The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 443

Chapter 443:

Another World

 “UHH… WERE YOU OKAY with it being me?” Zinal looked back and forth between my father and me. His uncomfortable expression made me chuckle under my breath. Zinal and the other members of the party called Zephyr were incredible people. Not only were they investigators, but they were doing secret behind-the-scenes work as well. The thought of me making one of those extraordinary people uncomfortable tickled me a little.

“Ivy?” Zinal stared at me.

“Sora! Is Zinal safe?”

Zinal gave me a strange look. Sora, who was playing on top of the broken black stone, immediately ran over to me and answered, “Pu, pu, puuu!” Now that we had Sora’s seal of approval, I knew we should be fine.

“The thing about alien skills and memories…that fits with my father and me.”

“Ah, right. The guild master said something… Yes, aha, I see…”

Huh? He’s taking it much better than I thought.

“Huh…? Ivy! Druid!”

“Yes, sir?”

“What?”

Zinal lunged forward and grabbed my shoulders. There was a terrifying glint in his eyes. “How’s your health? How’s your condition? Any summoning circle side effects? Let’s get you to the captain’s right this minute—we’ll have Eche examine you.”

That surprised me. Also, why would he ask about my condition and my health? Weren’t those the same thing? As I just stared blankly at Zinal, he sputtered and said, “Ivy? You feel okay? Druid, why are you laughing?!”

I looked at my father. His back was turned, but I could tell he was laughing. A strange noise was coming from him, too—probably from covering his mouth.

“Hey, Druid?”

I needed to calm them down first. “Mr. Zinal, please take a breath. My father and I are both okay.”

“Really? But we don’t know what this summoning circle is capable of. I don’t want something happening to you on my watch.” Zinal looked me up and down, gave a little nod, and then looked at my father. All this time, I’d felt like Zinal kept himself guarded around us, but he’d never felt closer than he did now.

“We really are okay, sir. Besides, if the summoning circle was still dangerous, Sol would let us know.”

Zinal gasped. His eyes darted around looking for Sol…then he sighed in relief. “Sorry… So what does this alien business mean?”

When he heard Zinal’s question, my father finally stopped laughing and looked at me. I nodded back at him. If we hid that truth from Zinal, we couldn’t explain the summoning circle to him.

“In this case, alien means another world.”

Zinal cocked his head. “Another world? Not this world… That reminds me of one of the fairy tales I read as a kid. A boy came here from another world and went on an adventure.”

What a story. I think I’d like to read it…

“So alien means…your skills and memories come from another world?” Zinal looked at us in bewilderment.

“That’s right,” my father nodded.

Zinal’s thoughtful face grew serious. “Does this mean you have memories from another world? And skills, too? Skills from another world…? Whoa, but that’s incredible!” The moment he realized what it all meant, Zinal began to panic. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation out in the open. Let’s go back to the guild master’s house. We’ll have Eche take a look at you both first.”

Zinal was determined to have Eche examine us so he could get rid of his worries about our health, but I was confused about why it had to be Eche. Wasn’t she a former assassin? Maybe you had to be well versed in the human body to have a job like that…

“That okay with you?” Zinal asked my father, who agreed with an awkward smile. Worrying Zinal was the last thing we wanted to do, so we didn’t mind going along with what he wanted if it would ease his anxiety.

“Wait just a minute…” Zinal scooped up all the scattered magic items. We helped him collect the pieces of broken black stone.

“What is it? Feel anything?” Zinal asked.

My father picked up a fragment of stone and stared at it. “I don’t feel anything—I’ve just never seen a stone as black as this before.”

I looked at the stone in my hand. I had seen black iron and other metals before, so black stones weren’t exactly rare. But the one in my hand sent an ominous chill down my spine when I looked at it…

“Yeah, I wonder what this stone is…but staring at it makes me feel like I’m looking into a dark abyss.”

I nodded at my father. His wording sounded strange, but it perfectly fit the feeling I was having.

“Okay, all packed. Let’s go. Oh—let’s get these, too. I want to show the captain.” Zinal stopped us from tossing aside the black stone fragments. We handed them to him, agreeing the captain should see them. 

Zinal stared intently at the black fragments of stone in his hand. “So creepy.” He put the fragments into a small bag and hung it from his belt. “Okay, we’ve got everything now. Let’s go.”

Ciel in slime form was taking part in its usual contest with Sora. Today, they were playing the body-slamming game.

“Hey, Dad? How do they decide who’s won?”

“Huh, I’ve been watching all this time and I still don’t know. Is it whoever has the biggest reaction? Or whoever causes the most pain?”

I looked at the two, but I still couldn’t tell who was winning. As I stood there, staring, Flame bounced over to join them. When the three of them slammed into each other, Flame’s body got bigger for a moment. Because of this, Sora and Ciel were propelled a little farther away.

“I don’t usually see Flame join in the fun,” my father remarked.

I nodded. Flame generally liked to watch from a distance, but for some reason it was in the mood today. I looked for Sol and found that it had wandered beside me, so I picked it up.

“Pefu!”

“Thanks for deactivating that summoning circle. You really saved us.” I had forgotten to properly thank Sol before, so I looked it in the eye when I showed my gratitude. Sol jiggled shyly in response, and it was such a cute reaction that I hugged it even tighter.

“Pefweee…”

Huh? I think Sol said something different than usual. Well, whatever.

“Teryuuu.”

I looked toward Flame’s satisfied cry to see Sora and Ciel hanging their heads in defeat.

“I guess the one who flies the farthest away loses,” my father said.

I just had to laugh at the confusing game.

“Okay, guys, can you get back in the bag for me?”

The playful slimes all gathered by my side. As I put them in the bag one by one, Zinal looked on in awe. “It really is incredible.”

When the three of us left, Zinal walked protectively next to me opposite my father.

“What’s incredible, sir?”

“Your relationship with your tamed monsters. It’s better than any I’ve ever seen.”

“Well, if you just try to connect with them on a spiritual level, it’s easy to build a good relationship with them.”

“Yeah, watching you all has made me a believer, Ivy. Just hearing about it isn’t convincing enough…” Zinal shrugged his shoulders. I agreed that showing was faster than telling.

“Good afternoon, sir.” We greeted the new gatekeeper as we entered Hataka Village, and a burst of loneliness overcame me. Nobody had told me outright, but none of the original gatekeepers had made it.

“The poor villagers are confused, aren’t they?”

“Looks like somebody explained what happened to them.”

Now that we were back from the forest, the villagers were behaving differently than before. Apparently, somebody had filled them in.

“Aha! There you are!”

As we walked down the main street, Kohl and Lizzy, the people who had eaten marinated baaba meat with us and worked so hard to start a food stall selling it, rushed over to us.

“Oh, thank goodness! We couldn’t find you in the plaza, then the captain told us this crazy story, and we were worried something happened to you both.”

From the shaking in Kohl’s voice, it was clear they’d been worried sick looking for us.

“We’re okay, sir, thanks. We’re staying with a new friend we made here.”

“Oh, really? But anyway, did you hear what happened? Scary, right?” Lizzy looked rattled, rubbing her arms as she spoke. Her face was a bit tense.

“The captain and guild master are back to normal now, so I’m sure everything will be okay.” There was an edge in Kohl’s voice as he said that. He had to be scared as well.

“How’s the village looking? Everything under control, I hope?”

Disorder and discontent sent people into panic mode. Even a tiny disturbance in Hataka would be a big problem.

“No problems there. The captain said all the conspirators have been arrested.”

Oh, good. I think everything will be okay, then.

“Glad to hear it.”

“Oh, and the food stall is doing great. Come have a bite! Our treat.”

“Sorry, but we have plans today. Once things settle down, we’ll swing by,” my father said.

Kohl and Lizzy looked disappointed to hear it. After we promised to visit their food stall later, we parted ways.

“I feel bad. We worried them,” I said.

“I know. Let’s try to go to their stall tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

We didn’t know how much longer we could stay in Hataka, so we needed to follow through on our promise as quickly as we could.