The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter 55

Chapter 55:

I Set Traps, But…

SEVEN WILD RABBITS, five field mice. The adandara was a really excellent hunter. It had even brought the animals to me alive, somehow. When I took it all to the usual butcher, they were shocked. It seemed to them like I was getting a ton of game every day. I received 1,165 dal in total and left. Maybe I should sell somewhere else next time?

I rushed back to the forest to search for places to set traps. Not far from me, Sora and the adandara played together…or rather, the adandara just batted the slime around.

Mm, this won’t do. I searched for a while, but I couldn’t find any good spots.

Suddenly, a voice spoke up from behind me. “Ivy, what are you doing out here?”

“Whoa!” I was so focused on finding ideal places for traps that I’d lost track of my surroundings. I glanced around for Sora and the adandara, but they were nowhere in sight. “Um! Huh?”

“Something wrong?” the man asked.

“What? No, I’m fine! Umm, you’re…Gun…Gun…”

“Ah ha ha ha! It’s Gunsvel.”

“My apologies.”

“All good! So, what brings you here? It’s dangerous out in the forest.” He must’ve seen me during his patrol and came to check on me.

“I was thinking of setting some traps,” I explained.

“Traps? Oooh, like animal traps? Not many people hunt like that.”

They don’t? I suppose not…but I like being able to hunt safely.

“Boarhogs come through here a lot,” he said. “Why don’t you try a little downstream?”

“Is that so? Thank you for the suggestion.”

As I bowed my head and thanked him, I heard one of Gunsvel’s coworkers call his name.

“Oops!” he gasped. “I’d better get going. And remember, don’t let your guard down.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

Once I couldn’t see the patrolling guards anymore, I looked around…but there was no sign of Sora and the adandara. Oh no. What do I do?

As I fretted, something dropped from the sky right in front of me. I went stiff as a board.

“Pu, pu!”

“Huh…?” Oh! It was the adandara, with Sora on its back. They must’ve been hiding in a tree.

Thank goodness. The tension drained from my body, and I slumped to the ground. The adandara walked over and rubbed against me.

“Thanks for looking out for Sora,” I mumbled. Who knows what would’ve happened if it hadn’t hidden the slime for me? Heck, the guards might’ve killed the adandara if they saw it. I really had gotten too soft…even Gunsvel had warned me about it. I needed to keep my head on a swivel.

Following Gunsvel’s suggestion, I went downstream and set up traps, checking for nearby auras the whole time. It had already started to get dark by the time I finished, so I said my farewells to the adandara and rushed back to the village.

From what I’d heard, boarhogs became active around evening. They attacked by charging into things with their huge bodies, so I really didn’t want to run into one. I stuffed Sora into its bag and started running in earnest.

Fortunately, I managed to get back to the village before dark. I was so spent that I was taking huge, whole-body breaths. The gatekeeper was a little concerned, so I told him I just wanted to get back before night.

“Fair,” he said. “Boarhogs aren’t the only things that come out to play at night. Monsters tend to appear more, too. Good work out there.”

I bowed and headed for the plaza. I’d run so hard that I was really hungry now.

As the sky gradually brightened the next morning, I left my tent and stretched. It was time to check on my traps. First, though, I looked up at the clouds. It looked clear enough, so I put the sopuna skins back out to dry. They were drying at a good rate, so I could probably start grinding them into powder tomorrow.

I went to the forest and checked my traps. Along the way, the adandara joined me. As requested, it hadn’t brought anything today.

That’s the spirit.

But…was it okay for this monster to approach a person so often? I hadn’t heard anything about adandara sightings in the village so far, but I was worried about how close it was coming to the village.

“Adandara, they might try to kill you if anyone sees you. Be careful, okay?”

Purrrr. It rubbed its head against me joyfully. Why is it so happy?

We arrived at the place where I’d set the traps. I just hoped I’d caught some game today.

“Mm, this is hard…” I mumbled. “More than half of them are broken.”

Three wild rabbits and one field mouse. Not much, but better than nothing. I cleaned and dressed them, though it didn’t take long since it was just four animals. Next up, I had to take them to the butcher, so I left the adandara and went back to the village.

“Should I go to the usual place? Or do they think I’m suspicious?” I hesitated, but in the end, I didn’t want to find somewhere new. Still, I was a little nervous.

“I’d like to sell these,” I called out when I arrived.

“Of course,” said the usual woman. “Oh? You didn’t bring as much today.”

“Um…right.”

“That’s 385 dal. You know, I think it’s about time for boarhog mating season.”

“Mating season?”

“Yep. During mating season, they go crazy. They can even come close to the village during the day. You’d best be careful out there.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

Mating season, huh? I’ve heard adventurers talk about how most animals are dangerous when they’re rutting. I hope they don’t come near village roads in the daytime…that could make my journey a little more dangerous.

I needed a new map. The one I’d found didn’t have anything beyond Otolwa, and it had some mistakes here and there that had gotten me turned around in the woods. I needed an accurate map. There weren’t any in the bookstore I had visited, but maybe I could find one in a different shop?