The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

Snake Monsters

THE NEXT MORNING, I woke up filled with anxiety. But when I opened my eyes…Sora was still there! It hadn’t disappeared! I’d never thought that I’d be so happy to see someone in the morning.

I settled Sora in a magic bag and headed to the village. Today, I was going to research the snake monsters. The general state of the village seemed no different from yesterday. But, just like yesterday, I spotted adventurers carrying whole live snakes instead of killing them. I was curious, so I followed the group.

After a short walk, they entered a building with the mark of a drugstore. I peeked inside—it looked like they were selling the snake. I guessed these were the kind of snakes that could be made into medicine. And medicine meant money, so I definitely needed to catch one!

If you’re using snakes for medicinal stuff, you’ve gotta capture them alive. From what I’d heard, the living snake had to be submerged in something called medicine water. I’ll make a note of the snake’s features and look it up in the book. And my book on traps might teach me how to catch it, too.

I left the drugstore and looked for an adventurers’ plaza. It was easy to find but way too crowded. Guess I’ll go to the woods instead.

I sat at the base of the same tree I’d slept in yesterday and cracked open a book. First, I looked for the species of snake…but it didn’t have anything on the one I wanted. It would’ve at least been nice to know whether they were venomous…

When I checked the book for snakes that could be made into medicine, though, it said that any snake that had a medicinal use was venomous. Which meant this one was, too, so I’d better be careful. Next, the book on traps.

“Oh, good! There it is!” Traps for snakes didn’t look hard at all. I’d have to rummage for materials, but I was close to a dump, so I’d be just fine. The difficult part would be making sure the trap shut correctly so the snakes couldn’t escape.

After foraging around the dump for materials, I found a few new blue potions that weren’t there yesterday. I’d need some for both myself and Sora, so I tossed them all into my bag regardless of hue.

Next, I grabbed the materials for the trap. I was lucky enough to find a broken cage, a torn bag, and a length of rope. I threw a few other useful-looking things in, too.

Finally, I went back to the tree and took stock of my materials. I tied the broken cage to the torn bag with some twine. The book said it was important to tie the twine without any openings so the snake couldn’t escape, but…how much of a gap did a snake need to get out? The thought of getting bitten freaked me out, so I covered the whole thing with twine. Next, I fastened a broken metal cup over the entrance with even more twine, in order to make it easy to get inside. There! My snake-catching trap was complete.

It was a simple trap: You put snake bait inside. Once the snake slithers in, you tie up the bag to trap it. The mechanics were a little rough since it meant having to keep an eye on it the whole time, but I had to try. Constructing it so the snake couldn’t exit once it entered, like in the book, was still beyond my skill level…I needed to study more.

That done, I prepared a trap for field mice. The plan was to use a trapped mouse as snake bait. I didn’t know if it would work, but I was gonna give it my best shot! That money isn’t going to make itself!

But first…Sora was staring at my magic bag, so I fed it. How did it know that I had more potions? I thought I’d picked them up while it wasn’t looking…