The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 423

Chapter 423:

Huh?! Finished Already?

NOT FAR AWAY from the sharmy cave, Nalgath stopped walking and looked at Piarre. “The sharmy might be awake now, right?”

“Yeah… Want to check first?”

“Yes, let’s.”

Piarre, who was stationed at the mouth of the cave, gave the signal to hide, so I grabbed Sol and hid behind a big tree. I looked at Ciel and it bounded up to the top of a tree. Sol started jiggling restlessly in my arms, so I set it by my feet.

“Stay out of sight, okay?” I said.

Sol looked up at me and jiggled. I gave its head a pat and turned my attention back to the cave. It didn’t look like anything had changed. The only problem was that I couldn’t see inside, so we really would need to go in just to make sure.

“We’re just going to take a look. Stand by,” Nalgath told my father as he and Juggy ventured into the cave. I kept my eyes on the surrounding trees as I watched them go inside. Nothing was different in the forest.

“Do you think they’ve been asleep this whole time?”

I thought back to the sharmy. The way they wrapped their four limbs around themselves and snuggled against the wall in tight little balls as they slept made it look like they were shielding themselves from something. I’d assumed that was the way they’d always slept, but now that I knew they were trapped under the summoning circle’s spell, I felt a heavy pain in my heart.

“I’m not sure. If they’re still asleep, I’d love to free them from the spell before they wake up.”

“Me, too.”

My father and I talked in hushed voices as we carefully sneaked peeks at the cave from behind our trees. Nalgath and Juggy had just reached the mouth of the cave and were stepping inside. As I stood and waited in silence, I started to hear the trickle of the river.

“Huh?”

I closed my eyes and strained my ears. The sound of the river…the wind rustling through the trees…I could hear those sounds but not a single noise made by any animal. We were in the forest, yet I couldn’t hear any animals.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe we’re in the forest, but we don’t hear a single animal.” My father nodded. “So you noticed?” I asked.

“A little earlier, yeah. I think something’s wrong with the entire forest.” There was a grim look on my father’s face which filled me with dread.

“Look, they’re back.”

Piarre’s voice jolted my attention back to the mouth of the cave, just in time to see Juggy and Nalgath coming out of it.

“The sharmy were asleep and completely motionless. We didn’t sense any other animal or monster auras, either, so we should be good to go. Ivy, are you ready?”

“Yes.” I picked up Sol, and it jiggled in my arms. “Sol, do your thing.”

“Pefu!” Sol quietly chirped back in reply.

Everyone formed a protective shield around me and Sol as we slowly made our way toward the cave. As I set Sol down at the mouth of the cave, Ciel gracefully jumped down from somewhere and landed by my side. It made me flinch a little. Ciel was so stealthy that it really was bad for my heart.

“Ivy?”

“Yes?”

Arly approached me and looked at Sol. “Do you know what Sol is going to do?”

“Um…have dinner?”

“Uhh…like, how?”

Oh, I understand! “With trash, Sol sucks out the magic energy and chomps it down,” I explained.

Piarre joined Arly in turning around and staring at Sol. “It…chomps magic energy down?”

“Yes, sir. Sol’s tentacles float in the air, grab hold of the magic energy, and carry it to its mouth. Then it chomps it down.”

“Sol’s tentacles?”

Huh? Haven’t they ever seen Sol’s tentacles? Oh, right, I don’t think they have.

“Yeah, Sol has tentacles it can move, kind of like hands. They’re pretty cute, actually.”

“Er, no, they’re not,” my dad quietly protested.

Not cute? Well, at least I think they are.

“What’s wrong, sir?”

Piarre had walked over to me, picked up Sol, and started inspecting it from many different angles. “Er, sorry… I was just wondering if Sol actually was a slime, but turns out it is.”

“Of course Sol’s a slime! Flame gave birth to it…I think.”

After Sol was born, all signs of the black stain that used to be on Flame’s body had disappeared completely, so I was sure Flame had given birth to Sol. And since Sol came from a slime, surely it was also a slime. I knew I had to be right.

I heard a loud sigh.

“Is something wrong, Mr. Arly?”

“Nope, everything’s okay. Anyway, Sol…time to shine.”

“Pefu!”

Sol bounced toward the cave. I carefully followed, my heart racing. If the sharmy woke up, they might attack Sol. If that happened, I was supposed to grab my slime and run away.

“They really have stayed asleep, haven’t they…?” my father said.

I looked up at the sharmy, who did indeed look exactly the same as before. I kept following Sol deeper into the cave. When we got to a darker part of the cave, Sol stopped and extended its tentacles.

“Wow, those are tentacles all right. Amazing…”

They were indeed amazing…but they were extra-long. Much longer than I’d ever seen them. Sol’s tentacles moved back and forth over the sea of trash. Without touching any of it, the slime was moving the layer of air above the garbage left and right. After repeating the motion over and over, the tentacles suddenly froze. Everyone’s eyes shot to Sol, but the slime didn’t seem to mind. It bounced up high and perched on top of the sea of trash. I was afraid this would activate the summoning circle, but I didn’t stop Sol.

“Pefu!… Pefu!… Pehhh-fu!”

Its deflated voice boomed through the cave. I stole a cautious glance at the sharmy, but they showed no signs of waking. I sighed in relief and looked at Sol again. When it approached the peak of the trash, the ground flashed with a black light.

“Agh!” Juggy jumped back from the edge of the trash pile and hugged the wall.

“Don’t touch it! You’ll lose your memory,” my father barked.

Nalgath’s men pressed their bodies against the wall to avoid touching the black light.

“Pehhh-fu!”

When they heard Sol’s voice—louder than it normally was—their eyes darted from the cave floor up toward Sol.

“Ah!” Before my very eyes, Sol’s body was expanding to cover the entire ocean of trash. It reminded me of the way Sora had expanded beyond imagination when it swallowed Ciel that one time. But there was just so much trash…and from the size of the glowing black light, I could tell the summoning circle was quite large, too.

“Think Sol will be okay?” I asked.

“It doesn’t look like we need to worry about it,” my dad answered.

He was right: I could hear the mirth in Sol’s voice and feel its excitement. I guess there was no need to worry about Sol after all.

“Slimes really can stretch so big you’d never know their original size,” Arly murmured as he gazed at the scene in awe.

“Maybe it’s because Sol’s special?” Nalgath asked.

“Because Sol’s rare?” Piarre added simultaneously.

I cautiously peeled my back away from the wall to have a look at the two men. Just like Arly, they were in complete awe at the expanding slime before them.

“Would you look at that—it swallowed up the whole ocean of trash,” Juggy said.

I looked at Sol, and sure enough, it had covered the entire pile. It had stretched even bigger than Sora.

“Wait a minute, I just realized the summoning circle’s light is gone,” Nalgath said, looking at the ground.

The black light that had been there before was now missing. Had Sol neutralized the summoning circle in such a short period of time?

“I think it’s neutralized? Look, the circle’s light changed color.”

I looked where my father was pointing and saw that the bits of summoning circle visible beneath the trash had indeed changed. The circle had been drawn with black lines before, but now it was white.

“Pefu!”

I frantically looked for Sol and found the slime perched atop the pile of trash, round as a balloon. Oh, good. You don’t look much different…you’re just rounder.

“Breh-pu!”

I guess you did eat too much. Don’t tell me you’ve already finished your dinner?