The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 32

Chapter 32:

To the Next Village, Ratosu!

THE INFORMATION FEE for the tree monster was five gidal—one silver token. The people at the office said that kind of monster mimicked fruit-bearing trees to draw people in. Several years ago, the monster had snuck into the forest near the village’s farms and caused a lot of trouble. It was slow, so you could run away, but it would start mimicking other trees around it as soon as its prey took off. It could even fake the aura of the tree it mimicked, so it was really hard to hunt down.

The nice lady told me all of that, adding that they’d have to put a request in with the guild for veteran adventurers.

A man listening to our conversation looked confused. I cocked my head and looked back at him.

“I’m amazed you recognized that it was a monster,” he said. “It takes real skill to distinguish one of those.”

“I was just…lucky,” I fibbed.

“Were you, now? Well, I’m glad you discovered it before anyone got hurt. Those things can kill several people before anyone knows about ’em. They look just like normal trees until you’re in striking range. Villagers and newbie adventurers tend to bump right into ’em.”

Just like I had. I couldn’t tell him that it had almost killed me, so I just smiled and brushed it off.

I’d received an information fee since the monster was dangerous enough to hurt villagers, but it was only five gidal—after all, a couple of experienced adventurers could deal with it. Still, that was enough for me, so I thanked them and left.

Afterward, I headed to the dump. A long time had passed, so it was probably empty enough. I’d ruined a set of clothes, so I wanted new ones.

“Whoaaa…” Thanks to the ten-day lockdown, the dump had piles and piles of trash. There were lots of potions, which was awesome for me. It seemed this village had a kid learning how to make potions, too, as there was a whole stack of them in regular bottles.

Next to me, Sora bobbed gleefully. I picked up a few blue potions and put them in front of my buddy. After making sure it was eating its meal, I went farther into the dump to look for necessities for the journey. I stocked up on the potions I needed, found some clothes along the way, and put it all into my bags.

I found a heap of blue potions among the practice ones, and I took all thirty-eight of them. I went back to Sora, who was bubbling with anticipation, and gave it all the practice batches. It sizzled and fizzed as it ate happily. These days, the slime was a lot better at moving around. While it dined, I checked the contents of all my bags. The clothes I’d found would be wearable with a little bit of work.

Next, I looked through all my potions. When people threw them away, the containers cracked sometimes. A cracked container meant faster expiration, so you always had to check. I picked out the fresher potions without cracks—there were many more good ones here than in previous dumps. Maybe it was because of all the adventurers nearby. Whatever the reason, I was over the moon. Including the potions for Sora, I had secured a whole seventy-eight potions! A lot had happened here, but Ratomu Village was a bountiful harvest for me. When I finished cataloging everything, I put it all back into proper bags.

“Huh? What happened to my red potion?” I’d picked up three sickness-curing potions, so why did I only see two? Weird. Had I dropped one? I found a red potion lying on the ground close by, so…maybe I really had dropped it. I checked it for cracks and then tossed it in the bag. Now, I was ready!

I began the journey to Ratosu Village with Sora. Honestly, I was scared to go into the forest after what had happened, but I’d just have to get used to the feeling if I wanted to continue my journey.

“Sora, let me know if there’s any danger around, okay?”

My friend bobbed in my arms. I was a little relieved. It was good to have Sora on my side.