The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 428

Chapter 428:

It’s Just One Problem After Another...

“WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?” my father asked, giving my head a pat. His eyes were a little tense with solemnity. I wasn’t sure if I should tell him what I was thinking, since I didn’t quite understand it yet myself, but I knew my father and the guild master might help guide me to some answers.

I asked, “Do you remember what Mr. Zinal said?” My father gave me a curious look. “About the guild master, I mean.”

“About me?”

“He said you were acting strange. His exact words were: ‘It was like a different person took over his body.’”

“Ah, right… He did say that,” my father nodded, remembering. The guild master sitting before me looked rather pitiful.

“If people noticed something wrong with the guild master, he must have been acting strangely, right? I was just wondering why he did that if he was under the spell. Wait a minute—why were the gentlemen of Zephyr able to sense something was off in the first place?”

“Hm?” both men asked.

Weren’t Zinal and his men also under the spell at that point? So how could they even notice something was wrong? Maybe they hadn’t been placed under the spell yet? Is that even possible? They were investigating the anomaly at the time, after all… No, no, they must have been under the spell then. Otherwise, they would have noticed the adventurers were behaving strangely.

“What is it?”

“I was just wondering how Mr. Zinal and his party could have noticed that something was wrong in this village even though they were under the spell.”

“You know, that’s a good question. If they were under the spell, they should have been just as oblivious to it as everyone else.”

“Then I thought of one other thing: Remember how Mr. Nalgath and his party said they told the captain a year and a half ago that the guild master was acting strangely? Now, how could they have noticed this when nobody else did? Unless other people did notice and just didn’t say anything?”

The two men pondered in silence.

“Another strange thing I noticed was that somebody tried to poison the captain. Everyone else was placed under the spell, so why was only the captain poisoned? Was the captain’s case separate from everyone else?”

“No, I doubt that. Whoever tried to kill Appas must have done it because they wanted his position,” the guild master said. It did make sense.

“But isn’t that still a little strange, then? Why didn’t they finish the job?”

“I’d wager it’s because Melisa caught on to them.”

If that was so, then Melisa and Eche had saved the captain’s life.

“But the mastermind could’ve easily put Melisa and Eche under the spell, too. All the other adventurers and watchmen in the village were.”

“Yeah… Fair point. Then maybe the mastermind had some other motive…but I can’t think of what it might be.”

My father and the guild master fell into thought. Arrrgh, it’s just one problem after another. I feel like we just keep getting further and further away from the answer. Okay, Ivy, calm down. Let’s see… What’s the biggest question we need to answer first? I think it’s what makes the captain and the guild master different from everybody else. I guess I’ll just ask that.

“Um, Mr. Guild Master, is there something about you and the captain that’s different from everyone else?”

“I’d say the main difference is our levels of magic energy.”

“Your levels of magic energy?”

“Yeah, Appas and I have a little more of it than most people.”

“Do you?” My father scratched his chin.

“Yeah… But does that mean anything?”

“Maybe. Is it harder to fall under a summoning circle’s spell if you have a lot of magic energy?” I asked. If that were the case, then the two men were significantly different from everyone else.

“Magic energy levels aren’t related to the activation of a summoning circle’s magic, so I’m not sure. Hmm… Yeah, I don’t think it would be harder for us to fall under its spell.”

That’s right, I remember hearing that before. For a second, I even hoped that meant I could learn how to use attack magic. Huh… I’m just not seeing anything else that links the two men, so then I’ll think about them separately. Let’s see… With the guild master, the biggest mystery is why other people noticed there was something wrong with him. Just the guild master… Just the guild master? Wait a minute…

“What if the guild master was put under a different spell than everyone else—isn’t that a possibility?” That could be why he reacted differently than the others.

“I was under a different spell? But that…could be true, come to think of it.”

Why would the mastermind put just the guild master under a different spell? Their potential motives…were too many to count. If you had the guild master in your back pocket, you could do just about anything you wanted—and the easiest way to get him in your back pocket would be to put him under a mind-control spell. That way, you could do whatever you pleased. 

So let’s say the mastermind put the guild master under a mind control spell… I guess they couldn’t risk leaving him alone for a while. They’d want to keep close watch over him to make sure he was still under their control. Hm? Wait a minute, that woman the guild master introduced as his wife—she was with him at the adventurer guild, wasn’t she…? Was she the one watching him? Let’s see, Nalgath said he introduced her as his wife two and a half years ago. Wait a minute, that’s strange. When Zinal saw him two years ago, he wasn’t behaving strangely yet, so it’s hard to believe he was under the spell before then. But is it really that hard to believe? What if the mastermind put him under their mind control little by little…?

“Um, does the magic from summoning circles always have to be powerful?”

“Powerful in what way?”

“Like, are there circles where you have to cast the spell over and over for them to take effect…or spells that take effect gradually?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you cast a powerful spell all at once, I think everyone would notice something was wrong.”

“You’re right, they would…” The guild master’s face turned pale. He seemed to understand what I was getting at.

“Then couldn’t the mastermind have cast a spell on you slowly so that nobody in your circle would notice?”

“Like brainwashing?” my father asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure of that much…but I don’t think we can rule out that possibility.”

“In other words, I was being used.” The guild master looked anguished.

“We aren’t quite sure of that yet, sir.”

“But if the mastermind had me under their control, it would be easy to cast a spell on the adventurers and watchmen. All they’d have to do is make me summon them to my study and have me cast the spell.”

“Guild Master, slow down. Can somebody under a spell cast a spell?”

“I don’t know… But I do know that if the mastermind had me in their back pocket, it would be easy to cast a spell on the adventurers and watchmen of Hataka.”

That’s right, it would be incredibly easy. Not many adventurers or watchmen would question a command from the guild master. By taking advantage of that fact, the mastermind could easily lure their victims one by one to the place where they’d cast the spell. It was an evil scenario, but entirely possible.

The guild master let out an anguished sigh. “My God, what have I done?”

“We still don’t know that you did anything, sir,” I quickly piped up. Nothing was settled yet, as far as I was concerned.

“No, I think you’re right, Ivy.”

“Mr. Guild Master?”

“It’s intriguing… When you said the word brainwash, a woman’s face popped into my mind. It might be her…”

“Your wife?”

“I really hope I’m…” the guild master murmured, shaking his head.

“Did you remember something?”

“No…just a face. But this face gives me a very bad feeling.”

In other words, his wife might be our mastermind.

“Ngh…!” The guild master pressed his temples and moaned. He seemed to hold off the pain for a moment, but then he clutched his head with both hands. The agony must have gotten worse.

“Are you okay?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Boing… Boomf!

Sora jumped in from nowhere and swallowed the guild master’s head whole. We all froze to the spot in shock. Even the guild master was rapidly blinking his eyes inside Sora’s body.

“After they’re done, let’s ask him how the world looks through Sora’s belly,” my father suggested.

“Yeah, let’s.”