The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 447

Chapter 447:

Right, He’s the Guild Master!

 “GEE, THANKS. You didn’t have to make me lunch, too,” the guild master said as he crammed a sandwich into his mouth.

“It’s no trouble, sir. They’re easy to make.”

I reached for one of the sandwiches which I’d made with white bread. When the subject of lunch came up and I mentioned I was craving that kind of bread, the guild master returned from the market with a pile of it, so I decided to make some meat and veggie sandwiches. I thought I wouldn’t have much room for them after all those sweets with tea, but the sandwiches were so tasty after all this time without them.

“Are these those sandelights?” Zinal asked.

I gave him a look. What are sandelights?

“Haven’t you heard of them? I came across them in a village when I was on my way to Hataka.”

“Uh, no, sir. I’ve never heard of them.”

It’s the first time I’ve ever heard them called “sandelights.”

“Really? Well, they were meat and vegetables between two slices of bread, just like these things you made. The stall that made them was quite popular, so I had to see what they were selling. They went light on the meat, though, so I didn’t bother to buy any.”

Could it be…we have another slight name change on our hands?

“These are sandwiches, sir.”

What I just made were sandwiches. But “sandelights”? I wonder why they got the name “sand-thingies” when Bolorda and his party made them popular?

“Come to think of it, they sell something like that in Otolwa called sand-thingies. Sandelights, sand-thingies, and sandwiches, huh… They sound sort of similar…” Zinal looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. The words did sound similar, but they’d gone through an odd mutation.

I looked at the platter of sandwiches. Since the guild master had bought me so much white bread, I’d made a feast. If we had leftovers, I could just put them in a magic box to eat later. At least that was the plan…but it didn’t look like we were going to have any leftovers.

“Dang, these are good! I love the seasoning on the meat,” Zinal said. The guild master nodded mid-chew. They both seemed to especially like the meat.

“Mine tastes a bit spicy.”

“Oh? Mine is mild.”

The guild master and the captain stuffed their faces fuller and fuller of sandwiches. I was glad they liked them, but they each ate even more than my father. Zinal’s appetite had surprised me enough already, but the guild master went even further. Dang, I’m impressed. And he’s the oldest one here!

“Ahh, I’m stuffed,” I sighed. Thanks to the sweets I’d eaten earlier, I was quite full, even after a light lunch.

“Already? You won’t grow if you don’t eat more,” the guild master said.

I smiled sheepishly. Compared to the guild master, everybody ate light. “I had quite a lot of sweets before lunch, so I’m already full, sir.”

“Really? But you need to eat more nutritious food, kid.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Believe it or not, Ivy’s appetite has improved quite a bit,” my father said.

The guild master and Zinal shot looks at me. I thought that was a fair assessment—I had learned to eat more than I used to.

“She ate even less than this before?”

“Yeah, about half what she ate just now, maybe?”

When my father said that, I could see the uncomfortable looks on the men’s faces. When I was living in the forest and traveling on my own, I rarely ate enough to fill my belly. That made it hard for me to eat until my stomach was properly full. Rattloore was the one who called my attention to that. I remember how worried he’d been when he told me that most travelers ate much more and that I was smaller and thinner than most kids my age.

“Half?! You poor thing… I’m surprised you’re still alive.” The guild master reached out and gave my wrist a light squeeze. “Yeah, I see…quite thin. C’mon. Eat.”

“But I’m full, sir. Don’t worry, I’ve been gradually eating more and more every day.” I squeezed my wrist after the guild master let go of it. Was it really too thin?

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

I turned to look at Sora to see the slime looking content after a meal of potions. I was relieved that Flame also seemed to be full. Since we hadn’t been able to go to the dump, I’d had to feed them fewer potions lately.

“Hey, Dad, do you think we can go to the dump? We’re just about out of spare potions and magic items.”

“Weeeell, technically we can go there, yes…”

The rampaging sharmy had settled down, meaning we could go into the forest again, which meant we ought to be able to go to the dump, too. The only issue was whether it would actually have the items we needed. Since entering the forest had been prohibited all that time, it was likely that nobody had been going there to dump their trash.

“What do you do at the dump?”

“We need to pick up items for the slimes to eat,” my father explained.

The guild master thought for a moment. “Does it have to be a dump in the forest? I think you’ll find a lot of different items at the village’s temporary storage area.”

The temporary storage area?

“Whenever the forest is closed off, we make a temporary storage area to use as a dump.”

“But isn’t it guarded?”

Guarded?

“It is, but I’m the guild master—I can get around that.”

I looked at him. He can “get around that”? Oh!

“Oh, right! You’re the guild master, aren’t you?” my father gasped, looking at the guild master. (I guess I wasn’t the only one who’d forgotten.)

“That hurts, guys. I’m the most powerful man in this village, you know,” the guild master said, glaring at my father.

“Well… Ha ha ha ha! You just don’t feel like a guild master…” my father laughed.

The guild master’s shoulders drooped. “Well, I can’t help it if you keep seeing me at my worst. So, when should I send the guards away? Tomorrow good for you?”

We answered yes. But is this really okay? Then again, this temporary storage area probably has all the things we need right now…

“Thank you so much, Mr. Guild Master.”

“Hey, you’re doing us a favor, too, by taking all that trash off our hands.”

Right. I wonder what’s going on with Hataka’s tamers.

“How are Hataka’s tamers doing, sir?”

“Urrr… Not well. Their disposal powers have gone down a lot, and it’s killed their confidence.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, sir.”

“There’s one thing I want to ask you—may I?”

“Yes, sir. What is it?”

The guild master looked over at my creatures, which I thought was odd. “Is it just me, or does Sol have a taming symbol?”

“Oh, that’s right, sir! Sol accepted me, so it’s tamed now.”

“Ah… I see.” Zinal looked at Sol in turn. “So there must be more than one way to tame a monster.”

“Looks like it, yeah.” The guild master began to chuckle to himself, and his laughter spread to Zinal, too.

“What’s so funny?” my father asked.

“We had a famous tamer here named Marsha. I was just remembering something she said,” the guild master explained. “Nobody understood what she meant at the time, but until the day she died, she kept insisting, ‘Any tamer who relies on magic energy is second-rate. Controlling monsters by force is heresy!’”

“Huh?!”

“She lived by that motto from her teens all the way to her death. Too bad everyone else called her a fool for it.”

What did he just say…?

“Marsha became a tamer in the capital because she was highly skilled, but they drove her out since her taming methods threatened the status quo. You have to remember that tamers weren’t considered nearly as valuable then as they are now.”

“She sounded like an incredible tamer, sir.”

Even though she was ridiculed and driven out of the capital, she stuck to her convictions. She must have really been a strong person.

“Even after she came to Hataka, her philosophy never changed. So even though she was quite amazing, the other tamers shunned her. Looking back, we all should have listened to her more. When I watch you now, Ivy, I can see that Marsha was right.”

I wish I could have met her.

“I’m going to pass Marsha’s wisdom on to Hataka’s tamers. I only hope it’s not too late.”

“It’s not too late, sir. Isn’t that right, guys?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

“Pefu!”

…Mew?

Oops. Guess Ciel wasn’t paying attention.