The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 49

Chapter 49:

Yet Again

I WOKE UP AND STRETCHED as Sora bobbed up and down next to me. After prepping my friend’s morning potions, I went to the outdoor kitchen to boil water. I brought the steaming water back inside the tent, made tea, and poured the rest into a big pail. I dipped a towel inside, wrung it out, and scrubbed myself all over.

It was nice to be able to get hot water in these plazas. You couldn’t really bathe often when you were on a journey. I had to scrub myself with a towel instead, but that got hard to bear when it was cold. We were just getting into summer, so I was fine for now, but I’d have to save money for winter. It would be harder to hunt wild rabbits and field mice then, too. The monster information fees gave me more money than I’d expected to have by now, but it still wasn’t enough.

“Ooh, that’s refreshing.” I put on new clothes and put the dirty outfit in the bag with the rest of the laundry I needed to do—I’d get to that soon enough.

I munched on some fruit and planned my day. Let’s see…I should check my field mouse traps. Ooh, right, I ate so much yesterday that I didn’t even make traps. I’d never eaten so much that I couldn’t even move before! I should’ve stopped at two and saved the last one for dinner tonight. I sipped some tea and relaxed for a bit, and then it was time to head out.

“Okay! Sora, let’s do our best today.”

After tossing my laundry bag into yet another bag, I called Sora over and held up its bag in invitation. The slime bounced over to my feet, I put it inside, and we left the tent to check those traps. I discarded the rest of the water I’d used in a drainage gutter, put the pail back in the tent, and closed the tent. After one last check to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, I headed for the forest.

The supervisor, guards on patrol, and gatekeeper all greeted me as I passed by. It still made me nervous, but at least I wasn’t shrinking back so much like I had. It was still embarrassing, though.

When I reached the forest, I felt that strange aura again. I searched around but found nothing.

“What was that? Sora, do you know?”

“Pu, pu pu!”

Does it know? Does this reaction mean everything is okay? I wondered, but the aura was gone and I had no way of searching for it. For now, it was time to check my field mouse traps.

“Aww, shoot. The trap’s broken.” Had an animal messed it up? I went to check the other trap I had set.

A whole lot of my traps had been getting broken in this forest. Which reminded me…hadn’t somebody mentioned another kind of animal that lived here? Boarhogs, right? Yeah, that’s the delicious meat I ate yesterday! If it’s this village’s specialty, does that mean they’re common in this forest?

“Aww…these, too?” Another field mouse trap was broken, on top of a wild rabbit trap I’d left.

Disappointing. I decided to do my laundry, go back to the plaza, and make more traps. Maybe I could succeed through sheer numbers.

I went to the river and started getting my laundry out when I sensed something behind me. I turned around and there it was, just like yesterday: the adandara, holding something in its mouth. It came closer and purred, so I stroked its fur. What did it want? Did it just really like me?

Once it was satisfied by the pets, it dropped what it had in its mouth. Huh? There were five rabbits, but this time there were three field mice too and…a bird?

“Is this a pigeon?” I’d only seen them in books until now. The adandara pushed the animals toward me with its front paw. Mm, fine. I guess I’ll take it. “Thank you.”

It purred and rubbed its head against me. Sure, it had a scary face, but it was pretty cute! I gave it a big hug. The monster was really warm. Hey, cut it out, Ivy! You need to start breaking down these animals.

I left the adandara and got to work. When the rabbit and mouse meat was ready, I wrapped it all in bana leaves and put it in a bag. Next was the pigeon. I had never butchered a bird, so I was really nervous throughout.

“There we go!” My first pigeon-butchering went pretty well! I’d messed up a little, but…even if I couldn’t sell it, I could just eat it myself. I wrapped the pigeon meat separately and tossed it in the same bag. “Now…”

I looked back for Sora and found it sleeping with the adandara again. That looked so cozy, but… Gah! I need to hurry!

“Sora, wake uuup! We need to go sell this meat.” The adandara opened its eyes and rolled Sora over. Sora quivered, annoyed. “Thanks for yesterday and today,” I said to the adandara. “Don’t do anything crazy for my sake, okay?”

The adandara purred and ran off. I still loved watching it bound away. I looked at Sora and saw that it was doing those up-and-down stretching exercises again.

“I still don’t know what you’re doing,” I mused.

“Pu, pu pu!”

That’s no explanation, Sora! Anyway, I’d better go back and sell this meat.