wait a little bit when you get to the captain’s house. We’ll let you in the back way,” Arly said.

I gave him a funny look. Why did we need to go in through the back?

“How many people have been freed from the spell so far, I wonder?”

Oh, that’s right. The captain’s house is kind of hectic right now. Hopefully Sora and Sol are still doing okay. I just hope they haven’t eaten so much they can’t move.

When we arrived at the captain’s house, there was a watchman I’d never seen before standing guard at the door.

“The rear entrance is that way,” Nalgath said.

We followed his directions, and Arly waved us into the house’s back entrance. Inside, we heard lively voices. It sounded like everyone was happy to see the captain was out of bed. We waited to talk to him in a room where we wouldn’t be found, and Melisa brought us some tea.

“Your Sora and Sol really are incredible little sweeties! Just another four to go and everyone will be freed. And get this: Each time they break the spell, they get faster and faster. The guild master and captain are in a tizzy, trying to get the next patients in on time. Hee hee hee! Oh, Miss Ivy, thank you so much.”

I was a little taken aback by Melisa’s constant gabbing the instant she set foot in the room, but I was happy to hear everything was going well. And there were only four people left to go? We were ahead of schedule. Sora and Sol, you’re amazing!