The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 1 - Chapter SS1

BONUS * Let Us Watch Over You

ON THE FIRST DAY of our trip back to Otolwa, as the setting sun dyed the sky orange, we happened upon a reasonably sized clearing. It was a perfect spot, so the Sword of Flames members and I pitched our tents to stay the night. While they set up their tents, I set up my own one-person tent. Fortunately, inside my tent, I could let Sora out to breathe.

“Heeey! Someone go and grab some firewood, okay?” On Bolorda’s command, I got up to go into the woods, but Rattloore and Sifar stopped me.

“No, no,” said Sifar. “Not you, Ivy. It’s dangerous in the woods at night. Gnouga, Lowcreek, and Marcreek can handle it.”

The three patted my head and went off into the woods. Umm…so what do I do? Oh, I could cook… Except Rickbert and Seizerk are already cooking. Mm…there’s nothing for me…

“What should I do?” I said aloud.

“Rest,” both Rattloore and Sifar said at once.

But how?! Everyone was walking so slowly that I’ve still got so much energy left!

“I’d be happy to help…” I pleaded.

“Then how about we have a nice, long chat?” Sifar offered.

Huh? A chat? Oh, do they need to talk about something? I guess that makes sense.

“Okay.” We sat near where we’d start the fire, and Sifar poured us tea. What would we talk about? I drank my tea and waited, but they only chatted about trips and silly stories.

Didn’t they need to talk with me? I’d been worried about what they were going to say, so this was a relief. Still, I felt weird just sitting around doing nothing but talking.

I sighed.

“Are you tired after all?” Rattloore asked.

“No, I’m really fine.”

“But you must’ve had trouble keeping up with our walking speed, right?”

He was awfully worried about me, but we hadn’t really walked that fast today. Everyone had watched me and adjusted their speed to match.

“I usually walk faster,” I said, “so it wasn’t a problem.”

“Do you really?” Sifar looked surprised by that. Was it that strange?

“Yes. The pace today wasn’t an issue for me at all. You could walk faster if you’d like.”

“Nah, we’re not in that much of a hurry to get home,” said Sifar. “Let’s take it slow.”

“For sure!” Rattloore agreed. “We stroll home and rest our weary bodies. There’ll be more work waiting for us at home, anyway. Might as well take our time while we can.”

Umm…so we’re taking it slow because they might be busy when they reach town? Seizerk and Bolorda’s teams are veterans, so I bet they’re popular.

“That must be hard,” I said. “Good luck with all that work.”

“Wow! You know how to make me feel better!” Rattloore squealed, pulled me into a hug, and started ruffling the heck out of my hair. Shocked, I froze up in his arms.

Crack! Pow!

“Ouch!”

Huh? I turned toward Rattloore’s pained yelp—for some reason, he was holding his head again. Near him were Rickbert and Seizerk. Had they finished cooking?

“Good grief,” Rickbert said. “Stop bothering Ivy.”

“Huh? Was I bothering you? You’re okay, right?” Rattloore brought his face right up close to mine, so I leaned away and nodded frantically.

“Argh, see? You’re bothering him!” Rickbert’s fist fell on Rattloore’s head. There was a loud pow, and Rattloore frowned in pain. I winced—that must’ve really hurt.

“When’s dinner?” Sifar demanded. It was hard to tell whether he was unperturbed by the chaos or just uninterested in anything beyond the food.

“It just needs to simmer,” Seizerk answered.

“Did you taste it?”

“Obviously.”

“Say, Ivy!” Sifar lit up, as if he’d thought of something. “Mind helping me out?”

“Okay!” I was glad to be of service. Sitting here doing nothing had gotten me all antsy.

“C’mere!” said Sifar.

I followed him over to the big pot where the soup was simmering. He lifted the lid, ladled some soup into a bowl, and handed it to me. I took it right away, but I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I looked at him, uncertain, and he scooped more soup into another bowl.

Oh, should I drink it? I blew on it to cool and then sipped some.

“It’s missing something,” he mused.

“Really, Sifar?” Seizerk groaned, annoyed, from behind us.

“C’mon. I just had Ivy’s delicious soup. I gotta know what the difference is!”

After swallowing it, I tilted my head. Sifar was right, something was missing. I went to the pot and started stirring the soup. What did it need?

“Sorry, Ivy. Would you mind helping us with the seasoning?” Seizerk, apparently tired of Sifar’s complaints, asked me.

“Hmm…what should I add?” Nothing came to mind.

It’s like…it’s missing some sweetness but not a sweet ingredient. I stirred the soup again and then it hit me: It had no root vegetables. Aha! It’s missing the sweetness of root vegetables. I looked around the makeshift kitchen and found the perfect one.

“May I use this?” I asked.

“Yeah,” said Seizerk. “I didn’t use it since it takes longer.”

It’s true—root vegetables took a longer time to cook. Still, we could probably speed it up by cutting it into small pieces.

“I’ll chop it into bits before putting it in, so I think it’ll be fine.”

Adding veggie sweetness to the soup was my goal, so texture didn’t matter as much. I peeled the skin from the vegetable, cut it as small as possible, and put it in the soup. After simmering for a while, I checked the doneness of the vegetable. There! It’s just right. Finally, I put some in a bowl and tasted it. Perfect.

“Gimme some, too,” Sifar demanded. I gave him some to taste. “Whoooa. One little veggie changes that much, huh?”

Seizerk tasted it as well and agreed that it was incredible. Thank goodness. I’m glad I could help out.

“Hey, the meat’s done!” Gnouga called out. I turned toward his voice. The fire had been lit, and the meat had cooked in no time. Huh? When did everyone get back? Was I that focused on cooking?

“Okay, I’ll bring the soup,” said Seizerk. “Ivy, go sit and hang tight. Thanks for helping with the flavor.”

“I’m just happy to be useful.”

I looked at Sifar—he’d already taken a bowl of soup and was on his way to eat it. I followed him to join everyone else and saw a big chunk of meat sizzling deliciously. It seemed…oddly fresh.

“Where did this meat come from?” I asked.

Rattloore pointed at Gnouga. “He hunted it.” Wow, how had he done it in so little time? Based on the size of the cut, it seemed like a medium-sized animal or monster, but it was still incredible. Gnouga must be really strong.

“Let’s eat!” Seizerk called and started divvying up soup for everyone. Gnouga carved the cooked meat and Marcreek passed it out. It looked like Marcreek was giving out equal amounts of meat to everyone, so I tried to stop him before he got to me.

“Eat more, or you won’t grow big and strong,” Gnouga said, looking concerned.

I appreciated the thought, but…no matter how I tried, it didn’t make sense for me to take the same portion as everyone else. When I said as much, Gnouga looked disappointed. I just can’t, I’m sorry!

“Ha ha ha! All right, everybody, it’s time to eat! Let’s dig in.”

“Let’s dig in!” everyone echoed…except one person.

“Already on it.” All eyes gathered on Sifar, who had already devoured half of his soup.

“Why, you little…” Seizerk sighed, exasperated, as Sifar calmly continued his meal.

Sifar stopped eating to note that the meat was good and smiled at me. As for me, I went on eating my own meal. I didn’t want to be dragged into this, thank you very much.

I took a bite of the meat. “Ooh! That’s good!”

“Oh? Glad to hear it.” Gnouga smiled at my words.

That’s better. He looked a little sad before, but it looks like he’s fine now. Once the feast had begun, people talked even more excitedly than they had last night. Everyone was laughing the whole time. I ended up eating too much again, since I was listening to them instead of focusing on my food.

“Thanks for the meal,” I said when I finished.

“Had enough already?” Marcreek asked, also a little worried. “You haven’t eaten half as much as the rest of us. Don’t hold back on our account, kid.”

Don’t you see the difference in our body size? I’ve eaten more than enough for me today.

“I’m fine. My stomach feels like it could burst open.”

“You sure? Well, as long as you’re not being modest.” Marcreek patted me on the head slowly.

Urgh…being full and getting head-pats is making me really sleepy. But I wanted to help clean up, so I had to stay awake. Soon enough, everyone finished eating and we started to put everything away. Bolorda and Rattloore helped me out as I washed the pile of dishes.

“Sorry to make you clean up after us,” said Bolorda. He was really nice.

“Not at all. I wanted to help out.”

“That so?” Rattloore chimed in. “We’re always glad to count on you.”

“Sure. Leave it to me.”

After cleaning up, I said good night to everyone and went back to my tent. Inside, Sora was already snoozing. I toweled off and lay down, and Sora rolled over to me. It gazed at me with barely open eyes.

“Sorry. Did I wake you up? You can go back to bed. Good night, Sora.”

Sora quivered and closed its eyes. Dinner tonight was a lot of fun. I would only have a few more days with them, so…maybe taking it slow on the way to town was a good idea, after all.