The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 435

Chapter 435:

Summoning Circle—Activation

WE ENTERED THE ROOM to find Melisa half-seated, carefully writing out each of the summoning circle’s glyphs one by one. I looked up at the ceiling to find an already complete summoning circle.

“Oh, is something wrong, Captain? I’m just finishing up this summoning circle—I’ll be done in a jiff.”

“Thanks. We just came to check in on you,” the captain answered.

“Oh, I’m just fine. I assure you I won’t make any mistakes.” Melisa flapped the piece of paper in her left hand. It had every glyph used in the summoning circle neatly drawn out.

“You’ve gotten quite good at drawing, haven’t you?”

“Only because I practiced my tail off! So many of these glyphs don’t look like proper letters.”

I followed Melisa’s gaze as it wandered from the captain to the rest of the room, which was full of messy piles of papers covered in practice drawings.

“Ha ha ha! You really did practice your tail off. Thanks.”

“You’d better be thankful. These stinking glyphs…”

I gazed at the summoning circle as I listened to the captain and Melisa banter. I could tell its glyphs were completely different from the ones used in the summoning circle that had enchanted Snakey. And if you asked me, some of those “letters” looked an awful lot like pictures…

“There! Just one more glyph and…I’m finally done!” Melisa stood up and patted her lower back, which looked awfully stiff.

“That’s my Melisa—not a single mistake to be seen,” the captain said. “It’s perfect. Thanks.”

Melisa sighed in relief. “If this thing activates okay, that’ll break the spell, right?” Melisa stole a glance at the captain while she was tidying up.

“Yeah, this summoning circle should be able to save a lot of people, but we won’t know whether it works or not until we activate it.”

Even though Melisa copied the summoning circle perfectly, they still don’t know if it will work?

“Is that so, Captain? But I know I didn’t mess up any of the glyphs…”

“Even if you draw them perfectly, sometimes a summoning circle won’t activate.”

“Wow, what a troublesome little thing you are! And here I worked so hard to draw you perfectly, too,” Melisa muttered under her breath at the summoning circle.

“Well, there’s only a slight chance that they won’t work—most summoning circles produce results once you activate them, so it should be okay.”

“I see. Well, I’ll just have to have faith it will work.” Melisa shrugged her shoulders.

The captain nodded. “Yes, faith…” He gave the summoning circle an anguished look, while Melisa uncomfortably stared at the floor.

“Shall I…bring in the people to activate it?” Melisa asked. “They’re standing by…”

The captain frowned and held his chin in his hand. “Sure…let’s try activating the summoning circle for a moment. If it works, then we’ll lift all the curses in order.”

Melisa nodded at the captain’s instruction and left the room.

“Druid…Ivy…people will be coming in here shortly.”

“All right. Let’s go, Ivy.”

“Okay.”

On our way out, I stole a glance at the captain. He was just staring emotionlessly at the summoning circle.

“Phew…” Once we were out of the room, I heaved a quiet sigh. Summoning circles needed to be activated by human hands. Everybody knew what might happen to those people… I felt the weight of a hand on my head. It moved gently, and all my pent-up tension melted away with it. 

I’d been a nervous wreck without realizing it.

“Let’s go upstairs.”

“Okay. Do you think Sol’s magic stones will help?” I asked my father as I walked up the stairs behind him.

“Yeah. I know they will.”

We hadn’t the faintest clue what sort of powers those magic stones had, but Sol had made them just for us, so there must have been something to them. I just had to have faith.

“Ivy, this house is going to fill up with adventurers and watchmen soon. Let’s go back to the guild master’s place.”

“Okay, good idea.”

While my father went to talk to the captain, I turned and started packing up to leave. “Sorry, guys, but we need to lay low at the guild master’s house for a while.”

My creatures jiggled in reply. I got their bag ready, then put them in one by one.

“Hey there,” my father greeted me when he came back. “Ready?”

“Oh, wait!” As we were walking out the back entrance of the captain’s house, Eche stopped us. We turned around to see her carrying a basket. “Take this lunch with you. Don’t worry, I would never poison anything meant for Ivy to eat.”

Does that mean…she would poison the food if I wasn’t eating it?

“Also, the summoning circle activated. Have a safe trip back.” With that, Eche promptly returned to the house. She must be busy.

“So the summoning circle works,” I said.

“Sounds like it. The watchmen will be here any minute, I’ll bet.”

“Oh…”

I should be happy that it activated, but I’m not. I feel torn. Being able to make that decision shows how strong the captain is.

“I’m going to tell you what the captain told me, Ivy. I think it’s best you know.”

“Yes, please.”

“They’re going to keep the summoning circle active as long as they can. For today, however, they’re just keeping watch. They have a target of one hundred people for now, and they’ll see how it affects them.”

So they’re testing how well the summoning circle works for now?

“If those one hundred people have no adverse reactions tomorrow, then they’ll go into full swing, breaking the spell on the adventurers and watchmen. Since they want to free as many people from the spell as possible, they’re going to activate the summoning circle repeatedly without a break.”

I could see why. If they waited much longer, more people could wind up like the gatekeepers. On the other hand, if they activated the summoning circle that way, would the people working the spell be okay?

“The only catch is, while this summoning circle has been activated a number of times, it has never been done in succession like this, which means there’s no telling if any problems might come up.”

“What kind of problems?”

“The captain said they can’t even predict it… But you’re worried about the spell-casters, right, Ivy?”

“Yeah. I’m afraid they might go mad.”

“I know. It happened to one of the gatekeepers.”

“Yeah.”

“The people who’ve gathered to operate the summoning circle have no idea how many times they’ll be able to activate it.”

“Really? They have no idea at all?”

“I’m afraid not. We’re hoping everyone will be freed from the spell before any of the casters lose their minds, but I think that’s going to end up being difficult.”

Well, yeah… There are just too many people under the spell. And with a lot of them, we aren’t even sure whether they’re under it or not.

“That’s why Zinal and his men are on standby at the house—in case the worst happens.”

They are?

“When someone loses their mind, their sense of pain dulls. Sometimes they’ll lash violently out at people until they can’t move. And since they’re not in their right mind, they’re hard to fight because their moves are tricky to predict. According to the captain, there’ve been documented cases of people still rampaging several minutes after their hearts stop.”

That’s terrifying.

“Since the captain is in no condition to handle that, Eche is on standby with Zinal and his men.”

I remembered how frail the captain looked. The light in his eyes was strong, but he definitely seemed weak in the muscles.

“But Mr. Zinal and his men should be able to take care of everything, right?”

“Yeah, they’ll be fine… Will you be okay, Ivy?” My father peered at me worriedly. I smiled awkwardly back and nodded. If I had to say one way or the other, I probably would be okay. I just felt so terribly hopeless… 

I wish summoning circles would just go away forever.