The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 441

Chapter 441:

The Summoning Circle Carved in Stones

KNOCK, KNOCK! Knock, knock!

“Zinal! Druid! Sorry, but could ya open up?!”

I jumped in my seat when I heard the sudden knock at the front door.

“Who’s that? Is that the guild master’s voice?” My father got up and stood protectively in front of me.

“What’s going on?” Zinal asked, hurrying out of the next room to check on us. “You okay?”

“Yeah. That’s the guild master’s voice, right?”

Knock, knock! Knock, knock!

“Zinal! Druid!”

Hearing the voice again, we realized it was definitely the guild master. With a nod, Zinal headed for the door, and my father followed behind.

“Stay put, Ivy,” my father snapped.

“I’m coming, too.”

My father wavered a bit, but I just had to know what was going on. “All right, but stay back a little.”

“Okay.”

Nervously following behind my father, I stopped in a spot where I could see the front door, Ciel by my side. I gave Ciel’s head some soft pats, and it purred back at me. The adandara’s content demeanor calmed my anxious nerves.

“Guild Master, you gave us a scare!” Zinal opened the door and yelled at the man we assumed was the guild master.

“Sorry, there’s no time—I’ve got a favor to ask of Ivy.”

Me?

“What is it?” my father asked, a hint of disdain in his voice.

“You can come in first,” Zinal said.

“I should hope so. It’s my house…”

After briefly looking over the area surrounding the house, Zinal waved the guild master inside. It was a sobering sight to see—it made me realize I had to be careful with people, even if I knew them well. I’m going to pay more attention from now on. I don’t want to worry my father, either.

“Er—Ciel? Huh?” The moment the guild master entered his house, he froze at the sight of the creature beside me.

“Yes, sir… It’s Ciel. Right?”

Mrrrow.

“Er, um, yes…of course it’s Ciel.” The guild master nodded vaguely, coming the rest of the way into his house. “Thanks for having me over.”

I gave him a look, thinking it odd that he would thank us for letting him in his own house. There was a nervousness in his eyes that I couldn’t understand.

“Is this gonna take a while?” Zinal asked.

“Yeah, I don’t want to take a long time, but I’ll probably have to.”

Zinal and my father exchanged grim looks. I watched the three men retreat to the dining room, then I went into the kitchen and got to work making some tea. I looked around to find Ciel staring at me from behind.

“Thanks for protecting me, Ciel.”

Mrrrow.

It really was a relief having Ciel nearby.

“Phew… Boy, am I exhausted.”

I didn’t know why, but I felt like I got more tired with each passing day—like fatigue had more of an effect on me now. I originally thought it was all in my mind, but maybe it wasn’t. When did this start happening? Ever since we got involved with this case, right? Does that mean it’s the summoning circle? Did it take a deeper toll on everyone than we thought?

Mrrrow?

“Hee hee, don’t worry, I’m okay. The tea’s ready now, so let’s join them. The guild master wants to have a chat with me.”

Mrrrow.

I carried the tea to the dining room. The moment I stepped inside, I noticed a peculiar feeling in the air that made me smile awkwardly.

“Pefu!”

I looked over at the sound of Sol’s voice to see the three slimes were awake and looking at me.

“Here, have some tea.” I made my voice as chipper as possible to lighten up the mood as I set a cup of tea before each person. Once the tea was distributed, I sat beside my father.

“So, what’s this request you have for Ivy?” There was a sense of dread on my father’s face. I looked up at him quizzically while eyeing the guild master. The guild master smiled awkwardly at Zinal and my father’s behavior, then pulled himself back together and began to explain.

“We found another one of their home bases besides the church, and the documents we confiscated had some intel on a very special summoning circle. This one is made of twelve stones surrounding the village, each carved with a summoning circle. I ordered several adventurers to search the forest, and I heard that they found it right away. The captain and I talked it over and decided to destroy it.”

“Did you decide destroying it wouldn’t backfire on us?” Zinal asked, propping his elbows on the table thoughtfully.

“Not exactly. Actually, we thought destroying it would be the safest course of action. There was a little description of that summoning circle written up in the documents, saying that it restricts certain people’s movements and thoughts of specific people.”

Specific people?

“Which specific people are we talking about?” my father asked.

The guild master sighed and shook his head. “Specific is a misleading word—these people aren’t chosen by the caster. Er, the papers described these people as ‘Possessing alien skills and memories.’”

Huh?! My father and Zinal both tilted their heads quizzically.

“What do they mean, alien?”

“We don’t know the full details. That’s all that was written.”

Alien? Skills and memories…huh? Something’s really on the tip of my tongue… Skills? Memories?

“Well, if you destroyed it, problem solved, right? You shouldn’t need to ask Ivy for any help.”

“We tried to break it…but it wouldn’t break.”

My father raised an eyebrow at the guild master. Zinal also looked bewildered.

“We tried to destroy it physically, since the summoning circle was carved into the stones, but nothing we did could break them. So I borrowed the spell-breakers from the captain and had them try their hand at it…but that didn’t work, either.”

So neither physical nor magic attacks could break it?

“Maybe there’s a shield?”

“It’s not showing any shield effects, so we were thinking maybe Sora or Sol could do something about it. Sorry, Ivy…” The guild master turned to me and lowered his head.

“Pefu!”

I was about to ask him to stop bowing to me, but then Sol bounced onto the table, waddled up to me, and stood up straight.

“Sol, are you going to help?”

“Pefu!”

The guild master’s face shot up at the sound of Sol’s voice. My father and Zinal glared at him.

“Dad. Mr. Zinal,” I scolded them both.

The guild master smiled sheepishly. “I don’t blame them. They don’t want me to get you involved.”

“Good. We’re on the same page,” Zinal said blandly.

The guild master shrugged his shoulders.

“Pefu! Pefu!” Sol bounced up and down on the table. It looked like the slime was either in a hurry or wanted us to get moving…

“Let’s say Ivy does help you. You’re going to make sure none of those bastards see her, right?” Zinal demanded.

The guild master nodded earnestly. “Arly and Juggy are already standing on that, so don’t worry.”

“Pefu! Pefu!” Sol squealed impatiently. The men gave it a confused look.

“Want to come with me? I think Sol wants to go right away.”

“Pefu!” Sol cried happily, as if to say, “That’s right!” I stared at Sol, wondering why it was so important for us to hurry.

“All right, let’s go.” Sensing something from Sol’s behavior, my father jumped out of his chair and started getting ready to head out.

“Ciel, can you stay in slime form until we get to the forest?” I had my reservations about Sol’s behavior, but we would probably find out what it meant when we saw the summoning circle.

Mrrrow. Ciel shifted quickly into slime form. I put it in the bag with the other slimes and headed for the front door, where the guild master waiting for us.

“Again, sorry about this.”

“It’s all right, sir. I’m glad to hear the adventurers can help now, too.”

I remembered him saying earlier that he’d ordered adventurers to go look for the summoning circle, which must have meant they’d been freed from the spell.

“Yeah, the magic stones you gave the captain helped us break the spell much sooner for everyone. And when we asked the spell-breakers how they were doing, they said they only felt some minor negative side effects. Thanks, Ivy.”

“My pleasure, sir.”

After all our precautions, they still felt minor side effects. I hope they’re going to be okay.

“Something wrong?”

“No, sir… It’s just that they do feel some bad side effects, right? Will they be okay?”

“Hm? Oh, they’ll be fine. They said they were all right when I asked—they seemed incredibly chipper, actually.”

Incredibly chipper? Then…I guess they’ll be okay?