The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 35

Chapter 35:

Arrival at Ratome

I WAS PASSING a lot of adventurers on the village road now, so I must have been close to Ratome Village.

Unfortunately, Sora was stuck in my bag the whole time. Thinking back on those opaque or cloudy slimes I’d seen with other adventurers…even if there were some that were a single color, there really weren’t any that were this see-through. No, not a single one was like Sora. The poor slime might end up living in my bag forever…

I saw the village entrance up ahead and stopped, surprised at the difference from previous villages. All the villages so far had simple gates, but Ratome Village’s gate was much more…imposing.

Is this just a big village, or did I somehow pass Ratome and arrive at Otolwa? I wondered as I approached. Sure enough, though, the gate had a sign that said Ratome Village. There were high walls on both sides, too, something I’d never seen before. My heart pounded madly. A gatekeeper at the entrance checked each person who went through.

What do I do? Do I need papers or something? Since I’d run away from my village, I didn’t have any documents. Even if I went back to find them, my parents had probably thrown them away long ago now.

I gave up on that line of thought and went up to the gate. The gatekeeper greeted me when he saw me approach, but I was nervous.

“Are you alone?” he asked.

“That’s right.”

“Where are you from?”

“Ratomi Village.”

“Ratomi! You came all this way on your own?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. I did hear that the village is struggling. One less mouth to feed, eh?” He sighed.

Hm? What does he mean? Struggling? One less mouth?

“I’m sure it’ll be tough,” he continued. “But if you become an adventurer, I think you’ll make it. Good luck, kid.”

“Um. Thank you.”

I didn’t really follow, but he seemed to be worried about me, and he wanted to cheer me on. Had something happened to Ratomi Village? I hadn’t heard about it in other villages. Maybe I can find out here.

Safely inside Ratome Village now, I was surprised at what I saw. Its entrance was unlike other villages, and the inside was different, too. A broad road ran through the village, lined with shops on both sides. The number of shops was surprising, but what really overwhelmed me was how many people there were. It was a little before noon, but there were plenty of drunk adventurers walking about. The shops were bustling. Some people wearing the same uniform as the gatekeeper were watching the place—the village guard, I guessed.

I decided to walk around the village. I needed to know what was going on, both with Ratome and Ratomi. Though I tried to slide into the flow of people, there were just too many. After being pushed along a short ways, the crowd spat me out into a plaza, where I decided to rest until my crowd-sickness was gone. There were chairs there, so I sat down on an empty one. The place was lively and full of smiling people. This village seemed like a nice place, even if it was way too crowded for my taste.

I heard lots of conversations, but I didn’t learn what I wanted to know. People just talked about new shops opening and new menus at restaurants. Wow, they were really…relaxed, huh? I wasn’t sure what to do in such an unusual village. For now, I decided to secure a place to sleep tonight. There were lots of merchants and adventurers around, though, so what if the plaza was already packed full? Would I be able to get more rest in the forest? I started searching for the open plaza.

“It’s huge,” I mused when I found it. The plaza set aside for adventurers’ use was bigger than any I had ever seen. I could see signs that said “LOW PRICES EVEN FOR NEWBIES,” so they clearly also had a lot of inns. I tried to go into the open square, but there was a person standing at the entrance. I was a little alarmed, but he was wearing the same uniform as the gatekeeper. Was their plaza managed by the village guard, too, then?

“Staying the night?” he asked me.

“Y-yes,” I managed to answer.

“Alone?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah? Well…take your things over there. That spot should be safe.” He seemed a little concerned when I said I was alone, probably because I was obviously so young. Still, he pointed me to a safe part of the plaza. It was far from the public kitchen, but there weren’t many people there, making it ideal for me. I decided to go for it. 

“That work for you?” he asked.

“Yes, sir!”

Wait, did this cost money? I was just starting to worry when he handed me something: a plate with a mark on it. “Here’s your permit.”

“Permit?”

“Yeah. First time here?”

“Yes, it is.”

“More people, more problems. That’s why we limit how many adventurers can come in. Without a permit, you’re not allowed to enter.”

“Okay, I understand. Thank you.”

There really were a whole lot of adventurers. Still, I never thought they would limit the number of people who could use the plaza. There was an empty chair near where the guard had pointed me, so I gratefully sat down.