The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 39

Chapter 39:

Ratomi’s Specialty Goods

“ANY PROBLEMS, BOY?” the shopkeeper asked.

“No, sir. I never knew tents could be this light.”

“It’s a popular new one. People like it for its lightness and durability.”

“New? But…it’s used, isn’t it?” I was confused.

“Yeah. The guy who bought it found a girl he was sweet on, so he gave up adventuring. He sold it right away.”

“I see. Well, I’d be happy to take this one.”

“Absolutely. Make sure you mark it, okay?”

“Mark it?”

“Yeah. It can get a little confusing when you run into a few tents of the same type,” he explained. “You gotta mark it somewhere only you know. A name or a symbol works.”

“A mark…” I looked at the tent I was about to buy. Where would be the best place to mark it?

“Wanna put it…let’s see, here?”

“Um, yes. Go ahead.”

“Nuh-uh. You gotta think of your own mark.”

“O-okay.”

He spread out the tent for me. When I tried to write “Sora” on the inside ceiling, I realized that I had written “空.” Huh? Is that…something from Past Me’s memories? I guess it means Sora.

“Oh, good symbol,” the shopkeeper said. “I doubt anyone else will be able to replicate that one.” I guessed it was…probably a word, right? He seemed to think it was a symbol, though. Whatever it was, I couldn’t explain it, so I decided not to worry about it. “You’ll have a rough time out there, but good luck, kid.”

My heart ached. All this talk about Ratomi Village was starting to get me worried… Had something happened?

The gatekeeper and his friend, who had been chatting with someone outside, came back in.

“Oh! Did you buy it?” the gatekeeper asked.

“Yes, thank you. I’m really glad I found something so high quality.” The gatekeeper had scared me at first, but thanks to him, I had a wonderful tent. He was a good guy.

“Ha ha ha! Don’t worry about it.”

“Hey, shouldn’t you get back to patrolling soon?” his friend warned.

“Whoops! Right. Later, little guy.”

“Thanks again.” I bowed. The two waved and ran off.

“Kid’s as busy as ever. All right, that’ll be five gidal,” said the shopkeeper.

“Yes, sir.” I took the money from my magic bag, handed it to the man, and the tent was mine. 

After looking carefully at me, he brought out a bag from the back of the store. “Take this.”

“Huh?”

“It’s small, but it’s a common magic bag. Yours is lesser, right?”

“Y-yes, sir. It is.”

“It’s easy to see how much money you’ve got if you use a lesser one. It’s dangerous.”

“Thank you very much.” I accepted the magic bag, bowed, and left. 

As I made my way back to the plaza, I smiled as I thought about the gatekeeper and the old man. They were good people, as was the guy who’d accompanied the gatekeeper—we’d dragged him around with us, and he hadn’t complained at all.

I saw something familiar in a shop facing the main street: Ratomi Village’s specialty product. It was a fruit called zaro. I’d heard it was nutritious and sold for a lot in the big town, but the price still surprised me: It was a full four times the usual amount.

“Expensive…” I muttered.

“Hm? The zaro?” An employee overheard my puzzlement.

Flustered, I turned to the voice. It was an older man. Another employee, probably his wife, looked out from the back.

“Yes. Is this zaro from Ratomi Village?”

“Ha ha ha! Zaro doesn’t grow anywhere else, kid. Are you…from Ratomi Village?”

“Yes.”

“Where are your parents?” he asked. Everyone seems to ask that…

I wanted info on Ratomi, so I answered honestly. “I’m traveling alone, sorry.” 

“Alone!” he gasped. “Well, I know this year’s been a tough one. Eugh…it’s all thanks to that stupid chief.”

“The chief?” That was the man who told my dad to kill me. Honestly, I wanted to forget him.

“You came all this way without knowing anything? Ahhh…I understand. They chased you out, huh?”

“I…ran away.”

“Ran away! Good grief, is it that bad out there?” The older man sighed and shook his head. “Did you know their fortune-teller, Ruba?”

“Yes, sir, I did.”

“She was the one who oversaw Ratomi Village’s zaro fruit harvest. It’s extremely difficult to know the right time to pick this fruit. If you’re off by even a little, it can’t be sold. So she used her fortune-telling skill to divine the right time.”

“And the chief had a problem with that!” someone broke in—the man’s wife was approaching. “Ratomi’s the kind of village that can’t survive without the revenue from its zaro crop. A lot of villagers loved Ruba for protecting their livelihood, but that idiot chief despised her. When Ruba was sick, he refused to give her medicine.”

“He lied to other villagers,” her husband added. “Told everyone he’d given her the medicine. The only people who knew were the chief and his little crony.”

“Ruba knew just how important the zaro fruit were to the village. She would’ve contacted another fortune-teller if she knew she was going to die. People only learned about this because the villagers knew something was off and interrogated his accomplice. Even worse, they tried to blame a child at first. The last chief was great, but the new one is horrible. The village is dying because of him.”

“We heard the chief chases out anyone who opposes him, too,” he said.

“I heard they chased out a child without parents!” The woman looked at me carefully. “Hon…you said you ran away, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why did you run?”

“It was more because of my parents than the chief. Um, you see…”

“Your parents? Oh, that’s awful.”

“Huh?! Oh, no—”

It sounded like the chief was worse than even I knew. And since my parents followed him…well, whatever. They were all strangers to me now.