The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 442

Chapter 442:

Sol, Enraged

WHEN WE LEFT THE VILLAGE, Fische was at the border waiting for us. We ventured into the forest with him at the helm.

“Whoa! Did the forest change?” my father asked.

“You noticed?” Fische answered.

Zinal also looked around in confusion. “Yeah, it has a different feel than forests usually have.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Nothing looked different as far as we could see, and yet the forest gave off such an alien impression that we all sensed something was different.

“We noticed it as soon as we went into the forest, too. Except it wasn’t a bad feeling, so we decided we’d keep our eyes and ears open.”

It was as Fische said: Something was different, but that didn’t make us uncomfortable. It was just different, that’s all. I gave the trees a curious look, thinking it strange that I didn’t know what was strange. My focus was pulled away from the trees when I felt a rustling in the bag hanging off my shoulder.

“Is it all right if I take my creatures out, sir? Where are the other adventurers and watchmen?”

“They’ve already gone back to the village, so you can take them out,” Fische said.

I stopped walking and opened my bag. Ciel came flying out first; it promptly returned to its true form and had a look around.

“Damn, that’s majestic. And a lot more muscular than the drawings I’ve seen in books.” Fische smiled, happy to see Ciel in adandara form. Next, Sol jumped out of the bag, followed at last by Sora and Flame, who sprang out in unison.

“So much energy. Well, let’s get go… Hey, Fische!” Zinal barked at Fische from behind as the man grinned dumbly at Ciel.

“Agh, sorry. This way.”

After walking for a while, we came upon a stone about as tall as me. Near it, Garitt was sitting on a fallen tree.

“I see you’ve tried a lot of things,” my father said.

Fische smiled. “Too bad none of them worked.”

There were a bunch of tools scattered on the ground around Garitt. At a glance, I could see at least ten magic items designed to break stone—I could also tell right away that every one of them was broken. Those stones must have been incredibly tough.

“Sorry we took so long,” Fische said, waving at Garitt.

“It’s all right. Nothing’s changed since you left.” Garitt stood up from the fallen tree he was using as a chair.

“What hasn’t changed?” When the guild master approached the stone, it floated slightly off the ground and the summoning circle glyphs on it glowed brighter.

“Guild Master! Get back!” Garitt yelled. The guild master scooted back a step.

“Pefu! Pefu! Pefu!”

Startled by Sol’s deeper-than-usual voice, I looked at the slime and saw it glaring menacingly at the stone. I barely had time to gasp in surprise before the little slime charged head-on for it.

“Sol! Watch out!”

My father moved quickly to stop Sol when he heard me scream, but the slime only picked up more speed as it ran and then flew at the stone. The next thing I knew, Sol’s body grew huge, its jaw opened wide, and it swallowed the stone whole.

Crack!

The moment Sol swallowed the stone, a loud crack boomed through the air.

“What?!” we all gasped.

We got closer to have a better look at the stone and noticed a huge crack in it.

“It broke,” Garitt said. Fische nodded silently, his jaw dropped.

“Pefu!” Sol spat the stone out, jumped on top of it, and bounced up and down. With each bounce, the stone cracked more.

Crack! Crack!

When the cracks ran all the way from the top to the bottom of the stone, the glowing glyph started to fade.

“It looks like that stone’s pretty easy to destroy…” Zinal said, but Fische and Garitt shook their heads.

“No, believe me, nothing we tried could break it.”

“Still, watching Sol work, it does look easy to… Oh! Is that a hammer? How’s it even holding the thing?”

“Oh, yeah, Sol has tentacles,” my father said casually.

“What?!” Zinal’s party yelped in shock. Sol ignored them and kept pounding on the stone with the hammer that had been left next to it.

Kong! Kong! Kong!

“Sol’s on a rampage,” my father said. Zinal laughed.

“That hammer didn’t break the stone when you used it, right?” Garitt asked Fische.

“No, not a single crack…but now it’s smashed to pieces.”

“Is it a magic hammer?” my father asked.

Zinal smiled sheepishly and replied, “It’s a rare magic hammer. It’s served us well over the years, too, since it can easily break tough things or enchanted items. Are you sure that hammer didn’t break it when you tried?”

Fische nodded. “Not a bit.”

“Anyway, do you think Sol knows what that stone is?” the guild master asked.

That made me think, Yeah, Sol must know, or else it wouldn’t be so desperate to destroy it.

“Pefu!”

Sol tossed the hammer aside in satisfaction. The broken stone lost even more of its pale glow until it turned into a pitch-black rock. Wait…what’s this I feel? It’s like all my tiredness just faded away… I looked up at my father in confusion, and our eyes met.

“Ivy…do you feel okay?” There were deep creases between his brows.

“Yeah, I’m fine. In fact, I feel much lighter now, like all my fatigue is gone… I think I’ve healed from something.”

“Okay, so it happened to you, too.”

Me, too? My father looked at the now-black stone. That reminds me, why was this stone put here in the first place? I don’t know why, but I’m suddenly dying of curiosity. Okay, so the guild master said it involved restricting the movements of people with foreign memories and skills. I guess my father and I would fit that description, wouldn’t we?

“What is it? Is something going on?” The guild master gave me and my father a concerned look, noticing something was off. The other three looked at us, too.

“Mr. Guild Master, did you feel anything when the stone turned black?”

The guild master thought about my question for a moment, then shook his head and said, “No.” I looked at Zinal and his men, but they all shook their heads at me, too. Which meant my father and I were the only ones who felt it.

“Pefu!” With a worried chirp, Sol bounced over to me. Had Sol known about this stone all along? Did it know that the summoning circle carved on it was affecting me and my father? But if Sol did know, it definitely would have told us.

“Thanks, Sol. We’re okay now.”

What would have happened to us if Sol hadn’t broken the stone? The thought made me shudder. My father gave me a few gentle pats.

“Druid, is it something you can tell us?” Zinal stared at my father.

“It’s a long story, but yes.”

“Okay, I understand.” With a nod, Zinal went to speak with the guild master and the others. They wanted to go see what had happened to the other eleven stones. After a while, Zinal returned with four sticks. I wondered what he was going to do with them.

“Whoever wins stays here to guard Ivy and Druid,” Zinal said. The others nodded. Were they going to use these sticks to decide who would check on the stones?

“Make one of them shorter than the rest, then hold them so we can’t tell which one it is.”

Oh, so that’s how they’ll decide.

“Got it.” My father walked away from the others, then shortened one of the sticks and gripped them all in his fist. “They’re ready.”

The other men each chose a stick. Then, on the count of three, my father let go.

“I win! Okay, guess I’m guarding you again.” Since Zinal had drawn the shortest stick, he waved goodbye to the other three as they left. I sent them off with a wave of my own.

“Aw, I wanted to stay and play with Ciel!” Fische pouted.

I smiled. “Hee hee! Be safe out there!”

“Say hi to those stones for me!” Zinal shouted.

The other men sighed and went the opposite way from where we came, deeper into the forest. “Once things settle down, come back to the village. The captain’s house… No, that won’t work. Everyone, meet at my house.” The guild master handed my father the key and promptly joined the others in their march.

“Seriously, be careful out there,” I called after them.