The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 450

Chapter 450:

I Hate Them!

 “WOWEEE, look at all the sharmy!”

As we approached the sharmy colony, we spotted dozens upon dozens of the creatures perched in the trees.

“I think there’s more now than what we saw in the cave,” my dad observed.

I looked around and saw that he was right. “Think they were hiding before? Or maybe they ran away a while ago and now they’re back?”

Wait a minute, there are sharmy with long fur now. Is that the way they’re supposed to look?

“Yeah, I think they were probably runaways who came back. Most animals don’t risk their lives to defend their homes.”

But aren’t all animals like that? Oh, I guess not. Most monsters will die to protect their territory if they’ve taken a liking to it. Maybe that’s a basic difference between animals and monsters.

“Then again, weak monsters run away at the first sign of danger,” my father added.

So it’s more a matter of strong versus weak than monsters versus animals. Even monsters flee to protect their species if they’re weak.

“The people of Hataka would be relieved to know that all the sharmy came back,” I said.

“They sure would.”

To the people of Hataka, who were still reeling from the tragedy in their village, the state of their forest would be welcome news. They really did love the sharmy, which was a good thing. However…

“They’re glaring at us…glaring hard…” I could even hear some of them hissing and growling.

My father chuckled. “They think we’re the enemy.”

I looked up to see countless pairs of eyes glaring down at us. We saw ourselves as their colony’s saviors, but they looked at Ciel as a threat that nearly scared them to death.

“Too bad we never got to be friends,” I sighed. The people of Hataka had said sharmy were usually very friendly and sweet.

“Yeah, too bad. Maybe we can make friends next time we’re in Hataka.”

“I sure hope so.”

Under the sharmy’s wary gaze, we made our way to their cave. Each time a sharmy hissed at us, Ciel shot it a death glare, so the complaints tapered off.

“There’s supposed to be a path next to the cave…” My father consulted the map the guild master had given him while pointing at the cave the sharmy called home. When we got closer, a tiny path came into view.

“So we should just walk along the path then?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’ll help us avoid the dangerous roads.”

Waving goodbye to the sharmy, we took the path as directed. It was narrow but well trodden, so it was a breeze to walk on.

“I love that there aren’t any roots in the way.”

On some paths, roots jutted out from the ground; if you didn’t watch your step, you’d trip on them. We walked in silence for a while, trying to avoid throwing a wrench in the guild master’s plans.

“We left the village four hours ago, so we should be safe now,” my father said.

“Good. Can we take a little break?” I looked for some boulders that might serve as comfortable places to sit.

“Sure. We sure did walk a lot.”

I massaged my ankles and nodded. Since we’d had to stay in hiding all that time in the village, we hadn’t gotten a chance to move around much, so my feet were getting tired much easier than they usually did. “It’s been ages since we marched for four hours straight.”

“You know, you’re right. Are you guys all doing okay?” he asked the creatures.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Mrrrow.

“Pefu!”

Huh? I didn’t hear Flame’s voice. I approached Ciel to find Sora and Sol had slid off its back, but Flame was still curled up there; it was sleeping, actually.

“You still sleep a lot less than you used to, little friend.” I carefully picked Flame up.

“Teryu?”

“C’mon, let’s take a little nap. Well, guess you were already doing that.”

“Teryuuu…” Flame opened its mouth wide and yawned. Don’t ever change, buddy. As I was gently setting it on the ground, Ciel arched its back and its fur stood straight up.

“Something’s coming our way,” my father observed.

I searched for auras and sensed a monster aura a fair distance away.

“What should we do?”

Mew! Ciel answered my father, its tail swishing violently back and forth.

“Thanks, Ciel.”

Mrrrow. With another wave of its tail, Ciel looked left and right, then jumped into a tree. It slithered through the branches and quickly vanished out of sight.

“What do we do now?” my father asked.

“Dunno…” Now that Ciel had stopped concealing its magic energy, the critters in the forest had gotten a bit frantic.

“Ciel really has gotten good at completely masking its magic energy, huh?” my father said.

“You said it. I wasn’t paying attention, so I hadn’t noticed.”

Mee-YAAAH!

“Agh!”

“Whoa!”

An earth-rumbling growl echoed through the woods. Then silence fell on the forest…until all the critters around us started to freak out.

“Damn, Ciel’s amazing.”

“Yeah. Amazing, but…”

Isn’t Ciel going a little too far? Sure, the monster that was coming for us is running away now…but I can tell from all the mixed-up auras that the other monsters and animals in the forest are also running like there’s no tomorrow.

Mrrrow. Ciel gracefully landed from the trees. The creature looked so proud of itself that I had to laugh.

“Good work, Ciel. Let’s take a break until all the other critters settle down.”

Sora and Flame were merrily bouncing around Ciel, but Sol was a few feet away, staring off into the distance.

“Hey, Sol, did you spot some magic energy you like?”

“……”

Whenever Sol didn’t answer me, I wasn’t sure if it meant the answer was “no” or if it was completely focused on scanning for magic energy.

“Oh, by the way, I asked the guild master and…here you go,” my father said, passing me a plate of onigiri and marinated baaba meat. The freshly cooked aromas danced directly into my hungry stomach.

“Ooh, thanks! What did you ask him?” I took a bite of dinner and looked up at my father.

“I asked him how we fell under the summoning circle’s spell.”

Oh, that’s right! We still hadn’t figured that out yet. I stopped mid-bite and turned to look at my father again.

“It was Father Salify, apparently.”

Father Salify? He was the one who activated the summoning circles carved on his body and made the guild master run out to stop him, right?

“When the captain examined the summoning circles carved on his body, he figured out that the spell on them brainwashes everyone within a certain radius when it’s activated.”

“So we were in his radius?”

“That’s right. The spell doesn’t cover a very big range, but it’s designed to be cast slowly and secretly.”

“Have we ever even met Father Salify?”

“I don’t think so.”

We haven’t? Then how did he cast the spell on us? Wouldn’t he have to come close to us?

“He spent his nights wandering around the plaza,” my father explained.

Now it all makes sense… He must have cast it on us while we were sleeping.

“Wow, that’s really scary. If they have that kind of magic in their back pocket, they could hurt even more people than they already have.”

“Yes, but not many people who carve brainwashing summoning circles onto their bodies survive.”

“What?!”

“Most of them go mad as soon as they finish carving the circle.”

“How terrifying…and Father Salify did it anyway. I remember them saying Gupinus had a summoning circle carved on his body, too.”

“That was a protection spell.”

A protection spell?

“It hides the caster from anyone nearby who might harm them.”

Who might harm them? So it hid Gupinus from the people trying to catch him?

“Do you think that means he was planning on skipping town by himself?”

“Probably, yeah. He tried to hide the day he was caught, but when the summoning circle failed to activate for two days, he panicked and wound up telling us what its power was. For someone who worked his way all the way up to church bishop, he really was a small man. He blabbed everything, even answers to questions we never asked.”

So if he had gotten his summoning circle to activate, he would have escaped. Hoo boy, I’m sure glad his magic didn’t work.

“And Father Salify?” I asked.

“We can’t get any more information out of him.”

Is that…because he’s lost his mind? Or because he died?

I sighed. “This case just seems like it’ll never really end.”

“You can say that again.”

I stuffed my face with onigiri. The salted rice balls paired beautifully with the marinated meat. Very beautifully.

“This is so yummy!”

No amount of pain or anger would get us anywhere. I wanted to march over to Gupinus and give him a piece of my mind, but I couldn’t do that. His people were after me because I had memories of my past life. Still, I don’t think for one minute that I’d be better off without those memories. If not for them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I took a hard bite into the second onigiri on my plate… Don’t take it out on your dinner, Ivy.

“Phew… Summoning circles, the church, I hate them both!”

“Me, too.”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

“Pefu!”

Mrrrow.

“Huh?!” My father and I looked at the creatures, surprised that they’d answered our rallying cry.

“What, do you guys feel the same way?” my father asked.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

“Pefu!”

Mrrrow.

They each answered him earnestly. At a closer look, Sora’s and Flame’s cheeks were puffed out, Sol’s eyes were beady dots, and Ciel’s fur was standing on end. Seeing them like this made my jaw drop…then, barely a few moments later, I laughed.